it but the Imperfection of our own Understandings It is not because the Perfections they present us with have no end but because we want Light to discover them So that this is so far from proving that there is Knowledge enough in the World without Religion to satisfie us that it proves the quite contrary That if there be no such thing as Religion our Understandings must necessarily be a perpetual Torment to us for want of something to satisfie them For all other Knowledge is either dissatisfactory because it has its limits or because it is obscure and cannot easily be come at If we cannot attain to the utmost Truth that it contains our Ignorance will be our Reproach and Torment but if we can our Understanding will be dissatisfied because it has nothing more to know and must for ever afterwards be forced to lie idle But now it is the peculiar Excellency of Religion that it presents us with the sublimest Truths sets before us Perfections that are infiniet and yet delivers them with that plainness that its severest Enemies do not pretend that its discoveries are either intricate or dark And besides there is no other Knowledge besides that of Religion that does immediately concern or is of use to our Minds But either it is of no use at all to us or its usefulness reaches no farther than the Interests of our Bodies And what a Calamity must it be to our Mind to know nothing that is for its own good What a dissatisfaction must it be to our Understandings to search and enquire after Truths that they can reap no profit by and that all the Knowledge they can possibly can attain to is no way serviceable to their own Interests But 2. As to that Practical Knowledge which consists in our being acquainted with those Rules of Life whereby we are to judge of what is good or ill ofr us who does not feel the great benefit and advantage it is to us What is it that Men do more value themselves upon and take greater pleasure in than in an Opinon of their own Prudence and Discretion That they make use of Jubgment and Consideration for the directing their ways and by wisely weighing before-hand the different circumstances of Things do take care to avoid that which is hurtfull to them Every Man in his Employment does find a great deal of contentment in himself from such a use of his Understanding and as oft as by a carefull consideration he prevents any damage to his affairs he is extreamly pleas'd to think that he has not acted like a Fool. But on the other hand with what vexation do Men reflect upon their own folly when by a careless over-sight or a hearty rash action they have prejudiced their affairs Now what does all this serve for but to satisfie us that it is impossible that any thing but Wisdom should content the Under standing of a Man In this case the question lies between Wisdom and Folly Whether it be as agreeable and satisfactory to our Minds to be destitute of the Art and Skill to manage our selves to our own infinite Advantage or to be so wise as to know what is really best for us Now it is plain that in all the concerns of this life no Man does reckon it any part of his felicity that he knows not how to manage his Trade and Calling his Affairs or Estate with discretion but is forced for want of Judgment to venture at all without ever consulting what will be the issue of it No Man does think that the foolish imprudent Man does enjoy the most satisfaction in his Mind even upon the account of his folly But every Man laments it as a misfortune when he feels the Effects of it And since then no Man is willing to run himself upon any inconvenience if he can avoid it it is a plain argument that it is a very gratefull thing to the Mind to be capble of discerning between Good and Evil. But then the Question is Whether there be no other Prudence but that which has a respect to this life and whether this be sufficient to satisfie our Minds It is certain that the Understanding does find a great deal of pleasure in being able to discover and prevent those Temporal inconveniences which would give us a great deal of trouble But then this is onely such a pleasure as one friend takes in the prosperity and good fortune of another It is upon the account of the intimacy that is between the Soul and the Body that the Mind rejoyces at the success of that advice and counsel whereby the condition of so near a friend is better'd But where lies the great Good of all this to it self What is it the better for its own Prudence if it be not prudent for it self Is it likely that its joy for the good state it procures for the Body should over-weigh its dissatisfaction for acting foolishly in its own concern Or may it be imprudent for it self without any trouble when every Man feels the Calamity of being indiscreet in the management of those affairs that respect the Body If there be no Religion then it can be under no Obligation to avoid any sort of Actions but as they cross our Temporal Interests And if so there are no kind of Actions that are peculiarly gratefull to the Mind and which the Reason of a Man can take pleasure in but as it finds the Body and its Interests benefited by it And if every thing be reasonable or unreasonable as it is either for the profit or hurt of our present concerns Reason is of no use at all to the Mind nor is it possible for it to do any good to it self by all its Prudence but Folly and Wisdom must be equally gratefull to it But if there be a sort of Folly that the Mind is afflicted with even when the Body receives no hurt by it it must be because there are some Actions so reasonable in themselves and others so deform'd that it cannot be well at ease but by acting as advisedly for it self as it does for the Body And what does all this import but that there are such Rules of Life as having a peculiar respect to the good of the Soul the Mind of Man cannot be satisfied in it self unless it be well skill'd in them For it must assuredly be as sensible of its own good and harm as it can be of that of the Body and be as deeply affected with that Folly which occasions the doing any thing that is unreasonable as that which is attended with Tomporal inconveniences 3. I proceed to that other sort of Knowledge that respects our Actions when done and consists in a serious re-viewing and examination of them and a capacity to pass a judgment upon the goodness or illness of ' em And there is as much satisfaction accrues to our Mind from this capacity and skill as from any other I do not suppose that it is
unless we employ the several Powers of our Nature a-right It is as much against Nature to make use of an understanding Faculty in the service of our Bodies onely I mean in worldly or bodily Solicitudes what we shall eat and what we shall drink or how we shall drive on our worldly Aims as if a Man should resolve to hear with his Eyes And hence it comes to pass that when Men make no other use of this Faculty than this comes to after a life of many years spent in Thoughtfulness and anxious Solicitudes for the things that relate to their Bodies onely they are as far at last from being happy as they were at first It is with Men in this case as it is with Children who think if they were but at the top of such a Hill as lies at a good distance from them they should touch the Sun and yet when they come there they are no nearer it than at first And thus it would be should they go round the World Thus Men that use their Understandings onely in worldly or sensual Projects believe that in compassing such a design or enjoying such a good they shall compleat their happiness and yet when they have done it they are as far from being satisfied as they were before And this they continue to be when they have gone the whole Round of their Lives Now the reason of this dissatisfaction does lie in this That they abuse their own Minds and do not make a right use of their Understandings For it is not the bare using our Faculties will make us happy but the using them to their own true and proper Ends. And it must needs give great distast and be very dissatisfactory factory to our Minds to have its noblest Faculty employ'd in mean and sordid Services and not be permitted to discover its true and utmost usefulness to us to drudge for the Body and not do its own proper