seen unless sought for so there are some unnatural Enormities that conscious how execrable they are conceal themselves in secret and dare not appear in open view And of all others no impiety is so monstrous and fearful of publick discovery as Atheism But The fool saith in his heart there is no God He secretly whispers in contradiction to Nature Reason Conscience Authorities there is no supream invisible Power to whom he is accountable And having thus concluded in the dark he loses all reverence of the Divine Laws and is only govern'd by the vicious rule of his carnal Appetites That many in our times even of the great Pretenders to Wit and Reason are guilty of this extream folly is sadly evident They live as absolute Atheists only refuse the title for fear of infamy or punishment It will therefore not be unseasonable to revive the natural notion of the Deity Now to establish this Truth no Arguments are more convincing than what are level to all understandings And those are I. The visible frame of the World and the numerous natures in it all model'd by this supream rule the good of the whole II. The Evidences that prove the World had a beginning in time III. The universal sence of the Deity imprest on the minds of Men. 1. The first Reason is clear and intelligible to all for 't is the inseparable property of an intellectual Agent to propound an End to judg of the convenience between the Means and it and to contrive them in such a manner as to accomplish it Now if we survey the Universe and all the beings it contains their proportion dependence and harmony it will fully appear that antecedently to its existence there was a perfect mind that design'd it and disposed the various parts in that exact order that one beautiful World is compos'd of them The Philosopher conjectured truly who being shipwrackt on the Island of Rhodes and come to the shore spying some Mathematical figures drawn on the Sand cryed out with joy Vestigia hominum video I see the foosteps of men and comforted his dispairing companions that they were not cast into a Desert or a place of Savages but of Men civil and wise as he discover'd by those impressions of their minds And if we observe the frame of the World the concatenation of the superior with the middle and of the middle with the lower parts whereby 't is not an accidental aggregation of bodies but an intire universe if we consider the just disposing them conveniently to their nature and dignity the inferiour and less noble depending on the superiour and that so many contrary natures with that fidelity and league of mutual love embrace and assist each other that every one working according to its peculiar quality yet all unite their operations for one general end the preservation and benefit of the whole must not we strongly conclude that 't is the work of a designing most wise Agent Pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse Mundum mente gerens similique ab imagine formans To make this more evident I will produce some Instances The Sun of all coelestial Bodies the most excellent in beauty and usefulness does in its situation motion effects publish the glory of a most wise Providence 1. In its situation The fountains of all his benefit to Nature are heat and light with respect to its heat the Sun may well be call'd the Heart of the World wherein all the vital Spirits are prepar'd and 't is so conveniently plac't as to transmit more or less immediatly to all even the most distant parts of that vast body by perpetual irradiations the influences necessary for its preservation It cannot be in another place without the disorder and injury of Universal Nature If it were rais'd to the Stars the Earth for want of its quickning heat would lose its prolifick vertue and remain a carcass The Air would be fill'd with continual oppressing vapours the Sea would overflow the Land If it were as low as the Moon as dangerous effects would follow The Air would be inflam'd by its excessive heat the Sea boyling the Rivers dryed up every Mountain a Vesuvius or Aetna the whole Earth a barren mass of Ashes a desert of Arabia But seated in the midst of the Planets it purifies the Air abates the superfluity of Waters temperately warms the Earth and keeps the Elements in such degrees of power as are requisit for the activity of mixt bodies depending on them Besides there is a sensible proof of a wise Director in its Motion from whence so many and various effects proceed The Diurnal Motion from East to West causes the Day The Sun is the first spring and great original of Light and by his presence discovers the beauties of the most of visible Objects From hence all the pleasant variety of Colours to which Light is the Soul that gives vivacity Without it the World would be the Sepulcher of it self nothing but silence and solitude horror and Confusion The Light guides our Journeys awakens and directs our Industry preserves mutual Conversation And the withdrawing of the Sun from one Hemisphere to another is as beneficial to the World by causing Night For that has peculiar advantages It s darkness inlightens us to see the Stars and to understand their admirable Order Aspects Influences their Conjunction Distances Opposition from which proceeds their different effects in all passive Bodies Now what can be more pleasant than the Ornaments and Diversities of these Twins of time Besides by this distinction of the Day and Night there is a fit succession of labour and rest of the Works and Thoughts of Men those proper to the Day active and clear the other to the Night whose obscurity prevents the wandring of the mind through the senses and silence favours its calm contemplations And the constant revolution of Day and Night in the space of twenty four hours is of great benefit If they should continue six entire Months together as under the Poles though their space would be equal in the compass of the Year as now yet with publick disadvantage The shining of the Sun without intermission would be very hurtful to the Earth and to its Inhabitants And its long absence would cause equal mischeifs by contrary qualities For the nature of Man and other living Creatures cannot subsist long in travail without repairing their decays by rest Now the succession of Day and Night in that space fitly tempers their labour and repose After the toilsom service of the Day the Sun retires behind the Earth and the Night procures a truce from business unbends the World and invites to rest in its deep silence and tranquillity And by sleep when the animal operations cease the Spirits that were much consum'd in the service of the senses are renewed and united in assistance to the vital faculties the Body is restored and at the springing Day made fresh and active for new labour So that the wisdom of
