matter are called but figuratively by the name of Laws but your A shews no Legis nomen absolute sumptum c. small plenty of ignorance when he would have the word Law to signifie absolutely corporeal necessity of Nature which properly speaking is not capable of receiving Nomen Legis per Translationemadres Naturales applicatumvidetur a Law Nay he seems to contradict himself for he says in the 44th Page that the word Law seems to be applyed to natural things by Translation and if by Translation then not absolutely or properly as in this place he so boldly affirmeth S. But what need this strife about words if we are agreed upon the thing it self Why may not my Author claim the same liberty of Speech as is allowed to Des Cartes Gassendus or others of our modern Virtuoso's L. Because he designs thereby to establish a fatal necessity in the very minds of Men which renders them uncapable of receiving a Law properly so called which always supposes a liberty of choice and is attended with the Sanctions of Rewards and Punishments for tho in the 44th Page he tells us That some Laws depend upon the free Arbitration of Men yet he adds That he must needs grant that all things are determined by the universal Laws of Nature both to Operate and to Exist in a certain and unavoidably manner and indeed if all things that are are material and the Soul its self nothing but a particle of rarefied matter and all matter is bound by the necessity of nature to such and such particular Rules it follows those Laws of Men which seem most Arbitrary are as much subject to fatal necessity as any other operation of dull and unthinking matter All the difference is that in the descending of a Stone or the ascending of the Fire we can see and understand the Concatenation and Co-ordination of necessary causes but this Chain is less visible in the determinations of the Will to what we call Moral Good or Evil. But still there is a Chain that binds a Man as strongly as if its invincibility was manifest to the Eyes of all Men and if so then he that kills his Father or Mother acts by the same necessary Laws of Nature as he that Honours and Obeys them And this is the best and truest account that I can give of your Author's Scheme of Morality S. You must needs mistake him for he has these words Dico tamen has leges ex placito Hominum pendere L. That is because your A would Monopolize the liberty of contradicting his own Assertions but observe his caution he does not say absolutely that these or any Laws do depend upon the free will of Man but that they may be said to do so First Because Man being a part of Nature whatsoever is done by the necessity of Humane Nature tho it be done by the general and irresistable force of Nature yet because they proceed immediately from Humane Power therefore the Sanctions of those Laws may be said to proceed from the will of Man But what is this to the purpose If there be a general force of Nature which determines all things even the very Soul and Will of Man to make Laws whether it will or no then the making these Laws or the paying Obedience to them are no free but necessary Acts and Men are morally good or evil not by free choice but by a necessary compulsion And this he plainly acknowledges in his second reason and onely adds that the Universal consideration of fate and concatenation of causes cannot serve us to form right conceptions of Law and that therefore tho all Actions are predetermin'd by fate yet it is better to talk of them as Free and Arbitrary S. Let us not quarrel about words but come to the Definition of the thing he tells you that a Law is a Manner of Living which a Man prescribes to himself or to others for some End best known to himself How do you like this Definition p. 44. L. I should rather have approved of it if he had defin'd it a Manner of Living prescribed by a Superior to an Inferior and always attended with the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments S. Every Man Loves the Product of his own Brains but Pray why is your Definition to be preferr'd before my Author's L. For several Reasons First because it does not exclude God from the Legislative Power which is most slily done in your Author's Definition A Law is a Rule or Manner of Living or Acting that is supposed to proceed from some Rational Intelligent or thinking Being And if your Author believes that any such Being is really existant why must he be excluded from the Legislative Power and his Creature Man onely Intitled to it S. Does not my Author expressly say p. 45. That the Law is to be Distinguished into Divine and Humane L. Yes But he tells you that by a humane Law he means such a manner of Living as is conducive to preserve our lives or the common wealth and by a Divine Law he intends no more than a Law made that has respect to the true Knowledge and Love of God So that a Law made by God to preserve a Common-wealth or the Life of Man according to his Notion is a humane Law and a Law made by Man which is referred to the Love and Knowledge of God becomes a Divine Law God is therefore absolutely excluded by him from any so much as Vote or share of the Legislative Power S. Well what is your next Exception L. I think in the 2d place that he does not accurately enough define a Law by a manner of Living prescribed by a Man to himself For Law implies Superiority in the very essential Notion of it If a Man prescribes a certain way of Living or Acting to himself it is at most but a resolution which may upon alteration of circumstances be revoked without a Sin If indeed he calls God as a Witness to such a resolution it becomes a Vow and has in Lawful matters all the Force and Virtue of a Law but that force arises from the Superiority of the Person Viz. God himself unto whom that Vow is made S. Do not Senators make Laws that bind themselves L. Yes and very justly too For the Authority of a Collective Body of Men is Superior to the Authority of any one Member of it and he or they that offend against it in all Democratick Governments are to be look'd upon out of the Senate but as Subjects to that Superior Power which is in the collected Body S. This at most is but a vain Logomachy Pray what have you more than this to object against this Definition L. I say Thirdly that he very unskilfully leaves out the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments which are essential to a Law S. Cannot a Superior prescribe a Rule to an Inferior without adding threats or promises L. Yes he may But then the obligation to
because it takes away from Trade the freedom of lying and cheating and defrauding which some perhaps think essential to it But if you Gentlemen desire a Commonwealth that you may barter away our Religion for a Free Trade I say pray God bless the Monarchy of England Scep Prithee don't think we desire to take away your Religion Your Reason ought to be your Only Religion and that I am sure no man desires to take from you My Author's Design is only to take off those Prejudices which the Vulgar entertain of the Scriptures who despise Reason and think that the Scriptures are the Only Oracles of Truth In order to this my Author promises to demonstrate That Prophecy or Revelation is nothing else but strength of Fancy That the Ancient Prophets were only Men of a strong Imagination and of a weak Reason That the Divine Law is nothing else but fatal Necessity That Miracles are only those Works of Nature of whose Cause we are ignorant That the true way of interpreting those Books you call Scriptures does shew that they are of Humane Invention and that every individual man has a Right and Authority to interpret Scripture as he pleases And that Log. No farther I beseech you this is Task enough for one time Let us therefore leave his Preface and proceed to the Book it self that we may see Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu Scep With all my heart And first let 's begin with his Definition of Prophecy and so orderly examine the strength of all his Invincible Arguments Log. I am content and also further promise That if he brings any Objections against Revealed Religion which I cannot answer I will then become of his Opinion and subscribe to whatsoever you will have me Scep It is as fair as I can wish it to be Thus therefore he begins Explicit Praefatio incipit hoc loco primum DE PROPHETIA A. PRophecy or Revelation is the certain Knowledge of something or Things revealed unto Men by God How do you like this Definition The. Very well provided the Author thinks as he speaks and does not impose upon us as his Custom is by ambiguous Terms A. Well then Mind the Consequence All Natural Knowledge may properly be called Prophesie for those things which we know by Natural Light depend upon the sole knowledge of God and his Eternal Decrees But our Mob-Divines that stand gazing with their Mouths open to Heaven to catch Wonders exclude Natural Reason from Prophecy as if the one descended from Heaven and the other sprang from Earth onely And yet humane reason is Divine in as much as the very faculties were by God Created and it is only excelled by Prophesie in two things First that Prophesie extends its bounds further And Secondly it cannot be caused by the Laws of Nature The. And Pray Sir what Charms can you see in such a Jargon of Discourse as should draw your minds away one step from reveal'd Religion For here is a very absurd confusion of Natural Knowledge and that which proceeds from Divine Revelation No Man that apprehends the necessary Connexion of two Terms was ever yet call'd a Prophet by any but this A. If Natural Knowledge might properly be called Prophesy then every Man that by his Natural Reason could comprehend all the necessary Properties of a Triangle or the undoubted certainty of Mathematical Axioms or those self-evident Propositions which are known by a bare perception of the Terms would be a Prophet and so not only all the Lord's People would be Prophets but all the Devil's People too for as much as some Propositions by the sole Light of Reason are evident to all Mankind A. You mistake my Author for he tells you page 2. That tho Natural Knowledge is Divine yet the Teachers of it cannot be called Prophets Because whatever they Teach others without the help of Faith or Credulity may know as well as themselves T. This only shews with how much Confidence and Stupidity your Infallible Author contradicts himself for p. 1. he asserts Ex traditâ definitione sequitur cognitionem naturalem Prophetiam vocari posse What more evident than that he may be called a Prophet who is endowed with natural Knowledge if natural Knowledge may be called Prophecy A. That is but a small mistake His true meaning is That Reason is not less certain and Divine than Revelation its self T. Natural Things are called Divine upon a Threefold Account as they are the Workmanship of God and in this sense all things that have a real Subsistance may be called Divine as they are the Works of God But the word Divine is not frequently used in this signification because it is too general and comprehends so much that it determines too little Or 2. Things are more frequently called Divine that