For suppose the Mind would endeavour to amplifie the Idea of a Man into that of God which is the Way Sextus Empiricus says Men might and did come by the Notion of a Deity First he saith the Mind can give him Eternity of Duration But how came it by that Idea of Eternity was that Idea previous to the Invention of a Deity and had Mankind a clear Conception of it if they had the Notion of God could not be then invented for one of his chiefest Attributes was known before But I suppose they will say that the Notion of Eternity was gained by Ampliating the Idea of Duration or Time beyond the common and ordinary Term And thus by imagining a Man to live a Thousand or Ten Thousand Years I may come to frame the Notion of a Being that should always exist But that is a gross Mistake for a Being that should endure Ten Thousand or Ten Millions of Years is not therefore exempt from dying at last any more than one that endures but Ten Minutes Had I not in my Mind before a clear Idea of Eternity I could no more by this Ampliating Power gain a Notion of an Eternal Being than I could believe my self to be Eternal for every thing about me would contradict that Notion and 't is very strange that I should come to believe any Being could have an Eternal Duration from considering of things that are all perishable and mortal That which leads Men into this mistake is I suppose this We have all of us a Notion of a Being Perfect or Eternal as to his Duration because there is such a Being in Reality And therefore whenever we go about to consider of Time or of the Period or Term of the Duration of a Being we can ampliate it so as to suppose it shall never cease to be but have its Being still continued on without end That is we can connect the Idea that we have of Eternity with a Being and so render it Eternal But this could never be done if there were no Idea of Eternity at all if there were nothing Eternal if there were no God The case is the same as to all the other Perfections of the Divine Nature We have clear Idea's and Notions of them in our Minds and therefore we can talk about them and be understood because there are real Idea's that answer to those words that we use and something really existing that answers to those Idea's But were there no such Being nor any thing Real in Nature to deduce our Idea's from were there no God 't is impossible there could be any such Idea's at all But however this Assertion That the Mind of Man was able to Invent the Notion of a Deity and communicate it to the World is a most flat and palpable Contradiction to what the Atheist at other times urges and that too as founded on Principles that he is very fond of In my last Discourse I shewed you That he objected against the Being of a God from our not being able to have any Idea of Him and this he endeavours to support by asserting also That we have no Knowledge but Sense and that all our Conceptions are Passive Now both these are absolutely inconsistent with the Original that he is now attributing to the Notion of a God For if it be true as he saith it is That we can have no Idea of God 't is very strange to suppose that a Politick Man should Invent and the World Receive the Idea or Notion of That which 'tis impossible for any one to invent or receive 'T is a little odd that a Man should first cunningly devise he knew not what and then the affrighted World believe they knew not what and that we should prove and assert and the Atheist ridicule and deny the Existence of That which we do none of us all know any thing about But so it must be according to the Atheist's Uniform Scheme of Things Again If as he asserts all our Conceptions be Passive and all our Knowledge Sense which way could this Cunning Inventer of a God come by his Notion or Idea of Him how could his Mind attain any such feigning and ampliating Power For according to the Atheist's Principles the Mind could have no Active much less Spontaneous Power at all but all our Idea's and Conceptions would be meer necessary Motions mechanically occasioned by the Impressions of External Objects So that as Protagoras tells us in Plato's Theoetet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is neither possible to conceive that which is not nor indeed any thing else but only just as our Mind suffers it by Impressions from without And therefore no Man could ever possibly Invent any thing at all nor have any Power within him of putting or joining together two or more simple idea's or of ampliating or enlarging any Idea or Notion at all much less could he grow so very subtle as to Invent the Notion of a Deity And as no Law-giver nor Politician could we see have Invented the Notion of a Deity if he had had a mind so to do so it appears very weak and foolish in him to do it if he could For while there was no Belief among Men of any Divine and Almighty Power he would have been a mortal God himself as Hobbs calls the Commonwealth His Will would have been his Law and Men's Obedience to Him would have been founded in the Fear they were under of his great Power And this according to the Atheistical Principles would have been a much better Stay and Support to his Authority than the idle Obligations of Conscience and Religion For the aforesaid Author tells us That if