but a typical Representation And one who received not the Spirit by measure but was anointed with the Oyl of gladness above his Fellows But the Prophet Daniel pointed out the time of his coming after a more close and precise manner Dan. 9. 24 25 26 27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks after that the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the oblation and sacrifice to cease and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured out upon the desolate As to the exposition of this Prophecy all Writers are agreed that according to the language and custom of the Jews by a week is understood not seven days but seven years that is seventy times seven years or four hundred and ninety years in all And the plain sense of the Prediction may be comprised within these Observations as far as it concerns my present purpose 1. First That from the second building of the Temple and City of Jerusalem to the last destruction of both there was alotted the space of four hundred and ninety years to be computed from the time of the publication of an Edict by some Persian King for this second Building 2. That within the compass of those four hundred and ninety years Sin should be expiated true substantial Righteousness grounded upon eternal Reasons should be preached the old Prophecies should be fulfilled Messiah the Prince should be cut off and afterwards instated in his everlasting Kingdom The rest of the Prediction relates to the destruction of Jerusalem of which I shall take notice by and by Thus much of it is concerning the Advent Life Death and Unction of the Messiah Now to lay aside the various perplexing Accounts given by inquisitive men touching the exact Impletion of every part of this Prophecy these two things are very evident 1. First That the rebuilding and final devastation of the Holy Temple and City was according to the time alotted the seventy weeks of years For though the Jews were permitted by Cyrus to return into their Land out of their Captivity and to begin the restoration of the Temple yet the great Edict the successful Commandment for the restoring and building Jerusalem was given by that Persian King called Darius Nothus Ezra 6. And from the third year of his Reign when the work of the Temple by the incitement of Haggai and Zachary renewed the year before was now confirmed by a new Edict from the King to be finished unto the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus are exactly four hundred and ninety years that is seventy weeks of years fully complete as a Learned Mede B. 3. pag. 858 859. Writer hath computed the time to my hands 2. Secondly It is most evident that before the expiration of these four hundred and ninety years while the Temple and City of Jerusalem were yet standing Jesus Christ was manifested in the flesh that he fulfilled all Righteousness in his own Person and taught all others to live godly righteously and soberly in this present world that he offer'd up himself upon the Cross a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the Sins of all men that to him all the Prophets did bear witness and in him their Prophecies did terminate and that upon his Resurrection and Ascension he was exalted unto the right hand of God and all Power was given him in Heaven and in Earth according to Daniel's Prediction And now to return to our Argument How was it possible for Daniel or for any other man to have foretold these Events so exactly and so long before without immediate Revelation from a Divine Omniscient Being who foresaw nay fore-appointed the whole series and course of these things from the beginning to the end And consequently How is it possible for any man of common reason or sense to question the Existence of such a Being for these things could not depend upon any natural Causes No the Advent Sufferings and Glorifying of the Messiah were purely the result of a Divine Decree and therefore could not have been predicted or foreseen but by that Divine Being who had decreed all and by whose determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge Jesus Christ was delivered to the Jews as St. Peter told them Acts 2. 23. 3. The like is to be said of those other Predictions which relate to some remarkable and memorable Events after Christ's departure out of the world and they were chiefly these three 1. The Destruction of Jerusalem 2. The Propagation of the Christian Faith And 3dly the dispersed and reproachful Condition of the Jews 1. As Daniel foretold the Desolations that would come upon Jerusalem so did the Messiah himself foretel that there should not be left one stone of the temple upon another which should not be thrown down Matth. 24. 2. And a little further he said When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in or about the holy place let them which be in Judea fly to the mountains ver 15 16. This by the way shews that the computation of Daniel's seventy weeks is to be carried on to the time of Jerusalem's destruction for there the four hundred and ninety years end and not before as we see by our Saviour's referring to that Prediction when he spake of that Desolation These Predictions were accomplish'd about forty years after the Messiah's Crucifixion and in that Juncture the several parts of those Predictions were answer'd to the full Then the Jews saw the abomination of Desolation which Daniel had spoken of meaning the Roman Heathen Armies with the Heathen Figures in their Military Banners expanded about the Holy City Then were the people of the Prince that is their Commander Titus come to destroy the City and the Sanctuary Then did Titus his Forces over-run the Land of Judoea like a Flood and make it desolate Then was the Temple laid waste and the Oblations and Sacrifices which were wont to be in it were made to cease And then was the Consummation which Daniel foretold or the End which was determined upon the Desolate namely the utter
