absurdity of their Doctrine who teach that in every Miracle God acts by a power distinct from and superior to that of Nature which is the universal Law by him ordain'd and fixt for government of his Creatures V. To effect this I perswade my self I need do no more but convince the judicious Reader of the verity of these four things 1. That nothing in the World happens or comes to pass contrary to Nature but that Nature keeps an eternal fixt and immutable Order 2. That from Miracles we cannot come to understand and certainly know either the Essence or Existence or Providence of God but that all these may far better be collected from the fixt and immutable Order of Nature 3. That the holy Scripture it self by the Decrees and Volitions and consequently the Providence of God understands nothing else but the very same Order of Nature which necessarily follows from his eternal Laws 4. That most men have erred in the manner of interpreting the Miracles recorded in the holy Scriptures For these things being well prov'd I see not what can remain to frustrate my present Design VI. As for the FIRST therefore viz. that all Events happen according to the eternal Order of Nature this may easily be inferr'd even from hence that whatsoever God wills or determines involves eternal necessity and truth For since the Intellect of God is not distinguish'd from his Will and therefore to say that God wills any thing is all one with saying that he understands that very thing by the same necessity which follows from the divine Nature and Perfection it is a genuine and inevitable consequence that for God to understand any thing as it is is for him to will or decree the same as it is But since nothing is necessarily true but only from the divine Decree hence it most clearly follows that the universal Laws of Nature are the meer Decrees of God which follow from the necessity and perfection of the divine Nature If therefore any thing should be contingent in Nature that should be repugnant to her eternal Laws the same would be repugnant also to the divine Decree Intellect and Nature or if any man should affirm that God does any thing contrary to the Laws of Nature he would be compell'd to grant also that God acts contrary to his own Nature than which nothing can be more absurd The same may be farther proved also by this that the power of Nature is no other but the power and vertue of God and the power of God no other but the very Essence of God and certainly that must be eternally the same or immutable Nothing therefore can be contingent in Nature that is repugnant to her universal Laws nay that is not convenient or agreeable to them or follows not from them For whatsoever is done is done by the Will and eternal Decree of God i. e. is done according to the Laws and Rules which involve eternal necessity and truth and which though they be not all known to us are perpetually without the least omission or deviation strictly observ'd by Nature Nor does any sound Reason urge us to ascribe a limited power and vertue to her or to think that her Laws are fit only for some certain Events and not for all For since the vertue and power of Nature is the same with the vertue and power of God and her Laws and Rules his Decrees as was just now prov'd we are obliged to believe that the power of Nature is infinite and her Laws so made as to extend their force to all things conceiv'd by the divine Understanding Otherwise we could not avoid running into that dangerous Error of the Multitude that God hath created Nature so impotent and given her Laws and Rules so barren as that he is compell'd sometimes to help her by new Ordinances and supplies of Vertue in order to her Support and Conservation and that things may succeed according to his Intention and Design An Error than which nothing is more alien from Reason nothing more unworthy the Majesty of the divine Nature Now from these Positions that in Nature nothing can happen or come to pass which does not follow from her Laws and that her Laws extend themselves to all things conceiv'd by the divine Understanding and in fine that Nature keeps a fixt and immutable Order from these undeniable Truths I say it most clearly follows that the name of a Miracle cannot be otherwise understood than respectively to the opinions of men and that a Miracle signifies nothing else but a Work the natural Cause of which we are not able to explicate by the example of another usually observ'd by us at least he is not able to explicate who writes or relates the Miracle I might say that a Miracle is that of which we are not able by the light of Nature to explain the Cause from the Principles we understand of natural things but because Miracles have been wrought Ad captum Vulgi to convince the Vulgar which was wholly ignorant of the Principles of natural things certain it is the Ancients took that for a Miracle which they could not explain in the same manner by which the Vulgar is wont to explain natural things namely by recurring to Memory so as to recal to mind another like thing which they are wont to imagine without admiration For the Vulgar always think they then sufficiently understand any thing when they do not admire it Nor doth it appear that either the Ancients in their Times or any of their Successors since even down to ours have had any other Criterion or Rule whereby to discern Miracles from other Contingents i. e. insolite or rare Events from usual besides this here mention'd viz that these seem'd capable of Explication from the known Principles of natural things but those not according to the judgement of the Vulgar And therefore we are not forbidden to think that in the sacred Writings themselves many things are related as Miracles of which sufficient Causes may be given from the known Principles of natural Philosophy and that too without any the least derogation from either the Glory of God or the Authority of the Writers or from the scope or end for which the things were done and written as I design to prove when I shall have conducted the Reader to the 4 th and last Head of this brief Discourse which concerns the Interpretation of Miracles For now the Clew of my Method brings us to the VII SECOND Position viz. That from Miracles neither the Essence nor the Existence nor the Providence of God can be understood by us but on the contrary that all these may be better perceiv'd from the fixt and invariable Order of Nature which to demonstrate I thus proceed Forasmuch as the Existence of God is not per se known to us it ought to be necessarily concluded from Notions whose verity is so evident firm and impregnable that no power can be given or conceiv'd by
