it then he that is not yet come forth of his Mothers Womb can be certain of the truth oâ— this Enunciation There is light in the Sun were he capable of understanding the words in which it is conceived I know not but some of these Worthies may oppose that we hold this verity from tradition of the Ancients seeing they have left us very many others of which we are not at all in doubt For prudent persons have always ascrib'd much to the opinions of their Ancestors especially if they were such as atchieved any thing towards the establishment and conservation of Common-wealths or made provision for containing men in the respect due to Religion The reason of which is a perswasion that they were more illuminated then their Posterity either because the world was not so invaded with corrupt maners in their time or for that they were not yet much removed from the Beginning of things But in case this should be urged by them yet it will be perpetually necessary that those Ancients received this truth from without themselves since they could not have it from themselves any more then we Shall it therefore be likewise from tradition of their predecessors If so we shall run back to infinity and whereas all other traditions have necessarily had some beginning this will be found to be eternal Now this is a thing which ha's not so much as the appearance of reason especially in the mouths of them who are oblig'd to confess that the World it self had a beginning being fabricated by the casual coalition of Atoms For if the World began to be there is no ascending by divers generations of men to eternity but we must at length subsist in the first of all who cannot have had this important truth from himself any more then we but from the revelation of God who must have discovered the same to him to the end he might ascertain his Descendants thereof and leave it to them in deposito to the end of the world Now in what place was it that God made this revelation if as these people contend there is not nor ever was either in man the world or any Oracle whatsoever any trace or token of the existence of his Being and of his Divine Virtues And if God had so much care at the beginning to reveal this Truth to the first of men to the end they might not lead a life altogether semblable to that of Brutes why do they deny his Providence of which this is an effect supremely important Again If God was pleased his Providence should appear in this occasion why should he instantly after arrest the actions of it as if after having let scape either constrainedly or by inadvertency a beam of his Divinity he retir'd himself incontinently from before our eyes and became envelopp'd in darkness eternally impenetrable Lastly what will be the certainty or incertainty of this tradition I will use no other proof to shew then such as I shall draw from the confession of the Epicureans themselves It is a tradition as ancient and as constant amongst men in general That God takes care of the concernments of mankind as is in the School of Epicurius the tradition That there is a God Moreover the world and the occurrences that arrive in it every day present the humane understanding with proofs incomparably more evident that there is a Providence which governs us then this proposition There is a God furnishes us alone with assurances of its proper verity For on what side soever it be regarded wholly naked as I have laid it open it affords not any means to the mind to close with it for true and settle it self upon it whereas on all hands we meet with the materials of our reasonings upon which we ground the belief of a Providence Nevertheless Epicurus and his Disciples have dar'd to reject flatly the conduct of Providence without weighing either the tradition of their predecessors or the evidences which support the same with such apparent firmness What will hinder all the remainder of men from being as inclinable to deny the existence of God if we have no other assurance of it then so wild and vagous a tradition Let us allow Epicurus a little more and suppose the case that Nature alone hath imbued us with this truth from our birth without any need of receiving the impression of it by the contemplation of objects we have before our eyes Yet it is incomprehensible how certain Idea's of truths purely intellectual could be ingraved preserve their lineaments in the materialls of which we are framed besides that experience teaches all our fathers that when they gave being to their children it was at such time as they least of all thought of these Common Conceptions But grant it possible yet what is it which they understand by Nature For if by that word they pretend to denote the concourse of those indivisible Particles of which their fancy will have the the world compos'd or rather that Order which is between causes purely natural and their effects however other Philosophers describe it seeing this kind of nature hath not it self any apprehension of these verities how hath it communicated that to man which it hath not and whereof it is incapable to receive the least lineaments or seeds It must needs be therefore that it was God who writ them in the Understanding of man either in him that had them first to transmit the same to his Descendants which is absolutely unimaginable or in every individual person from the instant of their conception which would be highly necessary Now if God hath had so great care of mankind as not to suffer one single person to come into the world in whose breast he hath not first imprinted this divine Conception how irrational is it to esteem him negligent both of us and of that which concerns us And seeing he hath taken this care of us at a time wherein we could not render him any honor why should we not hope to obtain new benefits from his hand by our gratitude and by our prayers I conclude therefore that notwithstanding the pertinacious gainsaying of these people and with whatever artifice they endeavor either to maintain or disguise their sentiments they believe not at all the existence of a God or if they do believe it they have such perswasion from arguments which induce to the acknowledgment of his Especial Providence CHAP. II. Wherein the Service of God consists And what that is the Epicureans can render him according to their Principles ALthough the precedent Discourse should not yield us this result That the Epicureans being constant to their own Principles cannot be assured of the existence of a Deity and albeit we should have received this Common Notion from the faint impress of that which is called Nature in our Soul without owing it to God Yet this knowledge being so loose and incertain it is impossible it should lead us in a due
place this indifference in the belief of truths proposed to the understanding to give credit thereunto more or less as seems good to us or whether they place it in the practise of that piety and virtue which is principally seated in the Will to perform which of those precepts we please and no more or lastly whether it be in external communion of those ceremonies and visible government by which the Religious Society is administred to dispose of the same according to our humor to omit such as are injoyned by this revelation and embrace such as are opposite to them when we think sit retaining in the mean while both the belief of those truths inviolable and the internal practise of piety honesty and virtue in our deportments amongst men Certainly it is not probable that they account the belief of those truths indifferent which are offer'd to the understanding to be believ'd by a divine revelation For even in things not relating to Religion and in themselves of little importance the knowledge of truth is without comparison better then the belief of falshood And I do not conceive there is any person so brutish and unworthy the name of man as to think it indifferent what sort of Philosophy to embrace in case it were absolutely known in which sect the truth and certain intelligence of things were to be had Truth is so beautiful and admirable that she ravishes the minds of men into her love and the more purifyed and sublime they are the more violent is the love they beâ—r naturally to her What did not those persons of old do whose names are so celebrated in the world to find her out where they believed the discovery possible What transports of joy did they resent when they hapned on any footstep or