who have been a little enured to thinking and have gotten some small smattering in the superficial Parts of Learning will endeavour to defend their wicked Practices by some pretence to Reason and Argument These will one while justifie their Actions by forced and wrested Citations and Explications of some particular Texts of Scripture at another time they will shroud themselves under the Examples of the Prevarications of some great Men in Sacred Scripture as a Licence to them to be guilty of the same or the like wicked Acts without considering at all of their great Penitence afterwards Sometimes they will dispute the Eternity of Hell Torments deny that their Soul shall survive the Body and please themselves with the glorious hopes of being utterly annihilated Now they will argue against the Freedom of their own Wills and by and by against that of the Divine Nature and from both conclude that there can be no harm nor evil in what they do because they are absolutely necessitated to every thing they commit But against all this precarious stuff the Sacred Scriptures do yet appear and afford a sufficient Refutation The next Step therefore must be to quarrel at and expose them to pretend that there are Absurdities Contradictions and Inconsistencies in them To assert that the Religion they contain is nothing but a meer Human and Political Institution and the Invention of a Crafty and designing Order of Men to promote their own Interest and Advantage but that they are of no manner of Divine Authority nor Universal Obligation And when once they get thus far they begin to be at Liberty now they can pursue their vicious Inclinations without controul of their Consciences or the Conviction of God's holy Word and are got above the Childish Fears of Eternal Misery By this time the true and through Calenture of Mind begins they grow now deliriously enamoured with the feign'd Products of their own Fancies and these Notions appear to them now adorned with such bright and radiant Colours and so beautiful and glorious that they will rush headlong into this Fools Paradise though Eternal Destruction be at the bottom for now they stick at nothing They Retrench the Deity of all his Attributes absolutely deny his Presidence over the Affairs of the World and make him nothing but a kind of necessary and blind Cause of things Nature the Soul of the World or some such word which they have happened to meet with in the Ancient Heathen Writers But they Profess that 't is impossible to have any Idaea of him at all and what they cannot conceive or have an Idaea of they say is nothing and by Consequence there can be no such thing as a God This or such like I 'm perswaded is the usual Method by which these kind of Men advance to absolute Infidelity and Atheism And in this they are every step confirmed and established by the seeming Wit and real Boldness with which Atheistical Men dress up their Arguments and Discourses and of which if they were stripped and divested their weakness and inconclusiveness must needs appear to every one But the Mirth and Humour and that Surprising and Extravagant Vein of talking which always abounds in the Company of such Men so suits and agrees with his own vicious Inclinations that he becomes easily prejudiced against the Truth of Religion and any Obligation to its Precepts and Injunctions And so he will soon resolve to seek no more after God but will employ all his Thoughts to prove that there is no such Being in the World But on the other hand it appears wholly impossible for a Man to arrive at such a pitch as absolute Infidelity and Atheism if he hath been virtuously Educated and be enclined to live a Sober and a Moral Life For there is certainly nothing that Religion enjoins but what is exactly agreeable to the Rules of Morality and Virtue nothing but what is conformable to right Reason and Truth nothing but what is substantially good and pleasant and nothing but what will approve it self to a thinking Mind as certainly conducing to the good of Human Society and to every one's Quiet Ease and Happiness here in this Life And over and above this it gives us an assurance of a glorious Immortality in the World to come Now Can it be imagined that any sober and virtuous Man and one that is not prejudiced by the Inducements of Sensual Pleasure if he seriously considers things will not be induced to take upon him the Profession of our holy Religion and with all due Gratitude to our Gracious God accept of so vast a Reward as this of Eternal Happiness Especially too when it is for doing that only out of a true Principle of Religion which it is supposed he was inclined to perform without it by the Principles of Reason and Honour A Man that is enclined to live virtuously justly temperately and peaceably in this present World will soon be satisfied if he read the Holy Scriptures that it is this which lies at the Bottom of all Revealed Religion and for whose Advancement and Propagation among Mankind all that gracious Dispensation was contrived and delivered to us What reason can therefore be possibly assigned why such a Person should disbelieve the Truths of Religion Is not a desire of Happiness so Natural to us that 't is the great Inducement of all our Actions and will not every Man aim to get as much of this as