V i L I B 11 A. K Y ' Theological Seminar PRINCETON, N. J. Y , ' : sin// ■ i Boo/,- sea D i V i s h. • Ho The Pretended T)tfficuJties in Na^ tural or ReveaVd Religion no Excufe for Infidelity. SIXTEEN S E R M O.N S Preach'd in the Church of St. Mary -^le- Bom, London ; In the Years 1721 and 1712 : A T T H E Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Efci; By Brampton Gurdon, A. M. Chaplain to the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Macclesfield^ Lord High Chancellour ofGnEATBRixAN. LONDON: Printed for RobertKnaplocKj^;?;^^ Biihop's- Head;, m St. Paul's Churchyard. 1725, • V.' " ' nloDnrJ "\cs ^ii^^iS S^^^\ :>^ l^dlB^ biWTOVt^ TO THE Right HoNOURA*BLtE RICHARD, Earl of Burlington ; The Right Reverend Fathers in God, Charles LordBiJhop o/Winchefter^ Edmund Lord Bi/hop of Lincoln, Samuel Lord Bi/hop of Carlilc, AND White Lord Bijhop of 7ctQvhovouglu TRUSTEES Appointed by the moft Reverend Father in GOD, Thomas late Lord Arch- bifhop o^Cdnterbury^ the laft Surviving Truftee named by the Honourable • Robert Boyle, Efq\ Thefe SERMONS are mof^ humbly Dedicated. \ BTWE-'^WOO vV; «a!»«rra^ 3t>v ♦^ ^ • v.iV- .Ui^J-i THE CONTENTS. 3 E R M O N I. ' H E hnfortance of the Dtffute between its and the Infidel. Pag, I, Soine Ad'vantages attending the Belief of Religious Principles. p. g. Ackno'ivledged hy Epicurus.- p. 7. And hy all other Atheifts in their account of the frf: Introdu6iion of Religion. p. 10. Religion lays no Rejhaints upon us^ but for our ad'vantage. p. If., Jhe Atheifts Arguments againfl it affe^ only Superfiltion, p. 1-7, It fets a Mar^s mind eafy with regard, to a future State. p. 2r. The Atheift has no reafon to make Frofelytes, p. 27. A 4 Sermo^'- The Contents. Sermon s ir,m^IV,V, No Safety in a Fahb not grounded upon fomc kind of Evidence. p. 5 f. Nor a Ma7i always fafe in acting accord" ing to his Opinions. p. 57. Mens Opinions ^ofte^tirries the lothing b:^l^.a Contradicilon ctin jitfiifiz . .fitch dishlief p. 64. - iinwateriality iw piles no Contradlclion. p. 6^. C^^ "fht^ ^hiioj«pkerl^ ficnial of the. Creative VI "J ^^"^'^^'y ^0' fi^'^^'^^ ^^ ^'^^' Atiieift. PP|. h cannot be proved to he impnijiblc. p. 78, ^ifmoil-ackno'wlec^cs many^ tilings, to he true ahho' he does not underfiand them. p. 7'9. The The Contents. The Being of Natural ani Moral Good and Evtl conjifient with the Being of a good JPrinci-' pie. p. 8r. Tie Scheme which Spinofa Suhjlltutes In the place of the Religious one. p. 87: His Scheme encreafes infiead of lejjenlng Difficulties. p. 90, Forced to alter the recel'ved Notions of Matter. p. 91. To deny that there is any fuch Thing in Nature as a mutable Being. p. 100. To affert that Thought and Extenfion are the fame Thing, jp. ror. His NeceJJ'ary Being the SuhjeSl of Con^ traditions. p_ 107. The other Atheiftick Scheme of a Plu- rality of NeceJJary Beings impoj/lifle, p. HI. No 'Account to he gi'ven of Good and E-vil by Spinofa^J Scheme. p. 118. The Union of GoD vlth Man in the Perfon of Christ will not help out his Scheme. p. 125, No other Atheiftick Scheme will account for Good and Evil. p. 116^ &c. V. S E R M O N S VI, VII, VIII, IX. Spinofa could give no Jccoufjt how Matter I'cafrU u he moved, p. ij2. Not The Contents. - Nor Toland p-oiK that it could rmx/e Itfelf. p. lyy. 7^ contrary evident from its Idea, p. I y 8_, &C. And from fome appearances In Naturt^ p. 169. The Oifj'e^iom againfi God's being the M.o%)er of Matter, p. 186. Particular Self-Movers confifient with aji Unl'verfal Mover. p. 19,2. The Exlfience of fuch particular Self-Movers ■ pofihle. p. 195-. Tie ^Motive to Infidelity on this Head un~ . r jujilfiahle. p. 200. "^2^(? accounting for Thought hy SpinofaV Scheme. p. 21.5, T^e ether Account -which makes It to h^ Figure md Motion cannot be true. p. 2i8_,&c. Delcartes might give occafion to this lafi O- pinion. p. 224. Farther dlfprovd from the Simple Nature of Thought. ' p. 228, The Charge of .Difficulties retmned. upon the "Terfoxallty proved to be Imfofflble on any ;; Foot of Atheifm. p. 244^ &c. Thi Union of Material 'with Immaterial can- ' not be provd tmpojfible. p. 2^0. The~ main Indacement to Atheifm taken ' fi^viiy■' P- 2jr. SERMON TJ^ Coiitents, Sermon X. jmMr Proof of the AtfieiftV Unreafinabk- vefs in complaining of Difficulties, p. 268. He cm helieve undireked Jl^otions Jhall pro-^ dffce d Regular Work, p.. 270^' _^ That a Compofition of Being Jliall be a c :, i>^ecejfary Being. P-^JT- That all the J)iv&rfity which appears in the ,llea'vens is necejjary. p. 277 &c. ' X^f/^« and Contrivance provd from the Earth'' s Annual Motion. p. 284. From the Vro^ijkn made for Animals ttp" on our Earth. p, 287. Our Ignorance of the Ufcs of fo?m Things no Reafon for denying the Ufes of other Things "ivhich -we do know, p^ 2^0. Sermon XI. ne Atheift'^ Denial of Moral Diff^ef^ces uhm reafonable. ... ^,, p. ^^j^ . Bis Denial will not prove then, are none. p. 506. A wrong as well as a right Tafie in judg- ing of thofe Differences. p. 509, TheThilofophers acknowledg'd fuch Differences. p. 310* Even The Contents. Even f/Sf Epicureans. p. 5i2. They were -taken for granted hy Legijla- tors. p. 314- Wicked Men bear their Tefilwony in behalf of them. P- 319- What Reafoft for believing they appear fuch to God Of to us. p. 325. Sermon XII. v "T^tf Infiderj Plea for not en^tdring into the Merits of any Revelation. p. 3^1. Jhe Poffibflity ^f Miracles proved, p. 558. Thay we a good Proof of a Divine Mi(Ji67j, ■V .'-'5 ■ -- > ■ p. 341. "^ht 'living Lift to a Dead Body no Ejf'ect of ^ny lament Powers in Nature. p, 542. ^■|f h could- be an Pffe^ cf any fuch Powers ^ '•■- it -would not account for oisr Saviour'j Miracles, .1 ' .-^ '■ •-> "^ p. 346. Jt cannot be^ done by any Agcfits inferior to ■^■' Qni).: - - p. J49. 7^ Converfon of the Magicians Rod into ' .^Sei-pentSy .fiot real. a i;Vr p. gj-i. • "iNaPrttof that ApoUonius raised a dead Per- '■'^- fon io Lifu -.. . ::■ ; .-., .. p. 55'4. O^r Lord's Difclples able to judge whether n^\4fUvr^'ifSi7ig\dead he ^ came ta lafe again. c ... Tbe\T The Contents. Their fometimes not knowing him^ m Vroof /< of his not being the fame J^erfon*. ■ -^iVj^ ;vfcAy -i^vit ??uV. p)»x'3^r Sermons XIII, XIV. Another OhjeUlon againfi Revelation confder'^d. p. 570. Faith CiY yjuthority jJ]e^'n to he a proper Ground of Terfuafion. p. 'i^'']6- Ihat in Fa5i the Chrifiian Religion puts an End to many Controverfies of A^oment. p. 279, To many wicked VraBices. p. 585"^ 299. The Differences among Chriftians_, 2Z);// TUit invalidate this Vroof. p. 289. The Way of Authority better fitted for the In- firu5iion of the lower Sort of People, p. 292. I'he Benefit of Preachifig as performed in cur :^.ifhurches. p. 404. The Philojophers did not teach Religion in their. Schools, p. ^06, The Heathen Paefs taught no Morality. The Number of Churches 'vaflly greater and better dlfpofed than the Schools for Philofophy. p. 409. Julian the Apofiate fenfble of thefe Advantages, p. 4"- IVhy no Revelation has yet been JJniverfal^ p. 412. 7hat ^The Contents. Thnt God was not ohliged to maie any Re^ '^Velation. -^ ;^ p. 415-. l%at He has promlfed the Chriftian Jhall be Uni'verfal. p, 418. l>Jot preached at firfi to all , hecaufg all ?iot (qualified for receiving it, p. aio. Whf not in America. p, 424. • Why not to the Chincfc. p. 425*. ' W^^^Suu ERRATA. pAGE 94. line 15 infcrt not. p. 183. 1. 15. dele and, p. a6a. 1. 19- «/for ij*. p. 461. 1. 9. dele ftfne. ^1f:^^^f^^W?l"i^¥'fWW¥*l'*# S£RM« ( I ) SERMON I. I Timothy IV. 8. - — Godlinefs is profitable unto all Things, having the Vromife oj the Life that now is^ and of that which is to come. H E Subjefl: which I pro- pofe to difcoLirfe upon is of the laft Importance and Concern for all of us to be fatisfy'd in ; for 'tis no lefs than this, I. Whether Men at firft either grew out of the Earth fpontaneouil/ as Trees ; or that there has been B Ahvajs Sermon i. always a SuccefTion of Men and Wo-- ftien upon Earth, propagated after the fame manner, as they are at pre- sent ; or whether a Wife and Intelli- gent Being fent us into this World. 2. Whether we are to go, as the Materialifi contends for, to the Place quo non nati jncera ; or whether, as the religious Man beheves , there is to be another State of Beins; for us after this Ihort Thread of Life is wound oE I F any Prejudices were allowable, they would certainly be in this Con- troverfy between Us and the Atheifls^ where all the Advantages to Mankind are on the Side of Religion; and no- thing but Darknefs and Defpair in the .Atheiji\ Scheme of Things. The Pro- iitablenefs of Godlinefs, or of living under a Senfe of religious Principles^ and the Unprofitablenefs of Infidehty, may be made very plain to us, tho' we fliould fiippoie that we may be mi- ftaken in believing them true. And jR)r thefe Reafons : I. Because Sermon I. 1. Because nothing but fuch a Be- lief can cany a Man thro' the Diffi- culties and Miferies that human Life is fubjed to. 2. Because the Belief of religious Principles retrains a Man from no En- joyments but fuch as would be hurtful to him and make him uneafy. ^ Because living under a Senft of Religious Principles will make a Man's Mind eafy with regard to any Apprehenfions of a Future State* I. That nothing but the Belief of •Religious Principles, 'viz. of G o d and a Providence can carry a Man through rile Difficulties and Miferies that Hu- man Life is fubjea to. If a Man makes the leaft Reflexion upon the State and Condition of his Life, he will prefently fee that he has not fuf= ficient Power of himJelf to procure his own Happinefs. That there are many Things which are able to hurt him, and he ndtliQi' knows how to fecure iiimfelf againll them, or to acquit him=. Cd^ of them, when they have attacked him» There are many Evils he muil own B 2 .him" Sermon l liimfelf obnoxious to, becaufe he fees ochers opprefs'd by them. If there was no G o D or Providence to have Re* courfe to in this difagreeable Profped of Things thofe whom we all of us al- low to be Animals inferior to ourfelves would have greatly the Advantage of him, for as they have no Forefight of Future Evils, fo they could have no Forethought about them, nor torment themfelves with any Fears of what may be hereafter ; whilft our conti- nual Anxiety and Solicitude about Fu- ture Evils would make the Life of Man appear to be a Scene of Things perfeftly difmal and without any kind of Hope, if nvithout a God in the World, The Author of the CharaQ:erifticks has fairly own'd that there cannot be a Compleat Virtue without Piety or the Belief of a God and Providence, that thofe Virtues which fliould fup- port us in Adverfity, fuch as Fortitude, Patience and Contentment under our Condition, would probably lofc their Etfeds upon us, if" we had nothing to trufl: to but Chance or a blind JSIe- cefTity • S £ R M O N I. 5 eeflity ; that they would be convert- ed into a natural Kind of Spleen and Abhorrence of every Thing in the World, and imbitter our Tempers to that Degree as to ruin the very Prin- ciple of all Virtue , fo as inftead of Fortitude and Patience , the Atheifis Scheme in his Opinion would produce Impatience and Rage, " Nothing, ^' Jays he^ ^ indeed can be more me- -' lancholy than the Thought of living ^' in a diifraQied Univerfe from whence •*' many Ills may be fufpeded , and '' where there is nothing that can ra ife " any PafTion befides that of Contempt, " Hatred or Dillike. Such an Opinion " as this may by Degrees imbitter the ** Temper and help to impair and ruin " the very Principles of Virtue , " Speaking of the Belief of a God and Future State, he fays -!-, " by Virtue " of this Belief Man may retain his *^ Virtue and Integrity even under the " hardeii Thoughts of Human Na- B 5 " true '\ * Enquiry concerning Virtue, p. 70. f lb hi yol. 2, p. 71, Sermon I. " ture ", but in the other Scheme, " upon difaftrous Occafions and under " the Circumllances of a hard and cala- '' mitous Fortune 'tis fcarce poffible " to prevent a natural Kind of Ab- " horrence and Spleen ''^. And in ano- ther Place, " That 'tis not poiTible *' to retain the fame Firmnefs or Con- " flancy of Mind , which Pvehgion " would naturally give a Man f ". Thus we fee, if this Author's Obfer- vations (who has no fmall Credit with Our Free-thinkers) have any Weight in them, what mull: be the Behaviour of a Man in Adverfity, and what mufi: be commonly expected from one that afts upon the Atheidick Scheme : In- ftead of Coniiancy and Firmnefs of Mind under Afflidions, we muft ex- peel to find the A.he/Jl raging and cur- ling his Stars, ading more like a Mad- man than a wife and fober Perfbn , we miuii: exped that he fliould lofe his Temper , grow foure and melan- choiv, and confequently uneafie to him- ' Page 73. t Page 75. Sermon I. 7 felf, and every one that has any Thing to do with him. And is not this a Charming Profpe8: of Things , and enough to induce a Man to part with his Rehgious Principles, that in^ ftead of behaving under Afflictions with Decency and Dignity, if we will turn Atheifis we may hope to lofe our Tempers, grow impatient, contract a Sort of Diflike and Abhorrence of e- very Body and every Thing : But if we delire to keep our Tempers in all States of Life, and to do nothing that we fliall have Reafon to be ailiamed .of, we muft hve and a8: with a View to the Principles of Religion ; it being impoflible with any other Principles to keep up a good Compofure of the Af- fedions, or any Uniformity ia our Minds as the above mentionM Author obferves. Epicurus himfelf could not for- bear faying, that he thought it better to believe the Fable of the Heathen Gods than to fubmit to that blind Ne= cefTity which our Modern Atheifts feem to be fo fond of Qn. his Letter to M^? B 4 iJ2C§^ . 8 Sermon I. mcxus given us by Diogenes hxentas m his Life) becaufe, he fays, there is Hopes that the Gods may be prevail- ed upon by Worfhip and Prayer, but the other, viz, NecelTxty is deaf and inexorable to all Applications ^. And tho' he did not much mend the Matter by his introducing the Clinamen or Ob- lique Motion of his Atoms, in order to fecLire the Liberty of our Minds, yet the Force of Truth extorted this Con- feflion fi-om him, that the Fatality which Leucipp!^ and 'Democritm had in- troduced, and which is ftill maintained by our Athafis did reduce Mankind to a moft hopelefs and miferable [Con- dition ; that it would be even better to embrace Superftition for fuch was the Heathen Mythology, than to be tied down to the Laws of an unre- lenting NeceflTity. The Ortj", n ) I'ouii^eif 9«K?j /LO> ^«^rt»^.- 14 Sermon I. in it, that it reftrains a Man in no Enjoyments but what would be hurt- ful to him and make him uneafy, and therefore that a Man can be no Lofer by being a Behever, if it fhould prove at laft that there is to be no after State. Tliat Plui;aych\ Obfervation was a juft one, or that the At he i ft s Unwillingnefs to admit a God arifcs from a fright- ful Notion that he entertains of him, is evident from the Epcuream continu- ally reprefenting Rehgion as a grievous ' and heavy Burden. Thus Ve'deius in TuUy de NaturaDeorui-K^ lib. i. pag. 48. fays , That thofe who had introduced a Governor of the World, had made Mankind perfedt Slaves ^. So Lucretius in. the Beginning of his firfl Book , reprefents Mankind as finking under the heavy Load of Religion, grovel- ling upon the Ground, not able to look up or lift up its Head for tear of the terrible Afpecl of a God appearing from * Itaque impofuiftis in Cerviclbus noftrls fem- pirernuai domiaum, quern Ulos 5v iiowtes timere- mus. Sermon I. 15 from above, and that this was the mi- ferable Cafe of Man till Epicurus ap^ peared ^. And the fame Writer fpeaks of Epicrma^s curing Men of tlie Fear of a G o d as the mod fignai Piece of Service that was ever done for Mankind -K But there is nothing can be more fahe than this Reprefen- tion of G o D and Rehgion. 'Tis true indeed our Holy Writings fpeak of Re- ligion under the Phrate of the Fear of God. But then this is not the Fear of an Arbitrary Being who has no regard to the Good and Welfare of others* 'Tis not the Fear of an Omnipotent Tyrant, that acts by Humour and PalTion , but the Fear of a wife and good Being, that always governs himfelf by the unalterable Rules of good Senfe, fuch a Fear as fliould re- train Men from playing the Fool and hurting themfelves, from violating the Laws of Reafon, and confounding the Moral * Primum Graius homo mortales tendcre contra tfi: Oculos aufus. t Nos exsequat Victoria Cxlo. t6 Sermon L Moral Diflerences of Things. And fuch a Fear no confiderate Man ought to be concern'd at, for a Fear of this Kind is greatly for the Advantage of Mankind, as it tends to the keeping the World in Peace and good Order, and hindring thenn from injuring one another ; 'tis the Fear of a juft B e- I N G who threatens Punifliment for doing fuch Things as would turn to Our real Detriment ; 'tis the Fear of a kind Father, who knowing better than ourfelves what is good for us and what would be mifchievous to us, leads us to our Happinefs and keeps us from hurting ourfelves by the Fear of of- fending him. This is the true and genuine Fear of a God; what Ad- vantage then would it be to any Per- fon if he were deliver'd from fuch a Fear. Every Man that thinks at all would rejoice that there fliould be fuch an Objed of his Fear as might keep his PafFions and Appetites from doing him Harm, he would fee that fuch a Fear was fo far from being Sla- very , that 'tis confident with the trucft Sermon i. 17 truell Liberty, and the beft Prefervative of itj and that withutt^ it, it would fcarce be pofTible to fecure the Free- dom of our Thoughts and Aftions, Whenever this Fear is attended with Jealoufies and Sufpicions of the Deity, as an imperious and arbitrary Being, that, father dehghts Himfelf in the Mi- feries than the Happinefs of his Crea- tures, it then ceafes to be a rehgi* ous , and cornmences a vicious Fear, or what we are wont to call Supet- ftition. 'T I s againfl this lafi Soit of Fear, that the Arguments of Lucretius^ and of all Sorts of Jtheifis are direfted. For they, laying it down as a certain Truth, That there is no fuch Thing m Nature as Moral Differences, no Right or Wrong, Jufi: or Unjuil:, fepa- rate from Pleafure and Pain , Conveni- ence and Inconvenience, k would then indeed follow. That if there was a God , He could have no Moral Qiia- lities, nor be obhg'd to ad in Virtue of them. If there was a Being diftinct from the World, and enduM with a C Power i8 Sermon I. Power of doing every Thing ; yet there could not be a juft Being, if there be no fuch Thing as Juftice (abftra£led from the Laws of Civil Government.) If there exifled an infinite Intelligence, yet fuch Intelligent Being could make no Difi:in61:ion between Right and Wrong, if there really be no fuch Thing as Right and Wrong in the Nature of Things ; and then what fhould we be the better for fuch a Being -^ Or fa- ther, fhould we not probably fare bet- ter, if we were without fuch a Go- vernor as ads by mere Will and Plea- fure? That thefe Notions are juftly cliarg'd upon the ancient and modern Atheifisy may appear by a Quotation from each of them : Cotta, in Tully de Natura Deorun?^ pag. 98. Davie s''s Edit,, tells us, one Opinion of the Epicuream was, That there was no fuch Thing as Benevolence or an Obligation to do A£1:s of Kindnefs ; but that whatever appears of this Kind, arifes merely from Weakncfs ^5 and therefore, ii there was ^ Cum ill imbecllllcate gratliicatloncni §; bcneyo- Untriam ponicls. S E R M O N I. I p was any fuch Thing as a God, there could be no fuch Thing as Love or Benevolence in him ; becaufe as He would be all-powerful, He could want no one's Afliftance, ftand in Need of no Body, and therefore care for no Body. And thus again, Mr. Hobbs m his Levia^ thm^ and his Book De Cive, p. 260, 262. founds all the Right that God has of Go- verning us, upon his Almighty Power ; and all the Obligation that we have to obey him, upon this. That we cannot help it, his Power being irrefiftible ^* Thus we fee the Atbeijls Drefling up God in a frightful Shape, that they might have the better Colour for De- nying his Exiftence. But I have alrea- dy fhewn, that this is a falfe Repre- fentation of Him ; that when He is re- prefented as He ought to be, and fuch as He really is ; that He is the moft amiable Being in the World j fuch a C 2 Being * Deo omnipotenti jus dominandi ab ipfa poten- tii derivator': manifeftum eft Obligationem ad prje- ftandam ipfi Obedlentiam incumbere hominlbus propter imbecUlitatem. 20 S E H M O N^ I. Being as every confiderate Man would heartily wiili for, and would even part with all the World, rather than give up the Belief of Him ; as the Want of fuch a Being would rob him of a moft comfortable Profpeft in a Time of Dif- ficulty and Diftrefs, and in a Time of Profperity take off that Reftraint from his Appetites and PafTions, which is ab- foluteiy neceffary to keep them from hurting him. Hitherto I have fhewn the Profi- tablenefs of Religious Principles, and {cor/fzqtiently) the Difadvantages of thofe of the Atheifls on the Suppofition, that they could fully perfuadc themfelves. of the Truth of their Scheme: But, if af- ter all the Pains they take to difown a: God, they cannot fet their Minds eafy from the Fears of Him, then the Pro^ fitablenefs of living under a Senfe of Religious Principles, and the Difadvan- tages of Athiij?;-?., will receive a new D^igree of Evidence : Which was the third Advantage of Rehgious Principles that I proposed to difcourfe upon, viz. That the Belief of them will fet the Religious S E R M O N I. 21 Religious Man's Mind at Eafe with Re^ gard to any Apprehenfions of an after State. The Hiftories of all Times, and all Countries inform us, That there con- ftantly has been a Belief of fome future State, in which Men v/ere to be ac- countable for their Behaviour in. this. ' I am not now to confider, Whether this Apprehenfion in Mankind be agreea- ble to the Truth of Things, or any good Proof of them : I am at this Time pnly to confider, What EHeds fuch an Apprehenfion may have upon Mens Minds. And I think it muft be granted me. That whilft Men have fuch Ap- prehenfions, they cannot be indiflerent or unconcerned what is to become of them in this after State, no more than a Man can be indifferent with Regard to his Happinefs or Mifery in this prefent one. And therefore, unlefs the Jthtifl can give us a fure and certain Method by which we may get entirely rid of fuch Fears, he muft acknowledge his Scheme to be neither calculated for fhe GoocJ of himfelf nor any Body elfc. 22 Sermon I. For I have already fhewn the Advan- tages of a true and genuine Fear of God, for the better Conduct of our Lives ; and if the Atheijl is willing to give up thofe Advantages, fo as he might free himfelf from the Fears of an after Reckoning, we might expe8: %hd,t he was fure of gaining this Point ; • Bnt the Hiftories of all Ages fliew us, that the Convidions of Mens Confci- ences are not to be filenced by fuch weak and trifling Reafonings as the Jthetfis Scheme is built upon : The Ap- prehenfions of a future State have ta- ken too deep Root in Mens Minds to be overturn d by any Speculations of Men; and I will venture to fay, That the Athei[t himfelf, with all the Confidence he pretends to have in the Truth of his Scheme, cannot infure himfelf for Life againit the Fears of a future State, and for this plain Realbn, That he cannot prove it to be impof- fible, that fuch a Being as God (in the Religious Notion of the Word) fliould exill : For if he cannot have an abfolute Certainty of that, neither cai^ Sermon I. 2g lie have any of the other. The Cafe be- ing this, there can be no Difficulty in fhewing, That the Principles of Religi- on are better calculated for the Eafe of Mens Minds, with Regard to a fii- ture 6tate, than thofe of the Atheift, For the Man that lives under Religious Principles, has a comfortable Profped : If his Apprehenfions be juft, he knows that he is made for ever, that his Happinefs will be beyond the utmoft of his Con- ceptions, and the Continuance of it to all Eternity. And if his Thoughts of the Matter fhould prove nothing but a Mi- ftake ; yet his Belief has made him pafs plf Life with more Satisfaftion than J- theifm can afford a Man, and it can be at laft no worfe with him than the other. L B T us now take a View of the Unbeliever, with Regard to the Apprehenfions of a future State : As I have already obferv'd, That he cannot demonftrate the ImpofTibihty of a Lire after the Conclufion of this prefent one, the Suppofirion of its being bArely pof- fibly to be true, mull give him now and then an uneafy Thought, for Fear C 4 that 24- S E R M O N I. that PofTibility lliould arife ; and when- ever fuch a troublefome Thought di- fturhs him, I know of no other Way he can take to make himfelf cafy, but by perfuading himfelf, either ift, That no Man is under any Obhgation of Re- verencing or Honouring God, tho' there fhould be One ; or elfe, if he dares not truft to that, That he is un- der no Obhgation, becaufe not behev- ing there is a God, he cannot pay any Reverence to Him. As to the lirft of thefe Excufes, I beheve the Atheift will jfind it hard enough to make himfelf ■ believe, that no Man is under an Obli- •gation of honouring Him, if there real- ly be One ; for if there be fuch a Be- ing, the Relation that we fland in to • Him, and the Obhgations we have re- ceived from Him, will make it fit for us to exprefs our Thankfulnefs and Ac- knowledgments to Him. I Am fenfible UnbeHevcrs do not allow what we call moral Differences; but then this is upon Suppofition that their Material Scheme is the true one, and that there is no God, or no Su- preme Sermon 1. 