to dissenters and prevent all vehemencies of captious dispute all schisms and unnecessary separations and many Wars and Persecutions upon the account of Religion For if the things in which Men differ be not Religion be not Faith and Fundamental If this be true and this truth acknowledg'd All these would want pretence and so Peace and Vnity would possess the spirits of Men. They saw that Religion which was shaken by divisions and rendred suspected of uncertainty through the mixture of uncertain things would stand safe and firm when 't was lay'd only upon the plain infallible undoubted propositions That holiness would thrive when Mens zeal was taken off from talking and disputing against others and directed inwards to the government of themselves and the reformation of their own hearts and lives That Papism which in those times of distraction began to spread even here would drop to the ground if it were believed That the necessary principles of Religion were few and plain and those agreed on For then there would be no need of an Infallible Interpreter and Judge I say They were sensible that all the great Interests of Religion and Mankind might be served by the acknowledgment of this one Reasonable Principle which they saw was the only way to bring us to stability and consistence â—…o Peace and Vnion In Consequence of this Spirit and Doctrine they discours'd the things wherein they differ'd from others with mildness and modesty without anger and damning sentences and afforded their converses to all sorts of good Men though they believ'd them mistaken They never exprest rage in their conversations or discourses against bare errours and mistakes of judgment But for the pride and confidence censoriousness and groundless separations that are the frequent attendants of different opinions These sometimes mov'd them to anger and expression of just resentment because they look'd on them as great Immoralities and very pernicious sins And on the occasion of these spiritual vices they were warmed with zeal against the Sectaries and Bigots for the taking down of whose pride and confidence They thought it necessary to detect the Impostors and to expose their vanities which they did successfully and shew'd That their Divinity consisted most in Phrases and their boasted spirituality in fond affections That their new lights were but freakish fancies and old Heresies revived and the precious Mysteries of their Theology but conceited absurdities and non-sense in a fantastick dress They happily drew the parallel between our Separatists and those antient ones the Pharisees and proved that the same spirit acted the Ataxites that govern'd those Jewish Fanaticks And because their pretences were taking and specious and had caught great numbers of the easie well meaning people of Bensalem Therefore to disabuse them they labour'd much to shew the shortness of their kind of Godliness and the danger of placing all Religion in Praying Hearing Zeal Rapture Mysteries and Opinions Accordingly they declar'd and prov'd That 1. Fluency and Pathetick eloquence in suddain Prayer may proceed and doth many time from excited passion and warm imagination from a peculiar temper and heated melancholly That these are no sign that a man prays by the spirit nor do they argue him to be one jot the better then those that want the faculty or any whit the more accepted of God for it That to pray by the spirit is to pray with Faith Desire and Love and that a Man may pray by the spirit and with a Form 2. That people may delight to hear from other causes then conscience and a desire to be directed in the government of their Lives That hearing is very grateful to some because it feeds their opinions and furnisheth their tongues and inables them to make a great shew of extraordinary Saint-ship They represented that meer animal Men and fond lovers of themselves may be much taken with hearing of the Gracious promises and Glorious priviledges of the Gospel when at the same time they are told they are all theirs and theirs peculiarly and exclusively to the rest of Mankind That pride and vanity and self-love will recommend and indear such preaching That it is most luscious to fond and conceited men to hear how much better and more precious they are then their Neighbours how much dearer to God and more favour'd by him what an interest they have in free distinguishing Grace and how very few have a share in it besides themselves How their enemies are hated of God and how sad a condition they are in who differ from them in practices and opinions To doat on such preaching and admiringly to follow such Preachers They shew'd was but to be in love with flattery and self-deceit That it was no sign of Godliness but an evident argument of pride malice and immoderate selfishness That these are the true causes of the zeal and earnestness of many after Sermons and of the pleasure that they have in hearing though they would perswade others and believe themselves that the love of Religion and sence of duty are the only motives that prevail with them 3. Concerning zeal They taught That zeal in it self is indifferent and made good or bad as it's objects and incentives are That meer education and custom natural conscience and particular complexion do sometimes make Men very zealous about things of Religion That though the fervours of the Ataxites for their Doctrines and ways were not all feigned but real and sincere Yet their zeal was nothing worth being but meer natural passion kindled by a fond delight in their own self chosen practices and opinions That their coldness to the great known necessary duties of Justice Charity Obedience Modesty and Humility was an evident sign that their heat for pretended Orthodox tenents and modes of worship had nothing Divine in it That true zeal begins at home with self-reformation and that where it was imployed altogether about amendments of external Religion and publick Government it was pernicious not only to the World but to a Mans self also 4. And because the heights of zeal ran up sometimes into raptures and exstacies which were look'd on as wonderful appearances of God in the thus transported persons Therefore here also They undeceived the people as I said in the general before by shewing That these alienations may be caused naturally by the power of a strong fancy working upon violent affections That they together may and do oft produce deliquiums of sense That the Imagination working then freely and without contradiction or disturbance from the external senses and being wholly imploy'd about Religious matters may form to it self strange Images of extraordinary apparitions of God and Angels of Voices and Revelations which being forcibly imprest on the fancy may beget a firm belief in the exstaticall person that all these were divine manifestations and discoveries and so he confidently thinks himself a Prophet and an inspired Man and vents all his conceits for Seraphick truths and holy Mysteries And by the vehemency
