accommodate the seeming Opposition and to point out some of those unconcluding Arguments that mislead Men to apprehend an inconsistence where there is none But in case I have not performed this with sufficient Strength and Clearness of Expression it will not be forreign to the matter in hand to shew by an instance that somethings may not only be true but are almost universally acknowledg'd which yet how they can be so is insuperably hard to be conceived And this shall be an instance which doth frequently occur to every one that is conver sant about Decimal Numbers Scarce any good Accomptant but understands no learned man but will acknowledge the force of it For you may have a small fraction suppose of a farthing or of a barley corn not worth demanding which yet cannot be deny'd to be infinitely Divisible insomuch that going about to find some determinate part of such a fraction as â…“ â…• or the like you may indeed divide it according to Decimal Arithmetick and you shall presently come near the truth and the further you continue your Division you shall still come the nearer But though you Divide it everlastingly you shall never be able to get out entirely the part you aim at but the Quotient will still be defective and something will for ever remain of the Dividend To make out this the more evidently I put the following Case for an Example Seven Workmen are to receive for some piece of Work 20 s. to be equally divided amongst them and supposing my self to be one of the seven I demand my share but first I am to compute what it comes to To do this I make use of Decimals which in many Questions are very expeditious and much in use at this day It is no more but only to divide 20 by 7 But since there is a remainder I add Cyphers to the Dividend and so continuing the Division to four places I find in the Quotient this mixt Number 2.8.5.7 which comes to 2 s. 10 d. 1 q. and something more which is a solution exact enough for common practice But this is not all for there remains one of the Dividend that is to say one thousandth part of a Shilling and of this I demand 1 7 to make up my full proportion of the 20 s. I there still proceed to Divide in order to get out my seventh part exactly but I shall never be able to do it no though the Division were to be continued from Age to Age for one thousand years and after that for another yet still the Quotient would be too little and the Dividend inexhaustible In this plain and familiar Question resolv'd by Decimals three things are evident 1. That in a few minutes time an answer may be given tho' not exact yet sufficiently true for common use that is to say in half an hour at most I may safely aver it that so much is my full share within less than one Millioneth part of a farthing and yet at the same time I may be sworn that the same is not my proportion exactly 2. Let me continue the Division as far and as long as I please I shall come nearer still and nearer to the truth and every new figure in the Quotient adds something to my share which I had not before it lessons the Dividend and approaches by various or rather infinite degrees nearer to 1 7 which is the proportion aimed at But 3. It can never be accomplisht Myriads of Ages would not suffice to drain this Fountain You may suppose if you please the Quotient to be extended in Decimal Fractions as far as from the Artick to the Antartick Pole all that would not reach a true seventh part tho' every figure as I said advances something towards it Let us now lay all this together here is a Mark to be hit as suppose it were a Jack lying in a Bowling-Alley you may aim at it and presently come within an hair's breadth your Bowl may be still in motion and every moment come nearer to the Mark and yet shall never touch it This Example in Arithmetick seems to conclude no less than those two other Noted Curiosities in Geometry concerning the Hyperbole and Diagonal and has a respective Affinity to them both For whereas the Hyperbole may have such a Relation to a right line drawn near it that both being prolonged it shall come nearer and nearer to the said right Line yet how far soever both lines be extended they shall never meet this is very nearly resembled in the case before us And whereas it is impossible to assign any common Measure for the Side and Diagonal of a Square which shall exactly measure them both but there will remain a part of the one line less than the said common measure after you have made that as little as you please So here it is impossible to exhaust Decimal Numbers by sevens because that 7. and 10. or any number consisting of 1. with the Addition of Cyphers are so far incommensurable that nothing above an Vnit can be a common Measure to them both To conclude from this plain and familiar instance may be inferred the endless Divisibility of matter that the Parts of any thing exceed the whole and that the whole Globe of Earth is no further