parts we neither call Philology nor yet Philosophy our Mistress but serve our selves of Either as Occasion requireth As for the Last Chapter Though it Promise onely a Confutation of all the Atheistick Grounds yet do we therein also Demonstrate the Absolute Impossibility of all Atheism and the Actual Existence of a God We say Demonstrate not A Priori which is Impossible and Contradictious but by Necessary Inference from Principles altogether Vndeniable For we can by no means grant to the Atheists That there is no more then a Probable Persuasion or Opinion to be had of the Existence of a God without any Certain Knowledge or Science Nevertheless it will not follow from hence That whosoever shall Read these Demonstratâ—ons of ours and Vnderstand all the words of them must therefore of Necessity be presently Convinced whether he will or no and put out of all manner of Doubt or Hesitancy concerning the Existence of a God For we Believe That to be True which some have Affirmed That were there any Interest of Life any Concernment of Appetite and Passion against the Truth of Geometricall Theorems themselves as of a Triangle's Having Three Angles Equall to Two Right whereby mens Judgements might be Clouded and Bribed Notwithstanding all the Demonstrations of them many would remain at least Sceptical about them Wherefore meer Speculation and Dry Mathematical Reason in Minds Vnpurified and having a Contrary Interest of Carnality and a heavy Load of Infidelity and Distrust sinking them down cannot alone beget an Unshaken Confidence and Assurance of so High a Truth as this The Existence of One Perfect Understanding Being the Original of all things As it is certain also on the contrary That Minds Cleansed and Purged from Vice may without Syllogisticall Reasonings and Mathematical Demonstrations have an Vndoubted Assurance of the Existence of a God according to that of the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purity Possesses men with an Assurance of the Best things whether this Assurance be called a Vaticination or Divine Sagacity as it is by Plato and Aristotle or Faith as in the Scripture For the Scripture-Faith is not a meer Believing of Historicall Things and upon Inartificiall Arguments or Testimonies onely but a Certain Higher and Diviner Power in the Soul that peculiarly Correspondeth with the Deity Notwithstanding which Knowledge or Science added to this Faith according to the Scripture Advice will make it more Firm and Stedfast and the better able to resist those Assaults of Sophisticall Reasonings that shall be made against it In this Fifth Chapter as sometimes elsewhere we thought Our selves concerned in Defence of the Divine Wisdome Goodness and Perfection against Atheists to maintain with all the Ancient Philosophick Theists the Perfection of the Creation also or that the Whole System of things taken all together could not have been Better Made and Ordered then it is And indeed This Divine Goodness and Perfection as Displaying and Manifesting it self in the Works of Nature and Providence is supposed in Scripture to be the very Foundation of our Christian Faith when that is Defined to be the Substance and Evidence Rerum Sperandarum that is of Whatsoever is by a Good man to be hoped for Notwithstanding which it was far from our Intention therefore to Conclude That Nothing neither in Nature nor Providence could be Otherwise then it is or That there is Nothing left to the Free Will and Choice of the Deity And though we do in the Third Section insist largely upon that Ancient Pythagorick Cabbala That Souls are always United to some Body or other as also That all Rationall and Intellectuall Creatures consist of Soul and Body and suggest several things from Reason and Christian Antiquity in favour of them both yet would we not be Vnderstood to Dogmatize in either of them but to Submit all to better Judgments Again we shall here Advertise the Reader though we have Caution'd concerning it in the Book it self That in our Defence of Incorporeal Substance against the Atheists However we thought our selves concerned to say the utmost that possibly we could in way of Vindication of the Ancients who generally maintained it to be Unextended which to some seems an Absolute Impossibility yet we would not be supposed Ourselves Dogmatically to Assert any more in this Point then what all Incorporealists agree in That there is a Substance Specifically distinct from Body namely such as Consisteth Not of Parts Separable from one another and which can Penetrate Body and Lastly is Self-Active and hath an Internal Energy distinct from that of Locall Motion And thus much is undeniably Evinced by the Arguments before proposed But whether this Substance be altogether Unextended or Extended otherwise then Body we shall leave every man to make his own Judgment concerning it Furthermore We think fit here to Suggest That whereas throughout this Chapter and Whole Book we constantly Oppose the Generation of Souls that is the Production of Life Cogitation and Understanding out of Dead and Sensless Matter and assert all Souls to be as Substantiall as Matter it self This is not done by us out of any