work and consult its own good 3. The satisfaction must arise from the enjoyment of that good as is suitalbe to the Nature of each Faculty So the satisfaction of the Eye is from beholding the light and the beauty of those Objects which the Day discovers And the thing that is dissatisfactory to this sense is Darkness or the want of an Object to behold or else such an imperfect Light as is not sufficient for a clear perception But yet that which is gratefull to the Eye does give no satisfaction to the Ear and the best Melody in the World as much as it pleases the Ear does not at all affect the Eye So it is likewise with a respect to the higher Powers of our Souls They have some good that does peculiarly belong to them from the enjoyhment of which alone does arise their satisfactgion And 't is as preposterous a thing for a Man to think himself happy without it as it is to gratifie the Eye without light Men may boast of the mighty Pleasures and wonderfull Satisfactions they meet with in a voluptuous senfual way of living but what pleasure can a Soul take in the delights of a Hog How is it possible that the Mind of Man should be satisfied with the glories of the World which is the pleasure of the Eye or with those gratefull Sounds that are the delightes of the Ear or with those well-cook'd Dainties that gratifie the Palate The Mind and Soul of Man is no more made for these things than the Eye is to rejoyce in the Melody of Sounds But if we will as well satisfie them as our bodily Senses we must search for delights that are more accommmodated to their Nature Who can think that his Understanding is given him for no other pleasure than that which his Eye or his Ear is sufficient to him for Or that he has a Soul which a Beast wants onely to tast the Pleasures of a Beast Bodily Enjoyments are onely proper to satisfie our bodily Senses but the Happiness of a Man does suppose that our Souls as well as our Bodies are possess'd of that good that they can take pleasure in This then being the Nature of that Happiness we are to aim at I come 2. To make it appear That without Religion it is impossible our Nature should be perfectly at ease and fully satisfied And this is very evident from what has been said concerning the Nature of that satisfaction that our Happiness consists in For if there be something in us that all the bodily Pleasures and Enjoyments of this World cannot satisfie there will after all the care we can take to provide for our Flesh be something in us that is dissatisfied And so long as there is any thing in us that is no satisfied we must be troubled with such gnawings as will not suffer us to be any more at ease than if we had Eyes and yet nothing to see But besides this we have the tacit Confession of the Enemies of Religion against themselves For while the satisfactiion they aim at respects onely the Body they leave their Souls out of their care and consideration For no Man eats and drinks or gratifies his Eyes and Ears for the ease and quiet of his Mind They do not pretend to the satisfying their Minds or delighting their Consciences by indulging to the Pleasures of a sensual life No the Soul is so little concern'd in these things and they are so sensible of the wrong and mischief they do themselves in this respect that as soon as they resolve upon such a way of living they as it were throw away their Souls and tie up their Conscience that they may without disturbance reap the satisfaction they aim at They are forced to run away from themselves and to avoid all communications with their own hearts and find a necessity of being strangers at home and of forbidding their own Minds to tell their dissatisfactions For should they but ask their own Souls what pleasure they take in their Rioting and Excess or what content their bodily Enjoyments give them they would let 'em know that these are things that grieve and vex that make 'em weak and languishing and that expose them to Death and Misery They would complain of their hard fate of being compell'd to feed upon Husks and Trash and deprived of the pleasure of their own proper Entertainments And therefore every wicked Man is put upon hard shifts to avoid all interviews with his own Mind lest he should be chid and upbraided for his brutishness in taking so little notice of hmself Which is an argument of an inward sense that all is not right with him within but that he carries those dissatisfactions in his breast that if he should once hearken to them would damp all his mirth For why should he be afraid of meeting his own Conscience if he was not sensible he has done it a great deal of wrong Why should he avoid enquiring of his own Mind whether his was of living be good for it if he
dispose us to it and without it this manly Principle must not onely be useless but a torment to us § 1. It disposes us for Religion and capacitates us to make it our business and employment For as that which makes us value our selves at a higher rate than we do a beast is a thinking considering Principle we find it enables us to apprehend such Perfections as are not to be found in any created Beings and of contemplating the Natures of things that our Eyes never saw nor our Ears ever heard It is not onely in contemplating the Natures and searching out the Properties and discovering the Uses that belong to the several Beings of this visible World that this Faculty is employ'd in but it goes further and is apprehensive of such Wisdom Power and Goodness as lies not within the compass of all that is visible before us It can pass through all the Objects of Sense and go beyond all the Boundaries of Time and consider a Being whose Nature is purely Spiritual and whose Duration is Eternal In a word it can form an Idea and apprehend the necessity of a Being who is absolutely perfect Now that this Faculty is capable of being thus employed in contemplating the Nature and Perfections of an infinitely glorious and most transcendantly excellent Being every Man that will but make a trial of the power of it may satisfie himself For when we consider how different the Natures and Perfections of created Beings are and that Man who values himself as the most excellent Creature in this visible World does enjoy those Perfections in which his greater Excellency does consist in a very imperfect manner what Difficulty can there be in apprehending a Being that is not onely more excellent than Man but that has all those Perfections that Man is excellent for and by which one Man is more Excellent than another in the most perfect manner This the Atheist as unwilling as he is to believe there is a God is very sensible of For he does not undertake to prove that we have no such Idea nor are capable of any such apprehensions he does not pretend that he finds no such power in himself or that by the best use of his reason he cannot form any conceptions in his mind of a Being that is absolutely perfect but the arguments he makes use of to prove there is no such Being do suppose that we are apprehensive of such a Being They pretend that Education has laid this and all other Principles of Religion in our minds and that the knowledge we have of invisible Beings is thrust upon us in our Childhood as soon as we begin to have the least use of Reason Now supposing this was true yet it supposes that there is such a faculty in us as is capable of discerning and receiving such things and which consequently does exactly fit us for a life of Religion For if there was not how could Education train us up to such a Knowledge any more than a Beast How can we be taught to know and adore a Being whose Perfections are infinite any more than an Ox or an Ass if there be not something in us that qualifies us for such a Knowledge as is not in them All the teaching in the World would signifie nothing to us if there was not a principle in us that was capable of receiving an instruction of this nature And now since there is such a faculty in us as is capable of knowing an infinitely perfect Being we have no reason to doubt whether there be such a Being or no any more than whether there be any visible Objects in the World since we have Eyes to see them If it be said that our Minds are capable of framing Idea's of things that are not I grant it but then