Communication of the Divine Goodness 98. The Fixed Stars probably no part of the Mosaick Creation 99. Genesis 3.16 Explained 100. Objection against this Interpretation answered 105. This Interpretation not prejudicial to Religion 107. Light before the Sun is the clearing up of the Chaos 108. Waters above the Firmament the Waters of the Planets 114. The Seas easily formed in one Day 117. Trees and Plants might easily grow before the Sun was made 119. How the Planets are said to be made the Fourth Day 123. Why Moses relates the distinct formation of the Earth alone 126. This Relation agrees with the aforesaid Hypothesis 129. God acted by other Methods in the Creation than now 135. He then took an immediate care of the Species 137. Americans of the same Stock with the rest of the World 139. How Inhabitants got into America 140. How the Blacks might descend from a White Parentage 143. This Blackness caused by the heat of the Sun 145. By the Curse of Cham. 147. No Absurdity that Eve should be made of a Rib. 167. No Race of Men before Adam 172. The Argument for the Praeadamites answered 173. No confused Huddle in the Relation of the Sixth Day 's Work 181. The Fall of Man not the first day of his Creation 182. The Ridiculousness of other Nations Accounts of the Creation compared with the Mosaical 187. The Aegyptian and Graecian 187. The Mahometan 188. The American 189. Of the Fall of Mankind The Wickedness and Folly of drolling upon Scripture 192. Not unreasonable that the Devil should tempt Mankind in the form of a Serpent 196. The Devil much pleased with Serpent Worship 199. This Serpent not the common viperous kind 201 God not oblig'd to keep Man from Sinning by an irresistable Power 204. This would have destroyed Freewill 206. Man had sufficient Assistance 208. This Miscarriage was repaired by God's Mercy afterwards 209. The Relation of two Trees not ridiculous 211. Difficulties about the Rivers of Eden removed 215. Moses did not give Account of the Rivers to find out Paradice by 217. The Reasonableness of the Probative Precept 219. The prohibition of an Apple more proper than any thing else 220. The Transgression of our First Parents no trifling Offence 225. The Difficulties of Original Sin removed 229. The Cursing the Ground no Reflection upon the Deity 235. Nor the Curse of the Serpent 237. The meaning of Their Eyes were opened 239. No Absurdity in the Relation of the Fig Leaves and the Skins 244. The Difficulties of the Cherubims and the Flaming Sword removed 245. The History of the Fallnot Allegorical 250. Such a Supposition would destroy all History 250. Moses a plain Writer 252. Had no design like the Heathen Philosophers to serve by an Allegory 253. Nor the same design with Allegorical Fathers 254. Moses gives the best Account of the depravation of Man's Will 256. The Miscarriages of the Philosophers in this 256. His Account the best of the Pudor circa Res Veneris 261. Of the pain of Child Birth 262. Of the Barrenness of the Earth 263. THE CONTENTS of the Second Part OF THE CONFERENCE PArticulars of the Conference p. 4. Of Natural Religion The unreasonableness of villifying the Clergy 7. The People partook of the Antient Sacrifices 14. Natural Religion not the Tendencies of Nature 18. Priests in all places of the World and in all Ages 21. The Advantage of a Ministry 23. Pure Natural Religion no where practised 25. What is called Natural Religion was at first revealed 32. Riddles not the corruption of Natural Religion 38. Heathen Polytheism not the diverse Exhibitions of Providence 41. Caused by the Darkness of the Post-diluvian Ages 45. by deifying of Princes 46. by the Worship of the Sun Moon and Stârs 49. by Deifying Words 51. Morality of the Philosophers grounded upon Pride 54. The Antient Philosophers mistaken in the nature of God 56. Erroneous in their Moral Doctrines 58 Their Lives Vitious 61. The Lives of the Common Pagans highly vitious 64. They and the Philosophers wanted a true end of their Actions 65. The Lives of Christians better than the Pagans in many particulars 67. Idolatry 68. Magick 68. Augury 69. Human Sacrifices 69. Lewd Worships 69. Vnlawful Marriages 70. Cruelty 70. Self Murther 71. Common Swearing 71. Exposing Children 72. Vnjust Wars 72. Luxurious Living 73. Enormous Lusts. 74. No Devout Worship 74. God more severe to Modern Theists than Antient Heathens 78. Heathens do not go to Heaven 79. What other Provision God may make for them 80. Not Indifferent to be of any Religion 84. 