for their Excellence seem to have some resemblance of the very Nature and Perfections of God This Homer stiles his Hero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Grace is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Apostle And indeed in this Sense the rational Faculties of the Soul may not be improperly called Divine forasmuch as they were not only given us by God but do still bear his Image and Inscription upon them But 3dly and lastly Those things are most properly stiled Divine which are immediately produced by the Power of God not according to the regular Laws of Nature but in a manner altogether superior to them And in this most proper signification Creation Prophecy and Miracles are the Works of God and bear all the Characters of Divinity upon them because the First Cause is only concerned in the Production of them without the Concurrent Efficacy of Inferior Agents Hence it is that the Evangelist reckoning up the Genealogy of our Blessed Saviour names the other Patriarchs as Sons of Men because they came into the World according to the usual manner of Generation But Adam he calls the Son of God for tho his Body was out of preceeding matter yet it was formed by the immediate Power of God without Observation of the regular Course of Nature The very Magicians could say when they saw Lice miraculously produced by Aaron's Rod That this was the very Finger of God because they knew it was not within the Bounds of the Power of Nature and that it could not be done by those Inferior Invisible Powers which they invoked And the Prophets call their inspired Writings The Word of the Lord because not deduced from the setled Course and Order of things but delivered to them immediately by God himself in respect to which it is called by St. Peter the Sure Word of Prophecy A. What do you infer from hence T. That your Author trifles when he equals Humane Reason to Divine Inspiration saying very boldly That Aequali jure ac alia cognitio quaecunque illa sit divina vocari potest when it is evident That the one is founded on the
so stark mad as to build an Ark and take all manner of Beasts and Fouls into it out of a fantastical Fear that he should be drowned upon the dry-land you must confess he did it by virtue of a Supernatural Revelation S. Have you any other instance of the like nature L. Yes more than I shall at present take pains to enumerate but however I will gratifie your curiosity with two or three which will abundantly shew the falsity of your A s so much boasted Proposition We read in the 18th Chap. of Gen. that Sarah was informed by the Angels 10th ver That she should have a Son But who except Spinosa will say that this Prediction was accomodated to the capacity of Sarah or her Lord Abraham when Moses tells us in the 11 th and 12 th ver That Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of Women Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also S. A Woman might easily imagin what she earnestly desired L. If you except against a Woman let us consider the Revelation made unto Moses which you will find to be directly contrary to the Apprehensions and above the Natural Conceptions of that mighty Prophet I would feign learn how it was at all agreeable to the natural Conception of Moses that the lifting up his Rod should be able to work all those Signs and Wonders which it did in the Land of Egypt S. Tho it was not a Conception agreeable to reason yet it might be to his Fancy and we all know the strength of Fancy in producing wonders L. Imagination without doubt has very great force upon the imagining Person but that it should be able to have force upon Objects placed without him so as to work any visible effect upon them is to me till I am better inform'd a very absurd supposition I know some of the Ancients have been possessed with an Opinion that the very Eyes of an Envious Person do dart a Kind of Poyson upon those who are in a Great Station And the Poets presum'd they had the same or like effect upon other Animals Nescio quis Teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos And my Lord Bacon says something to solve this Phaenomenon by the Effluviums of the Animal Spirits And if the matter of it were true which I do very much question his Lordships solution of it would be the best that could be given But supposing it true yet such weak Effluvia's as are engendered by the strength of imagination whatever impression they can make on the tender parts of humane Bodies yet you cannot without Madness suppose them able to turn Aarons Rod into a Serpent or to make it more like a Living Creature or turn a whole River into Blood to divide the Red Sea slay all the first Born of Egypt and do works of the like stupendious Nature S. Did not Pharaohs Magicians do something very like it L. All you can infer from thence is only this viz. that they were assisted by some invisible Powers which is more than Men of your Principles are willing to grant who deny their existence or at least their intermedling with humane Affairs S. But suppose such things done as you Divines call it by invisible Powers how shall a Man know whether those Powers are Good or Evil. L. God being the Fountain of all Goodness no Revelation is made or confirmed by him that is repugnant to the immutable Law of Nature which consists in unfeigned Love to God and to our Neighbour The Pagan Priests made great pretences to Prophesie and Miracles but it was to confirm a superstition contrary to Natural Light and therefore those seeming Signs and Wonders are justly ascribed to the Operation of Lying and Deceitful Spirits For these are known Maxims that Good cannot proceed from Evil and that a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand and we may as well conceive that light can be the Fruitful Mother of Darkness as that Satan can be the Author Abetter or Confirmer of the Precepts of the Decalogue or the most Holy Rules of Practice deliver'd by our Blessed Saviour S. Does not your own Apostle say that Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light L. We don't say that Evil Spirits do never Encourage a seeming Sanctity that is gross Wickedness in a Religious dress but that they can't be Abetters or Promulgers of that real and genuine Sanctity which is prescribed by the Mosaick and Christian Religion and of the excellence of which we have as clear Perception as we have of the Truth of any Mathematical Proposition But to pass by Moses and descend to the other Prophets What Pre-conception by Nature could Isaiah have that Cyrus should be King of Persia that Jerusalem should be destroyed by the Chaldeans and that that very Cyrus See Isa 44. 28. Should rebuild the Temple saying to Jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy Foundation shall be laid If Revelation was adapted only to the Capacity of the Prophet certainly Isaiah was a Person of the largest Natural Capacity that ever yet was Born into the World or as I believe ever will be Born hereafter S. You keep to instances in the Old Testament it would be more to my satisfaction to hear something of this Nature to be alledged out of the New L. What think you of the Doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God and of the Holy Trinity which are founded upon Divine Revelation These could not be adapted to the Capacity or Opinions of any one inspired Author since they are above the conception of all Mankind S. I fear you mistake this Author His meaning is not that nothing is taught in Scripture which exceeds humane conception for as he shews p. 28. The Prophets were ignorant of speculative things and were of contrary Opinions amongst themselves and therefore they might give Vent to some odd Opinions which are altogether irreconcilable to the reasonable conceptions of other Men. L. I have already examined all those places of Scripture upon which he would ground this wild assertion and I hope have plainly shewed that no such thing can be deduced from them But to come closer to the purpose Your Author must Acknowledge either that the Prophets as he calls all Divinely inspired Authors were assisted and taught by God or that they were guided by their Natural Fancy Reason and Judgment If Prophecy does come from God and if it be according to his own Definition in the very first Words of his Book the certain Knowledge of some things reveal'd to Men by God he cannot overthrow the certainty of it in Speculations as well as Practicks untill he can destroy the very Idea which all rational Men do entertain of God He must suppose him either to be nothing else but the settled course and order of Nature and then he and his
Disciples must quit the Name of Deists and set up in the open Defence of Atheism Or he must bring upon the Stage an unthinking ignorant or deceitful Deity that told his Servants a parcel of Idle Contradictory and Lying Stories to amuse the world with a Noise of Divine Truths whereas they were in reality nothing else but the Erroneous conceptions of fanciful Men. But if on the other hand he Acknowledge nothing at all of Divinity in those whom we receive as inspired Authors he must then shew his Reader how the Prophesies and Miracles of those Men are reconcilable with the ordinary Course and Power of Nature S. He does shew you in his 4th Chapter that there neither is nor can be any such thing as a Miracle L. We will discourse that point more narrowly some other time but at present I will onely urge one instance more that utterly overthrows your Authors sandy Foundation We read in the 2d Chapter of the Acts that when the Apostles were all with one accord in one place there appeared unto them Cloven Tongues and sate upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Now I would feign learn from your Author who some say was a School Master and therefore ought to be well versed in the Didacticks whether there be any way in Nature to teach any one Man much less a Number of Men the Words and Idioms of many Foreign and unknown Languages in a moment or instant of time S. I must confess I cannot well conceive how such a thing could be done without the assistance of some invisible Power but still this only proves an infused knowledge of words but not of things L. If you grant an infused knowledge of words it is the greatest Folly in the World to deny the possibility of an infused knowledge of things For it is much more easy to conceive that God can declare his will to some chosen Persons and leave the manner of expressing it to their natural and acquired Abilities than that he should infuse simul semel in one instant of time the knowledge of several Languages into the minds of unlearned Men. S. I for my part am resolved never to be a Bigot in speculative Matters and since he speaks so much for Morality in all parts of his Book I cannot choose but have a good Opinion of him L. Morality and Mathematical Demonstration serve many times for canting terms to be specious covers to Wickedness and Non-sense He grants the Prophets had clear Perceptions of Morality for so may all Mankind besides but that we are not bound to believe them in any thing that is speculative that is we may Lawfully reject all the Credenda of the Mosaick or the Christian Religion As for Example according to his way of arguing when the Scripture tells You must Love the Lord your God with all your Heart with all your Soul It onely teaches you that you should be Pious but you are not bound to believe from thence that there is a God or that he Governs the World or that he alone is to be Worshipped for these according to his Hypothesis are speculative Opinions concerning which the Prophets had contrary and repugnant Notions And thus your Author would plant abundance of Piety but not one grain of the Knowledge of God in the World After the same manner when the Apostle says 2 Thes 1. 