Religion but do all agree in this That it is by Justice and Righteousness by Faith and Truth and the like Vertues that the World stands and that the Vices that are contrary thereto do shake the very foundations of the Earth And therefore go where you will you will find no People so rude and destitute of Knowledge but you will find some kind of Laws for the suppressing Vice and the maintaining Vertue and very great care used to punish Evil-doers and to encourage those that do well All Nations are not 't is true equally Cultivated and Civilized but yet that there are some so barbarous as to live upon Spoil and Rapine Theft and Robbery is rather owing to the illness of their Religion than their Belief that there is none But yet although there are some sort of people that are generally addicted to some particular Vices and that by publickly tolerating them do seem to have no sense of the illness of them yet there are none that have so totally lost all sense of the differences between Vertue and Vice as to allow of the rage of every Passion and to show to kind of respect to any one Vertue And besides it is very obvious that they who allow of such barbarous Custome among themselves have some secret Apprehensions of the illness of them because they are for revenging it as a wrong when their own Houses are plunder'd and their Territories invaded Though they allow of these Vices in themselves yet they do believe them so great Wickednesses in others as to be reason enough thy they be such Enemies to their own Customs as by Fire and Sword to endeavour the exterminating them Why should they believe them not fit to be tolerated among they believe them not fit to be tolerated among their Neighbours If they believe them to be generous and noble Actions why are they provoked and exasperated by them and contribute their endeavours to preven their spreading through the World Surely it is not much for the reputation of these Actions that those that favour them most cannot brook them Now whence is it that Mankind should generally agree to set a mark of disgrace and infamy upon some kind of Actions and bear witness to the Excellency and Usefulness of others that some should be resented and others favour'd by us that some should be prosecuted and others encouraged and Men should be accounted either good or bad Neighbours according as they practise either the one or the other if there was no difference at all between them and Humane Nature was no more framed for the one than the other Those I know who would have all Men think as lightly of Religion as they do tell us That the difference that is between Vertue and Vice does not lie in the Nature of them or the agreeableness that the one has to our Nature more than the other but does arise from the Laws of Men that forbid and make it unjust and penal to do the one and encourage the practice of the other That Man consider'd in his natural state is no more obliged to do Justice or love Mercy than to be cruel and oppressive but that these and all other Laws of right Reason do obtain the force of Laws by being commanded by those that have the power of Dominion in their hands Now to this I reply 1. That this Principle over-throws the Divine Authority and leaves it to our own choice or the Will of the Civil Magistrate whether he shall have any Rule or Dominion over us For if it be true that we are under no Obligation to observe the Dictates of our own Consciences or the Commands of our Reason any more than the Laws of our sensual Appetites till the one is declared pious and holy and the other impious by the Decrees of the Civil Magistrate all the reason then that we have to fear Almighty Power and love infinite Goodness and to obey the highest Authority in the World must be because the Laws of our Country have declared it is good and reasonable to do so This wicked Doctrine is expressly taught in a very bad Book Tract Theel. Polit. 215 216. where we are told that Religion whether natural or revealed is of no force till we think good to receive it or it be establish'd by the Civil Authority And accordingly that the Religion that God gave the Jews did not oblige them till by a common consent they had determin'd to obey it or rather till by transferring their natural Right to every thing upon Moses they gave him a power to oblige them to worship the God that had deliver'd them This is so vile a Doctrine that one would think the very naming it should be enough to expose it For if the case be thus as to Religion what is it then that we must fear or love believe or obey if not that Power that can do us the most hurt or that Goodness that can do us the most good or that Truth which is the most infallibly certain or that Authority which is the most soveraign Why are these Affections planted in our Nature if Nature must not tell us what use we are to make of 'em till we have the Command of the Civil Magistrate And further if this be true the Jews were not bound to believe the Religion God had given and the Truths he had reveal'd to them to have any Excellency or Truth in them when they lived under the Authority of such Princes as were Enemies to them neither had God any reason to blame them for revolting from him when they worship'd Jeroboam's Calves or Manasses's Idols And when they were in Babylon the three Children were guilty of a great Wickedness in disobeying Nebuchadnezzar's Command to worship his Golden Image and Daniel was justly thrown to the Lions for asserting the Authority of the God of Israel against the express Command of Darius For both he