AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Nature Necessity and Evidence OF Christian Faith In Several ESSAYS PART I. Of Faith in General and of the Belief of a Deity By I. C. D. D. Vigilo Credo Clamo Loquor LONDON Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDC XCVI The CONTENTS of this First Part. INtroduction shewing the Occasion and Design of the following Essays p. 1. Essay I. Faith is and hath been the perpetual Standard of Righteousness from the Beginning of the World p. 6. 1. Faith proper to Scripture and required under the Dispensation of both Testaments ibid. 2. What to live by Faith p. 7. 3. All the righteous upwards to Adam lived by Faith p. 8. 4. It is great Insolence to find Fault with the Terms and Phrases by which the Principles of Scripture are set forth p. 9. Essay II. Of Faith as opposed to Doubting p. 11. 1. The Meaning of Faith ought to be enquired after ibid. 2. Common Definitions and Distinctions of Faith not considered nor any new Definition offered ibid. 3. Faith first opposed to Doubting implies a firm Perswasion of Good and Evil which is essential to a just Man p. 13. 4. Of the Influence which this Faith has upon Actions as to the rendring them Good or Evil p. 14. 5. This Faith no light Perswasion but the Effect of serious Enquiry and Deliberation ib. 6. It is the first Principle of a good Life p. 16. Essay III. Of Faith as opposed to Atheism and how a Belief of the Existence of God is necessary to determine the certain Rule of Moral Actions p. 17. 1. Faith is a Belief of God and his Attributes ibid. 2. The Necessity of this Belief for knowing the first and great Rule of Moral Actions ibid. 3. Righteousness according to Scripture is to act with a continual regard to God p. 18. 4. These Divines are very censurable who recommend Morality upon other Principles more and oftner than this p. 19. Essay IV. The Existence of God is most evident p. 21. 1. It doth not require Learning or great Travel to know that there is a God p. 22. 2. Some Truths more obvious than Mathematical Demonstrations and it may be said That the Existence of a Deity is more evident than the Propositions of Euclid p. 23. 3. Whether there be real Atheists The Causes of Atheism considered p. 24. First Cause of Atheism Vitiousness p. 25. A Second Cause of Atheism the being rebuted by Difficulties ibid. A Third Cause of Atheism want of Consideration p. 26. Essay V. Evidences of a Deity in Man p. 27. 1. The Outward Figure of Man's Body considered ibid. 2. The Inward Frame p. 28. 3. Life and Sense with the Organs of them ibid. 4. The Internal and Intellectual Faculties p. 32. 5. The Method of nourishing the Body p. 33. 6. The Manner of its Generation p. 34. 7. Of the useful Dependance of some outward Members upon our Will and how readily they answer our thoughts p. 38. Essay VI. Evidences of a Deity in other Parts of the World p. 37. 1. All other things as well as Man prove that there is a God It is evident That Man and all other things had one Author or Cause ibid. 2. Contrivance and Design in in every thing in the Celestial Orbs p. 38. 3. In Vegetables and Animals p. 39. 4. Locusts and Caterpillars considered p. 40. 5. The Disorders and Irregularities occasioned by Man no Reproach to the Wisdom of God p. 41. 6. It is unreasonable to ask more Evidence for the Existence of God than what we have p. 43. 7. God's Eternity obvious His Omnipotency appears in the Immensity of the World p. 44. 8. His Wisdom and Power in the very Disposal of meer Matter or the several kinds of Earth p. 45. 9. In the Variety and Virtue of Plants p. 46. 10. In the Diversity of Animals p. 50. 11. It is impossible to convince them who resist these Evidences p. 52. Essay VII Of the Absurdity of Atheism p. 53. 1. Two sorts of Demonstration A Deity demonstrable by both of them ibid. 2. The Existence of God proved by the First ibid. 3. The Objections of Atheists do strengthen the Belief of a God The First Objection stated p. 54. 4. The Answer to it p. 55. 5. A Second Objection p. 59. 6. The Answer p. 60. 7 A Third Objection p. 62. 8. The Answer p. 63. 9. A Fourth Objection with the Answer p. 64. 10. A Deity proved by the other kind of Demonstration ex absurdo p. 65. The Conclusion p. 68. