assurance as the belief of a God and of a future state after this life things which we never saw nor did experience nor ever spoke with any body that did now it seems to argue too great a facility and easiness of belief to assent to any thing upon insufficient grounds To this I answer 1. That if there be such a Being as a God and such a thing as a future state it cannot as I said before in reason be expected that we should have the evidence of sense for such things For he that believes a God believes such a Being as hath all perfections among which this is one that he is a Spirit and consequently invisible and cannot be seen He that believes another Life after this professeth to believe a state of which in this life we can have no trial and experience 2. We have the best Evidence for these things which they are capable of at present supposing they were 3. Those who deny these Principles must be much more credulous that is believe things upon incomparably less evidence of Reason The Atheist looks upon all that are Religious as a Company of credulous Fools well met But he for his part pretends to be wiser then to believe any thing for Company he cannot entertain things upon those slight grounds which move other men if you would win his assent to any thing you must give him a clear Demonstration for it Now there 's no way to deal with this Man of Reason this rigid exactor of Demonstration for things which are not capable of it but by shewing him that he is an hundred times more credulous that he begs more Principles takes more things for granted without offering to prove them and assents to more strange Conclusions upon weaker grounds then those whom he so much accuseth of Credulity And to evidence this I shall briefly give you an account of the Atheists Creed and present you with a Catalogue of the Fundamental Articles of his Faith or rather Unbelief He believes That there is no God nor possibly can be and consequently that the wise as well as unwise of all ages have been mistaken except himself and a few more He believes that either all the world have been frighted with an apparition of their own Fancy or that they have most unnaturally conspired together to cozen themselves Or that this Notion of a God is a Trick of Policy though the greatest Princes and Politicians do not at this day know so much nor have done time out of mind He believes either that the Heavens and the Earth and all things in them had no original Cause of their Being or else that they were made by Chance and happened he knows not how to be as they are and that in this last shuffling of Matter all things have by great good Fortune fallen out as happily and as regularly as if the greatest Wisdom had contrived them but yet he believes that there was no Wisdom in the contrivance of them He Believes That that which is possible is impossible and that that is not which cannot but be He believes That meer Matter can Understand and Will and most dextrously perform all those fine and free operations which the Ignorant attribute to Spirits and consequently that there are no such things as immortal Spirits or a Resurrection of the Body or everlasting Life This is his Creed And seriously it is a wonder that there should be found any person pretending to Reason or Wit that can say Amen to such a heap of absurdities which are so gross and palpable that they may be felt So that I think it will fall to the Atheists share to be the most credulous person that is to believe things upon the sleightest Reasons II. The Second Imputation is Singularity the affectation whereof is unbecoming a Wise man To this charge I answer 1. If by Religion be meant the belief of the Principles of Religion that there is a God and a Providence that our Souls are Immortal and that there are Rewards to be expected after this life these are so far from being singular Opinions that they are the general Opinion of Mankind even of the most Barbarous Nations as Tully Seneca and others testifie insomuch that the Histories of ancient times do not furnish us with the names of above three or four at most who denied a God And Lucretius acknowledgeth that Epicurus was the first who did oppose those great Foundations of Religion the Providence of God and the Immortality of the Soul Primùm Grajus homo c. meaning Epicurus 2. If by Religion be meant a living up to those Principles that is to act conformably to our best Reason and understanding and to live as it does become those who do believe a God and a future State this is acknowledged even by those who live otherwise to be the part of every wise man and the contrary to be the very madness of folly and height of distraction Nothing being more ordinary then for men who live wickedly to acknowledg that they ought to do otherwise 3. Though according to the common course and practice of the World it be somewhat singular for men truly and throughly to live up to the Principles of their Religion yet singularity in this matter is so far from being a Reflection upon any mans prudence that it is a singular commendation of it In two Cases singularity is very commendable 1. When there is a necessity of it in order to a mans greatest Interest and happiness I think it to be a reasonable account for any man to give why he does not live as the greatest part of the world do that he has no mind to die as they do and to perish with them he is not disposed to be a fool and to be miserable for company he has no inclination to have his last end like theirs who know not God and obey not the Gospel of his Son and shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2. It is very commendable to be singular in any Excellency and I have shewn that Religion is the greatest Excellency to be singular in any thing that is wise and worthy and excellent is not a disparagement but a praise every man would choose to be thus singular III. The Third Imputation is that Religion is a foolish bargain because they who are Religious hazard the parting with a present and certain happiness for that which is future and uncertain To this I answer 1. Let it be granted that the Assurance which we have of future Rewards falls short of the Evidence of sense for I doubt not but that that saying of our Saviour Blessed is he who hath believed and not seen and those expressions of the Apostle We walk by faith and not by sight and faith is the evidence of things not seen are intended by way of abatement and diminution to the Evidence of Faith and do