fond Addictedness to Pythagorick Whimseys nor indeed out of a meer Partiall Regard to that Cause of Theism neither which we were engaged in though we had great reason to be tender of that too but because we were enforced thereunto by Dry Mathematicall Reason it being as certain to us as any thing in all Geometry That Cogitation and Understanding can never possibly Result out of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Locall Motions which is all that ourselves can allow to Body however Compounded together Nor indeed in that other way of Qualities is it better Conceiveable how they should emerge out of Hot and Cold Moist and Dry Thick and Thin according to the Anaximandrian Atheism And they who can persuade themselves of the Contrary may Believe That any thing may be Caused by any thing upon which Supposition we confess it Impossible to us to prove the Existence of a God from the Phaenomena In the Close of this Fifth Chapter Because the Atheists do in the Last place Pretend Theism and Religion to be Inconsistent with Civil Sovereignty we were necessitated briefly to Unravel and Confute all the Atheistick Ethicks and Politicks Though this more properly belong to our Second Book Intended Where we make it plainly to appear That the Atheists Artificiall and Factitious Justice is Nothing but Will and Words and That they give to Civil Sovereigns no Right nor Authority at all but onely Belluine Liberty and Brutish Force But on the contrary as we Assert Justice and Obligation not Made by Law and Commands but in Nature and Prove This together with Conscience and Religion to be the onâ—ly Basis of Civil Authority so do we also maintain all the Rights of Civil Sovereigns giving both to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's And now having made all our Apologies and Reflexions we have
Proprietaries in this Philosophy but that Protagoras though not vulgarly taken notice of for any such thing being commonly represented as a Sophist only was a sharer in it likewise which Protagoras indeed Laertius and others affirm to have been an Auditor of Democritus and so he might be notwithstanding what Plutarch tells us that Democritus wrote against his taking away way the Absolute Natures of things However we are of Opinion that neither Democritus nor Protagoras nor Lencippus was the first Inventour of this Philosophy and our reason is because they were all three of them Atheists though Protagoras alone was banished for that Crime by the Athenians and we cannot think that any Atheists could be the Inventours of it much less that it was the Genuine Spawn and Brood of Atheism it self as some conceit because however these Atheists adopted it to themselves endeavouring to serve their turns of it yet if rightly understood it is the most effectual Engin against Atheism that can be And we shall make it appear afterwards that never any of those Atheists whether Ancient or Modern how great Pretenders soever to it did throughly understand it but perpetually contradicted themselves in it And this is the Reason why we insist so much upon this Philosophy here not only because without the perfect knowledge of it we cannot deal with the Atheists at their own Weapon but also because we doubt not but to make a Sovereign Antidote against Atheism out of that very Philosophy which so many have used as a Vehiculum to convey this Poyson of Atheism by IX But besides Reason we have also good Historical probability for this Opinion that this Philosophy was a thing of much greater Antiquity than either Democritus or Leucippus and first because Posidonius an Ancient and Learned Philosopher did as both Empiricus and Strabo tell us avouch it for an old Tradition that the first Inventour of this Atomical Philosophy was one Moschus a Phoenician who as Strab◠also notes lived before the Trojan Wars X. Moreover it seems not altogether Improbable but that this Moschus a Phoenician Philosopher mentioned by Posidonius might be the same with that Mochus a Phoenician Physiologer in Jamblichus with whose Successors Priests and Prophets he affirms that Pythagoras sometimes sojourning at Sidon which was his native City had converst Which may be taken for an Intimation as if he had been by them instructed in that Atomical Physiology which Moschus or Mochus the Phoenician is said to have been the Inventour of Mochus or Moschus is plainly a Phoenician Name and there is one Mochus a Phoenician Writer cited in Athenaeus whom the Latin Translator calls Moschus and Mr. Selden approves of the Conjecture of Arcerius the Publisher of Jamblichus that this Mochus was no other than the Celebrated Moses of the Jews with whose Successors the Jewish Philosophers Priests and Prophets Pythagoras conversed at Sidon Some Phantastick Atomists perhaps would here catch at this to make their Philosophy to stand by Divine Right as owing its Original to Revelation whereas Philosophy being not a Matter of Faith but Reason Men ought not to affect as I conceive to derive its Pedigree from Revelation and by that very pretence seek to impose it Tyrannically upon the minds of Men which God hath here purposely left Free to the use of their own Faculties