means they deprive themselves of the benefit and assistance of other Mens Understandings and leaning wholly upon their own are thereby often betray'd into great errors and miscarriages 'T is true we are forbid to follow a multitude in doing Evil but not in receiving Truth which is the greatest good we can do to our selves or others And tho' we are bid to try all things yet we are requir'd to hold fast that which is good and not to start aside from the belief of that which hath past the tryal and approbation of all Times and Ages There is as one hath well observ'd a Reverence due to the Judgment of Mankind and that which hath been receiv'd by all or most Men hath been ever thought most worthy of acceptation yea the laws of modesty require us to think others better than our selves and to suspect our own Judgment when it crosses theirs for tho' the generality of Men may be sometimes mistaken which should therefore put us upon the stricter search and enquiry into Truth yet to be over positive and confident against the universal Sense and Belief of Mankind is to resist the clearest evidence we can have and to run counter to the greatest probabilities But what if these great Masters of Wit should all this while be found the most Credulous and easie of belief of all Men what then will become of all these vain Boasts and Pretensions to Reason And yet this is as clear as the Sun at Noon-day for they believe many things without the least colour and shadow of reason and deny others that have all possible evidence of truth both which are apparent instances of a gross and absurd Credulity They believe that there is no God and consequently that 't is impossible there should be one a thing which no Art of Man ever could or pretended to demonstrate Again they believe either that the World was never made or if it were that 't was made by chance and that all things in it came into that excellent order they now are by mere fortune which shews that they can believe at random and take up the most absurd Hypothesis at a venture Again They believe that tho' matter be in it self a dull and senseless thing utterly incapable of Reason and Understanding yet there can be no spiritual or immaterial Being to influence or actuate it In a Word The Atheist can believe against all the Sense and Reason of all Mankind and think all the World beside himself to consist only of Fools and Knaves a bold Brittain And yet those and many other are the goodly Articles of the Atheist's Creed which he that can swallow must be a man of strong Faith or vast Credulity and must believe with his Will not with his Understanding I am SIR Yours A. B. LETTER V. SIR ANother Device of the Atheist is to resolve the Belief of a God into the Principles and Prejudices of Education This Device is near a-kin to and grounded upon the former and pretends to give some account of the spring and rise of this Credulity which he takes to be from the first impressions of Education this being the first Notion instill'd by Parents into their Children as soon as they come to understand any thing and is improv'd by those who have the Education and Management of them ever after And here they observe what deep impressions are made upon the Mind by the first things we hear or learn how long they are wont to continue with us and how ready Men are to communicate them to one another and more especially to derive them to their offspring From whence they think such a general belief of a Deity may easily be suppos'd in time to obtain and be transmitted down from hand to hand through all Generations Now here the Question may be ask'd again Who was the first person that invented and convey'd down this Notion what was his name or his Son's name that we may know him how came he to entertain it himself who taught it him and how came he so readily to believe and propagate it to Posterity Why of all this the Atheist can give no manner of account unless he will flye to the Holy Scripture and say that Adam the first Man had it from God and taught it to his Children and so convey'd it down to all Generations but this would be to yield up the Cause and to acknowledge a first Being and Maker of all things which yet he is very unwilling to grant Besides that this is a precarious and groundless Hypothesis may plainly appear from this that Men in all Ages have been known to be of different tempers and to have had various and different ways and methods of Education by which means they have receiv'd different Impressions and entertain'd various Sentiments of things And yet we find all Men in all times and of all tempers tho' differing never so much in other things to agree and concenter in this belief of a God which shews it to have another and higher Principle than that of Education Again if we consult the frame and make of our Being we shall find this Notion of a Deity stampt upon our very Natures and that in such plain and legible Characters as may easily shew whose workmanship we are and out of what hands we came and this too in persons of no Education and before any thing was instill'd into them by it which farther proves it to proceed from a higher Cause To all which if we add moreover That strong and powerful Inclination that is