2$ preme Being endued with Moral Per- feftions. But if there fhould be fuch a Being, the Jtheiji may be, lor any thing he knows, anfwerable to this Be- ing for denying his Exiftence, and in Confequence of that, for paying no Re- ;verence nor Acknowledgments to Him for the Favours received from Him, For if there are any moral Differences in the Nature of Things, and they are judg'd of by the Supreme Underftand- ing fuch as by other underftanding Be- ings, making only an Abatement for the Difference between a finite and in- finite Underftanding ; that is, Suppofe . we know what Juftice is in God, we muft believe that it is unjuft to deny Reverence to the Supreme Being, as well as it would be Injuftice to refufb our Acknowledgments to any Friend or Benefactor for any Kindnefl'es we had received from him. And it can't be thought but that the Supreme (as well as other Beings) muft make a Dif- ference between thofe that honour Him, and thofe that deny his Being and Au-. ^hority oyer them. For if God has tonftitutecj 2(5 S E R M O N I. conftituted any moral Differences la Things, He has thereby fufficiently de- clared that it is his Intention to adi fui- tably to thofe Differences. The Thing is fo evident, that the Learned and Un- learned have agreed in honouring the the Deity, TuUj has long ago told it as a certain and undoubted Truth, That if there is a Supreme and Eter- nal B e i n g , He is to be had in the greateft Reverence and Admiration by Mankind ^. And even Epicurus f him- felf wrote a Book of Piety tov^^ards the Gods. If he wrote this Book for no . other Reafon than to fcreen himfelf froni the Publick Odium, yet it fhews thus much, That it was the general Belief of People at that Time, that the Deity tught to be honoured. And that thisf Belief was well-grounded, will after- wards appear, when I come to prove a real Difference in the Nature of Things between Virtue and Vice. Fide Serm. XI. I * Tully de Natura Deorum.. Lib. t De Divinatione. Lib. z. S E R M O N I. 27 I Cannot forbear making one Re- mark from what has been faid, which is this : That fuppofing there are any Perfons of fo perverfe an Underftand- ing, as cannot perfuade themfelves of a God and Providence, that they fhould not give themfelves much Trouble in drawing Men off from fuch a Belief j becaufe, by their own Confeflion, Man- kind was brought into this Belief for their own Good, that they might re- lieve themfelves from the Uneafineffes which human Nature is fubje<3; to. If they make any Pretenfions to Good- nature, or have any Love for their Spe- cies, they fhould be contented to believe themfelves in the right, without uling any Endeavors to draw other Perfons in- to a Scheme which is fo difmal anrl with= out all Comfort, as theirs is ; they can lie under no Obligations of Confcience, becaufe they make fhew of Denying all moral DiiTerences ; and therefore if they were not a Set of four and ill-na- tured People, they would be contented to be miferableby themfelves, and leave the reft of Mankind in the quiet Pof- feffioa 28 S E R M O N I. feilion of fo agreeable a Deiijfion as tliat of a God and future State, I can fee but one Tiling they can urge for themfelves, which is, That tho' a right Notion of Rehgion would be real- ly beneficial to Mankind, yet Superfli- tion is more deftru8:ive of the publicly .as well as private Quiet of every Man ^^han Jtheifm itfelf : And for the Truth .of this, they refer you to Vlutarch m his Treatife, ^a^d j'nenJ'My.oviaf, and to the vi- fible EfleQs of it, wherever it has pre- vailed. They add further, That the Hiftories of every Age have convinced them, that Mankind is a Creature that Is more apt to be influenced by a fu- perflitious, than by a religious Fear. And therefore, the Odds in Iiuman Na- ture being on the Side of Superftition that 'tis not fafe truiting it with any Religion. The Anfwer to this is very eafy, That if the Fears of SuperlHtion, . are the only Reafon of his rejedling re- ligious Principles, then indead of letting himfelf againft all Religion, let him en- deavour to fet the World right in their Notions of Religion, and we will hear- tily Sermon i. tily joyn with him in fo laudable an Undertaking. And , as I hope the Danger of Mens falling into Superftition may be much lelTen'd by our joynt Endeavours ; fo I am fure, the above- mentioned Advantages of true Religion will fufliciently juftify us in the At- tempt. 2p S E R M. 3t SERMON 11. 1 ThESSALONIANS v. 21. Vrove all Things : hold fafi that which is good. HE Reafonablenefs of Ob- ferving this Rule of our Apoftle, is grounded upon this undoubted Matter of Fact, That there has been always a Mixture of Trutli and Falfe- hood in the World : That there have always been Perfons who have endea- vour'd to propagate falfe, as well as true Doctrines, and therefore no Safety in holding faft any Opinions, before we have carefully prov'd and examined them. If / 32 S E R xM 0 N It. If our Apoftle might have a par- ticular View to the trying of Revela- tions or divine Infpirations ; yet this Advice of his will equally extend to every SubjeQ; that is propofed to our Confideration ; and if we are guided by it, we fhall never give our Ailent to any Propofition, till we have fully and fairly examin'd it \ For if, as in the pre- fent Cafe, which the Apoftle feems par- ticularly to referr to, we fuppofe a Man led into Error by fome mere Pretender to Infpiration, if it would not, I fay, be a good Excufe before God, that he be- lieved fuch a Perfon infpired, ahd pra- 6:ifed amils in the Virtue of fuch a Be- lief, becaufe he ought to have examin'd his Credentials, and proved his Spirit, whether it was of God, or not ; neither would it be a good Juftification of a Man, if he fliould plead. That he aded fuitably to his own Opinions; unlefs 'twas alfo true, that he had carefully examined them before he efpoufed them ; becaufe every Man will be as much con- cerned to avoid Miftakes concernino- the Truths of Natural, as well as thofe Sermon 11. 33 thofe of Revealed Religion. And he that afTents to either upon any other Motive than that of Evidence, alcho'' he fhould embrace the Truth, as this is purely accidental, may be anf^verable to God for not making a due Ufe of his Faculties : for St. Paul's Rule is. To prove ail Thi^^gs : and then to hold fnfi that which is good. We who are guided by St. Vaul and the reft of the infpired Teachers, do require, and pfefs Upon all PerionS a thorough Examination of the Argu- ments on which Religion is built : Y/e defire nothing more than a fair Trial, and are willing to abide by the Suc- cefs of it. And therefore the Author of the Difcourfe of Free-Thinkifigy is a Slanderer of his Brethren , vv^hen he would infinuate, as if the Jlehgious Man was averfe to a free and impar- tial Examination of Rehgious Truths. We defire Men would examine with the utmoft Stridnefs; we only defire them to lay afide all Partiality, and every Prejudice ; we are only againft Licentioufnefs in Thinking, as we are D perfuaded 34 S E R M O N II. perfuaded, That a Man may as well abufe his Freedom in Thinking , as he may his Liberty in Acting ; as I fliali have Occafion to fhew in Confider- ing another Evafion the Jtheifl has to avoid the Apprehenfions of a future State, vijc. That a Man cannot deferve Blame or Punifliment, fo long as he ads confiflently with his own Opinion, or that himfelf cannot deferve Blame or Punifhment for not Honouring God, becaufe he does not beheve there is one. F o R if this Excufe be a good one, one of thefe two Things muft be true, either i/, That a Man cannot deferve Blame for ading according to his Opi- nions, how groundlefs foever they be. Or, 2dly, Becaufe he had made a due Examination and Trial of this Quefti- on, and could find no Evidence for a God. A s to the firfl of thefe : Let us fee what Grounds the Atheifl can have to hope for Impunity, merely becaufe he ads according to his Opinion, when he refufes Refped to a Supreme Being. I Sermon 11. I Must confcfs, I cannot fee much in the Argument ufed by jbme great Men againft incurring this Blame and Punifhment, 'viz,, they advife the Atheifi^ That he fhould ftrive to have Faith and beheve to the utmoft ; becaufe, i^ after all there be nothing in the Matter , there will be no Harm in being thus deceived ; but if there be any thing, it will be fatal for him not to have believed to the fall i And my Reafon is this : Becaufe the Perfon \ve advife to believe, is fuppofed at beft to be doubtful, whether there is a G 0 D ai)d Providence ; And how^ then can the Man believe them, who at the fame time is not perfuaded of their Truth ; but rather believes there is no fuch Thing ? For if a Man fbould affect to believe, what he does not be- lieve, there is little Reafon for thinking that fuch a Procedure would be agree- able to God; becaufe this would be acting againft the Light of his own Mind, which no one that believes a God, will fuppofe to be a probable Way of recommending any one to his Favour- D 2 I 3S §6 S E R M O T'T It. I Should rather advife the Afheiji to examine carefully, What were tJie real Motives that prevailed upon him to quit the Religion he had been edu- cated in, and to take up with Infide- lity ? Whether a fmcere Love of the Truth, or rather fome fecret Paflion had influenced him ? If he would deal fairly with himfelf in this Self-examina- tion, I am perfuaded he would find, that the Alteration of his Opinion is not fo much owing to any rational Convidion of his Mind, as to fome vi- cious Inclinations, which had made Ar- guments appear weighty. to him, which would pafs with other People for mean and trifling ; as I fliall afterwards fhew when I come to corifider the Argn- ments by which he pretends to fupport liis Material Scheme. I N the mean time I am to fhew, That there are many Motives befides rational Evidence, which have deter- mined Men to the Opinions that they efpoufe, and confequently, that this Eva- fion of the Atheifl, i/iz. That a Man cannot deferve Blame or Punifliment for Sermon it. 37 for acting agreeably to his Opinions, cannot be relied upon by any prudent or confiderate Man, And then the J- theiji can never fecure himfelf againft the Apprehenfions of future Punifhment upon this Foot of Reafoning. When I am fliewing, that a Man may be anfwerable for his Opinions, and for what he does in Virtue of them ; I woulcj aot be thought to alTert, That 'tis in any Man's Power to be- lieve what he has a mind to beheve; for his Belief and his Opinion mull de- pend upon the Evidence, fuch as it ap- pears to the Man ; and yet thus much is certain, That a Man may defervc Blame for his Opinions, i^ he has not duly qualified himfelf for Evidence when 'tis offered to him. As, I /?, I F when he is enquiring after Truth, he fuiTers himfelf to be byafs'd by any predominant PafTion or Appe- tiie; for thefe are known to make Men deaf to the plained Evidence of Reafon. Or, 2^/j, If thro' Lazinefs he declines a full or thorough Examination of any Jj I Queftioi^ ;8 S E R M O N II. Qiieftion in which he is much con* cerned. That thefe may be, and often are, the true Caufes of many Per- fons Infidelity, will appear probable, by confidering fome of the Motives wliich too often govern Men, with Re- gard to the Perfuafions or Opinions that are held by them : The Prejudices which I fliall at prefent confider, as having a great Influence upon us, and which may lead Men into an Inclination for the Principles of Infidelity, are thefe ; 1. An Affectation of Singularity; which is v/ont to take much with fuch Perfons as defire to be diftinguifhed by being thought to fee farther than their Neighbours. 2. An Averfioji to the Errors that have crept into true Religion, .has in^ fenfibly led many Perfons into a total Disbelief of all Rehgion. ^. A Desire of being independent, and uncontroulable by any one : When this meets with Perfons of an impe^ rious Temper, 'tis a lirong Temptation to Infidelity. Whenevhr S £ R M O N 11. 39 Whenever any of tliefe prevail, they muft be allowed to be falfe Grounds pf Perfiiafion, and for which a Man will be juftly accountable, if there be a Su- preme Being to whom an Account is jto be given for the Ufe, or Abufe of our underftanding Faculties. i/. An Affedation of Singularity is wont to have a powerful Influence up- pn a Man's Opinions, efpecially when it meets with a proud Temper. A Man muft have pafs'd his Life without much RefleQ:ion upon human Nature, that has not obferved, That Men are more commonly influenced, as to the Opinions they hold, by fome predominant PafTion, than by any Con- y'lEtion from the Principles of Reafon. The ftriking out into a difl'erent Way of Thinking fl'om the red of Mankind, flatters the Vanity of a proud Man with this pleafing Imagination , That he fliall be thought to fee farther than any Body elfe. For he that contradids any received Notions, expects the World fhould beheve, that he does fo, becaufc he reafons with greater Freedom and Im- P 4 partiality Sermon ii. partiality than other People ; and the more p^^enerally received the Opinions are which he oppofes, the greater Credit he hopes to gain by it \ and therefore, Reh'gion having been the general Per- fuafion of Mankind, is for that Reafon the fittell: Mark for the proud Man to point his Arguments againll: : for the Fewer he has on his Side, the more he hopes to fliine, as he knows a Man is apt to be Ipil: in a Croud, and that if he would be taken Notice of, he muft fland fingle, or have but Few in his Company. The Author of the Difcourfe about free-thinkii^g , has acknorvledged this fecret Temptation to Infidelity, when he would put it off as the common Opinion of Mankind, that the Aiheiji has more Senfe than other Peo- ple. For^ fays he, // ar/y good Chrijiian happens to Reafon better thra ordmnrj^ they (meaning the Chriftians) charge him with Athtifm. He takes this fly Way of commending the Atheifts for good Rea- foners, in fuggefting that thofe very Perfons who believed a God and future State^ Se RMON II. 4^ State, could not forbear ownmg Atheifm to be the Effe6: of good Reafoning, and the Atheijls better Reafoners than other People. How weak and groundlefs fo- ever this Notion may be of Mens be- ing better Reafoners in proportion as they beheved lefs of a G o d and Pro- vidence ; yet thus much may be obferv- ed from it to my prefent Purpofe, That fome Perfons may have been, and ftill are tempted to appear on the Side of Infidelity, from the vain Hopes of be- ing thought more difcerning and faga- cious than the reft of the World. Monsieur Bayle^ whofe Writings will free him from any Sufpicion of be- ing overpartial in the Caufe of Religion, does honeftly ackflowledge, That the Infidelity of many People is owing more to fome Degree of Vanity, and a Defire of diftinguiiliing themftlves, than to any Force of Evidence : and nothing can be truer than what he has faid up^ on this Qccafion in his Hifiorical Dicfia' n^ry^ " It is plain enough, jays he ^ *' that thofe who make a Shew in j- Company of pppofing the moft " common 42 S E R jM O N II. ^' common Truths of Religion, fpealf " what they do not really think ; their " Vanity has a greater Share in their " Debates than any Convidion of their " own Minds ; they pleafe themfelves *' with the Thoughts that the Boldnefs *' and Singularity of the Opinions which " they defend, will gain them the Repur *' tation of great Genius's, and of Men *' of a fuperior Way of Thinking to *^ the reft of Mortals. Thus they are " tempted againft their Confciences to " fet forth the Difficulties which the " DoQrines of Providence and tliofe of " the Gofpel are fubjeft to ; fo that by " Degrees they get a Habit of fpeaking " impiouily : And if their Vanity be ^' attended with tlfe Love of Scnfua- " Iky, they go on fafter ia their Im- " piety ". Thus far Mr. Bajle ipeaks in relation to an ingenious Fref?ch Li- bertine, and to all of that Sort ia the Title Des Barnaux. The Jthei/l has perhaps heard too, That the E- ficurean Atheifl was wont to impute the Belief of a God to Mens Igno- rance of the Povvers of Matter iri Motion : S E R M O N II. 43 Motion; and therefore hopes by the Denial of Him, to acquire a great Re- putation for Knowledge. Another common Fountain from whence Infidelity is wont to arife, is, An Averfion to Superftition. Some Men do no fooner difcover the Errors that are crept into true Religion, than they conceive fuch an Averfion to thefe Er-^ rors, as that they begin to fufped all the reft to be a Miftake, and from be- ing Enemies to Superftition, become Enemies to all Religion in general. This I take to be the moft ufual Way by which Men arrive at a State of Infide- lity ; but this is an unjuftifiable Proce- ding in any one that pretends to be a Lover of Truth; becaufe it fuppofes that where there are Errors, there can be no Truth, There are Errors in all Communities of Men profefTing Reli- gion, therefore there can be no Truth at all in Religion itfelf ; Men have made great Miftakes in the Pidures they have drawn for the Deity, therefore there can be no Deity at all ; becaufe they are fure there cannot be a God with '"' "' human 44 S E R JVf O N II. human WeaknefTes, therefore there can- npt be one with divine Perfections: They might with as much Juftice ar- gue, That becaufe there is a Wrong, there can be no fuch Tiling as a Right. But they are not only unjuftifiable, when they have no better Reafon for leaving us, but alfo (which I believe will concern the Atheift more, becaufe it reflects upon his Underflanding) they fhew great Weaknefs when they are byafs'd to Infidehty by their Averfion to Superflition, as this fhcws a great Defeat in Point of Judgment. Fqr when Men flee from one Extream to the other, when they take Refuge m Atheifm out of an Hatred to Superfl:ition, the Reafon muft be becaufe they know not how to difl:ingui(h what is true from what is falfe. They And they have not Skill enough to take ofl' the Difguife froiji Religion, to feparate the Appearance from the Reahty; and therefore finding they mufl: take all or none \ the Hatred they have conceived againft the Errors they have already de- tected;. S E R M O N 11. 4$ tested, prompts them to quit Religion entirely, as the only Way for fuch poor Reafoners to be fecure againft Errors in Rehgious Matters. This is the true Reafon and Foundation of that Obfer- vation fo often made, That where there is moft Superftition, as in luly, Atheijis are moft frequent; becaufe the Gene- rality of People are apt to conceive fo ftrong a Prejudice againft any Caufe, how juft foever, when they difcover any Fraud ufed in the Support of it, that they immediately conclude the whole to be a Cheat. Their Averfion for the Fraud, makes them overlook all tlie Arguments that can be given them for the Support of the Truth ; as i? it was an IrtipoiTibility in the Nature of the Thing, for evil Men to defend the Truth by a FalQiood. But this has fo often happened in the World, that no Man can be accounted a fair Ex- aminer that rejects Religion merely upon this Account. 3^/7, A Desire of being uncontrouFd and unaccountable as to their Thoughts and Behaviour, tempts fome Perlbns to the /^6 S E R M O N II. the Denial of God's Exiftence. Men of haughty and imperious Tempers would be Monarchs to themfelves, they care not to believe themfelves obliged to any Body, and therefore are fond of the Material Scheme, as it fets them at fiiU Liberty from all Obligations; for no one can think himfelf obliged to any Being merely for doing for him what it can't help doing. Atoms by luckily jumbling together for my Good, or the neceffary and unalterable Laws of Matter in Motion producing all that we fee, tho' I received never fo much Benefit from them, could lay me un- der no Obligation of Gratitude to them ; I fhould ftill be under the fulleft Li- berty of Thinking and Ading as I liked beft ; (if any fuch thing as Li- berty were confident with either of thofe Schemes) But if a Man fliould ac- knowledge an Intelligent Being for his Creator and the Author of all the Comforts he meets with in Life, he cannot forbear thinking fometimes that fonie fuch Submiflion may be due to Him Sermon II. 47 Him, as may reftrain his Fulnefs of Freedom in Thinking and Ading. And this St. Evremonty who was never thought to be troubled with Be- lieving too much in Rehgious Matters, acknowledges might be a Temptation to Ferfons of an imperious Temper ; if he was truly tlie Author of a Trea- tife afcribed to him ^, where it is faid, " That there are others who in an " extravagant Prefumption of their ov/n " Abilities, fcorn to . depend on their *' Maker; vainly imagining, that the " Obedience that is paid to this Infi- *' nite Majesty, muft necelTarily take " away the Freedom of their Thoughts " or Opinions. " We have already feen by the ConfelTion of Lucretius f, that the Defire of being in a State of Independence, and of having none to controul them, was a great Induce- ment to many Perfons to enter them- felves in the School of Eficurus ; and v/e cannot doubt but the fame Caufe is ftill ff Vid. Curious Mucellanie?. t Sevmon I. 48 Sermon il flill working the fame Effecl: in the Children of Difobedience : Efpecially as to thofe who are Libertines in Action as well as Thought, who defire to gra- tify every irregular Appetite, and to extinguifli the Clamours of theii- Con- fciences, 'tis their Interefl: to throw off the Belief of a G o d and turn Atbeip : as long as they have any Reafon left, they muft for Peace and Quietnefs Sake en- deavour to perfwade themfelves, that there is no Superior Underftanding to take notice of and animadvert upon them for ading againft the Senfe of their own Minds. Atheifm is the only Refuge they have to take to; for fo long as Men will a£b againft their ownUnderftandings, they muft wiili that there were no Underftanding Being to obfcrve what they are doing : but thefe are the Fools, which the Pfalmijt tells us have [aid in their Hearts^ that there is no God, The Ufe that I would make of this, fhould be to advife the Atheijl^ That fince there are confeifedly vicious Motives that have led Men into their Opinions, that S E R M O NT II. that he would examine, whether none • of thok I have already mentioned had determin'd him to exchange the Reh^ gion he was brought up in for Jthe^fm. For i[ he has left it without fufficient Reafon, his pleading that he ads ac- cording to his Opinion, will not ex- cufe him from Blame and Punif[> ment. I A M eafy to believe, that the M. ■del will difregard the Advife I have given him of examining what were the Motives that principally occafioned his . Infidelity, and may think, that his Mif- take, if it fhould prove fuch, can do lym no Harm. I fliall therefore chufe to put him m mind of what Monfieur BAjite fays of fuch as have been drawn into Infidelity thro' any vicious Mo- tives, particularly thofe he infiances of Pride or Senfuality in his Hiftorkal Dicii^ onary^ Title Des Barrea^x : '' That qviI ^' Cufiom, fays he,, which fome Perfons " had taken up in Converfation of oppo- " fing the great Truths of Religion, oc- *| cafion'd either by Vanity, or a Defire '' of being thought more knowing than ^ ** others. 49 ^O S E R M O N II. " thers, or to juftify themfelves in their " Senfuality, may for fome time filence ^^ the inward ConviQ:ionsof their Minds, " and make them to have entirely for- ^' got what they had learnt in their " Youth concerning a God, a Hea- " ven and a Hell: but they cannot " wholly extinguifh the Belief of them, '^ it being only like a Fire concealed ** under the Afhes, which will quickly " fliew its Adivity, efpecially when *' tliere is any ProfpeQ: of Danger ; *' then, fays he^ we find them Trem- " bhng, and more in Fear than any *' body elfe ; they become then even *' fuperiiitious : '* And he gives this Reafon for it ; " That the Remembrance " of their having fliewn more Con- ** tempt for Holy Things than others, *' increafes their Uneafinefs. " If this Obfervation of Monfieur Baylis be juft and agreeable to Truth, the Advice I have given the Jt'^eijl of examining the Motives that induced him to renounce Religion, may not be altogether amifs. Becauic whatever he may think while he is in Health, and out of Danger, he cannot S E R M o jsr II. 5 r cannot fecure himfelf againft the Ap- prehenfions of Punifhment, i? he has wantonly taken up the Caufe of Infi- delity. But fome one may fay, That this Way of arguing againfi: Atheijis^ is en- tring into the Hearts of Men, and charg- ing them with what may be as eafily denied as affirmed ; that it is an un- fair Procedure with them, becaufe 'tis taking for granted, that a Man mail: be influenced by fome Prejudices whenever he embraces Atheifm ; that this might be with equal Juftice retorted upon the Believer, that he too is prejudiced, and willing againft Evidence to believe a G o D, becaufe he wifhes there was one, and thinks it would be better for him that there fhould be one; and therefore that the Argument drawn from Prejudices ihould be omitted by both Sides. The Anfwer is, That I ought to fhew, if I could, that other Motives befides Evidence, might influence Men in their Opinions; that fuch Motives were \\- cious and punifhable if there fhould be E 2 a God : ^2 Sermon n. a God : And this, in order to engage the Atheifi to examine carefully upon what Motives he took up his Opini- ons : If the Reh'gious Man is under a ftrong Prejudice to believe a God, and he fliould be miftaken, his Miftake can- not be dangerous or hurtful to him. I ought alfo not to have omitted thefe- Prejudices as probable Motives to In- fidelity, becaufe many of thofe who feem to difown all Religion, have been (as we have alrady feen from the Con- feffion of unfufpecled Writers ) in- fluenced by fome or other of them. If there are any others who have from any thing like a ferious Confide- ration wrought themfelves into a Be* iief. That this Frame of Things might have either cafually fallen into the Or- der we find it in, or necefTarily have exifted fuch as it is from all Eternity, they are not concerned with what has been faid under the Head of Prejudices, and fliall be diftinftly confidered by themfelves, when I come to confider another Evafion of the Atheifi s^ 'viz. That after tlie bell: Enquiry, he could Se R M O N II. 52 could find no Evidence for a G 0 d, and therefore could deferve neither BJame nor Punifliment for being confident with himfelf, in. not paying any Re- fped to One whom he did not acknow- ledge for God. Having confidered certain Preju- dices which might be fuppofed to have determined many of thofe who have efpoufed the Caufe of Jtheif^^ it can- not be amifs to put them in mind, That their Anceftors in Iniidehty fupported their Pj'inciples by Reafons which our Modern Jtheifls mull acknowledge to be falfe, and therefore were certainly to blame in concluding againft a God up- on fuch Reafonings, as a further and more careful Examination into Nature would have difcovered to be faife. Tiiis fhould difcourage the modern Jcbeift from being over-confident in his Scheme, left further Difcoveries in Knowledge Ihould make his Caufe lefs defenfibie, and himfelf culpable for determining haftily againft a God, before a full and thorough Examination of the feveral Particulars on which he is wont to K ? groun. 