that so finding out Truth by them they might enjoy that Pleasure and Satisfaction which arises from thence But we aim here at nothing more than a Confirmation of this Truth That the Atomical Physiology was both older than Democritus and had no such Atheistical Original neither And there wants not other Good Authority for this That Pythagaras did borrow many things from the Jews and translate them into his Philosophy XI But there are yet other Considerable Probabilities for this that Pythagoras was not unacquainted with the Atomical Physiology And first from Democritus himself who as he was of the Italick Row or Pythagorick Succession so it is recorded of him in Laertius that he was a great Emulator of the Pythagoreans and seemed to have taken all his Philosophy from them Insomuch that if Chronology had not contradicted it it would have been concluded that he had been an Auditour of Pythagoras himself of whom he testified his great admiration in a Book entitled by his Name Moreover some of his Opinions had a plain Correspondency with the Pythagorick Doctrines forasmuch as Democritus did not only hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Atoms were carried round in a Vortex but also together with Leucippus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Earth was carried about the Middle or Centre of this Vortex which is the Sun turning in the mean time round upon its own Axis And just so the Pythagorick Opinion is expressed by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Earth as one of the Stars that is a Planet being carried round about the Middle or Centre which is Fire or the Sun did in the mean time by its Circumgyration upon its own Axis make day and night Wherefore it may be reasonably from hence concluded that as Democritus his Philosophy was Pythagorical so Pythagoras his Philosophy was likewise Democritical or Atomical XII But that which is of more Moment yet we have the Authority of Ecphantus a famous Pythagorean for this that Pythagoras his Monads so much talked of were nothing else but Corporeal Atoms Thus we find it in Stobaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecphantus who himself asserted the Doctrine of Atoms first declared that the Pythagorick Monads were Corporeal i. ◠Atoms And this is further confirmed from what Aristotle himself writes of these Pythagoreans and their Monads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They suppose their Monads to have Magnitude And from that he elsewhere makes Monads and Atoms to signifie the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It s all one to say Monades or small Corpuscula And Gassendus hath observed out of the Greek Epigrammatist that Epicurus his Atoms were sometimes called Monads too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XIII But to pass from Pythagoras himself That Empedocles who was a Pythagorean also did Physiologize Atomically is a thing that could hardly be doubted of though there were no more Proof for it than that one Passage of his in his Philosophick Poems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is nothing but the Mixture and Separation of things mingled or thus There is no production of any thing anew but only mixture and separation of things mingled Which is not only to be understood of Animals according to the Pythagorick Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls but also as himself expounds it Universally of all Bodies that their Generation and Corruption is nothing but Mixture and Separation or as Aristotle expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concretion and Secretion of Parts together with Change of Figure and Order It may perhaps be objected that Empedocles held four
Active Power Three Inadequate Conceptions thereof 'T is true that Plotinus was so high flown as to maintain that the First and Highest Principle of all by reason of its Perfect Vnity and Simplicity is above the Multiplicity of Knowledge and Understanding and therefore does not so much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a proper sence Vnderstand it self Notwithstanding which this Philosopher himself adds that it cannot therefore be said to be Ignorant nor Vnwise neither these Expressions belonging only to such a Being as was by Nature Intellectual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intellectus nisi intelligat demens meritò judicatur And he seems to grant that it hath a certain Simple Clarity and Brightness in it Superiour to that of Knowledge As the Body of the Sun has a certain Brightness Superiour to that Secondary Light which streameth from it and that it may be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge it self that does not Vnderstand as Motion it self does not Move But this can hardly be conceived by ordinary Mortals that the Highest and most Perfect of all Beings should not fully comprehend it self the Extent of its own Fecundity and Power and be conscious of all that proceedeth from it though after the most Simple manner And therefore this high-flown conceit of Plotinus and perhaps of Plato himself too has been rejected by latter Platonists as Phantastical and Unsafe