found in all Men to worship a God we shall find this to go before and not to be planted in them by Education If we survey the World we may observe a natural proneness and propensity to Religion even in the most barbarous and uncultivated parts of it all of them every where conspiring together to worship something or other as a God Now this cannot possibly be owing only to Education which may indeed direct but cannot infuse these Inclinations he that created the Soul could alone put that byass into it that draws so strong to the adoration of him for the best nurture can no more put such new Inclinations than it can put a new Nature into us So that this universal Inclination to religious Worship must proceed from something within that is born with us and is connatural to our Being and can no more flow from any thing imprinted on our Minds from without than the natural Passions of Hope and Fear are owing to the impressions of outward Objects But here the Atheist tells us That this Argument taken from an universal Inclination to worship a Deity will hold as strong for Polytheism and Idolatry as for a Unity of the Godhead there being as great if not a greater part of the World led by it to worship many false Gods than one true one Now to this which is all the Atheist hath to say in this case sundry answers may
yea have maintain'd false Problems even in the Mathematicks themselves and will any conclude from thence that they are all lies and falsities This Principle would destroy all knowledge and lead Men to deny and disbelieve every thing There have been no doubt Hereticks and Schismaticks in all Ages who have espous'd many Errors and mistaken Opinions about the Worship of God and will any infer from thence that all Religion is imposture Certainly this is very bad arguing and will lead Men to the heighth of Scepticism and Infidelity Again What tho' Men differ about some things will it follow thence that they agree in nothing And if as one hath well observ'd their disagreement be an Argument of the falshood of some things why is not their Agreement as good an Argument for the truth of other The differences in Religion are commonly about the Circumstances of it as about the Modes of Worship and Discipline whereas Men generally agree in the Matters of Faith and Essentials of Religion and indeed there is nothing wherein all Mankind do more universally agree than in the Belief and Worship of a God And is it not unreasonable because they may differ in some things to suspect the Truth of that wherein they are all agreed He that finds himself inclin'd to make this bad use of Mens disputes and to improve these petty differences into Atheism may do well to sit down and consider how far Religion is concern'd in them which if he can be perswaded to do he will soon see that these things do not affect the Truth and Foundation of it in which they are all agreed but only the beauty and ornament of the Superstucture they refer rather to matters of Speculation than Practice And if any have various Sentiments about the Ornaments and Out-works of a Building sure that can be no Reason either to distrust or subvert the Foundation I am SIR Yours A. B. LETTER XII SIR I Shew'd in my last the perverse use which the Atheist makes of the Disputes and Differences that are found in the World about matters of Religion I proceed in this to Another Device much like it which is his taking occasion from the Hypocrisie and bad lives of some pretenders to it to conclude all Religion to be false and from thence to fall into Atheism and Infidelity This is a frequent and fatal practice of which our Age does afford many sad and doleful instances there are some who will be at no pains to examine the truth or falshood of any Religion but take it upon trust as the Custom of the Country where they live or as 't is deriv'd down to them by their Parents or Ancestors Now these lie open to all the assaults of Atheism and being altogether unguarded against them are but too ready to surrender upon any summons and to yield to every temptation to it Their Faith for lack of being Catechiz'd and well-principl'd in the beginning hath no firm bottom but lies wholly in the power of a corrupt and inconstant Will which will move as interest and inclination lead it so that as soon as they become wicked enough to need Atheism for a Refuge they will be ready to flie to it And therefore we are bid to try and examine the Truth of Doctrines and be ready to give a Reason of the Faith and Hope that is in us when ever we are ask'd or call'd to it that being well-grounded in the Truth of Religion we may adhere to it against all opposition and stand the shock of the fiercest Temptations Again There are others who think sometimes upon Religion and make some enquiry into it but yet judge of the truth or falshood of it not by the soundness of its Precepts but by the Lives and Practices of those that make the greatest profession of it These likewise to save the trouble of a deep and impartial search into the grounds and principles upon which Religion stands enquire what others think of it who by their pretences seem best to understand it and because Mens Actions are the best discovery of their thoughts and opinions