the Fear of Spirits i. e. of a God were taken away Men would be much better fitted for Civil Obedience And in another place he goes a little further yet and saith That 't is impossible any Government can stand where any other than the Sovereign hath a Power of giving greater Rewards than Life and greater Punishments than Death That is where there is any Obligation on Mens Minds to a Divine and Almighty Power which they will chuse to obey rather than the Unlawful Commands of an Arbitrary Prince that can only kill the Body Now there is no doubt but that this is true of such a Power or Government as that he calculated his Leviathan for i. e. One absolutely Arbitrary and Tyrannical And all Power must be so if there be no God and no Antecedent Good and Evil but what the Will of the Sovereign shall make so as Mr. Hobbs positively asserts there is not Therefore that Man must act very unwisely who when he was possessed of Power enough to give Laws to and govern others by his sole Will and Pleasure would ever invent the Notion of a God and Religion For this was the direct way to cramp himself in his Power to tie up his own Hands and to let the People see that he himself is
Principle as Fear no doubt they may do so for Interest and Advantage for that is certainly as good a ground as Cowardliness and Baseness and then what becomes of this boasted Honour that is so much talk'd of this greatness of Mind that will keep a Man from doing an ill thing In reality 't will at last amount to no more than this that he will forbear doing an Ill Thing when he thinks it will prove ill to him he will be Just Honest and Sincere when he don't dare be otherwise for fear of the Law Shame and Ignominy For all Men of Atheistical Principles would be Knaves and Villains if they durst if they could do it safely and securely such a Man 't is like shall return you a Bag of Money or a rich Jewel you happen to depose in his Hands but why is it 't is because he dares not keep it and deny it 't is great odds but he is discovered and exposed by this means and besides 't is Unfashionable and Ungenteel to be a Cheat in such Cases But to impoverish a Family by Extravagance and Debauchery to defraud Creditors of their just Debts or Servants of their Wages to Cheat at Play to violate one's Neighbour's Bed to gratifie one's own Lust are things which though to the full as Wicked and Unreasonable in themselves are yet swallowed down as allowable enough because common and usual and which are not the more is the pity attended with that Scandal and Infamy that other Vices are Thus 't is very plain that this pretended Principle of Honour in an Atheist or a Wicked Man and this Obedience and Deference that he pretends to pay to the Laws of his Country is a most Partial and Changeable thing and vastly different from that true Honour and Bravery that is founded on the Eternal Basis of Conscience and Religion 't is an Airy Name that serves only to amuse unthinking and short-sighted Persons into a Belief that he hath some kind of Principles that he will stick to that so he may be thought fit to be trusted dealt and conversed withall in the World And thus I think it is very clear and apparent that Wickedness naturally leads to Infidelity and Atheism and Infidelity and Atheism to the Support and Maintenance of That And that it is the Wicked that will not seek after God and whose thoughts are that there is no God Which was my First Particular I come next to Consider II. That Peculiar Kind of Wickedness which the Psalmist here takes notice of as the chief Ground from whence Infidelity and Atheism proceed And that is Pride The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God neither is God in all his Thoughts And I question not but this Vice of Pride is generally the Concomitant of Infidelity and the chief Ground from whence the Spirit of Speculative Atheism proceeds When Men of proud and haughty Spirits lead ill Lives as they very often do they always endeavour to justifie themselves in their Proceeding be it never so Irregular and Absurd and never so contrary to the considerate Sentiments of all the rest of the World A Proud Man hates to acknowledge himself in an Errour and to own that he hath committed a Fault He would have the World believe that there is a kind of Indefectibility in his Understanding and Judgment which secures him from being deceived and mistaken like other Mortals Whatever Actions therefore such a Person commits he would fain have appear reasonable and justifiable But he sees plainly that he cannot make Wickedness and Immorality do so as long as Religion stands its Ground in the World The Sacred Scriptures are so plain and express against such a course of Life that there is no avoiding being convicted and condemned while their Authority remains good 'T is impossible any way to reconcile a vicious Life to the Doctrine there delivered And therefore he sees plainly That one that Professes to believe the great Truths of Religion and the Divine Authority of those Sacred Books and yet by his Practices gives the Lye to his Profession and while he acknowledges Jesus Christ in his Words doth in his Works deny him he sees I say that such an one stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-condemned and