he can according to the Notion he hath of it what is there then that can prejudice such a Man's Mind against the Belief and Expectation of a future Reward at the hand of God Is it not Natural to embrace any offer that proposes to us a great Advantage and are not we very ready to believe the Truth of any thing that is advanced of that Nature The Great Truths therefore of Religion containing nothing impossible absurd or improbable in them and exhibiting to him Infinite Advantages on such easie Conditions must needs be the delightful Objects of a Good and Virtuous Man's Faith He indeed that hath just Grounds to fear that his Irregular Life will incapacitate him for the Favour of God and the Joys of another World may be willing and at last infatuated so far as really to disbelieve what he knows he cannot obtain But one that is of a Moral Sober and Virtuous Disposition can never be supposed to be so unaccountably absurd as to commence Atheist contrary to his Interest his Inclination and his Reason And as 't is hardly possible to conceive a Person can be an Atheist without being first Wicked so it appears as difficult to imagine that if he be an Atheist he should not continue to be so I know the Contrary is often pretended viz. That one that believes nothing of a God or Religion may yet be and often is guided by a Principle of Reason and Honour and will do to others as he would be done unto himself Such an one it
he will forbear doing an Ill Thing when he thinks it will prove ill to him he will be Just Honest and Sincere when he don't dare be otherwise for fear of the Law Shame and Ignominy For all Men of Atheistical Principles would be Knaves and Villains if they durst if they could do it safely and securely such a Man 't is like shall return you a Bag of Money or a rich Jewel you happen to depose in his Hands but why is it 't is because he dares not keep it and deny it 't is great odds but he is discovered and exposed by this means and besides 't is Unfashionable and Ungenteel to be a Cheat in such Cases But to impoverish a Family by Extravagance and Debauchery to defraud Creditors of their just Debts or Servants of their Wages to Cheat at Play to violate one's Neighbour's Bed to gratifie one's own Lust are things which though to the full as Wicked and Unreasonable in themselves are yet swallowed down as allowable enough because common and usual and which are not the more is the pity attended with that Scandal and Infamy that other Vices are Thus 't is very plain that this pretended Principle of Honour in an Atheist or a Wicked Man and this Obedience and Deference that he pretends to pay to the Laws of his Country is a most Partial and Changeable thing and vastly different from that true Honour and Bravery that is founded on the Eternal Basis of Conscience and Religion 't is an Airy Name that serves only to amuse unthinking and short-sighted Persons into a Belief that he hath some kind of Principles that he will stick to that so he may be thought fit to be trusted dealt and conversed withall in the World And thus I think it is very clear and apparent that Wickedness naturally leads to Infidelity and Atheism and Infidelity and Atheism to the Support and Maintenance of That And that it is the Wicked that will not seek after God and whose thoughts are that there is no God Which was my First Particular I come next to Consider II. That Peculiar Kind of Wickedness which the Psalmist here takes notice of as the chief Ground from whence Infidelity and Atheism proceed And that is Pride The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God neither is God in all his Thoughts And I question not but this Vice of Pride is generally the Concomitant of Infidelity and the chief Ground from whence the Spirit of Speculative Atheism proceeds When Men of proud and haughty Spirits lead ill Lives as they very often do they always endeavour to justifie themselves in their Proceeding be it never so Irregular and Absurd and never so contrary to the considerate Sentiments of all the rest of the World A Proud Man hates to acknowledge himself in an Errour and to own that he hath committed a Fault He would have the World believe that there is a kind of Indefectibility in his Understanding and Judgment which secures him from being deceived and mistaken like other Mortals Whatever Actions therefore such a Person commits he would fain have appear reasonable and justifiable But he sees plainly that he cannot make Wickedness and Immorality do so as long as Religion stands its Ground in the World The Sacred Scriptures are so plain and express against such a course of Life that there is no avoiding being convicted and condemned while their Authority remains good 'T is impossible any way to reconcile a vicious Life to the Doctrine there delivered And therefore he sees plainly That one that Professes to believe the great Truths of Religion and the Divine Authority of those Sacred Books and yet by his Practices gives the Lye to his Profession and while he acknowledges Jesus Christ in his Words doth in his Works deny him he sees I say that such an one stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-condemned and can never acquit himself either to his own Conscience or to the Reason of Mankind Now this is perfectly disagreeable to