The Fancy then is the highest and most perfect Faculty of the Animal Soul as the Understanding is of the Rational An imagining directing Power in every sensitive Creature carrying in its Acts some faint resemblances of humane Reason though it be quite destitute of it and much inferiour to it It s Seat is in the Brain and its Uses are so great and necessary that without it no Animal can answer the Inclinations and Purposes of its Nature By this Faculty the Creature receives within it the Idea's and Representations of exteriour Objects perceives so much of their Qualities as exerts its Appetites and in some sort after an obscure imperfect manner and in an unreflecting way judgeth of things whether they be Pleasant or Painful Convenient or Disagreeable Beneficial or Destructive in short whether they be for its Enjoyment or for its Hurt And according as those Impressions are which are thus made upon the Fancy so does the Creature act either craving for the Object or declining it either embracing or abhorring either pursuing or avoiding it and either gratified with the Fruition or grieving under the Pain which the Object affords So that as the Heart is the Spring of all vital Motion so is the Fancy the Spring of all animal Motions both inward and external Now Can any reasonable Man believe that this so useful a Faculty came accidentally into the Soul meerly by nonsensical Combination of undesigning Atoms Does it not rather shew that the Animal was endued with it by a wise Agent that constituted and aimed at its Preservation Especially if it be considered that as it is a distinguishing Faculty in every Individual whereby it perceives the difference between what is Good for it or Injurious to it so in every Species of Animals it is various and yet notwithstanding that variety works in every one of the same kind after an uniform Manner For that Object which is delightful to one sort of Animals another is averse to and whether it be desired or refused by one Individual it is alike desired or refused by all of the same Species which is a plain Argument that it was not Chance but Divine Reason which formed that Internal Sense the Fancy In the next place let us take some though it be but a transient view of the Instruments which are assistant and ministerial to transmit Impressions from without to that Organ of the Soul where this distinguishing Power the Fancy is plac'd Those Instruments are of two sorts Nerves and Spirits The Nerves or Sinews resemble so many hollow winding Pipes thro' which all Idea's and Notions of things abroad are convey'd to the Sense within The original Complication and Bed of the Nerves is in the interiour Fabrick of the Brain dividing there that soft artificial Structure of Nature into divers Cells or Apartments whence the great Branches of those Instruments of Sensation are extended outwardly thro' the Head by Pairs That in each Ear serves to open a Passage to the Fancy for all sorts of Sounds according to the various Motions and Modifications of the Air. That Nerve in each Eye serves to let in the Idea's and Shapes of all visible Objects Those which extend toward the lower parts of the Face are to admit all kinds of Smells and by variety of Ramifications to govern the Taste to move the Tongue in all its Vibrations to assist the Lips the Jaw and all the Organs there which help towards Nutrition Others Divarications are into the Lungs and Wind-pipe to preserve Respiration to modulate the Voice and to serve for the Ejection of whatsoever is offensive to that sensible Fabricature Others strike down into the Stomach and Heart to promote all Motions and Operations there Others run lower to be serviceable to the Bowels and Mesentery that they may discharge their Functions Others to the Liver to the Reins and to all the parts in their Neighbourhood And others down the Neck to the exteriour parts of the Body so that by innumerable streight circular and oblique Branches all over the Body to the very Soul of the Foot they are insinuated into all the Muscular Formations which serve to move every Limb Member Joynt and Particle And yet all this wonderful Plexure of Nerves would be of no real use without the help of active lively Spirits to invigorate all And for the Extraction of these out of the Blood provident Nature hath prepar'd tho' not by any Providence of its own peculiar Elaboratories in the Brain As those Spirits which serve directly for the Ends and Uses of Life and are therefore call'd Vital are produced in the Region below so are those Spirits which serve for Sense and Motion and are therefore call'd Animal Spirits chymically prepar'd in that Supreme Region which is the Seat of Sensation the great Organ and Original of all those Motions which are in the several parts of the Body There those Ministers of Nature are continually imployed in their various Ranks and Functions nay in their several Cells too that they may not disturb or interfere with one another in their respective Operations And there like Centinels about a Garison they are upon the Watch to give the Fancy notice from their several Divisions and Districts of whatever may prove either grateful or offensive to Nature Those in the Optick Tubes in the Eyes convey all lucid Idea's to the Fancy Those in the Hollow and about the Drum of the Ear all sorts of Sounds Those in the Palate and Nostrils every Taste and Odour and those dispersed about in Nerves and Fibres over all the Body serve to convey the Sense of all Pain or Pleasure besides the manifold stupendendious and unaccountable Office they do both for the exterior parts in order to all Muscular and local Motion and for all the inward Vessels in order to vitality And here I cannot well omit what an inquisitive Author hath observed Disput de Deo P. 479. touching that mutual Relation and necessary Commerce which is between the Brain and those inferiour parts which are for the Ends and Operations of Life For though every Part by it self be form'd with most exquisite Art for the Offices and Functions it is to perform yet no part can answer its Ends without the subservient Ministery and Assistance of others Thus unless the Heart supply the Head with Blood it is impossible for the Brain either to produce Animal Spirits or to sustain it self Again If the Brain did not pay a Tribute of Spirits to the Heart 't were impossible for the Heart to prepare that Blood Again Neither can the one prepare Blood nor the other Spirits unless the Stomach provides Chyle and the Lungs Nitre Nor again can either Lungs or Stomach perform their Offices unless both parts receive from Heart and Brain Blood and Spirits Since therefore in the whole Labyrinth of this Contexture there is such admirable Excellence and Curiosity of Contrivance each part so exquisitely form'd in it self and all so