can never acquit himself either to his own Conscience or to the Reason of Mankind Now this is perfectly disagreeable to the Genious and Humour of a Proud Man he cannot bear to be thought in any respect Incoherent or Inconsistent with himself And therefore having vainly tried to justifie himself in his Wickedness by alledging the Examples of some good Men in Sacred Scripture that have been guilty of great Sins but whose Repentance he can by no means digest And having also fruitlessly endeavoured to rely on the perverted Sense of some particular Texts of Scripture which he knows are sufficiently refuted by the Analogy of the whole he finds at last that 't is the best way to deny the Divine Authority of the Bible and the Truth of all Revelation and so boldly shake off at once all Obligation to the Rules of Piety and Virtue and since Religion can't be wrested so as to give an allowance to his way of living he will take it quite away Banish that and God Almighty out of the World and set up Iniquity by a Law And nothing can be more pleasing and agreeable to the Arrogance of such Men than this way of Proceeding It gratifies an insolent and haughty Spirit prodigiously to do things out of the common Road to pretend to be Adept in a Philosophy that is as much above the rest of Mankind's Notions as 't is Contradictory to it to assume to himself a Power of seeing much farther into things than other Folk and to penetrate into the deepest recesses of Nature He would pass for one of Nature's Cabinet Councellors a Bosome Favourite that knows all the secret Springs of Action and the first remote Causes of all Things He pleases himself mightily to have discovered with what Ridiculous Bugbears the Generality of Mankind are awed and frighted he can now look down with a Scornful Pity on the poor groveling Vulgar the Unthinking Mobb below that are poorly enslaved and terrified by the Fear of a God and of Ills to come they know not when nor where He despises such dull Biggots as will be imposed upon by Priests and that will superstitiously abstain from the Enjoyment of present Pleasure on account of such idle Tales as the Comminations of Religion And as he despises those that are not Wicked so he upbraids those that are so with inconsistency with their Principles and Profession and for doing the same things that he doth when they have nothing to bear them out And thus he doubly gratifies his Pride by justifying himself and condemning and triumphing over others Nay the very Mistakes and Errours of such a Man we are told appear laudable and great to him and he
or forbear if they will yet they say this is in reality a Mistake and that there is no such thing as freedom after all but that all Actions are absolutely necessitated And as for the Power or Faculty which is vulgarly called the Will that sometimes is one thing sometimes another according as they think fit to name it Sometimes 't is an Act of Volition that follows the Ultimum dictamen Intellectûs and sometimes 't is the Understanding itself Now 't is nothing but an Idea and by and by a meer Ens Rationis or an Imaginary Cause of Action which Ignorant Men have fansied that they have in themselves So hard is it for Men that fly so high to have a distinct view of any thing below But I proceed 2. To another Argument for the freedom of Humane Nature and that is the monstrous Absurdities and Consequences of the contrary Opinion For the Assertion that all our Actions are necessitated it perfectly destroys the Notions of Good and Evil Rewards and Punishments and of all manner of Obligation both to Divine and Human Laws and consequently is the most Destructive Principle that can be advanced to the Good of Society I have already proved that there is a Natural Distinction between Actions as to Good and Evil that this is plainly discoverable by the Light of Reason and that all Nations in all Ages of the World have been sensible of it and if this be proved as I think it hath been we ought not to desert it only because we can't readily solve all the Difficulties about the Freedom of the Will of Man which a Sceptical Man may raise against it much less ought we to embrace an Opinion that perfectly Contradicts it as this of absolute Necessity certainly doth For if all things and Actions whatever are absolutely Necessary and cannot possibly be otherwise than they are there can be no such thing as Good or Evil Right or Wrong Honourable or Base c. And why should any Creatures trouble themselves about paying any Veneration to the Deity if that he could not help making them just such as they are and if he hath absolutely necessitated them to do just as they do God hath according to these Horrid Principles no Natural Right to any Obedience from us as a free Agent would who had out of his own gracious Goodness bestowed so many Gifts and Mercies upon us This Mr. Hobbs well knew and therefore he tells us That there is no Obedience due to God out of Gratitude to him for Creating or Preserving us c. but what we pay him is founded only in his Irresistible Power And so likewise as to Human Laws and the Good of the Government or Commonwealth where we are placed No Man according to these Abominable Tenets hath any Obligation upon him to obey Rulers to be just and honest