7. That the Lord Jesus Christ shall be reveal'd from Heaven with his mighty Angels v. 8. in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ v. 9. Who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power We are to Learn that we are to obey the Gospel in being Just and Charitable but we must not thence infer that those who are unjust and uncharitable Shall certainly be Punished with Flaming Fire or with an Everlasting Destruction from the Face of the Lord And I will now leave it to your Judgment what Friend he can be to Piety Justice or Charity who divests them of the certainty of a future reward and leaves them no other Encouragement than what arises from the Government of the passions in this Life which tho it be a considerable part yet it cannot be the whole of humane Happiness Or whether he is not an Encourager of Impiety Injustice and Oppression and all manner of known and unknown Vices who takes away from wicked Men the Terror of being tormented with the Devil and his Angels For tho our Saviour says Mat. 12. 16. If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself his Kingdom cannot stand He will have this Argument only adapted to the Opinion of the Pharisees but no proof that there is a Devil or any Kingdom of malicious Spirits and so good night to your Author's Morality S. When you read his 4th Chap. you will see how earnestly he Pleads for Virtue L. If you will bring me what he says another time I will gladly admit all that is true and oppose nothing but notorious Falshoods Conference III. S. WEll Sir according to my promise I have read over the 4th Chap. of my Author passing by his third because it chiefly concerns the Jews wherein I find him to be a very zealous Advocate of true Virtue and Goodness which I value more than any Speculative Opinion so much contended for by the Sons of the Clergy L. If obedience and submission to God is the principal Law of Nature then it is as much our Duty to believe a Truth when revealed as it is to obey a Commandment when it is promulged and then it follows that what he calls Speculation is neither more nor less than a practical necessary Duty S. Your error proceeds from your false Apprehensions of a true notion of a Law He shews you in his 43d Page that the word Law absolutely taken signifies that according to which every individual or some of the same species do all or some one thing by a certain and determinate Reason and that it depends either upon the necessity of Nature or the consent or authority of Men. L. Then farewel at once to all Divine Laws but those which he fancys depend upon the necessary motions of matter or are confined by the Authority of the Civil Magistrate or receive their strength from the mutual consent of some determinate Society of Men. S. I hope you will not deny that Corporeal Necessity is a Law when all Authors speak in the same Dialect does not Cartes make mention of the Laws of Motion L. Cartes and other Philosophers have the liberty to Transfer words from their proper Signification to denote such things as are best understood by a metaphorical Expression And hence it is that those Observations which ingenious Men make of the necessary rest of motion of
and yet should deny the invisible Power of God would you say that by how much the more perfectly he knew natural things so much more perfectly he knew the very Essence of God S. Will you deny what he so zealously asserts That the knowledge and love of God is the happiness of Man the very end and scope of all humane Actions and the chiefest Good that can be attained by us Is it not nobly said by him That we are to love God as our chiefest Good not for fear of any punishment nor for love of any thing with which we are delighted but meerly for himself L. If your Author who so often makes mention of the word God would have told us distinctly what he meant by it this 46th page would have seem'd to have had something like Natural Religion in it But if you reflect upon the preceeding words and the whole scope of his book you will find that God signifies no more in him than the whole Compages of Nature and that he who knows Natural Things knows the very Essence of God and then to know God and to love God tho splendid Terms yet in reality signifie no more than to turn Virtuoso and study the Works of Nature and to love the World and hug its Enjoyments as your whole happiness without troubling your head with the thoughts of the Joys of Heaven or the fear of Hell which your Author rejects as conceptions unworthy of a true Philosopher S. I for my part own an incorporeal Deity tho I don't believe all the Stories you Parsons tell us of him and I believe my Author is of the same mind L. I do not find it appear in any part of his Writings But this I observe that by God he understands a Being that cannot speak intelligibly to mankind but by the fixed course of Nature and that suffers us to be abused by Jugling Tricks and Impostures that Vaunt themselves as Divine Revelations and that cannot work a miracle unless your Author gives him leave and from whom you are to expect no Good and to fear no Evil. So that all his morality is reduced to the Love and Knowledge of God and that is either the Universe or an otiose unactive Being which is next to nothing S. Some men are resolved to approve of nothing Pray what can you say concerning those consequences which he draws from his Notion of the Law of Nature L. If you tell me what they are I will give you my impartial opinion of them S. He says reason is universal Revelation limited L. That the Law of Nature rightly understood is Universal will easily be granted by those who understand what humane Nature is But your Author cannot infer from hence that it is a greater Good to mankind than Divine Revelation because it is a more general good For tho a diffusive Good in respect of its diffusive Nature is to be preferred before that which is restrained and confined coeteris paribus yet it is not to be so absolutely or without exception Virtue is a greater Good than the light of the Sun even in your Authors Opinion who calls it the chiefest Good of man and yet more men receive benefit from the Light of the Sun than from Genuine Virtue if you will believe the Greek Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Ay but this is the great advantage of reason above Revelation that it does not require an Historical belief which can never work in us the Love of God for that is onely to be deduced from such common Notions as carry their own certainty along with them L. The great defects of History are uncertainty deficiency superfluity and impertinency when these are absent History is very completive of the intellectual faculties of man For History is nothing else as my Lord Bacon well observes but a Narration of the various Operations of Individuals circumscribed to Time and Place and its chief end is to advance memory which is as it were the great Store-House or Magazine of Knowledge Uncertain History is a Narration of such things as either never were done or have not been well attested so as to leave no room for doubt And this defect in History destroys the very end of it which is to give us a certain account of what has been done already that so we may know how to Act our selves for the future Deficient History is an imperfect collection of remarkable Occurrences wherein many things are omitted which are worthy a wise Mans observation And tho this destroys not the End of History which is certainty of knowledge yet it Answers not the Expectations of a Thirsty Soul Impertinent or Superfluous History is a Narration of such Actions or Circumstances of Action as for their turpitude or meaness deserve not to be recorded And this is a defect which can no other ways be supplied than by a total abolition of those trifling Authors S. What is it you would infer from hence L. That Faith grounded upon true and useful History may give us a right knowledge and due love of God S. How can Faith that rests upon humane Authority contend for certainty with Reason that proceeds by such common Notions which are admitted as true by all men L. Natural Reason does enable men to understand that God ought to be loved as the first cause of all those good things which his Creature Man does enjoy But then there is a certainty in Sense as well as in Reason tho after another manner And therefore if the Senses of some Men have been rationally convinced that God has bestowed other Benefits upon them than those that were bestowed at their Creation or conveyed by the invisible Hand of his Providence Why should not such a knowledge excite them to all imaginable Love and Gratitude to their great Benefactor The certainty of a Benefit received is all that every good Man requires in order to be Grateful and whether that certainty is grounded upon abstracted Reason or a true faithful Narrative of a mattter of Fact is not much to the purpose So absurdly does your A asserts Nec fides Historiarum quantumvis certa Dei cognitionem consequenter nec etiam Dei amorem vobis daâ—e potest S. He does not deny that it can't give us Motives to love God but it can't work in us the love of God whether we will or no. L. No more can his adored Reason for many of the greatest pretenders to Reason have been the most impious Men in the World S. You Divines represent God to the Vulgar as a Law-giver and his Commands you call his Laws but alas you mistake the point For Eternal Verities are the only Laws of God who Acts by the necessity of his own Nature For the Affirmations and Negations of God do always involve an Eternal verity and necessity in themselves If God had said to Adam Thou shalt not Eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil it would imply a
