à minori ad majus from the less to the greater in the arguings of our Saviour Thus Mat. 7. 11. If ye being evil know how to give good Gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good Things to those that ask him The ground of the Consequence is this Principle of Reason That God is more benign and gracious than the tenderest and most affectionate of our earthly Parents So Luke 12. 24. He argues that God will provide for Vs because he doth for the Ravens since we are better than they How much more are ye better than the Fowls Which arguing supposeth this Principle of Reason that that Wisdom Goodness which are indulgent to the viler Creatures will not neglect the more excellent He proceeds further in the same Argument by the consideration of God's clothing the Lillies and makes the like inference from it Vers. 28. If God so clothe the Grass how much more will be clothe you And Mat. 12. He reasons that it was lawful for him to heal on the Sabbith-day from the consideration of the general Mercy that is due even to brute Creatures What Man shall there be among you that shall have one Sheep and if it fall into a Pit on the Sabbath day will he not lay hold of it to lift it out How much more then is a Man better than a Sheep Vers. 12. Thus our Saviour used Arguments of Reason And 3. the Apostles did so very frequently S. Paul disproves Idolatry this way Acts 17. 29. Forasmuch then as we are the Off-spring of God we ought not to think that the God head is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art And the same Apostle proves the Resurrection of the Dead by the mention of seven gross Absurdities that would follow the denyal of it 1 Cor. 1. 15. viz. If the Dead rise not Then 1. Christ is not risen And then 2. our Preaching is vain and we false Apostles And if so 3. your Faith is vain And then 4. you are not justified but are in your sins And hence it will follow 5. That those that are departed in the same Faith are perished And then 6. Faith in Christ prosits only in this Life And if so 7. we are of all Men the most miserable Because we suffer all things for this Faith From ver 14. to ver 19. And the whole Chapter contains Philosophical Reasoning either to prove or illustrate the Resurrection or to shew the difference of glorified Bodies from these And S. Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 2. shews that sinful Men must expect to be punished because God spared not the Angels that fell Instances of this would be endless these may suffice And thus of the Second thing also which I proposed to make good viz. That Religion is friendly to Reason and that appears in that God himself our Saviour and his Apostles own it and use Arguments from it even in Affairs of Faith and Religion BUt divers Objections are urged against the use of Reason in Religion from Scripture and other Considerations The chief of them I shall consider briefly From Scripture 't is alledged 1. That God will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise 1 Cor. 1. 19. And the World by Wisdom knew not God vers 21. And not many wise Men after the flesh are called vers 26. And God chose the foolish things of this World to confound the wise vers 27. By which expressions of wisdom and wise 't is presumed that Humane Reason and Rational Men are meant But these Interpreters mistake the Matter much and as they are wont to do put mere Arbitrary Interpretations upon Scripture For by Wisdom here there is no cause to understand the Reason of Men but rather the Traditions of the Jews the Philosophy of the Disputing Greeks and the worldly Policy of the Romans who were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rulers of that World That the Jewish Learning in their Law is meant the Apostle intimates when he asks in a way of Challenge vers 20. Where is the Scribe And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies one that was skill'd in their Laws and Customs And that the Philosophy of the Greeks is to be understood likewise we have ground to believe from the other Question in the same Verse Where is the Disputer of this World Which though some refer to the Doctors among the Jews also yet I humbly think it may more properly he understood of the Philosophers among the Grecians For the Apostle writes to Greeks and their Philosophy was notoriously contentious And lastly That the worldly Policies of the Romans are included in this Wisdom of this World which the Apostle vilifies there is cause to think from the sixth Verse of the second Chapter where he saith He spake not in the Wisdom of the Princes of this World And 't is well known that Policy was their most valued Wisdom Tu regere imperio To govern the Nations and promote the grandeur of their Empire was the great design and study of those Princes of this World Now all these the Apostle sets at nought in the beginning of this Epistle Because they were very opposite to the simplicity and holiness self-denial and meekness of the Gospel But that is this to the disadvantage of Reason to which those sorts of Wisdom are as contrary as they are to Religion And by this I am enabled 2. To meet another Objection urged from 1 〈◊〉 2â—… 14. But the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can be know them because they are spiritually discerned Hence the Enthusiast argues the Universal Inability of Reason in things of Religion and its Antipathy to them Whereas I can apprehend no more to be meant by the words than this viz. That such kind of natural Men as those Scribes and Disputers and Politioians having their Minds depraved and prepossessed with their own Wisdom were indisposed to receive this that was so contrary unto it And they could not know those things of God because they were Spiritual and so would require a Mind that was of a pure and spiritual frame viz. free from that earthly Wisdom of all sorts which counts those things foolishness and which by God is counted so it self 1 Cor. 3. 19. which place 3. Is used as another Scripture against Reason The Wisdom of this World is foolishness with God But it can signifie nothing to that purpose to one that understands and considers the Apostle's meaning What is meant by the Wisdom of this World here I have declared already And by the former part of my Discourse it appears that whatever is to be understood by it our Reason cannot since that either proves or defends all the Articles of Religion 4. And when the same Apostle elsewhere viz. 2 Cor. 1. 12. saith That they had not their Conversation in fleshly Wisdom we cannot think he meant
immediate Author of it some that it was made by Angels and some by the Parents Whether it be Created or Traduced hath been the great Ball of contention to the latter Ages and after all the stir about it 't is still as much a question as ever and perhaps may so continue till the great Day that will put an end to all Differences and Disputes The Patrons of Traduction accuse their Adversaries of affronting the Attributes of God and the Assertors of Immediate Creation impeach them of violence to the nature of things And while each of the Opinions strongly opposeth the other and feebly defends it self some take occasion thence to say That both are right in their Oppositions but both mistaken in their Assertions I shall not stir in the Waters that have been troubled with so much contention The Famous St. Austin and others of the celebrated Antients have been content to sit down here in a profest Neutrality and I will not endeavour to urge Confessions in things that will be acknowledged but shall note some Difficulties that are not so usually observed which perhaps have more darkness in them than these so much controverted Doctrines 1. I begin with the Vnion of the Soul and Body In the Vnions that we understand there is still either some suitableness and likeness of Nature in the things united or some middle participating Being by which they are joyn'd but in this there is neither The natures of Soul and Body are at the most extream distance and their essential Attributes most opposite To be impenetrable discerpible and unactive is the nature of all Body and Matter as such And the properties of a Spirit are the direct contrary to be penetrable indiscerpible and self-motive Yea so different they are in all things that they seem to have nothing but Being and the Transcendental Attributes of that in common Nor is there any appearance of likeness between them For what hath Rarefaction Condensation Division and the other properties and modes of Matter to do with Apprehension Judgment and Discourse which are the proper acts of a Spiritual Being We cannot then perceive any congruity by which they are united Nor can there be any middle sort of Nature that partakes of each as 't is in some Unions their Attributes being such extreams or if there is any such Being or any such possible we know nothing of it and 't is utterly unconceivable So that what the Cement should be that unites Heaven and Earth Light and Darkness viz. Natures of so diverse a make and such disagreeing Attributes is beyond the reach of any of our Faculties We can as easily conceive how a thought should be united to a Statue or a Sun-beam to a piece of Clay how words should be frozen in the Air as some say they are in the