trace of her What vows and wishes did they make to find her And what an expression was that of Plato when he protested that if he could have found a man that knew how to Define aright he would have cast himself at his feet to adore him And neveâ—theless the business was perhaps onely concerning the knowledge of a Goat or Caterpiller But if God himself had declared in which sect of Philosophy the truth were who would afterwards have esteemed the profession thereof indifferent And who would have had so little regard not onely to the dignity of truth but to the authority of God and to his testimony If I say he had commanded that the Tenets of Aristotle should be believed rather then those of Plato as being of more truth who would afterwards be a Platonist with an absolute contempt of truth whose value is inestimable and the testimony that God had given it the weight whereof is of soveraign authority and his express commandment whose majesty is inviolable Now if this be true in reference to Philosophy with which humane life might easily dispence how much more do's it hold good in Religion whose truths revealed from God are so important not onely to the present time but to all eternity Truths I say to which he hath render'd such testimonies Whereof he hath given such express commandment with terrible threatnings against incredulity and abundant and gracious promises to those that embrace the same with a stedfast belief But much less will they place their indifference in the practice of internal piety which is seated in the affections of the heart For as for piety it self Epicurus durst not question whether it ought to be exercised towards the Deity or no how therefore do they that acknowledge both a Providence of God in the government of the world and a particular revelation of his will in matter of his service presume to dispute it or place it in indifference And as for the manner of performing it if God himself ha's declar'd what fiducary recumbence we ought to have on his goodness what reverence of his glorious majesty what dread of his justice what gratitude for his benefits or what ardour and assurance in calling upon him in necessity and what obedience to his commandments who will be so bold or stupid as to vse or oppose humane imaginations against the declaration that it hath pleas'd him to make thereof 'T is a thing we would not tolerate in our children or servants to comment upon or dispute our commandments even in small matters when we have once signified our intentions much less can we endure that they slight the same to follow their own fancies It remaines therefore that they place this liberty in the communion of external ceremonies which yet they have no better grounds for then in the two preceding particulars For first the communion in external ceremonies in matter of Religion hath always been esteemed an open declaration of the consent that is yielded by the heart to things proposed therein to be believed as truths and to be practis'd as good and honest And as naturally in point of conscience the mind refuses to communicate in the ceremonies of a Religion whose maximes are contrary to its sentiments and the precepts which refer to manners contrary to what he esteems just and honest so it ha's ever been a universal sanction in all societies that have born the name of Religion not to admit any to the ceremonies relating to it but onely such as profess to receive both the precepts and doctrines of the same What a strange opinion therefore is this That it is lawful for a man to abstain from things to which God hath injoyned testimonies to be expressed of the internal consent that is yielded to the truths revealed by him and to the commandments which he hath given and contrarily to communicate in such which are the types or sequels of lyes and errors abhorred in the inward sense of the soul It is the custome when the external profession of a Religion which consists in the practise and communion of its exercises is deserted and a different taken up to renounce solemnly such things as were believ'd before and to protest ingagement into new beliefs Dare they say it is lawful for a man to do so against his conscience That is to attest both his conscience and God that sees it that he condemns that for a Lye which he believes in his heart to be truth and to embrace as a truth that which he knows in the sense of his soul to be a Lye If they think thus I do not dispute against them For I declared from the beginning that I would take my reasons from the motions of nature and conscience which these people have quite extinguished with all remains of natural generosity and ingenuity I refer them to him that will deservedly revenge perjury and before whom that plea will do them no service Juravi lingua mentem injuratam gero But supposing this were not so exactly observed yet the participation alone in the ceremonies of a Religion is a declaration of approving its maximes Therefore perhaps they account it lawful to allow by external
Epicurean Opinion concerning the Immortality of the Humane Soul and the Supream Good and what may redound from it The second Part. CHAP. I. Of the Universal Consentment of all Nations in this Point That there ought to be one Certain Religion And that it is Necessary that God himself prescribe the model of the same p. 137 CHAP. II. How greatly it imports true Piety That every man be throughly assured that his Religion is Good And that this cannot be unlesse it be of Divine Revelation p. 158 CHAP. III. Of the Immortality of the Soul and of the Creation of the world How greatly it imports true Piety to be fully assured of both And that a man cannot be so without a particular Revelation p. 183. CHAP. IV. How much true Godliness is concern'd in the certaine knowledge That the whole world is governed by a special Providence and That the same is no otherwise attainable but by Revelation p. 207 CHAP. V. Of what great moment it is to know whether Death be a natural accident or not And that such knowledge cannot be attained without Special Revelation p. 220 CHAP. VI. Of the corruption of mankind How much it imports true piety to know the Originall of it which we cannot do without a particular Revelation p. 223 CHAP. VII Of the Remission of sins what knowledge men naturally have thereof And how much it is the interest of true piety to be assured of the same Also of the Resurrection of the Body p. 246 CHAP. VIII What understanding can be had of true virtue without a particular Revelation p. 264 CHAP. IX What the principal tokens and evidences are by which this particular Revelation may be known and distinguished p. 278 The third Part. CHAP. I. THat such as acknowledge a particular Revelation cannot allow indifference improfession of Religion p. 295 CHAP. II. Which have been the principal Religions That profession of any sort is indifferent even by the verdict of the Pagan In which the Divine Revelation is not found p. 313 CHAP. III. Whether the Profession of all Religions be Indifferent according to the Religion of Mahomet And that this Religion is not of Divine Institution p. 340 CHAP. IV. Of the Religion of the Jews whether it allows Indifference And how it ought to be held of Divine Revelation p. 367 CHAP. V. That the time of the duration of Moses's Law is expired and consequently that some other must be come in it's place p. 389 CHAP. VI. That the Christian Religion being more excellent hath succeeded the Jewish p. 404 CHAP. VII That according to right Reason and the Old Testament the means of obtaining Salvation ought to be such as the Christian Religion holds forth p. 437 CHAP. VIII That the promised Messias ought to be both God and man whence it followes that there are several persons in one simple Divine Essence Also of the Divinity of the Old Testament p. 459 CHAP. IX That Jesus is the Messias promised by the Old Testament Also of the Divinity of the New p. 492 CHAP. X. That those who affirm Christ took upon him the appellation of God though he was not so onely that he might thereby render his Doctrine more authentique are apparently destitute of all reason p. 511 CHAP. XI That Indifference in the professing of all Religions is not justifiable according to the Christian Religion which darty soever be embraced And for Conclusion the Refutation of the pretext propounded in the Preface p. 525 A TREATISE Concerning RELIGIONS Against those who esteem all Indifferent The first