divisible nor cannot be said to contain a greater Number of Parts than one small grain of Sand. Now if there be such a mysterious depth in Lines and Numbers such a boundless Abyss in any small particle of Earth or Clay that the Wit of Man cannot comprehend it what shall we say of him that made all things in Number Weight and Measure How can we excuse the audacious folly of pretending to measure Eternity by the unequal standard of our Judgment or Circumscribe infinity within the narrow Circle of Humane Capacity Wherefore if the Reader shall dislike the following Discourse and the Reasons therein made use of let him for his own satisfaction and for mine too if he please bethink himself of better and therein he may do a piece of service both useful and acceptable But for any one to confine the ineffable perfections of the Supreme Being to his own faculties is a piece of egregious vanity and an undertaking altogether desperate A DISCOURSE Concerning GOD's Foreknowledge AND Man's Free Agency I Happened a while ago to be present at a Discourse between two Gentlemen concerning the fatal Period of Man's Life or the fixed certainty of Future Events The one affirming it from the consideration of God's Foreknowledge the other denying it from the evident certainty of Man's Free-will The former urged what God Foresees cannot but come to pass the latter pleaded Man cannot choose nor refuse the doing of that which is certain to be done I thought there was truth in what they both grounded their Arguments upon but certain inferences pretended to be drawn from thence which this Discourse produced I could by no means approve of I did therefore
Divine Nature and the latter blurrs the sincerity of the inspired Writings To which it may be added that such Doctrine is false and injurious to the Goodness of God For his Benefits offered to Mankind are not to be valued by his Fore-knowledge of Non-acceptance but by their own intrinsick worth and by Man's Capacity of enjoying them if he will And tho' God doth assuredly know who will not accept of his kindness yet he knows at the same time the fault is in themselves nor is their refusal any further necessary from any such Divine Foresight than otherwise it would have been So that some Persons will indeed seem to have a great Veneration for the Scriptures and yet own such Principles as render a great part of them insignificant For if God's Fore-knowledge necessitate all Events so that nothing could have fallen out otherwise than it doth then all Divine Precepts and Rules of Life all Promises and Threatnings upon certain conditions are no more but Cheats and empty Formalities But now to those that sincerely acknowledge the Divine Authority and Truth of the Scriptures as all Christians ought to do the Argument will lye thus What ever is entirely true is also harmonious and self-consistent But the Scriptures are true Ergo c. If it be urged that the Scriptures as proceeding from God are indeed most perfectly and entirely true yet passing through the hands of so many Men in various Copies and Versions from one Language into another it cannot be but something of humane infirmity must stick to them This indeed I freely grant and if any such thing can be made evident in the case before us it will be very fit to be considered In the mean time there can hardly any two things be named that are more clearly and vigorously asserted in Scripture than are Divine Prescience and Free-will as well in the places above-mentioned as in divers others From whence it will follow that if those places of Scripture be genuine and no way corrupted which we must suppose till the contrary be made out God's Fore knowledge and Man's Free-agency are not only true but perfectly harmonious and consistent each with other altho' our limitted sight and dazled Eyes cannot fully enable us to behold their Agreement Nor need we wonder at it when we consider that not only in the Scripture but in Euclia's Elements and many other Books approved in their kind are found divers things which a great number of Readers tho' men of good Sense cannot easily understand or reconcile and some things of that difficulty that the greatest Masters of Learning and Reason have more than work enough to overcome of which if need required one might give particular Instances Who will believe that the least Diameter of a Needle 's Point should be Divisible into a Million or rather infinite Parts and yet that a Circle how large soever can touch a right line but in * That is the right line being drawn as a tangent but not through the Circle one point only And since a Globular Body set upon a plain can reach the same but in one point and a point is defined to be that which hath no part would it not be a strange Paradox to say †Eucl. def 1 Lib. 3. prop. 36. Lib. 10. prop. 117. A Globe can touch a Plain in no part at all Yet all this leans upon Mathematical Demonstration It is easie to