Countenance He had on a long Robe of Purple Silk and a kind of Turban on his Head of the same colour which had a Star of Gold wrought on it worn just before He imbraced me with much affection expressing great satisfaction in the opportunity of entertaining me alone He enquired after the welfare of our People and whether we wanted any Accommodation either for our Whole or Sick I bowed with a low reverence and answer'd That we wanted nothing but an occasion to speak our acknowledgments of the Bounty and Humanity of that blessed Place and particularly to express how much we were oblidg'd to his Lordships generous favours He replyed smiling That Complements were not in use in Bensalem and taking me by the hand he led me into an handsome square Chamber wainscotted with Cedar which fill'd the Room with a very grateful odour It was richly painted gilt and full of Inscriptions in Letters of Gold He sate him down on a Couch of Green Velvet and made me take my place by him After some more particular inquiry into the condition of our Sick of whom I gave him an account he told me That the Father of Solomon's House commanded him to acquaint me with the state of Religion in Bensalem as himself had with the condition of Philosophy there and that he would have done this too but that the urgent Business of the Publick State which lay upon him would not afford him time I rose up at these words and answered with a low submission That I knew not in what terms to express my sense of the Father's Condescention and Goodness and that his excellent Relation of the state of Philosophy and its ways of improvement in that Kingdom had inflamed me with desire to know what I might concerning the Affairs of its Religion since the so miraculous plantation of Christianity in it And particularly Whether it had kept its ancient Purity and Simplicity in that Realm which was lost in most other places This Question replyed He making me sit down again by him I shall fully answer in the things I have to say to you and having paused a little to settle his Thoughts he began his Narrative in this manner AFTER the Conversion of this Land by the Evangelism of St. Bartholomew of which you have heard Religion underwent some Revolutions that I shall not mention But take my ground from the last which hapned no very long time since For the understanding which you must know That upon the South-West of this place in the unknown Ocean also lies an Island famous for the rise it gave to a very spreading Sect in Religion From this unfortunate Country came certain Zealous Persons hither that pretended to extraordinary Illuminations and to more purity strictness and Spirituality than other Christians They taught That our Rites and Government were Superstitious and Anti-christian That we wanted Pure Ordinances and gospel-Gospel-Worship That our Good Works and Christian Vertues were nothing worth That the best of our People were but Formalists and meer moral Men That our Priests were uninlightned strangers to the Power of Godliness and Mysteries of Religion and that there was a necessity of a thorow Godly Reformation of our Government and Worship The Men at first were only gazed upon by our People as strange Persons But at length by the vehemence of their Zeal and glory of their Pretences they began to make impression on some who had more Affection than Judgment By them and the continuance of their own restless Importunities they wrought upon others And in process of time and endeavour through the secret Judgment and Permission of God prevail'd so far that the great Body of the People especially of those that were of warm and Enthusiastick Tempers was leaven'd more or less with their Spirit and Doctrines Here he stopt a little and then said 'T is wonderful to consider how some Ages and Times are dispos'd to changes some to one sort of alteration and some to another In this Age one Sect and Genius spreads like Infection as if the publick Air were poisoned with it and again in that those same Doctrines and Fancies will not thrive at all but die in the hands of their Teachers while a contrary or very different sort flies and prevails mightily There is something extraordinary in this the contemplation of which would be noble Exercise but not for our present purpose 'T is enough to note That the Age at the coming of those Seducers hither was inclined to Innovation and to such particular sorts of it So that in few years the generality of the Zealous and less considerate were tainted with those new and gay Notions And so pâ—…ssest they were with the conceit of the divineness and necessity of their Fancies and Models that they despised and vilified the Ecclesiastical Government and Governors and vehemently assaulted our most excellent SALOMONA the King of this Realm with continual Petitions and Addresses to establish them by Law and to change the whole Constitution of Religion in complyance with their Imaginations But he was a Wise and Religious Prince He saw the folly and danger of such Alterations and endeavour'd by all the ways of Lenity and Goodness to allay the heat of their unreasonable Prosecutions But they being the more emboldned by this moderate Course and provoked by the little inclination the good King shew'd to their New Models broke out after some less violent struglings into down-right Rebellion which after many Revolutions too long to be mention'd now succeeded so far at last that the Pious Prince was depos'd and murder'd the Government usurp'd by the prevailing Tyrants And not to mention the disorders of the Civil State that follow'd the Ecclesiastical was most miserable For now all the Sects that have a Name in History in any part of the known World started up in this Church as if they had all been transplanted hither They arose as it were out of the Earth which seem'd to bring forth nothing but Monsters full grown at their Birth with Weapons in their hands ready for Battel and accordingly they fell one upon another with strange rage and fierceness For having torn and destroyed the Ancient Doctrine and Government every one contended to set up its own and to have its beloved Opinions and Models entertain'd and worship'd as the infallible Truths and Ways of God So that all places were fill'd with New Lights and those Lights were so many Wild-Fires that put all into Combustion We saw nothing of Religion but glaring Appearances and Contention about the Shells and Shadows of it It seem'd to run out wholly into Chaff and Straw into Disputes and Vain Notions which were not only unprofitable but destructive to Charity Peace and every pious Practice All was Controversie and Dissention full of Animosity and Bitterness For though they agreed in some common Falshoods and Follies yet that made no Vnion every dissent in smallest Matters was ground enough for a Quarrel and Separation
ESSAYS ON SEVERAL Important Subjects IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION By JOSEPH GLANVILL Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty and Fellow of the R. S. Imprimatur Martii 27.1675 Thomas Tomkins LONDON Printed by J. D. for John Baker at the Three Pidgeons and Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1676. ESSAYS VIZ. I. Against CONFIDENCE in PHILOSOPHY II. Of SCEPTICISM and CERTAINTY III. MODERN IMPROVEMENTS of Knowledg IV. The USEFULNESS of PHILOSOPHY to THEOLOGY V. The Agreement of REASON and RELIGION VI. Against SADDUCISM in the matter of WITCHCRAFT VII ANTIFANATICK Theologie and FREE Philosophy To the most Honourable HENRY Lord Marquess and Earl of Worcester Earl of Glamorgan Lord HERBERT Of Chepstow Ragland and Goure Lord President of Wales Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Glocester Hereford Monmouth and Bristol Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter And one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. MY LORD ALthough perhaps in strictness of judging there is somewhat of Impertinency in such Addresses yet Custome hath obtain'd licence for us Writers thus to express our acknowledgments of favours and to give publick testimonies to the Deserts of excellent Persons Your Lordship affords me plenty of subject for both these and I humbly crave your leave to use the Liberty that is granted without â—…ensure â—…n such occasions to declare part of my resentments of them There is nothing more substantial or valuable