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Nature Necessity and Evidence OF Christian Faith INTRODUCTION Shewing the Occasion and Design of the following Essays AS certainly the Christian Religion has the fairest appearance of any and comes to us with all the marks of Truth being stampt with Characters truly Divine and carrying along with it Authentick Testimonies both from Heaven and Earth so they who had the keeping of it have for near these 1700 Years taught that Faith was a very considerable part of it and absolutely Necessary to the obtaining all those Advantages which are promised by it But now there are a Set of Men who pretend new Discoveries They decry Faith as much as it was formerly magnified and turn the things proposed to be believed into ridicule Some of them run down Faith by exposing the Clergy who require it as ignorant and Foolish a sort of Men who are easily imposed upon or who to keep up their Trade study to impose on others amusing them with mysterious Nonsense Others essay to prove That Faith is impossible where Reason rules and is used and therefore that Believing proceeds from a Defect of Reason and consequently unworthy of those who own themselves to be Men that is reasonable Creatures A Third sort examine the several Points of Faith as they are set forth in Systems and Confessions and do either dwindle them away into nothing or render them very absurd that is impossible or no ways worthy to be believed This Controversie is of the highest Importance all ought to be inquisitive into it and earnest to know on what Side Truth lies not to satisfie an idle Curiosity but to discover the certain and solid foundation if there be any such thing on which they may build their Peace and Comfort with respect to the present life and joyful hopes in reference to that which may be hereafter Upon this account I resolved on this Enquiry and to proceed in it with all the care that becomes a Lover of Truth in matters of so very great moment who ought not to suffer himself to be byass'd by his former Sentiments nor to be carried off by the Censures of the World nor to be possessed with a fondness for Opinions meerly because they are New or Old Singular or Common My first aim was to satisfie my self and now I propose the giving true information to others and for that end shall lay all things candidly before them
the Just to live by this Faith as for a Square to have four equal sides both Texts of Scripture and the Nature of the thing require it The true and primitive Character of a Just Man is to be Conscientious to follow the Dictates of his Mind and to order his Life and Actions according to what he knows and believes to be right A Just Man must be Upright and there is no Uprightness if the outward and inward-man do not keep touches if there be no Correspondence betwixt them if the Mouth contradict the Heart and the Life and Actions be disagreeable to the inward Light and Sentiments This Faith is as the Eye by which we see and know how to order our Steps it is as the Light to shew the Way in which we should walk and not to follow it or to go contrary to it is great Perverseness and the Character of a Wicked Man As the Spirit is the Principle of Life and Life of Motion so this Faith is the first Principle of a good Life and Men are to be reckoned good or bad as they walk according to it He is a bad Man who contradicts it and he is no good Man whose Actions do not flow from it The Motions of a Puppet or Engine may be both Regular and Useful but they cannot be reckoned Natural because they proceed not from a Principle of Life but from Artificial Springs So tho' one's Actions be never so plausible fair or useful to others yet they are not good nor is he who doth them Just if they proceed from any other principle than this Faith that is an inward Perswasion of their being just and good lawful and reasonable for whatsoever is not of Faith saith the Apostle is sin Rom. 14. 23. Hence it is that we see some in Scripture branded with the Character of ill Men and others denied the Approbation of being good whose Actions were outwardly good and commendable because they did what they did for other Reasons and upon another account than the intrinsick goodness of those things or their own Perswasion of it 4. All the Actions of every one are to be Approved or Condemned with a regard to this Faith and by vertue of it things in themselves good and lawful become evil and what is evil loseth a part of its malignity Thus the Eating of Flesh which in it self is a lawful and innocent Action is a damnable Sin to him who has the least doubt whether it be lawful and what is clean turns unclean to him who thinks it so as is excellently discoursed in that fore-cited Chapter So on the other hand we find God himself excusing Abimelech for taking Sarah into his House because he did it in the integrity of his heart that is he was ignorant of her being another Man's Wife And St. Paul's Perfection of the Saints was the more pardonable because he verily thought he ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus I was before saith he a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief that is without Faith or the perswasion of the evil of it 1 Tim. 1. 