the Genious and Humour of a Proud Man he cannot bear to be thought in any respect Incoherent or Inconsistent with himself And therefore having vainly tried to justifie himself in his Wickedness by alledging the Examples of some good Men in Sacred Scripture that have been guilty of great Sins but whose Repentance he can by no means digest And having also fruitlessly endeavoured to rely on the perverted Sense of some particular Texts of Scripture which he knows are sufficiently refuted by the Analogy of the whole he finds at last that 't is the best way to deny the Divine Authority of the Bible and the Truth of all Revelation and so boldly shake off at once all Obligation to the Rules of Piety and Virtue and since Religion can't be wrested so as to give an allowance to his way of living he will take it quite away Banish that and God Almighty out of the World and set up Iniquity by a Law And nothing can be more pleasing and agreeable to the Arrogance of such Men than this way of Proceeding It gratifies an insolent and haughty Spirit prodigiously to do things out of the common Road to pretend to be Adept in a Philosophy that is as much above the rest of Mankind's Notions as 't is Contradictory to it to assume to himself a Power of seeing much farther into things than other Folk and to penetrate into the deepest recesses of Nature He would pass for one of Nature's Cabinet Councellors a Bosome Favourite that knows all the secret Springs of Action and the first remote Causes of all Things He pleases himself mightily to have discovered with what Ridiculous Bugbears the Generality of Mankind are awed and frighted he can now look down with a Scornful Pity on the poor groveling Vulgar the Unthinking Mobb below that are poorly enslaved and terrified by the Fear of a God and of Ills to come they know not when nor where He despises such dull Biggots as will be imposed upon by Priests and that will superstitiously abstain from the Enjoyment of present Pleasure on account of such idle Tales as the Comminations of Religion And as he despises those that are not Wicked so he upbraids those that are so with inconsistency with their Principles and Profession and for doing the same things that he doth when they have nothing to bear them out And thus he doubly gratifies his Pride by justifying himself and condemning and triumphing over others Nay the very Mistakes and Errours of such a Man we are told appear laudable and great to him and he can please himself at last with saying That he hath not Erred like a Fool but Secundum Verbum Vid. Oracles of Reason p. 92. When Men have a while enured themselves to talk at this rate and to blow themselves up with such lofty Conceits and Fancies they grow by degrees more and more opinionated and do dote more and more on their own dear
Notions and finding by this means quiet and ease in the Practice of their Sins they at last degenerate so far as firmly to believe the Truth of what they perhaps at first advanced and talk'd only from a Spirit of Contradiction and become so stupid and blind as like great Liars to believe their own Figments and Inventions To such any Extravagant and Inconsistent Hypothesis so it do but clash with Sacred Scripture shall be no less than a real Demonstration a Bold and daring Falsity shall pass for undoubted Truth and a Prophane Jest or a Scurrilous Reflection on the Character or Person of one in Holy Orders shall be a sufficient Refutation of the plainest Demonstration he can bring against their Principles and Practices For it is most certain that though a Proud Man always think himself in the right and arrogate to himself an Exemption from the common Frailties and Errours of Mankind yet there is no body so frequently deceived and mistaken as he for he doth so over-estimate all his Faculties and Endowments and is so much enamoured of and Trusts so much to his own Quickness and Penetration that he usually Imagines his Great Genius able to Master any thing without the servile fatigue of Pains and Study and therefore he will never give himself Time seriously to examine into things he scorns and hates the Drudgery of deeply revolving and comparing the Idaeas of things in his Mind but rashly proceeds to Judgment and Determination on a very Transient and Superficial View And there will he stick be the Resolution he is come to never so absurd and Unaccountable for he is as much above confessing an Errour in Judgment as he is of Repenting of a Fault in Practice And indeed as the absurd and ridiculous Paradoxes which Atheistical Writers maintain shew their shallow insight into things and their Precipitancy in forming a Determination about them so the Pride and Haughtiness with which they deliver them abundantly demonstrates the True Spirit of such Authors and the Real Ground both of their Embracing and Maintaining their Opinions Plato describes the Atheists of his Age to be a Proud Insolent and Haughty sort of Men the Ground of whose Opinion was he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in reality a very mischievous Ignorance though to the conceited Venders and Embracers of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It appeared to be the greatest Wisdom and the Wisest of all Opinions Lactantius tells us in his Discourse De Ira Dei p. 729. Oxon. that the true Reason why Diagoras Melius and Theodorus two of the Ancient Atheists denied a Deity was That they might gain the Glory of being the Authors of some new Opinion contradictory to the common Notions of Mankind And of the former of these Diagoras Sextus Empiricus acquaints us That because a certain perjured Person who had wrong'd him lived unpunished by the Gods he was so enraged at it that he undertook to maintain there were no Gods at all Lib. Adr. Mathem Edit Genev. 