in Greatness than the power it gives to oblige for by doing benefits we in some measure are like to Him who is the Lover of Men and causeth his Sun to shine upon the good and upon the evil Nor doth God Himself glory in the absoluteness of his Power and uncontroulableness of his Soveraign Will as he doth in the displays of his Goodness This my Lord is the right and honourable use of that Greatness he is pleased to vouchsafe unto Men and this is that which makes it amiable and truly illustrious Your Lordship knows this and are as much by Nature as by Judgment formed to live according to such measures And I think there was never Person of your Lordship's rank whose generaâ—… fashion and converfation was more suited to the sweetest and most obliging Rules of living For besides that your natural Genius hath nothing â—…aughty or rough in it nothing but what is modest gentle and agreeable your Lordships whole deportment is so affable and condescending that the benignity of your temper seems to strive for superiority over the greatness of your quality which yet it no way lessens but illustrates This is that which highly deserves and commands the love and venerations of all that have the honour and happiness to know you And you may justly challenge their devotion and highest esteem upon all other accounts that can give a great Person any title to them For your immediate descent is from a long masculine line of great Nobles and you are a Remainder of the illustrious Blood of the PLANTAGENETS What your Family hath deserv'd from the Crown the vast supplies afforded his late Majesty by that Loyal Mâ—…quess your Grand-Father and the sufferings of your House for Him do sufficiently declare to the World But your Lordship hath no need that Arguments of Honour and respect should be fetâ—…ht from your Progenitors the highest are due to your personal Vertues and that way oâ—… living whereby you give exaâ—…ple to Men of quality and shew how Honour and Interest is to be upheld For you spend not your time and Estate in the â—…anities and Vices of the Town but live to your Country and in it after a spâ—…d and most honourable Fashion observing â—…he Magâ—…ence and Charâ—…ty of the ancient Nobility with all the Decency and Imprâ—…ements of 〈◊〉 Times And perhaps your Lâ—… â—…ay is one of the best Pâ—…ns the Aâ—… yieâ—… of a Regular greatness 〈◊〉 which grâ—… is without vanity and Nobleness without Luxury or Intemperance Where we see a vast Family without noise or confusion and the greatest â—…lenty and freedom without provocations to any Debauchery or Disorder So that your Lordship's cares and thoughts are not taken up with the little designs that usually entertain idle or vainly imployed Men but in the Service of your King and Country and conduct of your Affairs with prudence and generosity in which you not only serve the present Age but provide for the future And my Lord among the acknowledgments that are due to your Vertues I cannot but observe the care you tâ—…e for the constant daily Worship of God in your Family according to the Protestant Religion profest by the Church of England and the example your Lordship gives by your own attendance on it This is the fâ—…rest Foundation of greatness yea 't is the Crown and lustre of it And when all other magnificence is in the dust and is shrivel'd into nothing or at the best into a cold and faint remembrance the effects of this will stay by us and be our happiness for ever And all other splendors in comparison are but like the shining of â—…ten wood to the Glorys of the Sun and Stars This also is the best fence and security to our present comforts and injoyments both in respect of that temperance and soâ—…ety it produccth and chiefly on the account of the blessing of the Supream Donor who hath made it the promises of this Life as well as of that which is to come And therefore the wickedness of those that take Liberty from their Riches and worldly greatness to defie God and despise Religion is as foolish and improvident as 't is monstrous and unreasonable and those brutish Men do not render themselves more hateful for their impiety than they are despicable for their folly But I need not say this to your Lordship who are sensible of the absurdities and malignity of this vice and give not the least countenance or incouragement to it by your practice being cautious to abstain from all expressions that grate on the Honour of God as you are free from any that can give just offence unto Men For your Lordship is none of those that shoot the arrows of bitter words and set their mouths against the Heavens but your discourse and conversation is adorn'd with that modesty and decency that becomes a great Nobleman and a good Christian. My Lord I have not given you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just acknowledgments with design to â—…fie or please your Lordship I know I need your pardon for the trouble your modesty receives from them but I have done it for the sake of others because we live in an Age wherein there is scarcity of such examples I know 't is ufually indecent to commend Persons to themselves but the custome of Dedications will excuse this which even severity and ill nature cannot impeach of flattery or extravagance And as I owe this Testimony to the merits whereby you serve and oblige the Age so I should acknowledg the Obligations your
highly pleased with those Engagements I found as much diversion in them as in my dearest Recreations But after I had spent some years in those Notional Studies perhaps with as good success as some others I began to think CVI BONO and to consider what these things would signifie in the World of Action and Business I say I thought but I could find no encouragement to proceed from the Answer my thoughts made me I ask'd my self what Accounts I could give of the Works of God by my Philosophy more than those that have none and found that I could amaze and astonish Ignorance with Distinctions and Words of Art but not satisfie ingenious Inquiry by any considerable and material Resolutions I consider'd I had got nothing all this while but a certain readiness in talking and that about things which I could not use abroad without being Pedantick and ridiculous I perceived that that Philosophy aimed at no more than the instructing Men in Notion and Dispute That its Design was mean and its Principles at the best uncertain and precarious That they did not agree among themselves nor at all with Nature I examined the best Records I could meet with about the Author of those current Hypotheses but could not be assured that Aristotle was he I saw many Reasons to believe that most of the Books that bear his Name are none of his and those that are most strongly presumed to be so are mightily altered and corrupted by Time Ignorance Carelesness and Design I perceived that the Commentators and late Disputers had exceedingly disguised and changed the Sense of those very Writings and made up a Philosophy that was quite another thing from that which those Books contain So that by these means I was by degrees taken off from the implicit Veneration I had for that Learning upon the account of the great Name of Aristotle which it bore And thus the great impediment was removed and the prejudice of Education overcome when I thought further That useful Knowledge was to be look'd for in God's great Book the Vniverse and among those generous Men that had convers'd with real Nature undisguised with Art and Notion And still I saw more of the justice of the excellent Poet's Censure of those Notional Philosophers when he saith They stand Lock'd up together hand in hand Every one leads as he is led The same bare Path they