great footing in the World and that the Doctrine of the Divine Grace shou'd be redicul'd by them and esteemed little otherwise than as a sensless Notion the Opinions of these Men run so smooth to the sense of the Natural Understanding that so long as Men are careless and unwilling to look farther they are constrained to make their Reason the positive and adaequate Rule both of their Morality and Divinity But for my own part I shou'd not so much dispute with them this Mysterious Co-operation or Divine Concurrence provided they cou'd but show me any true Practical Christian one who is so in Deeds as well as Words who has espoused their Opinions I may be free to say I know nothing like one nor do I think it possible to meet with a sincerely devout Convert or Regenerate Person who is not ready to acknowlege that of himself he was able to do nothing as he ought and that the Renovation or happy Change of his Mind was purely owing to the Adeption of a new Principle or to a Union with the Divine Spirit of Jesus Christ. 'T is true amongst the Followers of Pelagius and Socinut there are those who understanding the Verity of their Opinions would be measur'd by their Practises have been more than ordinarily exemplary in their Conversation with the World and their Self-denial of some Temporal Enjoyments Men who have kept themselves to a constant attendance upon Religious Worship and set those about them an extraordinary Pattern for the practise of private Duties and all these we may readily grant the possibility of their attaining by the meer strength of their Natural Faculties or the Powers of their own Souls independent of the Divine Grace these however necessary were never lookt on by considerate Men for more than the Introduction or Outside of true Religion but altho' there are amongst them Persons so very circumspect in their Deportment or Behaviour yet the greatest part of them are such as wholly devote themselves to disputation in mixt Companies where they continually gain Proselytes among loose People such who as they never cou'd reconcile themselves to the practise of Religion are very glad to find the same resolv'd into Matter of Speculation by which means every Man may have an opportunity to raise a suitable Theory to his own Inclinationâ— Now I must confess that which has principally induc'd me to dissent from the Principles of these Men is a consciousness I have had that it is not only possible but certain that Men may have an Historical Faith and that they may believe or assent to the Truth of the Revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and yet at the same time to show themselves as if wholly unconcerned in their Lives and Practises whether the things deliver'd in that Gospel be true or not which I think is hardly reconcileable even to our own Reason nor can be otherwise ascribed than to the want of that Supernatural and Divine Aid I plead for Upon the other Extream as these we were just now speaking of many of them at least will not allow any such Doctrine as that of the Divine Grace so there have been those who have affirmed that a Person may by Philosophy and Contemplation attain such a Degree of Union with the Divine Being as to know and understand things by a Contactus or Conjunction of Substance with the Deity The Passages saith my Author which occur in Plotinus Porphirius Jamblicus and Proclus all great and famous Platonists of such a tendency are numerous and need not to be here transcribed This Imagination was espoused by the Arabian Philosophers and had it been entertained by the Contemplative Heathen only we might have taken the less notice of it but it was imbibed and that very timely by Origen himself and from him the Ferment or Leaven thereof was derived to the ancient Monks from all or some of these it spread amongst the Romish Monasticks such of them as are called Mystick Theologues nothing more frequent with that sort of Men than a Tattle of an intime Union with God whereby the Soul becomes Deify'd and from them the Weigelians and Familists borrowed their Magnificent Language of being Godded with God and Christed with Christ. The adventurous Determinations of the School-men concerning the beatifical Vision smell rank of the same blasphemous nonsensical Figment for by their contending that the Divince Essence is immediately united as an intelligible Species to the Intellect of the blessed and that this Species and the glorify'd Understanding do not remain distinct things but become identify'd they do in effect affirm the Soul to be transubstantiated into God and to be really deify'd and seeing it 's a Matter of easie Demonstration that the Knowledge which we shall enjoy of God in Heaven differeth only in degree from that which we possess here otherwise it is both altogether unintelligible and uncapable of Rational Explication it will follow by a short Harangue of Discourse either that Believers have no Knowledge of God at all in this Life or else that their Soul 's become Deify'd and Essentially united to God by knowing him I shall not name here the admired Nonsence and high-flown Cantings of some Modern Enthusiasts which carry a broad-fac'd Aspect this way 't is easie for us to instruct our selves from what Springs these with the like Visionaries have drawn the putrid Conceits which they propine to the World 'T is enough for us that we believe the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers to remain distinct after all the Union that intercedes between them Let us be thankful for the Influences of his Grace and for the In-dwellings of his Holy Spirit but let us detest those swelling Words of Pride and Ignorance of being Christed and Deify'd for whatsoever be the nature and kind of the Union between Christ and Christians that the same shou'd by Hypostatical cannot without Blasphemy be imagined And thus my Friend I hope I have with no unpardonable Prolixity gone over these very weighty Subjects I pray God we may all of us have right Notions of them fixed on our Hearts and that they may be attended with the Fruits of a sincere Repentance and Amendment of our Lives I shall endeavour to conclude all with the most suitable Advice I can and in order to the same wou'd wish and desire you to think often and seriously upon the certainty of your Death for whatever you may think of an Immortality hereafter 't is manifest you can obtain none here consider what Thoughts will be most likely to intrude upon you what Business you will principally be employ'd about shou'd you have time allotted you for such a purpose the Conflicts and Consternation you must encounter the Confusion of your last Minutes the Agony of your Soul in the moment of its flight For let me tell you however you may please your self in this time of Health and Vigour that an approach of a privation of your
that we are subject to partly through Supineness Sloth and Inadvertency we do often prevaricate in making Deductions and Inferences from Self-evident and Universal Maxims and thereupon establish erroneous and mistaken Consequences as Principles of Truth and Reason But then this is the fault of Philosophers not of Philosophy or of Philosophy in the Concrete as existing in this or that Person not in the Abstract as involving such a Mischief in its Nature and Idea Our Intellectual Faculties being vitiated and tinctur'd with Lust inthralled by Prejudices darkened by Passions ingaged by vain and corrupt Interests distorted by Pride and Self-love and fastened to Earthly Images do often impose upon us and lead us to obtrude upon others absurd Axioms for undoubted and incontestable Principles of Reason It is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this adulterate Reason which is both unfriendly and dangerous to Religion it is to this that most of the malignant Heresies which have infected the Church do owe its rise and whoever will trace the Errors which have invaded Divinity to their Source may resolve them into false Reasonings or absurd Maxims of Philosophy which have been by their Founders superscribed with the venerable Name of Principles of Reason Indeed whatever can be made appear to lye in a Contradiction to right Reason we may profess our selves ready to abandon and disclaim but we are satisfy'd and do fully believe that a great deal which only crosses some false and lubricous Principles that Dogmatists have given that name to falls under the Imputation of Disagreement with Reason the Repugnancy of Reason fasten'd upon some Tenets is rather the Result of Ignorance Prepossession and sometimes Lust than their contrariety to Universal Reason or any genuine Maxims of it Farther It must be granted and hath always been judged that the Incomprehensibleness of a Doctrine through the Sublimity and Extension of its Object is no just bar to the Truth of it And indeed it is to be wonder'd that any who have studied the Weakness of their discursive Capacity the Feebleness of Intellectual Light how soon it is dazled with too bright a Splendour the Confinement and Boundaries our Understandings are subject to together with the Majesty of the Gospel Truth the Immensity of the Objects of the Christian Faith shou'd think the arduousness of framing distinct and adaequate Conceptions of them a sufficient ground for their being renounced and disclaimed Yet this is the Standard by which some Men regulate their Belief As to the Bible ' tho every thing in it be not alike necessary yet every thing in it is alike true and our Concernment lyes more or less in it There is no other Rule by which we are to be regulated in Matters of Religion besides this and therefore the import and meaning of its Terms can be no other ways decided but by their habitude to their Measure For this end did the Almighty give forth the Scripture that it might be the Foundation and Standard of Religion and thence it is we are to learn its Laws and Constitutions The instructing Mankind in whatsoever is necessary to his present or future Happiness was our Makers design in vouchsafing to us a supernatural Revelation and foreseeing all things that are necessary to such an end the Respect and Veneration which we pay to his Sapience and Goodness oblige us to believe that he hath adapted and proportioned the Means thereunto Now the Doctrines of the Bible are of two sorts 1. Such as besides their being made known by Revelation and believed on the account of Divine Testimony have also a Foundation in the Light of Nature and there are Natural Mediums by which they may be proved Of this kind are the Being of or Attributes of God the Immortality of the Soul the Certainty of Providence the Existence of a Future State and Moral Good and Evil. 2. Such as have no Foundation at all in Nature by which they cou'd have been found out or known but we are solely indebted to Supernatural Revelation for the discovery of them their Objects having their Source and Rise only from the Will of God a Supernatural Revelation was absolutely expedient to promulge them and these also are of two sorts 1. There are some Doctrines which tho' our Understandings by Natural Mediums cou'd never have discover'd yet being onâ—e â—evealed our Minds can by Arguments drawn from Reason facilitate the Apprehension of them and confirm it self in their Belief Of this kind are the Resurrection of the Body and Satisfaction to Divine Justice in order to the Exercising of Forgiveness to Penitent Sinners There are others which as Reason cou'd never have discover'd so when reveald it can neither comprehend them nor produce any Medium in Nature by which either the Existence of their Objects can be demonstrated or their Truth illustrated Of this kind are the Doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God of these our Reason is not able to give us any adaequate Conceptions and yet these are by a clear and necessary connexâ—on united with other Doctrines of Faith which Reason enlighten'd by Revelation can give a Rational account of For the Mystery of the Trinity hath a necessary Connexion with the Work of our Redemption by the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Work of Redemption by the Incarnation of an Infinite Person hath the like Connexion with the necessity of satisfying Divine Justice in order to the dispensing of Pardon to repenting Offenders And the necessity of satisfying Divine Justice for the end aforesaid hath a necessary Connexion with the Doctrine of the Corruption of Mankind and this Corruption is both fully confessed and easily demonstrated by Reason Thus tho' all the Objects of Faith have not an immediate Correspondence with those of Reason yet these very Doctrines of Faith which lye remoâ—est from the Territories of Reason and seem to have least affinity with its Light are necessarily and clearly connected with those other Principles of Faith which when once discover'd Reason both approves of and can rationally confirm it self in I need not add that the most mysterious Doctrines of Religion are necessarily connected with a Belief of the Bible's being the Word of God and that is a Truth which right Reason is so far from rejecting that it is able to demonstrate the same Now if in Explaining the Phaenomena of Nature which is the proper Province of Reason the most that a discreet Philosopher will pretend to is to declare the possible ways by which a Phoenomenon may be accounted for without presuming to say that it is only performed in this way and that there is no other in which it may be explain'd much more doth it become us in the great Mysteries of Revelation to abstain from defining the Manner how they are and to content our selves with what God hath been pleased to tell us for in such Doctrines these things appertain to Reason 1. To shew that it is not