for thus Simplicius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it must needs have also the most perfect Knowledge since it cannot be ignorant of any thing that is produced from it self And St. Austin in like manner confutes that Assertion of some Christians that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eternal Word was that very Wisdom and Vnderstanding by which the Father himself was wise as making it nothing but an Inadequate Conception of God But this opinion that the Christian Trinity is but a Trinity of Words or meer Logical Notions and Inadequate Conceptions of God hath been plainly condemned by the Christian Church in Sabellius and others Wherefore we con-clude it to be a Trinity of Hypostases or Subsistences or Persons The Second Thing that we observe concerning the Christian Trinity is this that though the Second Hypostasis or Person thereof were begotten from the First and the Third Proceedeth both from the First and Second yet are neither this Second nor Third Creatures and that for these following Reasons First because they were not made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Arius maintained that is from an Antecedent Non-existence brought forth into being nor can it be said of either of them Erat Quando Non erant that once they were not but their Going forth Was from Eternity and they were both Coeve and Coeternal with the Father Secondly because they were not only Eternal Emanations if we may so call them but also Necessary and therefore are they both also Absolutely Vndestroyable and Vnannihilable Now according to true Philosophy and Theology no Creature could have existed from Eternity nor be Absolutely Vndestroyable and therefore that which is both Eternal and Vndestroyable is ipso facto Vncreated Nevertheless because some Philosophers have asserted though erroneously both the whole World's Eternity and its being a Necessary Emanation also from the Deity and consequently that it is Vndestroyable we shall therefore further add that these Second and Third Hypostases or Persons of the Holy Trinity are not only therefore Vncreated because they were both Eternal and Necessary Emanations and likewise are Vnannihilable but also because they are Vniversal each of them comprehending the Whole World and all created things under it which Vniversality of theirs is the same thing with Infinity Whereas all other Beings besides this Holy Trinity are Particular and Finite Now we say that no Intellectual Being which is not only Eternal and Necessarily Existent or Vndestroyable but also Vniversal or Infinite can be a Creature Again in the Last place we add that these Three Hypostases or Persons are truly and really One God Not only because they have all Essentially One and the same Will according to that of Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We worship the Father of Truth and the Son the Truth it self being Two Things as to Hypostasis but one in Agreement Consent and Sameness of Will but also because they are Physically if we may so speak One also and have a Mutual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inexistence and Permeation of one another according to that of our Saviour Christ I am In the Father and the Father In Me. And the Father that Dwelleth In Me he doth the Works We grant indeed that there can be no Instance of the like Unity or Oneness found in any Created Beings nevertheless we certainly know from our very selves that it is not impossible for two distinct Substances that are of a very different Kind from one another the One Incorporeal the other Corporeal to be so closely united together as to become One Animal and Person much less therefore should it be thought impossible for these Three Divine Hypostases to be One God We shall conclude here with Cnfidence that the Christian Trinity though there be very much of Mystery in it yet is there nothing at all of plain Contradiction to the Undoubted Principles of Humane Reason that is of Impossibility to be found therein as the Atheists would pretend who cry down all for Non-sence and Absolute Impossibility which their Dull Stupidity cannot reach to or their Infatuated Minds easily comprehend and therefore even the Deity it self And it were to be wished that some Religionists and Trinitarians did not here symbolize too much with them in affecting to represent the Mystery of the Christian Trinity as a thing directly contradictious to all Humane Reason and Understanding and that perhaps out of design to make men surrender up themselves and Consciences in a Blind and Implicit Faith wholly to their Guidance as also to debauch their Understandings by this means to the swallowing down of other Opinions of theirs plainly repugnant to Humane Faculties As who should say he that believes the Trinity as well all must do if we will be Christians should boggle at nothing in Religion never after nor scrupulously chew or examine any thing as if there could be nothing more Contradictious or Impossible to Humane Understanding propounded than this Article of the Christian Faith But for the present we shall endeavour only to shew that the Christian Trinity though a Mystery yet is much more agreeable to Reason than that Platonick or Pseudo-Platonick Trinity before described and that in those Three Particulars then mentioned For First when those Platonists and Pythagoreans interpret their Third God or Last Hypostasis of their Trinity to be either the World or else a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an Immediate Soul thereof as together with the World its Body makes up One Animal and God as there is plainly too great a Leap here