remote North or how Light should be kept in a Box as we can apprehend the manner of this strange Vnion 2. And we can give no better account how the Soul moves the Body For whether we conceive it under the notion of a Pure Mind and Knowledg with Sir K. Digby or of a Thinking Substance with Des-Cartes or of a penetrable indiscerpible self-motive Being with the Platonists It will in all these ways be unconceivable how it gives motion to unactive matter For how that should move a Body whose nature it is to pass through all Bodies without the least jog or obstruction would require something more than we know to help us to conceive Nor will it avail to say that it moves the Body by its vehicle of corporeal Spirits for still the difficulty will be the same viz. How it moves them 3. We know as little How the Soul so regularly directs the Animal Spirits and Instruments of Motion which are in the Body as to stir any we have a will to move For the passages through which the Sâ—…rits are convey'd being so numerous and there being so many others that cross and branch from each of them 't is wonderful they should not lose their way in such a Wilderness and I think the wit of Man cannot yet tell how they are directed That they are conducted by some knowing Guide is evident from the steadiness and regularity of their motion But what that should be and how it doth it we are yet to seek That all the motions within us are not directed by the meer mechanick frame of our Bodies is clear from experience by which we are assured that those we call Spâ—…taneous ones aâ—…e under the Government of the Will at least the determination of the Spirits into such or such passages is from the Soul whatever we hold of the conâ—…eyances after and these I think all the Philosophy in the World cannot make out to be purely mechanical But though this be gain'd that the Soul is the principle of Direction yet the difficulty is no less than it was before For unless we allow it a kind of inward sight of every Vein Muscle Artery and other Passage of its own Body of the exact site and position of them with their several Windings and secret Chanels it will still be as unconceivable how it should direct such intricate Motions as that one that was born blind should manage a Game at Chess or marshal an Army And if the Soul have any such knowledg we are not aware of it nor do our minds attend it Yea we are so far from this That many times we observe not any method in the outward performance even in the greatest variety of interchangable motions in which a steady Direction is difficult and a Miscarriage easie As we see an Artist will play on an Instrument of Musick without minding it and the Tongue will nimbly run divisions in a Tune without missing when the Thoughts are engaged elsewhere which effects are to be ascribed to some secret Art of the Soul if that direct to which we are altogether strangers 4. But besides the Difficulties that lie more deep we are at a loss even in the knowledg of our Senses that seem the most plain and obvious of our Faculties Our eyes that see other things see not themselves and the Instruments of Knowledg are unknown That the Soul is the percipient which alone hath animadversion and sense properly so call'd and that the Body is only the receiver and conveyer of corporeal Motions is as certain as Philosophy can make it Aristotle himself teacheth it in that Maxim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Plato affirms That the Soul hath life and sence but that the Body in strictness of speaking hath neither the one nor other Upon which position all the Philosophy of Des-Cartes stands And it is so clear and so acknowledg'd a Truth among all considering Men that I need not stay to prove it But yet what are the Instruments of sensitive Perception and particular convers of outward Motions to the seat of Sense is difficult to find and how the pure Mind can receive information from things
appear to rest as now it doth as I have discours'd elsewhere But when the Senses are exercised about their right Objects and have the other Circumstances that are requisite we then assent without doubting And this fullness of assent is all the certainty we have or can pretend to for after all 't is possible our Senses may be so contrived that things may not appear to us as they are But we fear not this and the bare possibility doth not move us 3. There are Certainties arising from the Testimony of others This in ordinary cases is very doubtful and fallacious but again in some it is indubitable As when the Testimony is general both as to time and place uninteressed full plain and constant in matters of Sense and of easie Knowledg In such circumstances as these the evidence of Testimony is no more doubted than the first Principles of Reason or Sense Thus we believe without the least scruple about it That there are such places as Rome and Constantinople and such Countries of Italy and Greece though we never saw them and many other Historical Matters which our selves never knew The Foundation of which assurance is this Principle That Mankind cannot be supposed to combine to deceive in things wherein they can have no design or interest to do it Though the thing have a remote possibility yet no Man in his Wits can believe it ever was or will be so and therefore we assent to such Testimonies with the same firmness that we would to the clearest Demonstrations in the World The second sence of Certainty is that which I call'd Certainty Infallible when we are assured that 't is impossible things should be otherwise than we conceive and affirm of them This is a sort of Certainty that humanely we cannot attain unto for it may not be absolutely impossible but that our Faculties may be so contrived as always to deceive us in the things which we judg most certain and assured This indeed we do not suspect and we have no reason to do it which shews that we are certain in the former Sense But we may not say 't is utterly impossible and consequently we cannot have the certainty of this latter sort which perhaps is proper only to Him who made all things what they are and discerns their true natures by an infallible and most perfect knowledg The sum of which is that though we are certain of many things yet that Certainty is no absolute Infallibility there still remains the possibility of our being mistaken in all matters of humane Belief and Inquiry But this bare possibility as I said moves us not nor doth it in the least weaken our assent to those things that we clearly and distinctly perceive but we believe with as much firmness of assurance the Matters that our Faculties do so report to us as if there were no such possibility and of greater Certainty than this there is no need It is enough for us that we have such Principles lodged in our minds that we cannot but assent to and we find nothing to give us occasion to doubt of the truth of them This is Humane Certainty and let vain and affected Scepticks talk what they will they cannot in earnest doubt of those first Principles which I have mention'd They are universal and believ'd by all Mankind every one knows every one useth them For though they do not lie in the minds of all Men in the formality of such Propositions yet they are implicitly there and in the force and power of them every Man reasons and acts also These are the Seed of Reason and all the Conclusions at never so great a distance that are truly deduc'd from those first Certainties are as true and certain as they are and both together make up what we call Reason So that this is not so various and giddy a thing as some vain inconsiderate Men talk but 't is one steady Certainty and the same all the World over Fancies Opinions and Humors that mistaken Men call Reason are infinitely divers and fallacious But those Principles and Conclusions that are clearly and distinctly perceiv'd by our minds those that are immdiately lodg'd in them and the consequences that truly arise from those and the right informations of Sence they are one and certain without variety or deceit Now all Men partake of Reason in some degree of the prime Principles at least and the Faculty of deducing one thing from another But the most use that little perversly and to their own deception arguing from prejudices of Sense Imagination and customary Tenents and so filling up their minds with false and deceitful Images instead of Truth and Reason 'T is the office and business of Philosophy to teach Men the right use of their Faculties in order to the extending and inlarging of their Reasons and one principal Rule it gives is To be wary and diffident not to be hasty in our Conclusions or over-confident of Opinions but to be sparing of our assent and not to afford it but to things clearly and distinctly perceiv'd And this was the aim and design of that Discourse which this Learned Man accuseth as such a piece of Scepticism and discouragement of Science I have now said what I intended concerning the first thing on which my Assailant insists The charge of Scepticism and I suppose I have sufficiently shewn the injustice of it I proceed to the second main Business of his Book which is to give an account of those difficulties which I have mention'd as yet unresolv'd Concerning those I