tread And dance like Fairies a phantastick Round But neither change their Motion nor their Ground From this Philosophy therefore and these Men I diverted my Eyes and Hopes and fixt them upon those Methods that I have recommended which I am sure are liable to none of those Imputations And here I think fit to add a Caution which I have given in another Discourse and do it once more to prevent a dangerous misunderstanding viz. And it is That I have said nothing of this to discourage young Academians from applying themselves to those first Studies which are in use in the Vniversities Their Statutes require Exercises in that way of Learning and so much knowledge of it as inables for those Duties is very fit Nor do I deny but that those Speculations raise quicken and whet the Vnderstanding and on that account may not be altogether unprofitable with respect to the more useful Inquisitious provided it keep it self from being nice airy and addicted too much to general Notions But this is the danger and the greatest part run upon the Rock The hazard of which might in great measure be avoided if the Mathematicks and Natural History were mingled with these other Studies which would indeed be excellent Preparatives and Dispositions to future Improvements And I add further That the young Philosophers must take care of looking on their Systematick Notious as the bounds and perfections of Knowledge nor make account to fix eternally upon those Theories as establish'd and infallible Certainties But consider them in the modest sense of Hypotheses and as things they are to take in their passage to others that are more valuable and important I say The Peri-patetick Studies thus temper'd will not I suppose be disal-lowed by those who are for the Practical Methods and so the Vniversity-Establishments can receive no prejudice from the Spirit that dislikes a perpetual acquiescence in the Philosophy of the present Schools The USEFULNESS OF Real Philosophy TO RELIGION Essay IV. Essay IV. THE USEFULNESS OF Real Philosophy TO RELIGION IT is the perverse Opinion of hasty inconsiderate Men that the study of Nature is prejudicial to the Interests of Religion And some who are more zealous than they are wise endeavour to render the Naturalist suspected of holding secret correspondence with the Atheist which things if really they were so 't were fit that the Writings of Philosophers should be sent after the Books of curious Arts that were voted to Destruction by Apostolick Authority and Zeal and then were they all laid together in a fired heap and one Drop from my Finger would quench the Flames I would not let fall that Drop But 't is to be hoped there is no such guilt or danger in the case we may suppose rather that those unkind surmisals concerning natural Wisdom are the effects of superstitious Ignorance yea I doubt they are some of the Reliques of that Barbarism that made Magick of Mathematicks and Heresie of Greek and Hebrew And now were this gross conceit about the Knowledge of Nature only the fear and fancy of the meer vulgar it were to be pardon'd easily and lightly to be consider'd but the worst is the infection of the weak jealousie hath spread it self among some of those whose Lips should preserve Knowledge and there are I doubt divers of the Instructers of the People who should endeavour to deliver them from the vain Images of Fancy that foment those fears in their own Imaginations and theirs For the sake of such and those others who are capable of Conviction I shall endeavour to justific sober Inquisitions into God's Works and to shew that they are not only innocent but very useful in most of the Affairs wherein Religion is concerned This I shall do for more clearness of proof by a gradual motion of Discourse from things that are plain and acknowledg'd which I shall touch briefly to the main Matter I would enforce In this order I. That God is to be praised for his Works II. That his Works are to be studied by those that would praise him for them III. That the study of Nature and God's Works is very serviceable to Religion IV. That the Ministers and Professors of Religion ought not to discourage but promote the knowledge of Nature and the Works of its Author THe FIRST contains two things viz. That God is to be praised and particularly for his Works The former is the constant Voice of Scripture and Universal Nature He is worthy to be praised saith the Kingly Prophet 2 Sam. 22. 4. Greatly to be praised saith the same Royal Saint 1
delivered to the Saints and hereby Heresies are said to be confuted and overthrown So that the disabling and suppressing of Disputes seems to be a weakening rather than any advantage to Religion and the Concernments of it To this I say That by the Faith we are to contend for I conceive the Essentials and certain Articles are meant These we may and we ought to endeavour to defend and promote as there is occasion and we have seen how the Real Philosophy will help our Reasons in that Service But pious Contentions for these are not the disputings of which I am now discoursing those are stiff Contests about uncertain Opinions And such I dare very boldly say are no Contentions for the Faith but the Instruments of the greatest mischiefs to it As for those other Disputes that are used to convince Men of the Truths of the Gospel and the great Articles thereof and for the disproving Infidelity and Heresie they are necessary and Philosophy is an excellent help in such Contests So that those other Objections pleadable from the necessity of proving and trying our Faith and convincing Hereticks From the Example of our Saviour's disputing with the Doctors and the Sadduces and of St. Paul at Athens with the Jews These and such other little Cavils can signifie nothing to the disadvantage of what I have said about the Humour of Disputing in Matters of doubtful and uncertain Opinions against which the Real Philosophy is an Antidote ANd thus I have shewn under five material Heads That the knowledge of Nature and the Works of God promotes the greatest Interests of Religion and by the three last it appears how fundamentally opposite it is to all Schism and Fanaticism which are made up and occasioned by Superstition Enthusiasm and ignorant perverse Disputings So that for Atheists and Sadduces and Fanaticks to detest and inveigh against Philosophy is not at all strange 'T is no more than what may well be expected from Men of that sort Philosophy is their Enemy and it concerns them to disparage and reproach it But for the Sober and Religious to do any thing so unadvised and so prejudicial to Religion is wonderful and deplorable To set these right in their Judgment about Philosophical Inquiry into God's Works is the Principal design of these Papers and in order to the further promoting of it I advance to the last Head of Discourse proposed viz. IV. THat the Ministers and Professors of Religion ought not to discourage but promote the knowledge of Nature and the Works of its Author This is the result of the whole Matter and follows evidently upon it And though it will not infer a necessity of all Mens deep search into Nature yet this it will That no Friend or Servant of Religion should hinder or discountenance such Inquiries And though most private Christians and some publick Ministers have neither leisure nor ability to look into Matters of natural Research and Inquisition yet they ought to think candidly and wish well to the endeavours of those that have and 't is a sin and a folly either in the one or other to censure or discourage those worthy Undertakings So that I cannot without trouble observe how apt some are that pretend much to Religion and some that minister in it to