she does makes an Impression on her outward Sense and that conveys an Idea of it to the Phansie in her Brain But all this while the Bird doth not choose to act upon a premised Principle that she providentially designs this Nest for her Young nor does she thence infer that therefore she must build it in such a place with such Materials after such a manner in such a form and to such a degree of warmth as is most suitable to the temper of her Young for this would be Reasoning and Arguing or Deducing of one thing out of another which is a Thing or Art too high for any Brute Creature And yet all these things are done in every respect so suitably and with such artisice and exactness that the most contriving Man in the World with all his Reason and Skill cannot possibly do them so well Which shews that there is a Power and Reason superiour even to humane Wisdom that hath invigorated the Natures of Animals with an energetick Principle which we call Instinct whereby they form their Works with the greatest Contrivance though they know not the meaning of them 3. This is an Imperfection in their Nature notwithstanding all their curious Formations And yet Thirdly There is another respect wherein their Operations differ from the Actions of Rational Creatures namely that as they know not Ends nor the reason of any Means so they do not consult or dliberate about the use of Means All Artists among Men consider which is the sittest and best way to be taken and in their Undertakings they do still leave room for second Thoughts And hence it is that humane Arts admit of great Improvements because second Thoughts produce new Experiments and new Experiments produce fresh Variety and so by comparing one effect with another a Man sees where he alter'd the former Method for the better and how necessary and useful that Alteration was But in the Operations of Nature it is not thus for Nature hath never but one way and that way is not only ready at hand but so very sit and proper too that it is not capable of Amendments Hence it is that sensitive Creatures are never to seek what to do nor ever change their wonted course but proceed in a constant uniform Tenor using the very same means for the preservation of their own Beings and for the propagation of their several Kinds which were used by those that were before them Six thousand Years ago They do not consider whether things may not be done better now than they were in those days nor do they so much as look back upon the last preceding Generation but go on still in the same way by roat without forecast reflection or advice and yet we see their Works are so artificially done that if they had bad the longest Experience and the greatest Reason of their own they could not after all their Studies and Practice have pitch'd upon more succesful and exquisite Methods Let us now from these Premises consider with due freedom of Thoughts whether this be not a manifest Proof of the Existence of a Being which is infinitely Operative and Omniscient For from what other Cause could all this Art in Nature come Whence else could it receive its admirable Skill What but a Deity could direct and govern it What other Being could teach that rude and undiscerning Thing to exercise its Faculties after such a methodical and unreproveable manner Or what else could guide it in making such regular uniform and constant Strokes as if it were all perfect Wisdom when it hath not in it self the least Grain of clear and true Knowledge It is all Dr. Scott Christ Life Part 2. p. 214. meer natural Instinct and as an excellent Writer now with God speaks natural Instinct is nothing but the Impression of the Art and Reason of the Authour of Nature which Impression knoweth not what it doth nor upon what Reasons it proceeds but only answers to the Reason of God as the Signature doth to the Seal that imprest it and like an Eccho articulates and resounds his Voice without understanding what it meaneth And as the senseless Eccho when it reverberates Words that carry Sense and Reason in them supposeth the original Voice to proceed from some intelligent Mind so these irrational Instincts of Nature which express so much Art and Reason in their Operations do necessarily imply that there is some wise Mind or Providence to which they owe their Original If our modern Scepticks tell us That these natural Instincts come ex traduce and by descent from one Animal to another let us consider how they came there in every Species of Animals at the first for an infinity of Causes is impossible If they are so hardy as to tell us That they came Originally by the casual Motion of unthinking Matter let us consider again how it comes to pass that these natural Instincts hold on and continue in every Species and in every Individual throughout the World since Chance blind sporting and wild Chance is far more likely to spoil a fine Work than to make it Or if after all they affirm That the continuance of Instincts from Generation to Generation is perfectly casual that is without the Pleasure or Power of an understanding Being over all let us consider lastly that Chance and Wisdom are things as utterly distant from each other as Extreams and Contraries are Chance never did any thing Wisely nor by Rule nor after a uniform Rate nor in a constant uninterrupted Tenor. And yet all Animals operate Wisely as if they perfectly understood the Reasons and Necessities of their own Actions But that they have no Wisedom or Reason of their own is evident because Id. ibid. p. 218. whatsoever they do they necessarily do and cannot possibly do otherwise for they never vary in their Operations never try any new Experiments but always proceed in the same Road and repeat the same things in the same Method which is a plain sign that they cannot do otherwise and consequently that they act not from their own Choice or Reason but Necessity And therefore since they are made and impelled to act as they do and yet do act Rationally and Wisely that which compels them must be a rational Mind either acting upon them immediately or by a fix'd and permanent Impression of its Art and Reason upon their Nature and Motions The truth is those Images and Imitations of Wisdom which are in Creatures purely sensitive together with the regularity and constancy of their Operations are as plain an evidence as need be given of the Existence of a God because it is unconceiveable how the Animal Parts of the World should so orderly conform to the Rules of Reason as if they were endued with intelectual Faculties without any directions and influence from a Divine Mind presiding over all It is no rarity to see some of those Creatures especially such as have the quickest Sense gratisie the curiosity of