of things they judge of what they think in these matters by what they see them do so that when they see such Mens Practices give the Lye to their Profession and find them act as as if they did not believe what they say this makes them think that there is no Reason to believe it and that Religion is nothing else but a cunning Device made use of by some Men to carry on their worldly Interest and Designs This no doubt hath drawn many into Atheism and harden'd others in it The many vile tricks that have been play'd under the Mask of Religion the gilding of Treason and Rebellion with a specious pretence of Zeal for God's Glory and hiding Faction and Sedition under the colours of Reformation have made many suspect the whole for a Contrivance and to cast it off as a System of Lies and Impostures But is it a true and safe Rule to judge of the truth of Religion by the lives of those that profess it No a very unsafe and crooked one For Though the Hypocrite that plays this game shall dearly rue hereafter for all the Evil done by this means tho' his portion of misery and damnation will be heavier and hotter than others for laying such a stumbling block in their way by which so many fall to their Eternal Ruin yet this will not excuse the folly of such as suffer themselvs to be miss-led and betra'y'd by it nor justifie such Atheistical Conclusions drawn from it Example you know is a false and fallacious Rule to walk by for since the generality of Men leave the way in which they should walk to follow them or infer our Duty from them is for the most to go astray But they draw this Conclusion they say not from the loose and debauch'd part of the World that have no sense of Religion but from the stricter sort that make the highest pretensions to it and seem to have the deepest impressions of it and if these make it evident by their lives that they believe little or nothing of it what can we think of it but as a mere Delusion But do not Men act sometimes against their own persuasion And are not too many carried away by the sway of their Lusts and corrupt Designs against the convictions of their own Mind That Men sometimes knowingly and wilfully commit great sins and cover vile enormities under a cloak of greater sanctity is a matter indeed to be lamented but cannot reasonably be urg'd as an Argument against Religion Will any think that a Cheat because some that do ill things are found to be so And if these act so bad a part shall any be encourag'd by it to act a worse Sure this is very bad arguing and such as cannot well be own'd by any that would be thought Men of Sense and Reason 'T is not unusual for Mens words to be
Reason and Wit to argue against the Being of a God and seek to dispute him out of the world To this end they labour as well as they can to weaken the force of all those Arguments that are brought for the proof of a Deity and make the best shift they can either to answer or evade them Again they magnifie the strength of those Arguments that are brought against such a Being And tho' to prove a Negative in this as in many other cases be both irrational and impossible yet to shew their good-will to their Maker the slend'rest Cavils or Probabilities of this nature shall have a mighty force with them and the slightest Sophistry be advanc'd into Demonstration But if this will not do they endeavour 2. To banish all thoughts of God out of their mind and to cast off the remembrance of him Because they cannot sin quietly for him they resolve not to think of him and therefore put those thoughts far from them that give them this disturbance This was the Atheists course in David's time who tells us That God was not in all their thoughts yea that his thoughts were always grievous to them and therefore they removed them far out of their sight that they might have no fear of him before their Eyes And the thoughts of a God that observes and records our Actions and will one day reckon for them are still irksom and grievous to impenitent sinners which makes them use their Art to get rid of them Indeed could they but reconcile the belief of a Deity with the enjoyment of their lusts the thoughts of him would be easie enough to them and this temptation to Atheism in a great measure cease Could they serve the true God as the Heathens did the false ones with riot and uncleaness none would be greater Votaries than they But since the sense of him strikes such a damp upon their Pleasures and puts such a curb and restraint upon their Vices they cannot away with the thoughts of him and therefore labour to rid their minds of the belief that they may be rid of the fear of such a Being But is this a wise or safe course No extremely foolish and dangerous for tho ' it be weakness to fear where no fear is yet not to fear where there is a just cause and a proper Object for it is the height of Folly And to shut our Eyes against a certain Danger for fear of being frightned by it is no better than madness Indeed could we put out the Sun by winking or avoid the danger of Divine Vengeance by shaking off the dread of it there might be some shew of Reason for our Unbelief but since the truth of things depends not upon our belief or disbelief of them and the very Notion of a Deity implies