Part. CHAP. I. That according to the Doctrine of the Epicureans there can be no assurance of the Existence of a Deity ALthough the name of Epicurus was detestable to Antiquity in regard that placing the supreme attainment of human felicity in Delight he seemed to deprave and adulterate whatsoever is sublime and Generous in Philosophy and moreover though succeeding Ages have had it in as much or gâ—â—â—ter abhorrence 〈◊〉 reason Time confirmed them in this opinion that 〈◊〉 End he aimâ—d at was to exâ—â—â—â—uish by his Maximes all the seeds of Honor Pâ—â—â—y and Vertue yet it is not my design in terming those Epicureans against whom this Dissertation is enterprized to fasten that appellation upon them as a piece of infaâ—y but onely â—o â—â—note and specificate them by the Conformity â—â—y have with that Person in his most capital Opinions My purpose is not to represent them in any other odious dress then that of the enormous and ill-beseeming appearance of their Perswasions in matter of Religion and the sequel of this discourse shall manifestly enough discover whether or no it hath been with Reason and Justice that this Sect hath in all times been regarded with a sort of execration not by popular judgement only but also amongst the other Philosophers Now whereas there is no Nation so projectedly Savage as to be aliens to the belief of existence of some Deity which mankind ought to adore no people who do not essay by some kind of performances to express the sentiments of Devotion and Honor they bear towards him it is difficult to imagine there should be any persons found of minds so immensely distant from the common conceptions of reason as to be able resolvedly to deny it And the reason of the difficulty is this That Notices which are so Universal having a necessary foundation and firm root in Nature it must needs be that such as stifle the same in themselves have in the first place violated and defaced That Hence it is that I would not formally accuse them who maintain that the Deity does not intermeddle in the affairs of this lower World and conceive we ought to venerate the same only upon the account of its excellence although there is not to be attended from it either Punishment for Wickedness or Compensation for Virtue to have absolutely banisht the knowledge of it from amongst them and to make profession of believing there is a God onely to escape the infamous title of Atheist Cicero indeed reproaches Epicurus with this artifice and raises the suspicion upon his Followers which nevertheless shall not ingage me to believe that the corruption of our Age could possibly afford birth to such monsters But howsoever that particular be certain it is beyond contradiction that the Opinions of this Philosopher lead directly to Impiety and that if they who have embraced them believe the existence of God t is Nature which prevails in them and which is never conquerable by all the attempts and outrages they imploy to conquer and suppress her Three things alone inform us there is a God his Word the World and Man and they teach us in truth so evidently and represent him so livety that such eyes must be lostly obtenebrated which do not perceive him therein In his Word we meet with wonderful Revelations and Predictions ratified by Events after divers Ages and with such Histories as no man knew or could know which
notwithstanding after they came to be discovered the World it self hath consented to the mind of man acquiesces in them and the shadows which have remained of them in the Fables of the Pagans do serve for even indubitable evidence and testimony unto them On the other side it contains a doctrine of that excellency that no men of howsoever transcendent accomplishments could ever have invented the same which is so conformable to our Reason that although it be admirably sublime there is nothing in it which subverts or incounters the soberness of our judgements in a word all the parts of it have such excellent proportion amongst themselves that so many different spirits which have left it us in writing in several Ages could not have carried on so unitedly and with such uniformity a design of like grandeur without a guidance other then humane Above all there is remarkable in it a marveilous efficacy to comfort a man in his misery after it hath first given him to understand it and unvailed his mind from the ignorance of himself and his own calamity which without doubt are effects whereof our conscience instructs us we â—annot be the cause Lastly this Divinity whâ—â— men have sought after as it were gropingâ—y in all Ages is manifested to us therein with such clearness that after so long experience which we have made of our natural blindness it can be nothing but enormous stupidity not to see that God reveals himself therein and that no other could have spoken so suitably of his nature and of his perfections In the mean while the Epicureans do not receive this Revelation as proceeded from God nor attribute so much to it by far as to the Writings of Plato Cicero and Aristotle If they may be believed all the Prophets were men of alienated understandings and the Apostles vagabond circulators who went about abusing the greatest part of the World So that it is not from these men that they have learnt this truth That there is a God for if they gave credit to them in this particular and avouched to hold it from them why should they disbelieve them in the rest Or how is it credible that so great frontless Imposters as they imagine the Prophets and Apostles were should be the first discoverers of so excellent a truth Or if they did not first discover it so as to merit the title of its Inventors and that notwithstanding we hold it from them whence can it be conjectured they should have drawn it It remains of necessity that if they had it not from Divine Revelation they attained it by study and contemplation either of the World or of themselves As to the World it is easie that it could not be made by it self and consequently must have an Author The construction of so vast a fabrick speaks the power of its Architect and its â—dmirable motions which have remained so reâ—â—lar and constant after so many Ages offer to our wonder his incomprehensible Wisdom In the Harmony of such variety of things and contrary qualities linked one with another and in the convenient disposure of all the creatures to a subserviency in mutual offices without which the World could not subsist his Goodness is presented visible as it were to our eye and palpable by our hand In the shaping of every thing and the apt Symmetry of its parts appears an Art not only inimitable by us but even such as we are not capable perfectly to comprehend The conservation of the Universe and administration of all it containes clearly evidences a Providence conducting natural causes to their effects and animating them with powers to produce them which disposes of all evenements of things agreeably to his will wisely ordering the most casual and contingent And although there are not wanting some to complain of his regiment and to reproach to him oftentimes the prosperity of the Bad and calamitous estate of the Good yet it does visibly enough defend and recompence Virtue and on the contrary avenges Wickedness frequently sometimes even to the displaying of dreadful judgements upon eminent impieties Insomuch that there is not a Star in the Heavens nor a Flower upon the Earth whether considered in the gross or in parcel but declares aloud that there is a God Creaâ—â—â— Consâ—rvator and Governor of all things Nevertheless the Epicureans do not acknowledge that the World ever had a Beginning or if it had according to their opinion yet they will not confess that it was framed otherwise then by the fortuitous concourse of infinite peteâ—t Atomes And for what concerns the regiment and conservation of it they will not have the Deity imployed in the Government of Nature and things here below and do not behold as they profess in all the Universe any footstep of his Providence For t is their general Apophthegm that God hath no affairs of his own and takes no part in those of another least he should interrupt his repose and the serene tranquillity of his eternal beatitude So that if we believe them all things come to pass in the World by a fatal necessity or as it pleases Fortune who being blind and wonderfully temerarious hath neither counsel nor aim in her actions