in himself we must conceive of him to be of an Endless Life For all decay of Life proceeds from a defect infirmity or limitation in the Essence of the Thing so that without the help of a stronger Hand it cannot for ever hold up and last And since Life is one of those Perfections which we poor sinful men enjoy it necessarily follows that as it must be in our Maker so it must be in him in a most eminent and absolute degree that is utterly void of all possibility of ever ending 3. We must from the Absolute Perfection of God conceive him to be a Fountain of Life without any Beginning likewise For whatever had a beginning must be concluded in that respect defective because it once wanted not only those Perfections which Beings enjoy but even Being it self And besides that which began may end as we see all the successive Productions of Nature do Therefore since the Notion of God signifies Perfection of all Kinds and in all degrees Reason will tell you that God must have such Perfection of Essence as to be of a boundless Life or be everlaststing from everlasting 4. The Notion of God's absolute Perfection necessitates us to conclude that he is a most perfect Substance or a Being that subsisteth of himself by the absolute fulness of his own Nature Indeed we cannot form an adequate and positive Notion of the Divine Substance as neither can we of the Substance of our own Souls though they are the noblest Beings of this lower World For our outward Senses which are the great Instruments of Knowledge are perpetually used to corporeal and gross Ideas and God being a spirit John 4. 24. cannot be the Object of any such sensation But yet we may rationally render him an Object of our Minds such an Object as our Minds are capable of viewing by abstracting Matter and Corporeity from our Apprehensions of him This Reason inforces us to do because materiality is a defect in the thing that is made up of it for as it limits and consines the thing to one particular place at once which is most unsuitable to the conception of a Being that is said to fill heaven and earth Jer. 23. 24 so it makes the thing divisible and consequently subject to Dissolution which is utterly incompatible with the Perfection of God's Life Therefore Reason compels us to do away these Imperfections from our Notions of God and to conceive of him as a Spiritual Substance which I shall shew hereafter in its proper place is far from being an irrational Notion however some are pleas'd to reject and deride it 5. Since the Notion of God implies the excellence of Perfection we must conceive of him that he is too a discerning and understanding Substance For Perception being the excellence of all Animals whereby they are much more perfect than senseless Matter or inanimate Stocks and Stones this excellence must needs after the most perfect and sublime manner be in that most exalted Nature from which all Perfection is suppos'd to have been derived The Psalmist appeals to the common Reason of Mankind where he argueth Psalm 94. 9 10. He that planted the ear shall not he bear he that formed the eye shall not be see And so He that teacheth men knowledge shall not he know Though Perception is not wrought in God by Impressions that affect material Organs nor is attended with plain and disturbance as in Creatures who are necessarily imperfect yet the Reason of the thing shews that he is a Sentient Percipient Being an intelligent Nature or Mind that acteth in a way which is suitable to the condition of a most glorious Being 6. And hence it follows That we must conceive of God that he is a most perfect Mind or a Being that knows all things and is conscious of all things that are possible to be known and that not by such discourse or succession of Thoughts and Reasonings as imperfect Beings are sain to use but by intuitive Acts and by a direct immediate view Though knowledge be a great Perfection in Men and Angels yet to know things gradually and by piece-meals and with a limited apprehension is in the Creature a plain defect and therefore it must be abstracted or remov'd from our Conceptions of God 7. Again there is in us all a vigorous principle of Activity whereby we are able to do those things which our Desires and Wills incline us to perform in our Sphere and as far as this principle of Activity carries us This also is a Perfection but yet such as is intermingled with defects because the Execution of our Power is laborious nay finite innumerable things being utterly impossible for the most mighty Men upon the Earth to compass though their Wits and Industry should be never so great and though all their force were united Upon this account Reason will tell you that God being a Nature absolutely Perfect all manner of Impotence is to be shut out of our Notions of him because all Impotence is a defect and therefore inconsistent with and repugnant unto the Excellencies of the Deity and consequently we must conceive him to be fully able to produce and do by the Act of his own free Will whatever doth not imply a contradiction or whatever is conceivable and possible in it self and can stand well with the other Perfections of his Nature 8. Further yet The Notion of God signifying a Nature that is eminently and absolutely Perfect we must conceive him to be a good Being likewise nay the best of all Beings By Goodness here is meant that excellent and most amiable Disposition of Mind which still prompts one to be Communicative Kind Gracious Compassionate and Benificent 'T is the best Virtue that which we may call the Perfection of all Pefections that which commands Honour and Love from all that which is the Beauty the Excellency the Glory of Humane Nature and therefore it necessarily and eminently belongs to the best Being that Divine and most Glorious Nature which all People have ever adored for its transcendent Goodness Love is of God saith the Apostle 1 John 4. 7. He is the overflowing Spring and Fountain of all that Benignity which runs through the World therefore St. John spoke like a great Philosopher as well as a Divine in saying ver 8. God is love that is a Blessed Nature made up of Goodness the Mirror and Perfection of it for there must be in this case much more in the Cause than there can be in the Effects which are of a finite narrow and slender Capacity as the faculties of all created Beings are whence it appears that the glorious Deity cannot be a selfish envious malevolent spiteful or cruel Being because these and the like Dispositions of Mind are wretched Defects or Vices rather which belong to the Devils in Hell and to Devils Incarnate nor though he be Omnipotent and perfectly Powerful can he act like an Arbitrary Tyrannical Being void of Compassion and