inconveniencies afar off and lay the Scene to avoid them And is Reason only useful in the affairs of the Body and must Sense that cannot see an hands-breadth beyond the present be the guide of the Soul Well though the most powerful Reasons the most ardent Exhortations and stinging Reprehensions cannot prevail with the Sons of the Earth now to be apprehensive of the Evils that threaten them but they live in a blind manner regardless of the Soul yet in a little while Extremities will compel them to open their eyes When they are departing hence with one foot upon the brink of Time and the other lift up to enter Eternity how will they be astonish'd to see the distance between this World and the next which seem'd to them so wide to be but one step The present Life that in their imaginations would never end and the future that would never begin so intent were they for the provisions of the one and neglectful of the other behold the one is gone and the other come Time is at their back with all its vanities and Eternity before their faces with its great realities How are their thoughts and discourses changed in that terrible hour that will decide their states for ever they did foolishly for themselves but then speak wisely for the instruction of others How piercing and quick are their apprehensions then of Heaven and Hell which before were neglected as unworthy of regard or onely toucht the surface of their Souls what amazement what dejection of Spirit to find themselves in a sad unpreparedness for their great Account the remembrance that for the poor advantages of time they forfeited Eternal Glory and ventur'd on Eternal Misery cuts more sorely than the pangs of Death But suppose they harden their hearts to the last minute of life and are more stupid than the Beasts that tremble upon a precipice at the sight of extream danger yet a minute after Death O the heavy change when they shall feel themselves undone infinitely and irrecoverably What fierce and violent workings will be in the mind what a storm of passions rais'd But then Repentance will be with perfect sorrow without the least profit There are no returns to the possibility of mercy I will conclude this Discourse with a passage from the most humble and excellent St. Austin He bewails in his Confession his long bondage under Sin His carnal lusts adher'd as closely to him as the Ivy twines about the Oak that there can be no separation without eradicating it and plucking the Bark off the Tree He felt an inward continual Combat between the Flesh and Spirit He often shook the Chain wherewith he had voluntarily bound himself but had not the resolution to break it And thus for a time his Judgment abhor'd what his Affections were enclin'd to and he was neither victorious nor vanquish'd But when God was pleas'd by his omnipotent Grace to set him at liberty the last and most violent Assault of the Flesh and that which made his Conversion most difficult was this His Youthful Lusts presented themselves to his Imagination and as that impure Mistress did with chast Joseph shook the Garment of his Flesh and whisper'd Will you renounce us shall there be a divorce between you and your ancient Loves for ever shall not this or that desire of the Senses be contented for ever And what was that for ever it only signified the short remainder of his time after thirty three years which was then his Age. And this is the most effectual hinderance of the reclaiming of Sinners still They will not be induc'd to make an irrevokable unreserv'd dedication of themselves to God and firmly to resolve never to taste forbidden sweets more but always abhor the relish of them But if it be so hard and intolerable always to abstain from unlawful pleasures and much more to suffer pain in the short space the moments of this Life that it seems an Eternity to corrupt Nature what will it be in the true Eternity to be depriv'd of all Good and tormented with all Evils despairing of release or quenching one spark of that terrible Fire O that Men were wise to consider their latter end and the consequences of it their Mortality and Immortality FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS Chap. 1. pag. 1. ATheism is fearfull of publick discovery Three heads of Arguments to prove the Being of a God 1. The visible frame of the World and the numerous Natures in it exactly modelled for the good of the whole prove it to be the work of a most wise Agent The World considered in its several parts The Sun in its scituation motion and effects declare the Providence of the Creator The diurnal motion of the Sun from East to West is very beneficial to Nature The Annual course brings admirable advantage to it The gradual passing of the sensible World from the excess of Heat to the extremity of Cold an effect of Providence The constant Revolutions of the Day and Night and of the Seasons of the Year discovers that a wise Cause order them Chap. 2. pag. 19. The Air a fit medium to convey the Light and Influences of the Heavens of the lower World 'T is the repository of Vapours that are drawn up by the Sun and descend in fruitful showers The Winds of great benefit The separation of the Sea from the Land the effect of great Wisdom and Power That the Earth is not an equal Globe is both pleasant and useful The League of the Elements considered Excellent Wisdom visible in Plants and Fruits The shapes of Animals are answerable to their properties They regularly act to preserve themselves The Bees Swallows Ants directed by an excellent mind Chap. 3. pag. 34. The Body of Man form'd with perfect design for Beauty and Usefulness A short description of its parts The fabrick of the Eye and Hand admirably discovers the Wisdom of the Maker The erect stature of the Body fitted for the rational Soul Man by speech is fitted for Society How the Affections are discovered in the Countenance The distinction of Persons by the face how necessary The reasonable Soul the image of a wise and voluntary Agent Chap. 4. pag. 51. The vanity of Epicurus's Opinion of the Worlds original discovered from the visible order in all the parts of it Chance produces no regular effects The constant natural course of things in the World proves that 't is not framed nor conducted by uncertain Chance The World was not caused by the necessity of Nature In the search of Causes the mind cannot rest till it comes to the first Second Causes are sustain'd and directed in all their workings by the first The Creator though invisible in his Essence is visible in his effects Chap. 5. pag. 71. The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted Tradition of it through all Ages The Invention of Arts and bringing them to perfection an Argument of the Worlds beginning The weakness