1621. The like Pride and Arrogance Lactantius tells us he found in the two great Writers that appeared against Christianity in his time in Bithynia The former of these who 't is probable was the famous Porphyry called himself Antistes Philosophiae the Chief or Prince of Philosophers and saith Lactantius Nescio utrum Superbius an Importunius pretended to correct the blind Errors of Mankind and to guide Men into the True Way He could not bear that Unskilful and Innocent Persons should be enslaved by the Cheats of and become a Prey to Crafty and Designing Men. Lib. de Justit p. 420 421. Oxon. With the like Assurance do the Modern Writers of this kind express themselves And though they have in reality very little or nothing New but only the Arguments of the Ancients a little varied and embelished as I shall have occasion to observe hereafter more at large yet they all set up for new Lights and mighty Discoverers of the Secrets of Nature and Philosophy and all of the assume the Glory of first leading Men into the way of Truth and delivering them out of the dark mazes of Vulgar Errors This was the pretence of Vanini who was burnt for Atheism at Tholouse A. D. 1619. whose Mind he says grew more and more strong healthful and robust as he exercised it in searching out the Secrets of that Supreme Philosophy which is wholly unknown to the common and ordinary Rank of Philosophers And this he saith will soon be discovered by the perusal of his Physico-Magicum which was now to see the Light Vid. Vanini Amphitheatr in Epist. Dedicat. After the same manner do Machiavel Spinoza Hobbs Blount and all the late Atheistical Writers deliver themselves Instances of which I think I need not stay to give since 't is conspicuous through the whole course of their Writings and no doubt taken notice of by every Reader only of the first of these viz. Machiavel I cannot but take notice that Vanini himself saith that 't was his Pride and Covetousness that made him deny the Truth of the Miracles recorded in Sacred Scripture Amphitheatr p. 51. Edit Lugduni 1615. And as the Writings so the Discourses of these Gentlemen do equally discover this Pride and Vanity for they do usually deliver themselves with such a scornful and contemptuous Air when they either endeavour to establish their own or to overthrow their Adversaries Arguments as sufficiently shews the Propriety and Truth of the Psalmist's Observation here that 't is through the pride of his countenance that the wicked will not seek after God The LXXII indeed render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Through the abundance of his wrath and therein they are followed by the vulgar Latin As if the Wicked were angry against God and enraged at his Presidency over Humane Affairs as if they fretted under and quarrelled at the Severity of his Laws and Government and scorned to apply themselves to him by Prayer and to submit to him by Obedience But though this may be a good sence of the words and though I doubt not a stubborn Frowardness and Perverseness of our Wills against the Will of God may be a frequent cause and ground of Infidelity yet our English Translation appears to me to be much better warranted from the Hebrew for there it is properly through the Elevation of his Nose or Face Which truly is very emphatical and expresses such a proud and scornful gesture of Face as is the natural Indication of the Internal Haughtiness of a Man's Mind or as the Targum on this place render it of the arrogance of his Spirit Such a Turn and Air of Countenance as argues a proud contempt of all the rest of Mankind who trot on in the common road believe and worship a God and poorly submit to be governed by his Laws and Precepts And thus having dispatched my Two first Particulars and shewed That Wickedness and Pride are two great Causes of Infidelity and Atheism
Mr. HARRIS's First Sermon AT Mr. BOYLE's Lecture 1698. Immorality and Pride The Great Causes of ATHEISM A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul January the 3 d. 1697 8. BEING The First of the LECTURE for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By JOHN HARRIS M. A. and Fellow of the ROYAL-SOCIETY LONDON Printed by J. L. for Richard Wilkin at the King 's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Sir HENRY ASHURST Baronet Sir JOHN ROTHERAM Serjeant at Law JOHN EVELYN Senior Esquire Trustees appointed by the Will of the Honorable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire Most Reverend and Honoured AS I had the Honour to Preach this Sermon by your Kind and Generous Appointment so I now Publish it in Obedience to your Commands and humbly offer it as also my ensuing Discourses to your Candid Patronage and Acceptance I have in pursuance of Your Grace's direction studied to be as Plain and Intelligible as