contradiction to say that he did Eat of it L. Does not your Author in some places say That to know and to Love God is the Divine Law S. Yet I think he does L. Then according to his way of arguing all men even the Author himself do know and Love God and must do so whether they will or no to the End of the World And then there is no difference between Virtue and Vice for both are done according to God's Will according to your Authors sentiments for both are the Effects of an Eternal necessity of causes linkt together The Apostle says This is the Will of God even your Sanctification Therefore all men are actually sanctify'd God bid Abraham Sacrifice his Son therefore he was Sacrificed is not this a pretty way of arguing to make sport for Children and Fools S. Moral Propositions in themselves are nothing but Eternal Verities and it was the Prophets only who were led by fancy and the Vulgar who are guided by sense who apprehend them as Laws given by God The Law-giver whom they look upon as a just and merciful Prince setting upon a Throne and distributing rewards and punishments to all his Subjects L. Your Author must either grant that God is a wise and understanding Being and a free Agent or nothing else but the Mass of Dull and unthinking matter If he embrace the latter he should be Master of so much courage as to tell us and not to play always in the dark with his two ambiguous Terms of God and Nature If he will allow that God is a wise Being and a free Agent I cannot conceive any reason why he should deny him to be a Law-giver since Wisdom Power and Authority are inseparably interwoven into the very Notion of a God without any gross conceptions of his setting upon a Throne like an Earthly Monarch And if there is an Eternal reason why God should be Loved and Innocence Protected c. Which every Man is conscious to himself that he can do or let it alone and besides If God shews Man by Divine Revelation what he would have done and promises Rewards and Punishments why must these Dictates of God and Nature be denied to be Laws and I know not what Eternal Verities shuffled into their Room S. Because my Author shews that all Moral Propositions are so L. Your Author shews nothing but meer Leger-de-main It is an Eternal Verity that God is to be Worshipped but it is no Eternal Verity that he is so A Moral Proposition is a Divine Law and an Eternal Verity in respect to that Goodness which is Essential to it but not for any Active necessity that attends the fame For if the Will and Understanding be the same Thing in God Then God Wills all the Treasons Marthers and Adulteries which he understands have been committed in the World S. Since you despise my Author's Scheme of Morality Pray let us hear one of your own drawing up L. I will refer that to Dr. Cumberland's excellent Treatise of the Law of Nature where he proves by reason equivalent unto if not surpassing Mathematical Demonstration that the Law of God and the whole rational universe is the whole of the Law of Nature and attended with sufficient Sanctions of Rewards and Punishments that are by God inseparably interwoven into the Nature of things S. You do not hear me speak against the Natural Law L. But by embracing unsound Principles you utterly destroy the whole Force and Efficacy of it Your Piety terminates in the adoration of such a Piety as tamely suffers the World to be abused into a belief of Miracles and Prophesie and Inspiration without any rational possibility of a redress and Acts by the inflexible necessity of his own Nature so that all our Prayers can make no more an impression upon him than upon a Stone-Wall Your Justice has no Prospect of a future reward and so in private is left at liberty to Act what is most conducive to the preservation of life and limb And your Temperance has no other restraint nor so much neither than what Nature has given to those Beasts that Perish Thus your Deism begins with a fair pretence to Moral Philosophy but the End thereof is nothing else but a licentious Liberty and Corruption of Manners S. I must confess If there were rewards in Heaven and Punishments in Hell they would be great Encouragements to Virtue and Suitable determents from Vice But you ground your hopes upon inspired Authors and they pretend to prove their Divine Mission by Miracles whereas my Author proves that there never was nor can be such a thing as a true Miracle wrought in the Universe L. Then I will Discourse that point with you at our next Meeting for I am loth to tire you with too long a Discourse S. With all my Heart For if I was well satisfy'd in that point I should be better affected to the Christian Religion Conference IV. OF MIRACLES S. SIR you are well met I remember at our last Conference you often appealed to Miracles as the greatest Confirmations of reveal'd Religion But I have since that time carefully perused the Sixth Chapter of my very Ingenious Author wherein I find such Arguments against Miracles as make me very much doubt whether there ever was or can be such a thing as a Miracle done in the World L. I desire not to hear your Opinions but would gladly be a Partaker of your Reasons S. My Author very Judiciously observes p. 67. that it is and always was the Mob of mankind that are and were the great Miracle-Hunters and Miracle-Makers It is they who think nothing to be the Work of God that is done according to the usual Course of Nature but feign and believe Wonders on purpose that they may be thought the very Darlings of Heaven And that the Vniverse was made for the sake of Man one of the most inconsiderable Creatures in it L. Our belief of Miracles is grounded upon that reason which is common unto all Mankind not only the Unlearned Vulgar but also the most sublime Philosophers who must needs Acknowledge that if matter was at first Created by a Spiritual Being out of nothing and received from it those Determinations of rest or motion which we call its Laws it may be again produc'd or alter'd by the very self same Power which is all that is necessary to constitute a Miracle The possibility therefore of a Miracle is as evident to all Learned men who have not said in their Hearts that there is no God as any one proposition in Enclid and is as deducible from the true Idea of a God as any of the most Legitimate Conclusions that can be deduced from clear and undoubted premises Your Author therefore with as much Haughtiness as Falsehood pretends to throw the belief of Miracles upon the Vulgar only as if all the Jewish and Christian Kings and Emperors all the Greek and Roman Philosphers by Miracles converted to the
is a foolish thing to limit the power of Nature and to say her Laws extend to some things only and not to all L. Your Author speaks herein as little like a good Philosopher as a good Jew or a good Christian If the Laws of Nature are fix'd and immovable they may be observ'd and the Observation of them we call the study of Natural Philosophy To say therefore with your Author That the Course of Nature is fixed and immutable and yet that her power extends to all things Potentiam Naturae infinitam esse omnino credendum est is a contradiction in the very Terms for if she could do all things she could alter her setled Course and move in an Order quite contrary to what now she steers Nor does he mend the matter by asserting in the same page That the fixed Laws of Nature extend to all things that are comprehended in the Divine Vnderstanding For the Divine Understanding must needs comprehend as well what is impossible as what is possible to be done and the Mutability as well as the Fixation of the Rules of Motion in material Bodies into such notorious Absurdities does your Author run whilst he endeavours to destroy the credibility of Miracles by jumbling together the Names of God and Nature S. If there be a fixed Course of Nature how can there be a Miracle which is neither more nor less than an interruption of it L. Because it is fixed by a Superior Intelligent Being who can unfix the same when it is for his own Glory or the General Benefit of Mankind If Nature did not keep for the most part a setled Course we could have no distinct Notion of a Miracle but she is so steady that she gives us time to view her and from that view to frame such Axioms of Possibility and Impossibility as are as evident to our Reason as any of those principles which some tho I fear not truly do stile Innate Notions S. I am still of my Author's mind That we call those works Miracles whose natural Causes we do not understand L. No We rather call that work a Miracle which we know is done not by a Natural but by the immediate Energy of some Supernatural Power For the Course of Nature being steady nothing is more easie than to observe when her Course is broken i. e. when something is done that we are sure is repugnant to those fixed Rules which she is bound to observe in all other cases S. Prithee what are those Rules How do you know that they have ever been broken L. The first Rule Ex nihilo nihil fit Out of nothing there can come nothing is as clear by its own light as any One Proposition we can easily frame unto our selves Either therefore Matter made it self that is it was a Cause before it did exist which is a Wild Absurdity or it was made by a Superior Being and its very Production the beginning of Miracles We all know that mutations of bodies may be made by the regular Laws of motion but that Matter should make it self or be produced out of nothing by her own Laws of motion is repugnant to the common sense of mankind If Matter therefore was made there was a time when it did not exist and therefore its motion from non existence to existence could not be according to any fixed Rule of Nature which had then no being and consequently God did not always work by fixed and unalterable Rules to which the very Notion of Creation is directly repugnant S. You ramble too wide from our present purpose Can you prove that any thing yet was ever done since the Creation that was certainly repugnant to any One fixed Law of Nature which may be a sufficient Testimonial to a man that he is sent from God L. It is a Maxim in Reason That one body acts upon another by Contaction or Protrusion only If two bodies were placed never so near and no contiguous body between they might remain to all Eternity in that posture without affecting each other or producing any alteration in them If therefore any man can produce an alteration in bodies by the sole word of his mouth all men will conclude this man does act by virtue of a Supernatural Power When therefore the Children of Israel saw Moses turning water into blood or bringing Lice and Frogs c. upon the Land of Egypt by the lifting up his Rod or our Saviour curing diseases by the word of his mouth or raising men from the dead c. they must conclude that this was done by a spiritual and not by a material power which can cause no alteration on another body but by Contraction or Emission of minute Particles the secret Operations of which do constitute the whole body of Natural Magick Now if the moving of the Wand or speaking a few words did produce the wondrous Effects but now mentioned in the production or alteration of bodies by the sole force of Nature they would do it always when utter'd or apply'd after the same manner because the Laws of Nature are fixed and immovable But since we see they have done it but cannot do the same thing again we very rationally conclude that these alterations were made in Bodies by a Spiritual and a Superior Power Your Author therefore must not think to sham us off with a Wild Pretence That what we call Miracles were some strange works of Nature so called with respect to the ignorance of the Vulgar For we are willing the Miracles upon which our Religion is grounded should be tryed by the most known Axioms of Natural Philosophy and challenge the whole Race of Epicurean Atomists to shew how they could be done according to any Hypothesis that ever yet was framed of the Mechanical Laws of Motion S. Does not my Author clearly demonstrate That the Sun 's stopping his course of which we read in the Book of Joshua was nothing else but a refraction of Light the Sky being then full of Hail And the like may be said of the Dial of Ahaz L. Your Author boldly says much but he proves nothing The standing still of the Sun or the prolongation of Light by any other means whether Natural or Miracu lous would have been equally beneficial to the Israelites in affording them time to slay their Enemies But because it would be greater Encouragements to the Israelites to see God himself assisting them in a miraculous manner and the Scriptures do relate this as a Miracle and since no sufficient Reason can be given why the Sun should stop his Course or the Earth stand still which in the Effects is the same thing unless by the immediate Power of God we have more Reason to believe the Scripture-Narrative than the improbable Conjecture of your daring Author For why must we needs conclude That because it was possible the Children of Israel might be deceived that therefore they certainly were so Or how is it probable that the Air