into the very frame of his Being that like Phidias his Picture in Minerva's Shield it can never totally be defaced without the ruine of humane nature Object I do but know one Objection that this Discourse is liable to it is this The Universal Consent of Man-kind in the apprehension of a God is no more an Argument of the Being of a God then the general agreement of so many Nations for so many Ages in Polytheisme and Idolatry is an Argument for these Answ To this I answer 1. That the generality of the Philosophers and wise men of all Nations and Ages did dissent from the multitude in these things they believed but one Supreme Deity which with respect to the various benefits men received from him had several Titles bestowed upon him and although they did servilely comply with the People in worshipping God by sensible Images and Representations yet it appears by their Writings that they despised this way of Worship as superstitious and unsuitable to the Nature of God So that Polytheisme and Idolatry are far from being able to pretend to Universal Consent from their having had the Vote of the multitude in most Nations for several Ages together because the opinion of the vulgar separated from the Consent and Approbation of the Wise signifies no more then a great many Cyphers would do without Figures 2. The gross Ignorance and Mistakes of the Heathen about God and his Worship are a good Argument that there is a God because they shew That men sunk into the most degenerate condition into the greatest blindness and darkness imaginable do yet retain some sense and awe of a Deity that Religion is a property of our Natures and that the Notion of a Deity is intimate to our Understandings and sticks close to them seeing Men will rather have any God then none and rather then want a Deity they will worship any thing 3. That there have been so many false Gods invented is rather an Argument that there is a true One then that there is none There would be no Counterfeits but for the sake of something that is real for though all Pretenders seem to be what they really are not yet they pretend to be something that really is For to counterfeit is to put on the likeness and appearance of some real Excellency There would be no Brass-money if there were not good and lawful Money Bristol-stones would not pretend to be Diamonds if there never had been any Diamonds Those Idols in Henry the Seventh's time as Sir Francis Bacon calls them Lambert Simnell and Perkin Warbeck had never been set up if there had not once been a real Plantagenet and Duke of York so the Idols of the Heathen though they be set up in affront to the true God yet they are a probable Argument that there is one 3. Speculative Atheisme is absurd in the Theory because it requires more evidence for things then they are capable of Aristotle hath long since well observed how unreasonable it is to expect the same kind of proof and evidence for every thing which we have for some things Mathematical things being of an abstracted nature are onely capable of clear Demonstration But Conclusions in Natural Philosophy are to be proved by a sufficient Induction of experiments things of a moral nature by moral Arguments and matters of Fact by credible Testimony And though none of these be capable of strict Demonstration yet we have an undoubted assurance of them when they are proved by the best Arguments that the nature and quality of the thing will bear No man can demonstrate to me that there is such an Island in America as Jamaica yet upon the Testimony of credible persons who have seen it and Authors who haue written of it I am as free from all doubt concerning it as I am from doubting of the cleerest Mathematical Demonstration So that this is to be entertained as a firm principle by all those who pretend to be certain of any thing at all That when any thing is proved by as good arguments as that thing is capable of and we have as great assurance that it is as we could possibly have supposing it were we ought not in reason to make any doubt of the existence of that thing Now to apply this to the present Case The being of a God is not Mathematically demonstrable nor can it be expected it should because onely Mathematical matters admit of this kind of evidence Nor can it be proved immediately by sense because God being supposed to be a pure Spirit cannot be the Object of any corporeal sense But yet we have as great assurance that there is a God as the nature of the thing to be proved is capable of and as we could in reason expect to have supposing that he were For let us suppose there were such a Being as an Infinite Spirit cloathed with all possible perfection that is as Good and Wise and Powerful c. as can be imagined what conceiveable ways are there whereby we should come to be assured that there is such a Being but either by an internal impression of the Notion of a God upon our Minds or else by such external and visible Effects as our Reason tells us must be attributed to some Cause and which we cannot without great violence to our Understandings attribute to any other Cause but such a Being as we conceive God to be that is One that is infinitely Good and Wise and Powerful Now we have this double assurance that there is a God and greater or other then this the thing is not capable of If God should assume a Body and present himself before our eyes this might amaze us but could not give us any rational assurance that there is an Infinite Spirit If he should work a Miracle that could not in reason convince an Atheist more then the Arguments he already hath for it If he were to ask a sign in heaven above or in the earth beneath what could he desire God to do for his conviction more then he hath already done Could he desire him to work a greater Miracle then to make a World Why if God should carry this perverse man out of the limits of this World and shew him a new Heaven and a new Earth springing out of nothing he might say that innumerable parts of Matter chanc'd just then to rally together and to form themselves into this new World and that God did not make it Thus you see that we have all the rational assurance of a God that the thing is capable of and that Atheism is absurd and unreasonable in requiring more 4. The Atheist is absurd because he pretends to know that which no man can know and to be certain of that which no body can be certain of that is That there is no God and which is consequent upon this as I shall shew afterwards That it is not possible there should be one And the Atheist must pretend