required to comprehend them whatever God hath said is to be assented to tho' we cannot frame adequate Notions of the Thing it self nor understand the Manner how it should be 'T is as much against Reason as Faith to think to fathom the Perfections Councils and Works of God seeing Reason acknowledgeth him to be infinite and it self finite 2. If we will pretend to Reason in Religion we are to believe whatever God hath said to be true this being the greatest Reason that He who is Truth it self cannot lye there is nothing more consonant to the transcendency of so high a Nature as that of God than that it be acknowledg'd Incomprehensible nor is there any thing more agreeable to his infinite Wisdom than that his Designs and Contrivances shou'd be held past finding out 'T is as well irrational as unjust to think that Man shou'd penetrate those Depths and Abysms which the Angels desire only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to look into as vailed and hidden from sight But on the other hand tho' there are many things contained in Holy Scripture which are above our Reason yet most certainly there is nothing therein which is contradictory thereunto To admit Religion to contain any Dogm's repugnant to right Reason is at once to tempt Men to look upon all Revelation as a Romance or rather as the Invention of distracted Men and withal to open a Door for filling the World with Figments and Lyes under the Palliation of Divine Mysteries We cannot gratifie the Atheist and Infidel more than to tell them that the prime Articles of our Belief imply a Contradiction to our Faculties In a word this Hypothesis were it receiv'd wou'd make us renounce Man and espouse Brute in Matters of the chiefest and greatest Concernment for without debasing our selves into a lower Species we cannot embrace any thing that is formally impossible And when Men have filled Religion with Opinions contrary to common Sence and Natural Light they are forced to introduce a suitable Faith namely such an one that commends it self from believing Doctrines repugnant to the Evidence and Principles of both Thus the first Hereticks that troubled the Christian Church under the pretence of teaching Mysteries overthrew common Sence and did violence to the universal uniform and perpetual Light of Mankind Some of them having taught that all Creatures are naturally Evil others of them having establisht two several Gods one Good another Bad others having affirmed the Soul to be a Particle of the Divine Substance not to mention a thousand Falsities more all these they defended against the Assaults of the Orthodox by pretending that they were Mysteries about which Reason was not to be hearken'd to Thus do others to this day who being resolv'd to obtrude their Phansies upon the World and unable to prove or defend what they say pretend the Spirit of God to be the Author of all their Theorems nor can I assign a better reason for the Antipathy of the Turks to Philosophy than that it overthrows the Follies and Absurdities of their Religion this themselves confess by devoting Almansor to the Vengeance of Heaven because he hath weakened the Faith of Mussel-men in the Alcoran through introducing Learning and Philosophy amongst them In brief Tho' we make not Natural Light the positive Measure of things Divine yet we may safely allow it a Negative Voice we place it not in the Chair in Councils but only permit it to keep the Door to hinder the Entry of Contradictions and irrational Fansies disguis'd under the name of Sacred Mysteries And it is necessary also to be remarkt that when we say there is nothing in Religion which is truly repugnant to Principles of Reason we do not by Principles of Reason understand all that this or that sort of Men vote or receive for such The Universal Reason of Mankind is of great moment but mistaken Philosophy and false Notions of Things which this or that Man admits for Theorems of Reason are of very small importance Men being misled by their Senses Affections Interests and Imaginations do many times mingle Errors and false Conceipts with the genuine Dictates of their Minds and then appeal to them as the Principles of Truth and Reason when they are indeed nothing else but the vain Images of our Phansies and the Conclusion of Ignorance and Mistakes So that in reading the Holy Scriptures it highly concerns us to be very careful that the proper and original Sence of the Words be not neglected there have been those and yet are who will hardly allow any Text of Scripture a proper Sence but do every where obtrude an Allegoric meaning as if that alone were intended by the Holy Ghost and nothing else but such kind of Expositors do in effect little less than undermine the whole Scripture betray Religion and turn the Sacred Oracles into Burlesque Nor is there any Notion so Romantic which the Scripture by a luxuriant Phansie may not at this rate be wrested and debauched to give countenance to yea a very small measure of Wit will serve to pervert the plainest Scripture Testimony to quite another Sence than ever was intended by the Writer of them An Instance of this we have in those who by turning the whole Scripture into Allusions have wrested the Revelations of the Word to justifie their own wild Phantasms and framed the words of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their own private Notions and thereby evacuated the Sublimest Doctrines and most glorious Actions into empty Metaphors and vain Similitudes thus the Person of Christ is allegorised into themselves and the Birth Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour are construed after the manner of Aesop's or Phylostratus's Fables into useful Morals as if these were intended only to declare what is to be done in us by way of Allusion But leaving these and supposing only for the present that there has been a Supernatural or Divine Revelation of the Almighties Will to Mankind which every Moral Man will find his interest to believe and imbrace if it were upon no other account than the Extraordinary Advantage it affords us towards the securing both a Temporal and Eternal Felicity by those Excellent Precepts it contains above what is discoverable in Natural Religion Supposing this I say 't is reasonable for us to think that there can be nothing in this admirable System essential to a Saving Faith or fundamentally necessary to our future Welfare but what is as intelligible as legible to every Reasonable Creature Most certainly the Essentials of Religion consist not in any intricate or perplexing Theory's but in the Practise of our Duties The Lord hath shewed thee O Man saith the Prophet what is good and what doth he require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Again saith another of them Pure Religion and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in Affliction and to keep
characterise the Rational Soul of Man it is by no means to be allowed Whether the Master of its Composition retain'd the same Sentiments at his Death concerning the Reasoning Principle within him I have not inform'd my self but it is easie enough to conceive the Thought more readily indulged that the looser Scheme of Religion might serve turn and that the Sensitive Appetite might not admit of any Restraint by the fears of a Post Mortem aliquid How the Learned S m came in among this Gang is somewhat strange That he was acquainted with them we are given to understand by a Letter of Mr. B t s in which was enclosed an Epitome of Deism I must confess I have been inform'd that excellent Physician was tainted with these Principles but yet I could never understand but that he dy'd far from an irreconcileable Enemy to Christianity and firmly perswaded of a future Retribution I shall not mention such of them as are now living although they seem to pride themselves in having been the Parents of those Monstrous Births which they have boldly set their Names to and deliver'd to the giddy World for the Standards of Truth and Reason it may please Almighty God to enlighten their Understandings and to bring about so happy a Reformation that they may be satisfy'd in the certainty of those Divine Truths which will shine still with the greater Lustre the more powerfully they are assaulted and flourish under the Scandal and Contempt of their malicious Adversaries I must confess I had a great desire to see the Arguments of these Men and when I had procur'd them I look'd them over without any such anticipated Prejudice as could sway me to a Partiality Pro or Contra I rather premise this as believing it no easie matter for any Man who would be thought to have a Respect or Veneration either for God or true Religion to peruse such Treatises without so great an Abhorrence and Detestation of the Authors as will hinder him from giving either a due attention to what they write or to consider throughly the proper weight of their Expressions Now upon a mature and deliberate consideration of what I find they have deliver'd I have ventur'd to pass this Censure that the Authors have plainly discover'd themselves to be Men very far short of sound or right Reasoning of very little Piety and Men of no certain or steddy Principles And this Sentence I have adventur'd to pass upon them on these Accounts that whereas in one place I find them highly pleading for a Natural Religion ridiculing Revelation and mustering up all the Arguments that themselves and their Friends the Libertines can furnish out in another they change their Aspect and submissively condescend that the Scriptures should have some little Authority they speak modestly of the two Testaments calling them Sacred Records and ingeniously confess that since Humane Reason is like a Pitcher with two Ears which may be taken on either side in our Travels to the other World we should choose the Common Road as the safest for tho' Deism may serve to manure our Consciences yet certainly if sowed with Christianity it will produce the most plentiful Crop There is nothing says the same Person in another place where he had been just before using Arguments to the discredit of our Immortality more unaccountable and contradictory than to suppose a hum drum Deity chewing his own Nature a Droaning God sit hugging of himself and hoarding up his Providence from his Creatures This is an Atheism no less irrational than to deny the very Essence of a Divine Being It is the same also to believe the Soul to be Mortal as to believe an Immortality without Rewards and Punishments Thus it is very common with this sort of Men to dogmatize even in the most important Points of Religion strenuously affirming for Truth what their Reason dictates and presently after when they have said all they can they are forced to grant that what they have said is only such twilight Conjecture as Humane Reason of which we yet so vainly boast can furnish them withal 't is now an Aliquid Divinum which does all things and our Capacities being unable to discern the same make us fasten either upon the Elementary Qualities of Hippocrates or Galen or the Cartesian Rule of Geometrical Proportions The Conclusion of all is this that since we are not qualify'd to understand the real Essence or intime Nature of things we can know nothing certainly all our Philosophy excepting Scepticism is little more than Dotage These are their own words which I think may give us a very justifiable occasion to look upon these Men very improper Standards for our Reason or Religion to be directed by and as unfit Oracles for us to consult As for their Divinity if a parcel of fine words will satisfie we may think very devoutly of them but indeed I cannot for my own part perswade my self when I consider the tendency of their common Discourse and their Converse in the World but that their Religion may be fairly resolv'd into 〈◊〉 Deâ—sâ—â— or the single Belief of a first Cause and that our Immortality was tack't to it that the Bait might be swallowed with the less suspition and the extravagant Absurdity of their Novel Opinions less strictly examin'd or inquir'd into For when we find Men devoted to the study of â—â—religion to frame and invent Arguments to disturb and perplex our Faith we have surely but little Reason to think well of their Persons or to regard their Speeches And that this has been the design of those I am speaking of even the whole bent of their Minds in manifest enough in the manner of their paraphrasing the Mosaick History in their endeavours to establish the Sufficiency of Natural Religion to future Happiness and opposing the same to the Revelation of Christ Jesus in their collecting Arguments out of Ethnic Authors for the Mortality of the Soul and the Eternity of the World in their inâ—â—â—â—â—ting a Possibility for a free and reasoning Principle to be compatible to Matter and all this with the same Assurance as if they had receiv'd Intelligence from the Court of Heaven I am inform'd one of their late Treatises which contains the Heads of their Opinions will be e're long taken to pieces and judiciously examined however difficult the Task may appear I see nothing in them to discourage any ingenious Man in the Undertaking for if we deprive them of their Varnish and set them in a clear Light we shall find but little in them more than empty Sound and insignificant Harangue They have been either feignedly or really ignorant of Antiquity which is clear from their gross mis-representation of some Passages and their falsifying downright in others They have rack't their Brains for their beloved Cause of Natural Religion but have not offer'd which they ought first of all to have done one Syllable to disprove the Founder of the Christian Religion or the