58. d« Nar. Deoiam. Da-j'.es''^ EJIr. Sermon iv. 103 native Caufe, by producing it out of its own Subflance; for we do not fee how material Extenfion fhould flow from the Subftance of a Thoughtflil Being, any more than how Thought fhould arife from Matter ; but that God gave a Being to Matter from Nothings or when it had no manner of Exigence previoufly to the Exercife of this Pow^ er of his. The Atheift^ that he may avoid afcribing this Power of producing Sub- ftances, or of making Something from Nothing, which he thinks to be the Ob- ject of no Pov/er whatever, is forced to have recourfe to Material Subifance as the only Source from whence mull a- rife both Thought and Extenfion, all the Variety of Corporeal Beings, all their Powers and Qualities, -and alfo all the Powers of Mind, fuch as thofe of Perception and Intelligence. A hard Task I his is for him to perform ; and yet hard as it is, he mull go thro^ with it, if he will not with us admit -o^ Power of Creation. H4. ^yE, loz}. Sermon iv. ^' We agree to what the Author of the Char act ertfiicks has faid concerning the Production of either of thefe Sub- ftances, (to wit, Extended and Think- ing) out of the other, when he fays ^, " That the poor Dregs of forry Mat- " ter, can no more be made out of ^' the fimple, pure Subftance of imma- " teriai Thought, than the high Spi- " rits of Thought or Reafon can be ^' extracted from the grofs Subftance ^' of heavy Matter. '' We joyn, I fay, with him in this Reafoning, and do therefore aifert the NecelEty of having Recourfe to a Creative Power • for fince neither Materia} Subftance can flow from Immaterial, nor Immaterial Think- ing Subftance from Material m the Way of Emanation ; there mupj either be two Independerit Principles from whence we may draw out thefe two dilferent Kinds of Being ; or eife on^ of them muft neceftarily be produced from Nothing. If the Aiheifi will affirm, That Thought and * Vol. II. p. z^C, "-97. Sermon IV. i o$ and Extenfion may arife from the fame Subftance; the Abfurdities he will be reduced to, are thefe; he muft fay, That Senfe and Infenftbility are the At- tributes of the fame Simple Subftance of G o D ; and yet he nor no Man a- hve can tell how fuch incompatible At- tributes could be identified, fo as to conftitute one Simple Subftance ; that is, how the fanie fimple Subftance could be both fenfible and infenfible, thought- ful and thoughtlefs. To avoid this Abfurdity, he muft then fay, That there is no real Diffe- rence between Thought and Extenfion ; he muft fall in with that abfurd No- tion of Mr. Hobbs, " That all Matter *^ is furnilhed with adual Senfation and " Thought ; altho' only Matter Orga- " nized and in Life, can make Evidence " of its Perceptions." And Spwofa feems to be under a Neceffity of acknow- ledging this ; becaufe he makes Thought and Extenfion to be Two Attributes of his One Subftance, and fays, " That f' there is no real Difference between f the Attributes and the Subftance. " " ■ ' ~ For io6 Sermon iv. For if there be no real Difference be- tween the Attributes and the Subftance, there can be none between the At- tributes themfclves , to wit, between Thought and Extenfion, according to that known Rule, That thofe Things which agree in a third, muft agree a- mong themfelves. Thus we fee Sfinofx in avoiding the Difficulty of conceiving Something made out of Nothing, reduced to the Neceflity of making no real Difference between Thought and material Extenfion, tho' every Body elfe fees a manifeft Difference between them. Whatever Difficulty then there may be in conceiving it poffible that Something fliould be made from No- thing ; yet I hope there is a great deal of DiiTerence between our not conceii'ing the Vojiihilitj of a Thing, and the con^ celvhg it hn^ofjlhle to be : That Thought and Extenfion (hould be really the fame Thing, we fee, if we fee any thing, to be impoffible ; becaufe our Ideas of 'em are evidently the Ideas of different Things *, and * Vide Serm. VJII. Sermon iv. 107 and we mufl: defpair of ever knowing that one Thing is not another, if fuch Marks of Diftinclion in our Ideas will not prove a Difference in the Things themfelves. 2^/)', There is another Abfurdity which Sp/mja is led into by rejefting the Creative Power, which is this : He mufl: make his Self-exiftent Being the Subjed of all the contradictory In-' clinations and Paflions which are met with in Mankind ; for if there be no Creative Power, there will be no other Way in accounting for the Exifl:- ence of Things, but by deriving them from the Subllance of the Self-exiftent Being: But all fuch Derivations can be nothing but fo many different Modes, as himfelf confeffes, of the Divine Sub- ftance ; and confequently, tli€ Souls of Men, all their Thoughts and Paflions, will be only different Modes of the Divine Being. And therefore it will be God, and not the Man (for he is only a Mode of the Divine Being) that thinks, affirms or denies, loves or • jiates , fo often as Man feems to do either ic8 Sermon IV. either. For it is an undifputed Jjchm in Phllofophy, That whenever we affirm of any Thing , That it is an Agent or a Patient, we mean, that the Sub- ftance, and not the Accidents , does or fuffers this or that ; as when we fay, Iron is hard, or Wax foft ; we mean not to fay, that the Accident of Hardnefs is hard, or of Softnefs is foft, for this would be ridiculous ; but that the Subftance or EfTence which conftitutes thefe Bodies is hard or foft : fo when we fay that a Man thinks of any Thing, affirms or denies, loves or hates any Thing ; we do not mean, that the Thoughts themfelves (which are only Accidents or Modes of the Soul) but the Man himfelf or his Soul thinks , affirms or denies, loves or hates. From thence it muft follow, that the Souls' of Men, being according to Sfdnofx's Scheme, Modifications of the Divine Subllance, we mud not (if we v/ould fpeak pro- perly) lay; that the Man affirms or de- nies, loves or hates j but that Gop loves or hates, affirms or denies, as of- ten as Men do fo : And as on^ Ivlari at th^ StiRMON IV. IOC) the fame Time, and in the fame Re- fpefts, afiirms what another denies, and loves what another hates. According to this Account of Things, God muft at the fame Time, and in the fame Re- fpect affirm, and not affirm or deny, love, and not love or hate, which are palpable Contradictions ; and if we know any thing at all, cannot poffibly belong to any Being. Yet thefe, or as great Abfurdities will ftick fafl: to all the Deniers of Creative Power. For they muft either affirm, with Spinofa, That all the feveral Beings in the "World are only Modes of the Ne- celTarily-exiftent Being, which muft end in the Abfurdity I have now men- tioned, of making all the contradi([iiory Volitions and Paffions of Men to be the Affections of one and the fame Being : Or if they affirm thefe Modes of Spinoff to be real and fubftantial Beings ; they muft admit what is equally abfurd, an infinite Number of Neceffarily-exiftent Beings, as many as there are real Be- ings in the World : Or elfe they muft with us, allow, how difficult foever it may no Sermon iv. may be to conceive, that there muft be fomewhere or other a Power of ma- king Subftances or real Beings, which is the fame thing with what we call the Creative Power. For nothing can be plainer, than that all particular Be- ings (fuppofing them to be real or fub- ftantial Beings) muft exift by a Necef- fity of Nature, if there be no fuch Thing ia the World as a Power of making real Exiftences. S p I N o s A was well aware of this Confequence, and therefore as he was neither willing to admit a Power of Creation, nor a Plurality of NecefTari- ly-exiftent Beings, he could fee no other Way of extricating himfelf out of this Difficulty, but by advancing this new Notion, " That what the World had " before him called real Beings, was no- " thing more than different Modes of " Being." And tho' Mr. Boyle feems to think the Chinefe Notion, which makes all particular Souls to be {q many Self-exiftent Beings, or 'UemocrU tus and Epfcurus\ infinite Number of Self-exiftent Atoms, to be a more ra- tional Sermon IV. xii tional Account of Things, than that which makes all particular Beings to be only Modes of Being ; yet thus far I think fuiSciently clear, That the Jtheifi a£ls a moft fooiifh Part when he takes Refuge in. either of thefe, to excufe him- felf from admitting a Power of Creation. For as to a Plurality of Self-exiftent Beings, nothing can be more abfurd than to make all the Diverfity of Be- ings, with different Degrees of Power, to be all NeceiTarily-exiilent. The Rea- fon which induced the Chinefe to fup- pofe a great Number of Self-exiftent Souls with dijftrent Powers, was, That they might the better account for their animating dijftrent; and tmequd Portions of Matter ; and the Reafon why the Epicure am fuppofed their Self-exiftent Atoms to be of different Figures, was, That they might give a more proba- ble Account of the different Combina- tions of Material Beings. But i^ tliis Inequality of Souls, and the Different Figures of Atoms, was really necefTa- ry in accounting for the Diverfity of Beings in the World, it will be ntQt.{- fary. 112 Sermon IV. iary to look farther, and enquire for the Caufe of this Difference in the Chinefe and Eficurean Principles: For if . the Inequahty in the feveral Portions of Matter, was a good Reafon for fup- pofing an Inequality in the Self-exiftent Principles, what Reafon can they give why we fhould not as well look out for the Caufe of the Inequality of their Principles, as well as they provide a Caufe of the different and unequal Combinations of Bodies ? They could, I fay, have no more Reafon for fup- pofing the Difference of their Princi* pies to have arifen from the Neceflity of their Natures, than that the diffe* rent Combinations of Matter, fhould have arifen from fuch a Neceffity ; which latter they do not fuppofe. And therefore, if they would argue con* fiftently with themfelves, they muff ac- knowledge fome external Caufe of the Difference that is fuppofed to be in their Principles; and this Caufe mufl be fome One Simple Being, not ma- ny Beings ; becaufe all Diverfity of Be- ing does plainly fuppofe a Reafon of its Sermon IV. 113 its being what it is, extrinfical to the Nature of the Being , to wit, that it muft have fome external Caufe, that makes it to be what it is, or different from any Thing elfe. And thus I have fhewn that the Atheifi does not acb hke a fair Exa- miner, when lie rejects a G o d with a Power of Creation ; becaufe he either takes up with a Number of Self-exiilent Peings of unequal Forces, or ehe, with Spif7oJa, he makes the Self-exiftent Be- ing to be every Thing, in the flrid- eft and propered: Senfe of the Words; which are fuch Abfurdities, that we may without Breach of Charity, deny fuch Perfons to be impartial Searchers after Truth. I S E R M, 11^ SERMON V. I ThESSALONIANS v. 21. Trove all Things : hold faji that which is good. HAVE already fliewn that the Jthei/l cannot be a fair Examiner, wlien he quits Religion for the a- voiding fome Difficulties in the Religious Scheme • becaufe he muft fwallow much greater, if he will ac- count for the Appearances of Things, and abide by his Material one. As to two of the Difficulties which he is wont to complain of, "jiz. The Imma- I 2 teriality II 6 Sermon V. teriality of God, and his Power of Creation, or of making Something from Nothing, we have already feen, that if he will not admit thefe, he muil ad- mit fome Things that are much hard- er of Belief, and that therefore he can- not be juftified by any f4ir an^ can- did Reafoner in rejecfing Religion, for the Sake of thefe Difficulties. I AM now to confider one other Difficulty, which he makes in Excufe for not believing a G o d, which is, That it would obhge him to believe that Evil may be reconciled with the fuppofal of a Good Being • and am to fhew, That all the Ways he can pof- fibly take to account for the real State of Good and Evil upon the Foot of Atbsifm^ are impoffible to be true ; and therefore that he is an unfair Examiner in rejecting Religion for the Sake oi this Difficulty. 1 will begin with that Account Spwofa is able to give' of tjiis Vh£nome-rion^ confidently with his Syfleni of the World , which is built upon a fmgle Principle, from whence he is tp drav/ both Good and Evil. If Sermon V. 117 If there was in the World nothing tut Natural and Moral Good, or no- thing but Natural and Moral Evily there would be no Difficulty in deriving either of them from one fingle Prin- ciple; but as there is an evident Mix- ture of both in the World, SpjKofa judged it to be impolTibie that fuch a Mix° ture fhould arile from a good Prineiple^ and therefore ere£ts a new Syftem with a Material God at the Head of ir, tliat lliould be neither Good nor Evil, but in its own Nature indifferent to both :■ Such a Being then acting necefTarily ac« cording to its Nature, which Nature is fuppofed to be perfedly indifferent as to Good and Evil, and a£l:ing by an infinite Force or Power, mult produce all the Poflibilities of Being. For Spi^ nofn, fays *, Ex Neceffitate D:vm£ Naturd wfinitA infinitis modis^ hoc ejiy omnU qua fub intelUBum infiifnttim aider e poffunt^ fe- qui debent. Arid therefore, fince Errors and Crimes, Grief and Pain, are as real Modifications of Being, as Truth and I 3 Virtue'^ "■ Piop. XTI, 1 1 8 Sermon V. Virtue, Pleafure and Happinefs ; confe- quently one as well as the other muft have a Place in the Univerfe. For this Principle being in its own Nature in- different to either what we call Good or Evil, and producing all that is pof- fible to be produced, it muft of courfe pfoduce Evil as well as Good. W E will now fee whether 'twas worth S^mofa's while to quit Religion in order to get rid of that difficult Queflion, If a Good God, '^'ohv t^ aclka. I would grant Spnofa^ that his Infinite Being fliould produce all the Polli- bilities of Being ; but then I can never grant, that ContradiQ:ions are PolTibi- lities of Being. And yet furely it looks as much like a Contradiction as can be, to draw out of the fame Simple, Un- compounded Subftance both Wifdom and Folly, Virtue and Vice, Happinefs and Mifery ; and yet if this Account could , be true, thefe muft all flow from the EfTence of the Self-exiftent Beingv Homer has fhewn much better Senfe, when he accounted for the Goods and SfiRMON V. tip and Evils of this Life by placing two Tuns near the Throne of Japiter, one filled with good Things, the other with Evils, and that Goods and Evils came from Heaven, as JufheripouYQd out of ei- ther of them ; if he poured out of both at the fame Time, then there was up- on Earth an Appearance of both Good and Evil, or a Mixture of both. He faw that if he had made both Happi- nefs and Mifery to be drawn out of the fame VeiTel, that it would have had too much of the Air of Incredible, even .for a Poem; that it would have been as bad as if he fhould have pretended to fetch both /i/^ Water and frefjj froni the fame Spring or Fountain, v/hich was in. St. Jamesh Time a proverbial Saying :,by which they ufed to exprefb an Im- pofTibility. Had Spinofa lived m thofe Days, and broached this DoQirine, his God might have been in Danger of .becoming a proverbial Expreilion for ..any Thing that was thought iiTtpofTi" ble.. For to fuppofe a Simple Being to be neither Good nor Bad, but a Mix- ture of both, is fuppoling what is al- I 4 togetbg!' I 20 S E R M d N V. togethei* unintelligible. The Spwojiji muft allow a real Difference between Phyfical Good and Pliyfical Evil, Plea- fure and Pain, Happinefs and Mifery : And yet if his Account of Things were true, thefe muft be fo like one another, and fo much of the fame Nature, as to come indifferently from the fame Un- compounded Subftance. But this is not all, here is not only a DiiHculty of giving Birth to both Good and Evil from fuch a fmgle Principle, but alfo when that is done, of freeing fuch a Principle from the Contradidion of being at the fame Time happy and miferable, in Joy and in Grief, as often as Men or any other Beings are in thefe Circumftances, which is always the Cafe of fome or other of them. Tulfy ^ ridicules a No- tion of Pythagoras^ which made the Souls of Men to be Parts of the Di- vine Being; becaufe Go d muff in. fuch Cafe be often miferable ; but this was not to be reconcil'd with his fuppofed Happinefs^ • Tull. De Natura Deorum. Sermon v. 121 Happmefs. Na^ Fythagoras qui cenfuit Deum animum effe per Natr/ram rerum om^ mm intent um Isf commemtem^ ex quo nojlri anim'i carp:rentur^ non vidit diftrAciione hu- nt a nor um animorum difcerpl £jf dilacerari Deum : dr cum wiferi ejfent animi, quod plerifque contingeret^ turn Dei partem ejfe miferam. We fee that it was then thought a good Argument againfl: Py- thagor^ih Opinion, That if it were true^ the Deity muft be miferable, which could not be, becaufe God was a Hap- py Being, and they hctle thought that 'twas pofTible to be both happy and miferable at the fame Time ; and there- fore Pyth.\2^oras\ Notion was juftly re- jeded, and fo muft SpinoJa*s too for the fame Reafon ; for i[ Pjthagcras made the Souls of Men to be Parts of the Divine Being, Spinofa makes them to be Modes of the fame Being, or the fame Nature of God, differing only in the Manner of its Exiftence ; and therefore the Divine Being muft be at leaft equally affeiSled in the one as in the other Cafe. The 1^2 SeR MO N V. The Religious Man ftands (4lar of any fuch Abfurdities ; as he fuppofes thefe particular Exiftences wliicli are the Subjeds of Evil, to be made not out of the Divine Subftance, but from No- thing^ and to be created with different Degrees of Perfection, and confequent- iy, that the Evils they are obnoxious to, whether Phyfical or Moral, do not proceed from Him, but are, as I be- fore obferved, merely the Effects of their imperfed Natures. And we do not think that the Atheijl can prove it inconfiftent with Goodnefs to make li- mited or imperfeO: Natures. Thus far we are fure we can talk Senfe. Where- as Spmoja having no Creatures nor li- mited Natures to take Refuge in, muft neceflarily fuppofe all the Evils and Im° perfe«Etions of the World to be the At- tributes of his Infinite Being: And therefore cannot avoid the Abfurdities I have now charged upon him. There is aUb one other Abfur- dity chargeable upon Sfwofah Syftem, viz. That . all the fooliili and wicked Thoughts of Men, as well as thofe that ars Sermon V. 123 are good and rational, muft be the Thoughts of his Self-exiftent Being; but fo long as we fee a real Difference between good Senfe and Foolifhnefs, Virtue and Vice, we can never fee how fuch incompatible Properties can flow from the fame Principle. For this would be to make a moft Simple Being to be not only a Compound Being, which is Contradiftion enough; but alfo com- pounded of fuch inconfiftent Ingredients as could never be united together in the fame Being, but would battle each other till one of them had fubdued and deitroyed the other. But then, it may be faid, Why may not this be true, as well as what the Chriftian Religion fuppofes to be true^ w^ That" the fame Perfon may be the Subjed of both human and divine At- tributes? For human Wifdom, or the Wifdom which human Nature, for In- ftance, is capable of, when compared with divine Wifdom, is no better than Folly: And if this be true, then the Subjea of both Natures muft be at the fame Time divinely and humanly wife, that 12^ S E R M 0 N V. that IS, wife, and not wife ; but this can no more be conceived than the other ; and if thefe Things can be fup- pofed by the ReUgious Man to exift in God, why not by the Spinofift in his Self-* exiftent Being. Some Christians to avoid this Difficulty of uniting God and Man in the Perfon of our Saviour, either fuppofcd one of the Natures to be fwal- lowed up, loft or confounded in the other, 'viz, the Man in G o d ; or elfe, that after the Union there ftill conti- nued two diftind Subjefts of the two diiferent Natures ; but there is no Need of either of thefe Solutions to clear the Union of God with Man from the Ob- jections I have raifed againft Sfi}?ofa\ Self-exiftent Being. For when God took upon him human Nature, that human Nature was per eftly fubmitted to the Divine, and conftantly followed its Gui- dance, and the AQiions of the Perfon were always the laft Determinations, not of the PafTions and Appetites of the Man, but of the Divine Logos. No con- trary Volitions, no ConfliQ: between God and Man, but the Word direded, and Sermon V. 125 and the Man followed- And tho' cue Saviour, as a Man, is faid to have en- creafed in Wifdom as wd\ as Stature ; yet it is enough for my prefent Pur- pofe, that there was no Clafhing be- tween the Wifdom of the Divine and ' Human Nature : If the Wifdom of the latter was lefs extenfive, yet it was without any Mixture of Folly : Where- as I objecled again ft Spinofa*s Syftem, becaufe it introduced a Nature which was a perfed Scene of Contention and Inconfiftency, as it was evident from the many rational and foolijh Thoughts of Men ; which if we know what Con- tradidions are, muft be fuch, when- ever they are both made to be at the fame Time the Thoughts of one and the fame Being. And yet (as I have already ihewn) his Self-exiflent Being, fo long as he fuppofes him the only Subftance or real Being in the World, and all other Beings only the fame Be- ing in different Shapes and Dreffes, ac- cording to the Diverfity and Variety that we fee in Nature, muft be charge- able 12(5 Sermon v. able with all the foolifli as well as ra- tional Thoughts of Men ^. H A. V I N G now fliewxi that 5/>/>r/^'s Hypothefis is fo far from giving a bet- ter Account of that Mixture of Good and Evil which appears in the World, than the Religious Scheme, that it will by no means introduce any fuch Mix- ture into the World ; and therefore that every Spinofift is Culpable when he re- jects Religion for the Difficulty of re- conciling Good and Evil with a Good God : I COME now to fhew, That no o- ther Atheiftick Scheme ought to be ta- ken up by any fair and impartial Exa- miner; becaufe every other Atheiftick Scheme, different from that of Spinofa, will fuppofe more than One Neceffa- rily-exiftent Principle; but a Plurahty pf Self-exiftent Beings cannot poffibly be true. And therefore how well foe- ver a Plurality of Principles would ac- count for this particular Difficulty, yet it Vide Serm IV, Sermon V. 127 It ought not to be admitted for a So- lution of it ; becaufe every good Syftem ought to be built upon clear and evi- ' dent Principles of Reafon, as well as to be qualified for folving Appearances of ' Things : But every Scheme that fup- pofes a Plurality t>f Independent, Ne- cejGTarily-exiftent Beings, is fo far from being fupported by clear, evident Prin- ciples of Reafon, that 'tis diredly re- pugnant to the cleareft Ideas we have of the Order of Things. All the real Perfections that Men have ever had any Notion of, they have been wont to give to the Self-exiftent Being; they were fure that Something muft be boundlefs in its Exiftence, both with regard to Time and Place ; and as the Exigence of that Something was exclu- ded from no Place nor Time, that its Operation could not be hindered any rvhere nor any when. As thefe Powers and Privileges, I fay, were always thought to have a real Exiftence in Nature, they were as conftantly afcribed to the Self-exiftent Being ; for the Excel- lency of fuch a Nature muft be, accord- ins 128 Sermon v. ing to our Conceptions, if any Thing be fo, entitled to all pofTible Perfedi- ons ; but then it mull: be very hard to conceive two fuch Beings with all thefe Powers and Privileges; as for In- ftance, We fhall be hard put to it to find Room for more than One of fuch a Kind of Beings, as would by Itfelf fill up and exift in every Part of the infinite Space, as it muft of Necedity, fince 'tis fuppofed to be Infinite or Iramenfe. 'Till the Jtheifi can tell us how to provide a Reception for a fecond Infi- nite, when all is already taken up by the other ; we muft beg Leave to af- firm, that he has a much greater Dif- ficulty upon his Hands, than the Reli- gious Man has, when he is called upon to account for Good and Evil upon the Foot of a Good God. For as the Atheiflh Self-cxiftent Beings, are fuppofed to be Material, they cannot be both in the fame Place ; and therefore a Second can- not be. at all, becaufe the Firft is fup^ pofed to be Infinite, and to have alrea- dy filled all the infinite Space. Bu T Sermon V, 120 But farther, The Idea of Power ftfcks clofe to our Idea of the Self-ex- iftent Being, and yet our Ideas will not allow of halfing or dividing the Pow* er between Two ; becaufe this would be to admit Two Powers that could con- troul one another, and difturb each other in their Operations ; which furniilies out a very faint Idea of Power, too much limited and retrained to be given -to a NecefTarily-exilknt and Infinite Be- ing. For in this Cafe, neither of the Self-exiftent Beings would be able to produce any one Thing without the Interpofition of the other. And there- fore every Being m the World would be the Effedt of their oppofing one an- other, and fo receive not its Nature from either, but from both. As the Appearances of Things are no where pure or unmix'd Good;, nor pure or unmixt Evil, fome Perfons have difcovered a great Fondnefs for Two Contrary and Independent Principles, hoping that fuch a Syftem would per- feOily well account for the Mixture of Good and Evil, as whatever fhould be K produced I ^o Sermon V. produced from the Struggle and Con. Aid of two contrary Powers, muft of Courfe partake of the Nature of both. But however fond they may be of this Way of folving the Diiiiculty, they may do well to confider, whether the afcribing to the NecefTarily-exiftent Be- ing fuch a limited Power as evident- ly contradi8:s our clearefi: Ideas, be not a better Proof of the Falfliood of this J^ypothefsy than any Arguments they can bring againft the Being of a God from their Fhxnomenon of Good and Evil, the firfl: we are lure cannot be the Truth, for Reafons I have already gi- ven ; the lall may poffibly be true, al- tho' we cannot clear up every Difficul- ty that may offer itfelf to us, when we are endeavouring to reconcile Good and Evil with a Good God. But, 2^/7, I WILL now fhew, that fup- pofing the PofTibility of the Exiftence of Two or more Contrary, Indepen- dent Principles, that yet they would not, any more than SpnofA's Syftem, account for the Appearances of Good and Evil in tl:e World. r Sermoh v. 131 I HAVE, as T before cbferved, a- voidecl entring into a particular Detail of the DiiHculties that are met with in reconciling Evil with a Good B e i i^ g^ becaufe the Learned Dr. Joh/f Clark has lately ex profcjjo examined them ; howe-s ver, I hope, even in this Way of Hand- h'ng the Matter, to fliew, That the Atheiii is an Unreafcnable Pcrfon, if he has left Religion for the Sake of this DiiKcuky. As I have already fliewn, That the Scheme of many Self-exillent Principles, the Refuge of fome Atheijis from this particular Dificulty, is incon= fiftent with our plaineil Ideas : If I t'an alfo fneW, That fhould we give jiim any of his Schem.es on the Foot of Plurahty, yet he would not be able to account for the Difficulties ; v/e fliall ^ leave him without any Shew of an Ex- cufcj if he pretends to have hft us^ tliat he might itand clear of Di&ulties. Supposing then for once, the Pof- fibility of the Exigence of Tv/o or more Independent Principles of contrary Na-- tures • thefe Principles mull either havd sn equal or unequal Force. . If they v/erd • K 2 unequal 132 Sermon V. unequal Powers, tlien the fuperior Pow- er adiiig necefTarily and to the utmoft Stretch of its Power, muft, in an eter- nal Duration, have deftroyed all the Effects of the weaker Power ; And then if the fuperior Force were Good, there could be mw no fuch Thing as Evil; or if Evil, no fuch Thing as Good; neither of which will anfwer to the true Appearance of Things. The Atheifi cannot defend himfelf by the Ancients, who fuppofed unequal, con- trary Powers to have always had an Ex- iftence, without deftroying one ano- ther : For altho' the ancient Theology of the Pagans J as we find by the Poets and other Mythologies^ confiftcd of many contrary Principles endued with une- qual Powers; tho' the good Beings, fuch as Jupiter J ^c. were fuppofed by them to be fuperior in Power to their Ve'joi'e^ : yet they might eafily beheve the eternal Co-exiftence of fuch unequal Powers, or that the leffer were not de- ftroyed by the Greater; becaufe they fuppofed "Jupter and the rcll of the Good Principles to be hee' jfgenty that aded Sermon V. 133 a£ted with Views and for Ends, and might therefore believe that the Good, the' a fuperior Principle, had permitted the Aftion of the inferior Evil Being, in a Way of Punifhment to fuch as had broken the Laws- of thofe Beings, whD were the Principles of Goodnefs. But as to the Atheiftick Principles which a6t neeeffarily, or becaufe they can't help it ; and confequentiy, a£t to the utmoft of their Power, the eternal Subfiftence of unequal contrary Forces muft be impoffible, for the Reafon al- ready given 5 and therefore they can- not account