when we do so we are sensible that we do so and of the manner how we do so I mean the Mind is aware that all such fictitious and chimerical conceptions are Creatures of its own framing and that there is something in Nature out of which it does make them The framing of them is indeed the work of the Understanding but it belches its matter out of which it makes them from something that has a real Existence For it is impossible for the Mind to frame an Idea out of nothing or to be taught to know any thing that never had a Being nor any thing out of which it could be framed And such is our Idea of an infinitely perfect Being we neither know that it is a Creature of our own Minds nor is there any thing in this World out of which we can form such a conception We neither know when we form'd it nor how nor is there any Being that is perfect enough to furnish us with Materials for it but we find it highly agreeable to our Minds when we come to the use of our Reasons nor is our greatest negligence able to make us forget it as it can all other acquired Knowledge So that our having such an Idea does necessarily suppose a Being that is infinitely perfect and the agreeableness of it to our Minds does prove that the knowing him is the most proper work of our Understandings But besides by means of this faculty we are capable of debating Matters in our own Minds and advising with our selves what is best for us we can take an account of the goodness or illness of our actions and either approve and commend or judge and condemn our selves for them And this no Man can deny but we have a power to do who does not think it a noble thing to be a Fool or that to act rashly and with precipitation is very much for the glory and advantage of a Man And why now are we thus made more than any other Creature Why have we such a Faculty given us if it be not our business to live with more consideration and discretion with more prudence and fore-sight than the Beasts that have no understanding What can we conclude from our having such a power less than that we are to reverence our own Minds and to stand in awe of our Consciences and to dread doing any thing that is not for the honour of our Understandings Since we are capable of consulting with our selves what is good or ill for us does it not imply that there is a way of living which is for our advantage and which if we neglect it will turn to our great hurt And since we can call our selves to an account for our actions and pass a judgment upon them and censure them when they are not reasonable may we not with good reason believe that there are a sort of actions that are hurtfull to the Conscience and that there is a time when we shall feel the mischief of them if we do not prevent it However the Enemies of Religion are pleas'd to make themselves sport with the name of Conscience and to represent it as a Scare-crow set up to
did not know before-hand it is not He need not be such a stranger to himself or afraid of meeting with such occasions as will turn his Eyes inward and make him consider what he has done if he was really sensible that he paid as much reverence to his Soul as he shows fondness to his Body and was as kind to the one as the other So that if we appeal too the inward sense of those that neglect Religion and live as if there was none it is plain that if there was really no such thing our best Faculties would torment us with perpetual dissatisfactions But I shall endeavour to give a more positive proof of this matter by considering wherein the pleasure and satisfaction of the two great Faculties of our Souls our Understanding and Will does consist 1. Our Understanding Now every Man is very conscious to himself that there is something in him that is very inquisitive and searching into the true Nntures of Thins and that he is very desirous to inform himself what good or ill does lie in those things that are before him and what profit or disadvantage he may reap from any thing he does This then being so it is plain that it is Wisdom or Knowledge alone that can satisfie our Understanding By which I mean such an improvement of the Mind as renders it capable of discerning Truth from Errour and as much as possible of securing us from those mistakes nad illusions that the darkness of our Minds is apt to betray us into Or a Mind so well instructed in the Rules and Principles of Life that it is at all times capable of judging rightyly of the goodness and excellency or the illness and deformity of our Actions This sort of Knowledge is that which is called Practical as the former is onely Speculative It is such a Knowledge as has a respect to our Duty and is to inform us how we are to live Now the true use of this Knowledge is either to deliberate before-hand whether such or such an action be fit to be done and so it is prudence the Nature of which does consist in this That it suffers us not to be rash and precipitate in our doings but does consult and advise upon the Nature of every action what good there is in it or whether it is for our profit and advantage or no. Or else its Office is to look back and to try and examine the Nature of those things we have done whether they bear the stamp of Reason and be squared by those Rules of Life that God has given us And when our Understandings are thus employ'd they bear the name of Conscience whose peculiar Office and Duty it is to try whether our Actions be good or ill and either to accuse and condemn or to excuse and justifie the doing of them These them being the several sorts of Knowledge that the Understanding is capable of it is evident we must be more or less happy as we have more or less of this Wisdom and Knowledge and that there is a possibility of satisfying this spiritual Appetite in all these respects otherwise this Faculty will always be restless and uneasie And 1. As to the Knowledge of Truth Who knows not that this is very gratefull to the Mind and that our Understanding can no more be at ease without it than our Eyes are pleas'd with darkness Ignorance was never lookt upon to be a lovely quality nor did ever any Man make his boasts of it as if it was as noble an Endowment as Knowledge is And besides Knowledge is so very agreeable to the Mind that it never grows weary of it It never creates any loathings and disgusts or gives a Man occasion to repent himself of the time or pains he has laid out in acquiring it And therefore the Wise Man recommended it to his Son as the most pleasant thing he could labour for My son eat thou honey because it is good and the honey-comb which is sweet to thy tast so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to thy soul i.e. It will be extremely pleasant to thee as soon as thou rellishest it but yet not like those other satisfactions that we seek for in the enjoyments of a lower nature which in a short time lose their sweetness For when thou hast found it there shall be a reward and thy expectation shall not be cut off Prov. 24.14 i.e. It will never be irksome to thee and give thee any reason to wish thou hadst laid thy time out better But yet though Knowledge be thus pleasant to the Mind yet is not every Degree of it equally satisfactory Every Truth let it be of what Nature it will does give some kind of content But yet there is no Truth below those that Religion acquaints us with so great and excellent as fully to set our Minds at rest All other discoveries but what this makes to us are but like the dawnings of the day which though they please our senses yet chiefly please because they give us the hopes and prospect of a more perfect light approaching They do not satisfie because they are fully commensurate to the largeness of our capacity but because they necessarily inferr the Being of a prime Truth which alone is able to satisfie our desirre of knowing This must be suposed or else there will be an appetite in us that nothing can satisfie and where there is an unsatisfied appertite ther must be uneasiness and disquiet An imperfect Knowledge is no more sufficient to satisfie the Mind than an imperfect Light can the Eye And how is it possible that we should arrive at such a perfection of Knowledge from the Contemplation of the Natures and Perfections of Things as are bounded Could we know all that is to be known concerning all dreated Beings yet since all that is to be known concerning them does lie in a certain narrow compass it could not satisfie the Mind because no Knowledge that has its bounds can If a certain degree of Knowledge could set our Minds at rest why are we not satisfied with the first discoveries of any Truth Why do we wast our spirits and wear away our strength in driving our Thoughts further and further as if there was really no end of knowing Does not this growth of our desire tell us that either there is or ought to be a Knowledge that is infinite I mean an infiniet Object that will for ever employ our Thoughts and exercise our Reason and furnish us with perpetual Matter for Contemplation and that if there be not there is not such a height of Knowledge as will give our Minds full content I know indeed that the several sorts of Knowledge that are in the World do find us work enough and were we to spend all our time in searching the depth of any one we should hardly ever come to the bottom of it But then it is to be consider'd that this does not arise from the Nature of