can be equal to two right Angles If a Man knows not that Non-Entity or the Absence of all Being cannot be equal to two right Angles it is impossible that he should know any Demonstration in Euclid If therefore we know there is some real Being and that Non-Entity cannot produce any real Being it is an evident Demonstration that from Eternity there has been something since what was from Eternity had a Beginning and what had a Beginning must be produced from something else 4. Next It is evident that what had its Being and Beginning from another must also have all that which is in and belongs to its Being to another too all the Power it has must be owing to and received from the same Source This Eternal Source then of all Being Being must also be the Source and Original of all Power and so this Eternal Being must be also the most powerful 5. Again A Man finds in himself Perception and Knowledge we have then got one step farther and we are certain now that there is not only some Being but some knowing Intelligent Being in the World There was a time then when there was no knowing Being and when Knowledge began to be or else there has been also a knowing Being from Eternity If it be said there was a time when no Being had any Knowledge when that Eternal Being was void of all Understanding I reply That then it was impossible there should ever have been any Knowledge it being as impossible that things wholly void of Knowledge and operating blindly without any Perception should produce a knowing Being as it is impossible that a Triangle should make it self three Angles bigger than two right ones for it is as repugnant to the Idea of sensless Matter that it should put into it self Sense Perception and Knowledge as it is repugnant to the Idea of a Triangle that it should put into it self greater Angles than two right ones 6. Thus from the Consideration of our Selves and what we infallibly find in our own Constitutions our Reason leads us to the knowledge of this certain and evident Truth That there is an eternal most powerful and most knowing Being which whether any one will please to call God it matters not the thing is evident and from this Idea duly considered will easily be deduced all those other Attributes we ought to ascribe to this Eternal Being If nevertheless any one should be found so senslesly arrogant as to suppose Man alone knowing and wise but yet the Product of meer Ignorance and Chance and that all the rest of the Universe is acted only by that blind Hap-hazard I shall leave with him that very rational and emphatical Rebuke of Tully Lib. 2. de Leg. to be consider'd leisurely Quid est enim verius quam neminem esse oportere tam stulte arrogantem ut in se Mentem Rationem putet inesse in Coelo Mundóque non putet aut ea quae vix summâ Ingenij ratione comprehendat nulla ratione moveri putet Or that of the Philosopher Egregie mentiuntur qui dicunt non esse Deum etiamsi enim interdiu negant Noctu tamen sibi dubitant From what has been said it is plain to me we have a more certain knowledge of the Existence of a God than of any thing our Senses have not immediately discovered to us Nay I presume I may say that we more certainly know that there is a God than that there is any thing else without us When I say we know I mean that there is such a Knowledge within our reach which we cannot miss if we will but apply our Minds to that as we do to several other Enquiries 7. How far the Idea of a most perfect Being which a Man may frame in his Mind does or does not prove the Existence of a God I will not here examine for in the different make of Mens Tempers and application of their Thoughts some Arguments prevail more on one and some on another for the confirmation of the same Truth But yet I think this I may say that it is an ill way of establishing this Truth and silencing Atheists to lay the whole stress of so important a Point as this upon that sole foundation and take some Mens having that Idea of God in their Minds for 't is evident some Men have none and some worse than none and the most very indifferent for the only proof of a Deity and out of an over-fondness of that darling Invention cashier or at least endeavour to invalidate all other Arguments and forbid us to hearken to those proofs as being weak or fallacious which our own Existence and the sensible parts of the Universe offer so clearly and cogently to our Thoughts that I deem it impossible for a considering Man to withstand them for I judge it as certain and clear a Truth as can any where be delivered that the invisible things of God are clearly seen from the Creation of the World being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead Tho' our own Being furnishes us as I have shewn with an Evident and incontestible Proof of a Deity and I believe no Body can avoid the Cogency of it who will but as carefully attend to it as to any other Demonstration of so many parts yet this being so fundamental a Truth and of that consequence that all Religion and genuine Morality depend thereon I doubt not but I shall be forgiven if I go over some parts of this Argument again and inlarge a little more thereon 8. There is no Truth more evident than that something must be from Eternity I never yet heard of any one so unreasonable that could suppose so manifest a Contradiction as a time wherein there was perfectly nothing this Being of all Absurdities the greatest to imagine that pure Nothing the perfect Negation and Absence of all Being should ever produce any real Existence It being then unavoidable for all rational Creatures to conclude that something has existed from Eternity let us next see what kind of thing that must be 9. There are but two sorts of Beings in the World that Man knows or conceives First Such as are purely material without Sense Perception or Thought Secondly Sensible thinking and perceiving Beings which if you please we will hereafter call cogitative and incogitative Beings being more to our present purpose and perhaps better terms than Material and Immaterial 10. If then there must be something Eternal let us see what sort of Being it must be And to that it is very obvious to Reason that it must necessarily be a cogitative Being for it is as impossible to conceive that ever bare incogitative Matter should produce a thinking Intelligent Being as that nothing should of it self produce Matter Let us suppose any Parcel of Matter Eternal great or small we shall find it in it self able to produce nothing for example Let us suppose the Matter of the next
voluntary Motions which are produced in us only by the free Thoughts of our own Minds and are not nor can be the Effects of the impulse or determination of the Motion of blind Matter in or upon our Bodies for then it could not be in our power or choice to alter it For example My right hand writes whilst my left hand is still what causes Rest in one and Motion in the other nothing but my Will a Thought of my Mind my Thought only changing the right hand rests and the left hand moves this is matter of fact which cannot be deny'd Explain this and make it intelligible and then the next step will be to understand Creation For the giving a new determination to the Motion of the Animal Spirits which some make use of to explain voluntary Motion clears not the difficulty one jotâ— to alter the determination of Motion being in this Case no easier nor less than to give Motion it self since the new determination given to the Animal Spirits must be either immediately by Thought or by some other Body put in their way by Thought which was not in their way before and so must own its Motion to Thought either of which leaves voluntary Motion as unintelligible as it was before In the mean time it is an over-valuing our selves to reduce all to the narrow measure of our Capacities and to conclude all things impossible to be done whose manner of doing exceeds our Comprehension this is to make our Comprehension infinite or God finite when what He can do is limited to what we conceive of it If you do not understand the operations of your own finite Mind that thinking Thing within you do not deem it strange that you cannot comprehend the operations of that Eternal infinite Mind who made and governs all things and whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain I hope my Friend you will more readily excuse the foregoing Prolixity on the account that first Principles especially those of so great moment as these before us ought to be as clearly and satisfactorily prov'd as it is possible which if upon your most serious Reflection you find establisht beyond opposition I expect that from this moment you date the downfal of your Atheism and that you presently commence Deist in order to turn Christian. I know of no better way of arguing with the meer natural Man or with such who value themselves so highly upon the strength of their own Judgment or Humane Reason than to endeavour their Conviction by the most rational Deductions from as rational Propositions whether or no these are such which I have transferr'd hither from the Writings of these two famous Men I must leave you to consider I confess there is little hopes of reclaiming such fool-hardy Libertines who argue for their Infidelity by the same powers in their Souls which to the more considerate are convincing proofs That the Soul which is invested with such mighty Power must undoubtedly be a Substance independant of Corporiety and consequently incapable of suffering an extinction with the Lamp of Life but of the Nature of the Rational Soul of Man and its different Existence from the Soul of Brutes I shall discourse elsewhere having here confin'd my self more particularly to enquire after the Author of our own Being and all others which surround us There have been many Methods used in handling of this Subject and indeed were our Opponents so full of Reason as they pretend one might wonder that any of them should prove insufficient I shall not here stay to examine the Certainty of that Cartesian Notion That 't is impossible we could have had any Idea of that infinite Eternal all-wise Being we call God if such a Being did not really exist or were not in rerum Natura But of this we may be satisfy'd that unless we do believe there is such an immense Being has created us with a design not to deceive us we must be pure Scepticks for it is impossible without this Belief we should be fully assur'd of any Truth whatsoever and therefore I think 't is not without Cause that the Philosopher lays this down as a necessary Introduction to Science Nihil intelligitur nisi Deus prius intelligatur Having proved the Necessity of some Eternal cogitative Being by a train of Arguments which are founded upon right Reason neither supported by Tradition or Authority either Sacred or Profane I shall next inquire how it comes to pass that this first and if I may so say greatest Truth the Foundation of all true Happiness is so wonderfully obscur'd effac'd and even obliterated out of the Hearts of a great part of Mankind Whosoever will take the trouble to inform himself after what manner most People account for the Productions they see daily brought to pass may easily understand that where one Man speaks either reasonably or becomingly of the great Author of the Universe and acknowledges any such Being as superintends the agency of second Causes there are abundantly more who look no farther than the empty Sounds of Fate Fortune Chance Destiny and in their Enquiries into the Structure of Humane Bodies or the Discords of the Animal Oeconomy you rarely find any thing more particularly taken notice of than the Archaeus by some by others the Plastick Power and indeed by all most commonly a certain Nature which tho' continually in their Expressions they know not what to make of Excuse me Sir if I think it worth my while to examine which of these can supply the place of an Almighty or of any real efficient Cause or with what reason we can ascribe unto either of these nominal Agents the Operations imputed to them Fate or Destiny saith SENECA is an immutable and invincible Law imposed upon Things and Actions You will say perhaps that this thing shall happen or not happen if it must come to pass altho ' you vow and make your request yet shall it take effect If it shall not come to pass vow and pray as much as you list yet it shall not fall out Now the Consequence saith he of this Argument is false because you have forgot the Exception that I have put between them both that is to say This shall happen provided a Man makes Vows and Prayers it must necessarily happen that to vow or not to vow are comprehended in and are parts of the same Destiny Again It is destinated or it is such a Man's fate to be an eloquent Man but under this Condition it is likewise destinated that he be instructed in good Letters It is destinated for another Man to he rich but here 't is included in the same Destiny that be make use of the means for their procurement So likewise may it be said it was such a Man's destiny to be hang'd but here that he render himself guilty of some capital Offence for which he is convicted by the Law is part of the same Destiny In the sence wherein these words are