load those that are studious of God's Works with all the studious Names that contempt and spight can suggest The Irreligion of which injurious carriage nothing can excuse but their ignorance And I will rather hope that they neither know what they say nor what they do than believe that they have any direct design against the Glory of their Maker or against any laudable endeavours to promote it I know well what mischief Prejudice will do even upon Minds that otherwise are very honest and intelligent enough And there are many common slanders and some plausible Objections in the Mouths of the Zealous against Philosophy which have begot an ill Opinion of it in well-meaning Men who have never examined things with any depth of Inquiry For the sake of such I shall produce the most considerable Allegations of both sorts and I hope make such returns to them as may be sufficient to satisfie those whose Minds are not barr'd by Obstinacy or Ignorance I speak first of the bold and broad Slanders among which that I. Of Atbeism is one of the most ordinary But certainly 't is one of the most unjust Accusations that Malice and Ignorance could have invented This I need not be industrious to prove here having made it appear that Philosophy is one of the best Weapons in the World to defend Religion against it and my whole Discourse is a confutation of this envious and foolish charge Concerning it I take notice That Philosophical Men are usually dealt with by the Zealous as the greatest Patrons of the Protestant Cause are by the Sects For as the Bishops and other Learned Persons who have most strongly oppugned the Romish Faith have had the ill luck to be accused of Popery themselves in like manner it happens to the humblest and deepest Inquisitors into the Works of God who have the most and fullest Arguments of his Existence have raised impregnable Ramparts with much industry and pious pains against the Atheists and are the only Men that can with success serve Religion against the Godless Rout These Superstitious Ignorance hath always made the loudest out-cry against as if themselves were guilty of that which they have most happily oppugned and defeated And the certain way to be esteemed an Atheist by the fierce and ignorant Devoto's is to study to lay the Foundations of Religion sure and to be able to speak groundedly and to purpose against the desperate Cause of the black Conspirators against Heaven And the greatest Men that have imploy'd their Time and Thoughts this way have been pelted with this Dirt while they have been labouring in the Trenches and indeavouring to secure the Foundations of the Holy Fabrick But besides I observe That narrow angry People take occasion to charge the freer Spirits with Atheism because they move in a larger Circle and have no such fond adherence to some Opinions which they adore and count Sacred And for my own part I confess I have not Superstition enough in my Spirit or Nature to incline me to doat upon all the Principles I judge true or to speak so dogmatically about them as I perceive confident and disputing Men are wont But contenting my self with a firm assent to the few practical Fundamentals of Faith and having fix'd that end of the Compass I desire to preserve my Liberty as to the rest holding the other in such a posture as may be ready to draw those Lines my Judgment informed by the Holy Oracles the Articles of our Church the Apprehensions of wise Antiquity and my particular Reason shall direct me to describe And when I do that 't is for my self and my own satisfaction but am not concern'd to impose my Sentiments
Brass for our Defence and they have little else than Twigs and Bull-rushes for the Assault we have Light and firm Ground and they are lost in Smoak and Mists They tread among Bogs and dangerous Fens and reel near the Rocks and Steeps And shall we despise our Advantages and forsake them Shall we relinquish our Ground and our Light and muffle our selves up in darkness Shall we give our Enemies the Weapons and all the odds and so endeavour to insure their Triumphs over us This is soâ—…tishly to betray Religion and our selves If this Discourse chance to meet with any that are guilty of these dangerous Follies it will I hope convince them That they have no reason to be afraid of Philosophy or to despise its Aids in the Concerns of Religion And for those who never yet thought of this part of Religion to glorifie God for his Works I wish it may awaken them to more attentive consideration of the wisdom and goodness that is in them and so excite their pious acclamations And to encourage them to it I shall adventure to add That it seems very probable that much of the Matter of those Hallelujah's and triumphant Songs that shall be the joyful entertainment of the Blessed will be taken from the wonders of God's Works and who knows but the contemplation of these and God in them shall make up a good part of the imployment of those glorified Spirits who will then have inconceivable advantages for the searching into those Effects of Divine Wisdom and Power beyond what are possible for us Mortals to attain And those Discoveries which for ever they shall make in that immense Treasure of Art the Vniverse must needs fill their Souls every moment with pleasant astonishment and inflame their hearts with the ardours of the highest Love and Devotion which will breathe forth in everlasting Thanksgivings And thus the study of God's Works joyned with those pious Sentiments they deserve is a kind of anticipation of Heaven And next after the contemplations of his Word and the wonders of his Mercy discovered in our Redemption it is one of the best and noblest Imployments the most becoming a reasonable Creature and such a one as is taught by the most reasonable and excellent Religion in the World THE AGREEMENT OF Reason and Religion Essay V. Essay V. THE AGREEMENT OF Reason and Religion THere is not any thing that I know which hath done more mischief to Religion than the disparaging of Reason under pretence of respect and favour to it For hereby the very Foundations of Christian Faith have been undermin'd and the World prepared for Atheism And if Reason must not be heard the Being of a God and the Authority of Scripture can neither be proved nor defended and so our Faith drops to the Ground like an House that hath no Foundation By the same way those sickly Conceits and Enthusiastick Dreams and unsound Doctrines that have poyson'd our Air and infatuated the Minds of Men and expos'd Religion to the scorn of Infidels and divided the Church and disturbed the Peace of Mankind and involv'd all the Nation in so much Blood and so many Ruines I say hereby all these fatal Follies that have been the oceasions of so many Mischiefs have been propagated and promoted On which accounts I think I may affirm with some confidence That here is the Spring-Head of most of the Watters of Bitterness and Strife And here the Fountain of the Great Deeps of Atheism and Fanaticism that are broken up upon us So that there cannot be a more seasonable Service done either to Reason or Religion than to endeavour the stopping up this Source of Mischiefs by representing the Friendship and fair Agreement that is between them For hereby Religion will be rescued from the impious accusation of its being groundless and imaginary And Reason also defended against the unjust Charge of its being prophane and irreligious This we have heard often from indiscreet and hot Men For having entertain'd vain and unreasonable Doctrines which they had made an Interest and the Badges of a Party and perceiving that their Darling Opinions could not stand if Reason their Enemy were not discredited They set up