for the State of Good and Evil in the World. But, 2dly^ I F we take two contrary Prin- ciples of equal Force to account for Good and Evil, then as they 2.8: necef- farily, and therefore to the utmoft of their Powers, their continual Oppofitiori to each other muft either produce no- thing but Confufion ; that is, the evil Principle muft deftroy as faft as the Good Principle produces any Thing, becaufe the Evil Principle is fuppofed to have as much Power, and to be K 5 under. J 24 S E R M O M V. uflcter as great a Ne^^elTity of ufmg th^t yovver as the Good One: Or elfe an equal Mixture of Good and ^vil n?iujfl: run thro' all Things, as the neccfTary Refult of the Equality of liieir mutual Op- pofition. For there is no third Way of conceiving the Effect of the Ageney of two neceiXary, equal, and contrary Pow- ers. But if neither of thefe be agreeable to the truth of Things, then the /Itheiji is not to be juftified in. rejcding Rehgion for the Difficulty of folving the Appear- ances of Good and Evil, becaufe every pretended Solution upon the Foot of Jtheijm^ will then appear to be lalfe. i/, The Appearance of Good and Evil cannot be accounted for by Two contrary, equal Principles; becaufe if they aded NecefTarily, the Effed of their mutual Aclioii would be nothing but Diforder and Confuilon, as Two equal, contrary Powers mull of Ne> celRty deftroy the Operations of each other. Monfieur Bayle^ as fond as he fliews himfelf upon all Occafions of the H^pothefii which pretends to account ibr Good and Evil by Two contrary Principles: Sermon v. 135 Principles; was yet fenfible, that Two fucli contrary Natures, unlefs they aft- ed with fomething Hke Freedom, could never account for Good and Evil ; and therefore v/hen he is making an Apo- logy for Zorodjier^ he reprefents him as juftifying his Two Principles in this Manner : " That it was with his Two Principles for fome Time, as it was with " Mr. Hobbs's Men in a State of Na- ^' ture, and before the Eftablifhment " of Societies ; that every Man was an " Enemy to every other Man, and did " each other all the Miichief they " could ; and thus, fays he, it was with ^' the Two Principles at firll, till they, ^' as well as Mr. Hohbs^s Men, weary *' of fuch a confufed State of Things, •■' in which one Principle was conti- *^ nually overturning what the other *^ • was building up, came at laft to an ^' Accommodation, and joyned arnica- ■^ bly together for the future, in the '* feveraj Produdions of Nature *. " K 4 Mr. * 'Hlftcr. DiS:. in voce Zoroaflier, I 3<^ S E R M O N V. Mr. Baj/le enters into fo many Particu- lars in Iiis Vindication of this Dodrine of X^ronfie-^^ that we may believe he look'd upon it as the molt rational Soluti- on of the prefent Difficulty. But from hence we may obferve, That Two con- trary Principles, fo long as they aded NeceiTarily and to the utmoil of their Power, could produce nothing but a State of the utmoft Confufion and Diibrder ; bccaufe this is fuppofed and allowed to have been the State of Things previoufly to the Agreemenf of the Two Principles : and then without fuch Agreement, every Thing muft have been ftill in. Confufion, and different from what we fee at pre- fent J and therefore were it polTible that this Account of Things could be the Truth, yet it would do the Atheijl no Service, unlefs he would allow the Exi- gence of Beings that ad upon Choice, which he always fteadily denies, and while he does fo, can have no Right to any Advantage from this Bjpcthejis, If it be faid, That fuch an Accom- modation is confident with NecefTity, and that a good Principle is necelfarily determined Sermon V. 137 determined to fuch an Accommodation, as a Mixture of Good and Evil is bet- ter than no Good at all ; the Anfwer is, That fuch a Determination muft be the Efted of Choice and of a Free- dom of ading, and not of any abfolute Neceflity of the Nature of the Being; becaufe the Operations of a Being that ads from a Neceflity of Nature, will always be as invariable as its Nature ; and therefore if they both aded from a Neceflity of their Natures, the EfTed of their acting muft be always the fame, and no Room for Variation, which this Accommodation fuppofes. 'Tis true, the Jtheiji allows Men the fame Pow- er of tranfading with each other for their mutual Benefit, and yet denies them a Liberty of Adion : but I am perfuaded they would not perfift in denying fuch mutual Agreements be- tween Men, to be an Argument of Choice and Freedom, if they could fee any Poffibility of reconciling Liberty with their Material Scheme. For they cannot but fee a Difference between ]Moral and Phyficai Motives, between being 1 q8 Sermon v, being moved to a£b by a Reafon, and being forced into Action by an exter- nal Impolfe ; and that this Difference exilb in the Nature of Things, and therefore they would never have made them to be the fame, if they could have fetched them both from Matter, and yet fuppofed any Difference between them. But, T o proceed, If the Atheift finding he can make no Advantage of this ima- ginary Accommodation between the Two Principles for a Solution of the prefent Difficulty, fliould rather take up with another, which the fame Mr. Bnyie propofes in the Title Paulkians^ viz,. That the Good Principle oppofes with all its Might and without ceafing the Sin and Mifery of the Creature ; but that the Evil Principle ading on its Side with all its Strength inOp- pofition to it, there refults from this continual Shock of the Two Prin- ciples, that Mixture of Good and Evil which we fee every where, as the Action and Reaction of two contrary Qualities produces a third Quality par- " taking Sermon v. 139 ^^ taking of the Nature of both : " If, I fay, he has any Hopes fcom this Way of folving the Difficulty, we will fhew, that tliis cannot be the true one, Be- caufc fuppofing fuch a Conflia between Two contrary Principles, if they did not, as I have already obferved, turn all into Confufion, then the Confequence would be, that there muft be an equal Mixture of Good and Evil running thro' all Things ; whereas if this were the Cafe, there muft be an invariable and uniform Appearance of Good and Evil; the Mixture of Good and Evil muft be the fame in every Part of Space, as well as every Part of Time, b^caufe it pi*oceeds from Two contrary Caufes ading necefTarily and to the ut- 'moft of their Powers ; and therefore no Reafon can be given why their AQrion and Reaftion, or the Refult of them, fhould not be the fame ^n every Part of the infinite Space, their Powers be-- ing fuppofed to be equal. But if the fame Qiiantity of Good and Evil had been blended together from Eternity, -and uniformly diHufed thro' the Infinite - ■ Extenfiouj 140 Sermon V. Extenfion, there could have hcQn no fuch Thing as human Condud or Wif^ dom, no PofTibility of chufing the lefs Evils or Inconveniencies to avoid great-» cr ones; becaufe the Inconveniences muft be equal which Way foever we aQ:, i£ the Evil be equal or as much in every Part of Infinite Space as the Good is» Away then with all the Maxims of Wifdom which Men have hitherto pretended to diflinguifh themfelves by, i£ the fame Degree of Evil muft be cxpc8:ed, 2.Q: as wifely as we will. But if the real State of Things proves 9 that there js more evil in one Way of afting than in another, this fhews that the Mixture of Good and Evil did not proceed from Two contrary Principles acting neceflarily ; but froni One Free and Intelligent Being, that has judi- cioufly annexed different Degrees of Evil or Inconvenience to different Ways of afting, in order to make a Trial of our good Senfe in chufing the leaft Inconve- niences. In this Way of accounting for Good and Evil, we can fyppofe them mixed Sermon v. 141 mixed together, and yet leave Room for the Exercife of good Senfe : Becaufe a Being that ads not from any Ne- ceflity of Nature, but with every De- gree of Freedom which is confiftent with aQ:ing wifely, may fo order the Conftitution of Things, as to leave it in the Power of fome Beings, if not en- tirely to feparate the Evil from the Good, yet, at leaft, when there are dif- ferent Degrees of Evil, to take the lejffer : Whereas if Good and Evil proceeded from two diflerent and contrary Caufes ading neceffarily with all their Force, it could never be in the Power of any particular Beings, fuch as Men, to alter fo far the Original Conftitution of Things as to take Good without taking an equal Portion of Evil ; becaufe it cannot be fuppofed, that what has been joyned together by two infinite Pow- ers, can pofTibly be feparated by Man. But lince all the World allows a Dif- ference between wife and foolifli Con- duQ:, the Appearance of Good and Evil fuch as it really is, cannot pofTibly be reconciled 14.2 Sermon V. reconciled by an Hypothefis of Two con* trary Principles a8:ing neceflarily. Again, as Wifdom and Folly are not reconcileable with Two contrary Principles afting necefTarily; fo neither will the linequal Allotment of Good and Evil to fome Sorts of Men, receive a Solution from Two contrary Pi'inciples ; for Beings that a6t necefTarily, it mufl be granted, cannot be Refpefters of Perfons, but muft difperfe their Favours or Refentments promifcuoufly to all that come in the Way of them, and not fingle out particular Perfons for that Purpofe. This is fo plain a Dedutlion from the Atheipck Scheme, that Lucre- tius could not deny it ; and therefore when he comes to that Part of Na- ture which relates to the Difpenfation of Good and Evil, he plainly gives lip the Caufe of Atheifm^ in acknowledg- ing that this was not to be accounted for by any Laws of mere Matter and Motion ; for Ipeaking of the Misfortunes of great Men, of which the Hiftories of all Times had furnifhed great Num- bers of Inftanccs^ he drops his Atoms, aud" Sermon v. 143 and has Recourfe to I know not what hidden Power that took a Delight in making a Jeft of all human Grandeur. %)Jc^ue adeo res humanxs vis ahdita quadam Ohterity dr fulchros fafces jUvafyue jecures^ ^roculcare i^ ludibrio fthl habere videtur *. We may by • the Way obferve, That Lucretius does here the fame Thing for which he and other Atheifis have thought fit to laugh at the Religious Man \ becaufe his Material Caufes were found by him not fufficient to anfwer this ?h^nomenon of Nature, he is con- tented to take Refuge in an unknown Caufe, a ®-M ^ ^MX*f'"fj and yet when we have recourfe to a God, they wii! allow it no better a Name in us than a Cloak for our Ignorance. But if the Atheifl v/ould declare as fairly with regard to feveral other ^ImmnmiA as Lucretius has done in this particular one, he would find as much Want of a G o D for extricating him out of other Difficulties, as Lucretim did hi tliis concernino: sood and Evil, If * Liicrr-r lib- 5, 144^ Sermon v. If the Religious Man meets with ibme Difficulties in reconciling the Misfortunes of great and good Men with a Good Being, yet nothing has been thought clearer than that Something befides the necefTary Laws of Matter and Motion njull: have had a Hand in human Affairs. There was always fo much feeming Caprice, fuch Inconftancy, and Changes fo fud- den, and fo unaccountable in the Hi- ftory of great Men, particularly of fuch as had been great and good Men, th at it has been always thought necefTary to have Recourfe to fome Agent that go- verns all Events with perfeft Freedom, and not to Matter in Motion, whofe Laws were too fteady and too regular to account for them. For 'twas eafily feen that the Workings of NecefTary Agents mull be as unchangeable as their Natures. And therefore a more regular Courfe of human Affairs than the prefent, mufl have arifen from the Adion of a Being or Beings that brought Things about from a Necef- fity of Nature. Thus Sermon V. Thus we fee the Jtheift is never the nearer towards giving himfelf Sa- tisfaction concerning Good and Evil, when he exchanges Religicn for Atheifm : but if he deals fairly with himfelf, he will only find this Difference, That whereas he tumbled at fome Appear- ances of Evil which he could not re? concile with Goodnefs or the Exiftence of a Good Principle, he muft now fee every Solution he can give of this Fhammenon upon the Foot of Atheijm^ plainly impoflible to be th-e Truth, H$ L S E R M. 'J.- .-^fcg^jsfea* SERMON VI. Acts XVII. 28. For in Him we live^ and mo'Ve^ and have our Be- ing. 147 HESE Words are Part of a Speech St. Faul made upon Mirs-YiiW at Athem in Juftification of himfeif againil the Charge of en- deavouring to introduce a new Reli- gion into that City ; he tells them , That he had Preached no ftrange Gods, but the very fame God whom they them- fclyes \vorJhipped, under the Title of L z tlie Sermon VI. (he Unknown God, tho' they were entirely ignorant of his Nature, as was plain by their ereQ:ing Temples to Him for his Habitation and Refidence. Whereas himfelf had ereded this {late- ly Frame of the Univerfe, and there- fore could never be in Want of a Room or Place to dwell in ; neither could He want the Afliftance of Men for making Him Altars and Images, for that He had given Life and Breath to thofe ve- ry Men by whofe Skill and Workman- lliip they pretended to honour Him. We find by the i8th Verfe, that the Epicureans made a Part of our Apo- ftle's Congregation, for they went along with him from the Market-place, where -they had been Difputing, to the Areo- fagus, Thefe Men had wilfully mif- taken the Nature of G o d, and impi- oufly ftripp'd the Deity of all the Privileges that had been univerfally al- lowed to belong to it ; for the God of Epicurus had no Hand in , the making the World, he neither moved the Mat- ter of the World, nor directed its Mo- rions, he was neither concerned in the Inanimate Sermon vi. I49 Inaminate nor Animate Part of it, and muft be therefore fliut out of all. For as to the Motion of Matter, from Whence all its Variety arifes, that was fuppofed by them to ' have been Eternal ; and as for Life, that was nothing more than the particular Organifation or Structure of the Parts, fuch as is feen iil Animals ; which Organifation too was entirely owing to Chance or Fortune, without the leaft Interpofition of their Gods. And as to the Nature of their Gods, we find by Democritus (from whom Epicurus took a great Part of his Ph^- lofophy) that they were beholden to Matter for their Exigence ; for he fup- pofes them to be nothing but the I- mages of Objefts, which according to his Way of Thinking, were continually flying off from all Corporeal Objefts ; as appears by lully ^. Had this been the real Truth of the Cafe, a Worfhip, L 3 fuch .* Democritus qui turn imagines earumque Circu- ,, ki^s in Deorum Numero refert. Cicer. de Nacura peorum. i,ib, i. p, :S. Sermon VI. fuch as that at Athens by Images, had been worthy enough of fuch imaginary Beings, or rather more than they de- ferved : But St. Paul tells them, That this was to miH-ake entirely the Na- ture of G o D ; for that He was the fole Caufe of all Things, and the fole Giver of all our Powers of Adion ; for that 'twas in Him We all of us both lived, and moved, and had our Beings. Having already confidered fome of the moft material Objeclions which the Infidel is wont to urge againft the Be- ing of a God, and fliewn that they cannot be a good Reafon for denying Him, becaufe the Appearance of Things will neceflarily require the Exiftence of fuch Powers and Properties as we afcribe to Him, and which the Atheiji pretends to find Fault with ; I am now to reprefent fome of the Arguments on which the Religious Man grounds his Belief of a God, drawn from the moft confiderable Phenomena in Nature, fuch as Motion, Thought, and the Oi'der of Things, ^\Mc\\VUio calls the Ti Matter or without It ; or that there is an A8:ive Principle in Matter, that it is Self-aclive, and Motion eilen- tial to it, or elfe that there is fonie Be- ing diftinci: from Matter, that is the Caufe of its Motion. I will (hew, that neither of the two firft ^Yays of ac- counting for Motion, can poiTibly be the Trath ; and therefore that the Caufe of Motion, muft be fome Being diftind from Matter, the fame Being, which our Apoftle made the Subjed of his Difcourfe to the Athemans^ the God that made Heaven and Earth; the L 4 fole 1^2 Sermon VI. idle Giver of Life and Animal Motion, for that 'tis in Him we live, and have a Power of moving ourfelves. And, i/, A N infinite Succeffion of Im- pulfes without an Active or Moving Principle, will never give Birth to Mo- tion, becaufe this would be to bring an Effect upon the Stage without the Help of a Caufe. And yet abfurd as this is, Sjfinofa was able to give no better an Account of Motion, or at leaft thought this to be better than to fuppofe with fome, That Motion was a necefTary At- tribute of Matter. And tho' all the "World agrees. That in a finite Time 'tis abfurd to fuppofe an Eifed without a Caufe, which mufl: be the Cafe, if Motion was not an eflential Attribute of Matter ; yet Spinofa, would never un- dertake to fliew how an infinite Time would make any Senfe of it ; and there- fore always avoided giving a dire(Et Anfwer, when he was prefb'd by his Friends to explain how Matter could ever come into Motion, if Motion was neither elfential to Matter, nor proceed- ed from any external Caufe. This laft he Sermon VL 153 he could never own without giving up the Caufe o^ Atheifm^2ind therefore would never fpeak plainly to this Point, as appears by the Sixty-third and follow- ing Epiftles m his Poftliumous Works. This Behaviour of Sfwofa\ makes it reafonable to believe, that he himfelf would have given up his Account of Motion, if he could have faved his Scheme and his Reputation. And as Toland too has thought fit to rejed it as indefenfible, I fhall take no farther Notice of it, but proceed to the other Atheipck Account of Motion, which ToUnd thinks will be fuiiicient, with- out troubling the Supreme Being, viz. That Motion is efTential to all Matter, and Aftion as much an Attri- bute of Matter, as Extenlion or Soli- dity ; and confequently, every Atom of Matter is necclTarily Self-moving, or adlive from the NecefTity of its own Nature. The World has had fo flrong an Opinion of the natural Ina^livity of Matter, that Sphofa had not Courage Enough to oppofe it; but ToUf/d fi tid- ing 1^4- Sermon VI- ing Atheifm was not tenable, if Matter was really Inadive, was refolved to try whether he could not defend its Acti- vity, as the only Refuge left for the finking Caufe of Atbajm, The Argu- ments he makes ufe of to prove the Activity of Matter, are thefe : ly?, '^ B EC Aus E, he fays, Motion, " as well as Extenfion and Solidity, is " included in our Idea of Matter ; that " whenever we feparate Motion from ^' Matter in our Idea of it, 'tis only a " partial Confideration of it, or an ab- " fi:ra£led Notion of the Mind ; and " therefore no more a Proof that Mat- " ter can exift without Motion, than " that Mathematical Lines, Surfaces " and Points, have any Exiftence in " Nature, becaufe they are in the *' Heads of Mathematicidns, 2dly^ Another Reafon he urges for the Activity of Matter, is, " Be- *' caufe in Fad all Matter is in Mo- *' tion. A THIRD Reafon is this : " That *^ tho' there fliould be fome Objedi- " ons againft it, that much greater ** ones Sermon vi. 155 *^ Ones would lie againft an External " Mover of Matter. " In anfwer to thefe Arguments of his I will fhew, ift-, That our Idea of Matter, when we leave Motion out of it, is no ab- ftraOied Notion of the Mind, but a compleat and adequate Idea of it. 2dty^ That tho' all Parts of Mat- ter were in Motion, it would not fol- low that Motion was an elfential At- tribute of Matter. 5%, That the Adivity of Mat- ter is inconfiflent with fome Appear- ances in Nature. ^thly^ That the Obje8:ions againfl God's being the Author of Motion, are not fuch as fhould difcourage any- rational or unbyafs'd Perfon from ac* knowledging, That 'tis in G o d we live, and have our Animal Being. i/, I am to fhew. That our Idea of Matter without Motion, is not a partial Confideration of Matter, but a compleat Idea of it. The Reafon which has always deter- mined the >Yorld to look out for a Caufe of Sermon VI. of Motion extrinfical to Matter,was this : Tho' they could eafily conceive it ca- pable of being moved and divided ; yet the conceiving it to be undivided^ undiverfified, and unmoved , was a more fimple Notion of Matter, than the conceiving it divided and moved. This being firfl in Order of Nature, and an adequate Conception of it too, they thought it neceffary to enquire and give themfelves an Account how it came out of this State, and by what Caufes Motion, from whence this Di- verfity in Matter arofe, could come into the World ? Defcartes , altho' he allowed the Infinity of Matter as well as ToUffd, was yet fenfible that even this would not alter the Nature of Matter, nor the Idea that every Body had of its Inactivity, and there- fore could fee no other Way of alter- ing its primitive Idea, and reconciling it with the Motion of Matter, but by introducing another Infinite Being, 'viz. a God that had fufficient Power to roufe Matter out of that fleepy, in- a^ive State in whicli its Original Idea had Sermon vi. 157 had reprefented it. And ToUnd^ would have found himfelf under the iame Neceflity of admitting a God for the Mover of Matter, if he had not endeavoured to impofe upon his Reader by confounding Divifibihty and Mobility, with actual Divifion and an a£live or moving Power, as we fhall fee prefently. For he acknowledges, that the true Conception of Matter is this : That it is every-where the fame, and only diverfified by Motion; fo as by his own ConfeiTion, the conceiving Matter in Motion, is a departing from that Unity of Subftance, that Samenefs of Nature in. which our Ideas repre* fent it to us. For all Diverfifications of Matter muft of Necellity be fo many Removes from the natural Unity and Identity of Matter, according to his Conception of it. Aristotle, who was confeifedly the beft Reafoner among the Ancients, and not thought to be at all preju- diced in Favour of Religion, is yet ve- ry clear in this Point : in his firfl: Book of the Met/ifhyfukSj cap, 3. he condemned thofc 158 Sermon vi. thofe who ftop'd fhort at the material Caufe of Generations and Corruptions, without looking after the Efficient Caufe. " For, fays he, altho' all Cor- " ruptions and Generations, are vari- " cully produced from Beings more " or lefs compounded, yet 'tis necef- *^ fary to enquire. How this happens, ^' and what is the Caufe? For the " Subject of all thefe Changes cannot *^ poffibly change itfelf, "jU. The Wood " and the Brafs cannot be the Caufes ^ that one of them is turned into a " Bed, the other into a Statue ; " but " Something elfe muft be the Caufe " of thefe Changes. But to enquire " after this, is to enquire after a Prin- " ciple of Motion, or fome Being that " has a Power of beginning Motion, " and communicating it to Matter *. " For he could fee nothing in the Idea of Matter, that would qualify it for a6:ing upon itfelf Mr. Hajle 'm voce hmci^^us^ confefTes, " That our Idea of " Matter !. Vid. Ariflot. Metaphyfic. Lib. i. can. 3. Sermon vl *' Matter is compleat when it repre- " fents nothing to us but Extenfion " and Solidity, and that Motion is not ^* included in it, but is a perfect exo- ^' tick, a foreign Idea, that has no '^ more relation to Matter , than ^' Thought or . Underftanding. " The Evidence againft the Adivity of Mat- ter from its Idea, is fo clear and ftrong, that one would hardly have ex- pected that this Idea fliould have been prefsM into a contrary Service , and made to ipeak m behalf of the Adi- vity of Matter. And yet Mr. ToUnd has attempted to prove Matter an adive Being from its Idea. As 17?, " From the Divifibility of "Matter, which always makes a Part '' of our Idea of Matter. And, 2dlyy " Because our Idea of Mat- " ter always contains fome Quahty or " other, which necelTarily fuppofes Mo- " tion. " ifty Fp.om the Divifibility of Matter, his Argument from hence is founded upon this ; becaufe, as he fuppofes, we caiinoi; conceive Divifibility without Motion; i6o Sermon VI. Motion j therefore we cannot conceive Matter which is always conceived as divifible, without conceiving Motion as infeparable from Matter. But this is plainly to make Mobility or the Capa- city of receiving Motion, and Motion itfelf, or the Vis moirix, to be one and the fame Ideas. For altho', mdted^ we cannot conceive Matter to be adually divided, without adding Motion to our Idea of Matter ; yet nothing more than a Capacity of receiving Motion is ne- celTary to the making up our Idea of Divifibility : But this laft has a plain and evident DiiHnftion in our Concep- tions of Things from the former. For we can conceive a Thing to be divifi- ble, tho' it never fhould be adually divided ; and when we conceive Mat- ter as divifible, we at the fame Time as well fuppofe it capable of continuing in an undivided State, as of changing it into a divided one. And therefore Mo- tion is not necefTarily included m our Idea of Divifibility. And confqquently to fay, That Divifibility makes a Pare of our Idea of Matter, would be no Proof Sermon VI. i6i Proof that Motion too muft belong to our Idea of it. But Toland goes further , and would prove, That Motion muft ne- ceiTarily be included in the Divifibihty of Matter ; becaufe whatever, is divi- fible, mufl: have within itfelf a Power of dividing itfelf; for thus he fpeaks in. his Letter concerning Motion * ; *' li^ " fays he, there was no Internal Ener- ** gy. Matter would be incapable of " Alteration or Divilion. " But this can never be proved by him, unlefs he takes it for granted, that there is no- thing in Nature befides Matter ; which would be to beg the Queftion in Dil^ pute between us and tho Athttft: For 'tis plain if any Thing befides Matter had an Exiftence, he might have con- ceived Matter to be divifible without thinking of the internal Energy of Mat- ter, becaufe Matter would be as truly divifible, altho' we fuppos'd it divided by fomething ' elfe, as if we fuppos'd it divided by itfelf, and the Idea of M Divifibility • Page 194. Sermon VI. Divifibility would be exadly the fame in either Cafe. As to what he fays,> ^* That Motion is contained in our Idea ** of Matter : Becaufe .1 s^/j/, " \V E can never form an Ideaj ". of Matter devoid of all Qualities ;^ " and all Qualities are an EHed of ^^ Motion ; confequently Motion is not " to be feparated from our Idea of *' Matter : " If by Idea, he means an Image or what may be an Objed of our Senfes, 'tis agreed, that in this Senfe we can form no Idea of Matter divefted of all Qualities ; but this is to fay nothing more than this, That we can't form an Image of a Thing which has no Image, or is no ObjeQ: of our Senfes; but ftill the Idea of folid Ex- tendon remains a diftinO: Idea from that of Motion, and therefore from all the Qualities that are a Confequence of Motion ; which ihews tliat there is nothing in tlie Nature of the Thing that fliould have hinder'd Matter from exifting without Motion. And Toland himfeif acknowledges, " That ^' Motion is not included in the Idea " of Sermon VI. 1^6^ " of Extenfion, nor any ways dedu- " cible from it ^. " And therefore if we can have any Idea of Solidity, a foh'd extended Subftance may be con- ceived to exift without Motion, or without any Quahties that fhall affedl our Senfes. Whereas there is no con- ceiving Matter to exift without Soh'* dity and Extenfion, which fliews them to he efTential to Matter, and at the., fame time fl:iews Motion to be not ef- fentiaL And therefore he has plainly beg'd the Qiieftion in Difpute, in cid- dmg to the Idea of Matter a new At- tribute, without any Proof tliat 'tis one. He was fenfible that the univcr- fal Belief of a Cljaos, was an ugly Ar- gument againft him , and therefore takes fome Pains ia ridiculing the feve- ral Methods the Ancients took of bring- ing Matter out of that Confufion,. m which all Things were fuppofed to b* while the Chaos lafted. But how ridi- »•■ M 2 culous ■:e /;.":• Letf;r emarnlnz Mstimi, 1 64 Sermon culous foever their Schemes might be^ yet this is evident, that they could and did conceive Matter to have an Ex- igence altho^ unmoved, and of courfe without any of thofe Qualities that re- fult from the Movement of Matter. Ovid ia defcribing the Chaotick State, tells us, " That there was no Kind '^ of Diverfity, but the fame Face of ^^ Things thro' the infinite Extenfion.