innumerable Essences in Nature which cannot be the Objects of Sense though the outward Forms and Ideas of them are The inward Nature of them is discoverable only by the Sagacity and Activity of the Mind observing their Effects and Operations then arguing from one thing to another and so judging of the Reality and Nature of the Cause by its Consequents Hereby the Understanding penetrates into the inside of things which Sense and Fancy can never do and it finds out not what a thing seems to be but what it is which is many times a quite different thing from the Fantastry and Appearance of it nor can ever be the direct and immediate Object of Sense To instance in one particular We cannot but perceive in some measure what an admirable Being the Soul of Man is if we will attentively consider its Powers and Operations And yet we cannot have any Perception of it by external Sensation because we cannot hear or see it or handle it with our Hands or make any discoveries of it by any other Sense no more than we can Smell or Taste a shadow Therefore there can be no sensible Images of it to make impressions upon the Organs of Sensation no external Essluvia's of it no foreign Idea's no Representations from without to affect the imagination No there must be the use of pure Cogitation and Reason to find out what the Soul is and to make that intelligible to us which acteth in us and this will do it when all our Senses can't We perceive that there is something in us which thinketh for every Man is conscious of his own Thoughts therefore the Soul is a Being We perceive that it works continually in us therefore it is a real Thing for it is a certain Principle of Reason That what is not cannot possibly work We perceive that there is in the Soul Life and Vigour Power and Activity Apprehension Knowledge and Memory a saculty of comparing things with things and of reasoning and judging upon such comparison a Power too of determining what to do of chusing and refusing of desiring that which it loves and of reaching out after that which it desires therefore it is a real existing Being Thus far we can easily go in our Notion of the Soul without any help of Sensation from abroad And hence we proceed to perceive That this Soul of ours is an incorporeal Being For its Operations are incongruous to stupid Matter too quick and noble for Matter though you suppose it to be in Motion Clay cannot Cogitate nor can any moving Wheel reason nor can the most spirituous Parts of the Blood philosophize nor can the finest Motes that dance in the Sun consult or deliberate nor can that glorious and enlivening Creature the Sun it self entertain those Meditations which bubble and spring out of ones mind nor can all the material parts of the World put together form those Contrivances Desires and Affections which are the Operations of every Humane Soul and to suppose as some Pretenders to Sense and Wit do that all these Actions proceed from little restless Atoms capering about in the Head and falling accidentally into various Forms and Contextures doth argue rather that the Brains of such Men are insested with Flies and Nits than that they understand any thing of right Reason and Philosophy I have said this to shew That there are many things which are not Objects of Sense and yet are intelligible Objects of the Mind and therefore that 't is false reasoning to conclude That there is no intelligible Notion or Idea of God because the Divine Nature we call by that Name is suppos'd to be an Immaterial Being and as such is not to be represented to our Senses A pretence which though used to invalidate the belief of a Deity might with parity of reason be made use of to disprove the Existence of all the Beings in the World whose true Essences and Natures are not discovered by corporeal sensible Idea's especially the Soul of Man which is no object of external Sensation and yet by its Operations and Essects appears to all understanding Men to be a real cogitative intellectual and active Being distinct from Matter though it be immured in Matter and then why may we not conceive and understand that supereminent Nature which is suppos'd to create every Humane Soul to be a perfectly wise righteous and good Being realy existing though we do not see him with the Eye Especially since we may see him in some measure at second hand in his glorious Works For he hath not left himself without witness in that he doth good and gives us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Acts 14. 17. So that the invisible things of him from the creation are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1. 20. 2. Another very false Principle those odd Men go upon is this That supposing God to be as we believe a transcendent infinite Being and supposing our own intellectual Faculties to be as we find them of a finite narrow Capacity it is impossible for us to comprehend God in our minds and therefore we must be uncertain whether the Notions we have of him be true or false right or wrong This is in effect to say That because we have not all knowledge therefore we can have none according to which rate of reasoning they may affirm also that we see nothing of the Sun because we cannot view every single Ray so as to comprehend its full Lustre and that because we understand not all the Mysteries in Nature therefore we are quite ignorant or at least have reason to doubt whether those Ideas and Notions we have do not utterly deceive us whereas in these cases the imperfection of our Knowledge proceeds not from any Dubitableness or Delusion in the Nature of the Objects but from the Weakness and Incapacity of our own Faculties Supposing the Existence of a Deity that is a Being transcendently Perfect how is it imaginable that we poor Creatures could possibly have full and adequate Conceptions of him unless we could reconcile Contradictions by making Narrowness to answer Transcendency or a Finite Thing to be proportionable and commensurate to an Infinite Being And yet it would not by any means follow hence that we have no knowledge of God or that God is an unintelligible Being because we cannot comprehend all the Glory of his Nature to the full We know in part as we can and according to our measure because in this weak mortal state the dulness and incapacity of our Minds will not allow us to know perfectly and to argue hence that the Deity is an unconceivable and so at least a dubitable Being when our own Conceptions of him our intellectual Powers are naturally and necessarily narrow is as if we should conclude that we have no knowledge at all of any thing in the World nay that it is very