There remains the consideration of Man In our selves we may in the first place observe the structure of our Bodies which are composed after so fair a Symmetrie that the most excellent entendments are ravished and confounded in the speculation and even the illterate and they which regard it more superficially cannot but express their astonishment at the same In effect were there in them onely the Masterpiece of our Eyes and that Activity of our Hands which renders us so expedite to all sorts of services there would be enough to raise amazement in us and direct us to the knowledge of that infinite Wisdom whereunto we ow our Originals Moreover besides this Life which is the Energy of our Soul and that imperceptible dispensation of spirits which she manages with so much diligence for the motions of our Members and the functions of our Senses The light of our Intellect its agitations so vivid regular conduct and great capacity to comprehend all things The faculty which inables us to reason concerning the Deity and dispute of it one against another sufficiently evidences that there is some Principle of Understanding without us from which this ray we posses is derived into our Nature For it must needs be that we have drawn it from without us since by it we so far surpass our selves that our Fathers confes themselves unable to have communicated it to their chrâ—â—ten as also for their own particular that they did not receive it from their fathers or Ancesters More signally the Fear which men naturally have when they apprehend the Deity will revenge their misdoings and the Hope to find support from it with which they comfort themselves as often as straits and necessity afflicts them two Passions which are almost the sole motives that
not produce neither is it able to preserve it self It belongs to the same faculty to preserve and make it If by the Word Nature they understand the world it self composed and contrived with all the things in the order we behold it or as the Author of the Book De Mundo speaks the well ordered compages of all the parts of the Universe How could that make it self For the thing which makes exists already and that which is making is not yet existent The Carver is before the Statue and the Watch-maker before his Springs that point out the hour yea even before he begins to make them But the Statue or the Watch though begun are neither of them such nor yet when they are in making till the whole work be compleated and all the parts adjusted and united in due order In like manner if the world made it self it was before its own being namely the world producing before the world produced though but one and the same World Which is a like folly as if a man should say that he begat himself without a father Whence also it follows that it is not able to govern or support and maintain it self no more then a Watch is if there be no body to fit and guide its Wheels and Springs and to winde it up and duely order it If they say that the World is eternal is it so without dependance on God or is it eternal by emanation from him as the Light of the Sun is of as great duration as the Sun it self If it be eternal with dependance on the Deity then God having produc'd the World as naturally as the fire burns or the Sun shines must also preserve it in the same manner and because it will be a natural action there will be no obligation to him for it in as much as he can do no otherwise as the Sun cannot restrain its beams nor withhold its light from illuminating the Universe And moreover such conservation of the World will be no longer an act of Providence For that can never be termed Providence which is an inevitable necessity of things depending on their indissoluble natural connexion So that I wonder with what reason the Stoicks called their Fatal destiny Providence or thought those two things compatible together For whereas Providence administers things with a freedom of Wil what Liberty can there be in the conduct of that which depends on a fatal and Determinate necessity which is precedent to any act of Providence If it be eternal without dependance on the Deity it is it self God as some heretofore accounted it And because that which is eternal is also immutable and maintains it self always uniformly neither shall God have any right to meddle in the government of the World which does not depend on him nor the World any necessity of being governed or preserved by him since there would be no change to be feared in it it s own eternity exempting it from all subjection to alteration Wherefore it must either be confess'd that the World had God for its Author or denied that God is any thing at all concern'd in the government and preservation of the World Now there is one thing considerable above others Which is that though these reasons be so evident that nothing can be brought against them to refell them yet there was never any man that perceiv'd them clearly unless he were first instructed of the creation of the World in the Books of Moses Aristotle believed it eternal Plato attributed eternity onely to the Matter and in his Dialogue of the Creation he commits so many impertinences unworthy so great a Philosopher that he that ha's the patience to read will partly laugh at his conceipts and partly pity his extravagances and esteem it as easie to combine the Atomes of Democritus together as to conjoyn the minute subtleties of those Platonical speculations Besides I am not satisfi'd and the opinion of those which affirm it hath very great probability of truth but Plato might have learn't all he knew of this matter from tradition of the Egyptians and Syrians who had receiv'd it from Moses for he had travell'd into those Countries and was there imbued with truths formerly unknown in Greece but afterwards endevour'd to cloath the same in the dress of Philosophy to the end they might be more readily entertain'd by his Country-men And being passionately devoted to Geometry observing what is most true that all things were fram'd with a wonderful wisdom as it were by weight rule and measure he interweav'd his Discourse with splendid conceptions of Lines Proportions Numbers Whence it came to pass that Aristotle who did not attribute much to the tradition of others but examined all things by his own reason and otherwise observed an insufferable confusion in all these Numbers of Plato and moreover perhaps took too much pleasure in opposing his Opinions designing to get all the reputation to himself which he detracted from his Master as Plato himself complains in Diog. Laertius that he had us'd him as rudely as young Colts that kick their Dams and so disceded from his opinion and introduc'd that of the eternity of the World with dependance on the Deity although such a dependance as infers a necessary and natural production And upon this consideration as God willing we shall shew more amply hereafter he seems to have had so cold a respect for the Deity Nor is there any ground to imagine that the Philosophers of latter times are more intelligent in these matters then those of old were since the World furnishes them with no new arguments nor Nature with new faculties or otherwise disposed to comprehend the same They know indeed that the World was created and have a clearer understanding of the truth of arguments which confirm it then the ancients and even then right reason it self could supply them with but it is since the thing was acertained by revelation And if they would be ingenuous to confess it they learn't it from the Books of Moses But what will some say could not Moses perhaps have a greater reach of wit then Plato or Aristotle and so invent arguments of himself and sound the truth to the bottom and then communicate it to others and that without any especial revelation although he boasted thereof to gain greater authority amongst his people Truely a very vain objection and a pitiful subterfuge For what should have hindred him from declaring his reasons as well as Aristotle hath done his And nevertheless he makes a very plain Narration of it as Galen reproaches to him And if his design were to enhance his authority and so render those over whom he commanded more plyable and flexible out of respect to the Deity why did he refuse that charge of exercising authority over that people and to conduct them And how does he boast of so many miracles which might have been contradicted by men then living if the relation of them had not been