signifie that the report and testimony of others is not so great evidence as that of our own senses And though we have sufficient assurance of another state yet not so great evidence as if we our selves had been in the other World and seen how all things are there 2. We have sufficient assurance of these things and such as may beget in us a well grounded confidence and free us from all doubts of the contrary and perswade a reasonable man to venture his greatest Interests in this World upon the security that we have of another World for 1. We have as much assurance of these things as things future and at a distance are capable of and he is a very unreasonable man that would desire more Future and invisible things are not capable of the Evidence of sense but we have the greatest rational Evidence for them and in this every reasonable man ought to acquiesce 2. We have as much as is abundantly sufficient to justifie every mans discretion who for the great and eternal things of another World hazards or parts with the poor and transitory things of this Life And for the clearing of this it will be worth our considering that the greatest affairs of this world and the most important concernments of this life are all conducted onely by Moral Demonstrations Men every day venture their lives and estates onely upon Moral assurance For instance Men who never were at the East or West Indies or in Turky or Spain yet do venture their whole Estates in Traffick thither though they have no Mathematical demonstration onely Moral assurance that there are such Places Nay which is more Men every day eat and drink though I think no man can demonstrate out of Euclide or Apollonius that his Baker or Brewer or Cook have not conveyed Poyson into his meat or drink And that Man that would be so wise and cautious as not to eat or drink till he could demonstrate this to himself I know no other remedy for him but that in great gravity and wisdom he must die for fear of death And for any man to urge that though men in temporal affairs proceed upon moral assurance yet there is greater assurance required to make men seek Heaven and avoid Hell seems to me to be highly unreasonable for such an assurance of things as will make men circumspect and carefull to avoid a lesser danger ought in all reason to awaken men much more to the avoiding of a greater such an assurance as will sharpen mens desires and quicken their endeavours for the obtaining of a lesser good ought in all reason to animate men more powerfully and to inspire them with a greater vigour and industry in the pursuit of that which is infinitely greater For why the same assurance should not operate as well in a great danger as in a less in a great good as in a small and inconsiderable one I can see no reason unless men will say that the greatness of an evil and danger is an incouragement to men to run upon it and that the greatness of any good and happiness ought in reason to dishearten men from the pursuit of it Use I. The Use that I shall make of this shall be 1. To put men out of conceit with Sin 2. To perswade men to be truly Religious First If Religion be the best Knowledg and Wisdom this challenges wicked men for their folly and ignorance this conviction of the great imprudence and unreasonableness of a wicked course should shame men out of Irreligion Wicked men are in Scripture described by this Character they are those that know not God which argues monstrous ignorance and stupidity for to have an understanding and not to know God is in intellectual things just such an absurdity as it is in natural things to have eyes and not to discern the light for as light is primum visibile the first object of our sight so God is primum intelligibile the plainest and most obvious object of our understandings He fills Heaven and Earth every thing represents him to us which way soever we turn our selves we are encountred with clear evidences and demonstrations of a Deity For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things made even his eternal Power and God-head So that men are without excuse as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such men as know not God can have no Apology to make for themselves their ignorance is utterly inexcusable Or if men do understand or believe there is such a Being as God not to consider this not to attend to the proper consequences of such a principle not to know our Relation to him and dependance upon him and obnoxiousness to his Power and Justice in case we neglect contemn and disobey him not to know the duty that we owe to him who hath made us and hath an unquestionable right in us and title to us and authority over us and is therefore our supream Law-giver because he hath power to make us happy or miserable for ever to save or to destroy us and consequently that it is our highest interest to please him to know his Will and to do it This is gross ignorance and inconsiderateness and stupidity as can be imagined He that observes the lives and actions of the greatest part of men would verily think that they understood nothing of all this therefore we find in Scripture that when God looks down upon the wickedness of men he pronounces them to be without understanding Deut. 32. 28. when God had reckoned up the rebellions and perversnesses of the Children of Israel he concludes It is a nation void of counsel neither is there any understanding in them In the 14 Psalm at the beginning the Psalmist represents God as looking down from heaven upon the children of men and when he saw how they had corrupted themselves and what abominable works they did crying out Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge Not that wicked men are destitute of the natural faculty of Understanding but they have it as if they had it not they have Understandings but they do not use them which in effect and by interpretation is all one as if they had none Nay happy were it for them if they had them not for then they would not be liable to the Judgment of God nor accountable to Him as reasonable creatures but this ignorance is wilfull and affected men are not blind but they wink and shut their eyes they can understand and will not or if they do understand any thing they imprison the Truths of God and detain them in unrighteousness they thrust light into a dungeon and hide the candle of the Lord that is in them under a bushel they do not suffer those things that they know to have a due power and influence upon their hearts and lives And this is an Ignorance that will be