most Curious Enquiries in so many Philosophical and Learned Ages This shews that the Tradition is grounded upon Principles of Nature that therefore it is common with our Nature and must be as constant and common as Humane Nature continues 2. To which I add Secondly That though Truth went along with the Tradition yet of it self alone and without the Dictates of Nature it could not have been universally received in all Places and Ages For every one is not ready to embrace Truth it self though it be never so probable and when it is received in process of time it doth often drop nor is it easy to conceive how this Truth could have gone so current as it hath gone in all parts and from hand to hand without any considerable opposition unless it had had the help of strong Reason to support it and to carry it on still No doubt but Adam taught his Children in that long tract of time the Nine hundred and thirty years of his life many Truths both Philosophical and Divine which yet are now quite lost especially to those people who have not the use of those Books which are open before us Nay though we are able by the help of Discourse to gather divers things out of Moses's Writings which the old Pagans had no knowledge at all of yet are there several matters which we our selves are to seek for because they are not evident from clear cogent Principles of Nature But this great Truth concerning the Existence of God hath been propagated all along together with Mankind and as people have every where multiplied successively from Generation to Generation Nay the higher we go to those Elder times after the Creation the less of Infidelity we find Though there were then very few Books in the World yet God was believed on and even by those who in their lives dishonoured him For in those days Nature spake with simplicity and much plainer and better than in after-times when men of wanton Wits and of base Minds used Arts and so corrupted and debauch'd their Natural Reason This shews that the Belief of God's Existence is grounded upon something in Humane Nature which hath still preserv'd it in the world notwithstanding the miscarriage of many other Traditions which our old Ancestors transmitted to their Posterity and left with them This hath escaped undestroy'd uncontradicted but by a very few Partial Conceited and Designing Men of which no other cause can be rationally assigned but that it is most consonant to the frame of our Nature a Natural Principle an Idea of God which he himself hath as it were imprinted and stamp'd upon every ones minds so that it cannot be worn out by Time it self which weareth out other Notions that are not fixt and rivetted as this is into the common Reason of Mankind and therefore it is not to be imputed to mere Tradition 2. Nor Secondly Can it be imputed to Fear which is the next Pretence For those who would destroy the Belief of a God would fain persuade the world that it is only a thing of Phancy a fictitious frightful Idea put into peoples heads by Designing Men or formed in their Brains by the power of their own Imagination and that their minds being once scared were easily bent to conceive that there is a Terrible Being over them which those bold hardy Wretches imagine to be nothing but a Bugbear without any real Existence and accordingly they bottom Religion upon groundless Fears believing Hell and Damnation and a Deity to be Figments things invented and talked of to terrify the World and so the Atheistical Author of the Leviathan represents them comparing them as he has the confidence to express it to an empty Hat upon a crooked Stick to fright Birds from the Corn. I should beg every good Christian's pardon for but mentioning such Impiety did not the Looseness of the Age we live in constrain us to take notice of the strange Notions that are got abroad The meaning whereof in short is That if people were not frighted out of their Wits they would hardly believe the Existence of a Deity for they ground that Belief upon Fear and make Popular Fear to be the cause of it And hence it is they think that this Belief hath generally prevailed in the World not from any Natural Principle in the Understanding but from a slavish foolish Passion of heart and because men have been every where taught to be fearful and timorous or have made themselves so Now to every Considerate Rational Man it is plain that Fear cannot be the cause of that Belief but is the consequence and effect of it That is Men do not believe a God because they are afraid but are therefore afraid because they believe there is one a Just and Powerful Being over all And therefore their Fears proceed from an Universal Common and Natural Principle in every ones mind touching God's Existence for otherwise it were impossible for mens Fears to be so great so universal so fixt in Humane Nature as never to be eradicated First It can never stand with common Reason to conceive how Fear should create Tormenting Apprehensions of a Being whom all Mankind have ever adored for his great Goodness and whom Heathen Philosophers themselves have discover'd by the Light of Nature to be for his Divine Perfections the most Lovely and Desirable Being in the whole world What Reverence soever the sense of his Greatness may call for disquieting Terrors of a Being so infinitely Perfect cannot spring but from an Evil Conscience And then I appeal to all Men of Sense whether that Conscience ought to be heard against God whose Interest it is to have none This is certain That there can be no fear where there is not supposed an Object to be afraid of That Object must be acknowledged not only to be but to be Angry and Threatning otherwise our Faculties would be both vain and delusory constrained to fear where no grounds of fear are which is to reproach Nature it self that is so adored by some Insidels and to impeach it for a Common Cheat. Secondly Though we should think some particular Persons imposed upon by their Fears yet how could all Men in the World fall under the same Imposture at once How could they be seiz'd with one Agony universally but from an Epidemical Principle in Humane Nature Or how could they all jump together in one Principle without the Hand of a God who made them all and intended by this means to hold them all fast to himself Thirdly If we should be so unreasonable as to suppose Mankind to have been frighted all at the same instant no body knows by whom or when or how and by that fright to have been possest with the thoughts of a Deity can we suppose too that they had no time in so many Ages to recover themselves out of that panick Distemper Fear is a cruciating and tormenting Passion which every Man is desirous to rid himself