Considerations OF THE Existence of GOD AND OF THE Immortality of the Soul With the Recompences of the future state For the Cure of INFIDELITY the Hectick Evil of the Times By William Bates D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Phileb LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1676. THE PREFACE THE usual Method whereby the Enemy of Mankind trains so many into his bloody snares is by enticing the lower Faculties the Senses the Fancy the Passions to prevail upon the Will and Mind and accordingly his motives are pleasure or pain that affect us from sensible things But on the contrary the great Lover of Souls first inlightens the Understanding to discover what is the most excellent Good what the most pernicious Evil and by that discovery moves the Will to pursue the one and fly from the other and so descends to work upon the Affections and Senses that with readiness they follow the direction and command of the Superior Powers in Man These Objects being Spiritual and future and therefore rais'd above the highest Regions of Sense are only apprehended and become effectual by the evidence of Faith As the Spartan in Plutarch after trying many ways to set a Carcass upright in a living posture and finding that all his Endeavours were vain it was so suddenly discompos'd the head sinking into the bosom the hands falling and all the parts in disorder concluded something was wanting within that is the living Soul without which the Body has no strength to support it self Thus the most convincing Reasons prest with the greatest vehemence of Affection all the Powers of the World to come are of no Efficacy upon those who have not Faith the vital Principle of all Heavenly Operations We live in an Infidel Age wherein wickedness reigns with Reputation The thoughts of the Mind are discovered by the current of the Actions Were there a serious belief of the great Judgment and the terrible Eternity that follows it were not possible for Men to sin so freely and go on in a War so desperate against God himself Sensuality and Infidelity are Elements of a Symbolical quality and by an easie alteration are chang'd into one another Fleshly Lusts darken the Mind and render it unfit to take a distinct view of things Sublime and Spiritual They hinder serious consideration especially of what may trouble the Conscience by their impetuous Disorders And which is the worst effect the corrupt Will bribes the Mind to argue for what it desires 'T is the interest of Carnalists to put out the eye of Reason the prevision of things Eternal that they may blindly follow the sensual appetite Thus Epicurus with his herd as one of them stiles that Fraternity denied the Immortality of the Soul consonantly to his declared principle that the Supreme Happiness of Man consisted in the delights of Sense And 't is as natural that the disbelief of another state hereafter should strongly incline Men to follow their Licentious Pleasures If the Soul according to the impious fancy of those Infidels described in the Book of Wisdom be a spark of Fire that preserves the vital heat for a little time and gives motion to the Members Vigor to the Senses and Spirits for the Thoughts but is quench'd in Death and nothing remains but a wretched heap of Ashes What preeminence has Man above a Beast It follows therfore in the progress of their Reason 't is equal to indulge their Appetites as the Beasts do If what is immortal puts on mortality the consequence is natural Let us eat and drink for to morrow we must die Now though supernatural Revelation confirm'd by Miracles and the continual accomplishment of Prophecies has brought Life and Immortality into that open light that the meanest Christian has a fuller and more certain evidence of it than the clearest spirits of the Heathens ever had yet because the weight of Authority is of no force with Libertines 't is necessary to argue from common Principles which they cannot disavow Indeed the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit are our best Defence in the Holy War but with the use of equal Arms Reasons against Reasons the cause of Religion will be victorious 'T is the design of the ensuing Treatise to discover by the light of Nature invisible objects viz. that a Sovereign Spirit made and governs the sensible World that there is an Immortal Soul in Man and an Eternal state expects him hereafter There is such a necessary Connexion between these Supreme Truths The Being of God and future Recompences to Men that the denial of the one includes the denial of the other 'T is uncertain which of the two is the first step whether Men descend from the disbelief of the future state to Atheism or from Atheism to Infidelity in that point Some excellent Persons have imployed their Talents on this Subject from whom I have received advantage in compiling the present Work I have been careful not to build upon false Arches but on substantial Proofs and to perswade Truth with Truth as becoms a sincere Counsellor and well-willer to Souls And if the secure Person will but attentively and impartially consider he must be convinc'd that 't is the only true Wisdom to believe and prevent and not venture on the tryal of things in that state where there is no other mending of the error but an everlasting sorrow for it Those whose Hearts are so irrecoverably depraved that no motives can perswade to examine what so nearly touches them with calmness and sobriety and their minds so fatally stupified that no Arguments can awaken must miserably feel what they wilfully doubt of whom the Light does not convince the Fire shall OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. CHAP. I. Atheism is fearful of publick discovery Three heads of Arguments to prove the Being of GOD. 1. The visible frame of the World and the numerous Natures in it exactly modelled for the good of the whole prove it to be the work of a most wise Agent The World consider'd in its several parts The Sun in its situation motion and effects declare the Providence of the Creator The diurnal motion of the Sun from East to West is very beneficial to Nature The annual course brings admirable advantage to it The gradual passing of the sensible World from the excess of heat to the extremity of cold an effect of Providence The constant revolutions of Day and Night and of the Seasons of the Year discovers that a wise Cause orders them IN the managing the present subject I shall first propound such things as clearly discover that a Soveraign Spirit rich in Goodness most wise in Counsel and powerful in Operation gave being to the World and Man in it This part of my work may seem needless because there are very few if any declared Atheists As Monsters remain where they are born in the desert sands of Africa not