observe that when any difficulty or seeming opposition doth occur in Scripture which common Readers cannot and even Learned ones not very easily reconcile two sorts of People the Prophane and Superstitious take hold of it to very ill purpose the one apprehends it their Interest to have no Religion at all looks upon the Scripture as a State-contrivance to keep the World in Order and Subjection and hence they assume a lewd Liberty of turning it into Burlesque and Ridicule the other sort being for the most part over eagerly devoted to some Party have a Religion made up of a few Fractions of Truth neglecting in the mean time the Sum and Substance These men pursue to the best advantage of their Sect that part of Scripture which hath the kindest Aspect upon their espoused Notions and run it off from the main Body of Truth to that Extream that it becomes an Errour in Doctrine and perhaps too a Rent in the Church For the Body of Truth may not unfitly be resembled to the Body natural which cannot live in pieces That there are unchangeable Decrees of God I do not doubt but if that Doctrine be so manag'd as to evacuate Men's Endeavours this surely is an unwarrantable Extream Iustification by Faith is a great truth but if it be imprudently carried to that height as to exclude or make men neglect a good Life it will become a dangerous Errour That Christ dy'd for all is a glorious Truth as it is laid down in Scripture but if some stretch that Doctrine to the actual Salvation of all Men and others thereupon put the whole Business of Salvation within Man's power these doubtless are vitious Extreams opening a wide passage for Pride or Prophaneness The one makes Religion altogether vain and the other makes the Grace of God not worth looking after So that whilst Men run into such violent Extremities they seem to tear off some particular Truths from their Unity with the whole which from thence forward turn into Corruption whilst the main Body of Truth is deserted by them and becomes useless And this is the case not only of the less considering Sectaries but even of those who pretend highly to Philosophy and aspire after the Reputation of Wits One whereof sufficiently known hath improv'd three Syllables to that height as to render a great part of the Scriptures ridiculous and the noble Army of Martyrs no other than a Company of wilful and superstitious Fools in needlesly exposing themselves to flames and tortures * 2 Kings 5.19 Go in pence says the Prophet to Naaman which single case he advances to a general Dispensation for any Man to quit his Religion as oft as it shall be difficult and dangerous for him to profess it And this I take to be the Fountain Cause of all the Divisions that are or have been among Christians namely that Men will not read the whole Scriptures and give each part its just weight and measure duly ballancing and comparing one thing with another but each Man according to his Complexion or Education or perhaps some predominant Melancholy lays hold of that part that suits him best and makes up a Religion for himself which is little more than the Result of his natural temper Here I call to mind a passage of a Non-jurant which I happen'd to be present at The Man was reputed among his Neighbours an honest plain Man but somewhat rash and of no deep consideration as may appear by the Story The Discourse fell out to be about Swearing and the Person
Heaven or in Earth that can prescribe in point of causality unto the Blessed Will of God 'T is no more then but Gods beholding or taking a View of his own Purpose and the Fore-knowledge of the future World must follow by consequence which Foreknowledge is nothing else but the Prospect of what was potentially existent in himself from everlasting as hath been said From the foregoing Discourse it may appear that Divine Prescience as such cannot in propriety of Speech be said to have created the World nor to have had any efficacious influence thereupon and if we consult the Scripture we shall find the same yet more evident There we find that God said †Gen. 1.3 Let there be light and there was light That * Psal 33.6 by the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made †Heb. 11.3 and all the host of them by the breath of his Mouth ‖ Heb. 1.3 That the Worlds were framed by the Word of God (a) Ver. 43 44. And that He upholds all things by the Word of his Power Now whether we take the Word of God for his Power or for his powerful Command or for the manifestation of his Will as it is frequently used in Scripture under these and sundry other acceptations it will still come to the same thing and what I am pleading for but I do not observe it ever taken for Prescience nor will the Bible I think afford an Instance of any Causality ascribed thereunto but on the contrary many Scriptures do clearly evince Divine Prescience and at the same time ascribe the Events foreseen to other Causes which must needs