a necessity of Existence it must be monstrously senseless and unreasonable to cast off the awe and dread of him Again To regulate our Faith by interest and affection is to walk by a false and crooked Rule For these being frequently corrupted clap a wrong Biass upon the Mind which too often turns it from the Truth and turns it unto Fables And consequently to steer our course by these measures is to follow a false Guide which must lead us out of our way Indeed would men rightly understand and follow their true Interest it would then lead them aright into the paths of Religion there being no comfort or security at all to be had without it But when they weakly mistake their Interest and vainly wish there were no Superior Being to obstruct it they do but court misery and fondly chuse their own destruction In short the vast risque that these men run plainly shews it to be extremely unsafe and dangerous For if the Atheist find at last that there is a God whom he hath all his life-time deny'd and despis'd what unspeakable Horror must seize his guilty Soul which must groan for ever under the wrath of such an Almighty Being and be eternally miserable without ease or remedy The Good-man runs no risque at all for the sense of such a Being hath made him more healthful and easie to himself more useful and serviceable to others and more honoured and respected of all men for both And if there be no God at last he can find no inconvenience in this belief but if there be one he hath infinitely the better on 't being sure to be Eternally Happy in his favour and presence So that if this were but a doubtful Case common prudence teaches men to chuse the safest side to which therefore 't will be our Wisdom to incline I am SIR Your hearty Friend A. B. October 16. 1698. LETTER II. SIR I Find you sensible in your last of the great evil and danger of that Artifice which hath drawn so many into Atheism viz. The casting off the awe and sense of a Deity that they may go on the more securely in their Sins I proceed in this to another Device made use of to the same purpose and that is some Mens endeavouring to solve the Phaenomena of the Universe and to give an account of the Existence of the World without a Supream Being 'T is well known that one of the Principal Arguments and Demonstrations of a Deity is taken from the Works both of Creation and Providence The Invisible things of God from the Creation of the World being clearly seen even his Eternal Power and Godhead And 't is evident as the same Apostle told the Men of Lystra That God hath not left himself without witness in that he doth good and giveth rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Indeed the admirable frame and order of the World together with the wonderful Provision made for all the Creatures in it plainly bespeak an Almighty Agent to be both the Contriver and Preserver of it Yea there are those visible marks of an Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness stampt upon every Creature that manifestly shew the Finger of a God and direct our Minds to the Knowledge and Contemplation of him Now to evade this clear and palpable Proof of his Being the Atheist racks his Brain to find out a way of accounting for these things without a first Cause or Orderer of them And of these there are two sorts viz. The first Of those that assert the Eternity of the World The other Of such as make it the Product of Chance and Fortune The Former are the followers of Aristotle and the Latter of Epicurus Both which shew their great unwillingness to believe a Deity and how desirous they are to live without God in the World But let us Examine the Account they give us of these Matters To which end let us begin with the first sort 1st Who to set aside a First Cause affirm the World to have had no beginning but to have been from Eternity as it now is there having been an Eternal Succession of Men and all
give us this hearts-ease And likewise the terrors and frightful Apprehensions that flow from a dissolute life are sufficient to make all Men abhor and abandon the Cause of Atheism I am SIR Your Faithful Friend A. B. LETTER IV. SIR I Find you sensible of the hard shifts the Atheist is put to to silence the Voice of Conscience and stifle the Alarms and Convictions of his own mind together with the Folly and Danger of that Stratagem I proceed therefore to another and that is to ascribe the Notion of a Deity to a too great easiness of Belief or a fond Credulity This we find to be a frequent Plea and Objection in this case One great Argument for the proof of a God is taken from the Universal Consent and Agreement of Mankind in this Belief there being nothing so generally own'd and receiv'd in all times and places as this Truth and that not only among the Wise and Knowing but even among the rudest and most ignorant part of the World Nulla gentam barbara c. saith the Roman Orator There is no Nation so barbarous as not to Believe and Worship a God Now whence should this Universal Consent of Mankind in this Belief proceed but from the Voice of Nature which speaks loud enough to be heard the sound whereof is gone through the Earth and the Words to the end of the World Yea this can be no other than an Impression