affirm not that they are impossible to be unridled but that they have not been explain'd by any yet extant Hypothesis a sad Argument of intellectual deficience that after so much talk of Science and endeavour after Knowledg we should be yet to seek and that in those Matters which we have the greatest advantages to understand But this learned Man thinks he can resolve them and I have so great a kindness for any ingenious attempts of this sort and so great a desire to be satisfied about those Theories that I am ready to entertain any good probability that shall be offer'd even by a prosest Antagonist for Truth is welcome to me from any hand that brings it I have therefore candidly and impartially consider'd this Gentleman's Solutions but cannot satisfie my self with them The Reasons of my Dissatisfactions I shall now give in an examination of his Accounts He takes occasion from my waving the difficulties of Magnetism and the flux and reflux of the Sea to give his solution of them But I am not concern'd here they are none of the things on which I insist yea I professedly decline them and intimate that these are better known than less-acknowledg'd Mysteries Des-Cartes his Hypothesâ—…is are fair and probable but I think this Philosopher's Accounts very obnoxious especially there where he makes so constant and regular an effect as is the flux and reflux of the Sea to be caus'd
subtilty of Nature in forming so many distinct Parts and Members and Passages in those invisible Creatures and of the grosness of our Senses in comparison of the fineness and tenuity of those works I then made an offer to you of this Hypothesis of the Formation of Organical Bodies which I exprest to this effect That the Seeds of things are certain and are the things themselves in little having all that is in the compleated Body in smallest and invisible parts and so generation is but accretion and growth to greater bulk and consistence To this purpose our Author here speaks and the Hypothesis receives probability and advantage from the late discoveries of the ingenious Malpeghius and Dr. Grew in his Anatomy of Plants Nor is it unlikely but that Vegetables are folded up in their Seeds and that their Vegetation is only the expanding and unfolding of them But in Animals the thing is of more difficult conception since the immediate matter of many if not of most Generations is an homogeneous fluid To which I know it will be said that the organiz'd Body is in it though it be so small as to be invisible But it is not very probable that an invisible Atome of a Creature should expand it self into the vastness of a Whale or Elephant or that the Original Bodies of those immense Creatures should be undecernable by the acutest sight when the seminal Body if I may so call it of very small Plants are plainly visible And if this be so that the Seed of Animals actually contains the formed Bodies of the Animals themselves those little Bodies must either be supposed created by God in the form and consistence in which they are from the foundation of the World or they are produc'd after in an orderly course of Nature If the former be said some will be apt to ask Whether this will not destroy all Philosophy being so immediate a recourse to Creation and the infinite Power of God And the manner of those Formations is never the more intelligible for being resolv'd into the immediate efficiency of incomprehensible Power and Wisdom But if they are produc'd in a natural way we are then as much aâ—… a loss to find by what Agent and what direction those Corpuscles are form'd as we are to understand the way and manner of it in greater Bodies Or be they produc'd how they will by Creation or Nature yet still the Trouble and Doubts will be as many and great in the conception of their growth to their visible Bulk which we call their Generation For still must be a Director of the Matter by which each part is increast that must separate dispose guide and proportion it so as that â—…o part may exceed none may want and so the Queries and Difficulties that concern the Generation of Organical Bodies are unanswered notwithstanding this Hypothesis Our Author's second Solution concerns only the gross and material Ingredients in the formation of Bodies of which he pretends some account But this is nothing at all to our business which was to enquire after the Principle of Direction of those various and methodical Motions that are requisite to the formation of an Animal or other Organical Body And the Chymical Processes and Elementary Solutions of which he speaks p. 43. signifie no more to the Matter than if a Man should answer an enquiry about the Art and Method of the Motions of a Watch by saying They are perform'd by Steel Iron Brass or Silver wherein the Matter of the Work indeed is declar'd but not the Artifice The Learned Man comes next to the Solution of two difficulties I propose about Matter the Vnion of its Parts and the composition of Quantity p. 45. His answer in short is That there are no actual parts in quantity before division Which if it be so indeed there is then no ground for the Questions how they are united or of what compounded But I shall shew 1. That there are actual Parts and 2. That the Grounds of the contrary Assertion are weak and insufficient 1. The formal nature of Quantity is Extention in the Notion of Aristotle's Schools and divisibility in the Philosophy of Sir K. Digby and our Author both which suppose parts and parts actual for to be extended is to have partes extra partes as the School Phrase is and if the Extension be actual the Parts must be so for it is not conceivable how a thing can be extended but by parts which are really distinct from one another though not separate Nor can a thing be divided except we suppose the Parts preexistent in the divisible for Divisibility is founded upon real distinction and 't is impossible to divide that which is one without any diversity 2. Except there are parts in Matter before Division there are none at all For after they are divided they are no parts but have a compleatness and integrality of their own especially if their Subject were an Homogeneous Body 3. If there are not actual Parts in Quantity Contradictions may be verified de eodem in all the Circumstances which the Metaphysicks teach to be impossible For the same Body may be seen and not seen black and white hot and cold moist and dry and have all other the most contrary Qualities To this Sir K. Digby answers That it is not one part of the thing that shews it self and another that doth not one that is hot and another cold c. But it is the same thing shewing it self according to one possibility of Division and not another To this I say first These distinct Possibilities are founded upon distinct Actualities which are the parts I would have acknowledg'd and such a capacity of receiving things so different cannot be in the same Subject without the supposal of parts actually distinct and divers 2. The Subjects of these contrary Qualities are things actual whereas Possibilities are but Metaphysical Notions and these Subjects are distinct or Contradictions will be reconcil'd from which the Inference seems necessary that Quantity hath Parts and Parts Actual and distinct Possibilities will not salve the Business And 3. why must the common Speech of all Mankind be altered and what all the World calls Parts be call'd Possibilities of Division Which yet if our Philosopher will needs name so they be acknowledg'd distinct and prov'd actual or at least founded immediately upon things that are so my Questions will as well proceed this way as in the common one viz. How the things that answer to these distinct Possibilities are united and of what compounded There is another Answer which I find in our Author 's Peripatetical Institutions the sum of which is That the Contradictions have only a notional repugnance in the Subject as 't is in our Understandings and since the parts have a distinct Being in our understanding from thence 't is that they are capable to sustain Contradictions Which answer if I understand I have reason to wonder at for certainly the