possibly I could and shall by the Divine Assistance prosecute my whole Design after the same manner which Method of Treating this Subject appears very Suitable to the Pious and Excellent Design of Our Noble and Honourable Founder I humbly desire your Prayers to Almighty God that He will vouchsafe to render my weak Endeavours effectual to shew the Groundâ—essness and Inconclusiveness of those Objections which Atheistical Men usually bring â—gainst the great and Important Truths of â—eligion which is the End they are sincerely â—irected to by Most Reverend and Honoured Your most obliged humble Servant HARRIS PSALM X. 4. The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God Neither is God in all his Thoughts IN this Psalm is Contained a very lively Description of the Insolence of Atheistical and Wicked Men when once they grow Powerful and Numerous for then as we read at the Third Verse they will proceed so far as openly to boast of and glory in their Impiety They will boldly defie and contemn the great God of Heaven and Earth v. 13. They will deny his Providence v. 11. and despise his Vengeance And as we are told in these words of my Text They will grow so Proud and high as to scorn to pay him any Honour or Worship to Pray to him or Call upon him but will endeavour to banish the very Thoughts of his Being out of their Minds The Wicked through the Pride of his c. In which words we have an Account more particularly by what Methods and Steps Men advance to such an Exorbitant height of Wickedness as to set up for Atheism and to deny the Existence of a God for there are in them these Three Particulars which I shall consider in their Order I. Here is the general Character or Qualifications of the Person the Psalmist speaks of which is That he is a Wicked Man The Wicked through the Pride c. II. The particular kind of Wickedness or the Origin from whence the Spirit of Atheism and Irreligion doth chiefly proceed And That is Pride The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance c. And III. Here is the great Charge that is brought against this Wicked and Proud Man viz. Wilful Atheism and Infidelity He will not seek after God Neither is God in all his Thoughts Or as it is in the Margin of our Bibles with good Warrant from the Hebr. All his Thoughts are there is no God In discoursing on the two First of these Heads I shall endeavour to shew that Immorality and Pride are the great Causes of the Growth of Atheism amongst us And on the Third I shall consider the Objections that Atheistical Men usually bring against the being of a Deity and shew how very weak and invalid they are And first I think it very Necessary to say something of the Causes of Infidelity and Atheism and to shew how it comes to pass that Men can possibly arrive to so great a height of Impiety This my Text naturally leads me to before I can come to the great Subject I design to Discourse upon and I hope it may be of very good use to discover the Grounds of this heinous Sin and the Methods and Steps by which Men advance to it that so those who are not yet hardened in it nor quite given up to a Reprobate Mind may by the Blessing of God take heed and avoid being engaged in such Courses as do naturally lead into it I. Therefore let us consider the general Character or Qualifications of the Person here spoken of in my Text And that is that he is a Wicked Man The wicked through the Pride c. And this is every where the Language of the Sacred Scripture when it speaks of Atheistical Men. David tells us Psal. 14. 1. and 51. 1 that 't is the Fool i. e. the Wicked Man for so the word Nabal often signifies and is so here to be understood 'T is he that hath said in his heart there is no God 'T is such an one as is a Fool by his own fault one stupified and dull'd by Vice and Lust as he sufficiently explains it afterwards one that is corrupt and become filthy and that hath done abominable works So the Apostle St. Paul supposes that those Men will have in them an evil heart of unbelief who do depart from the living God and live without him in the world And indeed it is very Natural to conclude That those which are once debauched in their Practices may easily grow so in their Principles For when once 't is a Man's Interest that there should be no God he will readily enough disbelieve his Existence We always give our assent very precipitantly to what we wish for and would have to be true A Man oppressed with a Load of Guilt and conscious to himself that he is daily obnoxious to the Divine Vengeance will be often very uneasie restless and dissatisfied with himself and his Mind must be filled with Dismal and Ill-boding Thoughts He is unwilling to leave his Sins and to forego the present Advantage of Sensual Pleasure and yet he cannot but be fearful too of the Punishments of a Future State and vehemently disturbed now and then about the account that he must one day give of his Actions Now 't is very Natural for a Man under such Circumstances to catch at any thing that doth but seem to offer him a little Ease and Quiet and that can help him to shake off his melancholy Apprehension of impending Punishment and Misery Some therefore bear down all Thought and Consideration of their Condition in an uninterrupted enjoyment of Sensual Delights and quite stupifie and drown their Conscience and Reason in continual Excesses and Debauchery and thus very many commence Atheists out of downright Sottishness and Stupidity and come at last to believe nothing of the Truths of Religion because they never think any thing about it nor understand any thing of it Others