loud cries against it as the grand Adversary of Free Grace and Faith and zealously endeavour'd to run it down under the misapplyed names of Vain Philosophy Carnal Reasoning and the Wisdom of this World and what have been the Effects of this proceeding we have seen and felt So that in my Judgment it is the great duty of all sober and reasonable Men to rise up as they can against this Spirit of Folly and Infatuation And something I shall attempt now by shewing That Reason is very serviceable to Religion and Religion very friendly to Reason In order to which I must 1. State what I mean by Religion and what by Reason For there is nothing in any Matter of Enquiry or Debate that can be discover'd or determin'd till the Terms of the Question are explain'd and the Notions settled The want of this hath been the occasion of a great part of those Confusions we find in Disputes and particularly most of the Clamours that have been raised against Reason in the Affairs of Religion have sprung from it For while ungrounded Opinions and unreasonable Practises are often call'd Religion on the one hand and vain Imaginations and false Consequences are as frequently stiled Reason on the other 'T is no wonder that such a Religion disclaims the use of Reason or that such Reason is opposite to Religion Therefore in order to my shewing the Agreement between True Religion and the Genuine Reason I shall with all the clearness that I can represent the just meaning of the one and of the other For Religion first It is taken either strictly for the Worship of God or in a more comprehensive sense for the sum of those Duties we owe to Him And this takes in the other and agrees with the Notation of the Name which imports Binding and implies Duty Now all Duty is comprised under these two viz. Worship and Vertue Worship comprehends all Duties that immediately relate to God as the Object of them Vertue all those that respect our Neighbour and our Selves So that Religion primarily and mainly consists in Worship and Vertue But Duty cannot be performed without Knowledge and some Principles there must be to direct the Practice and those that discover the Duties and guide Men in the performance of them are call'd Principles of Religion These are of two sorts Some 1. Fundamental and Essential Others 2. Accessory and Assisting Fundamental is a Metaphor taken from the Foundation of a Building upon which the Fabrick is erected and without which it cannot stand So that Fundamental Principles are such as are presupposed to the Duties of Religion one or more and such as are absolutely necessary to the doing of them of this sort I shall mention three viz. 1. The Being of God and the perfections of
his Nature The belief of these is necessary to all the parts of Religion He that comes unto God in any way of Worship or Address must know that he is and in some measure what Namely he must know and own the commonly acknowledg'd Attributes of his Being 2. A second necessary Principle is The Providenee of God viz. the Knowledge That he made us and not we our selves that he preserves us and daily provides for us the good things we enjoy This is necessary to the Duties of Prayer Praise and Adoration And if there be no Providence Prayer and Thanksgiving and other Acts of Worship are in vain 3. A third Fundamental is Moral Good and Evil. Without this there can be no confession of Sin no respect to Charity Humility Justice Purity or the rest that we call Vertues These will be confes'd to be Fundamentals of Religion And I shall not dispute how many more may be admitted into the number These we are sure are such in the strictest sense for all Religion supposeth and stands upon them And they have been acknowledg'd by Mankind in all Ages and Places of the World But besides these there are other Principles of Religion which are not in the same degree of absolute necessity with the former but yet are highly serviceable by way of incouragement and assistance I reckon four viz. 1 That God will pardon us if we repent 2. That he will assist us if we endeavour 3. That he will accept of Services that are imperfect if they are sincere 4. That he will righteously reward and punish in another World These contain the Matter and Substance of the Gospel more clearly and explicitly reveal'd to the Christian Church but in some measure owned also by the Gentiles So that I may reckon that the Principles I have mention'd are the sum of the Religion of Mankind I mean as to the Doctrinal Part of it and the Duties recited before are the Substance of the Practical which primarily and most essentially is Religion And Christianity takes in all these Duties and all these Principles advancing the Duties to higher degrees of Excellency and Perfection incouraging them by new Motives and Assistances and superadding two other Instances Baptism and the Lord's Supper And for the Principles it confirms those of Natural Religion it explains them further and discovers some few new ones And all these both of the former and the latter sort are contain'd in the Creed Here are all the Fundamentals of Religion and the main Assisting Principles also And though our Church require our assent to more Propositions yet those are only Articles of Communion not Doctrines absolutely necessary to Salvation And if we go beyond the Creed for the Essentials of Faith who can tell where we shall stop The sum is Religion primarily is Duty And Duty is All that which God hath commanded to be done by his Word or our Reasons and we have the substance of these in the Commandments Religion also in a secondary sense consists in some Principles relating to the Worship of God and of his Son in the ways of devout and vertuous living and these are comprised in that Summary of Belief called the Apostles Creed This I take to be Religion and this Religion I shall prove to be reasonable But I cannot undertake for all the Opinions some Men are pleased to call Orthodox nor for all those that by many private Persons and some Churches are accounted essential Articles of Faith and Salvation Thus I have stated what I mean by Religion The OTHER thing to be determined and fixt is the proper Notion of Reason For this we may consider that Reason is sometimes taken for Reason in the Faculty which is the Vnderstanding and at other times for Reason in the Object which consists in those Principles and Conclusions by which the Understanding is informed This latter is meant in the Dispute concerning the Agreement or Disagreement of Reason and Religion And Reason in this sense is the same with natural Truth which I said is made up of Principles and Conclusions By the Principles of Reason we are not to understand the Grounds of any Man's Philosophy nor the Critical Rules of Syllogism but those imbred Fundamental Notices that God hath implanted in our Souls such as arise not from external Objects nor particular Humours or Imaginations but are immediately lodged in our Minds independent upon other Principles or Deductions commanding a sudden assent and acknowledged by all sober Mankind Of this sort are these That God is a Being of all Perfection That nothing hath no Attributes That a Thing cannot be and not be That the Whole is greater than any of its Parts These and such-like are unto Vs what Instincts are to other Creatures And these I call the Principles of Reason The Conclusions are those other Notices that are inferred rightly from these and by their help from the Observations of Sense And the remotest of them that can be conceived if it be duly inferred from the Principles of Reason or rightly circumstantiated Sense is as well to be reckoned a Part and Branch of Reason as the more immediate Conclusions