to say That the greatest part of the World have been all along so many stark Fools a Character which we think more peculiarly belongs to those who say in their hearts There is no God Considering what a difficult and hazardous Office the first Preachers of Christianity had to discharge How think ye was it possible for them to undertake it with such readiness to perform it with such vigour and to go through it with such constancy and chearfulness notwithstanding so much opposition had they not been abundantly convinced of the truth of their Religion by Miracles which they saw with their own eyes And considering what vast importance the Christian Religion is declared to be of and how directly opposite it is to the natural Inclinations of corrupt Mankind and how it was discountenanc'd and hated by Jews and Heathens in the beginning How can we think it possible for it to have been received so generally and unexpectedly in the World had not inquisitive Men who had the fairest advantages of knowing matters of Fact been fully satisfied That the mighty Miracles reported to have been done by Jesus were true Men cannot think these things possible but either they must believe that people in those days had lost all their Senses or make us now believe that they themselves have utterly lost their own The design of all this is to shew That there is as convincing and strong Evidence that True Divine Miracles have been wrought as can rationally be expected of any thing which hath been done in former times because no matter of Fact whatsoever can possibly be capable of stronger proof In cases of this nature the utmost that can be expected is Moral Certainty when the Evidence is so fair that no reasonable man can have just cause to doubt of the truth of the matter and that Evidence must be from Testimony because it is impossible for us to know any thing which is gone and past but by information from others and when that Information is so full that to unprejudiced Understandings the thing seems unquestionable it is as much as any reasonable man can desire Since therefore it appears by indubitable Testimony that those persons who are said to have done Miracles were once actually living in the World since it appears that the History of those Miracles is sufficiently credible and is confirmed by the collateral Testimony of those who were both capable of knowing and deeply concern'd to know the Truth of that Account And lastly since such publick Settlements and Constitutions followed upon the Credit of those Miracles as plainly argued a firm and general Belief or rather Knowledge of them and could never have been brought about without them Since I say all these grounds of Credibility do appear to give evidence to the truth of Miracles formerly done it seems unconceivable how stronger or clearer evidence can be given of any matter of Fact or of any History that is now in the World 2. Let us consider next the second Evasion That supposing some wonderful things to have been done in former Ages yet this is no more an Argument of the truth of a God's Existence than it is of the truth of Idolatry because Idolaters themselves have pretended to Miracles to vouch for their Religion And considering how inconsistent and impossible it would be for a Deity to act for and against it self too therefore Men of Atheistical minds conclude That those wonderful Works which have gone under the name of Divine Miracles have been really nothing but Art and Imposture Now for the solving of this seeming difficulty I shall consider two Things 1. First Matter of Fact 2. Secondly The Weakness of these Mens reasoning from it 1. First then that I may carry a fair and impartial Hand it is granted that many strange and extraordinary things are said to have been done by Men of a false Religion For Moses himself tells us what the Magicians did in Egypt beâ—ore his own face Jesus Christ told his Disciples that many false Teachers would come in a little time with Signs and Wonders to deceive if it had been possible the very Elect. To verify that Prediction divers Ecclesiastical Writers tell us of the Wonders done by Simon Magus and his Followers soon after the Lord ' s Ascension into Heaven Others tell us of the Blind and the Lame being cured by the Heathen Emperor Vespasian and of a Whetstone being divided into two by a Razor at the Command of Accius Navius and of several Prodigious things done by Apollmius Tyanaeus whom the Pagans matched with Jesus Christ for doing Miracles And every body knows what Accounts of Miracles have been given by the Church of Rome in deâ—ence of that part of their Religion wherein they have most scandalously departed from True Primitive Christianity Considering therefore what an heap of Stories there is whereof some are related by Sacred Writers and some others by Men of Probity and Temper though abundance of Fictions hath been vended among them it must be allowed that many Wonderful Works have been done by Idolaters But then Secondly This can be no Plea for the truth of Idolatry because how wonderful soever those Works have seemed they were not in themselves Divine Miracles We must distinguish between Miracles in Appearance and Miracles in Reality By Miracles in Appearance which should rather be called Wonders and Signs I understand not mere Impostures or Delusions of mens outwards Senses but such Real Effects as may seem to be done by the extraordinary and immediate Power of God when indeed they are not That such things are possible to be done is clear from Deut. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. where God himself gave the Jews this Caution If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereeof he spake to thee saving Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave unto him and that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death We cannot conceive that when God hath any where established his true Worship he will lift up his own hand to draw People away from it to Idolatry and therefore when Signs or Wonders are shewed to that end we may be sure they are not Divine Miracles or Effects that are altogether Supernatural And yet 't is manifest that such things may be done as are counterfeitings of God's hand and seem to carry the signatures of his Power for otherwise there would have been no reason for that charge given to the Jews that