^ " That the whole was rudis mdigeftac[ue moleSy nee quiccj^uam ntft fondus iners. By which the Poet intended to exprefs the lazy and ftupid State ia which Matter lay during the Chaos ^ and till the Chaotick Matter began to be ftirr'd. Mr. Ba.yle was as much out of Humour with the Account that Ovid had given of the ancient Opinion concerning a Chaos^ as ToU'/fd^ and therefore un- '^feafonably falls out with the Defcrip- ^on he has given us of it. That he may * Ante mare Sc terras, 8c quod tcgit omnia Coc- [lum, Unus erat toto Naturx yultus in orbe, Qucm dixere Chaos. OviH.Metamor. L. J. ?i Sermon VI. i6^ may make his Account inconfiftent with itfelf, Ovid is brought in reprefenting all the Variety in Nature as if it had an aftual Exiftence, before there was any fuch Thing as Motion; when he fays, fpeaking of . the Chaotick State, Frigida fugnxbmt calidis, ■ humentia jtccis, moUia cum duris^ l^c, and yet he had jufl before told us, that the Whole was an homogeneous Subftance , Vmis trat Natura vtdtm ; whereas what Ovid fays is very confident. He fuppofes the QhAos ta be an homogeneous Subltance, which, upon its being moved, was di-» verfified into Bodies of very diJerent Natures, and not that any fuch Di- verfity had any other than a poffible Exiftence, till it was moved. And if Mr. BiiyU had not been prejudiced a- gainft a Qhnos^ it ought to Jiave pafs'cl with him for a fine Piece of Imagery, when the Poet reprefents the Change that was made hy Motion, that Earth, Air, Fire and Water, which had been hitherto blended together, were then feparated from each other. For the beft Philoi©phers are agreed, That all M I Matter 1 66 Sermon Vl Matter is really the fame, and that all^j the Diverfity that appears in it, is ow- ing to Motion. And thtreibre a Pcet might well reprefent the fimple and uniform Face of Matter, as containing within itfelf all thefe Diverfities, even before it was moved, becr^ufe it was capable of receiving them ; without, i fuppofing them to have had an adlual; Exigence till tlie Chaos was put into,i Motion : which is enough to clear tlie>t Poet from the Inconfiftency which Mr^| Bajle would charge upon liim^ and at ' the fame time to fatisfy us, that the Ancients had a Conception of Matter as an uniform Being before it was moved. And confeqaently, that To-- Ufid's Conceiving Faculty was very dc- fectiv'c, if he could not conceive Mat- ter without Motion. But, 2^/;, I AM to flicw the Weakncfs of another Argument he brings for the Adivity of Matter, viz,. " That ** in Fad all Matter is in Motion." And fuppofing it true, it would not follow that iVlotion was an eilenti- af Attribute of Matter, For ii Mo- tion Sermon VL' i6y tion is not, as we have alrea Him we live, movBy and have our Beings, SERM. Ki)^ ■ SERMON VII Acts XVII. 28. Fbr in Him we live^ and move^ and have our Be- ing. 177 AVING already ibewri , That if we will not admit a God for a mover of Mat- __ ter, there will be only thefe two poflible Ways of accounting for its being in the World, either ik fuppofing an Infinite Series of Impulfes or Communications of Motion from one Part of Matter to another, without a- ny Original Caufe of thofe Impulfes, N which. Sermon VII. which is fuppofing an EfFed without fup- pofing any Caufe of that Effe£l : Or, 2dly^ That Motion is an efTential Attribute of Matter, and therefore all Matter an adive Being. In anfwer to the fuppos'd A6livity of Matter, I proposed to fhew, i/, Th AT our Idea of Mattel', is a compleat and adequate Conception of it when we leave Motion out of it. 2dly^ That it would not follow, that Matter was an adive Being, were it, never fo true, that every Particle of Matter was in Motion. And j^/j, That the Aftivity of Matter js inconfiflent with fome Appearances ^.Nature: As, ijt^ With the great Diverfity that appears in the Face 6f Nature, that fome Parts of Matter are condensed into folid Bodies, and others in a high Degree of Rarcfadion ; whereas if Mat- y^ was felf-aclive, the Whole muft ne- ceifarily be reduced into the fmalleft Particles into which Matter is capable of being divided. A llcond Reafon I avc, why Motion could not be an ejOfential ^^ Sermon VII. 179 efTentkl Attribute of Matter was, be- caufe there could then be no Variati- on as to the Quantity of Motion in the Univerfe, and yet 'twas evident that the Qtiantity of it muft gradually di^ minifh, unlefs its LofTes were conftant- ly .repaired by fome adive Being* Thus far I proceeded in the laft Dif* courfe. A 3d Reafonby which I propofed to ihew the Ina6livity of Matter was from hence, That Bodies of equal Bulk or whofe Surfaces are equal, do yet weigh unequally; for if there is no account- ing for this Ph.-znomenorf^ without fuppo-^ fing the heavier Body to contain more Matter than the lighter one of the fame Bulk, then 'tis plain, that Mat- ter muft be an inaftive Being, fince the encreafing the Quantity of Matter ifl any Body, tho' there be no encreafe of its Surface, by which its Motion might be retarded, {hall encreafe the Difficulty of putting it into Motion; This very Argument will hang as a Milftohe upon the Neck of the Jtheifly as it makes it impoflible to reconcile this N a Fh^nomerion 180 ^^^^^^ Sermon VII. Fh^nomenon of Nature with the Me- chanical Laws of Motion, which is all that the hjfidel has to depend upon for the Support of his Hypothefts. For 'tis certain that all Mechanical Caufes do a6l in proportion to the Surfaces of the Particles that they ad upon ; where- as 'tis as certain, that Gravity, whate- ever be the Caufe of it, afts propor- tionally to the Quantity of folid Matter, without any regard to the Superficies of the Bodies ; fo as Bodies which are the fame in Bulk, fliall be very diffe- rent in their Weight. Lucretius faw plainly that there was no accounting for the different Gravity of Bodies of equal Bulk, without having recourfe to a y^acufdntj and fuppofing a greater Quan- tity of Matter in the heavier Body. He indeed, very weakly fuppofes Gravity to be an inherent Quality m Matter, •and that all Bodies had a natural Ten- dency downwards, tho' we are fure there could be no fuch thing as down- ward or upward in an infinite Space, But however, he faw evidently that the general Activity of Matter, which he believed Sermon VII. i8r believed as well as ToU^d, would not account for tJiis Ph^mmenorf^ without ad- mitting another Principle of Adion, 'viz.. Gravity; he believed his Atoms had been in. Motion from JEternity, but did not think that Motion fufficient to account for the different Gravitation of Bodies towards a Centre ^. " L E T us now fee how Toh^d would derive this peculiar AffeQiion of Matter, viz, of moving towards a Centre, from the general Adion of Matter ; or how he would account for the umqual Re* fiftance of Bodies of equal Bulk. It will quickly appear that he is fo far froni being able to derive Gravity from the N 2 general * Denique cur alias aliis pr^fliare videmus Pondere res rebus, nihilo majore figura. Nam fi tantundem eft in Laiiacglomere quantum Corporis in Plumbo eft, tantundem penderc fpar eft, Corporis Officium eft quoniam premere omnia [deorfum : Ergo quod magnum eft xque, leviufque videtur , Nimirum Plus efle fibi declarat Inanis : At contra gravius plus in fg Corporis efleu yidq Liucretium. Lib. I, 1 82 Sermon vil. general Adion of Matter, that this ve-; ry Gravity proves to a Demonfl ration tlie Inadivity of Matter. 'Tis plain, as I have ah'eady obferved, that all Mechanical Caufes ad by Contad, and upon the Surface of Bodies ; and 'tis as plain, that Gravity acts quite other- wife, and afteds the folid Contents of Bodies, by penetrating the very Sub- fiances of them, and therefore can ne- ver be produced by the general Adion of Matter, becaufe that is fuppos'd to ad fuperficially , as all Mechanical Caufes are wont to do. But fuppo- fing it polTible to derive Gravity from the general Adion of Matter, which ToUnd aims at, it would do him no Ser- vice, becaufe he cannot avoid making an increafe of Gravity, and confequent- ly of Refiftance to Motion, to depend upon an increafe of Matter : For he fuppofes the Centripetal Force to be, not indeed as Lucretius^ a Qtiality inhc- rent in Matter, but one of the Modes of ABion in general, or a particular Determination of the general Adivity of IVJatter, . Let it be foj lince 'tis evident Sermon VII. if ^ evident, that the Quantity of Motion in the Body muft be the Sum of the Motive Forces of all the Particles of Matter that are in that Body ; i[ this Centripetal Force be only a particular Determination of the general Adion of Matter , there would be no giving a Reafon why the Quantity of that Force, or of that particular Deter- mination too, fhould not be computed after the fame manner ; and be the Sum of all the felf- moving Atoms in any Body ; the Confequence of which would be, That whenever we obferved two Bodies of equal Bulk and Gravi- tating unequally, or tending towards a Centre with unequal Force , if we would account for fuch a Fh^mmemn confidently with Tolan^s Account of Gravity, we muft fay, that one of the Bodies had a greater Number of the Self- moving Atoms than the other, which necelTarily fuppofes in the lighter Body a Space void of Matter, which levels one of the ftrongeft Retrenchments of the Infidel^ vtz. The Infinity of Matter, ^uA at the fame time its Adivity : Be- N 4 c^jUfe 1^4 Sermon VII. caufe Experience tells us, That the more weighty any Body is, tho' no- tiling be added to its Bulk, the more it reiilb to Motion ; whereas if Matter was an adive Being, an increafe of its Quantity could never- increafe itsr'i Refifbance, unlefs its Surface, by which alone Bodies could be retarded, was increafed too. All that ToLt?id has to fay for , himfelf, is, *' That this Difte- " rence of Refiftance in Bodies of equal '^ Bulk, may poiGTibly arife from the dif- " ferent internal Contexture of thofe Bo- ^' dies " ; and all the Reafon for fuch a Sufpicion is drawn from the great Re- finance that fome Fluids are obferved tQ make above others, altho' of near the fame fpecifick Gravity, and confe- quently near the fame Quantity of Mat- ter ; which can be refolved into no- thing, but a Difference in the internal Contexture of fuch Fluids : But this Plea can have Force only in fuch Bo- dies as are not equally fluid. For what- ever be the Figure of the Internal Parts of Fluids, if they are equally devoid of Tenacity, their Force ^f Jlefiftance to Sermon Vll. 18$ any particular Determination as well as the abfolute Force of Motion, can be only the Sum of the Forces of the Self- moving Particles in thofe Bodies. And therefore if a Cubical Inch of Water, and the fame Qiiantity of Quick-filver, which are fluid Bodies, and free from Tenacity, did really contain the fame Number of Self-moving Particles, whatever were the Figure of thofe Particles, they would €c[ually refill: to any Change that fhould be made of the Determination of their Motion. But as Experience fhews this to be falfe; confequently, that fluid which makes the greateft Refifl:ance to Motion, mufl: have the greatefl: Quan- |:ity of Mattel- ; and then the different internal Contexture of Bodies will not account for their different Weights, nor clear Matter from the Imputation of being inactive. But, ^thly^ I AM now to fhew. That the Objeftions againft God's being the Author of Motion, are not fuch as fliould diicourage any rational and unbiafs'd Perfon from acknowledging, that 'tis in God we live and have our animal Being. i86 Sermon VII. Being. The Difficulties that are raifed againil: G o p's being the Author of Mo- tion, are thefe : I/?, " That we cannot conceive '" how an Immaterial Being, fuch " as G o D is fuppofed to be, could ad " upon Mattel", confequently, how He *'• lliould move it. 2^//, "That if it were poflible " for Him to be the Author of Moti- *' on, there would be, as ToUnd thinks, ^' this evil Confequence attending fuch " a Suppofition, that God muft be the *' fole Caufe of all the Evil and Wick- ^' ednefs that is committed by Men; " 'twill then be God that adually " moves the Tongue of a iying WiUtejs^ " the HAnd. And, T> agger of a Murder tr, " The firft Objedion is grounded up- on this, " That nothing but Matter " can move Matter. This is proved thus; " That the Mobility of Matter, " or its Capacity of receiving Motion, *^ is wholly founded upon its Impene- " trability or Refiftance ; by the Means " of which 'tis • qualified for hindring M any thing from coming into its Place '' tiU Sermon vil. 187 '• till 'tis removed out of it ; and con- ^' fequently, the Adive Principle muft " be a Material or Solid Being, be- " caufe Matter could make no Refift- " ance to the Action of a Being that *' was not Material, and therefore could *f'not be moved by it, as there can " be no Adion without a Readion " or Refiftance on the Part of Mat- " ter. " In anfwer to this it may be faid, . that tho' this Argument fliould hold good in all the Mechanical Com- munications of Motion from one Par- cel of Matter to another, yet it would prove nothing to the Purpofe in the Prefent Cafe, unlefs it was big with another Proof, z'iz. That all Caufes muft be Mechanical Ones. Suppoling the Exiftence of fuch a Thing as Mo^ tion, which our Atheifis will not ven- ture to deny, we have made it evident that an Infinite Series of Impulfes without any Original Caufe of thofe Impulfes is a plain ImpoiFibility and dired Nonfenfe , and alfo that the Self-Adivity of Matter is not only repugnant to the Conceptions we have 1 88 Sermon vii. have of it, but is inconfiftent with fome Appearances in Nature : And tlierefore tho' we could not give a fatisfaftory Anfwer to thofe Objedions againll: an Immaterial Agents being the Author of Motion, it would by- no Means follow that he was not. When Zs»o was raifing Difficulties a- gainft the PofTibility of Motion, a Man m Company with him rofe up and walk'd ; this has been always look'd upon as a fufficient Anfwer, tho'' no particular Solution was given of the Objedions. If there are but Three poffible Ways of accounting for Mo- tion, and Two of them be evidently talfe, we fhall have as good Evidence for the Third's being the true Account of Motion, as the Man that walk'd. had for the Exiftence of Motion. And therefore how difficult foever it may be to conceive the Aclion of an Im-^ material Being upon a Material One^ yet as there is no other poffible Way left, every unbyafs'd Pcrfon muft and ought to have Recourfe to a God^ for a Solution of this ?h4f?umem-f?. But Sermon VII. 1 89 But farther we have ihtn already that there is a Principle of Adion in Virtue of which Bodies aQ: upon one another in a different Manner from what they would do by the Mecha- nical Laws of Motion, 'viz,. Gravita- ^On., Whatever be the Caufe of this A&ion, the Fa£t is evident , that it penetrates the folid Subftances of Bo* dies, and therefore its Action cannot be founded upon the Impenetrability of Matter, or the Refiftance it makes to it ; it going beyond the Surface of Bodies. Whereas the Argument a- gainft an Immaterial Being's afting upon Matter is founded upon this Sup- pofition, that there can be no Afti- on upon Bodies but by Contad or Striking upon the Surfaces , and the confequent Refiftance that Body makes to fuch a Shock or Impulfe ; which being evidently falfe, the Argument drawn from it »can be of no Mo- ment. But this is not all; when we come to confider the Matter clofely, I am perfuaded we fliall find as much Dif- ficulty ipO S E R xM O NT VII. ficulty in conceiving how Matter aQ:s upon Matter , as in conceiving how an Immaterial Subftance fhould a£l upon a Material One : For I will ven- ture to referr it to any unprejudic'd Perfon, whether he cannot as eafily conceive that an Immaterial Being may a£l upon Matter without Cor- poreal Contad 5 as that an Impulfe upon a Part of the Body fhould move the whole Body ; for nothing can ac- count for this, but the Adhefion of the Parts of Body to each other , which is as much beyond our Con- ception of the divifible Nature of Matter, as the Adion of Immaterial upon Material; and the Difficulty of conceiving it would encreafe upon our Hands, if we fhould fuppofe with To- hnd that every Particle of Matter was Self-adive ; becaufe then, as we before obferved, all Matter muft neceffarily be in the higheft Stat© of Fluidity, and confequently the Particles of Matter could have little or no Union with one another. 2dly, The Sermon vii. 191 2^/7, The other Obje8:ion agaiiift God's being the Author of Motion, is this; " That then He muft be the " fole Caufe of all the immoral Actions " that Men are fuppos'd to be guilty " of; As when a Man bears falfe Wit- ^* nefs, it is not the Man that bears falfe *' Witnefs, but God that gives Moti- '* on to his Tongue ; when lie commits " Murder, it is God that does it, be- " caufe 'tis God that moves his Hand " and the Dagger by which he com- " mits this Ad. " Whatever Strength there is in this Obje£i:ion, it muft entire- ly rely upon the Truth of this Suppo- fition, That if God were the Origi- nal Author of Motion, nothing elfe, no other Being whatfoever could have this Power of moving Matter : And the Rea- fon of this muft be, either becaufe this is a Power which is ia the Nature of the Thing incommunicable, as much -fo as necefTary Exiftence and Independence, or at leaft, that 'tis fuch a Power as Man is incapable of receiving : If nei- ther of thefe be true, this Objedion. muft amount to nothing. As ip2 Sermon VII. A s to the firft Reafon ; If we con- tended for a Power of ading as we pleasM , where and as long as we pleas'd, and this independently of God, we might be thought to plead for a Power which could not be difpofed of, becaufe there cannot be two or more Independent Beings , no more than there can be two or more Gods : But if when we contend for a Power of Self-motion in Man, we only mean a finite or limited Power, confined to . a fmall Portion of Matter, and wholly depending upon the firft Mover for its Continuance, no Reafon can be given why fuch a Power as this may not be CO mmunicated. And therefore Mr. Bajle need not have put on fuch an Air of Concern, as he affeds to do * at the Hypothefis of free Agents ; as it the admitting fuch particular Self-movers muft neceffarily exclude an Univerfal Mover. He brings aa Inltance from the Chinefe , among which * In voce Spinofa. S E R M O M VII. which People the Behef it feems of many Self-movers had this EfFeO: ; the firft Univerfal Mover being wholly left out of their Syftem of Religion. But then it muft be cbferved, That the Belief of Free Beings had not this Effea, till they had fo far funk the Notion of a G o D^ as to make Him only an Jm- ma Mundi^ that was acted upon by Mat- ter, as our Souls are a£led upon by our Bodies ; and had raifed the particular Souls, that animated the feveral Parts of the World, to fuch an Height, as to be almoft entirely independent upon Him ; which is the Chinefe Philofophy^ &s Mr, Lormere allures us. But folong as 'tis acknowledged, that the Self-moving Power is derived from God, and de^. pends upon Him for its Continuance ; fo long as 'tis confelTed, that in Him we live, and move, fo long there can be no Fear of fliutting out a G o d, from our taking in free Agents. And I am per- fuaded Mr. BajU ^ would have fccn no Danger to Religion from free Agency 'f this had not threatned his darling 5_^ ^ Notion ! B.7/f's Diftionary, Voce Splnofa, 193 194- Sermon VIL Notion of a Principle of Evil ; for he could eafily fee that all his Arguments drawn from the Moral Evil that ap- pears in the World, muft lofe much of their Force, if once Free Agents were allowed of; becaufe then God might be the Original Caufe of Motion, and yet not the Caufe of Moral Evil, of the wicked Ads committed by Men, or of the blafphemous Words they fome- times utter. But, 2^/;, As to the other Reafon, That granting fome Degree of this Power might be communicated, that yet Man would be a SubjeQ: incapable of re- ceiving any fuch Power ; 'tis confeiTed, that God cannot give any Powers or . QuaUties to a Being that are inconfillent with that Nature which He has already given it, and that fuch a Being would be incapable of receiving them; that Axiom in Phdojophj being very true, Quicqmd recifitur^ Ad modum Reciphntis rectpuur ; therefore that God could not give to Matter a Power of moving it- ielf, becaufe Matter is naturally and cflbntially Inadtive; aad confequently the com- Serm on viK 195 communicating fuch ^d'^ Power to it, would be deftroying its Nature, and making it ceafe to be what it is. And if Man was altogether a Material Being, the Argument might be a juft one ; but as we have already fhewn, That the Author of Motion cannot be a Mate- rial Being, the Athetjl will never be able to prove, that there cannot exifl: other Beings befides him that are not Mate- rial, and which may therefore be ca* pable, tho' Matter be not, of receiving, from G o D a Power of moving them^ felves, or of beginning Motion. The Jfheift wiW perhaps fay, That if the Immateriality of an Infinite Be- ing be conceiveable, yet not the Im- materiality of a Finite or Limited one ; becaufe 'tis not eafy to fee what an Im- material Being fhould be limited or confined by, nor what fhould give it any particular Locality, or ieparate orie Immaterial Being from another; that if we fuppofe them to be diftinguifhed from one another by the different Sy- ftems of Matter that they animate ; we ihall be forced to fuppofe fomething ve- O 2 ry 1^6 Sermon VII- ry unintelligible, becaufe Matter is per- fectly heterogeneous to Immaterial Be- ing : And whatever is fuch, can have no kind of Relation to it, and there- fore not that of terminating its EfTence, and by necefTary Confequence we mull be miftaken in accounting for human Adlions by an Immaterial Principle, and then 'tis already granted, that God mufl: be the fole Caufe of all a Man's Actions, and therefore of his wicked ones too. To avoid the Force of this Argu* ment, fome have fallen into a Notion of an Anima, MunU that informed the Bo- dies of all Animals, and confequently, that all that which wc call particular Souls, was really one and the fame Soul; that the Difference in different Individuals, was not a real, but only a feeming Difference ; that it was every where the fame numerical Soul that animated the feveral particular Syftcms of Matter, all the different Bodies of Individuals. But this was getting clear of one Difficulty at the expence of a much greater one. For if we have any clear SeRxMon VII? 197 c:Iear Ideas, they are certainly thofe which concern Identity. And yet no- thing can be more evident than this, That whatever it is that thinl^s in fe- veral Individuals, it cannot be one and the fame in all of them, becaufe th^t which thinks in each Individual, thinks only for itfelf, and knows nothing of what palfes in another, and therefore cannot be the fame in both of them, no more than in two Atoms of Mat- ter, one of them can be the fame witfj the other. For Confcioufnefs will be as neceHary to the Identity of a Thinkr ing Being, as the fame Particles of Mat- ter can be to conftitute the fame Ma- rerial Being. B u T in anfwer to the Difficulties of fuppofing Souls to be immaterial, and yet feparate or diftinO: Portions of Im- materiality, it would be. fuificient to fay, that Immaterial Beings may be feparated from each other, tho' we could not conceive what it was that fnouki bound or feparate them ; becaufe the narrow Faculties of our Minds cannot be fuppofed to take m all poilibk :. O I ModC| ipS We r m o n VII. Modes of Being. This I fay would be a fufficient Anfwer to this Difficulty; for a Difficulty that owes all its Strength to our Weaknefs, can never be a good Argument. If it could be one, then the Difficulty of conceiving the Action of Immaterial upon Material, would fufficiently prove that there neither was nor could be any fuch Thing, and yet we have already (hewn it muft be true with regard to One Immaterial Being, 'viz'. G o d 5 and no one will pretend to fay, that there is any more Difficulty in conceiving the Limitation of Immaterial Beings, than there is in conceiving this very A6lion of Imma- teriil upon Material. The hmited Nature therefore of an human Soul ought no more to be urged as a Proof of its being Material, than its a£ling upon an hu« man Body be brougiit as an Argument to prove it a Body too. Since then the Sc>ul may be immaterial, confequcntly God may have communicated to it a Pov/cr of Seh- morion : and then Man and n'jt God, will be the immediate Caufe of all the evil Adions that are com-- Sermon VII. ipp committed by him, and none of thofe ill Confequences will attend the Sup- pofition of God's being the Original Author of Motion, which W^^^feemed to be afraid of. And then too he might have exchanged his fingular Opinioa concerning the effential AOiivitY of Mat- ter, for the Religious one wliich n^akcs God the Caufe of its Motion. I H A V E infifted the longer upon this Point of Motion, becaufe if I have well proved, That there is no introducing Motion into the World without admit- ting a Being diftinO; from Matter, the Atheift muft then be contented to give over all Speculations concerning the Nature of the Univerfe, and of the Caufes of that Variety we fee in it j for no body will mind fuch an Empirick in PhHofophy^ as pretends to furnifh us with a World, when he knows not where to look for a Being that would be able to move the Materials out of which he is to raife the Fabrick of it. For this is plainly to introduce an Efied without being able to afTign a Caufe of thatEffed.. O 4 F K O M 200 S E R MO N Vll- From the Poflibility of God's com- municating to fome Beings, as Men, a Power of beginning Motion, I cannot but obferve the Hazard which the j Jtheijl runs, i^ he fhould be mxftaken^' in his Clock-work Scheme, and he and the reft of his Fellow-Creatures lliould prove to be fomething more than mere Mechanifm ; becaufe if he had a Power, of direding any of his Adions with Freedom, he mjght be accountable for his Behaviour in fuch Adiorfs, if there ; was any Being that could and would take account of them. Tliis Propofi- ^ion carries with it fo much Evidence,'> that I beheve the Atkeiji will not yen-." ture to difpute it. I HAVE already fhewn, That there muft he a Principle oi Motion diftind from Matter ; that fome Appearances m . Nature prove to a Dernonftration^; that this Principle of Motion does not* acl as an Anma, Muniii-, but with the utmoft Freedom ; and therefore may ' take Account of the Athetfih Eeliavi* pur, if by Freedom of ailing he is qua-^i lified to give fuch Account. It vyilf there- Sermon VII. 201 therefore very much concern him to be well affured, notwithftanding we have fhewn, That there are, and muft be Caufes that ad not by any Laws of Meclianifm, that yet Man does; and yet if there are other th^n Mechanical Caufes upon our Earth, the Jtheiji can- not deny that Man may put in as fair as any Thing whatever for being one of them ; and therefore he may do well to confider which way he can poflibly fatisfy himfelf that he is not one of them. Efpecially too when every Man thinks he feels within himfelf in many of Iiis Adions a Power of beginning Motion at Pleafure, and independently of any external Mover. But, 2dlyy Jf the DiiBculties a,ttending fhe Religious Scheme of Gqd's being the Author of Motion, be fuch as may f eafonably be accounted for ; the Seep- ick too may do well to conlider, whe* ther his mere doubting what is true or falfe on account of thofe Difficulties, will be a fuificient Juftification of hin^ for not embracing Rehgion. Whether he ought not rather to enter into a carq- 202 Sermon VII. careful Review of thofe ObjeQ:ions, for Fear his Inclination to doubt of every Thing might have tempted him to tak« for DiiBculties thofe which are not really fuch. The Lazy Part of Man- kind, who have fome Wit and lefs Learning, defpairing to gain any Credit hy forming Schemes that would give fome tolerable Account of Things, have in all Ages chofe the much eafier Task of puzzling, than of clearing up any Thing. They do not pretend to tell you, as the Atheifi does, how the Mat- ter of the Univerfe may be ftirred with- out the AfTiftance of a God ; but on- ly, " That there are fo many Difii- " culties in accounting for Motion ei- *^ ther with or without a God, that *' they cannot fee which Side of the *' Qaeftion preponderates; and there- " fore hope they may be juftified in ^' Doubting where the Truth lies." Tho' I fhould think that rejeding Re- ligion when a Man pretends not to fee any thing elfe to be true, fhould be more Criminal, than rejeQ:ing Religioa becaufe a Maa fees, or thinks he fees fome Sermon VII. fome other Thing to be the Truth, and confequently, the Sceptick will not run lefs Hazard than the Atheifi^ if his doubting concerning Religion, as well as the other's pofitive Denial of it, ihould at laft prove to be ill-grounded. Perhaps the Security which both of them might promife themfelves, fuppofing them to be miftaken m denying or doubting the Exiftence of a Firft Mover diftind from Matter, would be this : That altho' there fhould exift fuch an Original Caufe of Motion, yet it might not be an In- telligent Being, and therefore they fhould be fafe, as it could take no Cognizance of what they were doing here. But I believe it would be hard enough for any Man to conceive Freedom without Intel- ligence. 