would every moment lie exposed to by lying at the Mercy of our bodily Lusts and by being obnoxious to the ill consequences of our frequent follies If it be a happy thing to know the true state of our own condition Religion is the most comfortable thing we can think of and there connot a worse thing befall us than to have it proved beyond contradiction that there is no such thing as Religion For Religion by instructing us in the real differences between Vertue and Vice does furnish us with that Knowledge as enables Conscience to determine rightly concerning our state and to be a faithfull Monitor to and certain Director of us in every difficult case And 2. As our Understandings would labour under perpetual dissatisfactions without Religion so would our Wills As all Men are sensible that they have something in them that is not satisfied with any thing but Knowledge so there is none but feels a Power within them that can give Laws to their Senses and either permit or forbid our bodily Inclinations to bear rule in us a power whereby he can either chuse to do or not do any thing that he discovers to be either good or hurtfull to him So that it is plain that nothing below Vertue can give satisfaction to so excellent a Faculty By Vertue I mean a firm Purpose in our selves to do nothing but what is good or a determination of the Will to those things which upon a strict and thorough Enquiry we find to be really best for us So that Vertue is not a thing that lies at the mercy of any thing without us to deprive us of neither is it a thing that is not in our own power but is seated in our very Souls and is nothing else but the constant and unmoveable purpose of the Will to prosecute those designs that are of real and great advantage to us For since our Wills are capable of obeying the Impulses of our sensual Appetites and yielding to the force of bodily Inclinations or of following the Commands of Reason we become either vertuous or vicious as we yield either to the one or other of these To hearken to the Temptations of the Flesh and to let our Appetites rule and govern our Wills is to be vicious because in this case the Will is removed form the steadiness of its purpose and is compell'd to chuse that which Reason cannot approve or allow to be the best for us but we then show the Vertue of our Minds when our Wills do move as Reson commands and our Understandings direct So that Vertue does suppose such a firmness and resolution of Mind as is not to be groken by the strongest On-sets of our sensual Appetites For he that wavers and is carried away with every gust of Temptation who can neither prevail with himself to deny his Appetite when any sensual Gratification offers it self or to withstand the force of any bodily Inclination is a Man of no more Vertue than he is of Resolution But then this steadiness of our Resolution must follow the Judgment that Reason after a most diligent enquiry makes of the goodness of any Action For unless our Resolution has a respect to that which we know is really good it is so far from having any thing of Vertue in it that it is a sinfull Wilfulness or an obstinate bending our Spirits to such a thing against all reason So that every Man that is firmly resolved either to do or not to do a thing which carries nothing of good or ill in it nothing whereby the Conscience can be either recreated or hurt does not merit any thing of Praise for the Vertue of his Mind For those things that have nothing of good nor ill in them and can neither make our condition better nor worse are not matters of Vertue but they may either be done or left undone without any damage to us But that Resolution of our Mind is our Vertue which has a respect to some-thing that is really good and excellent and tends to our great advantage and honour This then being the Nature of Vertue either we must acknowledge that there is such a thing as Religion or we must deny that there is a power of chusing its own Actions in the Soul For if there be no such thing as Religion there is nothing either good or ill for us to chuse or refuse And if we be so framed as to have but one way of living before us we must disclaim a power of determining our selves to any other For such a power does suppose that we are framed for two different kinds of Actions and that it behoves us to be very cautious how we determine our selves It necesiarily supposes that all things are not equally good for us else it is to no purpose to have a power to refuse any thing but that we may chuse amiss and thereby put our Souls into a very uneasie condition And therefore the Wise-man observes That he that getteth wisdom i.e. who is well instructed in Religion loveth his own soul and he that keepeth understanding shall find good Prov. 19.8 i.e. This is the great advantage of Wisdom and Vertue that by it a Man does gain an Empire and rule over himself He gets his Heart into his own possession and becomes the Master of his bodily Affections and Lusts And the that thus manages himself does discover the truest friendship to his own Soul for he best consults its good and happiness And thus Epictetus considers the Will as an instrument either of good or ill to us Arrian in Epict. l. 1. c. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God has enacted this Law That if we desire any goo we should ask it of our selves For saith he the Nature of Godd and Evil does lie in the disposition of the Will And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. God has not given us this Faculty to enable us to bear all Events with an undaunted Mind onely but as a King and a Father that nothing may exercise a Power and Authority over us but that we may have a full Power over our selves But what can such a Power signifie to us if we cannot chuse amiss and nothing we can do can hurt us Since then there is such a Faculty in our Souls either we must believe we are made for Religion or to be a vexation to our selves For 1. It is onely Religion and Vertue can be the true and proper Employment of this Faculty 2. Without it it cannot maintain its freedom 1. It is Vertue alone that is the true and proper Employment of such a Faculty For who can believe that by obeying the Lusts of his Flesh and following the Inclinations of his sensual Appetites he lives like a Being that has a power over his own Actions Does any Man think that he shows the power of his Will to chuse Good and refuse Evil who indifferently allows himself in the practice of any thing he has a