finding wherewith to satisfie it and in case we should have found it yet we can scarce be assured that that were the true remedy of our evil For as some person may swallow poison while he conceives he uses a good medicament so another when he uses a safe remedy may yet think that he takes some noxious poison To this difficulty we must give an answer before we pass further to the examination of their opinion who acknowledging an especial declaration of the will of God in reference to his service do nevertheless esteem the external professions of all Religions indifferent It is most certain that if it were so that some person had the true revelation of the will of God in all these things and in the declaration of all these truths and yet did not believe that it was proceeded from God it would be in no wise profitable unto him No not if he were but in suspence concerning it For it is not with this as it is with drugs A good medicine may be given to a man of distemper'd fancy which will not fail to do him good though he believe it an invenom'd potion Because the Physick needs not the intervention of opinion or understanding to produce its effect but directly acts upon the humors of the body and the parts affected But here the medicine is taken and digested onely in the mind and works not but by the mediation of belief and that a certain clear and setled one which excites the passions and affections for this is the property of all perswasions that are impressed of a thing that must be reduc'd to practice such as the doctrine of piety and virtue is But if on the other side we receive and embrace with a firm belief that doctrine of truth revealed from Heaven it is absolutely impossible for it not to display its power and make us feel its efficacy So that all the difficulty lies in being perswaded and finding certain tokens or evidences which may make it be indubitably own'd All Nations indeed boast of having it neither ought it seem strange that they do so For though the Understanding be to the soul as the Eye is to the Body yet there is this difference in the resemblance that when a man is born blind though by the many slips and stumbles that befall him at every step he observes well that there is something necessary for his guidance wanting to him yet cannot one impose so far upon him how desirous so ever he be of sight as to make him believe that he does really see His own sentiment experience invalidating the credit of those that should go about to abuse him with such an imagination And if there wasever found a blind person that imagin'd that he saw he had not onely darkness in the eyes of his body but also distemper and disorder in his mind In the understanding the case is not the same Because it is not become extinguish'd by sin in us but we discourse and reason upon the appearances of things and indeavor to discern the true from the false and there being many things absolutely false which are partly colour'd with false shews and partly find a faculty in us easily to be deceiv'd hence I say it happens to us that receiving the false for the true we nevertheless imagine we have embraced the pure verity it self And there are principally two things which here render us lyable to imposture The first is that not being able of our selves to invent or discover the truth in the point of the knowledge of God and of his service and having not in our corrupted and obscured minds any certain rules to examine what is propos'd to us concerning the same all that seems to surpass our capacity and ha's any thing of strange and extraordinary if it be presented to us as divine is readily admitted and our ignorance conciliates authority and reverence to it as Lucretius saies Omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque Inversis quia sub verbis latitantia cernunt As a man that should have never seen true Diamonds but onely heard some body perhaps as ignorant in Jewels as himself speak of them might be easily gull'd by the first counterfeits that were presented to him and would take that to be brought from the bottom of the Indian Seas which was but gather'd from the rocks of his own country The second thing is the sense of our necessity which causes that as famish'd people eat and make good cheer with Garlick and Huskes so men receive all sorts of Religions as divine by reason of the sense that the conscience hath of its natural want though they scarce ought to be counted amongst Sciences purely humane Which though it be so yet the truth of God is but one uniform and like to it self and is not found but in one certain place For would God who is one and immutable reveal the manner of serving him in one place after one fashion and after another in another It is not in this case as it is with Princes who have divers Kingdomes whereby it is perhaps necessary for them to comply with the customes of Nations their laws and languages because it would be incommodious and difficult to rank them under the same constitutions every people having their peculiar inclinations and every climat its manners of acting which is impossible to be alter'd without danger of involving all in great disorder And though the general maximes of Policy and the foundations it ha's in the natural justice and honesty of things be ever immutable and uniform yet this do's not hinder but that several Commonwealths may be constituted after different formes and the particular laws upon which they are founded be accommodated and varied sometimes in one case and sometimes in another according to the diversity of circumstances But the nature of God being always like to it self in all Ages and the nature of man always one in all Nations there must be always one and the same service to God and to men one and the same rule of piety and virtue If there be a difference found therein at any time it is as we shall see God willing in due place in things which are not essential to Religion but in some external shew of things of a midde quality and indifferent in themselves So that either God ha's declared this his will but to one Nation alone or if he ha's declared it to more it ha's been by an equal and uniform revelation And whereas Religions are extremely confus'd this must have some tokens to distinguish it from all others whereby it may be infallibly known which are now the business of our enquiry Without question the best knowledge that can be had of the nature of a medicament is from the good ready and certain relief received by it in a disease After which experience there is no need of searching further into its qualities unless to gather occasions of admiring it
more In like manner the best knowledge that can be had of the revelation of heavenly truth in this point is by proof of the comfort that it affords to the souls of men and by its efficacy of cleansing them from the corruption of sin of which if we do not complain we are more then stupid and insensible But on the one side they that know the truth by this evidence scarce require any other and on the other side we have now to do with them that cannot know this truth by the experience of its virtue till they have first had some tast of it by an other way Wherefore it is necessary for us to speak of it in another sort and to shew briefly that provided a man brings the like docility to attain it that he does to the study of humane Sciences that is to say a mind clear of all prejudice affected to truth and free from importunate and contentious quarrelling the search is not laborious nor the attainment difficult so far are the pains imploy'd therein likely to be unprofitable Indeed I conceive there is none will deny but that if there be a Religion in which all the truths we have above considered are found either wholly revealed or illustrated sufficiently to determine the irresolution of the mind of man and to fix his agitations by contenting the insatiable desire of knowledge which is in us that this Religion is divine For since there never was not onely any Nation but not so much as one single person in any Nation that comprehended all these truths together What God is in his own nature How he hath created the World In what manner he governs it What is the cause and origine of Death Whence all the disorder we behold in man and in the world came to pass where we are to seek the knowledge of the means to obtain remission of our sins What hope there is of the