'Tis poflible indeed to conceive an Intelligent Being without Freedom of A(9:ion ; but there is no conceiving how a Being fhould ad freely without knowing what it does, and why it does any Thing; but the Intelligence of the Supreme Be in g will be made evident, when we come to fiaew, that Matter cannot be the Subjed of Intelligence. S E R M. 203 3 // .'li 20 5 SERMON VIII. Acts XVII. 28. For in Him we live^ and movCy and have our Be- ing. AVING already fhewrt, That there is no intro- ducing Motion into the World without the Help of a Being diftinQ: from Matter, it would be plain enough that without fuch a Being, no fuch Thing as Thought or Intelligence could ever have had an Exiftence in the World. For if Motion be necefTary for the making Matter an Intelligent Being, as 2o6 Sermon VIII. as it muft be i£ Spinofas or Hohbs\ No- tion of Perception, which places it m the Adion and Re-afbion of Bodies upon one another, were the Truth, then Intelligence could not be an elTential Attribute of Matter, unlefs Motion was fo too ; and therefore muft have fome external Caufe of its Being : This, I fay, would be fufficient to fhew, That Spinofa*s Notion concerning the Exiftence of Intelligence, is altogether unphilofo- phical ; becaufe in fuch Cafe, Cogita- tion would be made to arife from no- thing, unlefs he could believe this great Abfurdity, viz. That Thought andEx- tenfion were the fame Thing, or that Extenfion whether in Motion or at Reft was endued with aftual Perception : Altho' if we can judge at all of the Nature of Intelligence from our own Perceptions , we muft obferve the Action of external Obje^ls to be ne- pellary to our having any actual Per* cep:ion of what palfes without us. Tolmd was fo fenfible of the Force of this Reafoning, that m his Difcourfe coucetiUac^ Motion, he gives up Spwofii as Sermon vill. 207 as a Perfon, that upon this Account Is not %o be defended. " The Spn*oftp^ fays he, " have afforded Matter of Tri- " umph-to the Spirttudtjts^ (for fuch he calls the Believers of a Go d) " by ac* " knowledging the Inadivity of Mat*' " ter ; for m this they were fo unphilo- " fophical as to aflign an Effect with- ^* out aay Caufe of it ; as in the Cafe " of Cogitation, when they made it ^' to belong to all Matter, and yet al- " lowed Matter to be naturally with- *^ out Motion or inadive ^. " And yet as unphilofophical as it is to make Thought arife from ftill or in- adive Matter, it will prefently appear that thofe have not much the Advan- tage, who are forced to pump Senfe and Intelligence out of fenfekfs and unintelligent, tho'. adive Matter. Yet ToUnd mull: do this, or elfe with us confefs, That there is fome Eternal, Intelligent Being that is the Caufe of all the Intelligence which is feen in Mankind. For *-"■ . - * S«« hi§ Leuer concerning Motion. 2oB Sermon VIII. For there are but three poffible Ways of accounting for the Exigence of Thought or Intelligence : i/, E I T H E R by fuppofing it an eflential Attribute of Matter, as much fo as Extenfion or Solidity ; which is the Way S^inofA and Mr. Hobbs liave taken. Or, 2dlj^ In fuppofing that 'tis not ef- fential to Matter, but is an EffeQ: of tht Motion of Objects on fome parti- cular Arrangement of the Parts of Matter ; fuch as is feen in the Bodies of Animals. Or, idlj. That there is in all Intelli* gent Beings a Principle diftind from Matter, and of a different Nature, from whence Thought or Intelligence does arife; which is the Opinion of the Religious Man. Mr. Lock^ indeed, fup- pofes a fourth Way of accounting for Intelligence : " That tho' Matter was " a thoughtlefs and fenfelefs Being, and " no Difpofition of the Parts of it, how *^ curioufly foever they might be put " together, would ever naturally rife ** up into Thought and Underllanding, " and Sermon VIII. 209 " and tho' there was no Principle of *' Thought in. Man diftind from Mat- *' ter; that yet God by his infinite " Power might fuperadd a Thinking " Quality to Body or Matter. " But were this poflTible, it would do the Atheift no Service, becaufe it fuppofes the Being of a G o d as neceffary to the producing fuch an EffeQ: upon Matter as that of Intelligence ; or if it could at all favour him, it muft then fall in with the fecond Way of accounting for Thought, viz. That fuch a Qiiality as Thought might foffibly arife from Mat- ter difpofed in fuch a Manner as are the Bodies of Animals, there being no- thing in the Nature of Matter that fhould make it incapable of receiving Intelligence, and confequently, if the Bodies of Animals could be formed without tlic Help of a God, there would be no Want of Him in account- ing for that Thought and Intelligence which belongs to thofe Bodies. But this, fo far as the Jtheifi is concerned in it, is exactly the fame with the fecond Way of ^•accounting for Intelligence ; and there- P fore 2IO Sermon VIII. fore I fliall pafs it over without any farther Remark. And proceed to a Confideration of the two Atheiftick Accounts of Intelli- gence, and ill Oppofition to them ; 1 will fhew, That Intelligence cannot be an eifential Attribute of Matter, nor an E&B. of any peculiar Structure of the Parts of a fenfelefs Being, fuch as Matter is fuppofed to be by the fecond Scheme. i/, That Intelligence cannot be elTential to Matter. That which gave Spimfa the Har- dinefs of advancing the EiTentiality of Thought to Matter was, That he thought he could not be difproved ia his Alfertion, becaufe we did not fuf- ficiently know the Nature of Intelli- gence to determine concerning the Sub- ject of Thought ; or to fay what Sort of Being it mull be that is capable of having fuch a Quality ; and therefore Matter might be the Subje£l: of it, for any thing we could fay to the contra- ry. But the Aniwer to this is plain; Tho' I do not know all I could wifli concerning Thought and the Subjedl of it; SfeRMON VIII. 211 it; yet I may know that Thought is not Extenfion ; which is enough for t)ur prefent Parpofe : Becaufe I fhall Jliew, That it muft be Extenfion, if it be an efTential Attribute of Matter. I may be certain, I fay, that Thought cannot be Extenfion ; becaufe to affirrti this, would be juft as if \^e fliould af- firm, that any Confequence of Extenfi- on, fuch as a Triangular or Square Fi- gure, and the Perception that the Mind has of fuch a Figure, were the farrib Thing; but the Ideas of the Trine Di- menfion and Thought, are fo evident- ly different, that the Things reprefeiit- ed by thofe Ideas cannot poffibly be the fame, unlefs all our Perceptions are mere Deceptions; and then 'tis to no Piif- pofe to argue at all. But 'tis the 5f^^- tkky not the Atheijl that pretends to de- fend himfelf in this Way, whereas the latter always brings Reafons, fuch as they are, in. Support of a contrary Scheme to the Religious one. It mufl: then be granted me, that Thought and Extenfion cannot be the fame Thing, and therefore we are only to fhew, P 2 That 212 Sermon VIII. That Spimfa's Notion of Thought's be- ing eflential to Matter, does by necef^ iary Confequence make Thought and Extenfion the fame Thing. That there can be no real Diffe- rence between them, may be made e- vident by this one Confideration, That fuppofing them really different, one of them mufl arife from Nothing ; for both Thought and Extenfion cannot be neceiTarily exiftent, if there be a real Difference between them, any more' than there can be two Neceffarily- exiilent Beings, which Spimfa^ as welt as we, denies : And yet by this Scheme of Things, Thought cannot be a Mode of Extenfion, or derivable from it, but muft be equally Self-exiftent with Ex- tenfion. Spinofa indeed pretends to af- fert. That the fame Numerical Sub- ftance may have an infinite Number of efTential Attributes, and of thefe he names particularly Thought and Ex- tenfion, as different Attributes of the fame Subftance. But if the Difference he means, be a real, and not a no- tional, or at lead a modal Difference, the S E R M O ]Sr VIII. 2 I 3 the Subftances or Subje£ls of thofe dif- ferent Attributes muft be different too, otherwife he deftroys the Foundation of all our Reafoning, which is laid in this Axiom ^ That thofe Things which agree with a third, muft agree among themfelves : And therefore if Thought and Extenfion were fo united together as to conftitute the fame ElTence or Be- ing, and not different Beings, they muft be the fame in Reality, and not diffe- rent from one another, any more than the fame Subftance can differ from it- felf. For, if every Part of Matter be endued with Perception, and every Part of it extended, unlefs Extenfion ^nd Thought be of the fame Nature, or one of them a Mode of the other, it will be impoffible to conceive how they fhould conftitute the fame Sub- ftance or Being • there being no Room left for a real Difference, when the Whole and every Particle of Matter is fuppofed to be both extended and in- telligent. That which led Sfinofa into this Miftake was, his confounding "notional V \ Attributes 214 Sermon VIII. Attributes with real ones ; as appears from what he fays in one of his Epiftles in thefe Words : Quod autew addisy nos ex dejimtione cujufqae ret co^Jiderata unicam t ant urn proPrietcttem deducere valere^ locum habet in rebus fim^liciffimis vel entibus ra^ tionisy at non in redibus. Nam ex hoc folo quod Deum defnio effe ens ad cuius Ef- Jentiam prtinet Exifientia^ plures ejus pro- prietates concludo , nempe quod neceffario exijiit^ quod fit Unicus^ Inrniutahilis^ Infini" tuSy i^c, Et ad hunc modum plura alia^ ExempU ajferre pojfem qua imprdjentiarum omitto ^. But there is nothing plainer than that thofe Attributes of G o d he has inftanced in , and which he calls Properties, do no otherwife differ from each other, than as any other abftract- ed Notions of Mind do differ from one another. For the Onenefs of God, his Immutabihty and Infinity , are Pro- perties neceffarily flowing from a Ne- ceilarily-exiftent Nature , and cannot poiTibly be feparated from fuch a Na- ture * vide Spinofje Epiftol, 78. p. 598, 599. Sermon VIII. 215 ture without deftroying it. Which lliews them to be only partial Cohfi, derations, and not really difTerent At- tributes of the Divine Nature. Thus for Inftance, the Exigence of the Di- vine Nature may be confidered without ; Vegard to Time or Place ; but this is . plainly a partial Confideration, becaufe in- finite Time and infinite Place, are the liecellary Confequences of fuch an Exi- gence, and therefore cannot be really feparated from it. Thus then it appears by thefe Inftances which Spiaofa has brought for the Support of his Opi- nion, that he did not diftinguifli be- tween real and notional Attributes. And therefore that he has not proved it poflible for Thought and Extenfioa to be Attributes of the fame Subflance, fuppofing them really different. But as our prcfent Unbelievers feem more inchned to depend upon the fe^ cond Account of Intelligence, I fhall proceed to conuder how the Jtheifi defends it, and what Arguments may be brought for the Support of it. All the Arguments tliat can b.e brought to. P 4 defend 2i6 Sermon VIIL defend fucli a Suppofition as that whicli makes Thought to be Figure and Mo- tion^ or to arife from them, will be re- duced to thefe : Either, ifiy That we are ignorant of thcs Nature of Thought m rvhat it confifls p^ and therefore it may be for all we' know only Matter curioufly put to^9. gether, as in the Bodies of Animals, and we know not all the Effects that may arife from Matter in Alotion, and therefore Thought may be one of them ; that the Difference between Thought and Figure can be no good Argument againfb it, becaufe we find certain Qualities, fuch as Colours, Sounds and Taftes, to be produced by the different Motions and Figures of Bodies, and therefore why not the Thoughts of the Mind, which are no more unlike to Figure and Motion than thefe are. Or, \ Q.dlyy I T may be faid that there is as much Difficulty in conceiving that Corporeal Motions fhould excite different Ideas by a£ting upon an Im- material Subftance , 'viz. that certain Motions in ObjeQ:s Ihould be the Reafon of Sermon VIIL 217 of there being conftantly certain Senfa- tions in an Immaterial Being, as that Thought fhould arife from fome parti- cular Situation of the Parts of Matter ; and therefore where the Difficulties are equal, a Man may be at Liberty to take which Side of the Queftion he pleafes. I N anfwer to the firft Argument ^r. That we are ignorant of the Nature of Thought, and know not all the Ef- fe8:s that may arife from Matter in Motion ; We fay, That we may know enough of the Nature of Thought, and the Nature of Body (without knowing every Thing belonging to either) which may fatisfy us, That Thought cannot poflibly arife from Matter or Body, manage it as cunningly as you will. What Tu/lj has faid in his TufcuUr/ Quc- ftions in Anfwer to a like ObjeOrion, will be a juft Anfwer to this. An ft omnia, ad Intelltgendum non habeo quA hci^ here vellem^ ne its quidem qu£ habeo mihi uti licehh ? Becaufe we are ignorant of Ibme Things which would much enlighten the Subjed, it does not therefore fure follow 3i8 Sermon viii. follow that we may not make ufe of vliat we do underll:and concerning it. If we do not know what Thought or Perception is, nor know all the Effeds that may poflibly. arife from all the polTible Ways of putting Matter toge- ther; yet we may know fo much of the Nature of Thought and Figure, as to fee that Thought is not mere Fi- gure, nor a mere Paifion or Reception of the Motion of Bodies. And then who fhall hinder us from declaring what we do know of it, for this Rea- ibn only, Becaufe we do not know every Thing belonging to it. I lay^ We may know that Thought is not Figure, altho' we know not every Thing belonging to Thought and Fi- gure. I ft B E c A u s E in our Conceptions pf Things, according to which we can- not help Judging, we find a real Differ rence between Thought and Figure, or between local Motion and the Percep^ tion of that Motion ; and yet unlefs Thought be Figure and Motion, it will be impoflible for any Man alive to conceive Sermon VIII. 219 conceive that Thought fhould arife from either or both of them. If Extenfion or Matter was a Thinking Being, we might then indeed conceive that irom a more or lefs curious Arrangement of the Parts of Body, might arife more or lefs perfed Ways of Thinking *, ftronger or fainter Degrees of Percep- tion and Senfation. But thefe Men grant Matter as Matter, to be as ftu- pid and fenfelefs as we could wifh for. They acknowledge, that there is no more Excellency in the Atoms that compofe the Eyes, Ears and Nofe of a Man, than there is in any other Atoms that enter into the Compofi- tion of Bodies that are the farthefl re- moved from any Thing like Life or Perception, and yet would vainly pre- tend from a good Management of thofe Atoms to derive Thought and Senfation. But let them prepare Mat- ter as they will, fo long as they con- ftfs it to be without Thought, they muft have good Luck if they make any Body believe, that a fingle Thought . can ever be drawn out of her, Mr. 220 Sermon VIII. Bajile confelTes, " That all thofe who *' deny the Di{]:inQ:ion between Soul ^' and Body, talk childilhly, unlefs they ^* fuppofe the whole World to be ani- ^^ mated or endued with Underftand- " ing. " And therefore in his Opinion, there is no conceiving the Exiftence of Tliinking Beings, fuppofing the Soul to be material, unlefs we believe all Mat- ter to be furnifhed with Thinking. And both Spinofa and Hobhs^ who could nei- ther ot them endure the Belief of Im- material Beings, were plainly forced to take Shelter in fuch a monftrous Doftrine as the efTential Intelligence of Matter, be- caufe they faw there was no conceiving how the bare Movement of the Parts of Matter fhould ever produce Thought, if there was originally no fuch Thing as Thought in Matter. For he that fays he can fuppofe the meer Difpofi- tion of the Organs of an human Bo- dy fhall make a Subftance to become thoughtful that had never Thoughj; te.ore, fays what is impoflible for hira;. or any Man alive to conceive. For then he mull: make the Difpofition gf the Sermon viii. 22r the Organs of an human Body to be Thought, altho' every Body elfe fees it can amount to nothing more than local Motion differently modified ac- cording to the Structure of thofe Or- gans, as the Movements in a Clock or Watch are regulated by the Difpofi- tion of its Wheels. But no Body has ever ventured to affirm, That he could clearly conceive local Motion alone to be fufficient to make a Subftance de- void of all Thought and every Senti- ment, to pafs into adlual Thought, or that any Subftance could poiTibly pafs from a Privation of all Thought to adual Thought, merely by being moved. Becaufe this would be to fay, That a Change of the Situation of the Parts of Matter, was a Senfe of Plea- furc and Pain, an Idea of Moral Virtue, of Truth or Falfhood, an Affirming or Denying a Propofition, tho' at the fame time we are fure we know fully the Nature and EITence of Change of Situa- tion, without conceiving any thing of Senfe or Perception as belonging to it. And therefore if an evident Difference in ^22 Sermon VIii. in our Ideas will prove any Difference in the Things themfelves of which they are the Ideas, Thought cannot be Mo- tion or Figure, nor Motion or Figure be Thought. Aristotle, after he had as he thought fufficiently provided by the Help of his Four Elements for all the Variety that appears in the Corporeal World, when he came to Thought, he prefently faw that his Elements would never help him out, becaufe mix them together in. any Proportions he would, he iaw no Likelihood of getting a fingle Thought out of them. And therefore, as Tully tells us, he faw himfelf under a NecefTity of fupplying the Deted of his Four Elements by adding a fifth to them, out of which he might extrad all the Faculties of the Soul. Arijioteles cum qtiatfior ilia not a gemrit frincifiorui^t ejfet complexus e quibus ommx orireni'ur^ QuintAm quandam Naturam cenfet ejf&^ c qua fit mens. Cogitare cnim i3' povide^e & difcere, & docere, & invenirc alt quid , i^ tarn muUa alia memmjfey a-mare^ odif-^ fe ; cuverej timere • tf^gi^ Ixuri, H£c & fimili4 S E R M O N VIII. fmlia eorum in horum quatuor geHerum nullo inejfe putat, TufcuL Q^xft. And therefore the Arijiotelians as they be- lieved Beafts to be Thinking Animals, would not truft to the mere Organi- zation of their Bodies for an Account o? their Thinking • but contrived for them a fubft'antial Form entirely diftinO: from the Arrangement of the Parts of their Bodies, which fhould be the Caufe of their Thinking; for this fubftan- tial Form, according to them, was nei- ther Matter nor Body, nor compofed of Matter. The Carte fians who on the contrary fuppofed Beafts to be barely Material Beings, would not allow them to be Thinking Beings, or to have any real Senfe of Joy or Grief, Pleafure or Pain : So impoilible did it appear to both thofe Seds of Plnlofophy to refolve Thought into mere Organization, or to make it a Mode of Extenfion. We may by the Way obferve, that our modern Atheift does actually aiErm Cogitation, Underftanding and Volition, to be no- thing but local Motion or Mechanifm in the inward Parts of the Brain and Heart ; 223 224 SeRxMON VIII. Heart; whereas the Epicureans went no farther than afTerting them to be caufed by Motion; but Hill thought Motion and Cogitation to be different Things. The fingular Notion which Des Cartes advanced concerning Brutes, That all their Aftions, tho' fome of them looked like an Effed of Thinking, were yet nothing but the Movements of a Macliine ; and the Succefs this Opi- nion met with in the World, did pro- bably give our prefent Athetfi theHar- dinefs of affirming, That all Kind of Thought was nothing but Motion in a proper StruQ;ure of the Parts of Body. And it muft be confelTcd, That if his Notions concerning the Actions of Brutes were true, there would be a plaufible Reafon for refolving all the Faculties of an human Mind into mere Mecha- nifm ; for altho' he did not allow Brutes Xo be Thinking Beings, yet fo long as their Actions have an Appearance of good Senfe, if fuch Appearances may be refolved into the Powers of Mecha- nifm, there would be no great Diffi- culty Sermon VIII. 225 culty in. Accounting for the Opera- tions of Iiuman Thought by the Help of a. more curious and elaborate Orga- nization j fuch as that of an human Brain. For if fuch Appearances of Thought, as thofe in Brutes, might be nothing but Motion, why might not Refledion, and fuch other A(Els of the -Mind by which we are wont to di- ftinguifli ourfelves from Brutes, be per- formed by Motion too ? But I am per- fuaded the more we confider this Mat- ter, the more it will appear impof- fible that Thought fliould be Motion, or even that it fhould be drawn out of any Conlfruftion oF Matter by the. Help of any Degree of Motion whatfoever, unlefs a Way could be found out for furnifhing Matter with the Gift of Thinking. For fo long as Matter or Extenfion has not that Gift, the Jfheijl will be forced to father upon it a Brat that has not any the lead Refemblance to its Parent, to affign an Effed to a Caufe that has no Kind of Relation to ft, We fee an evident Dependence that the Divifibility of Matter has (^ upon 226 Sermon VIII. upon folid Extenfion, we fee in this Extenfion a Reafon a prw t of all that Variety of Figures that Matter is ca- pable of receiving, and of all the Me* chanical Quahties which depend upon its Figure. But the Atheift no more than we can fee any Kind of Con- nexion, or any Dependence of Thought upon Figure or upon Extenfion in any Shape whatever. And therefore here is a Vhanomenon in Nature for the Ex- illence of which, upon the Foot of A- thetfm^ no Reafon can Be given. I c A N fee no Way the Athei(l has left for retaining his Opinion of Thought depending upon the Organization of the Parts of Body, if he muft acknowledge, tliat there is no Kind of Refemblance between Thought and Figure; unlefs he fiiould fay. That in tliis he fuppofes nothing more inconceivable than what the Religious Man fuppofes, when he afcribes to G o d Effeds that have no Kind of Similitude to Him : And fuch confefTedly are all Material Eflfefts, that 'tis as hard to conceive that Matter fliould be derived from Thought, as that Sermon vill. 227 that Thought fliould be wrought out of Matter. But the Anfwer to this will be eafy; for the ReHgious Man does not fuppofe Material EffeQ:s to have flowed from God as from an emanative Caufe, but to have been brought by Him into Being from No- thing ', and therefore is not obliged to look out for any Refemblance between the Caufe and the Effefl: ; whereas the Jtheiji^ rejeding all creative Power, mufl look out for fuch a Caufe of the Exiftence of Beings as may have fome Kind of Refemblance with the Effects depending upon it. Otherwife he muft introduce Beings into the World with- out a fufficient Reafon for their Ex- igence. He will perhaps fay, That Colours, Sounds and Taftes, are produced by Matter and Motion, and yet that there is as little Refemblance between thefe Qualities and the Figure of Bodies, as there is between Thought and Figure. And this would be a juft Objection, if Matter and Motion did really produce Colours and Sounds ; but thefe are in. 0^2 the 228 Sermon VIII the Bodies themfelves nothing more tlian different Degrees of Motion a- rifing from the different Contexture of thofe Bodies. Whatever goes be- yond this, has no real Exiftence in the Bodies, but is only a Cloathing which the Mind puts upon thefe Motions, which Motions are nothing more than an occafional Caufe of the Mind's re- ceiving fuch or fuch Ideas. Having now fhewn from the Ideas " Xve have of Matter and Thought, that there is no Poflibility of drawing Thought out of Matter, I will now proceed to fhew. That the Unity and Simplicity of Thought, and the Continuance of one and the lame Thinking Being for many Years together, which we mufl all of us con- fels to be true, can never be reconciled either with the Compound Nature of Matter, or with the continual Changes to which all Material Compofitions are fubje£t : I fay therefore, 2dly^ That Unity of Thought, by which we find all our Senfations united m one Thinking Being, could never a- - rife Sermon VIII. 229 rife from any Compound Subftance, fuch as Matter, and every Conftruftion of Matter is known to be ; and therefore tlio' we did not know all that we could \vi[\i. for concerning the Nature and SubjeQ: of Cogitation ; yet fo long as we may know that a fingle Principle, fuch 4s that of Thought is, cannot be an Effed or Refult from the A61:ion of any Compound Being, we may venture with all our Ignorance of the Nature of the Soul to affirm , That human Thought was not caufed either by Ex- tenfion or by the. Figure of an hu- man Body. 