the Creatour is as visible in the manner of this dispensation as the thing it self And 't is an observable point of Providence in ordering the length and shortness of Days and Nights for the good of the several parts of the World Under the Equinoctial Line the Earth being parcht by the direct beams of the Sun the nights are regularly twelve hours through the Year fresh and moist to remedy that inconvenience On the contrary in the northern parts where there is a fainter reflection of its Beams the Days are very long that the Sun may supply by its continuance what is defective in its vigour to ripen the fruits of the Earth The annual course of the Sun between the North and South discovers also the high and admirable wisdom of God For all the benefits that Nature receives depends on his unerring constant motion through the same Circle declining and oblique with respect to the Poles of the World 'T is not possible that more can be done with less From hence proceeds the difference of Climates the inequality of Days and Nights the variety of Seasons the diverse mixtures of the first qualities the universal Instruments of natural Productions In the Spring 't is in conjunction with the Pleiades to cause sweet showers that are as milk to nourish the new-born tender plants that hang at the breasts of the Earth In the Summer 't is joyn'd with the Dog-Star to redouble its force for the production of Fruits necessary to the support of living Creatures And Winter that in appearance is the death of Nature yet is of admirable use for the good of the Universe The Earth is clensed moistened and prepar'd so that our hopes of the succeeding Year depends on the Frosts and Snows of Winter If the Sun in its diurnal and annual motion were so swift that the Year were compleated in six Months and the Day and Night in twelve hours the fruits of the Earth would want a necessary space to ripen If on the contrary it were so slow as double the time were spent in its return the Harvest but once gather'd in the twenty four Months could not suffice for the nourishment of living Creatures 'T is also a considerable effect of Providence that the sensible World do's not suddenly pass from the highest degrees of heat to the extremity of cold nor from this to that but so gradually that the passage is not only tolerable but pleasant Immediate extreams are very dangerous to Nature To prevent that inconvenience the Spring interposes between the Winter and Summer by its gentle heat disposing living bodies for the excess of Summer And Autumn of a middle quality prepares them for the rigour of Winter that they may pass from one to another without violent alteration To attribute these revolutions so just and uniform to Chance is the perfection of folly for Chance as a cause that works without design has no constancy nor order in its effects If a Dy be thrown a hundred times the fall is contingent and rarely happens to be twice together on the same square Now the Alternate returns of Day and Night are perpetual in all the Regions of the Universe And though neither the one nor the other begin nor end their course twice together in the same Point so that their motion appears confused yet t is so just that at the finishing of the Year they are found to have taken precisely as many paces the one as the other In the amiable Warr beween them though one of the two always gets and the other loses the hours yet in the end they retire equal And the vicissitudes of Seasons with an inviolable tenor succeed one another Who ever saw the various Scenes of a Theater move by hazard in those just spaces of time as to represent Palaces or Woods Rocks and Seas as the subject of the Actors requir'd And can the lower World four times in the circle of the Year change appearance and alter the Seasons so conveniently to the use of Nature and no powerful Mind direct that great work frequent discoveries of an end orderly pursued must be attributed to a judicious Agent The Psalmist guided not only by Inspiration but Reason declares The Day is thine the Night also is thine thou madest the Summer and Winter But this I shall have occasion to touch on afterward CHAP. II. The Air a fit medium to convey the Light and influences of the Heavens to the lower World T is the repository of Vapours that are drawn up by the Sun and descend in fruitful Showers The Winds of great benefit The separation of the Sea from the Land the effect of great Wisdom and Power That the Earth is not an equal Globe is both pleasant and useful The League of the Elements considered Excellent Wisdom visible in Plants and Fruits The shapes of Animals are answerable to their properties They regularly act to preserve themselves The Bees Swallows Ants directed by an excellent mind THe Expension of the Air from the Etherial Heavens to the Earth is another testimony of Divine Providence For 't is transparent and of a subtle Nature and thereby a fit medium to convey Light and Celestial Influences to the lower World It receives the first impressions of the Heavens and insinuating without resistance conveys them to the most distant things By it the greatest numbers of useful objects that cannot by immediate application to our faculties be known are transmitted in their images and representations All colours and figures to the Eye sounds to the Ear. T is necessary for the subsistence of Animals that live by respiration It mixes with their nourishment cools the inward heat and tempers its violence Besides In the Air Vapors are attracted by the Sun till they ascend to that height to which its reflection does not arrive and there losing the soul of heat that was only borrowed by degrees return to their native coldness and are gathered into Clouds which do not break in a deluge of waters that would wash away the seed but dissolving into fruitful showers fall in millions of drops to refresh the Earth so that what is taken from it without loss is restor'd with immense profit The Air is the field of the Winds an invisible generation of Spirits whose life consists in motion These are of divers qualities and effects for the advantage of the World Some are turbid others serene and chearful some warm and refreshing others cold and sharp some are placid and gentle others furious and stormy some moist others dry They cleanse and purifie the Air that otherwise would corrupt by the setling of vapors be destructive to the lives of Animals They convey the Clouds for the universal benefit of the Earth for if the Clouds had no motion but directly upwards they must only fall on those parts from whence they ascended to the great damage of the Earth For moist places that send up plenty of Vapours would be overflowed and