and all the Jews were then bound to believe that the God whom they and their Fathers had worship'd in their own Land had lost his Authority over them since they were carried into a strange Land and that they were under the strictest ties to think as meanly of him as their Enemies would have them And indeed if that Sense of Religion that is among Men does owe it self to the Edicts of Princes we cannot be under an Obligation always to believe that to be an infallible Truth which now we are bound to believe is so neither can we say that we are for ever bound to Honour and Love the God whom we now Reverence and Adore nor to pay a perpetual respect to those Revelations which now we must confess are Divine For a Christian among the Turks must be lookt on as an impious Person if he don't believe according to the Laws of the Alchoran And none can tell but it may become a necessary Duty to contemn and blaspheme the God whom he now Adores Neither is this the worst
ERRATA PAge 3. line 6. for aed read and p. 6. l. 22. a comma only p. 11. l. 22. r. effectual p. 17. l. 28. for dispose r. depose p. 18. l. 26. for the r. their p. 19. l. 28. make a comma at Service l. 29. dele Semicolon p. 33. l. 1. for motions r. motives p. 42. l. 15. for they r. thus p. 44. l. 25. for it is r. is it p. 55. l. 26. dele his p. 86. l. 26. for and r. but p. 89. l. 14. dele Colon p. 107. l. 12. after God add says he p. 145. l. 19. for it r. this p. 160. l. 28. for awfully r. lawfully p. 184. l. 20. for now r. more p. 188. l. 6. add what to the beginning of the line p. 189. l. 14. r. Martyr p. 190. l. 26. r. contradistinction p. 194. l. 15. for principal r. principle p. 196. l. 2. after Kingdom add or p. 103. l. 23. for viz. that r. and p. 196. l. 26. add to in the beginning of the line p. 57. l. 12. for we r. he in the running Title of Chap. 8. for of r. upon p. 141. l. 5. add For if Arguments drawn from Natural Reason have no force of themselves to prove a God antecedent to Divine Revelation I do not see how they can have any afterwards and if they be such as any ways depend upon Divine Revelation so far will they be of less force to convince an Atheist A DISCOURSE OF RELIGION SHEWING Its Truth and Reality OR The Suitableness of Religion to Humane Nature By WILLIAM WILSON M. A. Rector of Morley in Derbyshire IMPRIMATUR Martii 30 â—â— 1694. Ra. Barker LONDON Printed by J. H. for William Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV Introduction RELIGION is so favourable to all our Interests that it is justly matter of amazement to all good Men that ever any Man should attempt the discrediting it For at the same time that any kind of injury is offer'd to it the Happiness of Mankind is struck at and no Man can bring it into any disgrace but to his own infinite detriment and mischief And yet so far is Humane Nature corrupted with base Lusts that for the sake and quiet enjoyment of them Men care not what Violence they offer to that which in Interest they are chiefly bound to support and without which it is impossible they should enjoy any of that peace and security which are the necessary comforts of this life It is possible indeed that many of those that do wickedly may have no profess'd ill design against Religion nor have gone so far as to disown it or ridicule the profession of it but yet all kind of Wickedness does bring an ill report upon it and a wicked life is such a denial of its Truth and Reality as leaves no room to believe that they can be heartily persuaded of their Obligation to practise it who live in a contradiction to its Principles To live as if there was no God is certainly as bad as to declare we believe there is none And he is as great an Enemy to Religion who lives as if it was a cheat as he who is so ingenuous to own he believes it to be so Nay of the two it is much the worse to pay so little respect to a Being whom we believe to deserve our highest reverence and spightfully to break through the Rules of Religion which we profess we have no reason to despise than to slight and vilifie them because we look upon them to be no better than the jugglings of an Impostour For let us but bring the matter a little home to our selves and try how we brook the Enmity of a Man who while he fairly tells us he has no just exception against us yet at every turn is as spightfull and injurious to us as the most profess'd Enemy we have Should we not resent his wrongs and affronts the more deeply and account him a more ill natur'd Enemy than he who openly declares his spight Should we not roundly tell him that if he has no reason to treat us hardly he ought to behave himself more civilly and that the less we have deserv'd his spight the greater is the wrong that he does us That by such an unhandsome carriage he gives the World an occasion to believe that we have some way or other deserved ill of him and that his professing the contrary is rather an argument of the goodness of his temper than a proof of ours This is the judgment that every considering Man will pass upon the behaviour of those that profess to believe the Excellency of Religion and yet in Works deny it For if Religion be that excellent and noble thing that they believe it is they have so much the less reason to dishonour it and to endeavour to bring contempt upon it by so notorious a disrespect to its holy Rules Neither could they possibly do so much injury to it by believing as they live as they do by living otherwise than they believe For a Man's belief lies so secret and his practice is so visible that every Man will be apt to take