Dignity of its Hypostatick Vnion but by reason of its most faithful adherence to the Divine Word and Wisdom in a Pre-existent State beyond all others Souls which he endeavours thus to prove from the Scripture Quòd dilectionis Perfectio affectus sinceritas ei inseparabilem cum Deo fecerit Vnitatem ità ut non fortuita fuerit aut cum Personae acceptione Animae ejus assumptio sed Virtutum suarum sibi merito delata audi ad eum Prophetam dicentem Dilexisti Justitiam odisti iniquitatem proptereà unxit te Deus Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae participibus tuis Dilectionis ergo merito ungitur Oleo laetitiae Anima Christi id est cum Verbo Dei Vnum efficitur Vngè namque oleo laetitiae non aliud intelligitur quam Spiritu Sancto repleri Prae Participibus autem dixit quia nâ—n Gratia Spiritus sicut Prophetis ei data est sed ipsius Verbi Dei in ea Substantialis inerat Plenitudo That the Perfection of Love and Sincerity of Divine Affection procured to this Soul its Inseparable Vnion with the Godhead so that the Assumption of it was neither Fortuitous nor Partial or with Prosopolepsie the Acception of Persons but bestowed upon it justly for the Merit of its Vertues hear saith he the Prophet thus declaring to him Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore hath God even thy God anointed thee with the oil of Gladness above thy Fellows The Soul of Christ therefore was anointed with the oil of Gladness or made one with the Word of God for the Merits of Love and faithful adherence to God and no otherwise For to be anointed with the oil of Gladness here properly signifies nothing else but to be replenish'd with the Holy Ghost But when it is said that he was thus anointed above his Fellows this intimateth that he had not the Holy Ghost bestowed upon him only as the Prophets and other Holy men had but that the Substantial Fulness of the Word of God dwelt in him But this Reason of Origen's seems to be very weak because if there be a Rank of Souls below Humane specifically differing from the same as Origen himself must needs confess he not allowing the Souls of Brutes to have been Humane Souls Lapsed as some Pythagoreans and Platonists conceited but renouncing and disclaiming that Opinion as monstrously Absurd and Irrational there can be no reason given why there might not be as well other Ranks and Orders of Souls Superiour to those of Men without the Injustice of Prosopolepsie as besides Simplicius Plotinus and the Generality of other Platonists conceived But least of all can we assent to Origen when from this Principle that Souls as such are Essentially endowed with Liberum Arbitrium or Free Will and therefore never in their own Nature Impeccable he infers those Endless Circuits of Souls Vpwards and Downwards and so makes them to be never at rest denying them any Fixed State of Holiness and Happiness by Divine Grace such as wherein they might be free from the Fear and Danger of ever losing the same Of whom St. Austin therefore thus Illum propter alia nonnulla maximè propter alternantes sine cessatione beatitudines miserias statutis seculorum intervallis ab istis ad illas atque ab illis ad istas Itus ac Reditus Interminabiles non immeritò reprobavit Ecclesia quia hoc quod Misericors videbatur amisit faciendo sanctis Veras Miserias quibus poenas luerent Falsas Beatitudines in quibus verum ac securum hoc est sine Timore certum sempiterni boni gaudium non haberent The Church hath deservedly rejected Origen both for certain other opinions of his and especially for those his Alternate Beatitudes and Miseries without end and for his infinite Circuits Ascents and Descents of Souls from one to the other in restless Vicissitudes and after Periods of Time Forasmuch as hereby he hath quite lost that very Title of Pitiful or Merciful which otherwise he seemed to have deserved by making so many True Miseries for the best of Saints in which they should successively undergo Punishment and Smart and none but False Happinesses for them such as wherein they could never have any True or Secure joy free from the Fear of losing that Good which they possess For this Origenical Hypothesis seems directly contrary to the whole Tenour of the Gospel promising Eternal and Everlasting Life to those who believe in Christ and Perseveringly obey him 1 Joh. 2. This is the Promise that he hath Promised us even Eternal Life and Titus 1.2 In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot Lye hath promised And God so loved the World that he gave his only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life and lest all this should be taken for a Periodical Eternity only John 3.26 He that believeth in me shall never die