times able and willing to help us for a friend that has no changeableness nor shadow of turning in his Temper for a friend that is faithfull and true full of compassion and gret pity is to make it our hearty desire that there was a God and as heartily to bewail our want of him if there be none So that the Atheist who joyns in this common Wish with all Mankind must believe that his Faith not for his Interest but that it will be much better for him if it be false He must repent himself of his folly in arguing himself out of the belieff of an infinitely perfect Being since such a Being is so very needfull to him that he cannot but every moment be wishing for such a Being And yet if he has argued rightly if there be no God it is his unhappiness that there is no such friend as he wants and wishes for to be found And now what has this Man got by the Wisdom of his Speculations What great cause has he to triumph in having undeceived himself into so wretched a condition that he wishes was out of it He has disputed himself out of the belief of a God and yet so little can he do without one that he seeks for and desires to find one some-where else than where he is He cannot live without an infinitely good and perfect Being and yet he not willing there should be such a Being in the World And what is this but to fly to the Principle he derides and scorns as the best support and onely comfort of his life Neither do his Wants and Imperfections alone force him to wish for such a friend as we believe God to be but his Passions many times make him to desire he had a friend that would not see him wrong'd but that had both Power and Will to avenge him A friend that would stand by him and do him right when he can have Justice from no other hand And what is this but to wish there was a Being that had the Justice and Providence of a God He would it seems have a God to himself at the same time that he endeavours to laugh all the World out of conceit of such a Being A God to plague his Enemies with though it is to his Passions he is more beholding for such a Desire than as he would have us believe to any good reason he has for it 2. He is desirous likewise of an Immortal life Life is so fundamnetal a Blessing that without it we are capable of none of the comforts and enjoyments of this World The grave as the Psalmist styles it is that land of darkness where all things are forgotten The dead know not any thing saith the Wise-man neither have they any more a reward for the memory of them is forgotten Eccless 9.5 Their love and their hatred and their envy is perished i.e. They are neither capable of doing themselves or others either good or harm Neither have they any more a portion in any thing that is done under the Sun v. 6. i.e. All the Pleasures and Glories of this World are lost to them neither is there any thing here that can rejoyce them And therefore the Wise-man inferrs That all the sensible delight we are capable of is to be enjoy'd here and dedpends upon Life Go thy way eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart c. What-ever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might i.e. Make use of Time and Opportunity while this Life lasts for there is no work nor device nor knowledged nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest v. 10. And who is he that is not wise wise enough to know the Truth of all this Who is he that is not sensible that all bodily Delights do depend upon Life and that Life is so great a Blessing that we can hardly be too tender of it Do we not all express so passiionate a desire of living and so much reluct to the Thoughts of dying that we can hardly reconcile our selves to the Thoughts of it when we see there is no avoiding it and have all the reason in the World to be cloy'd with living When we can no longer tast the pleasures of the World and stoop under the burthen of Years we are too apt to think it good for us to live still and are for trying Remedies to put off Death till a further season I know indeed that there have been a great many excellent Persons that rather than deny their Faith have laid down their Lives with a great deal of chearsulness and have rejoyced in their Sufferings when they have been haled before Tribunals and dragg'd to a Stake But this does not prove that Life is not a very valuable Blessing but that to a Religious Man the happiness of the Mind and Conscience is much greater and that of the two it is a much wiser thing to expose the Body to sufferings rather than the Mind to vexation and misery It shows that a good Man's hope is sufficient to quiet Natrue and to persuade it to submit patiently to a Dissolution and that Religion does furnish us with such a bravery of Mind as rather to chuse to die with a good Conscience than to live with a bad one But what is this to the case of the Atheist who has no such reason to despise Death And besides it is not because Men are out of Charity with Life that in any such case they so easily part with it but it is a Hope and Desire to live a Life of Immortality that prevails with them to set so little by this And this Desire is as much in the Atheist as any Man onely he would have his Immortality here He looks for nothing after Death and therefore he has nothing before him to persuade him it is good for him to die He is under a more particular Obligation than any Man to be extremely tender of this life because all that he has or hopes for lies in it It is very easie for a Man that believes Death is a passage to a much better and more durable Life than this to be willing to quit this but it is the hardest thing in the World for an Atheist to do so because there is no reason why he should and no doubt but he who values himself so much for the goodness of his Reason will yield us that it is a very hard thind for a Man to do or like of any thing without Reason The onely thing that the Atheist can comfort himself with since he must die is That Death is a starte of Annihilation and that in the Grave though he has for ever lost all the pleasures and comforts of Life he shall be no more sensible of Evil than of Good But this is no other than the sorry comfort of a dicontented Man who to ease his Mind betakes himself to any weak support when he can no longer keep the
valuable thing that he is not willing to part with For when a Man has lost all that he has will he thank his friend for the comfort he gives him by telling him that now he is as low as he can be and that though he has not the advantages of his former better condition yet he cannot be in a worse than he is This is his trouble and affliction And so it must be to the Atheist likewise to know that he cannot for ever enjoy the Life that he takes so much pleasure in For suppose it true that he shall at last be reduced to a state in which he shall neither feel good nor evil what comfort can that be to him when he knows he must lose all the Good he now delights in There is no question but were Life and Death at his choice and in his power he would much rather chuse to live on and be what he is than to die and be nothing at all And since he values Immortality as so desirable a Blessing does he not make a tacit confession that Religion is too agreeable to our Nature to be false But. 3. He not onely desires to live but he desires a Life perfectly free from trouble and vexation The pleasures he loves are not 't is true of the same nature with those in Heaven which Religion teaches us to aspire after but he is desirous they shoud be as lasting and as little interrupted as full of satissaction and have as little Evil mingled with them as those have Though he considers himself onely as a sensitive Creature and goes no further for his Happiness than the Objects this World sets before him yet he loves his Body as well as Religion teaches us to do our Souls and woudl enjoy all bodily Pleasures in as high a persection as Religion informs us holy Souls do those that are Spiritual What-ever is apt to put the Body into a painfull uneasie condition is in the opinion of all the World and Affliction and Calamity No Man doubts but it is a great Blessing to be capable of seeing the Glories and tasting the sweet and feeling the good that is lodged in this sensible World But if by having such bodily Powers we did tast nothing but what is bitter and unsavoury nor see any thing but what is troublesome and vexatious nor hear any thing but what is ungratefull and harsh we should not much rejoyce in our privilege 'T is this consideration for the Body is the reason that the Atheist is sfallen out with Religion For he pretends that it is an enemy to our happiness and suffers us not to enjoy our selves with that freedom as otherwise we might That it lays severe restraints upon us and makes self-denial a necessary Vertue That in some cases it obliges us to quit our Enjoyments to vex our Bodies with severe Mortifications and to undergo with