this absurd and erroneous manner S. Perhaps he only means it is in every Man's Power to Interpret Scripture as he pleases L. So it is in every Man's power to be Erroneous and to Act contrary to the Law of Nature but has he therefore a right to Murder Steal or commit Adultery But he does not only say Summum jus libere sentiendi de Religione penes unumquemque esse but Summam Authoritatem Scripturam p. 103. Interpretandi apud unumquemque esse S. Methinks the right of Interpreting Scripture ought rather to be given to some Body of Men who are most likely to preserve it L. I have already shew'd you That Contradiction is no Interpretation and that no Humane power can have Authority to oppose Divine Revelation unless you could prove That Man is more Omniscient than God S. God forbid that I should attempt that for now I begin to hate the very name of Deism as it stands Opposed to the Belief of Revealed Religion L. And you would hate it more if you considered from the Dregs of how many Sects and Factions this Poyson is Extracted and how much it tends to destroy all Morality and use of right reason in the World From the Papists it takes the Doctrine Deficiency and Obscurity of the Scriptures and the necessity of a Living Interpreter From the Quakers it take the Doctrine of See chap. 12. p. 144 145 of the Light within as sufficient to Salvation which he calls The Law of Nature and they term the Spirit and of villifying the Scriptures as meer Paper and Ink as he expresly calls 'em Chap. 12. Pag. 145. Vereor ne nimis sancti c. Simulachra et imagines hoc est Chartam et atramentum pro Scriptura adorent In which words he makes Reverencing the Scriptures to be a kind of Idolatry From the Independent it takes the Renunciation of Catholick Communion and makes every Man as they do every Congregation to be a Church as it were to himself and it borrows something of the Doctrine of Fatal Necessity from the rigid Preshyterian Then as to its tendency to Immorality it takes from us all certainty of the means of Grace and hope of Glory through the Mediation of our Blessed Saviour and leaves us nothing to Adore but a careless deceitful and inflexible Deity and whilst it pretends to leave us Piety it really robs us of the true Ided of God It leaves Justice and Charity no other encouragement than they can find in this world and God knows that is often little enough and it gives the full Reins to Lust and Appetite to Eat Drink and be Merry for all beyond the Grave is but Conjecture or idle Speculation Nay it drives the mind unto an assent to so many Absurdities and Contradictions as must at last center in downright Atheism for a Man may as well believe that there is no God at all as believe that there is a God who has exerted his own power to abuse the World and Atheism in a few Years would run up again into the old Pagan Idolatry since Humane Nature cannot be long without Religion or some Superstition of if possible a more ridiculous and pernicious Nature S. Sir you need add no more I am fully satisfied of the necessity of Revealed Religion and only beg your Prayers to Almighty God that I may increase in all useful Knowledge and Walk worthy of so Heavenly a Vocation L. I am glad if any weak endeavours of mine can contribute any thing to the Vindication of that Religion into which I was at first Baptized and which is now so much opposed by the Fraud and Malice both of Men and Deviss And may God who has began this Conversion in your heart assist you always with his Grace and make you perfect in every good Work thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. S. I thank you for your Christian endeavours and wish you an hearty farewel FINIS Books Printed for Ch. Brome 1697. 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shall not presently be judged a Falshood till there be some further demonstration of its absurdity 3. That you allow the same liberty of deducing Consequences from Texts of Scripture aâ— you take to your selves 4. Then that due regard be had to the Writings of the New as well as of the Old A. With all my heart 1st Then God revealed the Law to Moses by a true Voice as we are told Exod. 25. 22. but this was the only true Voice from God that ever was heard The words of the Decalogue according to some Men were not spoken they only heard a confused Noise and so perceiv'd the Law as then written in their Hearts tho in truth those Notions of Good and Evil were engrafted there long before Nay it is evident that what you call Revelation was only the Appearance of some Images to the sight or Phantacy of the Prophet See Chron. 22. how God shewed David his Anger by an Angel holding a Sword in his hand and the same hapned to Balaam By Images not real but depending upon the Phantacy of the Prophet God revealed to Joseph that he should have the Dominion over all his Brethren Observe Numb 12. 6 7. and you will see what slight assurance was given to the other Prophets If there be a Prophet amongst you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream T. Confident Assertions without Equivalent Strength of Reason impose upon none but those that are willing to be cheated It is spoken without Authority of Scripture that God pronounced the Law only with a true and real Voice All that we can learn from Exod. 25. 22. is That God promised to be ready to communicate his Will to Moses from above the Mercy-seat and from between the two Cherubims But that place of Scripture does not explain the manner of that Communication so as to determine it to a real Voice much less does it exclude all former Revelations from that priviledg Nay nothing is more evident than that other Revelations were made by a real Voice before the delivery of the Law of Moses Immediately after the Fall Gen. 9. 10. we read that God called unto Adam and said unto him Where art thou And he said I heard thy Voice in the Garden and I was afraid Or if our bold Author will turn this into Figure as indeed he ventures to turn so whatsoever he pleases yet in the 18th of Genesis we read of a Revelation made by a real Voice or there is no description of a real Voice in rerum naturâ—â— For the three Angels that appeared as Men to Abraham and eat as Men without doubt spake as Men when the promise was made to Abraham that Sarah should bring forth a Son When God was about to destroy the Old World Gen. 6. he foretold that dismal Execution of Vengeance to his Servant Noah and if you will stick to the Words of the Scripture according to our first agreement gave him a punctual description of the Ark he should make and the Persons and Living Creatures that should enter into it which it is hard to imagine could be done without a real Voice Or at least it is as rational to suppose one here as in the place cited out of Gen. 25. 22. But your Author is still more Quod Revelatioper solas imagines continget patet ex primo paralip Ch. 22. v. p. 5. v. p. 3. impudent or unwary when he tells us it is evident from Chron. 22. that Revelation is sometimes made by Images only and that none are capable of receiving the revealed Will of God but only by the help of Imagination and that the Words or Figures were sometimes real that is existing without the mind of the Prophet and sometimes imaginary that is framed by the mind of the Prophet himself From whence he infers That the Certainty of Prophecy is not Mathematical but only Moral or rather according to those Principles nothing but a Fanciful Whimsey that may as well be false or true Now by this Author's leave no such conclusion nor indeed can any conclusion at all be drawn from the Mediums of Divine Revelation that concern the Certainty or Fallibility of it For all the Mediums of Revelation being supernatural we may call 'em by what Names we please yet still we must borrow those Names from some Natural Things because of those only we have compleat Idea's He that is a Prophet must be certain it is God who speaks to him but the bare hearing of a Voice or the seeing of an Image will not create this Certainty according to the Laws of Nature For Voices and Words may be framed by other invisible Powers and therefore we are not so foolish as to conclude that Moses was a Prophet of God because he heard a Voice or saw a Figure but because he was enabled to shew forth sensible Demonstrations that the power of God was with him But tho we do not conclude the certainty of Revelation from the Mediums of Revelation so is it the greatest madness in the World to infer from thence the Uncertainty of it For we who have not seen those Figures nor heard those Words nor felt those Divine Impressions can frame no compleat Idea's of them And your bold Author draws Conclusions from such Premises which 't is plain he could never understand unless he can pretend that himself has been inspired Supposing it therefore true that Preter haec nulla alia singenda c. p. 7. the Scripture made mention of no other Mediums of Revelation than Signs or Figures and Words yet cannot he from thence infer any Necessity of the Uncertainty of Divine Revelation unless he could give us compleat Idea's of what manner of Impressions those Words or Signs made upon the Minds of the Prophets Which is a matter impossible for him to teach or us to learn One Man can inform another of his Mind by Words and Figures and why must God be excluded from that power which he gives his Creature But after all it is not true that Words and Figures are the only Mediums of Divine Revelation which the Scriptures mention There is a Communication of the Spirit of God immediately infusing Knowledge into the Mind without any Organs of Speech or Corporeal Representations which yet is as infallible as the other Joh. 16. 17. Our Saviour promises his Disciples That the Spirit of Truth should lead them into all Truth And this Communication of the Spirit we call Inspiration using a Metaphorical Word to express a Notion which we cannot possibly receive from the bare knowledge of Nature And tho this Spirit appear'd to the Apostles Acts 2. in the shape of Cloven Tongues yet we read it bestowed upon them and upon others in the Primitive Times the Gift of Drivers Languages before utterly unknown unto them by a secret and invisible Operation If therefore the Spirit of God can reveal to the Mind of Man