Resurrection of the body yea What certainty there is of the doctrine of the immortality of our souls nor any of them solidly and distinctly do's it not follow that the doctrine which ha's so clear'd up all these truths that for the future there remains nothing to be doubted concerning them or known for the satisfaction of our minds therewith must necessarily proceede from some other then the mind of man For there is no more to be expected after tryal of the utmost power of our understanding in the discovery of these points New Countries have in our times been found in the East and West Indies which were unknown to the Ancients But the Sea and the Wind carried the discoverers thither there needed but a little more daring to sail forth from the coasts of one's country into the main Sea and a something exacter observation of the Needle and the Stars to direct the course and the arrival upon and beholding of those regions was an indubitable manifestation of their existence But should the World be turned about from East to West and from North to South there would be seen but one and the same Sun and the same Heavens Lands Seas Rivers and Men and the same order in the nature of things which the Philosophers contemplated in Greece and Italy the Druyds in Gallia the Brachmans and Gymnosophists in India the Magi and Astrologers in Chaldea and Priests and mysterious divines in Aegypt The very Scythians had their Sages who addicted themselves to the search of things humane and divine Therefore there must either spring up an other new kind of men or it must not be hoped that any should see clear in this wherein all others have been blind Now if this revelation be not proceeded from the mind of man it must be come from God no other could have given it us For Demons cannot here reasonably be brought into the Scene If they be I demand whether they were good or bad If good they did it by the instinct and command of God and so we have what we drive at If bad how could they which are the authors and lovers of lying teach us truths which oppose and condemn them and ruine the dominion which they bear over the minds of men by means of ignorance And since all such truth tends to the glory of God and the wellfare of mankind these especially how could wicked Demons be induc'd to communicate the knowledg of them to men being equally enemies to Heaven and Earth And in as much as every Religion professes either to teach things or to contain mysteries surpassing the apprehension of humane understanding for there never was any but pretended to deep secrets not to be sounded by the Reason of man that so it might be more venerable if there be sound one in which there are certain doctrines raised above our reach so interwoven with truths which we comprehend and whereof it ha's given us an absolute certainty that they illustrate and confirm one another so that what we understand assures us of the truth of that which we do not fully comprehend and what we do not perfectly comprehend connects truths together already understood as a necessary cement to hinder the dissipation of the whole work who can doubt but that it is God that connected those truths together by an indissoluble concatenation For without doubt they are truths though we do not comprehend them seeing they support others of whose evidence reason is convinc'd which would otherwise be ungrounded and infirm their verity I say appears from this consideration and it must needs be some other then the mind of man that ha's imploy'd them to this purpose since that is not capable to comprehend their nature Furthermore whereas it was well said by One That things of greatest antiquity are best and the Philosophers themselves when they treat concerning God and Religion extremely cry up Antiquity and attribute much to the dictates of their Ancestors as if nature it self had suggested to them that there was a source of all these things from which they that were nearest it drew the purest and sincerest waters whereas accordingly as they are derived through several minds as so many several conduit-pipes they become corrupted and tincted with extraneous qualities and contract impurity If there be found a doctrine that ha's all the marks of Antiquity and there appears nothing in the world that equals it it ought not to be doubted but that the same is proceeded from him that is more ancient then all as being author of all things If the language in which it was revealed be as the mother and stock from which others though very ancient are sprung if it describes the history of the world and of men and their propagation upon the earth if it affords the demonstration of times and that without it the knowledge of Chronology would be more intricate then a Labyrinth if it deduces its history from point to point with an exact correspondence if it clearly and certainly relates histories that are as the
Kingdomes it must needs be particularly loved by the Deity since he so terribly revenges the injuries that are done to it Lastly being wholly designed for reclaiming men off from Idolatry and superstition to the service of the true God and conforming their irregular appetities to reason a thing impossible to be done because men naturally love Idols as debauched men do courtisans and are yet addicted to their own concupiscences as much or more then they are to idols nevertheless if it ha's surmounted all resistance overcome the most obstinate hearts and triumphed gloriously over the humane understanding leading their thoughts as prisoners by the force and clearness of its truth so that it ha's subjugated even the greatest Empires and all other Religions doctrines and sects have fallen and been scatter'd before it Who can doubt for the future but that it is a divine truth and accompanied with divine assistance Especially since for the propagating of it into all quarters of the world there was employed neither arms nor factions and conspiracies nor the favour of great men nor commotions of people nor the subtlety of Philosophers nor the eloquence of Orators nor any thing else that bears a splendor and lustre in the eyes of men but onely the naked proposall of a simple truth and a firm and invincible resolution to indure all things for it Certainly where the means which men ordinarily serve themselves of are rejected and such as are contrary to them used the design cannot but be some other then humane And if it prosper in spight of the world's and mens opposition it must needs be through a divine and celestial virtue Now we shall see by the help of God's grace in the sequell that there is a Religion in the world to which all these tokens or evidences do sute and agree and that they cannot be found but in that alone and this in order to evince as my first purpose obliges me that they who acknowledge a particular or special revelation from Heaven in matter of Religion ought not to account all kinds indifferent as to external profession which must be the subject of the third part of my Work The end of the Second Part. A TREATISE Concerning RELIGIONS Against those who esteem all Indifferent The third Part. CHAP. I. That such as acknowledge a Particular Revelation cannot allow indifference in Profession of Religion HAving shewn by manifest and necessary reasons that in order to performing a service agreeable to God and beneficial to the salvation of men there needs an other light then that of Nature and that they ought to be inlightened by a special revelation and having declared the most evident tokens by which the same may be known it should be our next business to enquire where they are found in as much as Religion will infallibly be there found also And this ought without longer dispute to be sufficient against those who acknowledging the necessity of this particular revelation likewise confessing that there is such in the world do notwithstanding account the external profession of all Religions indifferent For where God hath revealed his truth and declared his will in things that concern him and his service what humane imaginations are to be preferr'd before him or what excuses can be pleaded for disobedience unto him But the obstinacy of men and the importance of the matter requires further discussing and illustration In man there are three distinct faculties of which each ha's its respective influence in the profession and exercise of Religion The understanding wherewith we apprehend the