in his Dealings to be loving and merciful helpful and beneficial to his Neighbours but he may Rebel Murder Rob and Oppress without being Subject to any guilt at all and if he can but escape Punishment from the Magistrate he is safe enough and hath no reason to be disturbed in his own Mind for he can't help any of all this he is under an absolute necessity of doing what he doth and no one ought to blame him for it Indeed Spinoza says That the Government may if they think fit put such a Man to Death but not because he is Guilty and deserves it but because he is Mischievous and Dangerous to them and therefore is to be feared And when one wrote to him on this Point alledging that if the Will were not free All Vice would be excusable he Answers Quid inde Nam homines mali non minus timendi sunt nec minus perniciosi quando necessariò mali sunt By which he plainly allows that all Wickedness is excusable tho' it be not always tolerable as it is not when it becomes formidable Fear is that which according to these Men doth every thing in the World in this Case A Subject pays Obedience to the Laws not because he thinks himself bound in Conscience so to do or because it is just and reasonable but because he is afraid of Punishment if he do not do it And the Magistrates Punish an Offender not because they think he hath committed any Fault or is Guilty of any Crime properly speaking but because They are afraid of Him and under an apprehension that he is likely to do them a Mischief And thus a Man that is guilty of all manner of Immorality an Assassinator of Princes a Firer of Cities a Betrayer of his Country a Poisoner Coiner a Common Robber or the most flagitious Villain that can be imagined is as Innocent as a Saint from any guilt of Sin he hath upon him for he is necessitated to do what he doth he can't help it any more than another Man can that acts virtuously as 't is called and therefore he may and ought to have as much Peace and Satisfaction in his own Mind and as much Respect and Honour paid him from others too provided they are not afraid of him as ever any Man had But will not such a Principle as this be the most mischievous and dangerous to Mankind that can possibly be Doth it not open a Door to all the Wickedness that can possibly enter into the Heart of Man to commit And consequently ought not all Governments to be afraid as they themselves would express it of Men that vent such Notions as these so plainly contradictory to and inconsistent with the Good of Human Society And as this is a most pernicious so 't is the most Impudent and Daring Opinion that ever was advanced for it charges all Mankind in all Ages of the World with the most gross and palpable Folly that can be For besides that it gives the Lye to the Experience and certain Knowledge of every Body as I shewed before it renders all Laws and Rules of Action and all the Sanctions of them ridiculous it makes all Advice and Exhortation useless and to no purpose all Censure Punishment and Reproof is Vnjust and Unreasonable All Honours and Rewards it renders Unmerited And all Knowledge Wisdom Care and Circumspection become by this means the most foolish and unaccountable things in the World for if all things are governed by Absolute Fatality any one may see that all these things signifie Nothing at all but 't is plain the Wisest Part of the World as they have been justly esteemed are in reality the greatest Fools and most stupid Idiots that can be for they encourage Men to act well and discourage them from doing amiss by Elaborate and Studied Methods when after all 't is impossible according to this Notion that any one can possibly avoid doing just as he doth Nor can I see how these wonderful Discoverers themselves that have thus luckily found out that all Mankind are mistaken in thinking themselves
but only that they were under the Power of some Wicked Superstition or Abominable Custom that had unhappily crept in among them which they thought it a greater Evil to break if they thought at all than they did to Act against their Judgment Natural Reason and Affection For this way as he observes 't is easie to imagine how Men may come to worship the Idols of their own Minds grow fond of Notions they have been long acquainted with there and stamp the Characters of Divinity upon Absurdities and Errors c. p. 26. So that I cannot see any Consequence at all in asserting the Non-existence of Moral Good and Evil from a few Barbarous and Ignorant Wretches doing some Actions that bear hard on the Rules of Morality For notwithstanding that they may be lost in a great measure in some places yet these things and many others that might be instanced in do certainly carry such Self-evidence along with them that a free and unprejudiced Mind must needs perceive which way to determine as soon as ever they can be proposed to it and considered of by it For any one in the World that doth but understand the meaning of the Terms in any of the lately mentioned Moral Propositions will be demonstratively assured of the Truth of them And he will see as clearly that God is to be worshipped that Parents are to be honoured and in a word that we ought to do to others as we would be done unto as he assents to the Truth of such Axioms as these That a