'T is Hypocrisie 85. Sometimes Idolatry 85. Morality not the same in all Religions 86. Not always to be of the Religion of our Country 87. Sin outwardly to comply with a false Religion 88. No Folly to suffer for Religion 89. K. of Siam's Argument answer'd 90 Of Revealed Religion and the Doctrine of the Mediator No Revelation to the Gentiles for their Religions 97. Because Idolatrous 98. Immoral 99. Melchisedech 99. This agreable to God's usual Providence 113. No Injustice in God 113. Other Instances of Providence as unaccountable 114. Jews not such ill People as pretended 117. Justin c. considered 119. Natural Knowledge not Revelation 128. Prophets not only extraordinary Men. 131. Spirit of God in Scripture signifies Revelation 135. That Prophesy does not consist in Imagination 143. Prophets had the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost 150. Prophecy not inconsistent with Wisdom 153. Prophecies not variable according to the Prophets Passions 154. Passions not the cause of Prophecy 155. Vain Opinions not mixed with Prophecy 157. More in Prophecy than Fancy and Well meaning 159. First Notion of Miracles not from the Jews 164. No Immutable Chain of Nature 165. God's Providence better than Fatality 167. God a wise Governour without Fatal Laws 169. Miracles not Occurrences which the Vulgar do not understand 169. Miracles do not make Men doubt of a God 171. False Miracles no Argument against True ones 173. Instances of the Jews and Solomon considered 175. Miracles not naturally come to pass 178. Difficulties of the Deluge accounted for 186. Remarks on the late Theorys c. 187. Tradition in all Nations of a Deluge 198. That the Deluge was possible 203. The Israelites did not pass round the Head of the Sinus 229. The Waters did not stand erect 230. Not beat back by a Natural Wind. 232. Alexander's passing the Pamphylian Streights not parallel 233. The Aegyptian Tradition groundless 234. The Jewish the best of all Political Laws p. 239. The Extraordinary Mercifulness of them 240. The great Wisdom of them 242. Objections against particular Laws answered 244. Jewish Rites not derived from the Egyptians 255. Circumcision not from the Aegyptians 257. Nor Vrim and Thummim 259. Priests Linnen Garments not from Aegypt 263. Nor the Cherubim 264. Nor the Ark. 268. Feasts of the New Moon not Aegyptian 269. Nor Washings 271. Nor the Temple 272. Other Nations have Customs as like the Jewish 275. Jews far from
the Collection of these Wonderful Beings The All or the Universe is what I call God 'T is he in whom we live move and have our being and the writer of your Pentateuch calls him very well the JAM or the Being because nothing else besides him is we are nothing but some little pulvisculi of his immense nature which appear in this or that Figure according to his pleasure who himself is one eternal Proteus exhibiting himself sometimes in this form and sometimes in that Now you may call this great infinite Being either Matter or the Vniverse or God or what you please it is much the same and it is all one whether you say God is Eternal or the World or Vniverse is so Cred. The ridiculousness of making the World God I find this is an Argument which takes mightily with some Atheistical Men of late who rather than own such a God as all Pious and Wise Men in all Ages have Worshipped they will make a God of Stocks and Stones and of all the vilest things in Nature But we will prove that this All or the Vniverse cannot be God from those Affections or Properties which we generally call Attributes which all Men that have believed the Deity have acknowledged to be in him I shall argue first from his Immutability which all Philosophers and Wise Men have attributed to him because a Whimsical Changeable God are terms incompatible the Idea of one of which does perfectly destroy the other Now if we make the World to be God we must make him to vary and change every moment to be turned into this thing and that thing to have this and that quality to be Hot and Cold and Moist and Dry to be High and Low and Little and Great to be a Man and a Horse to be a Tree and a Fish this would be to render God the sport of every Wise Man who must needs laugh at the shiftings of such an odd Capricious Deity For if all things be God what need of this Spectrous Fantastick Exhibition of himself he can make himself known to no body but himself and therefore he had as good keep himself to his own Original Nature Phil. But pray Sir why should it argue more Imperfection and Inconstancy for God thus to change the Representation of his Nature and to exhibit himself in a new manner than for him to Create things a new or to produce them The one is a change made by God as well as the other and then the Whimsy and Caprice will lie hard upon you too Cred. The difference is very wide Sir in these two Cases in the one God changes in the other he is changed It implies no imperfection in the Deity God does not chang himself by new Exhibitions bu his Creatures by new Productions to make a change in his Creatures because there is no real alteration made in him but only a new exercise of his Power which is Perfection and not Imperfection But for God himself to be changed implies weakness for all change is either for better or for worse to change for the better argues the Deity Imperfect before and to change for worse implies both a weakness in his former Knowledge and a Diminution in his Subsequent Power But it is not so when a change is made by the