which they can be changed to us at least from the time wherein we conclude upon the Existence of God from them they ought to appear such if we will secure our Conclusion from all possible Doubts for if we could conceive that those Notions might be changed by any Power whatsoever it be then should we doubt of their verity and consequently of that of our Conclusion also namely of God's Existence nor could we ever be certain of any other thing whatever Besides this we know not this or that thing to be according to Nature or repugnant to it unless we can evince the same to be convenient or repugnant to those fundamental Notions or Principles Wherefore if we could conceive any thing in Nature possible to be done by any Power whatever that is repugnant to Nature that thing would be repugnant to those first Notions and so ought to be rejected as absurd or else as was just now intimated we must doubt of the truth of those first Notions and by consequence also of the Being of God and of all other things what ever and howsoever perceiv'd Miracles then if understood to be Works repugnant to the fixt Order of Nature are so far from evincing the Existence of God that on the contrary they would make us doubt of it when without them we might be absolutely certain of the same knowing that all things in Nature follow a fixt and immutable Order But let it be suppos'd that what cannot be explicated by natural Causes is a Miracle which may be understood two ways either as that which hath indeed natural Causes but such as cannot be investigated by humane Understanding or as that which hath no Cause but only the Will of God Now because all things that are done by natural Causes are done also by the sole Power and Will of God we are under a plain necessity of coming to this Conclusion That a Miracle whether it be effected by natural Causes or not is a Work that transcends humane Understanding but from a Work that transcends humane Understanding we can know nothing for whatever we clearly and distinctly understand must come to be understood by us either by it self or by some other thing which we clearly and distinctly understand therefore from a Miracle or Work that transcends our Capacity we can understand neither the Essence of God nor his Existence nor his Providence nor any thing else concerning him or his Minister Nature But on the contrary since we certainly know that all things are determined and decreed by God that the Operations of Nature follow from the Essence of God and that the Laws of Nature are the eternal Decrees and Volitions of God we are obliged absolutely to conclude that we so much the better know God and his Will by how much the better we know natural things and more clearly understand how they depend upon their first Cause and how they operate according to the eternal Laws of Nature Wherefore by reason of our Understanding those Works that we clearly and distinctly understand are with much more right to be call'd the Works of God and to be referr'd to his Will than those we do not at all understand although they strongly exercise the Imagination and ravish men into admiration of them forasmuch as only those Works of Nature which we clearly and distinctly understand render the knowledge of God more sublime and most clearly shew his Will and Decrees They therefore that when they do not understand a thing have recourse to the Will of God talk impertinently shew more of Bigotry than Wit and ridiculously profess their Ignorance VIII Moreover could we conclude any thing from Miracles yet we could never thence conclude of the Existence of God For since a Miracle is a Work limited and never implies any but a certain and limited Power most certain and evident it is that from such an Effect we cannot rightly infer the Existence of a Cause whose Power is infinite but at most of a Cause whose Power is greater I say at most because from many Causes concurring there may follow some Work whose Force and Power is indeed less than the Power of all its Causes put together but far greater than the Power of any one of them taken singularly But because the Laws of Nature as I have already shewn extend themselves to infinite things and are conceiv'd by us under a certain semblance of Eternity and Nature according to them proceeds in a certain and immutable Order those very Laws do in some measure indicate to us the Infinity Eternity and Immutability of God I conclude therefore that by Miracles we cannot know God and his Existence and his Providence but that these may be far better concluded from the fixt and immutable Order of Nature In this Conclusion I speak of a Miracle as understood to be nothing else but a Work that transcends humane Understanding or is believ'd to do so For if it were supposed to destroy the Order of Nature or to interrupt it or to be repugnant to it then certainly it could not only give us no knowledge of God but on the contrary would take from us all the knowledge we naturally have and make us doubt of God and of all other things Nor do I here acknowledge any difference betwixt a Work contrary to Nature and a Work above Nature that is as some are pleas'd to speak a Work not in truth repugnant to Nature but which cannot be produced or effected by her Power alone For since a Miracle is done Non extra naturam sed in ipsa natura though it be held to be supra naturam yet still must it interrupt the Order of Nature which we conceive to be from the Decrees of God fixt and immutable If therefore any thing should be done in Nature that should not follow from her Laws it would necessarily be repugnant to the Order which God hath by the universal Laws of Nature establish'd in the Universe and consequently the belief of it would make us doubt of all things else and lead us into Atheism And thus if I be not grosly mistaken in the force of the Reasons here alledged I have sufficiently demonstrated what in the second place I intended and from the same Reasons I take liberty to conclude de novo that a Miracle against Nature or above Nature is a meer absurdity and therefore that by a Miracle in holy Scripture nothing else can rightly be understood but such a Work of Nature which either really transcends humane Understanding or is believ'd to do so IX Nevertheless for more assurance of the truth of this new Doctrine I think my self concern'd to confirm that part of it which affirms that from Miracles we cannot know God This I humbly conceive may be done by having recourse to the Authority of the holy Scriptures themselves For though they no where ex professo and plainly teach that Position viz. that God is not made known to us by Miracles