other extraordinary things on this Subject for the advantage of Knowledge and the uses of Life 8. In his HYDROSTATICAL PARADOXES he shew'd That the lower parts of Fluids are press'd by the upper That a lighter may gravitate upon one that is more ponderous That if a Body contiguous to it be lower than the highest level of the Water the lower end of the Body will be press'd upwards by the Water beneath That the weight of an external Fluid sufficeth to raise the Water in Pumps That the pressure of an external Fluid is able to keep an Heterogeneous Liquor suspended at the same height in several Pipes though they are of different Diameters That a Body under Water that hath its upper Surface parallel to the Horizon the direct pressure it sustains is no more than that of a Columne of Water which hath the mentioned Horizontal Superficies for its Basis. And if the incumbent Water be contained in Pipes open at both ends the pressure is to be estimated by the meight of a Pillar of Water whose Basis is equal to the lower Orifice of the Pipe parallel to the Horizon and its height equal to a Perpendicular reaching to the top of the Water though the Pipe be much inclined irregularly shaped and in some parts broader than the Orifice That a Body in a Fluid sustains a lateral pressure from it which increaseth in proportion to the depth of the immerst Body in the Fluid That Water may be made to depress a Body lighter than it self That a parcel of Oil lighter than Water may be kept from ascending in it That the cause of the ascension of Water in Syphons may be explained without the notion of abhorrence of a Vacuum That the heaviest Body known will not sink of it self without the assistance of the weight of the Water upon it when 't is at a depth greater than twenty times its own thickness though it will nearer the Surface This is the sum of the general Contents of that Discourse which contains things very useful to be known for the advantage of Navigation Salt-Works Chymistry and other practical purposes 9. In his Book of the ORIGINE of FORMS and QVALITIES he delivers the minds of Men from the imaginary and useless Notions of the Schools about them which have no foundation in the nature of things nor do any ways promote Knowledge or help Mankind but very much disserve those great Interests by setting the Understanding at rest in general obscurities or imploying it in airy Nicities and Disputes and so hindring its pursuit of particular Causes and Experimental Realities In this Treatise he lays the Foundations and delivers the Principles of the Mechanick Philosophy which he strengthneth and illustrates by several very pleasant and instructive Experiments He shews That the most admirable Things which have been taken for the Effects of substantial Forms and are used as proofs of the Notional Hypotheses may be the results of the meer texture and position of parts since Art is able to make Vitriol as well as Nature and Bodies by humane skill may be produced whose supposed Forms have been destroyed He gives many very ingenious instances to prove That the Mechanick Motions and order of the Parts is sufficient to yeeld an account of the difference of Bodies and their affections without having recourse to the Forms and Qualities of the Schools as in the restoration of Camphire to its former smell and nature after its dissolution and seeming extinction in the changes of the colour consistence fusibleness and other Qualites of Silver and Copper in the odd Phaenomena of a certain anomalous Salt and those of the Sea Salt dried powder'd and mix'd with Aqua-Fortis and in the Sal Mirabilis in the production of Silver out of Gold by his Menstruum Peracutum in the transmutation of Water into Earth in a certain Distillation of Spirit of Wine and Oil of Vitriol I say This excellent Person hath by Experiments rare and new about these Subjects made it evidently appear That the internal motions configuration and posture of the parts are all that is necessary for alterations and diversities of Bodies and consequently That substantial Forms and real Qualities are needless and precarious Beings These are some brief and general Hints of those great things this incomparable Person hath done for the information and benefit of Men and besides them there are several others that He hath by him and the Inquisitive expect in which real Philosophy and the World are no less concern'd I received a late Account of them from an ingenious Friend of his Mr. Oldenburgh Secretary to the ROYAL SOCIETY who also renders himself a great Benefactor to Mankind by his affectionate care and indefatigable diligence and endeavours in the maintaining Philosophical Intelligence and promoting the Designs and Interests of profitable and general Philosophy And these being some of the Noblest and most Publick Imployments in which the Services of generous Men can be ingaged loudly call for their Aids and Assistances for the carrying on a Work of so universal an importance But I shall have a fitter place to speak of this and therefore I return to the Illustrious Person of whom I was discoursing And for Philosophical News and further evidence of the Obligation the World hath to this Gentleman I shall here insert the Account of what he hath more yet unpublish'd for its advantage and instruction And I take the boldness to do it because himself hath been pleased to quote and refer to those Discourses in his publish'd Writings concerning which M. O's Account is more particular and he receiv'd it from the Author It speaks thus 1. Another Section of the Vsefulness of Experimental Philosophy as to the Empire of Man over inferiour Creatures where he intends to premise some general Considerations about the Means whereby Experimental Philosophy may become useful to Humane Life proceeding thence to shew That the Empire of Man may be promoted by the Naturalists skill in Chymistry by his skill in Mechanicks or the Application of Mathematicks to Instruments and Engines by his skill in Mathematicks both pure and mixt That the Goods of Mankind may be much increased by the Naturalist's insight into Trades That the Naturalist may much advantage Men by exciting and assisting their curiosity to discover take notice and make use of the home-bred Riches and Advantages of particular Countries and to increase their number by transferring thither those of others That a ground of high expectation from Experimental Philosophy is given by the happy Genius of this present Age and the productions of it That a ground of expecting considerable things from Experimental Philosophy is given by those things which have been found out by illiterate Tradesmen or lighted on by chance That some peculiar and concealed property of a natural thing may inable the knowers of it to perform with ease things that to others seem either not feasible or not practicable without great difficulty That by the
desired either not to know at all or not in comparison with the plain Doctrines of the Gospel Or if any should take the words in the largest sense then all sorts of Humane Learning and all Arts and Trades are set at nought by the Apostle And if so the meaning can be no more than this That he preferred the Knowledge of Christ before these For 't is ridiculous to think that he absolutely slighted all other Science The Knowledge of Christ is indeed the chiefest and most valuable Wisdom but the Knowledge of the Works of God hath its place also and ought not quite to be excluded and despised Or if Philosophy be to be slighted by this Text all other Knowledge whatsoever must be condemn'd by it But it will be urged 2. That there is a particular Caution given by the Apostle against Philosophy Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any one spoil you through Philosophy To this I have said elsewhere That the Apostle there means either the pretended Knowledge of the Gnosticks the Genealogies of the Jews or the disputing Learning of the Greeks and perhaps he might have a respect to all those sorts of Science falsly so call'd That the Disputing Philosophy of the Greeks is concerned in the Caution will appear very probable if we consider That much of it was built on meer Notion that occasioned division into manifold Sects which managed their Matters by Sophistry and Disputations full of nicity and mazes of Wit and aimed at little but the pride of mysterious talk of things that were not really understood Such a Philosophy the Apostle might justly condemn and all Wise Men do the same because 't is very injurious to Religion Real Knowledge and the Peace of Men. But what is this to that which modestly inquires into the Creatures of God as they are That collects the History of his Works raising Observations from them for the Discovery of Causes and Invention of Arts and Helps for the benefit of Mankind What vanity what prejudice to Religion can be supposed in this Is this think we that Philosophy that Wisdom of this World which the great Apostle censures and condemns He is bold that saith it speaks a thing he knows not and might if he pleased know the contrary Since the Method of Philosophy I vindicate which proceeds by Observation and Experiment to Works and uses of Life was not if at all the way of those Times in which the Apostles liv'd nor did it begin to shew it self in many Ages after and therefore cannot be concerned in St. Paul's Caution to his Colossians nor in his smartness against worldly Wisdom elsewhere for by that we are to understand the Fetches of Policy the Nicities of Wit and Strains of Rhetorick that were then engaged against the progress of the Gospel But what is all this to the Philosophy of God's Works which illustrates the Divine Glory and comments upon his Perfections and promotes the great Design of Christianity which is doing good and in its proper Nature tends to the disposing of Mens Minds to Vertue and Religion But 3. If Philosophy be so excellent an Instrument to Religion it may be askt and the Question will have the force of an Objection why the Disciples and first Preachers of the Gospel were not instructed in it They were plain illiterate Men altogether unacquainted with those Sublimities God chose the foolish things of this World to confound the wise So that it seems he did not shew this kind of Wisdom that respect which according to our Discourse is due unto it I answer That this choice the Divine Wisdom made of