Divine Nature in its Creatures for that is but agreeable to the Excellence of that Admirable Being whose Goodness and Bounty seem necessarily to require it For if there were no change to be made in the Creatures it would hinder that large communication of the Divine Goodness to his Creatures and would hedge in God's Bounty within narrow bounds For if there never was to be but one set of Individuums in the World and they only were to live along to Eternity not the thousandth part of Beings would enjoy that communication of Happiness which now they do So that I conclude a change in the Creature is consonant to the Wisdom and Goodness of God but a change in God himself would be Weakness and Folly Such change of the Deity not voluntary But I will charge this yet homer upon you For when you say that God is changed into this variety of Figures we behold in the World you must either assert that this mutation is caused by the Will of God or by Necessity both which Assertions are equally absurd For to make the World God and to say these alterations are caused voluntarily by him is to make the nature of God to depend upon his Will which all Men who understand what they say must make necessary For who ever said that God was because he would be They rather say God is because he must be there is a necessity that there should be some primary Cause of things which was necessarily of himself and could not but be but all other things depend upon his Will and are because he would have them be And so it is in all the attributes of the Divine Nature God-Almighty is necessarily omnipotent not because he has a mind to be so He is Pure and Just and Merciful because he cannot be otherways But to make the nature of God consist in this series of Voluntary Mutations is to be guilty of the most absurd and manifest contradiction because it is to assert an Effect Prior to its Cause For to say the nature of God is so because he will have it so is to make an Act of Volition which is the Effect of the Divine Nature or Understanding to be the cause of it the act of Willing supposes an understanding nature before and the nature Willed supposes it yet not to be Neither can these changes of the Deity or this successive nature of God which is here asserted be necessary neither Nor necessary There is but one thing in the World of it self necessary and that is God and all other things which are necessary are so because his Will has determined them God necessarily is because he can have no cause but we cannot say so of any thing else We cannot say that such particular Men or Horses or Trees are necessarily because we can assign a cause of their production namely God who might if he pleased not have produced them Nay though 't is only probable that God produced them or if 't were only possible they might not have been produced by him it were argument enough against the necessity of their Being But farther to make all these Beings to be only the necessary Emanations of the Deity is not only to destroy all Religion but even Free-will and common sence For why should I praise God and honour him for this noble Being I enjoy and for the comforts of this Life which according to this opinion he could not but afford me any more than I should thank the Clouds for letting down those Rains which they could not keep up I am as sure that I have a Free will as I am sure of any
must make from India to Eden and what a strange Randezvouz there must be of Getulian Lyons and Greenland Bears of Guinean Monkeys and English Mastiffs and all to travel so far at so short a warning and in so little a time Pray good Credentius help out a poor Unbeliever in the midst of these difficulties Cred. But supposing Philologus No confused huddle in the Relation of the sixth day's work we should deny all this which you take for granted that the matter of all this Relation was transacted in one day and that the Animals took so long a journey to wait on Adam then all this fine Harangue falls to nothing And indeed I do not see any thing in Scripture to countenance it it is only the general Opinion of the Schools who suppose the Fall of Man to have happened the first day of his Creation and this is grounded upon an Argument which I see nothing in which is because otherwise Adam might have begotten a Child in his Innocency and then would not have traduced his Guilt to his Posterity I shall not trouble my self to confute this Argument because it is only a wild supposition and which may be answered by twenty suppositions as probable on the other side My business I undertook with you is to vindicate the Authority of the Scripture and not the Schoolmens Hypotheses and I do not here find any absurdity in that whatever your supposition may bring along with it For The lapse of Man not the first day of his Creation 1st Here is not a word in Scripture of the Lapse happening the sixth day of the Worlds Creation or the first of Mans and therefore you ought not to impute any absurdities to the