that are Principles in respect of those distant Truths And thus I have given an account also of the proper Notion and Nature of Reason I AM to shew next 2. That Religion is reasonable and this implies two things viz. That Reason is a Friend to Religion and that Religion is so to Reason I begin with the FIRST and here I might easily shew the great congruity that there is between that Light and those Laws that God hath placed in our Souls and the Duties of Religion that by the expressness of his written Word he requires from us and demonstrate that Reason teacheth All those excepting only the two Positives Baptism and the Holy Eucharist But there is not so much need of turning my Discourse that way and therefore I shall confine it to the Principles of Religion which are called Faith and prove that Reason exceedingly befriends these It doth this I. By proving some of those Principles And II. By defending all For the clearing both let us consider That the Principles of Religion are of two sorts Either 1. Such as are presupposed to Faith or such as 2. are formal Articles of it Of the first are The Being of a God and the Authority of the Scripture And of the second such as are expresly declared by Divine Testimony as the Attributes of God the Incarnation of his Son and such like I. For the former they are proved by Reason and by Reason only The others we shall consider after 1. That the Being of a God the Foundation of all is proved by Reason the Apostle acknowledgeth when he saith That what was to be known of God was manifest and to the Heathen Rom. 1. 19. and he adds vers 20. That the invisible Things from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are
whose Genius and Ways are so unlike him But the other excellent Souls I describ'd will as certainly be visited by the Divine Presence and Converse as the Chrystaline Streams are with the Beams of Light or the fitly prepared Earth whose Seed is in it self will be actuated by the Spirit of Nature So that there is no reason to Object here the want of Angelical Communications though there were none vouchsafed us since good Men enjoy the Divine which are infinitely more satisfactory and indearing And now I may have leave to proceed to the next Objection which may be made to speak thus XII XII THe belief of Witches and the wonderful things they are said to perform by the help of the Confederate Daemon weakens our Faith and exposeth the World to Infidelity in the great Matters of our Religion For if they by Diabolical Assistance can inflict and cure Diseases and do things so much beyond the comprehension of our Philosophy and activity of common Nature What assurance can we have that the Miracles that confirm our Gospel were not the Effects of a Compact of like nature and that Devils were not cast out by Beelzebub If Evil Spirits can assume Bodies and render themselves visible in humane Likeness What security can we have of the reality of the Resurrection of Christ And if by their help Witches can enter Chambers invisibly through Key-holes and little unperceived Crannies and transform themselves at pleasure What Arguments of Divinity are there in our Saviour's shewing himself in the midst of his Disciples when the Doors were shut and his Transfiguration in the Mount Miracles are the great Inducements of Belief and how shall we distinguish a Miracle from a Lying Wonder a Testimony from Heaven from a Trick of the Angels of Hell if they can perform things that astonish and confound our Reasons and are beyond all the Possibilities of Humane Nature To this Objection I reply 1. The Wonders done by Confederacy with Wicked Spirits cannot derive a suspition upon the undoubted Miracles that were wrought by the Author and Promulgers of our Religion as if they were performed by Diabolical Compact since their Spirit Endeavours and Designs were notoriously contrary to all the Tendencies Aims and Interests of the Kingdom of Darkness For as to the Life and Temper of the Blessed and Adorable JESUS we know there was an incomparable sweetness in his Nature Humility in his Manners Calmness in his Temper Compassion in his Miracles Modesty in his Expressions Holiness in all his Actions Hatred of Vice and Baseness and Love to all the World all which are essentially contrary to the Nature and Constitution of Apostate Spirits who abound in Pride and Rancour Insolence and Rudeness Tyranny and Baseness Universal Malice and Hatred of Men And their Designs are as opposite as their Spirit and their Genius And now Can the Sun borrow its Light from the Bottomless Abyss Can Heat and Warmth flow in upon the World from the Regions of Snow and Ice Can Fire freeze and Water burn Can Natures so infinitely contrary communicate and jump in Projects that are destructive to each others known Interests Is there any Balsam in the Cockatrices Egg or Can the Spirit of Life flow from the Venom of the Asp Will the Prince of Darkness strengthen the Arm that is stretcht out to pluck his Usurp't Scepter and his Spoils from him And will he lend his Legions to assist the Armies of his Enemy against him No these are impossible Supposals No intelligent Being will industriously and knowingly contribute to the Contradiction of its own Principles the Defeature of its Purposes and the Ruine of its own dearest Interests There is no fear then that our Faith should receive prejudice from the acknowledgement of the Being of Witches and Power of Evil Spirits since 't is not the doing wonderful things that is the only Evidence that the Holy JESUS was from God and his Doctrine True but the conjunction of other Circumstances the Holiness of his Life the Reasonableness of his Religion and the Excellency of his Designs added credit to his Works and strengthned the great Conclusion That he could be no other than the Son of God and Saviour of the World But besides I say 2. That since Infinite Wisdom and Goodness rules the World it cannot be conceiv'd that they should give up the greatest part of Men to unavoidable deception And if Evil Angels by their Confederates are permitted to perform such astonishing things as seem so evidently to carry God's Seal and Power with them for the confirmation of Falshoods and gaining credit to Impostors without any Counter-evidence to disabuse the World Mankind is exposed to sad and fatal Delusion And to say that Providence will suffer us to be deceived in things of the greatest Concernment when we use the best of our Care and Endeavours to prevent it is to speak hard things of God and in effect to affirm That He hath nothing to do in the Government of the World or doth not concern himself in the Affairs of poor forlorn Men And if the Providence and Goodness of God be not a security unto us against such Deceptions we cannot be assured but that we are always abused by those mischievous Agents in the Objects of plain Sense and in all the Matters of our daily Converses If One that pretends he is immediately sent from God to overthrow the Ancient Fabrick of Established Worship and to erect a New Religion in His Name shall be born of a Virgin and honoured by a Miraculous Star proclaimed by a Song of seeming Angels of Light and Worshipped by the Wise Sages of the World Revered by those of the greatest Austerity and admired by all for a Miraculous Wisdom beyond his Education and his Years If He shall feed Multitudes with almost nothing and fast himself beyond all the possibilities of Nature If He shall be transformed into the appearance of extraordinory Glory and converse with departed Prophets in their visible Forms If He shall Cure all Diseases without Physick or Endeavour and raise the Dead to Life after they have stunk in their Graves If He shall be honoured by Voices from Heaven and attract the Universal Wonder of Princes and People If he shall allay Tempests with a Beck and cast out Devils with a Word If he shall foretel his own Death particularly with its Tragical Circumstances and his Resurrection after it If the Veil of the most famous Temple in the World shall be Rent and the Sun darkned at his Funeral If He shall within the time foretold break the Bonds of Death and lift up his Head out of the Grave If Multitudes of other departed Souls shall arise with Him to attend at the Solemnity of his Resurrection If He shall after Death visibly Converse and Eat and Drink with divers Persons who could not be deceived in a Matter of clear Sense and ascend in Glory in the presence of an astonisht and admiring Multitude I