truth of things The Will in which are the motions of piety and habits of virtue And the Senses which are subservient to both For it is by the Senses that objects arrive to the Understanding and by the Understanding they excite sutable motions in the Will Upon which account there must be three sorts of things in Religion that correspond thereunto First such as are propounded as truths to be believ'd that so man who is otherwise buried in ignorance may attain a wisdom worthy the excellence of his nature For how can Religion subsist without a true understanding of the nature of God and his Attributes and other truths dependent thereon so far at least as humane understanding is capable of the same And since the supreme perfection of man consists in the legitimate practise of the true Religion how can man be render'd perfect if his intellect remain notwithstanding clouded with darkness and ignorant of the most excellent of all natures and from which alone all other things derive their perfection The second sort of things include such as are proposed not onely to be believed but to be done and which lye in practise as the precepts of piety towards God and charity amongst men the duties of which are diffus'd through all the parts of humane life Lastly the third comprehends all external things as the actions and ceremonies designed to give instruction of that which must be believ'd and to beget affection towards that which is to be done with that regularity according to which the Religious Society is administred Now all these particulars ought to have such an accord among them that the truths proposed to be believ'd be of a nature proper to beget piety and virtue in the minds of men n as much as there is so strait an alliance between the Understanding and the Will that the Will follows the steerage government of reason which is the guide and conductor of it Whence that the motions of piety may be sincere and worthy of the person in whom they are and to whom they are directed it is requisite that the wisdom of the understanding be very pure and its light very serene clear In like maner it is requâ—site that the precepts which contain the duties of piety and virtue have no repugnance with the truths in knowledge of which consists the wisdom of the understanding but as they mutually depend on one another so there may be a perfâ—ct correspondence between them And lastly it is meet that the ceremonies and external government of this society have such a congruity with all other things of Religion that first they be in nothing repugnant to the truths in which wisdom consists and next that they be peculiarly instrumental to the begetting and exciting of piety and virtue For as the internal part of man is much more excellent then his external and Religion is destinated to perfectionate his soul so is it fit that the exterior and sensible things imployed as instruments thereunto be proper to the end to which they are adressed And it would be a great absurdity to imploy means to attain to such an end which were not onely uncongruous therewith but opposite and contrary These things being thus premised I demand whether they that believe a celestial revelation necessary and think there is one in the world and nevertheless account the external profession of all Religions indifferent
of men upon the account of being Divine and Religious Wherefore whosoever takes upon him the Authority of enjoyning such things for Religious and requisite to the service of God which are in their own nature free and lest by God in their indifference he commits several high crimes in one single attempt For he offers to make a thing not at all ordained by God a means to obtain his favour and to be well-pleasing to him Now God is not delighted with things according to the fancy of man but according to his own will In the next place he arrogates a dominion over the Conscience and encroaches upon the Authority of God for he places himself between him and that though between God and the Conscience of man there is no intermedium no more then there is between husband and wife and God communicates to men the power of disposing that which concerns this life onely whereby some are bound to yield obedience to others But as for what relates to the Conscience he hath reserv'd the Empire over it wholly to himself In fine he usurps what is proper to none but the Deity by claiming the right of giving the Nature and Essence to things and making them of free and indifferent as they were to become good or bad For it may be truly affirmed that it is as much in the power of men to create things of nothing as it is to render such good or evil which were not so before In the one there is requisite an infinite power in the other an infinite authority and consequently as it is not permitted to any to usurp this right so it is not lawful for any to obey him that usurps it that is to account those things for good by vertue of his Prescription which were before indifferent Because this would be to allow and favour a tyrannie in prejudice of the glory of God to inthral his Conscience which God would have free in this regard to pretend such things are acceptable to him which he hath not commanded and to measure him according to our own will In a word to own for Divine and Religious by humane command such things as the wisdom of God would have be esteemed purely humane and indifferent What then will some say is it not lawful for the Religious Society to establish certain Laws and Ceremonies which private persons are bound to observe when they are constituted by publique suffrage of the Society or if God hath appointed certain persons to be Governours of this Society as he hath placed the conduct of Justice in the hands of the Magistate hath he not given them Authority to make Constitutions concerning things in their own nature indifferent which oblige those that are subject to their rule Yes certainly and we have touch'd above upon the manner how but it will be here convenient to explain the same somewhat further Magistrates in a Civil Society make two sorts of Laws in some they expound the very Laws of Nature onely and do not constitute as when they forbid Theft Adultery Murder and Blasphemy for they are not the Authors of these Laws they are onely the Proclaimers and Interpreters So that when we obey them in this case we do not so much obey them as Nature it self Others are such as they judge profitable for consetvation of that Society over which they superintend although they be not expresly grounded upon the Dictates of Nature such are the Edicts concerning Commerce Tributes Taxes and Gabels which when they ordain they onely advance and have respect to the publique good and do not pretend the same to be the Law of God or Nature Whence when we obey them in this case we have regard to them and not to the nature it self of the things we do the same out of consideration of their Authority and the benefit arising thereby namely the conservation of Society and not as if these things were of themselves sufficient to be authentick and inviolable grounds of Laws In like manner they that are intrusted with the Government of the other Society have the care of two sorts of Constitutions committed to them In the first of which they onely expound the Laws of God whereof they are not Legislators but meer Guardians and Depositaries and when they promulgate the same they do not pretend that they are their own Decrees but the Ordinances of God himself So that when we yield obedience thereunto it is not properly in respect to them but because of the express command of God and the very essence of the thing The second sort is of those which they esteem profitable onely in reference to order and seemliness or the conservation of the Society which they govern and do not recommend the same but under that title and not as founded on the command of God So that in submitting to them we have regard to the Authority which God hath given them concerning the ordering these affairs and to the benefit arising thereby as peace and concord by which the Society is preserved And so far ought they to be obeyed when they attribute nothing more to themselves But when in either of these Societies their Superintendents go about either to command and forbid that which God and Nature have forbidden and commanded or to change the very nature of things or to impose their own Laws as Divine and Natural