that Moses was a very meek man and therefore according to your Author 's silly Hypothesis all Revelations proceeding through him should have been full of nothing but Meekness and Gentleness and the Sanctions should have consisted chiefly of alluring promises and yet we Read in Exod. 20. That the Law of Moses was delivered in a terrible manner by Thunder and Lightning in the Mount And Deut. 28. 15. Moses utters so many Curses against the transgressor of the Law as must needs proceed from something very much different from the description he gives of his own meek and gentle Spirit Elijah will be allowed by your Author to have been a person of a fierce disposition as may be seen by his calling for Fire down from Heaven upon the Captains of Fifties and killing the Worshippers of Baal and from our Saviour's rebuke to his Disciples when they would have had him call down for Fire from Heaven after Elijah's Example Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of and yet not onely so but he was incensed against Ahab by provocations of the highest Nature because by his and Jezebels command 1 King 19. 14. The Children of Israel had forsaken the Covenant of his God thrown down his Altars and Slain his Prophets with the Sword and he onely was left and they sought his Life also Nay Ahab had made up the measure of his iniquity by depriving Naboth of his Vineyard and his Life yet when the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite he became the Messenger of good News to Ahab 1 King 21. 29. Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the Evil in his Days Isaiah was undoubtedly a Person of a very Sweet and Aimable temper of a Noble Family and well practised in all the Arts and Language of a flourishing Court as this A well enough observes from that flowing vein of Eloquence which runs through all his Writings and his Prophecy is so full of Promises of good things to the Church that he is stiled the Evangelical Prophet and yet he was sent by God as a Messenger of ill News even to the good Hezekiah Is 39. 6. Behold the days come when all that is in thy house and that which thy Fathers laid up in store until this day shall be carry'd to Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord. And if any man read ch 53. of his Prophecy he will find such a description Isa 53. of a suffering Messiah as could not have enter'd into the Head of such an accomplish'd Courtier without the assistance of divine Inspiration Jeremiah was a man of sorrow and yet your Author cannot say that none but Revelation of sorrowful things were made to him for he foretold the Restauration of the Jews and the precise time of it which certainly was no very sorrowful matter I could heap up innumerable instances of the same Nature to shew your Authors Foundation he would build upon Viz. That Prophesie was adapted to the Natural temper of the Prophet from whence he would undoubtedly insinuate it was onely an effect of it is false and repugnant to the United Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures Besides who could inform this Temerarious Author of the Natural Constitution of the Bodies of the Ancient Prophets Who knows not that the humours of the Body are much alter'd both for the better and the worse by External accidents whether sad or joyful What wonder then that those Prophets who liv'd in the Peaceable and Flourishing State of the Church as Isaiah did for some time and to whom joyful things were for the most part revealed should be of a joyful Spirit and the contrary be recorded of these who were sent upon sad and mournful Messages Which is most likely that the message should be cause of the Joy Or the Joy be the cause of the message S. To me the Scales seem to hang even L. But then are those predictions whether Joyous or Mournful Prov'd always to be true by the event I hope that is enough to turn the Scale on the Prophets side S. You may say what you please but still you shall never make me believe but that if God spake to Man he would always speak in the same Style and that Style would be the most elegant and florid of any other But if you compare the first of Isaiah from Ver. 11. to 20. with the 5th of Amos from 21 to 24 ver c. You will find that the Style of the Prophets is not always the same but according to their several capacities it is sometimes brief and sometimes long sometimes elegant and sometimes rude in some places very plain and in others full of obscurity L. Difference of Stile is no Argument of difference in things nor is the Elegance or Rudeness of a Language essential to the conveyance of Truth The History of Salust is as true as that of Livy for he wrote of things done in his own time whereas Livy is full of fabulous Relations and yet I never p. 20. heard any Critick affirm That his Stile is as compleat and elegant It is enough for us to believe that God revealed his Will to the Prophets and other inspired Authors but left the Narration to the natural Abilities of the Prophets whose Stile might vary but not their conceptions of the will of God S. But why then did he not always chuse Men of the most elegant Stile to be his Prophets L. Because it being intended for the good of all Mankind it ought to be adapted to the meanest Capacities As men of great natural and acquired Abilities were fittest to stand before Kings and Princes so were Rusticks and illiterate persons most fit to speak to the capacity of the Vulgar S. Well I will grant that difference of Stile is no very material Objection but what if the Hierogliphicks and Prophetical Representations were various also Did not Isaiah see God sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple Is 6. But Ezekiel beheld him as a fire of the colour of Amber Is it not plain that both saw God in the same manner as their respective imagination did before the Vision represent him to them L. Not in the least All that the Scripture says is That God made himself known by those different Representations to Isaiah and Ezekiel does it therefore follow that they made these Representations to themselves out of their own Fancy If these Hieroglyphicks were really represented to them by God what necessity was there that they should be adapted to erroneous prejudices of the Prophet Such Revelations would be productive of Error and God would thereby become the Author Abetter and Confirmer of Falshood in the World which none will affirm but those who think God to be nothing else but the setled course of dull and stupid matter If the heat of their own Imagination coined these Images to its self
of humane reason have asserted that God is ignorant of those future contingents which depend upon the free will of Man and if this be true Moses interpreted by your Author had as true a Notion of God as many of the Ancient Philosophers or some of the Modern Arminians Socinians and Preists themselves tho it is clear by the Holy Scriptures that God by his Prophets has foretold those Actions which depend upon the free will of Man S. And is this all you have to say L. No I will add that tho God had told Moses ver 18. of the 3d Chapter That the Children of Israel would hearken to his Voice Yet at the same time he inform'd him ver 20. That he would stretch out his Arm and Smite Egypt with all his Wonders The Words therefore of Moses Behold they will not believe me nor hearken to my Voice imply no contradiction to those words of God himself v. 18. Chap. 3. Because they relate to a different time It was true what God told Moses that the children of Israel would hearken to his Voice when it was confirm'd by Signs and Wonders which were wrought in the Land of Egypt and it was true what Moses said to God that they would not believe him nor hearken to his Voice before those Signs and Wonders were wrought before them It does not appear from hence that Moses doubted of the Knowledge of God but only longed for that assistance of his Power by which God had told him he would free the Israelites from the slavery of Bondage and Error Besides Ex. 4. 8. God was revealed to Moses as foreknowing that tho the Israelites might at first despise yet at last they would hearken to the voice of Moses S. All this seems to me to be nothing but Evasion Moses himself had wrong Notions of the Nature of God He look'd upon him as a Being that always was is and ever shall be and for that reason call'd him Jehovah but he taught nothing of his Nature but that he was Merciful Living and very Jealous of Tranferring his Honour p. 24. to another L. If Moses conceived no right notion of a God Pray let us know your Authors Opinion upon that Subject S. My Author gives no Definitions but it is plain from the 26th page that he looks upon Moses Conceptions of Love and Mercy and Jealousy which are humane passions when ascribed to God to be very erroneous mean and vulgar L. They cannot be conceived erroneous unless you can prove that Moses thereby ascribes something to God that is imperfect or vicious in its own Nature which I presume you will never be able to do Love as it is a humane passion may be vicious when placed upon a wrong object as when we love those things which are forbidden or when it is too remiss or too vehement in respect of those objects upon which it is placed But as it is a Principle of doing Good and Fruitful of Beneficial Emanations to Men and Angels it is the Perfection and Glory of the Divine Nature in so much that the Apostle is not affraid to say that God is Love it self S. But what think you of Pity Mercy Jealousy are those passions worthily ascribed unto God L. Yes very worthily provided you remove from thence those imperfections which unavoidably arise from the Nature of a humane Soul and the contexture of a humane body All our Affections are accompany'd with some violent perturbation of the body which cannot be in God who is an incorporeal Being Wherefore tho Pity Jealousy and Anger be attributed to God for want of proper and intelligible Names to express something that is like them in the Divine Nature yet we cannot conceive Moses so stupid as to think that God felt the same perturbations that Men are sensible of in their afflictions The Scripture represents God as resolved to punish unrepenting sinners and this Resolution it calls his Anger and it shews us that God is ready to succour the afflicted and to extend his Pardon to some who according to strict Justice are unworthy of it and his Propensity to those voluntary Favours Moses calls by the Name of Mercy and his Eternal Decree That his Honour should not be given to his Creatures by an easy Metaphor is stiled Jealousy But all this includes no Erroneous Apprehensions of God it onely expresses these attributes which are known by the light of Nature in such words as are most intelligible to all the different Degrees of Men in the World S. You may fancy what Figures you please but can you shew any good reason why Moses must be understood to speak in a Figurative sense L. Because in this Life we all see God darkly as through a glass and therefore cannot in all things speak properly of him as he is but must be compelled by necessity to transfer some words from those things we more perfectly understand to signfie those Perfections in God which are less perfectly understood by us S. I wonder you will deny That the Revelation was adapted to the Capacity of the Prophet when so many Instances of it are brought by this Author extracted from your very Bibles Moses thought God was in a peculiar manner Governour of the Jews but that the Government of other Countries was left to inferiour Deities who were called the Gods of other Nations See for this Exod. 15. 