the Publishers of the Glad Tydings of Salvation is no more prejudice or discredit to Philosophy than it is to other sorts of Learning and indeed 't is none at all to any For the special Reasons of God's making this Election seem such as these viz. That his Power might more evidently appear in the wonderful propagation of the Religion of Christ Jesus by such seemingly unqualified Instruments That the World might not suspect it to be the contrivance of Wit Subtilty and Art when there was so much plainness and simplicity in its first Promoters And perhaps too it was done in contempt of the vain and pretended knowledge of the Jews and Greeks over which the plainness of the Gospel was made gloriously to triumph To which I add this It might be to shew That God values Simplicity and Integrity above all Natural Perfectious how excellent soever So that there being such special Reasons for the chusing plain Men to set this grand Affair on foot in the World it can be no disparagement to the Knowledge of Nature that it was not begun by Philosophers And to counter-argue this Topick we may consider That The Patriarchs and Holy Men of Ancient Times that were most in the Divine Favour were well instructed in the Knowledge of God's Works and contributed to the good of Men by their useful Discoveries and Inventions Adam was acquainted with the Nature of the Creatures Noah a Planter of Vineyards Abraham as Grotius collects from Ancient History a great Mystes in the Knowledge of the Stars Isaac prosperous in Georgicks Jacob blessed in his Philosophical Stratagem of the speckled Rods. Moses a great Man in all kinds of Natural Knowledge Bezaleel and Aholiab inspired in Architecture Solomon a deep Naturalist and a Composer of a voluminous History of Plants Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariab skilled in all Learning and Wisdom Ten times better saith the Text than the Magicians and Astrologers in Nebuchadnezzar's Realm And to accumulate no more Instances the Philosophers of the East made the first Addresses to the Infant Saviour CONCLUSION WE see upon the whole That there is no shadow of Reason why we should discourage or oppose modest Inquiries into the Works of Nature and whatsoever ignorant Zeal may prompt the common sort to me-thinks those of generous Education should not be of so perverse a frame Especially it becomes not any that minister at the Altar to do so great a disservice to Religion as to promote so unjust a Conceit as that of Philosophy's being an Enemy unto it The Philosophers were the Priests among the Egyptians and several other Nations in Ancient Times and there was never more need that the Priests should be Philosophers than in ours For we are liable every day to be called out to make good our Foundations against the Atheist the Sadduce and Enthusiast And 't is the Knowledge of God in his Works that must furnish us with some of the most proper Weapons of Defence Hard Names and damning Sentences the Arrows of bitter words and raging passions will not defeat those Sons of Anak these are not fit Weapons for our Warfare No they must be met by a Reason instructed in the knowledge of Things and fought in their own Quarters and their Arms must be turned upon themselves This may be done and the advantage is all ours We have Steel and
that relate such Matters and that it doth in the present case proving the Authority of Scripture and thereby in a remoter way it demonstrates all the Mysteries of Faith which the Divine Oracles immediately discover And it is no more disparagement to our Reasons that they cannot evince those Sacred Articles by their own unaided force than it is a disgrace unto them that they cannot know that there are such things as Colours without the help of our Eyes or that there are Sounds without the faculty of Hearing And if Reason must be called blind upon this account because it cannot know of it self such things as belong to Testimony to discover the best Eyes in the World may be so accounted because they cannot see Sounds and the best Palate dull and dead because it cannot taste the Sun-Beams But though I have said That Reason cannot of it self immediately prove the Truths of pure Revelation Yet 1. it demonstrates the Divine Authority of the Testimony that declares them and that way proves even these Articles If this be not enough I add thesecond Assertion 2. That Reason defends all the Mysteries of Faith and Religion And for this I must desire it be noted That there are two ways whereby any thing may be defended viz. Either 1. by shewing the manner how the thing is Or if that cannot be done by shewing 2. That it ought to be believed though the manner of it be not known For instance if any one denies That all sorts of Creatures were in the Ark under pretence that it is impossible they should be contained within such a space He that can shew how this might be by a distinct enumeration of the kinds of Animals with due allowance for the unknown Species and a computation of the particular capacity of the Ark he defends the Sacred History the first way But if another denies the conversion of Aaron's Rod into a Serpent upon the same account of the unconceivableness of the manner how it was done this cannot indeed be defended the former way But then it may by representing that the Power of God is infinite and can easily do what we cannot comprehend and that we ought to believe upon the credit of the Testimony that being well proved to us though the manner of this miraculous performance and such others as it relates be unknown And as it is in this last case so it is in all the Mysteries of Faith and Religion Reason cannot defend them indeed the first way But it doth the second by shewing That the Divine Nature is infinite and our Conceptions very shallow and finite that 't is therefore very unreasonable in us to indeavour to pry into the Secrets of his Being and Actions and to think that we can measure and comprehend them That we know not the Essence and Ways of acting of the most ordinary and obvious Things of Nature and therefore must not expect throughly to understand the deeper Things of God That God hath revealed those Holy Mysteries unto us and that 't is the highest reason in the World to believe That what be saith is true though we do not know how these things are These are all Considerations of Reason and by the proposal of them it sufficiently defends all the Mysteries that can be proved to be contained in the Sacred Volume and shews that they ought to be received by us though they cannot be comprehended Thus if any one should ask me How the Divine Nature is united to the Humane and declare himself unwilling to believe the Article till he could be satisfied how My answer would be in short That I cannot tell and yet I believe it is so and he ought to believe the same upon the credit of the Testimony though we are both ignorant of the Manner In order to which I would suggest that we believe innumerable things upon the evidence of our Senses whose Nature and Properties we do not know How the parts of Matter cohere and how the Soul is united to the Body are Questions we cannot answer and yet that such things are we do not doubt And why saith Reason should we not believe God's Revelation of things we cannot comprehend as well as we do our Senses about Matters as little understood by us 'T is no doubt reasonable that we should and by proving it is so Reason defends all the Propositions of Faith and Religion And when some of these are said to be above Reason no more is meant Than that Reason cannot conceive how those things are and in that sense many of the Affairs of Nature are above it too Thus I have shewn how serviceable Reason is to Religion I am next to prove That II. Religion befriends it And here I offer some Testimonies from the Holy Oracles to make that good and in them we shall see how God himself and Christ and his Apostles do own and acknowledge Reason I consider 1. that God Isa. 1. 18. calls the rebellious Israelites to reason with him Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord and by Reason he convinceth the People of the vanity of Idols Isa. 44.9 And he expostulates with their Reasons Ezek. 18. 31. Why will ye die O ye House of Israel And Mich. 6. 3. O my People what have I done unto thee And wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me He appeals unto their Reasons to judge of his proceedings Isa. 5. 3. And now O inhabitants of Jerusalem and Men of Judah judge I pray you between me and my vineyard are not my ways equal and are not your ways unequal In this he intimates the competency of their Reasons to judge of the equity of his Ways and the iniquity of their own And 2. our Saviour commands the Disciples of the Pharisees to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's implying the ability of their Reasons to distinguish between the things that belonged to God and those that appertained to Caesar. And he in divers places argues from the Principles and Topicks of Reason From that which we call à majori ad minus from the greater to the less John 13. 14. He shews it to be the duty of his Disciples to serve their Brethren in the meanest Offices and to wash one another's feet because he had washed theirs Vers. 14. inforcing it by this consideration of Reason For the Servant is not greater than his Lord Vers. 26. and useth the same John 15. 20. to shew that they must expect Persecution because He their Lord was persecuted And Luke 12. 23. He endeavours to take them off from carking care and sollicitude about Meat and Raiment by this consideration from Reason That the Life is more than Meat and the Body than Raiment intimating that God having given them the greater there was no doubt but he would bestow the less which was necessary for the preservation of it To these Instances I add some few from the Topick