13. But then it is to be remembred That this Faith which hath such Influence upon our Actions and which is so Essential to a Just Man is not Fancy or Imagination nor a light or hasty Perswasion Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind saith the Apostle ver 5. and therefore our Faith and Perswasion ought to be well-grounded the effect of serious Enquiry and Deliberation that it may give true and certain Direction otherwise it may be still said that we are regardless of Right and Wrong Truth or Falshood Good and Evil which is inconsistent with the Character of a perfectly Just Man A wise Architect doth not work at random but by Plumb and Rule but then he is first careful that his Plumb and Rule be right and exact for without this he cannot sincerely intend to have his work perfect So a Just man carefully studieth both a Conformity betwixt his Actions and his inward Sentiments and betwixt these and truth and the stable Rule of Right and wrong Good and Evil. To act contrary to inward Conviction is to offend wilfully and the height of Wickedness but it is the next degree to it to be careless whether we offend or not whether we do Good or Evil which we are guilty of when we are not at any pains to adjust our Perswasion to Truth to know the right or to inform our selves of what is good lawful and fit to be done The same reason which makes it Just and our Duty to act according to our Knowledge and inward Perswasion or to do the Good we know obligeth us to search out the real Good that is that there may be no Errour in our Perswasion nor Crookedness in our Practice and then only our Thoughts can justifie our Actions when by Diligence and due Care we have endeavoured to make our Thoughts just and true conform to the Nature of things for without this we cannot be fully perswaded in our Minds as the Apostle enjoineth the assurance of Faith is wanting which is necessary to dispel all doubts and to establish our goings Happy is he saith St. Paul that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14. 22. by which he gives us to understand that our Heart must approve our Actions our Minds must Judge that the ways we take are right otherwise we stand Self-condemned Now the Judgment is not Just which is not certain which is rashly or hastily pronounced before a strict Examination or a due Attention to all the Proofs and Evidences which can be brought for clearing the Cause There is still place for Doubting when necessary Caution and the proper Means have not been used for right and sufficient Information And as Doubting defileth the Man and polluteth all his Actions so it is uneasie to the Mind As Darkness in which when one walketh it maketh him Apprehensive full of Fears and Jealousies going forwards and backwards to the right and left without any steady course because he has no certainty of his way What is translated a Double-minded Man ought to be a Doubtful Man one that has not the assurance of Faith and such an one saith St. Iames is unstable in all his ways he wavereth like a wave of the Sea which is driven with the wind and tossed Jam. 1. 6 8. Fleeting and Inconstancy change of Opinions and Practices regarding Events and outward Advantages is at least a sure sign and evidence that the Person has not attained to a true Faith or full Perswasion of his Duty of what is good lawful or necessary for Faith gives a chearful confidence it makes one constant and to be always the same because Truth and the Nature of things change not To conclude this Matter By Faith here we are to understand a true Knowledge of the Nature of
be for hatching their Eggs. 4. If any Object the Locust and Caterpillar they may well as upbraid the Prudence and Policy of a State for keeping Forces which generally are made up of very rude and insolent People for these are a Party of the Army of the Lord of Hosts which he sends out at his Pleasure to chastise the Pride Wantonness Ingratitude and Forgetfulness of Man who is the only disorderly Part of the Creation He only breaks the Peace and moves Sedition in this excellent and large Common-Wealth and he does it to his own Prejudice as generally all rebellious and seditious People use to do But his unruly and disorderly Behaviour is no Ground of impeaching the Wisdom of the Almighty Head of this great Common-Wealth of the World far less than the rebellious and seditious practising of Subjects is chargeable upon the Government who oftentimes as all Histories inform us run into it without just Provocation through their own Wantonness or Ignorance or foolish Fears or the evil Counsel of cunning Men who make them misapprehend some things and beguile them with a Pretence of making other things better which in the end turns worse All the Disorders in this Universal State which