have Memory to be nothing but the decaying remainder of Motion like the sound about a Bell when it has done ringing And every act and determination of the Will they would have to be Clinamen Principiorum or a declination of Atoms from a kind of perpendicular Line in which they suppose them to have hung before So that according to these Men every Operation of the Soul lieth in Atoms and is derived from Atoms which Whimsies deserve Laughter rather than any grave or sober Confutation For is it possible for Men of true solid Reason to believe that Atoms can be a bubling Fountain of Thoughts That they can study contemplate perceive argue form Opinions resolve Doubts discover Truth find out the different Natures of Good and Evil direct our Actions tell us what we must Do and what we must Avoid promise Rewards or threaten us with Punishment Nay inflict Punishment presently and plague wicked People with the intolerable Smart that attends an evil Conscience They may as well say that Atoms can write Books that the whole material World is an Academy of all manner of Learning and that the Motes which we see dancing in the Sun-beams are so many Historians Orators Philosophers and Divines The truth is 'T is not Reason that is the Ground-work of those wild Conceits but a sad Necessity they bring upon themselves of running to the most monstrous Absurdities to avoid all Thoughts of a God whose Existence they have disowned For it there be such a thing as a rational Soul distinct from Matter and Body it must inevitably follow that there is also a Deity who gave it its Being because nothing but a Deity could give it Therefore they who have the Front to deny the Being of a Deity are forced to deny the immateriality of the Soul of course And yet that the Soul is immaterial its excellent Powers Faculties and Operations will convince any one that will but lay his Hand upon his Heart and give himself leave to think soberly For if the Soul be Matter How came Men to dispute about its Immateriality How had the Mind any Notion of it How did the Mind get it at first since it is infinitely too high for Matter Nay since the Notion of Incorporiety is so contrary and repugnant to the Nature and Notion of Matter If the Soul be Matter How comes it to judge of material Representations and to discover those Impostures and Cheats which Matter many times puts upon the Imagination As for instance The Sun is found to be vastly bigger than the whole Earth though it appears to the Eye and Fansie to be but a Foot wide There are a thousand other Errors wherewith our Senses and Imaginations are apt to be deluded And how could the Mind look through all those Errors into the Truth and Reality of things if it were not a nobler Being than Matter that measures sensible Objects by intelligible Ideas of its own which are the proper Criterions of Truth If the Soul were Matter How could it be capable of Reflecting within it self Or how could it Recollect so many things done long ago in the Days of ones Minority and Recover so many fugitive Ideas as we find it doth Command and this by a native Power of its own purely by the strength of thinking Matter cannot act upon Matter but by some impulse from without it much less can it act upon it self as the Soul does by a peculiar Faculty it has of casting about and of rouling Thoughts within the Minds and therefore it must be a noble Being distinct from Matter that hath a Principle of Activity and an Empire within it self If it were Matter How could it command the Body in every Instance and make it obey at Pleasure Nay how could it command it self to think on this Subject or that as it listeth To go on a Meditating or give it over To resolve upon that Action or another without controul How could it forsee deliberate or advise How could it entertain any inward Pleasures and Joys impressions which Matter can no more receive than Rocks can dance How could it contemplate so excellent a Being as a Deity Or discourse of Eternity and another World Or possess wicked Wretches with such Fears as they can never quite rid their Mind of Or fill good Men with comfortable Hopes of a Reward The natures of Good and Evil and the Ideas of Divine Justice and Benignity are too Sublime to fall under Sense nor can they be incident to Matter and he must have the most ridiculous Conceptions in the World of his own Frame who thinks that the Operations and Perfections of his Soul are no higher or better than what Clay or Pebbles or Chips would be capable of were their Particles but otherwise modified Hence we infer That the rational Soul is of far higher Extraction than what Stone or Timber can pretend to That it is infinitely of a more noble Nature than Atoms of Dust And that its Operations and Perfections are vastly different from the Properties of Matter how fine soever you suppose it to be And therefore it will follow either that these Operatiosn and Perfections sprang from Nothing or that there is a Being of the most eminent and absolute Perfections from whom they are derived which indeed is the only true and satisfactory Account that can be given of the Nature and Faculties of a rational Soul I have hitherto argued from Reason only because they who deny the Existence of a Deity are constrained by necessary Consequence to deny Divine Revelation too and the Authority of the Holy Scriptures However we may ex abundanti observe what Moses tells us Gen. 1. 27. God created man in his own image in the image of God created be him And what St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. 7. That a man is the image and glory of God Which places of Scripture though they are to be understood partly of that Dominion Authority and Power which God hath given Man as his Vicegerent and Representative over all things here below yet do they I conceive speak also and perhaps chiefly of that Similitude and Resemblance which the Soul of every one of us does in its Frame bear of the Divine Nature and Perfections which will a little further shew its Excellence and consequently the Existence of a super-eminent Being whose Stamp and Impress it carries as far as the Capacities of a Creature can admit it We find how volatile and nimble our Thoughts are how soon they reach the very ends of the Earth how quickly they compass Sea and Land with what Facility they mount to Heaven how speedily they take a view of the whole Frame of Nature as it were at once and with what Celerity the Mind does gather and comprehend within it self so many different Ideas And what is this but an imperfect Representation of the Omnipresence of that God Who is said to fill heaven and earth Jer. 23. 24. Nay Whom the heaven and