his judgment concerning the Truth of Religion from what they see him to be rather than from what he professes to believe So that while such a Man professes not to have the same reason to discredit Religion as the Atheist will seem to have the difference that is in their Faith does make so much the worse for him that believes well and yet lives the life of an Atheist For every Man that lives as if there was no such thing as Religion may as well nay ought to believe as the Atheist does They both are thus far Enemies to the Truth of Religion that the Atheist believes it to be a cheat and the other lives as if it was so But however the wickedness of those that believe the Truth of Religion be in these respects equally spightfull if not more injurious to its reputation than that of the Atheist yet there is this difference in their cases that the former lies open to the force of all those arguments that the Being of a God the Immortality of the Soul a Judgment to come and a future state of Rewards and Punishments do furnish us with but the latter does not For he that believes these things has a great deal of reason to be astonish'd at his way of living and so no doubt but he will when he comes seriously to think of it But for the Atheist there is no likelihood that these things should work upon him who has this ready answer to all that can be objected to him from these Principles That they are all Lyes and Forgeries That the World has been long imposed upon by these silly dreams but for his part he is the happy Man that has discover'd the cheat He then that will persuade the Atheist that he lives ill must convince him that he is mistaken in his belief and
be fit that we be under restraints why does he find fault with Religion upon that account But if it be not why is he a friend to Government Either he is very resh in condemning Religion or he has not well weigh'd the Nature of Humane Liberty when he lays us under the Yoke Humane Laws For the same argument whereby he would set us at liberty from the one ought to destroy the other But if it be not fit that we should have the liberty he contends for it is highly reasonalbe that we should be under the restraints that he is an enemy to because they take the fastest hold upon us and are the surest means to make Society usefull to and Governement to have its proper effect upon us And this I shall more particularly endeavour to make appear 4. By considering how well Religion does provide for the Well-being of the World And none I am confident that knows either what it commands or how powerfully it persuades can make any doubt of its sufficiency to this purpose 1. If we consider what it commands For it favours every man's true Interest secures every man's Right and makes it penal to invade any man's Property It is the best Patron and Protector of the Poor for it preservs their Persons from contempt and provides a good relief for their necessities For it requires all Men to be kindly affectioned one to another with Brotherly love in Honour preferring one another and not to mind high Things but to condescend to Men of low Estate It is the surest defence to every man's Estate the best preservative of their Honours and Privileges and is a much better guard to their Persons and Possessions than all the weapons of defence they can make use of For it takes care of their Honours by requiring Inferiours to give honour to whom honour is due and of their Fortunes by obliging all Men to abstain from Violence and Wrong and to live by Principles of Conscience and Integrity And there is this further to be said in the behalf of the Commands of Religion That all Men do acknowledge the Reasonableness of them It s very Enemies confess that the Restraints it lays upon us and the Duties it obliges us to are for the good of Mankind nd necessary to the Well-being of the World They know that Sobriety is more for the Health of the Body than Intemperance and that Justice and Integrity conduce more to the preservation of Peace and Order in Societies than Craft and Knavery And however they are not willing that we should practise these things as Religious Duties yet they insist upon a necessity of practising them The meaning of which is nothing less than this They would not have us believe we are obliged in Conscience to do them though they have all the reason of the World on their side They would have us live as Religion directs though they would not have us believe there is any They do not think it reasonable that we should break its Commands though they think it very reasonable we should pay no respect to it So that with the same breath they both commend the observing the Duties thereof and ridicule the belief of it However when they confess That Conversation cannot be maintain'd without Uprightness and Simplicity nor Society stand without Faith and Truth nor Mankind be govern'd wighout a respect to Justice and Honesty 't is such a Concession as will easily persuade any Man to believe that they have such a secret sense of the Truth and Reasonableness of Religion and such an inward veneration for its Excellency that nothing but their Lusts do hinder them from being its greatest Patrons But there is one thing farther in which the Excellency of the Commands of Religion does consist and which above all other things does tend to preserve the World in a peacealbe and flourishing condition And that lies in its speaking to our Minds and obliging us not to harbour any ill thought or indulge any extravagant humour or yield to the motions of any violent passion For