and servile Refuge as they express themselves of recurring to a Miracle the Founders say they of which have always been some subtil Impostors who to promote an Interest or to serve their own turn have found it no very difficult Matter to impose upon the Mole-ey'd Multitude And at this rate not only the Supernatural Actions of the Apostles but the Surprising and Stupendious ones of their Master Jesus Christ must either by these Men be utterly deny'd or resolv'd if it were possible by the generally establisht Laws or in their own words by the Powers of Nature so that we must either believe the History of our Saviour to be pure Forgery a Romantic Legend fob'd upon us by designing Men or else we must have recourse to the Men of this piercing Apprehension and consult them as our Oracles for an Explanation of those Accounts which we poor silly Creatures believe to have been miraculous It is in vain I know to send you to that Sacred History where so many of these Stupendious and Divine Operations are faithfully recorded whilst you continue so Sceptical as to doubt concerning the Credit of the Historian or so much an Infidel as to deny the History to be an Authentic Record If you can believe there was ever such a Person as Jesus Christ or such Men as his Apostles which I think in reason you are as much obâ—ig'd as to believe that there were any Contemporary Prince or People at that time upon Earth nay setting aside the remoteness of Place and Time as that there ever was such a Person as King Charles the First in England or Lowis the Thirteenth in France If I say you can concede this I would then beg you to consider which way or by what means you can conceive it possible that the surprising and supernatural Acts of those we are now speaking of such as the turning Water into Wine satisfying the hungry Appetites of many hundreds with no more then naturally sufficâ—d for some few single Persons Walking upon the Surface of the Water restoring the Sick by a word speaking and commanding the Dead to arise from the Grave with many others which were performed not clandestinely or in private but in the midst of very great Assemblies or a large Concourse of People and those for the most part implacable Enemies and consequently very curious in sifting out the Truth I say I would fain know which way you can conjecture a Possibility that a Design of this Import and Universal Tendency cou'd be fraudulently carried on inperceptibly to that great Number of Auditors and Spectators who were not wholly made up of the giddy Rabble or inconsiderate Mob but had some even of the Priests and Elders of the Jewish Church Men doubtless too well acquainted with the Powers of Matter and Motion to be impos'd on to attest the Truth of many of these Operations We may easily believe that those who lookt upon the Gospel Promulgation as an insupportable Burthen and Incroachment and accounted it no other than a kind of Heretical Innovation upon their more anciently establisht Law would make it their Business to pry into and enquire with their utmost Caution into the truth of those Facts which finding themselves obliged to acknowledge Supernatural or Surmounting the Laws of Nature or the force of Second Causes yet rather than confess any such Matter as a Divine Energy they would have them to be transacted by a Diabolical Assistance I might make I think a farther very rational Query Whether you can believe the Accounts we have given us in Ecclesiastick History of the Martyrdoms or painful Sufferings of some of these Apostles If you do believe any of these Accounts as I think you may those at least which are recorded by some Friends even of the Tyrants themselves who were concern'd in the Patriarchal Tragedies it will be worth while to enquire into the Motives which induced them to hazard their Lives by taking on them their several Embassses If instead of Honour you find they had Disgrace instead of Riches and Grandeur Poverty and Contempt if instead of Courtesie Civility and Respect they met with nothing but Reproach and Railery Lastly if for all their hardship instead of Temporal Promotion and Preferment they willingly submitted to an accursed ignominious and painful Death you then must either think there never were any such Men and thus by the same liberty you may disbelieve any such Places as the Countries where 't is reported they suffer'd Death or if you think there were you must believe them either distracted or finally that in following the Direction of their great Patron they acted like Men truly reasonable and discreet and in that they preferr'd a Life of Misery Anguish Disquiet and Tribulation it is plain they had an Assurance as well as Expectation of their Reward elsewhere and that they question'd not to find a sufficient Recompence bestow'd upon them for all their Sufferings in those Sacred Mansions not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens But of this I shall discourse more hereafter when I come to give you my Opinion of Reveal'd Religion In the mean time if none of those unaccountable Phaenomena which latter Ages have produc'd some of which have been transacted within the compass of our own Memory and many more within a Century last past such as Voices Specters Apparitions Stupendious Recoveries of the Sick and Lame together with the Satanical Powers of Fascination and Diabolical Possessions if these I say however sufficiently attested will not be sufficient to induce you to believe that there ever was such a Thing as a Supernatural Production but that all Things are burried on by an establisht Law or in your own more pleasing words by an irresistible Fate or Destiny and that all Effects are the pure Result of Matter under its several Modifications whose Powers were never superseded by any higher Principle and farther that there are no such extraordinary Prints of a Divinity or Marks of Wisdom conspicuous in the Creation I would then desire you with as much attention as you can considerately to examine the Structure of your own Body And if you begin with a Survey even of an inconsiderable part thereof such as your Fingers in each of these as is well remarkt by Mr. B you will find Bones and Cartilages Ligaments and Membranes Muscles and Tendons Nerves and Arteries Veins and Skin and Cuticle and Nail together with the Medulla the Fat and Blood and other nutritious Juices and all these solid parts of a determinate size and figure texture and scituation and each of them made up of myriads of little Fibres and Filaments not discoverable to the naked Eye I say when you consider how innumerable Parts must constitute so small a Member surely you cannot look upon it or the whole Body wherein appear so much fitness use and subserviency to infinite Functions any otherwise than as the Effect of Skill and Contrivance If this will not extort a
him distinct from the Sensitive Soul of Brutes and a Power Superiour to Sensation we might reasonably interrogate with the Judicious Willis Cur non Quadrupedes aeque ac Homo Intellectu Ratiocineo polleant immo Scientias Artes discant quandoquidem in utriusque preter Animas pariter Immateriales eadem prorsus fit Conformatio Organorum Animalium à quibus sane Animam rationalem dum in Corpore est quoad Actus habitus suos pondere constat quoniam laesis aut impeditis Organis horum privatio aut Eclipsis succedit Quamobrem quod Bruti Anima iisdem ac Homo Organis utens nihil praeclare scire nec supra Actus Objecta materialia assurgere potest plane sequitur illum ab Anima rationali diversam insuter longe inferiorem materialem esse But to proceed Those who hold no difference between the Soul of Man and Brutes with respect to Essence and at the same time will allow Sacred Authority wou'd do well to consider whether it be reasonable to think the latter were endow'd with that Divine Spiraculum which the former was honour'd with in his Creation if they think it reasonable they strike at the Mosaic Relation if they do not let them tell me what that Spiraculum was if not the Rational Spirit And indeed if this alone were well consider'd we shou'd hear no more of the Rationality of Brutes from those who acknowledge the Truth of Revelation But farther That this Reasonable Soul is a Spiritual Incorporeal Substance we have this to alledge for that it is Rational and has a freedom of Choice neither of which can possibly belong to Matter for all the Motions of Matter are necessarily made no Choice but Force must make its Motion and that Force must be immediate for Matter moves no longer than the Impulse lasts but to deliberate and judge of a Train of Consequences is no immediate impulsion of Matter for those Consequences are not yet in Being but only such as will be upon our acting thus or thus nay perhaps only such things as may but never will be but to choose to act as such power we have and every Man feels it within himself purely in regard to those Consequences is many times to act in opposition to all the immediate and strong Impresses of Matter and hence it is apparent that neither Will nor Reason do belong to Matter but to something vastly different Again The Animal Spirits make no other Impression on the Brain than as things appear not always as they are which Error is corrected yes you 'l say but 't is corrected by the Senses themselves But what puts the Senses in the way and method to correct themselves If the Senses are their own directing Power then all Creatures that are alike sensible wou'd be alike knowing and meer Animals wou'd be daily finding out new Arts and Inventions as well as Man It is impossible to give the least shadow of a Reason why it should be otherwise unless we allow a Principle in Man which Brutes have not we see except Man all Creatures of the same kind run in one constant and setled Method whilst he is not only learning from every thing he sees but invents how to learn and try the Truth or Falshood of this or that Invention by Experiments and sometimes he finds himself in the right sometimes in the wrong Now tho' in these Cases the Truth or Falshood of this or that Invention is proved by the Senses yet the Invention preceded the Proof and therefore could not be from the Information of the Senses Besides 't is yet more evident those Inventions are not from the Senses but from another Principle because the same are sometime false and will not hold but when we come to prove them our Senses will bring in no such Appearances For altho' we know nothing but a posteriori from the Operations and Effects of Things yet from visible Operations and Effects we can consider and reason about the Nature of the Invisible Operator as from the Beauty and Order of the Universe we reason that there must be a mighty Wise and Invisible Power that framed and continues the same Now the Impressions of Matter upon Sense go no farther than so these Appearances are and here of necessity we should ever rest had we no other Principle but Matter and cou'd never enquire how or why things come to be so but when we advance to the Notion of an Invisible Operator then certainly we outfly our Senses unless our Eyes are so good as to see an Invisible Object But suppose there is no such Invisible Object but that all our Notions concerning such a Being are but meer Chimaera's let us for Argument sake suppose all that however whether the Notion of an invisible Incorporeal Operator be true or false so much is true that there is such a Notion amongst Men and that it is a full Evidence that there is an incorporeal Principle in Man because Matter cannot possibly impress or be imprest with any other but material Idea's therefore were Man's whole Compositum pure Matter he cou'd not possibly stir beyond material Idea's and the World had never heard of Immaterial Substance To confirm this I shall here add the Opinion of one whose Sentiments upon other Matters I have elsewhere made bold with The Considerations saith he which may be alledg'd in favour of the Soul's Immortality are either Physical or Moral The former are such as arise from the Nature of the Soul her self and do all of them seem to refer to this one Capital Argument The Reasonable Soul of Man is Immaterial and therefore Immortal The reason whereof is what wants Matter wants likewise Parts into which it might be distracted or dissolved and what is incapable of being dissolved must of necessity always continue to be what it is for whatever is of a Nature free from the Conditions of Matter or Body doth neither carry the Principles of Dissolution in it self nor fear them from External Agents There are but two ways comprehensible by the Understanding how any thing that hath Existence in Nature can perish the one is by the Exolution and Dissipation of the Parts of which it was composed the other by an absolute Adnibilation of its Entity as the Schoolmen phrase it The former way of destruction is peculiar to Corporeals and the latter may be competent to Incorporeals But to argue à possi ad esse that God doth or will adnihilate any thing because it as in his power is much below any good Logician to infer nor are we to suppose any Innovation in the general state of things but that the Course of the Universe doth constantly and invariably proceed in the same manner or tumour of method which was at first instituted by the Wisdom of the Creator Now to prove that there is a power in us above the sensitive Soul or independent of Matter notwithstanding this great Man was in