that what at first sight seems to be of no consequence yet is absolutely necessary not only for all the regular but for most works of the Hand If the Fingers were extended to the same measure it were able to do nothing but what the four longest can And how uncomely would such a figur'd hand appear when that beauty is lost that springs from variety in things alike Besides how unprofitable a part were the Hand if the Fingers had within one intire bone not flexible to grasp as occasion requires Or if a fleshy substance only how weak and unapt for service what strength or firmness for labour even the Nails are not superfluous besides their gracefulness they give force and sense to the points of the Fingers If one be lost the feeling in that extream part is very much lessen'd that is so necessary for the discerning of things To these I shall add two other considerations that discover perfect wisdom in the framing the humane Body 1. It s structure is very different from that of Brutes whereby 't is a fit instrument of the rational Soul The Brutes being meerly terrestrial Animals are perpetually groveling and poring downwards seeking no more than their food They have no commerce with the Heavens but so far as it serves them for the Earth as being only born for their Bellies But in Man the posture of his Body interprets that of his Soul The stature is streight and rais'd expressive of his dominion over the Creatures made for his use The Head is over all the less noble parts and the Eyes so plac't that the mind may look out at those windows to discover the World in its various parts to contemplate the Heavens its native Seat and be instructed and excited to admire and love the divine Maker 2. If we consider Man complexly as joyn'd with society to which he is naturally inclin'd he is so form'd as to give or receive assistance for his preservation and comfort The Tongue his peculiar glory the interpreter of the Thoughts and reconciler of the Affections maintains this happy commerce Besides the Face makes known our inward motions to others Love hatred desire dislike joy greif confidence dispair courage cowardice admiration contempt pride modesty cruelty compassion and all the rest of the Affections are discover'd by their proper Aspects By a sudden change of the countenance are manifested the deepest sorrow the highest joy As the face of the Heavens vail'd with Clouds by the breaking forth of the Sun is presently cleard up And which is above the imitation of Art different affections are represented in a more or less expressive appearance according to their stronger or remisser degrees Timanthes the famous Painter wisely drew a vail over Agamemnons Face present at the sacrifice of his innocent Daughter despairing to express and accord his several Passions the tenderness of a Father with the Majesty of a King and the generosity of the Leader of an Army This way of discovery has a more universal use then words The ministry of the Tongue is only useful to those that understand our Language but the Face though silent speaks to the Eye The Countenance is a Crystal wherein the thoughts and affections otherwise invisible appear and is a natural sign known to all For this manner of expression is not by the common agreement of Men as Signs absolutely free or mixt but from the institution of Nature that always chuses what is most proper to its end being guided by a superiour directour according to the rules of perfect Wisdom Moreover the innumerable different characters in the Faces of Men to discern every one is the counsel of most wise Providence for the universal benefit of the World For take away this distinction and all the bands of Laws of Commerce of Friendship are dissolv'd If we could not by singular inseparable lineaments distinguish the innocent from the guilty a Brother from a Stranger the worthy from the unworthy all truth in Judgments sincerity in Relations distinction of Merits security in Trade would be destroyed In short humane societies cannot be preserved without union and distinction the one prevents division the other confusion Union is maintain'd by speech and other signs of the inward dispositions of the Heart distinction is caus'd by the variety of countenances And 't is considerable that so few parts composing it and in so small a compass and always in the same situation yet there is such a diversity of figures as of faces in the World Seneca propounds this as a spectacle worthy of admiration though the Stoical pride falsely esteem'd greatness of mind would scarce admire Miracles And as the frame of Mans Body so much more the rational Soul his eminent prerogative above all sensible beings discovers the Deity The superior faculties the Understanding and Will whereby he makes a judgment and choice of things in order to his happiness declare it to be the living image and glory of a most Wise and voluntary Agent The admirable composition of two things so disproportion'd a spiritual and material substance in the humane nature is an argument of his omnipotent skil who united them in a manner inconceiveable to us But the nature qualities and operations of the Soul shall be more distinctly considered afterwards And by this short account of some parts of the World we may sufficiently discover the perfections of the Maker We must pluck out our Eyes and exstinguish common sense not to see infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness shining in them the proper marks of the Deity CHAP. IV. The vanity of Epicurus's Opinion of the Worlds original discover'd from the visible order in all the parts of it Chance produces no regular effects The constant natural course of things in the world proves that 't is not framed nor conducted by uncertain Chance The World was not caused by the necessity of nature In the search of Causes the mind cannot rest till it comes to the first Second Causes are sustain'd and directed in all their workings by the first The Creator though invisible in his Essence is visible in his effects BEfore I proceed to the other Head of Arguments I will briefly show the vanity of those Opinions that attribute the production of the World to Chance or to the sole necessity of Nature 'T was the extravagant fancy of Democritus and Epicurus after him that the original of the World was from the fortuitous encountring of Atoms that were in perpetual motion in an immense space till at last a sufficient number met in such a conjunction as form'd it in this order 'T is strange to amazement how so wilde an Opinion never to be reconciled with Reason could finde entertainment Yet he left a numerous School many followers tenacious of his Doctrine the heirs of his Frenzy 'T is very easie to shew the vanity of this conceit that supposes all and proves nothing That these particles of matter should thus meet together 't