patience Pains and Torments Now although this be true and the Atheist makes use of it as a very considerable prejudice against Religion yet it is very much for the reputation and advantage of Religion that he undertakes to prove thereby That Mankind cannot be satisfied with a less degree of Happiness than what Religion sets before us For he plainly intimates that he would have the Body suffer no kind of pain nor be denied any thing that is good and gratefull to our Senses That he would enjoy the pleasures of this life with as much freedom and as much untainted as those the good Man looks for hereafter And to this purpose he takes care to improve his Pleasures and to make all his Enjoyments as poinant and delicious as possibly he can And now what is it that this Man does quarrel at Religion for Upon what reason does he report it to be an invention and persuade himself that its Principles are laid in our Minds by Art and Education when he is so great a friend to and so desirous of them He has nothing to except against a Being that is absolutely perfect for 't is such a friend that he desires He has no quarrel with an Immortal life for 't is such a life as he would live nor does he find fault with Joys and Pleasures that have nothing to sully and interrupt them for he is sensible that no less delights do deserve the name of Happiness All the difference then between him and Religion lies in this That it deferrs our hopes of such enjoyments and such a life to another state and he would have them now But since he finds it impossible we should have them here he has infinite reason to think well of Religion because it takes care to satisfie his desires at the last if he will but depend upon it If his deesires of these things be reasonable he has little reason to believe Religion to be so unreasonable an imposition as he complains it is And although he is not reconciled to the Notion of spiritual Delights yet he ought For the reason why he laughs at them is because he believes he has nothing but a Body to please And it is certain that if he be right in his Faith he is not mistaken when he makes this World his onely place of pleasure and delight But how then comes he to desire such a degree of Happiness as is not to be had here below Whence is it that he cannot content himself with the sensible pleasures of this life such as he finds them For no bodily Delights are pure and unallay'd uninterrupted and endless and if these be the onely Delights we are capable of how comes it we are capable of wishing for better If his Desires be reasonable he has as much reason to desire and value the spiritual Enjoyments of another life as to desire such Joys as are endless For since nothing in this World can satisfie such a Desire he must either look upon himself to be very ill framed for any kind of Happiness at all or he must look beyond this life for pleasures as endless and full as the desires And since the nature of his Desires do necessarily lead him thither at the last he ought not to despise the notion of spiritual Enjoyments since there are no other there I come 2. To consider how all that Vertue which Religion teaches us is likewise the Matter of every Man's desire 'T is every Man's defire that Truth and Faithfulness Justice and Honesty Uprightness and Integrity were Universally practis'd in the World The Violence of humane Passions the unruliness of Humour and the extravagancies of our Appetites are so troublesome to the World And all kind of Immoralities are attended with such bad effects that there is none but wishes that they were utterly extirpated and the contrary Vertues establish'd For who is there that would not gladly dwell in safety and peaceably enjoy the fruits of his labour Who would not live free from vexation and trouble and pass his life with as little disquiet and disturbance
as possible Go to the Man that makes the least account of Religion and who when a fair opportunity invites him to raise himself and his fortune by invading the Rights of another is not willing to lose the advantage who reckons Craft and Dissimulation a necessary Prudence and Injustice and Oppression lawfull Methods of compassing his Aims Enquire I say of this Man who seems so little a friend to the slow-paced Vertues of Justice and Integrity whether he would be content that all Men shoud make as little account of them as he does and whether he would be willing to live by a Neighbour that makes use of the same base Arts or chuse rather to have dealings with those that make Conscience of their doings And even this Man I doubt not will then declare in favour of these sociable and good-natur'd Vertues and wish with all his heart that every-body else would abhorr the wickedness that he thrives by and at least for his own quiet and security desire that he may never meet with one that has more ways to over-reach than he is aware of If he loves Oppression and Knavery it is onely in himself but in no-body else it is for the gain he makes by them not for the reasonableness of such actions And therefore if ever he suffers by them he censures and condemns them as severely as any-body else So that although he bears no respect to Religion himself yet he does not desire to see the Perinciples he lives by universally establish'd but woudl have all Men to be true and just in their dealings and knind and courteous in their deportment and conversation with him i.e. He would have every Man restrain'd by Religion from doing him wrong and his Person and Estate secured from the mischief of his own Villainies And if we were to go through the World we shall find all Men of the same mind condemning the Vices that Religion prohibits and desirous that there was more Vertue and Goodness more just and honest dealings among Men than there is in those frequent complaints of that little Conscience and Integrity they meet with and those sorrowfull stories they tell how much they have been over-reach'd and cozen'd how much wrong has been done them and how many abuses and affronts have been put upon them For there is no Man that feels these things but he feels the want of Religion and when we complain of the vexation they give us we express a desire that the Duties of Religion were more Universally practis'd There is indeed one part of Religion that seems to be very little in the desires of Men but the contrary to be most countenanced and affected with the greatest passion And that consists generally in the Duties that have a respect to our selves And of this nature chiefly is the vertue of Temperance For because the intemperate Man hurts no-body but himself few concern themselves to wish he was more sober and they who delight in this Vice seem very desirous to propagate it But yet it is not altogether true that Religion in this respect is not much rather wish'd for than the Vice that is contrary to it For Temperance has those Excellencies in it and is attended with those advantages as render it too amiable and desirable to be despised It keeps us to such a measure of Eating and Drinking with which Nature is contented And since the onely End of Eating and Drinking is for the support of Nature and the maintaining the health and vigour of our Bodies it must belong to Nature to set its own Bounds and to tell us what is sufficient for these Ends. But when we transgress the bounds of Nature and eat and drink not onely that we may live but that we may please a luxurious Appetite instead of supporting Nature we weaken and destroy it and make those very refreshments by which we are to live to be the occasion of Diseases and Death Such a use of Meat and Drink tires and over-charges Nature so that it is never at rest 'till it some way or other gets rid of its burden which if it cannot do the Man languishes and droops under the Wastings of an unconquerable Surfeit And these are such lathsome and mischievous consequences as oftentimes make the intemperate Man as much pleasure as he takes in his Excesses to abhorr his Debauch and to wish his Companions were more sober And now if to fear God and keep his Commandments be so agreeable to the Minds of Men If it be so desirable a thing to all sorts of persons to believe there is a Being that deserves our firmest Trust and Confidence our