I should now proceed to speak to the Third thing observable in my Text viz. III. The great Charge which the Psalmist brings against the wicked Person here mentioned That he will not seek after God neither is God in all his Thoughts But this I must leave for my next Discourse and shall now Conclude with a word or two by way of Application Since the Case stands thus That Wickedness in general and Pride in particular do so naturally lead to Infidelity and Atheism and that 't is hardly possible to imagine a Man can entertain such an Opinion without them Let every one then that hath any Inclination or Temptation that way seriously examine his own Mind whether he be not prejudiced towards it by some vitious Desires and Affections whether he doth not heartily wish that there were no God nor Religion whether he hath not by his past Actions really loaded himself with guilt and therefore is disturbed in his Mind with the apprehension that the Divine Punishment will overtake him and light upon him for his Sins Let him search diligently whether he hath not recourse to Infidelity as to an Opiate in this case to allay the Pains of his Conscience and to compose the Disorder of his guilty Mind and to gain as it were an Insensibility in Sinning For if the case be thus 't is plain he is not free and at liberty to make a just Judgment of the Truth of Things he is already a Party and much more enclined to one side of the Question than to the other and consequently he will pitch on that as Truth which he would have to be so But this is certainly a very partial way of proceeding and such as no wise Man would use in a matter of so very great moment to engage one's self rashly in a Determination before a thorough and careful Examination of the Evidence on both sides This is to look on things in a false Light through coloured Glasses through Diseased and Icterical Eyes and then to believe them to be in reality what our depraved and prejudicate Apprehensions make them The Enemies to Religion say That the Preachers of it are not to be minded the Arguments they bring are all forced and strained because 't is their Trade and they get Money by it and their Craft obliges them to cry out Great is Diana of the Ephesians I hope therefore this being so Precarious and Partial a way of Proceeding to subscribe to Religion by Implicit Faith and to take it up upon trust from those whose Interest they say it is to propagate it in the World I hope I say that Men will not act so on the other hand and embrace Atheism and Infidelity on the same Precarious Grounds I hope all such Persons can clearly approve themselves to be truly Virtuous and Moral in their Inclinations and Practices and are sure that they have no strong inclinations to such Actions as the World calls Vicious For if they have and do take real Pleasure in the Practice of Wickedness 't is plain that they must be Prejudiced and Bigotted to their Lusts and Humours they cannot be Free-thinkers in the Case the Cloggs of ill Custom and a loose Education bear them down and they cannot shake them off Their present Interest influences and governs their Belief and enslaves and Tyrannizes over their Reason Let them consider impartially the Arguments for Infidelity and they will find them all forced and strained Paradoxes Invented by Sceptical and Canting Philosophers a Crafty and Designing sort of Men who set up Atheism because they Get by it and whose Interest it is that there should be no God and Religion Let not therefore Men be so stupid and blind as to talk of Prejudices on the side of Religion and never perceive that there are any at all on that of Infidelity If they scorn to take up Religion on trust without examining into its Grounds and Reasons for their Own sakes let them be as Cautious and Inquisitive on the other hand and not run Hood-winked into Eternal Destruction by subscribing to Atheism in hast and without that previous Consideration and Regard which so great and important an Affair requires For if they will but strip themselves of those Prejudices which arise from their Vices and avoid being impetuously born down by their depraved Inclination they will soon perceive that the Grounds and Principles of Infidelity are abundantly too precarious to afford them any thing like a Demonstrative assurance of the Falsity of Religion Without which surely no Man of Sense and that can think at all will ever run the hazard of Damnation FINIS a Pensees diverses Ecrites à un Docteur de Sorbonne à l'Occasion de la Cométe qui parut au Mois de Decembre 1680. Rotterdam 8vo a Vid. Jul. Caes. Vanini Amphitheatr in Titulo Epist. Dedicator b Despicere unde queas alios passimque videre Errare atque viam palantes quaerere vitae Lucr. lib. 2. a Vid. Great is Diana of the Ephesians Animus tamen in supremae vulgo Philosophantibus incognitae Philosophiae Arcanis investigandis validior factus robustior ut Physico-Magicum nostrum quod mox ex umbrâ in lucem prodibit pellegens aequa posteritas facilè est Judicatura