put at the Focus of the Convex Glass a little piece of Stuff or brown Paper the Rays of the Sun make so great an impression upon this Stuff or Paper and agitate the small Particles thereof with so great a violence that they break and separate them from one another in a word they burn them or reduce them into Smoak and Ashes Thus we must conclude from this Experience that if the Pupil through which the Light passes were so dilated that it wou'd admit an easie passage for the Rays of the Sun or on the contrary were so contracted as to obstruct them our Retina wou'd suffer the same thing as the Paper or piece of Stuff and the Fibres wou'd be so very much agitated that they wou'd soon be broken and burnt It is for this Reason that most Men are sensible of a Pain if they look upon the Sun but for one moment because they cannot so well close up the Orifice of the Pupil but that there will enter sufficient Rays to agitate the Strings of the Optic Nerve with much violence and not without danger of breaking them The Soul has no knowledge of what we have spoke and when it looks upon the Sun it neither perceives its Optic Nerve noâ— any Motion in it But that 's not the Error 't is only a simple Ignorance The first Error it falls into is that it judges the Pain it feels is in its Eyes If immediately after looking upon the Sun we go into a dark place with our Eyes open the Motion of the Fibres of the Optic Nerve caused by the Rays of the Sun diminishes and changes by little and little this is all the Change that can be perceived in the Eyes however 't is not what the Soul perceives there but only a white and yellow Light Its second Error is it judges that the Light it sees is in the Eyes or upon the next Wall In fine the Agitation of the Fibres of the Retina always diminishes and ceases by little and little for when a Body has been shaken nothing can be perceived in it but a diminution of its Motion but 't is not that which the Soul perceives in its Eyes it sees the White become an Orange colour afterwards Red and then Blue and the reason of this Error is that we judge there are Changes in our Eyes or upon the next Wall that differ much as to the more or less because the Blue Orange and Red colours which we see differ much otherwise amongst themselves besides in the more or less These are some Errors which we are subject to in reference to Light and Colours and these Errors beget many others Thus the Learned and Devout Father proceeds in this Sublime and Curious Speculation and whatever Consequences may be drawn by designing Men from the Modification of our Souls by the Supream Being as might be instanc't in some few Particulars yet most certainly there are many weighty Truths depending on this noble Theory and whoever dives into the bottom of the Notion may not unlikely find that however some Superficial Wits may calumniate and despise it his Divine Faith may be exalted and a more profound Esteem and Veneration raised for that Power from whom is derived all the Benefits we can enjoy By a serious Enquiry of this Nature we might undoubtedly arrive at a more certain Account of the Nature and Usefulness of that infinite number of little Beings which we call Species and Idea's which are as nothing and which represent all things that we create and destroy when we please and that our Ignorance hath made us imagine to render a Reason for Things that we understand not we should likewise be enabled to show the solidity of their Opinion who believe God is the true Father of Light who only instructs all Men without whom the most simple Truths cou'd not be intelligible nor wou'd the Sun how bright soever be so much as visible to us And of theirs who acknowledge no other Nature than the Will of God and who upon such like Reflections have confessed that the Idea's which represent the Creatures to us are only the Perfections of the Divine Being which answer to those same Creatures and represent them to us The second of these new Hypotheses tho' I conceive its first rise from the same Fountain with the former yet I find the same very strenuously pleaded for and judiciously vindicated by our Country-man Mr. Norris and this is the Doctrine of the Divine Light as it relates to the Humane Intellect of which that I may give you a short Specimen or briefly hint to you I must take notice that in one part of his Treatise he cites Monsieur Malebranch who considering with himself all the possible ways of Humane Understanding or whereby we come to have the Idea's of things without us makes this Division or Enumeration of them 1. It is necessary that these Idea's should either proceed from the Objects Or 2. that our Mind has a power of producing them Or 3. That God should produce them either with the Mind when he creates it or occasionally as often as we think of any Object 4 Or that the Mind should possess in it self all the Perfections which it sees in things Or 5thly and lastly that it be united to some absolutely perfect Being that includes in himself all the Perfections of Created Beings After this Enumeration I find that both the Father and after him Mr. Norris have pitched upon the last of these as the only Expedient to help us in the manner of our Knowledge or Understanding and it is on the same Basis that the latter hath erected the following Scheme I. Whereas saith he the Qu rs talk of this Light within as of some Divine Communication or Manifestation only I make it to be the very Essence and Substance of the Deity which I suppose virtually to contain all things in it and to be intimately united to our Minds II. They represent this Light within as a sort of extraordinary Inspiration whence they have the name of Enthusiasts whereas according to my Notion it is a Man's natural and ordinary way of Understanding III. Farther if I mistake not They confine their Light within to some certain Objects namely Moral and Spiritual Truths in order only to the Direction of Practise and accordingly make it a Suppliment to Scripture which they say is not sufficient without it nor indeed any more than a meer dead Letter On the other hand I appropriate not this Divine Light to Moral or Spiritual Truths or Things but extend it as far as all Truth yea as far as all that is intelligible which I believe to be perceived and understood in this Divine Light as I explain it IV. They viz. the Q rs make their Light within a special Priviledge of a certain Order of Men their own Party not indeed as to the possibility because they suppose all Men to be indifferently capable of this Divine
Illumination as may appear from their contending against Predestination and for Universal Grace but tho' they do not make it a special Priviledge as to the possibility yet they do as to the act making none but those of their own way to be actually inlighten'd by it whereas according to my Principles this is no special Priviledge but the common and universal Benefit of all Men yea of all the Intelligent Creation who all see and understand in this Light of God without which there would be neither Truth nor Understanding V. Again By their Light within they understand some determinate form'd Dictate or Proposition expresly and positively directing and instructing them to do so or so Now according to my Notion this Divine Light is only the Essential Truth of God which indeed is always present to my Understanding as being intimately united with it but does not formally enlighten or instruct me unless when I attend to it and read what is written in those Divine Ideal Characters VI. And lastly they offer not any Rational or Intelligible account of the Light within neither as to the thing nor as to the mode of it but cant only in some loose general Expressions about the Light which they confirm with the Authority of St. John's Gospel tho' they understand neither one nor t'other Whereas I have offer'd a Natural Distinct and Philosophical way of Explaining both namely by the Omniformity of the Ideal World or the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who has in himself the Essences and Ideas of all things and in whom the same are perceived by us and by all Creatures I shall not detain you with my own Comments hereupon any otherwise than by informing you that so far as I am able to apprehend the same may be a solid Truth I mean Mr. Norris's Explanation of the Divine Light Futurity will make us all wiser and open a Door to those recluse Arcana or hidden Mysteries which in this Life are likely to be veiled from our Eyes Adieu LETTER IV. Of Religion To Mr. c. The certainty of Revelation in Time past The Fallacy of Modern Inspiration and the Danger of Enthusiasm My good Friend IT is with no small concern that I have left my former Argument of the Soul and yet methinks I am not perfectly without hopes that you will find something therein to evidence its Immortality for altho' the one half of what may be alledg'd in its Vindication cannot be reduc'd to the narrow limits of an Epistle yet if I mistake not there are some few of the Physical Arguments do manifestly evince that without supposing it to be a Spiritual Incorporeal Substance whatever Jargon this may seem to the absolute Corporealist there are many of its Phaenomena will be eternally incapable of any tolerable or allowable Explanation I shall therefore earnestly request you that you live not in a contempt of it for notwithstanding the Powers of Sense and Imagination may so obscure and darken the pure Acts of the Mind as to perswade you that Will and Reason arise from the same Principle assure your self that an immediate prospect of another Life will change the Scene the intercepting Curtain will open and represent the Anti-chamber of Death where you will find your self in the midst of such Confusion Horrour Consternation and Perplexity as nothing will be able to mitigate but a sincere Penitence or fervent Contrition a devout and humble Prosternation of your Soul to the Power offended and if the dread of this being insufficient still highten your disturbance you may tast perhaps that Hell you so very lately had ridicul'd by way of Anticipation before your fatal Leap from the dismal and horrid Praecipice of Life 1. It must be done my Soul but 't is a strange A dismal and mysterious Change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown somewhere wing away When Time shall be Eternity and Thou Shalt be thou know'st not what and live Thou know'st not how 2. Amasing State no wonder that we dread To think of Death or view the Dead Thou' rt all wrapt up in Clouds as if to Thee Our very Knowledge had Antipathy Death could not a more sad Retinue find Sickness and Pain before and Darkness all behind 3. Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be You warn us of approaching Death and why May we not know from you what 't is to dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty 4. When Life 's close knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age untye When after some delays some dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity 5. So when the spacious Globe was delug'd o're And lower Holds could save no more On th' utmost Bough the astonisht Sinners stood And view'd the Advances of th' encroaching Flood O'retopt at length by th' Elements increase With Horror they resign'd to the untry'd Abyss Thus has the ingenious Mr. Norris most livelily represented the frightful Exit of the departing Soul but to avoid any farther Interruption I shall hasten to my intended Discourse with this Expectation if not Assurance that on whatsoever side you find right Reason you will make no Opposition or where the Light of your Understanding shines clearly forth that you by no means stifle or study to obscure the same Whoever then has once admitted and does unfeignedly believe the Truth of these Three Propositions viz. That there is a most powerful and wise Being the first Cause of all things That the same Being does inspect or take notice of the Actions of Mankind and will retribute to every one according to those Actions in a Life to come whoso I say has granted these will find himself at no great loss to conceive that it highly behoves him to have a regard both to his Thoughts and Actions to do nought indeliberately but to regulate the Conduct of his whole Life by some such certain just and immutable Rule as he foresees is most likely to tend to his Security and Well-being Now it having pleased this All-wise Being to endow his darling Favourite Man above the other Creatures with a Principle of Reason and to be himself a Light unto his Soul wherein he may Contemplate those other Beings which surround him we need not dispute but that by a devout consulting this Intestine Director or Dictator we may come to understand what Measures are to be taken for our Information If by the alone assistance of this Natural Light in the Understanding we find it neither practicable nor possible to invent any such Laws or Rules as would be agreed unto by the Body of Mankind or such as wou'd never need any Alteration but be comply'd with and understood and all this while contain every thing necessary to the discharging of