Humane Reason by that for Reason directs us to live in simplicity and godly sincerity which he opposeth to a life in fleshly Wisdom By this therefore no doubt he means the Reason of our Appetites and Passions which is but Sense and Imagination for these blind Guides are the Directors of the Wicked but not the Reason of our Minds which is one of those Lights that illuminate the Consciences of good Men and help to guide their Actions And whereas 't is objected 5. From Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any spoil you through Philosophy I Answer There is nothing can be made of that neither for the disgrace of Reason for the Philosophy the Apostle cautions against is the same which he warns Timethy of 1 Tim. 1. 4. Neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies that minister Questions calling these prophane and vain bablings and oppositions of Science falsly so called 1 Tim. 6. 20. By all which Learned Interpreters understand the pretended Knowledge of which the Gnosticks boasted which consisted in the fabulous Pedigrees of the Gods under the name of 〈◊〉 and it may be the Genealogies of which the Jews were so fond and the disputing Philosophy among the Greeks which was properly Science falsly so called and did minister Questions and endless Strife I say 't is very probable these might be comprehended also But Reason is no otherwise concerned in all this but as condemning and reproving these dangerous Follies THUS we see the Pretensions from Scripture against Reason are vain But there are other Considerations by which it useth to be impugned as 1. OUR Reason is corrupted and therefore is not fit to meddle in Spiritual Matters To this I say That Reason as it is taken for the Faculty of Understanding is very much weakened and impaired It sees but little and that very dully through a Glass darkly as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. And it is very liable to be misled by our Senses and Affections and Interests and Imaginations so that we many times mingle Errors and false Conceits with the genuine Dictates of our Minds and appeal to them as the Principles of Truth and Reason when they are but the vain Images of our Phansies or the false Conclusions of Ignorance and Mistake If this be meant by the corruption of Reason I grant it and all that can be inferred from it will be That we ought not to be too bold and peremptory in defining speculative and difficult matters especially not those that relate to Religion nor to set our Reasonings against the Doctrines of Faith and Revelation But this is nothing to the disreputation of Reason in the Object viz. Those Principles of Truth which are written upon our Souls or any Conclusions that are deduced from them These are the same that they ever were though we discern them not so clearly as the Innocent State did They may be mistaken but cannot be corrupted And as our Understandings by reason of their weakness and liableness to Error may take falshoods for some of those or infer falsly from those that are truly such so we know they do the same by the Scriptures themselves viz. they very often mis-interpret and very often draw perverse conclusions from them And yet we say not That the Word of God is corrupted nor is the use of Scripture decryed because of those abuses But here advantage will be taken to object again 2. That since our natural Vnderstandings are so weak and so liable to mistake they ought not to be used in the Affairs of Religion and 't will signifie little to us that there are certain Principles of eternal Reason if we either perceive them not or cannot use them To this I Answer That if on this account we must renounce the use of our natural Understandings Scripture will be useless to us also For how can we know the meaning of the words that express God's Mind unto us How can we compare one Scripture with another How can we draw any Consequence from it How apply general Propositions to our own particular Cases How tell what is to be taken in the Letter what in the Mystery what plainly whatin a Figure What according to strict and rigorous Truth What by way of accommodation to our Apprehensions I say without the exrcise of our Understandings using the Principles of Reason none of these can be done and without them Scripture will signifie either nothing at all or very little to us And what can Religion get this way This Inference therefore is absurd and impious All that can justly be concluded from the weakness of our Understandings will be what I intimated before that we ought to use them with modesty and caution not that we should renounce them He is a Mad-man who because his eyes are dim will therefore put them out But it may be objected further 3. That which Men call Reason is infinitely various and that is reasonable to one which is very irrational to another Therefore Reason is not to be heard And I say Interpretations of Scripture are infinitely various and one calls that Scriptural which another calls Heretical Shall we conclude therefore That Scripture is not to be heard Reason in it self is the fame all the World over though Mens apprehensions of it are various as the Light of the Sun is one though Colours are infinite And where this is it ought not to be denied because follies and falshoods pretend relation to it or call themselves by that name If so farewel Religion too But 4. 'T is Socinianism to plead for Reason in the Affairs of Faith and Religion And I Answer 'T is gross Phanaticism to plead against it This Name is properly applicable to the Enemies of Reason But the other of Socinianism is groundlesly applyed to those that undertake for it and it absurdly supposeth that Socinians are the only rational Men when-as divers of their Doctrines such as The Sleep and natural mortality of the Soul and utter exâ—…inction and annihilation of the Wicked after the Day of Judgment are very obnoxious to Philosophy and Reason And the Socinians can never be confuâ—…ed in their other Opinions without using Reason to maintain the Sense and Interpretation of those Scriptures that are alledged against them 'T is an easie thing we know to give an ugly Name to any thing we dislike and by this way the most excellent and sacred Things have been made contemptible and vile I wish such hasty Censurers would consider before they call Names That no Truth is the worse because rash Ignorance hath thrown dirt upon it I need say no more to these frivolous Objections Those that alledge Atheism and tendency to Infidelity against the reverence and use of Reason are disproved by my whole Discourse Which shews that the Enemies of Reason most usually serve the ends of the Infidel and the Atheist when as a due use of it destroys the Pretensions of both NOw from the foregoing brief Discourse I shall
act like his own Temptations and Perswasions In brief there is nothing more strange in this Objection than that Wickedness is Baseness and Servility and that the Devil is at leasure to serve those whom he is at leasure to tempt and industrious to ruine And 2. I see no necessity to believe that the Devil is always the Witches Confederate but perhaps it may fitly be considered whether the Familiar be not some departed Humane Spirit forsaken of God and Goodness and swallowed up by the unsatiable desire of Mischief and Revenge which possibly by the Laws and capacity of its State it cannot execute immediately And why we should presume that the Devil should have the liberty of wandering up and down the Earth and Air when he is said to be held in the Chains of Darkness and yet that the separated Souls of the Wicked of whom no such thing is affirm'd in any Sacred Record should be thought so imprison'd that they cannot possibly wag from the Place of their Confinement I know no shadow of Conjecture This Conceit I 'm confident hath prejudic'd many against the belief of Witches and Apparitions they not being able to conceive that the Devil should be so ludicrous as Appearing Spirits are sometimes reported to be in their Frolicks and they presume that Souls departed never revisâ—… the free and open Regions which confidence I know nothing to justifie For since good Men in their state of separation are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why the wicked may not be supposed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the worst sense of the word I know nothing to help me to imagine And if it be so supposed that the Imps of Witches are sometimes wicked Spirits of our own Kind and Nature and possibly the same that have been Sorcerers and Witches in this Life This Supposal may give a fairer and more probable account of many of the Actions of Sorcery and Witchcraft