is made up of all Creatures proceed from these very Causes which give Disturbance to particular humane States If I may be allowed to borrow a little Light from Revelation when I reason against Atheism The Devil or Lucifer being proud and full of himself became disaffected and turn'd Male-content and to make himself a Party he addressed to Man preying upon his Weakness and Inadvertency whom having once deluded he still keeps into that rebellious Interest by suggesting evil Thoughts cherishing their Corruption and bad Inclinations 5. Some may say That this overturns all we have said about Design and Contrivance seeing it seems to prove a grand Mistake in the Master-piece If the World the several Parts in it and the Conjunction of these Parts be the work of infinite Wisdom would one have been made to disturb all the rest to disorder the whole Contrivance Or would the Power and Dominion over these have been committed to one altogether unqualified and unworthy of it as Man seems to be Or must it be said That the contriving of vegetative and sensitive things was with in the Skill of this wise Being but that rational things or what is of a higher Nature is above his Reach and therefore he missed his Aim and came short of his Design No none of these things follow The Almighty God would shew his Power and Wisdom by the creating an Infinite Variety of Beings endued with all Degrees of Perfections and therefore one who was to be free to be entrusted with the Government of himself and who was to be under no other Force than that of Reason and Truth nor to have any other Tyes than that of Gratitude and Interest which he might know sufficiently by the Exercise of his intellectual Faculties and the Application of his Mind to what is always before him Other things could not be left to themselves being endued with no Sense or Reason of their own they are still guided by the Wisdom of their Maker and hence it is that they never step aside but always move regularly Infinite Wisdom appears in all their Motions and from this it is that some Creatures without Sense and others which have no more than Sense do out-do all the works of Men Without Understanding they know the Rules of Architecture the Nature and Uses of things and the Means of compassing them better than Man with all his Reason and after all his Study and Application Nay the Perfection of humane Art is but a faint Imitation of what other Creatures do by that which is called Natural Instinct which is truely the Guidance of that Infinite Wisdom which contrived them Mens best Knowledge is but Experience and Observation from their inferiour Creatures And as it thus appears that those Creatures are under the Management of their Maker whose Wisdom manifests it self in their Motions and Actings So it is no Defect in this most perfect Wisdom that Men do not act perfectly or exactly right because they are left to their own Freedom and the Direction of an imperfect and limited Reason which yet was sufficient if they had adverted to the Marks and Instructions given them As by Revelation we are assured that Man was at first made upright so there are Reasons and Prints to convince us of it without Revelation And as he is endued with Perfections above others in this part of the World with intellectual Faculties which they want so it seems evident that all those other things were invented to be subject Matter for those intellectual Faculties to work upon Pictures are not hang'd up but to be seen for they cannot talk together so neither can Plants or Beasts This World therefore would have been but as a wast House tho' richly furnish'd yet it would have been altogether desolate of Inhabitants if there had been wanting one of Understanding and Judgment and capable of making wise Reflections on what there is in it Man's Life would be very miserable if he had not the Service of those other Creatures and they would be useless if it were not with a Respect unto him Either they were designed to administer into him or he was made to receive the Advantage which redounds from them They are excellently fitted to one another which could only proceed from an intelligent Being of infinite Wisdom and Power Thus there are so many and so great Instances of Design and Contrivance that no thinking Man is able to resist this Faith in God He who doth not admit this Faith must be strangely stupid and so much to be pitied or unreasonably obstinate and therefore exceeding censurable 6. I would ask such Persons what they would be at to satisfie them Do they require a Sight of God They may as reasonably ask to see a Voice to touch a Tune or to try the Objects of one Sense by another as Colours by the Ear and Odours by the Eye Will they deny the intellectual Faculties