our Duty to our God and to each other If Humane Reason or the Light of Nature is insufficient to direct us to such a uniform and steddy Rule or System of Laws or if it cou'd since the greater part of Men wou'd think themselves unconcern'd or under no necessity to observe them on the account of a Deficiency in Authority or a want of a Divine Sanction or Manumission it is reasonable as well as natural for us to wish and expect upon these accounts that our Maker wou'd in some manner reveal Himself unto us that He wou'd prescribe our Laws and stamp the same with some Divine Impression whereby we might be enabled to discover their Authority and read in them the Characters of a more than Humane Contrivance or Composition Whether or no this Almighty Being has made any such Discovery of his Will to the World or revealed to them such Laws or Rules of Worship as will be most acceptable to Him is the Business of our present Enquiry for let me tell you whatever Noise our Deists have made in the World about the Sufficiency of Natural Religion we have very little reason to think them in good earnest If their Natural Religion does oblige them to believe in God and to confess the Truth of the Souls Immortality how comes it to pass that the Result of such a Faith is so little conspicuous in their Lives and Conversations and why I pray is it that the Precepts of Christianity which aim at nothing more than the Happiness of Mankind and contain the compleatest System both of Moral and Divine Laws to direct us in our Duty shou'd be no more regarded 'T is plain enough to every sober and judicious Man that there is nothing in reveal'd Religion that can seem harsh even to a real Deist He that is a Deist in good earnest will find it his highest Interest and Concern to do every thing which Christianity has enjoyn'd upon which score since we find it otherwise we have abundant cause to think with a Learned Man That Revelation in it self is not the stumbling Block it is not the Fundamentals of the Christian Doctrine nor yet the Articles of her Creed it is the Duty to God and our Neighbour that is such an inconsistent incredible Legend He who is more than a Nominal Deist must heartily subscribe this following Confession which that you may be the better opinion'd of I shall give you in their own words We do believe that there is an infinitely powerful wise and good God who superintends the Actions of Mankind in order to retribute to every one according to their Deserts Neither are we to boggle at this Creed for if we do not stick to it we ruine the Foundation of all Humane Happiness and are in effect no better than meer Atheists Whatsoever is adorable saith another of them aimiable and imitable by Mankind is in one supream infinite and perfect Being which we call God who is to be worshipped by an inviolable adherence in our Lives to all the things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an imitation of all his infinite Perfections especially his Goodness and believing magnificently of it Again in their new Scheme of Natural Religion I find acknowledg'd the following Particulars 1. That there is one Infinite Eternal God Creator of all things 2. That he governs the World by Providence 3. That 't is our Duty to worship and obey Him as our Creator and Governour 4. That our worship consists in Prayer to Him and Praise of Him 5. That our Obedience consists in the Rules of Right Reason the Practice whereof is Moral Vertue 6. That we are to expect Rewards and Punishments hereafter according to our Actions in this Life 7. And lastly When we err from the Rules of our Duty that we repent us and trust in God's Mercy for our Pardon Now show me the Man who acts according to this Faith and let him be never so well opinion'd of Natural Religion I make it no question but he will readily acknowledge as the most considerate and judicious of them have always done that Christianity however mysterious is indisputably the best method of cultivating Mens Minds and manuring their Consciences I must confess with Mr. Norris were we to consult the perverse Glosses and Comments of some Christian Rabbins and to take our Measures of this Religion from those ill-favour'd Draughts of it we may sometimes meet with we shou'd be induc'd to think that as some Christians are the worst of Men so will their Religion appear to be the worst of Religions an Institution unworthy the Contrivance even of a wise Politician much less of Him who is the Father of Wisdom And indeed whatever Declamations are made against Judaism and Paganism the worst Enemies of the Christian Religion are some of those who profess and teach it for if it be in reality as some of those who call themselves Orthodox describe it we may boldly say that it is neither for the Reputation of God to be the Author of such a Religion nor for the Interest of Men to be guided by it Those of whom this Author more particularly takes notice as the Misrepresenters of Christianity are first of all the Antinomians who are impudent and ignorant enough in express terms to assert that the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ does wholly excuse us from all manner of Duty and Obedience Secondly the Solifidians who under pretence of Advancing the Merits of the Cross and â—he Freeness of the Divine Grace require nothing of a Christian in order to his Justification and Acceptance before God but firmly to rely on the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ and without any more to do to apply all to himself And thirdly Those who have a share in the foremention'd Charge are such who make Christianity a Matter of bare Speculation rending and dividing themselves from one another by those unhappy and dangerous Disputations which instead of making Proselytes to the Truth of Christianity have drawn Men first of all to Deism afterwards to Scepticism and thence by a very easie step to Infidelity and Atheism These are they who think all Religion absolved in Orthodoxy of Opinion that care not how men live but only how they teach and are so over-intent upon the Creed that they neglect the Commandments little considering that Opinion is purely in order to Practise and that Orthodoxy of Judgment is necessary only in such Matters where a Mistake wou'd be of dangerous influence to our Actions that is in Fundamentals so that the necessity of thinking rightly is derived from the necessity of doing rightly and consequently the latter is the most necessary of the two Having touched on some few of those particular Opinions which have brought a Scandal upon Revealed Religion and very much obscur'd its glorious Lustre it behoves me to say something to Revelation it self which I shall do in the words of a late Author As
prodigiously Cruel which plainly demonstrates how unfit he was to lay claim to the Prophetic Priviledge and Dignity If we consult the Doctrine of the Alcoran we have all the Evidence that the Reason of Man can desire that it neither did nor cou'd proceed from God It is true there are some things in it stolen from the Scripture but even those are so perversly related and so wretchedly corrupted with Fables that they lose the very similitude of Truth through the villainous management of them Persons are so misnam'd Times are so mistaken the whole so interlarded with Contradictions and disguised with Absurdities that we must needs say the Contriver had a bad Memory and a worse Understanding In a word the whole Alcoran is nothing but a Cento of Heathenism Judaism and Christianity all miserably corrupted and as wildly blended together The Doctrines of it are for the most part either impossible blasphemous or absurd The Rewards promised to the Embracers of it are impure and foolish The whole was at first invented out of Pride and Ambition propagated by Violence and Rapine and is still maintain'd in the ways it was establisht Profound Ignorance Sensual Baits and force of Arms gave it its first Promotion and do still maintain its Credit in the World Thus the meanest Reason if duly exercised is able manifestly to disprove the Divinity of the Alcoran This Business of Revelation has been of late so curiously handled by the B of C that I can do no less then recommend to you a perusal of those his Excellent Discourses at Mr. Boyle's Lecture where I am ready to believe you will find but little wanting to a Demonstration of the Necessity of Reveal'd Religion of a possibility for the Almighty to reveal his Will and lastly not only the Probability but the Certainty that he has reveal'd his Will to Mankind and that this Revelation is the same which is contained in the two Testaments For the â—leing all which Truths viz. the Possibility Expedience Usefulness Necessity and the Certainty of Divine Revelation he has offer'd such Evidence Rational Natural Traditionary and Supernatural as may suffice for the Conviction of the unprejudic'd Infidel and will be found too strong to be made void or overthrown by the subtilest of the Hellish Tribe Our Belief of the Scriptures being a Divine Revelation does indeâ—d suppose the Existence of a God and therefore our Knowledge of his Being must precede our Faith of the Divine Authority of the Bible I grant the Scriptures may be brought not only to such as own their Truth but even to Infidels as a proof of a Deity but then it must not be upon the score of their naked Testimony but on the account of their being of such a Frame Nature and Quality that they can proceed from no other Author and thus may we arrive by the Scripture at an assurance of God's Existence as we do at the Knowledge of a Cause by its Effect But so far as we assent to any thing upon the credit of the Scriptures meer testification we are necessitated to presuppose the Existence of a God it bring only on the account of his Veracity in himself and that the Bible is a Divine Revelation that we do without the least guilt of vain Credulity because upon the highest Reason implicitly believe it Again Those who owe their Belief of the Bible's being the Word of God to meer Report to Principles of Education the Felicity of their Birth or the Clime where they were born receive the Scripture upon no better Motives than the Turks do their Alcoran If pretended Inspiration may pass for the Demonstration of the Truth of what every bold Pretender will obtrude upon us we must expose our selves not only to the belief of every groundless Imagination but of innumerable Contradictions for not only the grossest Follies but Doctrines palpably repugnant both to Reason and one another have been deliver'd by Enthusiasts and pretended Inspirato's I grant that the Testimony of the Holy Ghost in the Souls and Consciences of Men to the Truth of the Scriptures is the most convincing Evidence that such Persons can have of its Divinity But 1. the Holy Ghost convinceth no Man as to the belief of the Scripture without enlightning him in the Ground and Reasons upon which its proceeding from God is evidenc'd and establishâ— There is no Conviction begot by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of Men otherways than by Rational Evidence satisfying our Understandings through a Discovery of the Motives and Inducements that ascertain the Truth of what he wou'd convince us of 2. No Man's particular assurance obtain'd thus in way of Illumination by the Holy Ghost is to be otherwise urged as an Argument of Conviction to another than by proposing the Reasons on which our Faith is erected The way of such Mens Evidence is communicable to none unless they cou'd kindle the same Rays in the Breasts of others which have irradiated their own and therefore they must deal with others by producing the Grounds of their Conviction not pleading the Manner of it for that another is convinced and perswaded by them depends wholly on the weight and momentousness of the Reasons themselves not on the manner that such a Person came to discover them for shou'd he have arrived at the discerning them by any other means they had been of the same significancy to the Conviction of an Adversary 3. The Holy Ghost as a distinct Person in the Deity is not a Principle demonstrable by Reason seeing then it is by the Scripture alone that we are assured of the Existence of the Divine Spirit as a distinct Person in the Godhead therefore his testimony in the Hearts and Consciences of Men to the Scripture cannot be allow'd as a previous Evidence of its Divinity To prove the Divine Authority of the Scripture by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost when we cannot otherwise prove that there is a Holy Ghost but by the Testimony of the Scâ—ipture is to argue circularly and absurdly So that in short when we have to do with such as either question or deny the Authority of the Scripture we are to prove it by Ratiocination from common Principles receiv'd amongst Mankind and by Topicks that lye even and proportionate to Intellectual Natures Our Reason is here justly to be magnify'd as highly subservient to Religion in that it can demonstrate the Divine Authority of the Scripture upon which our Faith as to all particular Articles and Duties of Religion is grounded This I say our Reason can do to the Conviction of all who are not wilfully obstinate and for such there is no means either sufficient or intended by the Almighty to satisfie them For it is certain that partly through the Weakness and Darkness which have arrested our Understandings partly through the Nature Quality Extent and Arduousness of Objects and our inadaequate Conceptions of them partly through Prepossessions Prejudices and the Bias of Lusts and Passions