is necessary they move now from whence is the principle of their motion from an internal form or an external Agent If they will be ingenuous and speak true they must answer thus from whence soever they have it they have it for if they did not move their Opinion cannot proceed a step further But supposing their motion to be natural what powerful Cause made them rest how are they so firmly united have they Hooks that fasten or Birdlime or Pitch or any glutinous matter that by touching they cleave so fast together They must grant something like this otherwise they cannot unite and compound and then the Epicurean Opinion is presently dissipated Supposing them triangular circular square or of any other regular or irregular figure yet they can make no other compound then a mass of Sand in which the several grains touch without firm union So that 't is very evident whether we suppose motion or rest to be originally in the nature of matter there must be a powerful Efficient to cause the contrary Besides by what art did so many meet and no more and of such a figure and no other and in that just order as to form the World a work so exact that by the most exquisite skill it cannot be made better Add further how could these minute Bodies without sense by motion produce it this is to assert that a Cause may act above the degree of its power Can we then rationally conceive that a confused rout of Atoms of divers natures and some so distant from others should meet in such a fortunate manner as to form an intire World so vast in the bigness so distinct in the order so united in the great diversities of natures so regular in the variety of changes so beautiful in the whole composure though it were granted that one of their possible conjunctions in some part of Eternity were that we see at present Could such a strict confederacy of the parts of the Universe result from an accidental agreement of contrary principles 'T is so evident by the universal experience of Men that regular Effects are caused by the skill of a designing Agent that works for an end that upon the sight of any such effects there is not the least shadow of a suspicion in the mind that it proceeded from blinde and counselless Chance If we should hear one make a plea for a Cause with such reasons as are most proper to convince and perswade his Judges to decide for him can we doubt whether he understands what he speaks or casually moves the organs of speech And yet if he did move them by Chance one of the casual motions equally possible with any other would be that he perform'd at present If a thousand brass Wheels were thrown on a heap would six or eight meet so fitly as by their conjunction to organize a Clock that should distinguish the hours or is a skilful hand requisite to joyn them and direct their motion And did the Planets those vast bodies by Chance ascend to the upper part of the World and joyn in that order as to measure the time exactly for so many past Ages Who ever saw a dead Statue form'd in the veins of Marble or a well proportion'd Palace with all Rooms of convenience and state arise out of a Quarry of Stones without a Sculptor to fashion the one and an Architect to frame the other Yet Marble and Stones are more dispos'd to make a Statue or a Building that are the materials of them and only require skill and workmanship to give them form than Atoms mixt together are to make the World Indeed Pliny faintly tells a story of a fabulous Ring of Pyrrhus in which an Agat was set distinctly representing not by Art but pure hazard Apollo with his Harp in the midst of the nine Muses The first Reporter was defective that he did not oblige us to believe that the sound of his Harp was heard in consort with the Muses It would have been a fine Miracle and the belief as easie that a Stone might be a Musitian as a Painter Now if the effects of Art are not without an Artificer can the immense Fabrick of the World be other than the work of a most perfect Understanding Who fixt the foundations of the Earth who laid the beautiful Pavement we tread on who divided and adorn'd the Chambers of the Spheres who open'd the Windows to the light in the East who encompass'd it with the immense vault of the starry Heaven hanging in the Air and supporting it self Could artless Chance build it No man unless totally deserted of Reason can possibly have such a fancy Let Reason judg how could the World be otherwise then 't is supposing it fram'd by a designing Cause all things are dispos'd divinely that is by perfect Wisdom as publick necessity and ornament require What the Psalmist observes concerning the Heavens is equally true of all the other parts of Nature Their line is gone out to signifie the exactness of their proportion If this be the effect of Chance what is the product of Design Can Reason distinguish between things artificial wherein the felicity of Invention appears and things rude not done by rules in the works of the Hands and can it not discover the manifest prints of Wisdom in the order of the Universe How much more Skill is evident in the frame of the World than in all the effects of humane Art so much the less folly would it be to attribute the most curious works of Art than the production of the World to Chance Add further The establisht order of the parts of the World is an argument that excludes all doubt that 't is govern'd and was at first fram'd by unerring Wisdom For if they were united by Chance would they continue in the same manner one day Is it not most likely that one of the innumerable possible combinations should succeed different from the same tenor of things that is but one especially if we consider that the parts of the World are never at rest The Heavens the Elements mixt bodies are in perpetual motion If Chance rul'd is it within the confines of probability that the Sun that runs ten or twelve thousand Leagues every day should be now in the same part of the Heavens where it was in former years in such a day when there are so many other places wherein by Chance it might wander Would the Stars keep a perpetual course regularly in such appearing irregularities Nec quicquam est tanta magis mirabilemole Quam ratio certis quòd legibus omnia parent Nusquam turba nocet nihil illis partibus errat Manil. lib. 1. Astrom Or would the sowing of Seed in the Earth certainly produce such a determinate sort of Grain for the other possible mixtures are so vastly numerous that it would be ten thousand to one but some other thing should spring up than what does According to this Hypothesis