of Perception Judgment Ratiocination Memory c. to be in others because they have no immediate Intuition of them Is it not sufficient Demonstration that this or the other Man doth possess these Faculties when the one or the other sheweth the proper Signs of them and that the necessary Effects thereof may be perceived in his Discourse and Actions And what greater Demonstration would any have of an Almighty Intelligent Being than prodigious and infinite Instances of Wisdom and Power such as the World every where presents us with God's Essence is invisible at least to us What Organs the Angels of Heaven have for beholding him we do not know but he dwelleth in a Light which no Man can approach unto whom no Man hath seen nor can see But that which may be known of God is manifest for he hath shew'd
Membrane to fit them for Swimming and also are furnished with a Wind-Bladder to afford them what Air is necessary to the Circulation of the Blood so that they can continue long in the Water without Suffocation Now could all these different proper Structures of Animals have been contrived without Wisdom Could they have been distinguished in some and united and intermingled in others according to the Elements for which they were designed without infinite Understanding To proceed the Power of Seeing far is given to the Eagle and others Swiftness to the Hare Hound and Roe-buck Strength to the Ox and Bear Fierceness to the Lion Cunning to the Fox Docility to the Dog Courage and Fleetness to the Horse and the Elephant is made both formidable and tame cunning and docile strong and fierce And lastly there is Man to manage this and all the other Animals who tho' he be neither so clear sighted as some nor so strong nor so fierce nor so swift as others yet by his Reason and the Ordinance of God he has Dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Beasts of the Field and the Fish of the Sea and maketh them all to do Homage unto him O Lord how manifold are thy Works In Wisdom thou hast made them all the Earth is full of thy Riches 11. We need not ascend higher nor go further to fetch Proofs of a Deity nor Instances of eternal and infinite Wisdom and Power They who are so peevish as to quarrel what they see here would not lay aside this unreasonable Humour tho' they were carried to the Regions above They who are not convinced by these things which are continually before them would not be satisfied with other Arguments and there are innumerable more As they are hardned against the ordinary Works of God so they would resist obstinately such as are extraordinary for they mock all of this kind which have been Wherefore it is wisely observ'd That God never wrought a Miracle to convince an Atheist for besides that it is not reasonable that God should indulge an unreasonably willful and obstinate Humour no Miracle can be more effectual or less liable to Exception than the regular Motion of those prodigious Orbs in the Heavens above and the Multitude of Productions in the Earth below all of which shew admirable Art and Contrivance When common Food ceaseth to nourish Delicacies and Dainties seldom do good If the Body be clean and sound common Food should be both savoury and nourishing And if Men would lay aside their Pride Malice and Superfluity of Naughtiness if they would be meek and docile they should soon perceive the reasonable Force of what we have touched to perswade to a Belief of the Existence of God And if any would have the Satisfaction of a fuller View of these Works of Wisdom and Power I referr them to the forementioned Treatise of Mr. Ray because it may be easily had and is made plain and intelligible by the meanest Capacity ESSAY VII Of the Absurdity of Atheism 1. THere are Two sorts of Demonstrations one is a positive Proof drawn from certain and known Principles the other sheweth the absurd and unreasonable Consequences which would necessarily follow if what is required be not granted which is therefore called Demonstratio ex absurdo Mathematicians make use of both And there be many Propositions in Euclid which are not demonstrable but by the last Kind Either of them makes a thing sure and what is capable of both is most evident and consequently nothing can be more absurd and unreasonable than to deny and resist what is clearly made out both these Ways And hence also it follows That the Atheist is monstrously obstinate and to the utmost Degree absurd and unreasonable seeing the Existence of a Deity can be demonstrated either way 2. First It is evident by what hath been delivered in the former Essays that there are clear Instances of Wisdom and Power in the World and it also clearly appears that this Wisdom and Power are united in one because they never act separately but