than the other Hypothesis that they are always Devils And to this Conjecture Pleadventure to subjoin another which also hath its probability viz. 3. That 't is not impossible but that the Familiars of Witches are a vile kind of Spirits of a very inferiour Constitution and Nature and none of those that were once of the highest Hierarchy now degencrated into the Spirits we call Devils The common division of Spirits is in my Opinion much too general and why may we not think there is as great a variety of Intellectual Creatures in the Invisible World as of Animals in the Visible And that all the Superiour yea and Inferiour Regions have their several kinds of Spirits differing in their natural Perfections as well as in the Kinds and Degrees of their Depravities Which if we suppose 't is very probable that those of the basest and meanest Orders are they who submit to the mention'd Servilities And thus the Sagess and grandeur of the Prince of Darkness need not be brought in question on this Occasion IV. BVt IV. the Opinion of Witches seems to some to accuse Providence and to suggest that it hath exposed Innocents to the fury and malice of revengeful Fiends yea and supposeth those most obnoxious of whom we might most reasonably expect a more special care and protection most of the cruel practices of those presum'd Instruments of Hell being upon Children who as they least deserve to be deserted by that Providence that superintends all things so they most need its Guardian Influence To this so specious an Objection I have these things to answer 1. Providence is an unfathomable Depth and if we should not believe the Phaenomena of our Senses before we can reconcile them to our Notions of Providence we must be grosser Scepticks than ever yet were extant The miseries of the present Life the unequal distributions of Good and Evil the ignorance and barbarity of the greatest part of Mankind the fatal disadvantages we are all under and the hazard we run of being eternally miserable and undone these I say are things that can hardly be made consistent with that Wisdom and Goodness that we are sure hath made and mingled it self with all things And yet we believe there is a beauty and harmony and goodness in that Providence though we cannot unriddle it in particular Instances nor by reason of our ignorance and imperfection clear it from contradicting Appearances and consequently we ought not to deny the being of Witches and Apparitions because they will create us some difficulties in our Notions of Providence 2. Those that believe that Infants are Heirs of Hell and Children of the Devil as soon as they are disclosed to the World cannot certainly offer such an Objection for what is a little trifling pain of a moment to those eternal Tortures to which if they die as soon as they are born according to the tenour of this Doctrine they are everlastingly exposed But however the case stands as to that 't is certain 3. That Providence hath not secur'd them from other violences they are obnoxious to from cruelty and accident and yet we accuse It not when a whole Townful of Innocents fall a Victim to the rage and ferity of barbarous Executioners in Wars and Massacres To which I add 4. That 't is likely the mischief is not so often done by the evil Spirit immediately but by the malignant influence of the Sorceress whose power of hurting consists in the fore-mention'd Ferment which is infused into her by the Familiar So that I am apt to think there may be a power of real Fascination in the Witches Eyes and Imaginations by which for the most part she acts upon tender Bodies Nescio quis teneros oculus For the Pestilential Spirits being darted by a spightful and vigorous Imagination from the Eye and meeting with those that are weak and passive in the Bodies which they enter will not fail to infect them with anoxious Quality that makes dangerous and strange Alterations in the Person invaded by this poisonous Influence which way of acting by subtil and invisible Instruments is ordinary and familiar in all natural Efficiencies And 't is now past question that Nature for the most part acts by subtil Streams and Aporrhaea's of Minute Particles which pass from one Body to another Or however that be this kind of Agency is as conceivable as any of those Qualities which our Ignorance hath called Sympathy and Antipathy the reality of which we doubt not though the manner of Action be unknown Yea the thing I speak of is as easie to be apprehended as how Infection should pass in certain tenuious Streams through the Air from one House to another or as how the biting of a mad Dog should fill all the Blood and Spirits with a venomous and malign Ferment the application of the Vertue doing the same in our Case as that of Contact doth in this Yea some kinds of Fascination are perform'd in this grosser and more sensible way as by striking giving Apples and the
Saul into her Closet Where doubtless says he she had a Familiar some lewd crafty Priest and made Saul stand at the Door like a Fool to hear the cozening Answers He saith she there used the ordinary words of Conjuration and after them Samuel appears whom he affirms to be no other than either the Witch her self or her Confederate By this pretty knack and contrivance he thinks he hath disabled the Relation from signifying to our purpose But the Discoverer might have consider'd that all this is an Invention and without Book For there is no mention of the Witch's Closet or her retiring into another Room or her Confederate or her Form of Conjuration I say nothing of all this is as much as intimated in the History and if we may take this large liberty in the Interpretation of Scripture there is scarce a Story in the Bible but may be made a Fallacy and Imposture or any thing that we please Nor is this Fancy of his only Arbitrary but indeed contrary to the Circumstances of the Text. For it says Saul perceived it was Samuel and bowed himself and this Samuel truly foretold his approaching Fate viz. That Israel should be deliver'd with him into the hands of the Philistines and that on the morrow He and his Sons should be in the state of the Dead which doubtless is meant by the Expression that they should be with him Which contingent Particulars how could the Cozener and her Confederate foretel if there were nothing in it extraordinary and preternatural It hath indeed been a great Dispute among Interpreters whether the real Samuel was raised or the Devil in his likeness Most later Writers suppose it to have been an Evil Spirit upon the supposition that Good and Happy Souls can never return hither from their Coelestial Abodes and they are not certainly at the Beck and Call of an impious Hag. But then those of the other side urge that the Piety of the words that were spoke and the seasonable Reproof given to despairing Saul are Indications sufficient that they came not from Hell and especially they think the Prophesie of Circumstances very accidental to be an Argument that it was not utter'd by any of the Infernal Predictors And for the supposal that is the ground of that Interpretation 't is judged exceedingly precarious for who saith that happy departed Souls were never employed in any Ministeries here below And those Dissenters are ready to ask a Reason Why they may not be sent in Messages to Earth as well as those of the Angelical Order They are nearer allyed to our Natures and upon that account more intimately concern'd in our Affairs and the example of returning Lazarus is evidence of the thing de facto Besides which that it was the Real Samuel they think made probable by the Opinion of Jesus Syrac Ecclus. 46. 19 20. who saith of him That after his death he prophesied and shewed the King his end which also is likely from the Circumstance of the Woman's Astonishment and crying out when she saw him intimating her surprize in that the Power of God had over-ruled her Inchantments and sent another than she expected And they conceive there is no more incongruity in supposing God should send Samuel to rebuke Saul for this his last folly anâ—… to predict his instant ruine than in his interposing Elias to tâ—… Messengers of Ahazias when he sent to Beelzebub Now if it were the Real Samuel as the Letter expresseth and the obvious sense is to be followed when there is no cogent Reason to decline it he was not raised by the Power of the Witches Inchantments but came on that occasion in a Divine Errand But yet her Attempts and Endeavours to raise her Familiar Spirit though at that time over-ruled are Arguments that it had been her custom to do so Or if it were as the other side concludes the Devil in the shape of Samuel her Diabolical Confederacy is yet more palpable I Have now done with Scot and his presumptions and am apt to fancy that there is nothing more needful to be said to discover the Discoverer But there is an Author infinitely more valuable that calls me to consider him 'T is the great Episcopius who though he grants a sort of Witches and Magicians yet denies Compacts His Authority I confess is considerable but let us weigh his Reasons His First is That there is no Example of any of the Prophane Nations that were in such Compact whence he would infer That there are no express Covenants with Evil Spirits in