stamp'd on the Mind by a Divine Hand engraven by the Finger of God himself and interwoven into the very Frame of our Being But how doth the Atheist evade this universally receiv'd Truth Why by charging Mankind with too great a Credulity in this matter as if all Men beside himself were too hasty and easie of belief and took up this persuasion upon very slender and insufficient grounds whereas he scorns to be thus easily led by vain talk and to yield up his understanding to uncertain rumour Hence the great Atheist of our Age founds all Religion upon the belief of tales publickly told as if the Being and belief of a Deity were built only upon a report handed down from one to another and had no better foundation than common Fame Now is not this a strange piece of rashness and presumption for any to condemn all before or beside himself for a company of credulous Fools and Children that can believe any thing and swallow the greatest difficulties without the least reason or examination But let us enquire a little farther into this matter Who was it that first rais'd this Report of a Deity Or by whom was this Tradition began This is matter well worth the enquiry who made this first Discovery or rais'd this Spirit which all the Wisdom of the world could never conjure down since Certainly he must have been some wise or cunning Body that could invent and propagate so plausible a story as to pass the Tryal of all Ages and that none could ever find out or detect the falshood of it sure the Fame of such a person would have been Recorded in the Annals of Time and Posterity could never have been so unjust to his Memory as to let him sink away in silence and oblivion And yet the Atheist here is wholly at a loss in these things and will neither pretend to tell us the time when the place where or the person by whom this report first began Only as one hath observ'd he thinks it probable that some body long ago he knows not when beyond the Memory of all Ages did start such a notion in the World and that it hath past for currant ever since but if this Tradition be older than all History why may it not have been from the beginning And then it will be far more probable to be a notion which was bred in the mind of Man and born with him than a Tradition transmitted from hand to hand through all Generations especially being found in those barbarous Nations that have scarce a Tradition of any thing else But how come these Men thus to oppose the general Sense of Mankind and to call in question so universally own'd and receiv'd a Truth Why this proceeds Partly from their great unwillingness to believe it which makes them take hold of any even the meanest shifts to countenance their unbelief And Partly from an Affectation of Singularity whereby they would be thought wiser and more knowing than any that went before them that they see farther into matters than other Men and that their Understandings are by head and shoulders taller than their Brethren they know well enough that should they go on with the common herd and say and do as others that have gone before them they should be thought to be no wiser than they and therefore that they may set up for Wits and be accounted Men of a deeper reach and insight into things than others they strike out of the common road and go a new untrodden way by themselves this makes them look upon the belief of a Deity tho' confirm'd by the general consent of Mankind to be only the effect of weakness and want of judgment that they who entertain it are merely carried away with the Stream and like easie credulous persons take up things upon trust from the uncertain Hear-say and Report of others no wiser than themselves Whereas they like Men of judgment believe and act by another Rule and where their own Reason cannot convince them of a truth there no Authority of others shall sway them to the belief of it And thus by a vain conceit and affectation of Singularity they leave the track in which all others have gone before them which unawares bewilders and leads them into Atheism But is it a vain Credulity to embrace a Truth confirm'd by the Consent and Approbation of all Mankind or is it any piece of Wisdom to set up a single opinion against the Wisdom of the whole World No far from it the wisest of Men hath told us that he that is wise in his own conceit is a fool and certainly he must be extremely so that thinks himself wiser than all Men beside him Indeed to keep the mind from being enslav'd to precarious and Vulgar Notions or receiving things upon trust without examination is to assert the freedom of the Understanding which very well becomes a wise Man to do but to reject an Opinion merely because it hath been universally receiv'd is a rudeness offer'd to the Reason of Mankind for if many heads may be suppos'd to be wiser than one that wherein all Heads concenter and agree ought in Reason to be preferr'd before any single opinion and therefore to quarrel with a Truth for no other reason but because it hath been own'd and embrac'd by all is an unpardonable piece of pride and singularity for this makes Men overvalue themselves and set too low a price upon the judgment of their betters which is a high piece of arrogance and folly Yea by this