greatest Love and Reverence and to have Faith and Truth Love and Good-nature Sincerity and Justice maintain'd in a word if it be hard to find a Man that does not at one time or other wish that all the Vertues of Religion were more in Reputation who can think that That which is so desirable to all Men has not a real Foundation in our Nature CHAP. IV. From the Universal Sense of Mankind that there is a vast difference between Vertue and Vice IT is not onely a desirable thing to Mankind that there should be such a thing as Religion but all Men do agree in no one thing more than this That there is What is it that all Nations of Men how much soever they differ in their Customs and Manners do more universally acknowledge than this Truth That there is an absolutely perfect Being to whom our highest Veneration and most solemn Adorations are due Let us go where we will we shall find that though there be mistakes in Men's apprehensions concerning the Nature of God and different persuasions concerning the God that ought to be worship'd yet there is no difference of opinion whether there be a God whom all Men ought to worship Neither has this Persuasion been propagated by Time and a mutual intercourse among Men for no Time can be instanced in when Men did as Universally agree that there is no God as now they do that there is one And those Nations that have been unknown to all the Ages of the World till of late were upon their discovery found to be as zealous Assertors of this Principle as those who have had opportunities of Commerce with each other And besides there is as general a consent too concerning the Differences between Vertue and Vice That those Actions which we call vertuous are comely and gracefull and that there is such a natural Deformity and baseness in Vice as is disturbing to Homane Nature and vexatious to the Minds and Consciences of Men. Let us traverse the whole World we shall find no sort of People in any corner thereof but do own that there are some sort of Actions not to be tolerated among Men and others that deserve to be encouraged and supproted There is neither Jew nor Gentile Turk nor Christian no sort of Men I say how distant soever from each other in
consequence of this Principle For if God be beholding to the Laws of Magistrates for the Fear and Reverence that Men bear him there is no certain reason why we ought to Fear and Reverence him at all For if he hath not that Power and Goodness which are apt to move these Affections no Civil Sanction can give him them .. And besides no Humane Law can take any cognizence-whether we have such a regard to a Deity or no. They can onely punish an open Contempt but they cannot reach our Minds nor lay a secret Awe and Dread of a Being there that has nothing either lovely or great in himself to be the Foundation of it So that the Abetters of his Principle must either deny that there is any Fear of a Deity among Men or they must acknowledge that it springs from a higher Cause than a Humane Authority But 2. I shall more particularly consider that insufficiency of this Principle to render the Universal Sense of Religion that is among Men accountable And in order to this we are to observe that it supposes these two Tings 1. That Humane Nature is so framed as to be no more disposed to Vertue than to Vice 2. That the greater disposition to Vertue that is among Men is owing to the Laws of Civil States 1. It supposes Humane Nature to be so framed as to be no more disposed to Vertue than to Vice This is very necessary for them to maintain who resolve the Sense we have of the Excellency of Vertue into Humane Laws But by asserting this they First Destroy that Liberty which they design to establish by it Secondly It renders it impossible that any Law should ever have been made for the obliging us to a greater and more venerable Esteem for Vertue than Vice 1. They hereby destroy that Liberty which they design to establish The Liberty I mean of obeying either the Commands of Reason or of our bodily Appetites as we please They suppose that we are at liberty to obey either the one or the other and that if we suffer our Appetites to bear Rule in us we are not guilty of any fault because our Nature does not determine us to the Obedience of Reason rather than our Appetites But that since both have an equal Power and Authority over us it is at our own choice which we will obey Now if this be true it must be granted That the greater regard we have to Vertue than Vice cannot derive it self from the Frame of our Nature But it is as true too that we cannot have such a Liberty as this Principle is designed to support For if the Authority of Reason and our Appetites be equal we ought not to favour the one more than the other because there is nothing more on the one side than the other to determine us to yield to the Authority of the one more than the other If Reason have as much Authority to command us as our Appetites we cannot incline towards our Appetites more than our Reason but to the great prejudice of that Authority that belongs to our Reason For he that upon this reason because their Authority is equal takes the liberty to obey his Appetites is unjust to his Reason by giving a greater Authority to his Appetites than according to the Frame of our Nature they ought to have 2. It randers it impossible that any Law should ever have been made for the obliging us to a greater and more venerable Esteem for Vertue than for Vice For before such a Law could be made it must be debated which of these two Authorities it was most fit that Man should be under the Government of whether it was best for him to obey the Laws of his Mind or those of his Members whether the Dictates of Reason or the Commands of the Appetites should be Authorized But how was it ever possible that any Man should thus debate this case if both these Powers were equal The Power of the Appetite would be of as much force to withstand the Commands of Reason as Reason to enact against the Power of the Appetite There could be no inclination to favour the Laws of Reason because the Appetite has as much power to oppose its Interests as it has to establish them neither could the Appetite prevail to the enforcing its Laws because Reason has an equal Power to withstand them If Reason and the Appetite have an equal Power to command us neither can possibly command the other but Man must have suspended Phis choice for ever which of the two he would have suffer'd to bear Rule in him If both had an equal Right to rule both had likewise an equal Power to maintain their Authority and the Appetite would no more suffer us to incline to Peason than Reason to the Appetite The Reason for our obdying both being equal there was no over-ruling Reason to bring us over to the Authority of Reason So then though Humane Laws do assert the Differences of Vertue and Vice and do favour the former in opposition to the latter yet it is not from these Laws that we learn to know what is just and what is unjust but from those natural Differences that are in the things themselves For those Laws that establish the Dictates of Reason and do oblige us to the Practice of Justice and Charity and the like Vertues do suppose that there was more reason for the commanding these things than the contrary and consequently that the Appetite had not an equal Right to rule us but that the Authority we ought to submit to does lie on the side of Reason Such Laws being made it must be granted that that Reason which enacted them found it had a greater Power and Authority in us than the Appetites which are restrained can pretend to And if this be so then it is not owing to the Authority of the Law but that greater Power of Reason which over-rules our Appetites that we pay a greater respect to Vertue than Vice For unless Reason has a right to consult what is best for us no Law could inform us what was so And unless there was more reason to oblige us to obey the Dictates of Reason than the Commands of our Appetites those whom this Principle gives the Power of determining what is just and right and what is not could have no reason to determine the matter either way or to come to a resolution which ought to bear sway in us 2. I come now to consider the second thing supposed in this Principle viz. That the greater disposition to Vertue that is among Men is owing to the Laws of Civil States Now although it must be granted that Humane Laws are a very great support to Vertue yet it is so far from being true that they laid the first Disposition thereto in our Minds that they can beget no Disposition at all if it be with humane Nature as the great sticklers for this Principle teach They may contribute