And possibly this might be the Meaning of St. Paul 2 Tim. 1.10 when he affirmeth of our Saviour Christ That he hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light thorough the Gospel not because he was the First who had discovered and published to the World the Souls Immortality which was believed before not only by all the Pharisaick Jews but also by the Generality of Pagans too but because these for the most part held their Endless Circuits and Transmigrations of Souls therefore was he the First who brought Everlasting Life to Light and gave the World assurance in the Faith of the Gospel of a Fixed and Permanent State of Happiness and a never fading Crown of Glory to be obteined Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out Apoc. 3.12 Now the Reason why we mention'd Origen here was because he was a Person not only thoroughly skilled in all the Platonick Learning but also one who was sufficiently addicted to those Dogmata he being commonly conceived to have had too great a kindness for them and therefore had there been any Solidity of Reason for either those Particular Henades or Noes of theirs Created Beings above the Rank of Souls and consequently according to the Platonick Hypothesis Superiour to the Vniversal Psyche also which was the Third Hypostasis in their Trinity and seems to answer to the Holy Ghost in the Christian Origen was as likely to have been favourable thereunto as any other But it is indeed manifestly repugnant to Reason that there should be any such Particular that is Created Henades and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essential Goodnesses Superiour to the Platonick First Mind or any such Noes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essential Wisdoms Superiour to their Vniversal Psyche it being all one as if in the Christian Trinity besides the First Person or the Father one should suppose a Multitude of Particular Paternities Superiour to the Second and also besides that Second
no other than what besides Hesiod the Scripture it self also attributes to God almighty that he affecteth to Humble and Abase the Pride of men and to pull down all High Towering and Lofty things whether as Noxious and Hurtful to the men themselves or as in some sence Invidious to him and Derogatory from his Honour who alone ought to be exalted and no flesh to glory before him And there hath been so much experience of such a thing as this in the world that the Epicurean Poet himself could not but confess that there was some Hidden Force or Power which seemed to have a spite to all Over-swelling Greatnesses and affect to cast contempt and scorn upon the Pride of men Vsque adeò res humanas Vis Abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur Where he plainly Reel'd and Stagger'd in his Atheism or else was indeed a Theist but knew it not it being certain that there can be no such Force as this in Regno Atomorum in the Reign or Empire of Sensless Atoms And as for those among Christians who make such a horrid Representation of God Almighty as one who Created far the greatest part of mankind for no other end or design but only this that he might Recreate and Delight himself in their Eternal Torments these also do but transcribe or copy out their own Ill Nature and then read it in the Deity the Scripture declaring on the contrary That God is Love Nevertheless these very persons in the mean time dearly hug and embrace God Almighty in their own Conceit as one that is Fondly Good Kind and Gracious to themselves he having fastned his affections upon their very Persons without any consideration of their Dispositions or Qualifications It is true indeed that Religion is often expressed in the Scripture by the Fear of God and Fear hath been said to be Prima Mensura Deitatis the First Measure of the Divinity in us or the First Impression that Religion makes upon men in this Obnoxious and Guilty state before they have arrived to the true Love of God and Righteousness But this Religious Fear is not a Fear of God as a meer Arbitrary Omnipotent Being much less as Hurtful and Mischievous which could not be disjoyned from Hatred but an aweful regard of him as of one who is Essentially Just and as well a Punisher of Vice and Wickedness as a Rewarder of Vertue Lucretius himself when he describes this Religious Fear of men confessing it to to be conjoyned with a Conscience of their Duty or to include the same within it self Tunc Populi Gentesque tremunt c. Ne quod ob admissum foedè dictumve superbè Poenarum grave sit solvendi tempus adactum And this is the Sence of the Generality of mankind that there being a Natural Difference of Good and Evil Moral there is an Impartial Justice in the Deity which presideth over the same and inclines it as well to Punish the wicked as to Reward the Vertuous Epicurus himself acknowledging thus much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theists suppose that there are both great Evils inflicted upon the wicked from the Gods and also great Rewards by them bestowed upon the Good And this Fear of God is not only Beneficial to mankind in general by repressing the growth of wickedness but also wholesom and