is rejected 't is a sign there is no truth in the Thing pretended but farther 't is very suspicious when Men exalt their own private Revelations to the same Authority with the Revelations of holy Writ and seek to justifie the one by the other when they esteem the way of Religion as described in Scripture to be mean in comparison of this that they are in and prefer this way of Contemplation and Inspiration above the plain Precepts of Christianity when it is a condescention in them to joyn in External Worship A state indeed of Perfection that is above what the Gospel hath described and is another Gospel than what we have in Scripture received and which there needs an uncontroulable Evidence for the want of which increaseth the suspicion 'T is certain that there is no Evidence for all this beyond their own simple Affirmation and who is there that without good Evidence can believe that those Rapturous Ladies such as Santa Teresa and Donna Marina d'Escobar did in Molinos ' s Phrase hear and talk with God hand in hand when he reads the Interlocutory Matters that are said to have passed between them The desire of Revelations has so wonderful an Influence over the Souls especially of such Women that there is not an ordinary Dream but they will Christen with the Name of Vision and I must needs say the credulous World has been much imposed on this way The Pretence abovesaid of Maria Visitationis is an Instance beyond all Exception who impos'd upon her Confessor no less a Man than Lewis Granada the Inquisition and even the Pope himself and yet notwithstanding she pretended to somewhat more than Internal for her Converse with our Saviour c. was at last detected of notorious Imposture But most of the Visionaries we are speaking of pretended not to so much and therefore where there is no External Evidence attempted by them nor that we have the Gift of Intuition to see into their inward and Self-evidence we have no reason to think otherwise of such Illuminations Introversions and Interlocutions than at best the Effects of a distemper'd Brain and so much the rather are we to be careful of these Matters and not to be too easie of belief because it may be very dangerous in the Consequence of it for if instead of a Star it should prove an Igâ—is fatuus whether may not Persons be led under the Delusion of it and what will not be concluded to be lawful nay a duty which Revelation shall warrant and where will this end if once it be credited and that we commit our selves implicitly and blindly to such an uncertain Guide Now if a Person comes under pretence of a Revelation with a Message to others and requires them as they tender their Salvation to receive it and to submit to it without such Certificates as may give Authority to it it is like one that shall take on him the Stile and Character of an Ambassador without any Credentials to give him Authority and deserves no better Acceptance It is by means of Predictions and Miracles that a Prophet must be known to be a Prophet an Inspiration to be an Inspiration and by these Characters may we be able to judge of both as to the Authority of the Mission and the Truth of the Inspiration where the Evidence was nâ—câ—ssary there was never wanting one or both of these and tho' John did no Miracle yet he had the Spirit of Prophecy the People acknowledg'd for say they all things John spake of this Man Jesus were true There may 't is likely be Inspiration where there is neither of these or the like Evidences but there is no Obligation on others to believe it without the Evidence be sufficient for such as the Evidence is such is the Obligation now the Evidence is not sufficient which rests solely on Humane Authority and has nothing but the bare word or affirmation of the Pretender to prove it It is to this purpose that our Saviour speaks If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true the Works I do bear witness of me So that Inspiration is as to others no Inspiration till it be proved it may for ought appears to the contrary be no other than Delusion or Imposture Let therefore the Imagination be never so strong the Confidence never so great the Intent never so good the Question is whence is this what Evidence doth the Person bring of his Mission from God upon what doth it rest into what is it resolved what doth he produce more than what may be the fruit of Imagination it may all be a fit of Enthusiasm And if a Person will pretend to immediate Inspiration were it an Age for it much more if he pretends to it after Inspiration hâ—s ceased he must be able to fortifie it by such Evidence as can come from none but him from whom the Inspiration came if it be Divine The Case then is to be put upon this Issue and to be decided by the Measures here laid down and we may safely venture the whole Cause of Revelation upon it when there is nothing wanting that can reasonably be desir'd towards the Justification of its Veracity and that there is no manner of Pretence for applying the same Terms of Evidence and Sincerity to Imagination as to Inspiration or to Imposture whether Enthusiastic or Diabolical as is to Revelation For when was it known that Imagination or Nature vulgarly so called did ever impower Persons to speak all Languages and to discourse readily at once with the Parthians Medes and Elamites c. in their several Tongues when did Nature or Imagination enable Persons without any skill to cure Diseases naturally incurable and such as had no Humane Learning to talk like Philosophers of the sublimest Arguments and with as much freedom as they used the Speech of the Foreign Nations they instructed Farther What Imagination Nature or Art cou'd inspirit Moses with such a Supernatural Power as to turn his Rod into a Serpent and to devour those of the Magicians or by a stroke of it to fetch Water out of a Rock and to stop the mighty Current of the Sea What Imagination cou'd form such Idea's in the Minds of a Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar or inspire a Joseph or a Daniel to give such an Interpretation as justify'd it self to be true by the corresponding Event When did Imagination give Life to a Fly or do the least act out of it self when did that or Nature or Imposture really and truly raise the Dead with Elisha call for Fire from Heaven with Elijah or foretell what shall happen an hundred or a thousand years after or so much as what a Person shall think to morrow Here we may challenge all the Magicians all the Men of Art and Science all the Enthusiastâ— and Impostors in the World to talk as the Persons really inspired did talk to do as they did and to produce those Testimonies as they
produced in their own Justification and for the Confirmation of their Mission from God From all which we see what Evidence we have for the Truth of Revealed Religion by the various ways of its Manifestation if we had such Inspirations such Visions of things future and remote c. what Evidence cou'd we desire more to attest and bear witness to what we are to believe and receive and what Absurdities must we be cast upon if we shou'd venture to call those Matters of Fact in question which tho' peculiar to those Times lose not their Force and Evidence because they are not in our own nor have been for several Ages nor are to be again in the Christian Church 'T is true when a Person is himself the Recipient to whom the Revelation is imparted there is no absolute need of a Sign of farther Evidence to ascertain the Truth of it to him when if God so please the Revelation of it self may be made as clear as it can be made by the Sign but when the Revelation comes at second hand to a Person and rests on Humane Testimony on the Ability and Sincerity of the Relator or Person supposed to be inspir'd there needs some further Evidence some Sign or Signs that may shew the finger of God since all Men are Lyars Psalm 116.11 that is may be deceived or may deceive may either be so weak as to be imposed on by their own Imagination or the Imposture and Practises of Evil Spirits or so wicked as under the pretence of Revelation and Inspiration to impose upon others In such a Case I say no Man's Affirmation or Pretence is ordinarily to be heeded any farther than he is able to produce a Testimony as really Divine as he wou'd have his Revelation to be accounted For as before said all Revelation must have a sufficient Evidence and if it be a true Revelation it will be able to produce the same A Revelation to another how evidently and convincingly soever it may be represented to him is nothing to me unless I am fully assur'd that he has had such a Revelation but that I cannot be assur'd of unless it be by the like immediate Revelation or by sufficient and uncontroulable Testimony Since the former wou'd be absurd and is not to be expected at all times it is as reasonable for us to believe where there are sufficient Motives of Credibility as if we our selves were alike actually inspir'd as they to whom the Revelation was immediately convey'd And if I mistake not these Motives are to be resolved 1. Into the Veracity Sincerity and Credibility of the Persons pretending to Inspiration 2. Into the Matter or Subject of the Revelation And 3. into the Testimony produced for it By the Credibility of the Person we understand his Probity and Sincerity his Capacity Prudence and Understanding which render him worthy of Credit and are necessary Qualifications of a Divine Missionary the being a Prophet to others as those are to whom a Revelation is made and that are inspired by Almighty God so as to teach and direct them in the stead as it were of God whose Mouth and Representatives they are to the People is an Office of great Dignity and requires somewhat of the Divine Image as well as Authority to recommend them and their Message to others I grant in the ordinary Cases as there were Prophets bred up in the Schools or Nurseries of Learning and Morality there might be such Persons as were employ'd without a strict regard had to these Qualifications as Messengers that carried an Errand by the order of their Superiors I grant also that God might and did sometimes upon occasion inspire such Persons as had none of these Qualifications to recommend them as he did Balaam But this was no more than when he opened the Mouth of the Ass to rebuke the madness of that Prophet and who was so ever-ruled by the Divine Power as against his will to bless those whom he came to curse which was so much the more considerable as it was the Testimony of an Enemy But as Revelation is a Divine Communication and a Mark of Divine Favour so it doth suppose in the Nature of it that the Person so dignify'd is duly qualify'd for it and which is so requisite in the Opinion of Mankind that without it he wou'd rather be accounted an Impostor than a Messenger from God and ordinarily have no more Reverence paid to his Errand than to his Person What has been thus said in general as to the Morality and Vertue of the inspired Person will hold for the most part as to his Prudence and Understanding which is so necessary a Qualification that the Divine Election of Persons for so peculiar a Service doth in that way either find or make them fit Laying all this together let us see what it amounts to viz the Capacity Ability and Integrity of the Persons to whom this Revelation is made the Unanimity and Consent of Persons remote and distant in Time and Place the Usefulness and Reasonableness the Excellency Sublimity and Perfection of the Doctrine they taught the Testimony given to them by such Operations and Productions as exceed the Power of created Causes and are wholly from the Supream where these are concurring and with one Mouth as it were giving in their Evidence we may say it is the Voice of God and that it his Revelation which carries upon it the conspicuous Stamp of his Authority I hope these few Passages out of the Writings of this Learned Man may be a means to establish in you a Belief that the Divine Being has given unto us a Revelation of his Will and that all other Revelations pretended to by such who cannot give us the same convincing Evidence are to be lookt on as the Effect of a Satanical Delusion a Distemper'd Head or a Knavish Combination 'T is indeed so necessary to believe thisâ— that unless we do so we shall be liable to be carried aside with every Wind of false Doctrine and our Faith will find nothing certain to take hold and fix on You are well acquainted with a sort of Men I need not name them who have amus'd the World as well as themselves with a confused System of new Principles of Religion These in their own Judgment are arriv'd at so happy a state as to live and sin not they carry it seems the Deity always about them and will neither speak preach nor pray without a Divine Mandate nay farther their very Words and Expressions tho' why or upon what account I know not must be supernaturally forced on them and they will deliver nothing but in Raptures Extasies or by Inspirations If we tax them with Absurdities want of Sence and Incoherency in their Discourse or if we tell them that Religion is both a Reasonable and a Divine Service they presently exclaim against Humane Learning the Arts and Sciences and misapply that Scripture Text which they think pat to