'Tis evident that Man is one, not many Thinking Beings ; that amidft all his various Senfations and Perceptions, there is fome one fingle Principle that is the Subjed of all of them j 'tis plain too, that there is fomething in Man, which thinks and contrives for the Benefit of his whole Syftem ; from whence nothing can be more evident than that there muft be a Principle of Individuation, whatever it be, that joyns certain Parts of the hunian jpa- 30 Sermon Vlll. brick together, and which thinks and ads confonantly for the Ufe and Pur- pofe of thofe Parts : That there muft be Ibmething ia our Compofition like to what I have already defcribed, cannot be deny'd by any Body. The only Enquiry that wants to be made, is, Whether Matter in any Shape is ca- pable of ading as a Principle of Indivi- duation ? And we are fure that 'tis utter- ly incapable for any fuch Employment ; becaufe which ever Atheiftick Scheme we take, the Principle of Confcioufnefs would be a Compound Being. For, to begin with SpKoja\ Scheme, which makes every Particle of Matter to be Cogitative, 'tis plain there muft be as many Thinking Beings in Man as there are Particles in an human Body, unlefs the Spmcfifi would attempt to fhew us a Way by which an infinite Number of confcious Parts of Matter may be melt- ed do vn into one confcious Part. For notwithilanding the Union of Parts in a Com]')oand, the Parts ftill remain as diflferent irom each other as ever, and tlierefore there mufl be good Reafon for Sermon vill. 231 for believing that the Thoughts of thofe Parts of Matter could be no more united than the Parts themfelves. And as to the Government of the hu- man Fabrick, it would be neceffary for the Spmfijt to fhew how all the Atoms of an human Body were perfuaded tq chufe one Atom, and inveft it with a Power of Ading for the whole, and what it is that hinders them from re- calling their Grant, and a£ling fepa- rately ? Till thefe Queftions are an- fwered, S^tnofa will appear to have built a fingle Thinking Principle upon a very precarious Foundation. As he has never thought fit to give us any Satisfaction in thefe Inquiries, his Scheme mull: defervedly pafs for a groundlefs and filly Account of Things in this Particular. The other Scheme, which would derive Thought from fome particu- lar Organization of the Parts of Mat- ter, is liable to the fame Inconveni- ence. For every Organization of Mat- ter, being a Compofition of Matter,,, will for that Reafon be unable to, Q, 4 furaift 232 Sermon VIII. furnllli us with a finglc Confcious Being. 7"////; liippofes them to be mere Blockheads that h^ve advanced a Compounded Being into a Principle of human Thought. la animi Cogniticne dubitare non poljumusy nifi flane tn Phji' fuis flumbei jumus^ quin mhil fit ammis admixtum, nihil comretum^ nihil copula^ tum^ nihil duplex, Tufcul. Qu^xfl, And the Reafon is plain ; becaufe if the Principle of Thinking was a Being compounded of Parts, all thofe Parts, as I have already obferved, being the Subjed of Thinking, would conltitute as many Confcious Beings as there are Parts that conftitute the Thinking Prin- ciple. For the Union of Parts in a Compound, is not an Union clofe e- nough to produce Unity of Thought ; this will neceilarily require the ftrid- eft of all Unions, viz,, that by which Beings are united into a Samenefs or Iden ity. Any Unity Icfs than this, would never make a Man feel as he does , that all his Perceptions have a Relation to one and the lame Think- ing Being. That Sermon viil. 233 That fucli an Union as that of Identity, is necellary to account for Unity of Thought, is evident from this Confideration, That without fuch an Unity in the Principle of Thinking, we could never, for Inftance, fee the whole of any ObjeO: whatfoever ; becaufe if the Soul was a Being compounded of many Parts, every Part would only receive a Part of the Image of an Objed, and no Part would receive the Whole, and confequently a Man could have no Image of the Whole of an Objeft, un- lefs the Parts of the Soul could com- municate ro each other their Part of the Image. But there is no Ground for fuch a Suppofition ; becaufe 'tis cer- tain, that when any folid Body is put into Motion, every Part of the Body retains a certain Degree of Motion ia Proportion to its Bulk, without com- municating that Degree of Motion to any of the other Parts of the fame Body. The Athdff^ who owns the Re- lation between Thought and Motion, cannot except againft this Argument, nor fhew any Reafon why one Part of Matter 234 Sermon^ viii. Matter fhould communicate to an- other Part its Share of Thought, when there are no fuch Communications of Motion from the Parts of Body to each other. But fuppofing it polTible that the whole Image of an Objtd might be imprefs'd upon every one of thofe Parts that are the Subjed of Think- ing, there would be this Inconvenience attending fuch a Suppofition ; that we muft admit an Abfurdity, and fome- thing harder to conceive than the Do- Qrine of the Schoolmen, which the At hi ft is wont to laugh at, 'vtz. That the Soul or perceptive Faculty would be then tot a in to Oy o* tor a in [if/gu'/i par- tihus. For in this Cafe there would be a double Image of every Objeft , for every Atom that conftitutes the Sub- jecl of Thinking , would have the whole Image of the Object, and all the Atoms taken together, would have the fame whole Image too ; which is plainly fuperfluous or needlefs , as Well as 'tis inconceiveable. If the Atheifl looks upon this as Nonfenfe m a Schoolman, when 'tis applied to an immaterial Sermon VIII. 235 Immaterial Soul, he ought to give a Reafon why it fhould not pafs for fuch in him, when he applies it to a Material one. He ought to fhew, That a Reprefentation of Objeds twice over, is impertinent in the one Cafe, but not {0 in the other ; that the one is con- ceivable in a divifible Subject, but not fo in an indivifible one, which an im- material Soul is fuppofed to be. When he has done this, we will acknowledge that a Compound Being, fuch as Mat- ter is, may be, for all that we have faid to the contrary, the true Princi- ple of Thought. Before I leave the Atheift^ I can- not but obferve his unfair Dealing, when he pretends the Difficulty of conceiving fome Powers afcribed to God, as a Reafon for his rejecting Re- ligion, and yet at the fame time fub- mitting quietly to the Drudgery of believing fome of the moft incredible Things in the World. This Particular of Intelligence will furnifh me with a plain Inftance of it, if we do but take Notice of his Method of extrading it out 2^6 Sermon VIII. out of Matter. He defires only Mo- tion and a little Curiofity in the Com- pofition of Matter, and then he has gotten Intelligence, tho' he knows Motion, before it came into fuch a Compofition as that of an human Body, had no Senfe at all; He knows too, that every Configuration of Matter without Motion is as fenfelefs as any Thing that is mof? fo ; and this Man fo hard to beheve any thing of Reli- gion, can believe that a Compofition of Matter and Motion fhall be Thought and good Senfe, tho' feparately there is not a Grain of Senfe in either of them. He can believe one Sort of Fi- gure to be nothing more than a Ter- mination of Extenfion, but another Fi- gure befides this Ihall be an Aft of Senfation, by which it perceives its own Exigence, and that of the Figures that furround it ; that if Matter hap- pens to fall into the Shape of Nerves and Bones, then Thought fhall imme- diately Ikrt out of them ; but if you mix up Matter in any other Shape, 'twill be nothing but fenfelefs Matter, and SeR mo NT VIII. 237 and not a fingle Thought to be got out of her. He can believe one Sort of Motion to be nothing but bare Change of Situation, when another Sort of Motion fhall be, befides this, an Ad of Joy or Grief, of Hope or Truft in God, He would be thought to be more nice and fcrupulous in Examining into the Bottom of every Queftion than other People ; and 'tis for this Reafon he can- not go fuch Lengths in believing as the Religious Man. And yet this very Cau- tious Perfon can eafily fee that a Be- ing made up of infinite Parts, may be the Caufe of the moft fimplc Thing in Nature, viz. Perfonality ; That the Union of the Parts of Matter, is the fame Sort of Union as that by which all our Senfations are united into one Thinking Perfon. He can beheve as we have juft now feen, that a Material, Di- vifible Soul may be tot a in toto, & tot/t in ftnguUs pan^^us ; and yet can fee no- thing but unintelligible Jargon in it, if . a Schoolman oflers to apply it to a Soul that is not Material or Divifible . into Parts. But I am perfuaded thefe will 238 Sermon vill. will appear to be Articles of Belief of fo hard a Digeftion, that the Jtheiji muft not pretend to defend his Infi- delity by objeding Difficulties m Re- ligious Belief. Now to the KJng Eternal^ Immortal^ Inviftble^ the Onely Wife G O d, he all Honour dnd Glory for ever and ever. Amen. . SERM. 2 39 SERMON IX. Acts XVII. 28. For in Him we livCy and move J and have our Be- ing. N the precedent Difcourfc I have fhewed, That the Unity of Thought by which all our Senfations are uni- ted into one Thinking Be- ing, and by which we are conicious to ourfelves that we are not many, but one Thinking Being, could never be reconciled with the Compound and DiviTibie 24.0 Sermon ix. Divifible Nature of Matter ; and there- fore not with any Conftrudion of Mat- ter whatfoever. I COME now to ofler another Ar- gument, why Thought cannot be an Effect of any Compofition of Matter. Becaufe we fee the Confcioufnefs of being the fame Thinking Being, not only continued with all the particular Scnfations of the Body, but even car- ried thro' all the Changes of Figure or Organization, that muft happen to the Body, in the different Stages of a Man's Life. The Man fliall be confcious to himfelf that he is the fame Thinking Being, for Inftance, at this prefent, that he was Forty Years ago ; or as far as his Memory will carry him back- wards to any diftant Part of his Life already pafs'd. Thofe who place Think- ing in every Particle of Matter,cannot tell how 'tis poffible to continue the fame Thinking Being for even Twenty Years together, in which Time and much Ms^ any Amtowifi can tell us there will be a Sett of Atoms wholly new, and not one of the old ones left j and yet the Man Sermon IX. 24.1 Man is fully perfuaded that he is ftlll the JAme Thinking Being he was, and not mother; a6ts accordingly, blames or commends himielf for what he did fome Years ago, as much as he does for his prefent A£lions. The Athtijt of this Kind will be obliged to fliew how the iame Confcioufnefs can be preferved in a total Change of the Subjed of Thinking, when that is wholly fpent, and not one Particle of it left. Any one. but himfelf would from hence conclude, that the Subjed of Thought muft be fome Permanent Being , and therefore not Matter or Body, which are always changing and ihifting the Scene. I F it be faid, That Confcioufnefs of being the fame Perfon, depends upon our Memory, aud that our Memory may deceive us, that we may imagine that we have thought, and confider- ed thus or thus^ but we may be mi- llaken ; we might be confcious of that as a Truth , which was perhaps no more than a Dream ; and we may be confcious too of that as a pafs'd Dream, . R which 242 Sermon ix. which was perhaps never fo much as drearn'd of. Suppofing all this to be true, that we are not really the fame Thinking Being that we were fome Years ago, but only think that we are fuch; yet the Atheifi would be obliged to fhew fome probable Reafon of a Man's thinking himfelf to be the fame Perfon, when he is not fuch. And this I believe would prove as great a Dif- ficulty as the other; for when the Subjed of Thought is wholly chang- ed (as we fuppofe) and a new one fucceeds, there can be no more Rea- fon for a Man's being confcious of what was done by his former lelf, than there would be for his being con- fcious of what was done by any other Perfon in the World. His prefent Self would have no more Relation or Acquaintance with his former one, than it would have with the mod diftant Man upon Earth, of whofe Thoughts he neither knows nor pre- tends to know any Thing. And as to the fecond Account of folving human Thought by the peculiar Organization Sermon ix. 243 Organization of an human Body.^ this will as little account for the Samenefs of Perfon in the different Stages of Life as the former ; for thofe who make Thought to depend upon the particu- lar Arrangement of the Parts, muft al- low, that the Diiference in a Man's Opinions, in his IncHnations and Paf- fions, will depend upon the Difference of Organization ; and yet a Man when he lias changed his Opinions and Thoughts of Things , and has quite different Inclinations from what he had before, is yet fully perfuaded that he is if ill one and the fame Perfon with him who held thofe different Opi- nions, with him who had Inclinations different from his prefent ones. The Obje£ls that move the Paflions and In- clinations of Children, are ufually very different from the Obje6ls tha tdelight -the fame Child when grown up into a Man ; and yet the Child and the Man, for all this Difference, are uni- ted into the felf-fame Perfon ; if we fliould compare a Man of the greateft natural Abihties that ever was, fup- R 2 pofe 244- S E R M O N IX. pofe C^far with himfelf when Five Years old (for fo far backwards a Man's Memory may polTibly carry him into the Childifh Part of his Life, and we have already feen that the Confcioufnefs of being the fame Perfon, reaches as far as the Memory can acquaint us with what was done by ourfelves) I fay, if we fliould compare the Man Cafar with himfelf at Five Years of Age, there would, be as much Difference between the Spirit and Underftanding, the Paf- fions and Affedions of the Boy and the Man, as there would be between C^- far the Man and another Man: And yet the Boy and the Man, with all their different Sentiments are acknowledged to have been the fame Perfon. But this would be impolTible, if Organiza- tion was the Subject of Perfonality, be- caufe then every Change in the Orga* nization, muft of NecefTity produce a Change of Perfon ; for I will ddy any Man to conceive it poflible, that the Subject of Perfonality fliall be changed, and yet the Perfon continue the fame. There being no poffiblc Reafon to be given, S E R MO N IX. 245 given, why Two Men, confidered as Perfons, fhould be really diflcreiit from each other, but becaufe the Subje6^ of Perfonality is not the fame in both of them : Which fhews to a Demonflration that the Subjed of Thought in Men, muft be fomething that is Steddy and Permanent, not any Compofition of Matter which is perpetually changing. According to the Religious Man's Scheme of Things, this Diverfity of Opi- nions and Pradices in the different Parts of Life, is very conceivable by fuppofing fome Alteration made in thofe Organs of Senfe, by the Means of which the Soul has Notice conveyed to it of what pafTes without it. This, I fay, would be eafy enough to conceive, were there v no Difficulty in conceiving the Union of an Immaterial Being with one that is Material, no Difficulty in imagining what thofe Bands and Ligaments fliould be, that could faften together a Pair that are fo little hke one another, that there is not any one Qiiality or Fea- ture, any one Difpofition, internal or external, in which they referable one R ^ another; 2^6 Sermon ix. another ; and yet to find that whenever Body is affected by external Objeds, that Pfyche conceives aThought, as if Body was th^Naturd Parent of that Thought ; that from the Motion or Agency of Matter in. an human Body, Thought jfhould ^s certainly and fteddily arife, as if Thought was the genuine Off-fpring of Matter, and its Motion the real and entire Caufe of that EffeO: : Thefe 'tis acknowledged are great Difficulties ; and come now in Courfe to be confi- dered with the fecond Argument by which the Atheifl is wont to juftify himfelf, viz, ^^ That there is as much " Difficulty in conceiving that Corpo- " real Motions fhould conftantly ex- " cite different Ideas by aQing upon " an Immaterial Subftance, viz. that " certain Motions in Objeds fliould be " the Reafon of there being certain " Senfations in an Immaterial Being ; " as that Thought lliould arife from " fome particular Situation of the Parts " of Matter. " And yet we cannot allow this Difficulty to be a fuffici- ent Reafon for rcjeding an Immaterial Soul: Sermon ix. H7 Soul •, becaufe we find by Experience that there are many Difficulties in Nature, which the Aiheifl muft allow as well as we. For he muft grant Something to be Infinite, and then there muft be fome Effeds flowing from the Adion of an Infinite Power, that will not fall within the Cognizance or View of a limited Underftanding ; and therefore the faireft Way of Determin- ing, when there is a Neceffityof Deter- mining one Way or other, is to weigh the Difficulties on both Sides, and fee which preponderates, and determine ourfelves accordingly. And then 1 am fure the Jtheijt will gain nothing by this Obje8:ion; for if we have fhewn it to be impoflible that Thought fhould be Figure or Motion, or fhoukl arife from either feparately, or from both together, or that it fliould be an elTential Attribute of Matter, and that there is no other poflible Way of Ac- counting for Intelligence, unlefs they will admit an Immaterial Soul ; there can be no Reafon for fufpending a De- termination in. fuch a Cafe oa account R 4 9.( 248 Sermon ix. of any Difficulties in conceiving the Adion of Material upon Immate- rial. But the S^eptick will perhaps put the Obie8:ion in this manner ; " That the " Diificulty of conceiving the Opera- *^ tion of Material upon Immaterial, " muft be at leaft as great as that of " conceiving Thought to arife from " the A6lion of Matter or Body ; be- '' caufe fuppofing the lafl: to be incon- *' ceivable, 'tis no more fo than the " former, which no Body pretends to " underftand ; and if the Inconceivable- " nefs of it be no Reafon for rejeding " the Action of Material upon Imma- '^ terial, neither ought the Inconceiv- '' ablenefs of Thought's arifing from ^^ Matter, be a Reafon for our rejefliing " a Material Soul ; becaufe Matter be- *' ing Infinite, many Effecls may arife " from it that a Finite Being can- " not conceive; and then. Why not " Thought ? If we think ourfelves fure ^' that Thought is not Figure and " Motion ; we may be as fure that ^\ Matter can have nothing to do " with Sermon ix. 249 <^ with what is not Matter. Confequently ** the Difficulties being equal, the Scfp^ " tick will fay, there can be no fuffi- ^^ cient Reafon for determining this " Queftion either Way. " ■In Anfwer to this, 'Tis granted that we can no more conceive the Adion of Material upon Immaterial, than the producing Thought from Fi- gure and Motion, that is, we can con- ceive neither of them ; fo far then they fhall be equal. But this is not all, we aiGfert not only that we cannot con- ceive the Production of Thought from Figure and Motion, but alfo that we are fure 'tis impoflible it fliould be produced merely from Figure and Mo- tion ; and this we are perfuaded of, not becaufe fuch a Thing is out of the Limits of our Conceptions, which the Scevtick\ Objection drawn from the Infinity of Matter fuppofes ; but becaufe we fee in fuch an Affertion a manifeft Repugnance or ContradiOiion to our Conceptions, as I have already fliewn *. But See Sermon VIII- ^6 S E R M O N IX. But I will defy the Sce^ick to fhew~ fuch a Repugnance in the AQ:ion of Ma- terial upon Immaterial ; for lince we have proved ^, That the Principle of Motion cannot be a Material Being, thence it muft follow, that an Immaterial Being does, and mud ad upon a Material one. And if Immaterial may ad upon Material, I am fure it can never be proved impoflible, that Matter Ihould ad upon that which is not Matter, For it can't be denied, that we may as eafily conceive Matter to ad upon that which is not Matter, as that what is not Matter fliould ad upon Matter: We can as eafily conceive that Thought fhould be a Confequence of the Motion of Body upon an Immaterial Soul, as that Mo- tion in Body fhould be a Confequence of VolttKmy which is the jt^pfojtd Adi- pn of an Immaterial Being upon a Material one. This being plain, a fair Examiner would conclude , tho' he j^oes not underftand how 'tis, that the Adion of Matter or Body upon the Soul ' See Sermon VI. Sermon IX. 251 Soul depended upon the arbitrary Dif- pofition of that God, who tho' Im* material Himfelf, does move Matter*;' and was therefore able to unite Ma- terial and Immaterial in fuch a Man- ner, that the Motions of the former /liould affect the latter; and not, as the Atheift pretends, that fuch a Dif- ficulty as this hinders him from feeing that fome Simple Being, {exempt from thofe Changes which Matter, and eve- ry Organization of Matter is fubjed to) is the Caufe of Perfonality, or the Samenefs of a Thinking Being. We have then gained the Exigence of fome- thing in. Man that is not Material, viz. an Immaterial Soul. From whence we may obferve, That the Atheifi is deprived of the principal Advantage he propofed to him- fdf in quitting Religion. We are told by the Epieuream, That the cliief Aim they had in quitting Religion, was to free themfelves from any Solicitude and anxious Fears concerning a fijture State, as appears by Ftrgil and Lr^cre- tms» 2^2 Sermon IX- tins * When our modern Freethinker quotes with PlealiKe thefe or fuch- like PafTagcs, we may fairly believe him to be fwayed by the fame Mo- tive ; but 'tis evident he can never free himfelf upon any rational Grounds from fuch Fears. For if the Principle of Think- ing cannot be a Being of a Compound Nature, he ought to tell us, and fa- tisfy himfelf if he can, what can alter iuch a B^ing, and make it leave off Thinking as fopn as his Corporeal Stru- Q:ure becomes unfit for continuing any longer the Vital Funftions. We can cafily conceive that the Union of the Parts of a Compound Being, fuch as an human Body, may be broken ; the Parts dibbaiid and take diilercnt Routs, and aiterwards appear in another Form, by * Felix qui potuit rcrum cngnofcere caufas, Atque metus omnes & inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, ftrepitumque Achcrontis avari..' VirgH. (ji€on. Lib. 2. v. 49O;., Et metus illefbras praeceps Acherontis agendus Fuiidicus, humanam qui turbat Vitam. Liicret. Lib. ■\. Sermon ix. 253 hy joyning together in a different man- ner, and compofing fome new Syftem with different Qualities : Becaufe fuch Parts, notwithftanding their Union, are really different from each other , and therefore will be capable of exifting apart from each other ; whereas there is no conceiving any real Difference in a fimple Subftance : Therefore as fuch it muft be incapable of putting on another Form, or being divefted of any Qualities that 'tis naturally pof- fefs'd of, and then the Diffolution of the Parts of an human Body will ne- ver infer a Total Ceffation of Thought in fuch a Being as Man. If it be faid that fince a Defeat in certain Organs of the Body fhall caufe a Diforder and a Diffemper in our Thinking Faculty, why fhould not a Total Deftrudion of all the Organs bring on the Death of the Thinking Being, or a Total Ceffation of its Thinking ; or i[ an Original or Acci- dental Fault in any one of the Inftru- ments of Senfe, fuch as thofe of fee- ing and hearing, Ilaall make us incapa- ble ^zj. Sermon IX. ble of having any Thoughts concern- ing Colours and Sounds, or make us incapable of receiving any further No- tices concerning the vifible or audible Qualities of Bodies ; therefore why fliould not the entire Deftrudion of all the Organs of Senfe put a final End to all our Thoughts : It will be a iuffici- ent Anfwer to this Objection, if we fay that the Dependence which the Principle of Thought has upon the Body in its Operations of thinking while 'tis united to it, can never be fo good a Proof of its totally ceafing with the Body, as the Simplicity of the thinking Principle will be to prove that it has no feparable Parts, by whofe Separation from each other, the whole might be fuppofed (as in Compound Beings) to exchange its thinking Qua- lity for another that was not fucli. And therefore the DifTolution of a Compound Being, fuch as an Human • Body, can never give the Jtheifi any reafonable Grounds for believing the Extinction of a Simple Being, fuch as the Principle of Thought is already proved Sermon ix. 2$$ proved to be. And as he allows not any Annihilations of Beings, he will never be able to tell us by what Means the thinking Principle in Man Ibould lofe its Faculty of thinking. Thus then the Atheift feems to be en- tirely difappointed, when he hopes by throwing off Religion to get quit of the Fears of an After-ftate. 