Salutary to those very persons themselves that are thus Religiously affected it being Preservative of them both from Moral Evils and likewise from the Evils of Punishment consequent thereupon This is the True and Genuine Fear of Religion which when it degenerates into a Dark kind of Jealous and Suspicious Fear of God Almighty either as a Hurtful or as a meer Arbitrary and Tyrannical Being then is it look'd upon as the Vice or Extreme of Religion and distinguished from it by that name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superstition Thus is the Character of a Superstitious Man given by Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he thinks there are Gods but that they are Noxious and Hurtful and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Superstitious man must needs Hate God as well as Fear him The true Fear of God as the Son of Sirach speaks is the Beginning of his Love and Faith is the Beginning of cleaving to him As if he should have said The first Entrance into Religion is an Awful regard to God as the Punisher of Vice the Second step forwards therein is Faith or Confidence in God whereby men Rely upon him for Good and Cleave to him and the Top and Perfection of all Religion is the Love of God above all as the most Amiable Being Christianity the best of Religions recommendeth Faith to us as the Inlet or Introduction into all True and Ingenuous Piety for He that cometh to God must not only believe that he Is but also that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him Which Faith is better defined in the Scripture than by any Scholastick to be the Substance of things that are to be hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen That is a Confident Perswasion of things that fall not under Sight because they are either Invisible or Future and which also are to be Hoped for So that Religious Fear consisteth well with Faith and Faith is near of kin to Hope and the result of both Faith and Hope is Love which Faith Hope and Love do all suppose an Essential Goodness in the Deity God is such a Being who if He were not were of all things whatsoever most to be Wished for It being indeed no way desirable as that noble Emperour concluded for a man to live in a world void of a God and Providence He that believes a God believes all that Good and Perfection in the Vniverse which his Heart can possibly wish or desire It is the Interest of none that there should be no God but only of such wretched Persons as have abandoned their First and only true Interest of being Good and Friends to God and are desperately resolved upon ways of Wickedness The Reason why the Atheists do thus grosly mistake the Notion of God and conceive of him differently from the Generality of mankind as a thing which is only to be Feared and must consequently be Hated is from nothing but their own Vice and Ill Nature For first their Vice so far blinding them as to make them think that the Moral Differences of Good and Evil have no foundation in Nature but only in Law or Arbitrary Constitution which Law is contrary to Nature Nature being Liberty but Law Restraint as they cannot but really Hate that which Hinders them of their True Liberty and Chief Good so must they needs interpret the Severity of the Deity so much spoken of against Wickedness to be nothing else but Cruelty and Arbitrary Tyranny Again it is a wretched Ill-natured Maxim which these Atheists have That
said They have well spoken that which they have spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee and put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him and whosoever will not hearken to the words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Which is all one as if he should have said I will no more speak to them with Thunder and Lightning nor reveal my will with a Terrible Voyce out of Flaming Fire but the next great Manifestation of my self or further Revelation of my Will shall be by a Prophet from amongst their own Brethren I putting my words into his mouth and speaking to them by him Whose words they shall be as much obliged to hearken to as if I had spoken them as before from the top of the Fiery Mount And that they may have no Colour for their Disbelieving this great Prophet especially or their disobeying of him I plainly declare that whosoever cometh in my Name and does True and Real Miracles shall be acknowledged undoubtedly for a True Prophet sent by me and accordingly Believed and Obeyed and none rejected under the Notion of False Prophets but only such as either do not Real Miracles or else if they do come in the name of Other Gods or Exhort to Idolatry Nevertheless our Saviour Christ wrought other Miracles also of a higher Nature by the Immediate Power of God Almighty himself as for example when before himself he raised Lazarus who had been dead four days to life since it cannot be conceived to be in the Power of Created Spirits whether Bad or Good when ever they please to bring back the Souls of men deceased to their Bodies again or change the Laws of Nature and Fate However it must not be thought that God will ever set this Seal of his to a Lye or that which is plainly contrary