Thing cannot be and not be at the same Time That Nothing hath no Properties And that the whole is greater than any one and equal to all its Parts taken together For the Reason why all Mankind allow these as first Principles is because their Truth is so very Apparent and Evident that they approve themselves to our Reason at first sight And so I think do all these Great Principles in Morality they certainly affect impartial and considerate Minds with as full a Conviction as any of the former can possibly do And would no more have been denied or disputed than the others are had they not been Rules of Practice and did they not require something to be done as well as to be believed For he that rightly understands what is meant by the words God and Worship will see the Necessary connexion between those Terms or the Truth of this Proposition God is to be worshipped as evidently as he that knows what a Whole and a Part is will see that the Whole must be greater than a Part. And no Proposition in Geometry can be more demonstratively clear than these Moral ones are to Men that are not wilfully Blind and wickedly Prejudiced against such Practical Truths For as one hath well observed Morality may be reckoned among those Sciences that are capable of Demonstration And that these Moral Truths have a stronger connexion one with another and a more necessary Consequence from our Idea's and come nearer to a perfect Demonstration than is commonly imagined insomuch that as he saith in another place They are capable of real Certainty as well as Mathematicks Now if the case be so as most certainly it is it will plainly follow that Those things that do thus demonstratively approve themselves to the unprejudiced Reason of all Mankind must be good and lovely in their own Natures or Morally so antecedent to the Obligation of Human Laws Customs or Fashions of particular Countries And in this plain Distinction between Good and Evil which our Reason when duly used Impowers us thus at first sight to make is founded that which we call Conscience which is a kind of an Internal Sensation of Moral Good and Evil. And this Candle of the Lord set up by himself in mens Minds and which 't is impossible for the Breath or Power of man wholly to extinguish is as Natural to a Rational Mind as the Sense of Pain and Pleasure is to the Body for as that is given us by the Author of our Natures to preserve us from bodily Evils and to capacitate us to enjoy such a Kind of Happiness so Conscience is our Guard against the Invasions of Moral or Spiritual Evils and will if rightly followed give us always so much Peace Joy and Satisfaction of Soul as cannot possibly be had any other way But again 2. It is most plain also That there are some things which do Universally and Naturally tend to promote the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind and others that do equally contribute to its Misery And consequently on this Account we must esteem the former to be really and naturally Good things and the latter Evil. Now one would think that one need not spend Time to prove that the Practice of Moral Virtue doth Uniformly and Naturally promote the Happiness of Mankind and that Vice and Immorality do as naturally and necessarily tend to its Misery For doth not any one plainly perceive that there is no Virtue or Part of Morality but what hath some particular Good and Advantage to Human Nature connected with it as all Vice and Wickedness hath the contrary Doth not a sincere Veneration for that Supream and Almighty Being from whom all our Powers and Faculties are derived and a consciousness to our selves that we are obedient to his Will and consequently under his Protection doth not this I say bring constant Peace Comfort and Satisfaction along with it and prove our greatest Support under any Troubles and Afflictions And on the other hand hath not generally speaking he that is guilty of Impiety Profaneness and Irreligion dismal Doubts and dire Suspicions in his Mind of impending Punishments and Misery Is not such a Mans whole course of Action a continual state of War in his own Breast and a constant Contradiction of his Reason and his Conscience What hath such a Person to support him or to give him any comfort on a Sick or a Death-Bed when the hurry and amusements of sensual Pleasure are over and when all the treacherous Enjoyments of this World begin to fail him and discover themselves to be counterfeit and fictitious But again is it not plain to every one that Truth Justice and Benevolence do Naturally and Essentially conduce to the well being and Happiness of Mankind to the mutual support of Society and Commerce and to the Ease Peace and Quiet of all Governments and Communities and doth it not as clearly appear on the contrary that breach of Trusts and Compacts lying and falsifying of Mens Words Injustice Oppression and Cruelty do inevitably render that Place or Society miserable where they abound What an unexpressible wretchedness would Mankind be in if Hobbs his State of Nature were in Being amongst us i. e. a State wherein no Man would have any Notion of Moral Virtue but where every one should think himself to have a right to all things and consequently be still endeavouring to obtain them and making it his daily