be very much to the matter in hand I shall mention two or three First Our Saviour Christ as was noted before is said to know all things that should come upon him and yet his being delivered unto death by the Jews is attributed to their ignorance For had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Scondly In the 29th Chap. of St. Luke's Gospel (a) Ver. 43 44. our Lord Christ foretold and therefore certainly he foreknew it that Enemies would cast a Trench about Jerusalem that they would lay it even with the Ground and not leave one stone upon another Should Prescience have these dismal Effects it might be thought to be a very malignant thing and that which belongs to God as a Divine Perfection could not be cleared from being the Cause of much Evil. But let us not charge God foolishly since we are informed of the true cause in the very next Words namely Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Thirdly In the Prophecy of Plosea it is said of Israel Ephraim and Judah * Chap. 5. Chap. 13. that they shall fall in their Iniquity and that they shall be as Chaff driven with the Whirlwind out of the floor and as smoak out of the Chimney Was this Fore-knowledge the cause of that destruction No for it is presently added O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Again the Prophet Ezekiel is commanded to say unto the Prince of Tyrus †â—â—â—k 28. That Strangers the terrible of the Nations shall draw their Sword against the Beauty of thy Wisdom and they shall defile thy brightness and bring thee down to the pit c. And shall this come upon him because God foresaw it No but because thine heart was lifted up and thou hast said I am a God Lastly To name no more St. Paul exhorting * 2 Thes 2.3 to stedfastness in the Faith foretells the Coming of the Man of Sin which would be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders that there would be a falling away from the truth and men should believe Lyes that so they might be damned Now should any Man to requite St. Paul for his Care of the Church as to lay the blame of all these sad Consequences upon him I know not whether would be greater the Folly or Wickedness of such a Charge and it would be yet worse to lay the fault upon the Spirit by which he spake as coming near to Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost But the Text carries the Cause along with the Effect namely †Verse 2 3. Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions c. When truth has offer'd it self by Miracies and all possible demonstrations unto the minds of Men and will not be received it is a signal piece of Justice to give them over to believe a Lye But here first the true Physitian of a Christian Soul admonisheth it's safety and it's danger it 's safety not to be soon shaken and it 's danger of being decieved Now if the Soul reject both the Physitian and his Advice and having wilfully put it self into the Hands of an Ignoramus is destroy'd by him nothing in the World can be more ridiculous than to blame the timely Warning and Foresight of the good Physitian Object But as concerning these and other Prophetick Scriptures I meet with this Salvo namely That whatever God foretells he doth by his power inforce the accomplishment and fulfilling of the same For say these Persons tho' God knows all things knowable yet such Events as are contingent or depend upon the fluctuating and undetermin'd Wills of Men are never knowable till they are brought to pass and therefore God cannot foreknow them But now what God will have brought to pass and whereof he gives Notice to the World by his Prophets he doth bend and impel Mens Minds to do them and by an irresistable influence bring them to effect This Argument indeed strikes home the only danger is that it goes too far and will prove what the Patrons of it seem highly to oppose None can pretend a greater concern for the Honour of God than those that declaim against what they call Horrendum Decretum yet this Hypothesis of theirs will force them to admit the very same thing and will make God the author of Sin with an high hand For if in reerence to all such things as are foretold by prophecy there must not be admitted any thing contingent nor purely voluntary as falls out in other affairs but all such Events are brought about by absolute force what is this but a fatal and inevitable Decree And how can second Causes fall under any blame since they are infallibly predetermin'd by God's Almighty Power Hence it will follow that the Jews and the Roman Soldiers were no more to be blamed for their Injustice and Cruelty to the Blessed Jesus than a Watch is for going too fast when the Spring is set too high or made too strong for the Movement And if the fault be not in second Causes it must of necessity lye upon the first It will be in vain to alledge that they had been grievous Sinners formerly and therefore God justly gave them up afterwards to hardness