by requiring us to lay aside all Malice and Guile and Hypocrisies and Envy not to give way to Anger and Wrath or to suffer a revengefull Thought to live in our Hearts it strikes at the root of that wickedness that is vexatious and troublesome to the World And in this respect Religion is a much better foundation of Peace than the best Government in the World can possibly be It builds our Peace and Happiness upon an honest Mind and a vertuous Disposition whereas Humane Laws can take no cognizance of any thing that is within nor lay any restraints upon the malice of an ill-disposed Mind Upon which account the severest Proclamations and Edicts of the Civil Magistrate without Religion would be too weak to keep the World in order For Men may be as malicious and spightfull as envious and ill-natur'd as they please in spight of any Civil Sanctions and so long as these Passions are suffer'd to dwell quietly within us they will be corrupting our Actions and frequently compell us to let them loose to save our selves from their rage But further 2. Let us consider the Motives where with it persuades For to such a perverseness is our Nature depraved that unless we be awed and influenced by something that is very considerable no Command can be sufficient to oblige us to do our Duty This all Governments are aware of and therefore those in Authority do not content themselves with prescribing Rules of Life and telling us That such and such Actions are not for the good of Socieyt or not convenient for our Interests but enforce their Commands with Threats of punishment in case of disobedience And when the Atheist does allow of the Reasonableness of these Restraints he must grant That the more powerfully we are Aw'd the better it is for Society and that he has no reason to quarrel with Religion for obliging us to do our Duty to one another by setting Everlasting Considerations before us For these are Motives that he will acknowledge we ought not to despise till we are convinced that they are false which is an acknowledgment that Religion does take the most essectual course to keep us within bounds if the Considerations it makes use of be but true For doubtless the Rewards and Punishments it sets before us are of much greater force to encourage Obedience and discourage Disobedience than those that the Civil Magistrate can make use of The utmost punishment he can inflict is Death But who will much stand in awe of that when any considerable advantage tempts him if there be nothing to be fear'd afterwards Or what is there that is terrible in such a punishment to awe a desperate Mind The pain is but short and the shame is not like to sollow him and when this is put in the Scale with forty or fifty years pleasure how easie is it to despise the one for the other
But now let a Man believe that his shame and guilt will follow him into another World where he is like to suffer among cursed Spirits for ever nd he has so much reason against a profligate life as no Temporal consideration can out-weigh This is so very plain that the Atheist makes no exception to the power that these Terrors have to persuade Men but onely to the Truth of them And it is strange he should when it is so visible that it is so much his and every man's Interest they should be true and that it is not possible Man should be kept in awe without them CHAP. III. From the Desires of all Men that there should be such a thing as Religion in the World NOthing I presume can be more obvious than this Truth That if all Mankind be desirous that the Principles which Religion teaches and the Duties it requires should be true we have a great deal of reason to believe it is highly agreeable to our Nature For why should all Men agree in such a desire if there be not something in us that tells us it is of extraordinary advantage to us and that takes a secret pleasure and delight in it Such a Universal Desire cannot be of the nature of those suddain Pasions which owe their Birth to humour or fansie but must spring from some certain and fixed Reason which it is impossible for us to withstand Our Desires 't is true are sometimes so unaccountable that when we come to reflect upon them with seriousness we see a great deal of reason to be ashamed of them But a Desire in which all Mankind agrees can never be lookt upon as a hearty Transport but must arise from the Reasonableness of the thing that is desired and be the Effect of a Cause that has its foundation in our Nature Now that there is such a Desire will easily be granted if I can make good these Two things 1. That we naturally desire all that is implied in the fundamental Principles of Religion 2. All that Vertue that it teaches 1. We naturally desire all that is implied in the fundamental Principles of Religion We love and take pleasure to think of all the Perfections that Religion teaches us do belong to the Notion and Nature of a Deity and are very desirous to find them some-where that we may rest upon them We are so extremely affected with Life that we would never lose it if we could possibly prevent such a loss And since this is not possible Nature startles at and abhorrs the Thoughts of Death as is most formidable Enemy And as it is an Immortal life we are desirous of we would live such a Life as Religion describes that which is to come to be Neither is this a fansifull Wish of some particular Persons onely but the natural Desire of all Mankind It is not a Desire that sticks to the Minds of such onely as have been educated in the Principles of Religion but which the most Prophane and Atheistical