to the Light and Law of Nature The conclusion is that though all Miracles promiscuously do not immediatly prove the Existence of a God nor Confirm a Prophet or whatsoever Doctrine yet do they all of them evince that there is a Rank of Invisible Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men which the Atheists commonly deny And we read of some such Miracles also as could not be wrought but by a Power Perfectly Super Natural or by God Almighty himself But to deny and disbelieve all Miracles is either to deny all Certainty of Sense which would be indeed to make Sensation it self Miraculous or else monstrously and unreasonably to derogate from Humane Testimonies and History The Jews would never have so stifly and pertinaciously adhered to the Ceremonial Law of Moses had they not all along believed it to have been unquestionably confirmed by Miracles and that the Gentiles should at first have entertained the Faith of Christ without Miracles would it self have been The Greatest of Miracles The Last Extraordinary Phaenomenon proposed was that of Divination Oracles Prophecies or Predictions of Future Events otherwise Unforeknowable to men which either Evince a God or at least that there are Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men For if there be Presention or Foreknowledge of such Future Events as are to Humane Understanding alone altogether Unforeknowable then is it certain that there is some more Perfect Vnderstanding or Knowledge in the World than that of men And thus is that Maxim of the Ancient Pagan Theists in the Genuine and proper sense thereof unquestionably true Si Divinatio est Dii sunt If there be Divination or Presention of Future Events Vndiscoverable by men then are there Gods which in their Language was no more than to say Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men Wherefore we must here distinguish of Oracles and Predictions after the same manner as we did before of Mirâ—â—les that they may be of Two Kinds First such as might proceed only from the Natural Presaging Power of Created Spirits Superiour to men whether called Angels or Demons For these being supposed to have not only clearer understandings than men and a greater insight into Nature but also be reason of their Agility and Invisibility opportunity of knowing things remotely distant and of being privy to mens Secret Machinations and Consultations it is easily conceivable that many Future Events nigh at hand which cannot be foreknown by men may be probably at least foreseen by them and that without any Miraculous Divine Revelation their Causes being already in Being As men learned in Astronomy can foretel Eclipses of the Sun and Moon which to the Vulgar are altogether Unforeknowable And as Princes or States-men that are furnished with great Intelligence Foreign and Domestick can presage more of War and Peace either at home or abroad and of the Events of Kingdoms than Ignorant Plebeians And such were those Predictions which Democritus though otherwise much addicted to Atheism allowed of Cicero Writing thus of him Plurimis Locis gravis auct or Democritus Praesensionem rerum futurarum comprobat Democritus a grave Writer doth in many places approve of the Presention of Future Events The reason whereof was because he supposed certain Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men called by him Idols which having a larger Comprehension of things and other advantages of Knowledge could therefore foretel many Future Events that men were ignorant of And though perhaps it may be thought that Democritus would not have entertained this Opinion of the Foreknowledge of Humane Events had he not asserted the Necessity of all humane Actions and Volitions but held Liberty of Will as Epicurus afterwards did as if this were Inconsistent with all manner of Presage and Probable or Conjectural Foreknowledge yet is it certain that there is not so much Contingency in all Humane Actions by reason of this Liberty of Will as heretofore was by Epicurus and still is by many supposed it being plain that men act according to an Appearance of Good and that in many cases and circumstances it may be Foreknown without any Divine Revelation what such or such persons would do As for example that a voluptuous Person having a strong Temptation to satisfie his Sensual Appetite and that without incurring any inconvenience of shame or punishment would readily close with the same Besides which such Invisible Spirits as Angels or Demons may sometimes Predict also what themselves Cause and Effect Secondly there is another Sort of Predictions of Future Events which cannot be imputed to the Natural Presaging Faculty of any such Created Spirits but only to the Supernatural Prescience of God Almighty or a Being Infinitely Perfect As when Events remotely distant in time and of which there are yet no immediate Causes actually in Being which also depend upon many circumstances and a long Series of things any one of which being otherwise would alter the case as likewise upon much Uncertainty of Humane Volitions which are not always necessarily linked and concatenated with what goes before but often loose and free