always work together Power is always directed by Wisdom and what sheweth the one sheweth the other which is a sufficient full and as great a Demonstration as can reasonably be demanded of the Existence of a wise Power or powerful Wisdom and consequently that there is a Being superiour to all that we see which has as much Wisdom and Power as what we find expressed in the Contrivance and Frame of the World and in the Composition of the several Beings that are in it that is there is and must be an all-wise and Almighty God for by him we understand a Being whose Power and Understanding is infinite Of whose Existence we are also further assured by all the Principles of reason and Knowledge and by all those Methods by which we find out the Truth of any thing For we are ascertained of the Truth of things either by the Consideration of their Nature and abstracted Idea's or by Deductions from Principles which all acknowledge to be self-evident or by their effects and Manifestations or finally by Testimony and Tradition And all these several Ways it is evident that there is such a supreme and perfect Being as is meant by God 3. Moreover this Truth is so far from being shaken by the Arguments and Objections of Atheists that they do rather confirm it Wherefore that we may entirely silence them and remove all Difficulties which any may entertain in this Matter we will consider some of the chief of their Objections without concealing or diminishing the Force of them Firt It is objected That an Argument drawn from final Causes the Ends and Vses of things is not concluding nor of Force enough to establish such an important Truth because it has more of Fancy than Solidity in it The ends of things are but little known and are only devised by a strong Imagination Fancifull Men apprehend a Thousand things which have no Foundation in Nature as cunning and industrious Persons can adapt and appropriate things to several Vses to which they were never destined It is unreasonable to pretend that the several things in Nature have been particularly designed for the Ends and Vses to which the Art or Necessities of Mankind have employed them And the like may be said of most other things which we only fanste were formed with a Respect to such or such an End because we perceive some Agreeableness betwixt them and it This Argument Lucretius insists on which I shall set down according to the excellent Translation of Mr. Creech But now avoid their gross Mistakes that teach The Limbs were made for Work a Use for each The Eyes design'd to see the Tongue to talk The Legs made strong and knit to Feet to walk The Arms fram'd long and firm the Servile Hands To work as Health requires as Life commands And so of all the rest whate'er they feign Whate'er they teach 't is Nonsense all and vain For
Sea should have been too much emptied which would have been very inconvenient both for those Creatures who live in it and also for the Ships that sail upon it The Libyan Sands and barren Desarts of Arabia c. cast no Reflection upon the wise Contrivance of the Earth for it is not reasonable to think that all Parts should be alike good and excellent Diversity is both useful and pleasant What is wanting in these barren Places is supplied by the Richness of others which are also rendred more delightful by the Contemplation of such frightful Desolateness even as Shadows contribute to the Beauty of a Picture and the Brightness of the other Colours Besides other Uses which we yet know not they may be designed also to make us sensible how much we owe to the Bounty of the wise Author of all things who hath made so much of the Earth a convenient Habitation for the Children of Men. Lastly The same may be said in Reference to the Countries about the Two Poles which are not very considerable if we compare them with the rest of the habitable World And besides they show the wise Contrivance of the Spheroidical Figure of the Earth and of making the Axis so much shorter than the Diameter of the Equator for if it had been otherwise the frigid Zones should have been much more large and much less habitable There is no way to Remedy that Inconvenience of the Country about the Poles at least in our Conception except there were Two Suns or that this Sun was made to move without and beyond the Tropicks neither of which would be so convenient as the present Contrivance 7. 