particular Instances But I think that both Proposition and Consequence are very obnoxious For that there were Nations that did actually worship the Devil is plain enough in the Records of Ancient Times and some so read that place in the Psalms The Gods of the Heathen are Devils and Satan we know is call'd the God of this World Yea our Author himself confesseth that the Nation of the Jews were so strictly prohibited Witchcraft and all transaction with Evil Spirits because of their proneness to worship them But what need more There are at this day that pay Sacrifice and all Sacred Homage to the Wicked One in a visible Appearance and 't is well known to those of our own that traffick and reside in those Parts that the Caribbians worship the Devil under the name of Maboya who frequently shews himself and transacts with them the like Travellers relate concerning divers other parts of the Barbarous Indies and 't is confidently reported by sober intelligent Men that have visited those places that most of the Laplanders and some other Northern People are Witches So that 't is plain that there are National Confederacies with Devils or if there were none I see not how it could be inferr'd thence that there are no Personal Ones no more than that there were never any Daemoniacks because we know of no Nation universally possessed nor any Lunaticks in the World because there is no Country of Mad-men But our Author reasons again 2. To this purpose That the profligate Persons who are obnoxious to those gross Temptations are fast enough before and therefore such a Covenant were needless and of no avail to the Tempters Projects This Objection I have answered already in my Remarques upon the IX Prejudice and say again here that if the Designs of those Evil Spirits were only in general to secure wicked Men to the Dark Kingdom it might better be pretended that we cannot give a Reason for their Temptations and Indeavours in this kind But it being likely as I have conjectur'd that each of those Infernal Tempters hath a particular property in those he hath seduced and secured by such Compacts their respective Pride and tyrannical desire of Slaves may reasonably be thought to ingage them in such Attempts in which their so peculiar Interest is concerned But I add what is more direct viz. That such desperate Sinners are made more safe to the Infernal Kingdom
Religion different from that of other Catholick Christians but were faithful adherers to the old acknowledg'd Christianity as it was taught by the Church of Bensalem To this Church they conform'd heartily though they were distinguishable from some others of her Sons by the application of their Genius and Endeavours I have told you They grew up among the Sects They were Born and Bred in that Age which they could not help But as they order'd the Matter it was no hurt to the Church or them that they were educated in bad times They had the occasion thence of understanding the Genius Humour and Principles of the Parties which those that stood always at distance from them could not so thorowly and inwardly know By that means they had great advantage for providing and applying the Remedies and Confutations that were proper and effectual And by daily Converse and near Observation they setled in their Minds a dislike of those ways that was greater and juster than the Antipathy of some others who saw only their out-sides that in many things were specious and plausible They studied in the Places where some of the chief of the Sects govern'd and those that were ripe for the Service preach'd publickly as other Academical Divines did This they scrupled not because they were young and had been under no explicit ingagements to those Laws that were then unhappily over-ruled But in those and in their other Vniversity-Exercises they much serv'd the Interest of the Church of Bensalem by undermining the Ataxites so the Sectaries are here call'd and propagating the Anti-fanatical Doctrines which they had entertain'd and improved So that I cannot look upon that Spirit otherwise than as an Antidote that Providence then seasonably provided against the deadly Infection of those days On which account they were by some call'd the Anti-fanites because of their peculiar opposition of the Fans or Fanites as the Ataxites were sometimes named And though some Persons thought fit to judge and spoke of Them as a new Sort of Divines Yet they were not to be so accounted in any sense of disparagement since the new Things they taught were but contradictions of the new Things that were introduced and new Errors and Pretences will occasion new ways of Opposition and Defence I have now I doubt said the Governor almost tired you with prefacing but these things were fit to be premised I exprest my self well-pleased both with the Matters he related and the order which he thought convenient to declare them in and so he proceeded to the second main Head Their particular Principles and Practices I MUST tell you then said He first That they took notice of the loud Out-cries and Declamations that were among all the Sects against Reason and observ'd how by that means all Vanities and Phanatick Devices were brought into Religion They saw There was no likelyhood any stop should be put to those Extravagancies of Fansie that were impudently obtruding themselves upon the World but by vindicating and asserting the use of Reason in Religion and therefore their private Discourses and publick Exercises ran much this way to maintain the sober use of our Faculties and to expose and shame all vain Enthusiasms And as Socrates of old first began the Reformation of his Age and reduced Men from the wildness of Fansie and Enthusiastick Fegaries with which they were overgrown by pleading for Reason and shewing the necessity and Religion that there is in hearkning to its Dictates So They in order to the cure of the madness of their Age were zealous to make Men sensible That Reason is a Branch and Beam of the Divine Wisdom That Light which he hath put into our Minds and that Law which he hath writ upon our Hearts That the Revelations of God in Scripture do not contradict what he hath engraven upon our Natures That Faith it self is an Act of Reason and is built upon these two Reasonable Principles That there is a God and That what he saith is true That our Erroneous Deductions are not to be call'd Reason but Sophistry Ignorance and Mistake That nothing can follow from Reason but Reason and that what so follows is as true and certain as Revelation That God never disparageth Reason in Scripture but that the vain Philosophy and Wisdom of this World there spoken against were Worldly Policies Jewish Genealogies Traditions and the Notional Philosophy of some Gentiles That Carnal Reason is the Reason of Appetite and Passion and not the Dictates of our Minds That Reason proves some Main and Fundamental Articles of Faith and defends all by proving the Authority of Holy Scripture That we have no cause to take any thing for an Article of Faith till we see Reason to believe that God said it and in the sense wherein we receive such a Doctrine That to decry and disgrace Reason is to strike up Religion by the Roots and to prepare the World for Atheism According to such Principles as these They managed their Discourses about this Subject They stated the Notions of Faith and Reason clearly and endeavour'd to deliver the Minds of Men from that confusedness in those Matters which blind Zeal had brought upon them that so they might not call Vain Sophistry by the name of Humane Reason and rail at this for the sake of Fallacy and the Impostures of Ignorance and Fancy Hereby they made some amends for the dangerous rashness of those inconsiderate Men who having heard others defame Reason as an Enemy to Faith set up the same Cry and fill'd their Oratories with the terrible noise of Carnal Reason Vain Philosophy and such other misapplyed words of reproach without having ever clearly or distinctly consider'd what they said or whereof they affirm'd And this they did too at a time when the World was posting a-pace into all kinds of madness as if they were afraid the half-distracted Religionists would not run fast enough out of their Wits without their Encouragement and Assistance And as if their Design had been to credit Phrensie and Enthusiasm and to disable all proof that could be brought against them This I believe many of those well-meaning Canters against Reason did not think of though what they did had a direct tendency that way And accordingly it succeeded For the conceited People hearing much of Incomes Illuminations Communions Lights Discoveries Sealings Manifestations and Impressions as the Heights of Religion and then being told that Reason is a low Carnal Thing and not to judge in these Spiritual Matters That it is a Stranger to them and at enmity with the Things of God I say the People that were so taught could not chuse but be taken with the wild Exstatical Enthusiasts who made the greatest boasts of these glorious Priviledges nor could they easily avoid looking upon the glarings of their own Imaginations and the warmths and impulses of their Melancholy as Divine Revelations and Illapses To this dangerous pass thousands were brought by such Preachments and had so