Religion different from that of other Catholick Christians but were faithful adherers to the old acknowledg'd Christianity as it was taught by the Church of Bensalem To this Church they conform'd heartily though they were distinguishable from some others of her Sons by the application of their Genius and Endeavours I have told you They grew up among the Sects They were Born and Bred in that Age which they could not help But as they order'd the Matter it was no hurt to the Church or them that they were educated in bad times They had the occasion thence of understanding the Genius Humour and Principles of the Parties which those that stood always at distance from them could not so thorowly and inwardly know By that means they had great advantage for providing and applying the Remedies and Confutations that were proper and effectual And by daily Converse and near Observation they setled in their Minds a dislike of those ways that was greater and juster than the Antipathy of some others who saw only their out-sides that in many things were specious and plausible They studied in the Places where some of the chief of the Sects govern'd and those that were ripe for the Service preach'd publickly as other Academical Divines did This they scrupled not because they were young and had been under no explicit ingagements to those Laws that were then unhappily over-ruled But in those and in their other Vniversity-Exercises they much serv'd the Interest of the Church of Bensalem by undermining the Ataxites so the Sectaries are here call'd and propagating the Anti-fanatical Doctrines which they had entertain'd and improved So that I cannot look upon that Spirit otherwise than as an Antidote that Providence then seasonably provided against the deadly Infection of those days On which account they were by some call'd the Anti-fanites because of their peculiar opposition of the Fans or Fanites as the Ataxites were sometimes named And though some Persons thought fit to judge and spoke of Them as a new Sort of Divines Yet they were not to be so accounted in any sense of disparagement since the new Things they taught were but contradictions of the new Things that were introduced and new Errors and Pretences will occasion new ways of Opposition and Defence I have now I doubt said the Governor almost tired you with prefacing but these things were fit to be premised I exprest my self well-pleased both with the Matters he related and the order which he thought convenient to declare them in and so he proceeded to the second main Head Their particular Principles and Practices I MUST tell you then said He first That they took notice of the loud Out-cries and Declamations that were among all the Sects against Reason and observ'd how by that means all Vanities and Phanatick Devices were brought into Religion They saw There was no likelyhood any stop should be put to those Extravagancies of Fansie that were impudently obtruding themselves upon the World but by vindicating and asserting the use of Reason in Religion and therefore their private Discourses and publick Exercises ran much this way to maintain the sober use of our Faculties and to expose and shame all vain Enthusiasms And as Socrates of old first began the Reformation of his Age and reduced Men from the wildness of Fansie and Enthusiastick Fegaries with which they were overgrown by pleading for Reason and shewing the necessity and Religion that there is in hearkning to its Dictates So They in order to the cure of the madness of their Age were zealous to make Men sensible That Reason is a Branch and Beam of the Divine Wisdom That Light which he hath put into our Minds and that Law which he hath writ upon our Hearts That the Revelations of God in Scripture do not contradict what he hath engraven upon our Natures That Faith it self is an Act of Reason and is built upon these two Reasonable Principles That there is a God and That what he saith is true That our Erroneous Deductions are not to be call'd Reason but Sophistry Ignorance and Mistake That nothing can follow from Reason but Reason and that what so follows is as true and certain as Revelation That God never disparageth Reason in Scripture but that the vain Philosophy and Wisdom of this World there spoken against were Worldly Policies Jewish Genealogies Traditions and the Notional Philosophy of some Gentiles That Carnal Reason is the Reason of Appetite and Passion and not the Dictates of our Minds That Reason proves some Main and Fundamental Articles of Faith and defends all by proving the Authority of Holy Scripture That we have no cause to take any thing for an Article of Faith till we see Reason to believe that God said it and in the sense wherein we receive such a Doctrine That to decry and disgrace Reason is to strike up Religion by the Roots and to prepare the World for Atheism According to such Principles as these They managed their Discourses about this Subject They stated the Notions of Faith and Reason clearly and endeavour'd to deliver the Minds of Men from that confusedness in those Matters which blind Zeal had brought upon them that so they might not call Vain Sophistry by the name of Humane Reason and rail at this for the sake of Fallacy and the Impostures of Ignorance and Fancy Hereby they made some amends for the dangerous rashness of those inconsiderate Men who having heard others defame Reason as an Enemy to Faith set up the same Cry and fill'd their Oratories with the terrible noise of Carnal Reason Vain Philosophy and such other misapplyed words of reproach without having ever clearly or distinctly consider'd what they said or whereof they affirm'd And this they did too at a time when the World was posting a-pace into all kinds of madness as if they were afraid the half-distracted Religionists would not run fast enough out of their Wits without their Encouragement and Assistance And as if their Design had been to credit Phrensie and Enthusiasm and to disable all proof that could be brought against them This I believe many of those well-meaning Canters against Reason did not think of though what they did had a direct tendency that way And accordingly it succeeded For the conceited People hearing much of Incomes Illuminations Communions Lights Discoveries Sealings Manifestations and Impressions as the Heights of Religion and then being told that Reason is a low Carnal Thing and not to judge in these Spiritual Matters That it is a Stranger to them and at enmity with the Things of God I say the People that were so taught could not chuse but be taken with the wild Exstatical Enthusiasts who made the greatest boasts of these glorious Priviledges nor could they easily avoid looking upon the glarings of their own Imaginations and the warmths and impulses of their Melancholy as Divine Revelations and Illapses To this dangerous pass thousands were brought by such Preachments and had so