11. and 2 Chron. 32. 19. He also absurdly dreamed That God who is every where was confined to live in Heaven For this see Deut. 33. 27. Jonas presumed himself able to fly from the very presence of God Solomon dispis'd all the Laws prescrib'd to a King tho he was esteemed the wisest of all the Jewish Nation The Doctrin of Ezekiel is directly opposite to the Doctrin taught by Moses as you will find if you compare his 18 Chap. with the 7th Ver. of the 31 of Exod. or the 18th of the 22d of Jeremiah Samuel believed that God never repented of his Decree See 15. Sam. ver 29. Jeremiah taught that God upon condition of Repentance did reverse his Decree of Judgment against notorious Sinners It appears from Gen. 4. v. 7. That Man has power to resist Temptation but St. Paul teaches That Man has no Government over his own Thoughts or Actions but by the singular Calling and Grace of God See the 9th to the Romans And when he ascribes Justice to God he Corrects himself by saying He spoke after the manner of Men. From whence it is as clear to me as the Sun that what you call Divine Revelation or Divine Inspiration never made any man wiser than he was before but either left him or confirm'd him in those very Prejudices of Opinion in which at first it found him Unless in matters of Morality for therein the Prophets were guided by known and undeniable Maxims L. You muster up the whole strength of your Author's Forces which consists more in number than in true Worth and
Dignity We do not deny that God condescends in the manifestations of his Will to accommodate himself to the weak capacities of his Creature Man but that does no ways incline us to believe that he ever reveals to Man any thing that is false or that he confirms him in his preconceived Errors or that whensoever he is pleased to reveal himself in a Supernatural manner he cannot or does not do it with the same degree of Perspicuity as one man can tell his Thoughts to another God indeed has declared more to one Prophet than to another but since he never speaks any thing but truth to any this is so sar from being an Argument against reading any of the Prophets for so I call all Inspired Authors that it is a strong inducement to peruse them all that so what we miss in one we may readily find in another If Revelation discovered nothing new to Mankind nor confirm'd truths of an eternal verity it would be altogether needless and if it by being adapted to Men's erroneous Prejudices confirm them in the same it would be pernicious and God himself would be the Author Abettor and Divulger of Falshood in the world which I would have all young Men seriously to consider who are addicted to these Deistical Notions Epicurus who removed the Deity from all thoughts of humane Affairs pays more honour to the Divine Nature than those who with your Author suppose him to meddle therein only to confound natural Light and to contradict himself and to send his Servants to plant and propagate Falshood in the World S. You seem now to be very hot but can you disprove the Author whom you rashly Condemn because he speaks truth more freely than is consistent with the Interest or Humour of the Clergy L. I desire to be believed no farther than as you find what I say is agreeable to the Testimony of Scriptures by which it will appear that God has Revealed nothing to Inspir'd Authors that any man can condemn of Error Secondly That he has declared to them such truths as were directly repugnant to their Preconceived Erroneous Opinions And Thirdly I will shew you that the places of Scripture used by your A are no ways Subservient to his present design and purpose If your Author would Argue fairly against the Authority of the Holy Scriptures he should have produced such places in them which he could easily and plainly convince of Error in matters that belong to the Happiness of Mankind But how much he fails in this will appear by a Discussion of these Instances which are alledged by him Moses taught the Jews that that very God who made the Heaven and the Earth was their God who was revealed to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and who then by Signs and Wonders had brought them out of the Land of Egypt which plainly shews that he had right Conceptions of the Vnity of the Divine Nature as the first and only cause of all things But at the same time he knew that the Heathens worshipped other created invisible Powers which they called Gods tho unlike unto the true God in all the Glorious Attributes of the Divine Nature and this is all that can be gathered from the 11th ver of the 15th Chap. of Exodus Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods Moses does not here assert that there are more Gods than one but only intimates that there were more Beings than one which were tho falsely and equivocally called Gods by the deluded Pagans But why do we wonder that invisible Powers in compliance to the common Dialect at that time in the World are stiled Gods when Magistrates themselves by no improper Figure are dignified with the same honourable Appellation Ps 6th and 7th I have said you are Gods and all of you the Children of the most High but ye shall dye like men and fall like one of the Princes Will any be so absurd to conclude from hence that the Psalmist thought that there was little or no difference between God and Man Nor does it at all appear from the 19th ver of the 32d Chap. of the Chron. That the Jews thought that God left other Nations to the Government of other Gods substituted by him the words are these And they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the Gods of the People of the Earth which were the work of the hands of men It was not the Besieged Jews but the Besieging Pagans who called those inferior Beings by the name of Gods which were worshipped by the deluded Pagans the Jews acknowledged them only as the work of the hands of men In the 17 Chap. of the 2d of Kings gives only an Historical Account of the Sentiments of those Pagans who were translated into the Regions of Israel from remoter Nations they indeed had the same Apprehensions of the God of Jerusalem as others had of their Topical Deitys who were confined to the Government of certain Places Persons Arts or Sciences according to the Opinion of the Ancients and therefore mingled some Ceremonies of the true with all the Superstitions of a false Religion But the Author of this History is so far from approving that he utterly condemns as well their Notions as their Practices In the 23d ver They fear not the Lord neither do they after his Statutes or after their Ordinances or after the Law and Commandment which the Lord commanded the Children of Jacob whom he named Israel S. Why then does the Scriptures call them Gods L. Because an Historian relating what others have said or are wont to say must speak in the same Dialect if he will keep exactly to the truth nor is any Author obliged to speak always properly when he may be better understood by a Figure The Apostle speaks of some whose God was their Belly and tells us that Covetousness is Idolatry and yet I never read of the God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Venter that were worshipped by the Ancient Greeks or Romans Persius makes him at most but a Master of Arts. Magister Artium ingeniique Largitur Venter And Money it self was not Invested with Divine Honours in Juvenals time if you will believe the Poet. Nullas numorum ereximus aras I wonder your A should forget one place of Scripture more conduceing to his purpose than any he has hitherto Cited in the 4th ver of the 4th Chap. of the 2d to the Corinthians Satan is stiled the God of this World how plainly might he infer from thence that Satan was revealed to the Apostle as the God of this World S. But what say you to Moses's Opinion That God lived in Heaven is not that an Error unworthy of a Philosopher And altogether Pagan L. If Moses had taught that God was so confined to Heaven as to be excluded from the Earth or from any part of the Universe or from the Knowledge and Government of Humane Affairs it might have given this A some very specious pretence to
much less since we are guilty of known Breaches of the Divine Laws can we be sure of the Remission of Sins and the Donation of Eternal Happiness since it depends upon the free Goodness of God which is not determined by any necessary Rule of Action A Deist therefore expects Pardon from God just so as a Condemn'd Criminal hopes Forgiveness from a mild and gracious Prince He has some General Notion of the Good-Nature of his Soveraign and therefore has some hopes it may be extended to him as well as to others But a Christian has the same assurance of a conditional Forgiveness of Sins as a Malefactor has that Sees and Reads a Proclamation of Pardon under the broad Seal of his offended Prince Tho Miracles therefore are not necessary to support material Beings yet they are to assure mankind of its Happiness and which do you think is of greatest moment The Stateliness of the Habitation or the felicity of those Rational Creatures that inhabit in it S. If Miracles were necessary to promote the Happiness of all mankind why are not all men made Partakers of their Beneficial influence Why must Miracles be wrought only in some Ages of the World and in the sight too of only one Nation not very Famous for War or Learning Why must all the Gentiles Perish because they knew not a matter of Fact that never was made known unto them These are prejudices against your reveal'd Religion which I can never conquer and am therefore forc'd to fly from that confined Light to the more diffusive Light of Nature L. Whilst man kept that integrity wherein he was at first Created there was no absolute necessity of Miracles to make him happy who was happy enough before in the Enjoyment of his own Innocence Nor was there any great need of Miracles whilst a traditionary knowledge of the Decree of God to save mankind was kept alive in the World by the long Lives of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs But when all Flesh had Corrupted their ways before God and the Knowledge of one supreme Deity which some will have to be a Connate Notion was almost totally eraced out of the minds of all mankind as is evident from humane as well as Divine Historians then it