acknowledg the Deity I Shall now come to the second head of Arguments for the existence of the Deity drawn from the proofs of the Worlds beginning from whence it follows that an Eternal intellectual Cause gave it being according to his pleasure For it implys an exquisit contradiction that any thing should begin to exist by its own power What ever is temporal was made by a Superior Eternal Power that drew it from pure nothing And the other consequence is as strong that the Cause is an intellectual Being that produc'd it according to his Will For supposing a Cause to be intirely the same and not to produce an effect that afterwards it produces without any preceding change 't is evident that it operates not by necessity of Nature but voluntarily and therefore with understanding As a Man who speaks that before was silent according to the liberty of his will Now of the Worlds beginning there is a general tradition derived down through the uninterrupted course of so many Ages to us 'T is true the Philosophers renewed the confusion of Tongues that disunited the Builders of Babel in their account of the Architecture of the World Yet they generally agreed 't was made by a most wise Agent And this Doctrine is so agreeable to Reason that you may as soon bridle the current of Nilus and make it return to its Fountain as suspend the perswasion of it in the minds of Men or make it turn back as false Now what account can be given of this uncontroulable Opinion 'T is most rational to conceive that it came from the first Man instructed by his Creator when the Tradition was easy the World not being numerous Add to this the rudeness of former Ages and the simplicity of living becoming the new-made World This account the most antient Histories give of the rise of Common-wealths that the first Nations were a confused chaos till the soul of society was infused to regulate them But that which I shall particularly insist on as a convincing proof is this The invention of many Arts beneficial to Men and the bringing them to perfection by degrees If the World were without begining it would have had no age of childhood and ignorance but being always old and instructed by infinite study and experience it would have always known what it successively learnt in the School of the last three thousand years since the memorials of profane Histories are transmitted to us Some that asserted the Eternity of the World were sensible of the force of this Argument and made a pittiful shift to evade it They fancied that though the World had no beginning yet as Animals proceed by different ages till they arrive at extream and impotent old age in like manner it happen'd to the Earth not in all its parts at once for then in that vast succession of Ages the World and race of Men had been spent but sometimes in one part and after in another But with this difference that whereas Man after decrepit age never renews his youth a Country once wasted with age returns by vertue of the celestial influences to its former vigor and is in a perpetual circulation to new infancy new youth and so to old age And from hence it is that it learns again those things that were well known in former ages the remembrance of which was intirely lost But the vanity of this fiction is easily discover'd 1. Is it possible that in such a number of years of which Memorials remain before and since this Fiction that in no part of the World should be seen or heard of this decrepit age and new childhood which according to this opinion hath innumerable times hapned in the circle of Eternity sometimes in one sometimes in another Province If we fancy Nature were so changeable according to the revolution of the Heavens we may with equal Reason believe that by various conjunctions of the Stars it hath and may fall out that Water should burn and Fire cool that Serpents should be innocent and Lambs pernicious that Flys should live an age and Eagles but a day 2. Since 't is affirmed that the whole World doth not sink into this Oblivion at once it must follow that in some vigorous parts the knowledg of Arts still remain'd and from thence should be derived two other parts that were ascending from their ignorance as 't is usual in the commerce of distant Regions So that it will never fall out that Arts and Sciences once invented should be totally lost 'T is true some particular Nation not by change of Nature but humane accidents may lose the Arts wherein it formerly flourish'd as is eminently visible in the Greek that is now far more ignorant and unpolisht then in former ages But this cannot with any pretence of Reason be said of the whole World 'T is evident therefore if the World were Eternal it had always been most wise and civil and that its gradual attaining the knowledg of things of publick advantage is a sufficient conviction of its beginning in time by the Counsel and Will of an Intellectual Agent 3. To the still voice of Reason the loud voice of all Nations accords in confirming this Truth The Civil the Barbarous those who by their distance are without the least commerce and are contrary in a thousand fashions and customs that depend on the liberty of Men that is mutable yet all consent in the acknowledgment of a God being instructed by Nature that is always the same and immutable 'T is as natural to the humane understanding by considering the frame of the World to believe there is a God as 't is the property of the Eye to see the light The assent to this truth is unforc'd but without offering extream violence to the rational faculties none can contradict it Indeed in their conceptions of him few have the glass of the mind so clear and even as to represent him aright Some divide what is indivisible and of one make many Gods Some attribute corporeal parts to a pure spirit some figure him in Statues to make the invisible seen and in other manner deform him Yet no errour no ignorance has absolutely defac't the notion of him And that no societies of Men are without the belief of a first Being superiour to all things in the World and of absolute power over them and consequently worthy of supream Honour from all reasonable Creatures their Prayers Vows Sacrifices Solemnities Oaths are a visible Testimony The force and weight of the Argument is great for that which is common to the whole species and perpetual from its first being through all its duration is the Impression of Nature which in its universal Principles either of the Understanding or the Will is never deceived Thus the inclination to that good that is convenient to our faculties the approving as most just to do to another what we desire in the same circumstances should be done to us are natural