person as well as the most Religious does allow to be reasonable Though he would have us to believe that he sees no reason to believe there is a God or a furture state of Immortality and Glory yethe is too great a friend o himself to think that Death is as desirable as Life and Misery as gratefull as Happiness Though he loves not to think there is a God yet he cannot but wish that there was someghing that was as wise and powerfull as good and comapssionate as we believe God to be And though he be an Enemy to the Notion of another life yet he seels himself strongly inclined to approve of the Immortality and to wish for as quiet and easie a life as belongs to that state The truth on 't is he is no enemy to the Wisdom and Goodness that is in God or to such uninterrupted Joys and Pleasures and such lasting Enjoyments as Religion teaches us to look for hereafter but he does not love to think that there is a God that is thus perfect or to be put off to a future state where we are taught That Immortality and Life will be disposed of as we qulifie our selves for them in this life The Enmity then that he bears to Religion is not because he believes the Principles thereof to be unreasonable but because he can find nothing in this World that he loves and doats on so much to contain all that Excellency and Good that Religion informs us of For was this World as glorious and happy a place as Heaven is represented to us to be or was there any thing that he loves in it as great and perfect as God is he would have no quarrel at all with these things But his great spight to Religion is That when it acquaints with things so desirable as Immortality and Life the Wisdom and Goodness and other Perfections of a Deity it puts him upon a contempt of those Enjoyments he loves here for the better qualifying himself for those hereafter But as to the Things themselves 1. He is desirous as well as other Men are of a friend who is every way qulified to be helpfull to him As confident as he appears that there is no God and as much sport as he makes himself with our belief that there is he as much as any other Man feels the imperfection of humane Nature and a necessity of having a recourse to something without him for relief and refreshment He thinks himself wise in disowning a God and yet he is sensible that no less Wisdom and Power and Goodness than that which is in God is sufficient to his happiness And therefore he does not think it fit at all times to rely upon the Abilities of his own Nature as if he was an independant Being but like all other Men is desirous of a friend that will be kind and helpfull to him A friend that has Wisdom enough to know how to advise and direct him and so to order his affairs that he need not doubt of a good issue to them That has power sufficient to relieve him when he is press'd with any difficulties and who above all has so much goodness and compassion in his Nature as assures him of a favourable reception when-ever he makes his address to him Now to desier such a friend is to wish that there was a God to govern and order all Events and to preside ove and be a ready help to us in all our Exigencies So that let us suppose that this wise discoverer was really right in his belief concerning this Principle of Religion yet when ever he reflects upon his own Wants he will not have much cause to rejoyce in his discovery but every moment furnishes him with fresh Reasons to wish he was mistakenl and all the World will consess that he is much in the right when he wishes for such a friend as we believe God to be For to wish for a friend that is at all
as possible Go to the Man that makes the least account of Religion and who when a fair opportunity invites him to raise himself and his fortune by invading the Rights of another is not willing to lose the advantage who reckons Craft and Dissimulation a necessary Prudence and Injustice and Oppression lawfull Methods of compassing his Aims Enquire I say of this Man who seems so little a friend to the slow-paced Vertues of Justice and Integrity whether he would be content that all Men shoud make as little account of them as he does and whether he would be willing to live by a Neighbour that makes use of the same base Arts or chuse rather to have dealings with those that make Conscience of their doings And even this Man I doubt not will then declare in favour of these sociable and good-natur'd Vertues and wish with all his heart that every-body else would abhorr the wickedness that he thrives by and at least for his own quiet and security desire that he may never meet with one that has more ways to over-reach than he is aware of If he loves Oppression and Knavery it is onely in himself but in no-body else it is for the gain he makes by them not for the reasonableness of such actions And therefore if ever he suffers by them he censures and condemns them as severely as any-body else So that although he bears no respect to Religion himself yet he does not desire to see the Perinciples he lives by universally establish'd but woudl have all Men to be true and just in their dealings and knind and courteous in their deportment and conversation with him i.e. He would have every Man restrain'd by Religion from doing him wrong and his Person and Estate secured from the mischief of his own Villainies And if we were to go through the World we shall find all Men of the same mind condemning the Vices that Religion prohibits and desirous that there was more Vertue and Goodness more just and honest dealings among Men than there is in those