was very expedient that God should make a farther Revelation of himself confirmed by Miracles without which it could not have had the force of a rational Evidence To save mankind from utter perdition And therefore God first called upon the World by Noah the 8th Preacher of Righteousness and then called Abraham out of his Fathers Idolatrous House and made a Covenant with him that he and his Seed should serve him And when the State of the World required that a manner of adoring God should be settled in it tho not absolutely best in its own Nature yet most suitable to the Genius of the Jews and that posture of affairs which was then Predominant in the World the Wickedness and Folly of Man in abusing the Light of Nature render'd it necessary That Moses should be sent to the Israelites to bring them out of the Land of Egypt with Signs and Wonders and shew them after what manner God would then be Worshipped So that Miracles are necessary first when a new manner of Worship is to be planted in the World And therefore Moses was endued with the Power of Working Miracles to convince the Israelites that the Ceremonial Law was Divine tho additional to the Law of Nature Or Secondly When the true manner of worship is in danger of being lost And therefore Elijah and Elisha in the Time of Ahab when Idolatry made its greatest encroachment upon the true Religion by Divers Signs and Wonders from Heaven called back the Israelites to the true Worship of the only God Or Thirdly When a manner of worship that is of Divine institution is to be alter'd or disannull'd as was the Ceremonial Law by the coming of our Saviour S. But what must become of those who never saw nor heard of these Miraculous Revelations L. They have the Light of Nature Let them use that well and leave themselves to the Mercy of God The Scriptures no where say That all those who have not seen nor heard of a Miracle shall be Damn'd tho it teaches that if they be sav'd it must be by Virtue of the Name of Jesus And therefore the strength of your argument is quite lost unless you can prove that wild assertion Besides the knowledge of reveal'd Religion is not put up in so narrow a corner of the World as men of your perswasion do seem to imagine For there is no Nation but what may embrace the Gospel if they please to listen to its rational evidence and I would feign know what injustice it is in God to suffer them to Perish who either knowing nothing of the Miraculous Demonstration of the Gospel make an ill use of the Light of Nature or those who hearing its rational evidence abuse their reason in not consenting to it S. But still you do not clear the main difficulty objected by my Author that the Power of Nature is the very Power of God How then can a Miracle be done by Natural Power S. Your Author first begs his Question and then very boldly Triumphs in the Victory as if extorted by force of reason He presumes it granted as a first Principle That there is no other God but Nature and that this Nature is fixed and immutable not a free Agent but a perpetual slave to fatal necessity And thence strongly concludes That if there be no Power but that of Nature then there can be oh wonderful demonstration no supernatural Power But we on the other hand proceed by a more plain and intelligible way of reasoning We suppose That since Matter is a dull unactive Principle it could not make it self nor reduce it self into that decent and useful order in which now we see it 2d That it was created by a Superiour Being That that Superior Being must be endued with all manner of Perfections as being the first Cause of all Perfections in the Creature 3. That Wisdom Vnderstanding and Liberty are Perfections and therefore consequently must be in the highest degree in him who is the first Cause of them And Lastly That his Wisdom is seen in all the works of his hands If therefore your Author would argue fairly against us let him attack boldly any one of these Propositions concerning the Nature of God and if we cannot defend them we will become Worshippers of the great Goddess Nature But if God is an Understanding Being he must be a free Agent And if he be a powerful and free Agent what should hinder his stopping or disordering the regular course of Nature when the doing so is conducive to his own Glory and the general Benefit of all Mankind Unless you can prove by Scripture that he has sworn by himself he would never do it S. Does not my Author tell you That it
them taken up by the Deists to destroy all the whole frame of reveal'd Religion But the Scripture is neither so obscure as the Romanists pretend nor so absurd as you Deists do make it And First I think it would be very much to the purpose to reduce Scripture to those several heads of the Subject matter that is contained in them For First For some things are the pure and proper objects of humane reason in which Natural Religion and Revelation are not at all concerned such as are the motion of the Earth or Heavens and other Phaenomena's of the works of Nature Of these it is not necessary that the Scripture should speak in the most proper and the most Philosophical terms It is enough that it excites us to our duty by the contemplation of their Beauty and Order and therefore your Author's Observation of the Errors of the Author of Joshua's History concerning the motion of the Sun is little to the purpose unless he can prove it was the design of that book to give us a system of Astronomy Secondly Other things in the Scripture deliver'd are matters of pure Revelation which reason could never discover but receives them as additions to it Such as are the Doctrine of the Trinity Incarnation Sacraments and the like which my Lord Bacon in his Book de augmentis scientiarum wishes reduced into one Body that so we might distinctly view what knowledge is altogether supported by Divine Revelation and what is owing to the unerring rules of humane reason For whatsoever is deliver'd by Revelation is to be received with the same firmness of assent as a first Principle but with this difference that we may safely venture to draw legitimate conclusions from first Principles of reason but we must be more modest in matters of mere Revelation lest otherwise we wade beyond our depth For here we must acquiesce in nothing but the Scriptures Thirdly Other matters are intelligible by Reason and by Revelation too as visible by a double Light Thus the whole substance of the Decalogue excepting only the Circumstantial part of the precise time of worship in the Sabbath and our Saviour's Divine Sermon in the Mount and other precepts of morality are so many branches of Natural Religion Revelation only confirms what reason as it were guessed at before and makes that obvious to the meanest capacity which before was known to the more thinking part of mankind and adds the certainty of future rewards and punishments which alone can engage a man to act with vigour And therefore we rightly enough interpret moral duties by known Principles of humane reason For otherwise we should run into many absurdities by adhering to the very Letter of the Decalogue its self If we do not interpret the 2d Commandment in this manner every Picture in our Houses every Sign in our Streets would be so many breaches of the Divine Commandment Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image nor the Likeness of any thing c. All Executions of Criminals and slaying of men in a just War would be downright Murthers if the Commandment Thou shalt not kill was to be taken in a strict and literal sense nay the Scriptures would contradict themselves when in some cases they command Criminals to be put to Death Fourthly Other things are Matters of History Such as are the Narrations of what hapned to the Jews and what Prophesies and Miracles were wrought amongst them And of these we Judge as of other Matters of Fact Viz. By the Number and Credibility of Witnesses And here we appeal to the common sense of mankind for these Miracles which are History to us to those who saw them were matters of sense The Wisdom of God is wrapt up in the Scriptures as it is in the works of Nature and is thence to be deduced by observing Method and Order without which all things appear to the understanding without shape or beauty S. Is this all you would advise L. No. I would be glad to see if the work were possible an Authentick History Synchronical with all parts of those sacred Writings For want of this many have carp'd at Moses's History who yet can find out nothing so Ancient nor so agreeable to all the remnants of past events that were preserved in the Fables or Histories of Pagan Writers Where we have a Synchronical History it agrees very well with the Prophesies of Daniel and no doubt but if an Account could be found of whatever hapned to the Neighbouring Nations about Palestine it would clear many Passages in the other Prophets which now seem triffling absurd or unintelligible S. What do you think of an exact Knowledge of the Hebrew words and all the Idioms of that Language L. I think it very useful but that defect is sufficiently supplied to the Vulgar by faithful Translations of Learned Men. I therefore in the last place would recommend what is touched upon by your Author an exact History of the Books of the Scripture viz. By whom written for what end at what time what was the Natural disposition abilities and qualities of the respective Pen-Men for Authors I must not call them with other Circumstances of the like Nature S. Then I perceive you will agree with my Author in the manner of interpreting tho not in the Divine Authority of those sacred Writings L. So far as it agrees with truth and no farther I approve of a Collection of those places that seem to agree and of those which seem to be most repugnant But Vid p. 86. then I do not infer from thence that the Opinions of the sacred Writers were really repugnant because then some of them must have been false and to ascribe falsehood to inspired Writers is the same thing as to ascribe it to God himself And because I find no seeming opposition in those Writings which may not be reconciled by an exact knowledge of the Language comparison with the Context and Attention to the true Scope and Design of Holy Persons As for what your Author says that we are not to reject the literal sense of any inspired Pen Men because it is absurd since in speculative matters they are guilty of great absurdities it is not to be admitted by a rational Man In those things indeed which are intelligible from Principles of reason as well as Revelation if any thing is plainly absurd and impossible to reason we may and ought to fly to a Metaphorical sense and meaning But we must not do so in matters of mere Revelation because they being deducible from no Principle of Reason we are not competent Judges of what is absurd or possible in them but we give assent to them for no other cause than because they are delivered by God Nor do I wish for an Historical Account of the Lives and Dispositions of the Ancient Prophets that from thence like your Author I may ascribe what I think to be erroneous to the Education Ignorance or Stupidity of