Popilius by order of the Roman Senate required Antiochus to withdraw his Army from the King of Egypt and he desired time to deliberate upon it the Roman drew a Circle with his Wand about him and said In hoc stans delibera give a present Answer before you move out Thus Eternity whose proper Emblem is a Circle a Figure without end presents to us Life and Death that after a short time expects all men and here we must make our choice And shall a mortal coldness possess us in an affair of such importance We cannot so fast repair the ruines of the Body but that every day Death makes nearer approaches and takes away some spoils that cannot be recovered and will shortly force the Soul to leave its habitation and shall we not secure a retreat for it in the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality Can any make a Covenant with Death Is it to be overcome by the strength of the young or appeased by the tears and supplications of the old 'T is equally invincible and inexorable The greenest Age is ripe for dying the Fruit that does not fall is pluck'd and gathered Every one is under the same sentence and so far equally disposed to dye None can assure himself the continuance of a day and shall we be desperately careless of our main Concernment shall we waste this unvaluable Treasure in idleness or actions worse than idleness shall we spend it to purchase transient vanities The gaining the whole World is not worth the expence of this light of Life 'T was given us for more excellent ends to work out our own Salvation to secure our everlasting Interest How should we redeem every hour and live for Heaven This is our chief and indispensible affair and the neglect of it for a day is of infinite hazard Our season is short our omission irreparable If we could clip the wings of Time and stop its flight there might be some pretence for delay but the Sun drives on apace we cannot bid it stand still one hour Our diligence in improving Time should be equal to its swift motion We should speedily draw from it what 's necessary as from a rapid Torrent that will quickly be dryed up 'T was a wise Answer to one that ask'd why the Lacedemonians were so slow in passing Capital Judgments why so many Examinations taken so many Defences permitted to the Accused and after Conviction Sentence such a space of time before Execution The reason of it is because an errour in that case is incorrigible They might kill the Living but could not revive the Dead Now since after Death is inflicted on the guilty Soul 't is lost for ever how should it stop Men in the voluntary and precipitate Condemnation of themselves by the wilful rejecting of the Grace that is offered to them upon their present acceptance To draw to an end it follows from what has been discours'd that 't is the most necessary and highest point of Wisdom to conduct our Lives with a respect to the Tribunal above that will pass a righteous and unchangeable Sentence upon Men for all the good and evil done here The Consequence is so manifest and palpable that nothing but perfect Madness can deny If there be a spark of Reason a grain of Faith the Mind must assent to it For if Prudence consist in the choice and use of means to procure the Good we want and in preventing the Evil we justly fear certainly according as the Good is more noble and difficult or the Evil more dangerous and destructive the more eminent is the Wisdom in obtaining our end Now what is the chief Good to which all our desires should turn and our endeavours aspire What are Crowns Scepters Robes of State splendor of Jewels Treasures or whatever the Earth has in any kind or degrees of good They are only the little entertainments of the Body the viler part of Man But the perfect and perpetual Fruition of God is the Blessedness of the Soul and infinitely excels the other And proportionably 't is not the loss of temporal things that is the greatest Evil but the losing Heaven and the immortal Soul is above all degrees of valuation Now 't is strange to amazement that those who profess to believe these things should live in a constant opposition to their belief How vigorously do they prosecute their secular designs they build Estates and make Provisions tanquam semper victuri as if they were eternal Inhabitants here But how remiss and cold are they in order to Heaven and to escape the Wrath to come Libertines are uniform and regular according to their Principles they are Infidels and live as Infidels there 's no contradiction between their thoughts and actions The remembrance of Death rather inflames than checks their Appetites to sinful pleasures as the sprinkling Water does not quench the Fire but makes it more fierce They know they shall continue here but a short time and resolve to make the best of it for carnal purposes But infinite numbers of those who in title are Citizens of another World and declare their belief of a future state yet are as careless to prepare for it as if the great Judgment and the dreadful Eternity that follows were Romantick Fables They are Believers in their minds and Infidels in their lives From whence comes this monstrous Composition of two Extreams so contrary and difficult to be united as the Sun and Darkness or Fire and Water in their actual forms For Men to believe there is a Heaven and to be in love with the Earth to believe an everlasting Hell shall be the reward of Sin and yet to go on in Sin O the sottish Folly of Men What enticing Sorcery perverts them 'T is because that temporal things are sensible and present and eternal things are spiritual and future But how graceless and irrational is this Has not the Soul perceptive faculties as well as the Body are not its objects transcendently more excellent Is not its union with them more intimate and ravishing Must the sensual Appetites be heard before Reason and the Soul be unnaturally set below the respects of the Body If the most splendid temptations of the flesh are but dross to the happiness of the Spirit is it not true Wisdom to distinguish and despise them in the comparison For this end God has plac'd us in the World that with equal Judgement we may ballance things and preferring the great and solid Good before a vain appearance our choice may be unconstrain'd and his mercy take its rise to reward us And how foolish is it to neglect eternal things because they are future Is it not a common complaint that Life is short that it flies away in a breath and if Death be so near can Eternity be so distant Besides do Men want an understanding to foresee things to come In their Projects for this World how quick-sighted and provident are they to discover all probable