frequent complaints of that little Conscience and Integrity they meet with and those sorrowfull stories they tell how much they have been over-reach'd and cozen'd how much wrong has been done them and how many abuses and affronts have been put upon them For there is no Man that feels these things but he feels the want of Religion and when we complain of the vexation they give us we express a desire that the Duties of Religion were more Universally practis'd There is indeed one part of Religion that seems to be very little in the desires of Men but the contrary to be most countenanced and affected with the greatest passion And that consists generally in the Duties that have a respect to our selves And of this nature chiefly is the vertue of Temperance For because the intemperate Man hurts no-body but himself few concern themselves to wish he was more sober and they who delight in this Vice seem very desirous to propagate it But yet it is not altogether true that Religion in this respect is not much rather wish'd for than the Vice that is contrary to it For Temperance has those Excellencies in it and is attended with those advantages as render it too amiable and desirable to be despised It keeps us to such a measure of Eating and Drinking with which Nature is contented And since the onely End of Eating and Drinking is for the support of Nature and the maintaining the health and vigour of our Bodies it must belong to Nature to set its own Bounds and to tell us what is sufficient for these Ends. But when we transgress the bounds of Nature and eat and drink not onely that we may live but that we may please a luxurious Appetite instead of supporting Nature we weaken and destroy it and make those very refreshments by which we are to live to be the occasion of Diseases and Death Such a use of Meat and Drink tires and over-charges Nature so that it is never at rest 'till it some way or other gets rid of its burden which if it cannot do the Man languishes and droops under the Wastings of an unconquerable Surfeit And these are such lathsome and mischievous consequences as oftentimes make the intemperate Man as much pleasure as he takes in his Excesses to abhorr his Debauch and to wish his Companions were more sober And now if to fear God and keep his Commandments be so agreeable to the Minds of Men If it be so desirable a thing to all sorts of persons to believe there is a Being that deserves our firmest Trust and Confidence our greatest Love and Reverence and to have Faith and Truth Love and Good-nature Sincerity and Justice maintain'd in a word if it be hard to find a Man that does not at one time or other wish that all the Vertues of Religion were more in Reputation who can think that That which is so desirable to all Men has not a real Foundation in our Nature CHAP. IV. From the Universal Sense of Mankind that there is a vast difference between Vertue and Vice IT is not onely a desirable thing to Mankind that there should be such a thing as Religion but all Men do agree in no one thing more than this That there is What is it that all Nations of Men how much soever they differ in their Customs and Manners do more universally acknowledge than this Truth That there is an absolutely perfect Being to whom our highest Veneration and most solemn Adorations are due Let us go where we will we shall find that though there be mistakes in Men's apprehensions concerning the Nature of God and different persuasions concerning the God that ought to be worship'd yet there is no difference of opinion whether there be a God whom all Men ought to worship Neither has this Persuasion been propagated by Time and a mutual intercourse among Men for no Time can be instanced in when Men did as Universally agree that there is no God as now they do that there is one And those Nations that have been unknown to all the Ages of the World till of late were upon their discovery found to be as zealous Assertors of this Principle as those who have had opportunities of Commerce with each other And besides there is as general a consent too concerning the Differences between Vertue and Vice That those Actions which we call vertuous are comely and gracefull and that there is such a natural Deformity and baseness in Vice as is disturbing to Homane Nature and vexatious to the Minds and Consciences of Men. Let us traverse the whole World we shall find no sort of People in any corner thereof but do own that there are some sort of Actions not to be tolerated among Men and others that deserve to be encouraged and supproted There is neither Jew nor Gentile Turk nor Christian no sort of Men I say how distant soever from each other in
to the recovery of a lost or decayed Disposition but they can no more dispose us to that which we never were disposed to than they can make Humane Nature to be what it never was The Improvement of Nature is by restoring it to its first and primitive State and to go any further is not to correct but to make it another thing to what it was And if according to the first Frame of our Nature Vertue and Vice was equally good to us it can never be improved to any higher pitch in case of corruption but to that equality of Power that in our natural State belongs to Reason and our Appetites But that the greater disposition to Vertue than Vice or that quick sense of the Excellency of the one and the deformity of the other that is in us is not caving to the Authority of Humane Laws I shall endeavour to make appear in three Things 1. That according to this Principle we are under as great an Obligation to