we are not onely not bound to submit unto but commanded to resist them inasmuch as they set themselves in the place of God and instead of preserving the Society ruine and overthrow it And from all this it evidently follows that it is not lawful in these kinde of things to have Communion in a Religion which thus tramples on the bounds wherewith God and Nature have circumscrib'd it Moreover there are some things which considered in themselves are free and of a middle nature which yet are not so as they are referred to a certain end but are determined by the very nature of the thing to which they are design'd For example the knowledge of those truths in which consists the Wisdom of Religion is without doubt a thing good in it self and which God commands by the same Revelation whereby he hath declared them To attain thereunto certain means must be employ'd and there is no other then to expound them in common in the most fitting and convenient manner that may be as to be present in some places to hear such as discourse of them to communicate thereof with them in order to be resolved of any difficulties that arise Whence though to resort to a certain place at a time prefixed be a thing purely free and indifferent if considered precisely and separately in it self yet in case God had not expresly commanded the same the commandment of that which is ordained as the scope and end encludes also tacitely and necessarily that of the means which conduce thereunto By the same reason therefore things which though free in themselves yet naturally
we if the truth was there of which we are in despair ever to have any intelligence Shall we then have recourse to find it in the books of the Poets Truely it would be an excellent design to go about to build a Religion upon the model afforded us in the Theology of Hesiod the Hymmes of Orpheus the Poems of Homer the Odes of Pindar the Metamorphoses of Ovid and the divine Theology of the great Virgil who is so hard put to it to save the gods of the poor Aeneas from the sack of Troy and who trusses them up in the same fardel with the little Ascanius as companions of the same fortune It were more rationally credible that the beasts and trees held that rare converse together which Aesop reports of them in his Fables then to give belief to the adventures and exploits which those Poets ascribe to their Deities For in the first there would be nothing but childishness or at most but brutishness in the latter impiety and blasphemy And if as some would have it believ'd of them though perhaps themselves never thought of any such matter their intent was to cover under the veil of those fables several true mysteries pertaining to the knowledge of the Deity and understanding of the secrets of nature so far was the teaching the same after such a manner from being a divine intention that on the contrary the honor of the Deity hath thereby been unworthily impaired and the truth smother'd under most horrible lies It follows therefore that we go to the writings of Philosophers to which we cannot without great injury to truth ascribe the commendation of being proceeded from celestial inspiration since the authors themselves though sufficiently presumtuous do not pretend they were so And indeed we have shewn above that they were either wholly ignorant of the requisites to a true piety towards God or if they had knowledge of some few it was wonderfully obscure and dubious But how could the revelation of God have suffered them to groap and wander in that ignorance To conclude is it then to those Oracles of Delphos Dodona Jupiter Ammon and others the like that we owe the glory of this divine knowledge Truly it moves both shame and pity to hear themselves speak both of the original and faculty of divination and cessation of Oracles It was a heard of Goats that first brought that of Delphos which was the most famous and venerable of all into reputation But the virgins that were placed there to give answers to inquirers which they receiv'd by their obscene parts were not long there but there arise most notorious scandals of them All their predictions were ambiguous and doubtful like our Almanack-makers who prophesie by hap-hazard and themselves gave this account of it that the Daemons which spoke there not knowing things to come but by inspection of the Stars and so being able to gather from thence but incertain conjectures they shrouded their ignorance under the ambiguity of words capable of different interpretations to the end they might make good their credit whatsoever the event of things might be In a word afâ—er Plutark had bestirr'd himself on all sides to finde out the causes of these Oracles and their ceasing and sometimes conceiv'd them perishable and mortal Daemons sometimes immortal but that they chang'd place he seems to resolve upon this worthy Philosophy That the earth was in some places indued with certain prophetick Virtues which come by exhalations to be mingled and insinuated into souls fitting to receive those inspirations and so cause in them those Enthusiasmes and predictions of future things Afterwards when all the virtue is spent and the whole mass that was made thereof in the subterranean caverns evaporated then the prediction that was made by the Oracles of things to come ceases and is extinguish'd Without question those divinations could not but be very clear which proceeded onely from the fumes of the earth and the religious devotions very good that were paid to these divining exhalations and the persons who received the impressions of them in their souls But perhaps though the evidences of this divine revelation be lost I mean the books in which it was recorded yet it ha's remained in the memory of man and is preserved by practise as by a living transcript Be it so Let us therefore now examine the Pagan Religion in it self Which certainly if it was divine ought to have afforded a great knowledge of those supreme truths in the understanding of which consists the perfection of our souls And yet it ha's been pitifully defective herein For setting a part at present those principles of Christian Religion which seem most incredible and by reason of which profane men reject or suspect it there is no person that ha's a dram of common sense but will freely confess that we have beyond comparison more knowledge of the nature of the Deity and true virtue then the ancient Greeks or Romanes ever had which notwithstanding we have drawn from books more ancient then them by many ages and which condemn the Gods of all other Nations Whence therefore came it to pass that if they had that particular revelation we enquire after they were so ignorant of those indubitable truths of which we are so knowing who have learnt the same from those that are profess'd enemies to the Pagan Deities If what they believ'd in matter of Religion was truth whence do those truths which we perceive now so clearly and comprehend so certainly convince them of falshood And if the Gods which the Pagans ador'd were true Gods why do the books which have taught us so many excellent things whereunto humane reason cannot repugne call them Gods of clay And indeed they were marveillous Gods for even those that ador'd them knew their parents and could shew their tombes and tell a thousand debaucheries of them which confirm that they were so far from being worthy to reign in the heavens that on the contrary they deserved publick punishment upon earth Their thefts their rapes and adulteries their attempts against parents their whoredoms whereby if we believe their authors they filled the heavens with bastards their Sodomies and incests would not have been suffered unpunish'd by those that built Temples and Altars to them if they had apprehended them in the jurisdiction of their respective Republicks And the supreme Jupiter himself must not be excepted of whom Menelaus exclaimed with more reason then he imagin'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter pater nemo Deorum est te perniciosior What a kind of Religion is that whose Gods have had a beginning and that a long time after men of whose history we have certain knowledge For Jupiter and Saturne and Vranus are none of them so ancient as Abraham On the other side what Gods had the Nations before these came into the world Whosoever saith Plutark would search into the histories of the times that preceeded Theseus and Hercules shall find therein nothing