3 dly It is said That the World and all things in it were eternal which if true in their Opinion will cut off all Pretext of Contrivance and Design For if nothing was ever made then nothing also was ever contrived there being no Occasion for contriving what was already existent 8. But this Opinion of the Eternity of the World is taken up without any Shadow of Reason or Probability It is a precarious Assertion which being denied can never be proved 2. It contradicts the Universal Tradition of Mankind which hath always attested that the World had a Beginning 3. It is against the current Testimony of all History which traceth the Origin of Nations and People the Inventions of Arts and Sciences and which sheweth that all have happened within the Space of less than Six Thousand Years according to the most probable if not certain Calculation which could not be if the World and Man had been Eternal Therefore Lucretius reasoneth very well in his Fifth Book But grant the World Eternal grant it knew No Infancy and grant it never New Why then no Wars our Poets Songs imploy Beyond the Siege of Thebes or that of Troy Why former Heroes fell without a Name Why not their Battles told by lasting Fame But 't is as I declare and thoughtful Man Not long ago and all the World began And therefore Arts that lay but rude before Are publish'd now we now Increase the Store We perfect all the Old and find out more Shippings improv'd we add New Oars and Wings And Musick now is found and speaking Strings These Truths this Rise of things we lately know 4 thly Tho' we may fansie that these greater and permanent Bodies of the Planets and Stars may have been Eternal because they have lasted so many Thousand Years without any visible Change as is acknowledged by all yet we cannot bring our Imagination to conceive the Eternity of successive Beings possible for a great many Contradictions and Absurdities do follow it If Mankind had never any other Production than what is now then there was never any Man who had not a Beginning And if all had a Beginning then Mankind cannot be Eternal therefore we must of Necessity acknowledge the Production of some one or more from whom the rest have descended in a manner different from the present And there is no Account of the first Production of Mankind so reasonable or so probable not to say now certain as that which declares the immediate Creation of one Man and one Woman by the Hand of God The like may be said of all other succesive Beings But 5 thly and Lastly Tho' we should force our selves to grant the Eternity of the World and all particular Beings yet it could not be reasonably inferred from thence that there is no God for they who desire this large Concession must grant to us too which cannot possibly be denied that there have been from all Eternity Instances of great Power and Wisdom from which it necessarily follows that there is an Eternal Wise and Mighty Being for Power and Wisdom must proceed from something that is wise and powerful Therefore the Old Philosophers who did hold the Eternity of the World did believe it a necessary Emanation from the Being of God and thought not that it did or could subsist without him 9. It is 4 thly Objected against the Being of a God That if it was it would render the Being of other things impossible for if he was he would be infinite and if infinite there could be no Room for the Existence of other things But this Argument proceeds upon a mistaken Notion of the Infinite Nature of God as if he was some gross material Substance vastly extended whereas he is a Spirit that is a Substance altogether different from Matter or Body who hath not the Properties of it and consequently we cannot draw just or true Conclusions about him from what is observable in them God's Infinity is not infinite Extension and tho' his Omnipresence hath some Resemblance to it yet the Spirituality of his Nature makes his Ubiquity and Omnipresence in no wise incompatible with the Existence of Material Beings of Corporeal Substances Nay they are only sustained by the Infinity of his Essence and therefore the Existence of so many finite things which have no Self-Sufficiency to exist of themselves doth evidently demonstrate the Existence of an Infinite Essence as the Cause and Upholder of them It would be tedious to consider all the little Cavils and Objections of Atheists against a Deity The most material are reducible to those we have now proposed and may be refuted by the Answers which we have now given for they proceed either from wrong Apprehensions of the Nature and Attributes of God or from Ignorance of the Nature and Relation of other things or from an obstinate Resistance of what is de facto evident and all of them demonstrate their Unreasonableness and Absurdity which doth further appear by the absurd and unreasonable Consequences of not acknowledging a Deity which is a second Way of proving it 10. For if there be no God then it necessarily follows That either every thing made it self or that all things came from nothing and that there are Effects which have no Cause for there is Life Sense and Reason without any