may be managed by other Heads and Hands than our own and although a Man be wholly careless himself yet his Affairs may thrive in the Hands of a trusty and faithfull Servant But as to Religion it is of that Concernment to us that it is impossible any Man should improve in it or be the better for it who does not take it into his own Hands and give all Diligence to make his Calling and Election sure There is no qualifying our selves for Heaven by a Proxy no adorning our Souls by the Vertues and Graces of a Friend or a Servant no satisfying God for the Neglect of our Duty by the Merits of a Saint but either we must labour for our selves and be industrious to add to our Faith all the Vertues of Religion or the Nakedness and Poverty of our Souls will be our everlasting Shame And what is it that we will be industrious in if not in that Imployment which God has made us for and which we must live and prosper Eternally by Is there any thing that it can with more Reason be expected that we should be diligent in than our own Business Or is there any Affair more pressing and urgent upon us any that it half so much concerns us to attend to as that upon which the Honour of our Nature and the well being both of our Souls and Bodies both in this Life and that which is to come depends To say of any thing that it is our Business does imply that we are fitted and designed for it that we throughly understand the Mysteries of it and that we husband our time as well as we can in prosecuting the great Ends of it This we know is the meaning of our having any thing for our Imployment And if it be Religion alone that our Reason has a respect to this ought to be as much our Imployment as any of those Callings whereby we maintain our Mortal lives And were we but as sensible of the Necessity and great Concernment of our Spiritual as we are of our Temporal Affairs what Noble Improvements might we make what Treasures might we lay up in Heaven and what excellent Persons should we make our selves How little Prophaneness and Debauchery how few Tricks and crafty Devices How little Strife and Contentious Animosities would trouble the World Nay how much would the fear of God then influence us and the consideration of his Presence and Majesty awe and make us afraid of offending him How should we court his Favour by frequenting the place where his Honour dwells and by paying a due veneration and regard to every thing that has a relation to him by honouring his Sabbaths revering his Word and in Supplication and Prayer by expressing our dependance upon him With how much Love and Good-nature Simplicity and Integrity Justice and Honesty Faith and Truth would Men converse with each other and how much of Heaven should we have here below We daily see how industrious Men that design to live and make themselves usefull Members in a Society are in managing their affairs when any business is before us with what care and thoughtfulness do we contrive and project the compassing it to our advantage And when we have the prospect of some gain before us how little do we grudge the pains and labour the difficulties and hardships it puts us to We then sit up late and rise early and neither dread ill ways nor hard weather but with a great deal of chearfulness undertake tiresome Journeys and dangerous Voyages for the sake of the advantage we have in our Eye All this we do and suffer for the sake of our Bodies And did we love our Souls as well we should be as hearty in the practice of all the Duties of Religion And for the better promoting so good a work let us consider these Two things 1. That Religion is the easiest Employment we have It will 't is true take up all our Time and employ all our Faculties but it will never be a burden to us Men that favour their Lusts may complain of difficulties and 't is certain that Religion is severe enough upon the Lusts of our Flesh which it commands us to crucifie and destroy But all this implies no more than this That it is a difficult yea an impossible thing for Men that serve their Lusts to serve the living God But after all let but any Man consider the Nature of all the Duties of Religion and he will find such a gratefulness of them to the Reason of his own Mind so much comfort and satisfaction to his Conscience to issue from them as will force him to declare that it is the best and easiest the most delightfull and ingenuous Employment that a Man can possibly take to For it commands us to do nothing but what our own Reason does and to avoid nothing but what our own Consciences abhorr And is it a hard thing for a Man to live according to the Laws of his own Mind and to follow the Dictates of his own Conscience and in all he does to consider that he is a Man and that his own Reason ought to govern him Is it a grievous thing for a Man not to wound his Conscience not to fill his Soul with vexation and horrour Is it I say an uneasie Employment to take care that there be nothing in our Conversation but what is gracefull and comely what will render us beloved of God and Man and what will fill us with joy unspeakable Surely if any thing be easie for us to do it is that which we are peculiarly made for and which the joy and comfort the ease and satisfaction the pleasure and happiness of our whole Nature depends on 2. That it will be infinitely satisfactory to us at the last to consider that we have been employ'd in the business of our lives The time will come when we shall know that Religion is our business That time I mean when we shall so far return to our selves as to be sensible that we are something more than Brutes and that our Happiness does not lie in the gratifying the Appetites of a mortal Body And then when those that have been negligent and careless of every thing but a Body that is going to its Grave will be seiz'd with sad remorse and fill'd with confusion the Religious Man will look over a well-spent Life with great content and delight Surely St. Paul felt a wonderfull satisfaction in his Mind when he could say I am ready to be offer'd and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me at the last day 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. This is the comfortable issue of a Religious Life It gives a Man peace at the last and having all his time been well employ'd in the Duties of his Calling he has no sorrowfull Reflections to make but nothing else to do but to die and to receive his reward But with wicked Men it is quite otherwise For they have all their business lying upon their hands when they are called upon to bring in their accounts And how uncomfortable a thing will it be then to them to consider how much work they have made themselves by fixing ill Habits in their Minds and turning their whole Nature out of course by accustoming themselves to do Evil How dolefull a thing to look upon the disorders of their Souls the wast of their Time their abuse of Grace and above all their contempt of those fair warnings that have been given them Then will their Hell begin when they see their Souls so eaten out of heart with Sin that they neither have Skill nor Time to remedy it Let us then be so wise as to prevent all this mischief by making use of Time and Opportunity and working while it is day that when the night comes wherein no Man can work we may not be found barren and unfruitfull I shall conclude this Discourse with St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Epist 1.10 11. Wherefore the rather or above all things Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure For if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ FINIS ERRATA PAge 6. Line 6. for belches Read fetches P. 14. Marg. r. Offic. P. 31. l. 17. for hearty r. hasty P. 67. l. 10. for hearty r. hasty Now in the Press A Discourse of the Resurrection shewing the Import and the Certainty of it By the same Author