yet notwithstanding there are found in them many places from which rightly understood the same may be concluded easily and genuinely Among these chiefly from that of Deuteronomy 13. where Moses commands the people of Israel to put to death a false and seducing Prophet though he should work Miracles The words of the Text are these in our most correct Translation If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a Sign or a Wonder And the Sign or Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying 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. And that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death c. From which it clearly follows that Miracles may be wrought even by false Prophets and that men unless they be well guarded by the true knowledge and cordial Love of God may as easily be induced by Miracles to embrace and serve false Gods as to acknowledge and worship the true God For he adds because the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love him c. Secondly The Israelites could not from so many Miracles form in their minds any sound Conception or Notion of God or his Providence as Experience it self testifies For when they had perswaded themselves that Moses was gone from them presently they importune Aaron to furnish them with visible Deities and to the indelible shame of their Nation embrace the Image of a Calf for an Idea or Representation of their God which they at length from so many Miracles form'd to themselves Asaph also though he had often heard of and believ'd all the Miracles done among his Ancestors yet doubted of God's Providence and had deflected from the right way of absolute dependance thereupon had he not at last understood true Happiness to consist only therein and Religion in Justice and Charity as we read in Psalm 73. Nor was Solomon himself though excellent in Wisdom and King of the Jews too even when the Affairs of that Nation were at the highest point of Prosperity able to form to himself any competent Notion of God after all he had read concerning the Miracles recorded in the Books of Moses For he more than once Eccles. 3. v. 19 20 21. and Chap. 9. v. 2 3 c. confesseth he suspected all things to happen by Chance so far seems he to have been from concluding a divine Providence from belief of those Miracles And as for the Prophets it may be without much labour collected from their Writings that few or none of them well understood how the Order of Nature and the Events of men could be brought to consist with the Conception or Notion they had form'd in their Mind of the Providence of God which yet hath been always very clear to Philosophers who endeavour from clear Conceptions rightly to understand things as they are those I mean who constitute true Felicity in nothing but Vertue and Tranquillity of Mind not studying to bring Nature to obey them but on the contrary to bring themselves to obey Nature as certainly knowing that God directs Nature as the universal Laws thereof not as the particular Laws of humane Nature require and so that he takes care not only of Mankind but of the whole Universe Constant it is therefore and that too even from sacred Writ that Miracles do not give a true knowledge of God nor clearly teach his Providence which is what I designed to prove And as for what is found in some places of the Scripture that to some unattentive Readers may seem perhaps irreconcileable to this my Doctrine as in Exod. 10. v. 2. that God hardned the heart of Pharaoh and the hearts of his servants and shewed wonderful Signs before them that the Israelites might know him to be God it doth not follow from thence that Miracles do in truth teach us to know and acknowledge God but only that the Jews had such Opinions as that they might be easily convinced by those Miracles For evident it is that the Prophetick Reasons mentioned in Scripture or such as are form'd from Revelation are drawn not from universal and common Notions but from the granted however absurd Opinions of those to whom the things are reveal'd or whom the holy Spirit intends to convince Which might here if I had not firmly resolv'd not to prolong this Discourse by Digressions be prov'd from many Examples and also by the testimony of St. Paul who with the Greeks made himself a Greek and with the Jews a Jew that is conform'd his Doctrine sometimes to the common Opinions of the Grecians sometimes to those of the Jews But though the Miracles done in the sight of the Egyptians might convince them and the Jews also from their common Opinions yet could they not give a true Idea and knowledge of God but only bring both Nations to concede that there was a divine Numen more powerful than all things known to them and that this divine Numen took more care of the Hebrews all whose Affairs at that time succeeded most happily even above their hope than of the Egyptians or any other People whatever but not that God takes equal care of all men which Philosophy alone can teach And therefore the Jews and all other men who have not unless from the disparile state of humane Affairs and the unequal Fortune of men known the Providence of God have perswaded themselves that the Jews Nation was more beloved by God than the rest of Mankind though the Jews exceeded not the rest in the Perfections of humane Nature or in their Inclinations to Vertue and Piety as may be soon collected from their History I conclude therefore that Miracles teach not men the true knowledge of God and of his Providence and find my self at liberty to proceed to my X. THIRD Position which you may remember to be this That according to the true sence of the holy Scriptures themselves by the Decrees and Commands of God and consequently by the Providence of God nothing else is signified but the sixt and immutable Order of Nature that is that when the Scripture saith that such or such a thing was done by God or by the Will of God it doth really mean no other but this that the Fact was perform'd according to the Laws and Order of Nature not as the Vulgar thinks that Nature ceas'd to proceed in her due course whilst the thing was in doing or that her Order was for some time interrupted The Scripture indeed doth not directly teach such things which belong not to the Doctrine thereof because it designs not to shew the Natural Causes of things nor to teach things meerly speculative and therefore what I here propose to my self to