a profound Judgment and substantial Knowledge must undoubtedly lead us to very great Devotion and the more exquisitely curious the Anatomist is the greater Reason will he have if he abuse not his Understanding to adore and admire the Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness of his great Creator and consequently to worship to love and to obey him If you believe Reveal'd Religion which was never so question'd or refuted as to deserve the Answer of any soberly learned Man you must believe the Truth of God's particular Providence altho' you cannot reconcile every particular Phaenomenon either to your own Reason or the Corpuscular Philosophy The holy Scriptures are a System of Divine Philosophy and I should think that the Assertions of the Almighty ought to be received by Rational Men before the seeming clearness of any meer Humane Hypothesis Alas how little is it that we know and granting the Supream Being to have made our World in the Nature of a Clock is this an Argument that its first Fabrication or the Motions bestowed upon its several Parts can result from any thing short of an Almighty and Divine Power but our Philosophy is unable to inform us of all the Wheels the Pius and several Motions of this stupendious Frame 't is true we set it move according to Mechanick Laws but there may be many thousand Motions in it of which we are ignorant Let us bless our God for the Revelation which he has given us and let us as most certainly it behoves us rely upon his special Providence whoever does so will in the event find Comfort and Satisfaction nor do I see how a good Man can have any real Happiness or Consolation without it As for Mr. B s Divinity I must own there are many things in it both Rational and Solid but when he comes to spiritualize the Divine Ordinances and Institutions of Christ and his Apostles he not only sets himself up in opposition to the Churches of Christ to the Sense and Practise of the Primitive Christians as I am able to prove but exposes a want of knowledge in Scripture Interpretation The Novelty of the Sect and the dangerous tendency of their pretended Inspiration is argument enough to â—â—e of their Inconsistency with themselves and true Religion and surely we ought to be extreamly cautious how we side with such whimsical upstart Opinions till we can reconcile the Possibility for Divine Goodness and Mercy to suffer Christendom to lye in Ignorance for Sixteen hundred years and that the Churches immediately planted by the Apostles shou'd make Mistakes of that vile Consequence even when their Founders were present to set them to rights if they had done so as we must believe they did if Q sm be true A well-grounded knowledge in the Primitive Christianity which may be truly fetcht out of Ecclesiastick History and the Fathers of the Church will give you this Satisfaction that the holy Ordinances from the first promulgation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ such I mean as Water-Baptism and the Eucharist have been practis'd even to this day by all good Christians by the use of the outward Elements in their Administration I deny not but there have been both great Abuses Misapprehensions and Mistakes in the performance of them or in the manner of their Reception and I think I may say there are 〈◊〉 more egregiously absurd than some of those derived from the Chair of supposed Infallibility but this will by no means extenuate our Crimes of neglecting their use or making light of putting them at all in practise I desire you at your leisure to consider well Mr. B s Comment upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which he lays a very great stress and if you compare it with some of those Places in Holy Writ which clearly justifie this manner of Baptismal initiation into Christ's Church you will find it so gross a Metaphor that neither Grammar Rhetorick nor the Rules of Logick neither which I prefer to them all the Reason of an understanding Man will ever be able to countenance We may set into what Absurdities even Learned Men are betray'd when they too much rely upon their own Judgments when they set up for new Discoveries and impose their own Phantâ—sies for Divine Revelations If you please to send me what you think the sufficient Proofs which this Learned Man has excogitated for the support of his new Religion I will if God enable me give you my impartial Thoughts for I must seriously profess to you I see nothing in his Works which ought to sway any true Christian to leave any Protestant Church for the sake of Q sm I have formerly been in Mr. B s Company but cou'd never discover any thing like fair Argumentation I must own him to have been a Man of very considerable parts yet his Scripture Quotations were for the most part manifestly wrested and his general Discourse a pure Invective or down-right Railery against the Church of England at which I must confess I was very much surprised having framed to my self other Notions of the Man before I left him with this undoubted satisfaction in my self that the Spirit of Self-conceit of Pride and Bitterness must needs be very reâ—â—te from the true Spirit of Christianity I thank you for your Discourse concerning the Natural Power of Spasms or the Disorders of the Nervous System but as to what you say about Daemoniacs Fascination and the Operation of Evil Spirits I must refer my Opinion to a time of greater leisure or till you please to visit me in the mean time I pray God more and more to inlighten your Understanding c. I am your real Friend A. H. Some little time after this I receiv'd a Second Letter from that sincerely Religious and most excellent Divine by way of Answer to one that I had sent him which as I find it amongst my Papers begins thus SIR I Rejoyce with you that it hath pleased our good God to confirm in you such a Belief of his Existence and your own Creation after the Divine Image as may secure to you a Remembrance of the Duty incumbent on you and put you both upon a constant and fervent Prayer for the supply of Divine Grace together with a steddy and devout Submission to and Dependence upon his especial Providence I do look upon your last Letter to be the Picture of your Mind and bating the Ceremony I find no other fault than this that how lamentably true soever your Remarks may be upon the present Age for the most part yet I am free to acquaint you with my Thoughts that there are a much greater number of good People amongst us than you imagine I may say blessed be our God for it I have the personal knowledge of many whom I can call truly pious and sincere Christians Some of them such who as they by no means value themselves upon their Humane Acquirements are yet able to silence the Calumnies of the Profane
even by their own Weapons of Humane Reason I speak not this to shew my own good liking of such for the most part vain and unprofitable Argumentations but yet I think it no disserviceable Office to Religion neither yet to the Cause of our great Creator that some Men have left both the Atheist and his Friend the Deist without Excuse and that they may see their Condemnation heighten'd by their obstinate disbelief of the Christian Religion contrary to the natural unprejudic'd Light of Reason as well as the Extraordinary of Divine Faith Your Character of Mr. B l I think no whit too large nor do I dislike your Thought of his being design'd by Providence as a demonstrative and clear Evidence to satisfie the doubting World that the larger portion of right Reason or solid Knowledge a Man is endow'd with the clearer prospect he enjoys of the Truth and Certainty of Divine Revelation and that it is not only unlikely but impossible to philosophise as becomes reasonable Men without thinking venerably of Almighty God and his Son Christ Jesus The true Christian Vertuoso is indeed not often met with and whether the Character of a practically Religious Man and at the same time a very great Philosopher suits any Man so well as it did the deceased B l may very well be made a Question For my own part I the less value the Attempts or Endeavours of Men philosophising about Religion being perswaded that there are not many sincerely pious Converts made thereby Religion wants not the Rhetorical Flourish of fine Language Aiery Notions and School Distinctions render her but confus'd and are really Blemishes to her Purity and Simplicity Her Paths are plain and easie in her Natural Dress she is all over amiable and wants not the imbellishment of Philosophic Lustre There are Arguments enough already from the Store-house of Humane Reason to silence the Complaints of Atheism it is not Reason that will satisfie the unreasonable Infidel and I am perswaded were there no Mortification or Self-denial in the Case no Restraint to be laid upon the brutish Appetite the Truths we plead for would be clear enough to the Unbeliever The depth of their Philosophy lyes here they will not believe in God because he has not made them irrational or brute Creatures which since they came not such out of the hands of their Maker they resolve to make themselves so and then foolishly please themselves with the Childish Expectation of escaping Divine Judgment because they have so long suffer'd themselves to be acted by what they call the irresistible impulse of their sensitive Appetites and wilfully indulged Passions What every good Man glories in viz. that he is endow'd with Reason and a Capacity to shun the Evil and to choose the Good is the greatest Misery of these Men who finding themselves able to dishonour their Creator to turn their backs upon Religion and to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace since there is a possibility for them left to blaspheme their God to trample upon all things Sacred and that they are not hereupon immediately destroy'd by the Divine Anger and Indignation they grow harden'd in their Vices their continued Habits are at length woven into their Constitutions and they act indeed but little differently from Irrational Agents Right Reason or Philosophy will do but little good with such the Reformation if at all is owing to the hand of God it is beyond the skill of Man to inlighten our Understandings in such a manner as to give us a taste of the Divine Goodness We may frame to our selves some speculative Notions we may confess with our Mouths as finding our selves unable to resist or to hold out any longer but it is the Grace of Jesus Christ that must compleat our Conviction and cooperate with our Souls in a perseverance to the end This is a Truth so clear to me that I am firmly perswaded you will find no sincerely pious or true practical Christian of a differing Opinion the worldly wise Man may despise and contemn us the Libertine may scoff at us and impute all to our want of Knowledge to Phansie or Prepossession let them mock on and mark the end it is sufficient for us and will recompence to us these Indignities if we are happy in the Grace of our Lord Jesus I commit you to his protection and remain Your faithful Friend to serve you A. H. POSTSCRIPT I Can by no means think well of those you have taken notice of neither do I think it becomes any Man to dogmatize concerning the Creation or to ridicule the Mosaic History if we can't content our selves with what is there deliver'd it is true we may please our selves with new Theories of our own erecting but must not expect to find out any such as Mankind will comply with or perhaps such as will please our selves much better than that of the Historian in Sacred Writ which we find fault with because in some things disagreeable to Modern Discoveries In these things every Man may think as he pleases provided he think not to the dishonour of Almighty God but let no Man publish to the World for truth the uncertain even very uncertain Conjectures of his own Mind I had not been long acquainted with this Reverend Divine before his fatal Distemper depriv'd me with many others of the advantage of his Conversation and it is the least respect I can pay his Memory in publick to acknowledge my own belief that he was a Man of undissembled Piety strictly holy and devout in his Life and Converse laborious and painful in his Ministry of very easie access and ready to succour all Men to the utmost of his Capacity He was a Man universally respected by Persons of different Perswasions and I have reason to surmise that he died as generally lamented He always exprest himself with a more than common earnestness and had something in his Air and Mein so soberly grave and modest yet withal so pleasant that I never met with in any other Person He had nothing of Affectation of a precise or reserved Temper and so little regarded a Courtly Demeanour or Ceremonial Deportment that I have heard it objected as the greatest of his Faults that he was ungenteel and too negligent in his manner of Address but least this should be taken for his full Character which makes so small and even so inconsiderable a part thereof I shall for the present leave it whilst I pursue my Argument of the Nature and Necessity of the Divine Assistance to the Completion of Man's Eternal Happiness something more particularly relating to which Theam I find so pertinently handled by the Author of Reasons Interest in Religion that I care not to pass it by without taking notice and considering upon the same As nothing saith this Author but charming Lusts false Delusions carnal Interests foolish Prejudices indulging the Appetites of the Animal Life and attending to the titillations of the