believe Truth to be Falshood and Vertue to be Vice if they were so declared by those in Authority as we are now to believe the contrary If it be the Civil Magistrate that must inform us what is just and right and it be no Crime to cheat and steal to murther or do any kind of Mischief that our Appetites dispose us to in case there was no Magistrate to restrain us we must believe the most wicked thing that can be done to be just and lawfull and a necessary Vertue if it was commanded This is a necessary Consequence from this Principle which makes Humane Laws not onely to be the sole Rule of Vertue but the Determiner of the Differences between Vertue and Vice For if Vertue be Vertue upon no other rea on but because the Civil Magistrate does give Authority to Reason Vice would be Vertue if he should give Authority to our Appetites 2. It gives no account how it comes to pass that all succeeding Generations of Men do retain the same Sense of the Goodness of Vertue and the baseness of Vice as their Forefathers had For if Reason has no preference over our Appetites in Nature it must be at the Choice of every Person that is born whether Reason or his bodily Appetites shall rele him I mean he is not bound to receive those Laws by which his Fore-fathers have declared the Commands of Reason to be just but it must be at his own choice if it be allowed that he has a Power to determine himself to which he pleases whether they shall be Laws to him or no and consequently whether that shall be just to him which was to them For if as the broachers of this leud Doctrine tell us it be true that Humane Laws have their force onely from hence that Men are contented to part with their natural Right and to leave it to the discretion of their Governours to declare whether they shall be bound to live as Reason directs or no such Laws can onely oblige those that thus part with their natural Right For if the natural state of every Man be the same how can our Fore-father's Act oblige us or what we do be binding to our Posterity And if what was done a great while ago by our Ancestors when they consented that Reason should be the ruling Principle in us do not bind us the Laws that made it a wickedness in them to live otherwise than according to Reason cannot make it so in us And if this be true as certainly it is it leaves Vertue and Government and all that is justly accounted Sacred among Men so much at the Mercy of every Generation that we have good reason to look upon it as a very wonderfull thing that in every Age there should be the same sense about these things among Men That though one Generation goes and another comes there should never yet come one that should think fit as generally to set up the Interests and Authority of our Appetites as we are told our Fore-fathers have done that of Reason but that Religion and Vertue should still continue to have the Universal esteem and regard of all Men. 3. It gives no account how there should be an Universal agreement among Men rather to establish the Dictates of Reason than of our Appetites For if our Appetites have as much right to govern us as our Reason how comes it to pass that all Nations should rather make it a Wickedness to be led by our Appetites than our Reason And this is the more strange because we generally find we are more prone to humour our bodily Appetites than obey our Reason That though the Commands of our Reason be seconded by those of Religion and supported by Humane Laws yet it is a great difficulty to tame our Appetites and to make them governable And if the Authority of Reason does depend upon nothing more than the Sanctions of the Magistrate what account can be given of the making of those Laws which are so much against the Interests of our Appetites And how came Reason to be preferr'd before and advanced above our Appetites when they had much the advantage of it to prevail with us to favour them Why should that be chosen to be the ruling Principle in us which we seem to have the least liking to if there be no prevailing Reason in the Nature of the thing that determin'd the choice this way If there be no intrinsick Excellency in Vertue nor no natural illness and deformity in Vice how come the several States and Governments that are in the World to agree generally to beat down the reputation of Vice and to recommend the Practice of the other If there be nothing in us that does naturally ahhorr Acts of Impiety and Villainy and that looks upon all kinds of Wickedness to be shamefull and disturbing to the World why are all the Laws of the World made more for the crushing of these than Actions of another nature Why are not Men forbid to do Justice and to love Mercy to be kind and charitable to be true and faithfull as well as they are to be false and dishonest oppressive and injurious if Humane Nature be no more an Enemy to the one than the other Is it not obvious from hence that there is not onely an Universal agreement among Men concerning the difference between spring from the very Nature of these things themselves And besides I shall add this That there are things that the severest Enemies of Religion cannot deny 1. They cannot deny but that the general sense of Mankind does lie against them They never go about to prove That the World was ever of another Opinion or that the greatest part of Mankind did ever speak as much in favour of Vice as now they do of Vertue and did maintain That there was as much Reputation and Honour to be got by doing wickedly as by living according to the Rules of Religion They do not pretend to show that