Mosaical account which may follow from that Opinion Indeed those Difficulties which you have urged out of Mr. Gataker shew that all these things could not be transacted in one day but if they were done in many the Authority of the Scripture remains entire and truly the Arguments of that Learned Man which he has brought to confute the Opinion of the Schools and you have borrowed to expose the Mosaical account to me seem very conclusive But besides I have other reasons to think that the Lapse of Mankind did not happen the first day but that there did a considerable time intervene before this unhappy miscarriage I doubt not but that Adam before the fall was endowed with an extraordinary degree of Knowledge for I can never agree with the Socinians that he was such a poor ignorant Idiot as they would make of him But then I am apt to believe that this Knowledge inclined more to the Angelical and Intuitive than to the Experimental and Discursive one For it proceeded only from the extraordinary Influence of the divine grace and not from his own deductions experiments and discourse So that though Adam were never so wise a Creature I much question whether he had the inspired power of speaking as the Apostles had For words are pure placitory things and depend upon the mutual Agreement of the Speaker and the Hearer and therefore 't is most reasonable to think that Adam and Eve coined their own words themselves The difference between the Apostles and them was very wide because the Apostles spoke to men who understood those Languages but if Adam had spoke to Eve Hebrew or Greek she could have no more understood him than if he had held his Tongue They that maintain this Opinion must have recourse to Inspiration upon Inspiration and Miracle upon Miracle there must be one Inspiration for Adam to speak and another for Eve to understand there must be the immediate Assistance of the Holy Ghost for every word and syllable and that too with a double efficacy not only for the Information of the Hearer but to make the Speaker understand his own words It remains therefore that the first Parents framed a language for themselves which must be a considerable time a composing so that whereas we find them readily discoursing at the time of the Lapse both with God the Serpent and themselves it must follow that not only the fall but the naming of the Animals must be at such a convenient distance of time from the Creation as might give them leisure to frame the language Which time cannot be supposed to be over-long because their extraordinary Intellectual Capacity they were then endowed with would mightily facilitate their Invention of words and proper adapting them to things And 2ly We may draw another Reason that the Lapse did not happen upon the first day from Gen. 3. v. 8. from their being acquainted with the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the Day which implies they were used and much accustomed to the divine presence or Shechinah that they were able to know it so readily which they could not be supposed to do in one day And lastly the same Verse informs us that they hid themselves among the Trees of the Garden which shews they were better acquainted with it than they could be in an hour or two so as to find out the darkest thickets and umbrages of it 2. There is another thing which you take for granted in this supposition that is not so very certain and that is That in the sixth day's Creation there were Animals created all over the World and placed in those diverse parts of it we find them in now The World might be very well stocked by a pair or two of each kind created about Eden and their breed might increase as Mankind multiplied And if so as the Scripture says nothing for it or against it Adam might name all those Animals with ease enough and not trouble them to take such long Journeys as you suppose 3. If we should grant that the Animals were scattered at first all over the Earth some peculiar to one Country and some to another yet it does not follow from the words of Moses that Adam must give names to all these It is sufficient that he named those Anmals that were seated in that part of the World where Eden stood For it was to all intents and purposes sufficient for him to know what to call those Creatures which he was to be conversant with and was to make use of but it would signify very little for him to make a Vocabulary of a number of Animals that were to reside so many thousand miles from him and which he was never like to see again after his Nomination So that truly Philologus I do not see any of these formidable difficulties you imagine in this Objection unless we allow all those suppositions you have a mind to pin upon the Scripture without any warrant from it And now let us see if you have any more to say against the Mosaical Creation Phil. I think Sir enough has been said upon this point and you have been pleased to afford me better reasons for defence of the Mosaical Relations than ever I