2.diy^ Granting the Spinofift for once that the Confcioufnefs of a Man's being the fame Perfon or think- ing Being in all the different Parts of his Life, may be reconciled with the Flux Nature of Body, with the conti- nual Changes of its Materials; giving him even this I fay to make the beft he can of it^ I am confident that up- on fecond Thoughts he would not thank me for this Conceflion : For he will then be as little able to fecure himfclf againft the Fears of Evil in an after-State as he would be by be- lieving a God; becaufe there will be no deftroying Thought even m this Cafe by deftroying the Body. For fuppofing Thought to be Extenfion, then 2^6 Sermon IX. then the Diffolution of the Body at Death could by no Means put an End to its thinking , any more than it could to its Extenfion : And notwith- ftanding the Separation of the Parts of an human Body when 'tis corrupted, yet all the Particles ftill continue to be extended Subftances, and therefore thinking Subftances, if Thought be Extenfion , and Extenfion Thought. And then fuch thinking Subftances, may be obnoxious to as great or greater Evils and Miferies in another State than they are in this. For when the Corporeal Particles that compofe our Atheifi are feparated at his Death, they muft ftill retain a Senfe of Plea- fure and Pain, or be capable of re- ceiving either, if every Atom of Mat- ter be thoughtful ; and he cannot be fo weak as to think that no other Atoms , but thofe that form the Thoughts of a Man, can be malici- ous, and do him a Mifchief. And then there may be many Thinking Subftan- ces in the Air and elfewhere, that may be as well qualified to do him a Mif- chief Sermon IX. 257 chief in the future State, as the Atoms that compofe the Thoughts of Men are in this prefent One. I F he fays that the Thinking Atoms, of which his dead Carcafs will confift, can have no more relation to him than the Atoms of any other dead Body, and therefore that he fhall not be afteded by any Sufferings of theirs ; I would then ask him the Reafons he has for believ- ing fo, fo long, I mean, as he believes that the fame Confcious Being fhall con- tinue in a Man for Seven, or twice Se- ven Years; and yet every Body knows, that in fuch a Diftance of Time, there is not perhaps a fingle Atom left of the old ones. If after all thefe Changes the Man ftill feels to his Grief, that he is the fame Man now in a Fit of the Gout, fuppofe, that he was Ten Years pafl in a Fever ; what Security can the Atheift have that Death will put an End to his Troubles ? Why not rather fear, that his dead Body may en- ter into the Compofition of fome other Syftem of Thinking Matter ; and he be- come as fenfible of the Good or Evil S that 258 Sermon iXc that fliall befal fuch a Syfterriy as he is of what befals his prefent Frame ? I muft aiErm this to be as conceivable, as that every Atom, in a Man's Body fhoutd be. changed, and yet the fame Perfon or Thinking Being continue ; foppofing the Atheijfs Scheme a true one, 'viz. That human Thought liath no other Caufe of its Beings befides the perpetual Changes in the Particles that compofe an human Body. Thus we fee that giving the Spmofift what he contends for, he is yet as far as ever from gaining v/hat he chiefly aimed at, and which he could not hope for in Religion, 'uiz. Reft and Impunity after he is dead. But perhaps the other Account of Thought, wliich places it in a particu- lar Organization, may be efpoufed by fome Perfons as a better Security againft the Apprehenfions oi Evil in another World ; as they thinJi the De- ftrudion of that particular Organization muft carry with it a total Extindion of Thought, and confequently of Confci- oiifnefs, Becaufe if the Soul be nothing more Sermon ix. 259 more than what Diceanhus beheved it, 'viz, A Body confifting of Parts of fuch a particular Figure as is neceffary to Life ^, when the Body lofes that Figure which is neceffary to its Life, the Pow- er of Thinking muft be entirely loft with it. But even here, fafe as the Atheifi thinks himfelf, while he endea- vours to avoid the Immortality of Thought by denying that it is an effen- tial Attribute of Body, is not fo near a total CeiTation of Thought as he hopes for. For he muft allow Thought to be one of the Modifications which Body is capable of receiving ; and then he muft acknowledge, that there is no deftroying any Mode, without pro- ducing another of the fame Kind ; be- caufe it fares thus with all the Modes of Body with which we are acquaint- ed ; for the Corruption of one Mode is always the Generation of another of S 2 the Nee quidquam nld corpus ka figuratum, uc temperatione Naturx vlgeat §<: fentlat. Vid. Ci- CTO Tufcul. Qugpft. 26o Sermon IX. the fame Sort; as we fee the difchargw ing of one Colour, is an introdu£i:ion to another ; the lofs of one Figure the gain of another. If it be faid, That Motion is a Mode, and may be total- ly extinguiflied, and therefore why not Thought ? I anfwer. That Motion is not a Mode which depends upon Bo- dy or any Attribute of Body for its Production, but upon a Caufe wholly different from and foreign to it, as IjV have already fliewn * ; whereas Thought is fuppofed by the Atheiji to be entire- ly derived from the Body, and there- fore muft either depend upon fome At- tribute of Body, or proceed from no- thing. But of all fuch Modes as are founded upon the efTcntial Attributes of any Subftance, and derive their Moda- lity from thence, it will be always moft true to affirm, that you only Change one Mode for another of the fame Sort, but no more deftroy them all, than you can deftroy the effential Attributes from whence they flow. And therefore tho" that ■' See Sermon VL Sermon IX. that particular Way or Mode of Think- ing which belongs to the human Fa- brick may ceafc, yet we can fee no Reafon why all Sort of Thinking fliould be extinguifhed with it, any more than .why the Extinction of one particular Figure in Body fliould draw after it the Deftrudion of all Figure, which we know to be impolTible without an utter Annihilation of the Body. This Reafoning would equally hold tho' Thought was hot a Mode of Extenfion, but of fome unknown Attribute of Matter, becaufe it would be no more poflible to deftroy a Mode of that un-? known Attribute without generating an- other, than it would be in the Cafe of Extenfion. But then the Jthelfi will fay, That a different Mode will have no concern with him, and he cannot be aifedecl by any Sentiments of Pain that his Bo- dy may be afFe£led with in another State. I will allqw him to be as pofi- tive in this as he pleafes, when he is able to tell me (I mean upon any Foot of Afhsifm) what 'tis makes him to be .•? I th^ '261 4(52 Sermon IX- tlie fume Pcrlbn at this Time, wlicn he htlicvcs Matter or the World to be the fuprcmc and onely Bcin:';, with that fcir who perhaps tbrmerly luhevcd, as we do, an Intelhgcnt Being that created the Woild. What it is that makes him believe himl'eU' as mucli concerned in tlie Pleal'ure and Pains of the Ibrmer Pa lib of hi:» Life, as in thofe oi' tlie pre* feut 1 'ime, tlio* many confiderable Al- terations may have happened in his in- ternal and external Fabrick. When he can reconcile this Samenefs of Perfon with all the Changes that his Body has undergone in a Courle oi' many Years, it will be then time to grant, that the Thoughts of the ilead Perlbn may have no Concern with thofe of the liv- ing one. Till then, tlie Jthcf/i by this Scheme, no more than the SfinDftft^ will be able by any lair Dednd ions from his own Principles to fecure himfelf againft the Pears of Evil in a future State, lincc we have already fcen he cannot prove a total Ceiruion of Thought after Death, nor icll us what C>hange of Or^nisiatioii will ctrtuiiiiy ildtroy Con- icioufncfs Sermon ix. fcioufneCi. Or that fucli a Change as that at our Deaths, imill iiccciUrily do it, fo long as lie allows ConHiour*.. nefs to keep pace witli all the Changes that iiappc'u to a Man in a long c\^ tended Lilc. '.. Thus then the Atht'ijl mull be a moft unhappy Creature, when he can- not live without God in this Wt)rld, but he mull be witliout Hopes too of being at Reft when he is out of it. 263 s ^ S E R M. 26$ SERMON X. Romans I. 22. Trofeffing themfelves to he Wije^ they became Fools, HESE Words were de- figned by St. Paul againft thofe who frequented the Schools of the Philofo- "" phers , and yet did not leave off the AfTemblies of the Hea- then Temples, where God was wor- fbipped m an Image or Similitude of a Man , or what was more unwor- thy of Himfelf, a Bird or Beaft, or Qven a Reptile or creeping Thing, as * ■ we 366 Sermon' X. we find by the 23^ Verfe. No doubt thefe Men richly deferved this Cenfure of St. Paul\ 'viz. That notwithftand- ing all the Learning of the Schools, their ConduQ: fbewed them to be as ignorant of the Nature of G o d as any of the meanell of the Vulgar, whilfl; they joyned with them in paying Ho- nour to fuch ridiculous Reprefentati- ons of the Deity. And yet I can- not help beheving that the School of Epicurus in St. PauPs Days, and their Succelfors the Sfinofjls in ours, have a much better Title to this Cen- fure of our Apoftle, than any other Sed or Sort of Men that either now are, or ever were in the World ; and that they have not fhewn ftronger Marks of Ignorance and Folly in any one Point of their Philojojjh)/, than when they endeavour to account for the curious Contrivance of this World, without the Help of a Contriving Agent. ' The Athsift\ Way of Rearing up the World is thus : He fuppofes the whole Material World, fuch as we and Sermon X. 2^7 find it, to* be the onely God oi' Necef* farily-exiftent Being; that the whole Frame of Things, the Heavens, the Earth, and the regular Order in which they appear to us, proceeded as an Eiied from the unguided, but necefi^ fary Laws of Motion from Eternity ^ That the feveral Species of Animals^^' as well as the Inanimate Parts of the" World, and even Rational Beings, fueh' as Men, did all fpriiig up from thefe unguided Motions. The Alchjmtfis with their Philofo- pher's Stone , may pafs for fober and ferious Perfons wlien compared with thefe Men ; for they pretended only to the Secret of moving Matter in fuch a Manner as to tranfmute it into Gold ; but thefe People pretend to give us a World full of Contrivance and Curio- fity merely by the Help of Motion, tho' there iliall be no Body to dired that Motion. For tho' Spimfa fuppofed his Matter to be furnifhed with Un- derstanding, yet he did not allow it to make ^ny Ule of its Underftanding in direding any of its Motions ; for thth are 268 Sermon X. are fuppofed by him to be the Necef- fary Laws of Matter in Motion : Where- as the Chymift^ Matter that was to make Gold was managed by an Intelligent Agent, and 'tis pofTible to fuppofe a proper Motion among the feyeral Per grees of Motion might be given it. but the Atheijl has left his Matter to fhift fqr itfelf, he allows it may be ftirred, tho' he cannot tell by what, or hy whom, as we have already feen * ; but however, he will have no Senfe or Wifdom to ftand by, either to diftri- bute proper Quantities of Motion, or to direO: the Line they were to defcribe; and yet he is confident that this regu- lar and orderly Frame of Things fhall arife from fuch undirefted Motions, an admirable Conceit ! as the Author of the Characierijlicks fays, helieve it who can. And yet this Man pretends to be fhocked at Difficulties in religious Be^ lief, at the fame time as he fees na Difficulty in Rearing up this World without any Affillance. The greater. the * See Serm. VI. Sermon X. 269 the Undertaking, the greater, I fuppofe, is the Share of Credit he propofes to himfelf ; but fure I am, his Share of Credit will dwindle into that of the Wife Men in my Text, who frofeffing themfdves ivi/e^ became Fools, For none but a Fool would offer to confound the Differences between Wifdom and Folly, Senfe and no Senfe, Contrivance and Chance , or uncontriving Necef- fity. For i^ unguided Motions fhall execute as regular a Piece of Work, and as well fitted for anfwering any Ends or Purpofes, as thole that are di- re6led by the befl Senfe, we have then nothing left us whereby to judge what makes the Difference between good Senfe and no Senfe, between Wifdom and Folly. If it were poffible for us to be miftaken in the Nature of Thought and Motion ; yet as the Atheijl will not fay, that all Motions are wife, and di-' reeled by good Senfe, we will ask him, how he diftinguifhes thofe that are fucii, from others ? If he judges by their Effefts, fo may we too ; and I would willingly ask him, Whether he can give 270 S E R M O ISf X. give us any better Criteria to help us in difl-inguifliing them, than thefe? That fuch ^yorks are an Effect of Motions guided by Underftanding, as difcover a Regularity in them, and a Propriety or Fitnefs to anfwer fome End or Pur- pofe ; efpecially if we fee a great Di- verfity in thofe Works, and yet much Curiofity in them ; in thefe Cafes we are apt to judge them to belong to fome Mafterly Hand* Thefe are our Ways of Judging, when we determine whether any Thing is a Work of Ar^ contrived by fuch Intelligent Beings as; we GonfelTedly are ; or whether 'tis on- ly a Quantity of Matter heaped up without any kind of Order, and unfit to anfvver any particular Purpofe. Thefe are the Rules by which we are willing to try the Works of Nature, and the Athei(l mull: be contented with them, unlefs he will give us a Reafbn, Why in a Work of Art thefe fhall be Indi- cations of Thought and Contrivance, and none in a Work of Nature ? All that the Atheifi fays, comes to this, " That the Greateft and Beft of '•' all Sermon x. 27 ''i all Beiogs, in the Religious Man's " Opinion, is no Eifci^ of Wifdom or " Contrivance; and therefore why muft '^ the World, which he believes the " greateft and beft of all Beings, be " an Eifed of any Thought or Defign; *', altho' particular Works do arife from " the Agency of fome Thinking Be* f^ ings. That the Religious Man be- «? lieves G o d to be the moft Accom- *^ plifhed Being, and yet that He ". owes not his AccompUfhments to *^ any Wifdom or Contrivance, but is " Necefliarily what He is ; . and there- of fore, Why may not the Curiofity f^ ia the Works of Nature be an Et- f' fed of NecelTity, tho' lels perfe£l " Works, fuch as thofe of Art, be an f Effed of Thought and Counfel. " Let us fee then, whether the EvI* dence for the Frame of the World's proceeding from Neceflity, be fufficient to out-weigh the Evidence for its be- ing the Contrivance of fome Intelligent Being. And fince the only Argument he brings againft the Appearances of Thought and Intelligence in the Works of 272 Sermojst X. of Nature, is, that the Frame of the World rnAy be the NeceiTarily-exiftent Being : If I can fliew, That there is no Ground for fuch a Suppofition, that the Appearances of Nature do argue the Caufe of them to have aded ar- bitrarily, and difpofed of Matter with the utmoft Freedom, it muft then fol- low, that if there be any Thing Hkc Wifdom or Contrivance in the Fabrick of the World, thcfe , and not Ne- ceflity, are the true Caufes of it. I will therefore fhew, i/, That the Frame of the World cannot have its Exiftence from Ne- ceflity. 2^/;, That there are plain Sig- natures of Wifdom and good Senfe m thofe Parts of the World with which' we are belt acquainted; and therefore that it mult have been the Effed of fome Wife and Intelligent Being. i}/, That the Frame of the World cannot have its Exiftence from a Necef- fity of Nature, and that for thefe two Reafons. ly?, Because Sermon X. 273 ly?, B E c AU s E no Compound Be- ing (fuch as the World is) can have NecefTary Exiftence. 2dlj, Because there are evident Marks of a free and arbitrary Difpo- fal in its Conftitution : Such an arbitra- ry Difpofal, I mean, as is confillent with good Senfe. i/?, B E c A u s E no Compound Be- ing (fuch as the World is) can have NecelTary Exiflence. The Atheijlh Argument, That as God is fuppofed by the Religious Man to be the moft Accomplilhed of all Beings in Point of Wifdom, and yet to be no Effed of Wifdom, that there- fore there may be great Appearances of Wifdom without any original Cauie of that Wifdom, will amount to no more than this ; That there muft be Some- thing Wife and Intelligent from the Neceflity of its own Nature, or with- out any Original Caufe of its Wifdom. 'Tis agreed, That there muft be fuch a Being, otherwife there could be no fuch Thing as Wifdom ; but the Que- ftion between us and the Athdfi is^ T What 274 Sermon X. what Sort of Being this muft be ; and whether Matter in its various Com- pofitions, iiich as the Frame of the Univerfe is made up of, can be that Wife and Intelligent Being ? and, Whether it could look fo much like a Produ£^ion of Wifdom and Contri-* vance as it does, if it were the real .Parent of Wifdom, and owed that Wifdom to nothing but the Neceflity of its own Nature ? The Being that the Religious Man fuppofes to be Ne- ceiTarily-exiftent, is a moft Simple Be- I N G, and whofe Nature is for that Reafon not fubjed to Change or Al- teration» The Atheijlh NecefTarily-ex- iftent Being, is a Compound one, a Being capable of receiving all manner of Changes, fuch as Matter and all its Compofitions are ^ for Spinofa allows all the Modes of Being under which Matter appears (as well as the Sub- ilance of Matter abftrafted from any- particular Mode of Exiftence) to be the NeceiTarily-exiftent Being ; and fo muft all who affirm the Frame of the World - t<3L_be NecelTarily-exiilent. But the Religious S E R M O N X. >2 7 5 Religious Perfon is perfiiaded, that a Compound Being, or any Being that is capable of receiving different Modes of Being, can never be reconciled with the Idea of NeceflTary Exiftence; be- caufe every Compofition in a Coni- pound Being may be conceived by us capable of being changed into fome other, that {hall be entirely different from what it was. And tlierefore no one Compofition can be truly and pro- perly NecejTary ; unlefs a Poffibility of being or not being , were confiftemt with Neceility. Spimfa faw there was no Avoiding the Force of this Rtalbn- ing, and that there was no defending Matter unlefs he could make her' a Simple Being : And therefore he entire- ly alter'd the received Notion of its being divifible and changeable ; tho' without Reafon, as I have already proved ^^:, thinking it would be eafier to perfuade the World even to alter their Notion of Matter, than to make them believe that any Compofition of Being could T 2 be ' * See Sermon IV. 276 Sermon X. be a fufficient Support for Neceflary ^ Exiftence. 2dly^ The Frame of the World can*- not- be the NecelTarily-exiftent Being, becaufe there are evident Marks of a free and arbitrary Difpofal in its Con- ftitution, fuch an arbitrary Difpofal, I mean, as is confident with good Senfe. If there was one uniform Appearance of Bodies m the Infinite Space, if all the Compofitions of Matter were ex- a(5lly of the fame Bulk, and did all ex- adly defcribe the fame Motions ; there would be an Appearance that would much better refemble NecefTity, than the prefent Face of Things ; tho' even this would not prove thefe Magnitudes, and thefe Motions to be necelTary ; be- caufe there miglit be conceived very different Combinations of Matter float- ing in an infinite Space, very different Lines of Motion, and yet equally uni- form ; therefore none of them could be abfolutely neceffary : becaufe, as I have already proved, whatever exiils from a Neceffity of Nature, cannot be con- ceived to be any Thing but what it is. Sermon X. 277 is. But the prefent Face of Things has ajl imaginable Variety ; inftead of one vail Syftem confifting of a great Num- ber of uniform Bodies with a Sun at the Centre of it, we have probably a prodigious Number of Syftems, as .ma- ny as there are fix'd Stars, with fuch a Star, as we have a Sun, at the Centre of each of them ; and yet we can fep nothmg in the Nature of Matter that; fhould determine it into this great Di^ verfity of Syftems, rather than into one. The Syftem of which our Earth is a Part might have been different from what it is, it might have been bigger or lefs than it is, as Space is in- finite, and nothing but Will and Ple4- fure can be a Reafon of the Dimenfions of oursy or of any other Syftem. No other Reafon can be given for the par^ ticular Number of Planets, and of their different Magnitudes in this Syftern \ nor why forae of them have more, pr thers fewer, Satellites attending upon them ; and if we were as capable of Judging of any of the other Syftems, as we are of our own, we Ihould pro- T ^ ■ babl|V 278 Sermon X. bably find great Differences in all thefe Refpeds from ours; but to confine ourfelves to our own of which we have fome Knowledge, we will confider the different Odks in which the Planets and Comets of our Syftem nnove ; the one move in Elliptical^ the other in Parah' lical Figures : 'Tis evident, that the moving Force, imprefs'd upon Bodies that defcribe fuch different Orbits^ muft be different too ; and 'tis as evident tliat fuch a Diverfity can have no Foun^ dation in Neceffity; but muft be re- folved into the free Agency of fome Be- ing who thought fit to imprefs a great- er Quantity of Motion, or more of the Projedile Force upon fome Parcels of Matter than He did ijpon others. A G A I N, we muft never look for a Reifon ia Neceflity of the Earth's moving about its Axis m a Motion oblique to its JEc[uator ; becaufe we are fure that the moft fimple and the moft obvious Motion had been in an Orbit that was parallel to it ; and that its Motion upon the Ecliptick is a Devia- tion from that fimple Motion; and therefore Sermon X. 279 therefore the Atheiji ought to give a Reafon why the Earth muft needs have been of fuch an outward Form, or have I'uch a Difference in its inward Con- texture, as might be the Caufe of the Obliquity of its Annual Motion to its Diurnal. But I am perfuaded he will never find any thing like a Reafon for it, till, with us, he looks for it in fome Free and Intelligent Caufe that was pleafed to contrive it in this Manner. I do not pretend to fay, That any Va- riation from the prefent Appearance of Things, would have been for the bet- ter. But that fuch a Suppofition would carry with it no Repugnance to our Conceptions of Things, and that wo cannot fee any Reafon for fuch a Di- verfity, unlefs we refolve it into the Will and Pleafure of fome Being who made fuch Divifions of Matter, and gave them fuch Motions, when Mat- ter was equally fufceptihle of any other. I K N o w Spinopi in the fixteenth Pro- fo fit ion of his Poft humous Works ^ would e^ideavour to account for all the Di- T 4 Yerfity 28o Sermon x. verfity in the World by Neceflity, when he fays, £jc neceffitate *Divind Nature In* finite injirdtis modis (hoc efl, ommA qu£ fub Intellecium cadere pojfu^/t) Jequi dehent. That is, that all Poflibility of Being muft of Neceflity flow from the Divine Nature ; confequently all that Variety of Concretions, and Diverfity of Mo- tions, which we have inflanced in as Arguments of Freedom, would be the Ei^eds of Neceffity ; but let us fee how he proves this ; why, he refers us to his fixth Definition in the fame Book, in which he defines God to be a Being that confifts of an infinite Num- ber of Attributes that are different from one another ; from which Infi- nity of Attributes, by necelTary Con- fequence, muft arife an Infinity of Things infinitely varied in the Manner of their Exiftence, He does not tell us how a Simple Being may have many Attri- butes really differing from one another, nor whether thefe different Attributes are not beholden to Motion for their Exiftence, which would be fuppofing Matter to have been always in Motion, altho'' Sermon X. 281 altho' we have already feen that S^^ n^fa. would never give an Anfwer to thofe who ask'd him, How it came in- to Motion * ? But to let that pafs ; fup- pofing Matter to be infinitely moved, or la infinitely various Degrees, yet no one can give a Reafon why this parti- cular Variety of Beings fhould be more necelTary than any other. For if eve- ry PofTibility of Being muft arife from the Motion of Matter infinitely varied, then the prefent Frame of the World muft contain in it all that Variety which 'tis pofTible to conceive ; and yet nothing is plainer than that the Mind of Man does conceive it pofTible, that the Order of Beings might have hteu different from the prefent one. And yet I would not have the Atheift quit his Neceffity to take up with Chance, as fomething that would be better qua- lified to account for this Variety ; be- caufe Chance is a Word that fignifies nothing but the Ignorance of him that makes Ufe of it, and can have no Sig- nification * See Sermon VI. Sermon X. nification nor Ufe in. a Philofophical Ac- count of Things ; for if the Motions of Matter be not direded by a Free Be- ing, they muft be pure Mechanical Ne^ cefTity, or neceflary Confequences of Matter in Motion, which leaves no Room for Epicurus^ Fortuitous Con- courfe of Atoms. Having now fhewn, That the great Variety which appears in Nature could not proceed from NecefTity, but muft be the EfFe6t of fome Being that afts with Freedom; it muft be perfedly unreafonable to Doubt whether that Agent, who freely produced tliis Va- riety, be a Wife and Intelligent Being,^ if we can obferve as ftrong Appear* ances of Thought and Contrivance m the Works of Nature, as we do iri thofe Artificial ones which do confef- fedly owe their Birth to fome Intelli- gent Beings. The Rules we have of diftinguifhing Works of Art from thofe which are merely the EffeQ: of Chance-. or a blind NecelTity, are thefe: That there be a Regularity in the Work, and a Fitnefs to anfwer fome End or Purpofe. Sermon x. 2.83 Purpofe. Whenever we find thefe, we never hefitate in pronouncing them to be the Work of fome Being that knew what he did, and why he did it. The Atheijl himfelf, fince his beloved Ne- ceflity will not help him out, muft al- low this to be a fair Way of proving the Wifdom of the Maker of the World, or elfe be fo Ridiculous as to believe that there may be fuch a Thing as Art without an Artificer. I fhall therefore proceed to ihew 2^/r, That if we Judge of the World by the Rules now mentioned, wc cannot avoid difcovering many Sig- natures of Wifdom and good Senfe in thofe Parts of it with which we are beft acquainted. I am fenfible this Ar- gument has been fo often and fo tho- roughly urged againft the Inpdd by many of thofe Learned Perfons who have Preached thefe Le£i:ures, that I fhould have entirely pafs'd it over, but that it compleats the Proof of Un- reafonablenefs upon the hfidel, if he defends himfelf by any Difficulties in "Religious Belief j becaufe the Difficulty -^^'^' himfe^ 284 S E R M O K X. himfelf lies under, will appear to be no Ipfs than that of Believing, that there is neither Thought nor Contrivance in a World, vi^hich every Body elfe fee^ to be mofl Artificial. However, what I have to fay upon it, fhall be in a few Words, by offering aninftance or two of Regularity in the Works of Nature, ^nd plain Indications of Thought and Defign in adapting thofe Works to cer- tain Ends and Ufes. The firft Inftance I Ihall mention, is. The Annual Motion of the Earth, by Means of which every Part of the Earth receives as proper Degrees of Heat for the Plants and Animals of that; Part, as if this Motion had been contrived on Purpofe by the beft Un- derftanding. As I have already fliewn, that the Obliquity of the Earth's An- nual Motion about the Sun, to its Div urnal one about its Axis, muft have fgme Free Agent for the Caufe of it, it being Nonfenfe to fay, That this particular Obliquity was neceffary, when there are lb many other Degrees of Obliquity befides this particular one ; Iwiil SfiRAlON X. 28$ I Will now Ihew, That it muft have for its Caufe a Wife and Contriving Being that faw the Confequences of every other Degree of Obh'quity, and pitched upon this, as what wbuld be fitted for the feveral Animals that were to be difperfed over the Face of the whole Earth. That fome Degree of Obliquity would be more beneficial to the Inhabitants of this Earth in gene- ral than none, cannot be denied, with- out Denying that the different Seafons of the Year are a Benefit, or that thofe Plants and Animals that hve near the Poles would fare as well, and receive as^ comfortable a Share of Heat, with- out a Summer as with one. For 'tis evident if its Annual Motion had httn parallel with its Diurnal one, we muft have wanted the VicilFitudes of the Seafons of Summer and Winter ; ii it had been much Icfs oblique than it is, the Inhabitants near the Foles would have received little Benefit from the Summer ; and if it had been much more oblique to the jEquator than it is at prefen t,the Heat muft have been much 286 Sermon X. much greater in the Torrid T^ne fjian it is now. And if the Ancients thought it, fuch as it is, to be incapable of re- ceiving Inhabitants by Reafon of the extream Heat, they would have liad much more Reafon for fuch a Belief upon an Increafe of the Obliquity of the Earth's Annual Motion. But if no Declination at all, or any other De- gree of it, that fhould differ much from what we , have at prefent, muft have h^^n worfe for the Plants and Animals m general than it is ; we can have no Pretence to look any where for the Caufe of this exact Contrivance of the Earth's Motion, but in the Fore-thought of fome Wife and Intelligent Being. He that will do otherwife, will £n4 hi mfelf reduced to the Neceflity of Af- ferting, with hucretius^ That the Eye w^as not defignedly contrived for ad- mitting the Rays of Light, nor tlie Ear for receiving the tremulous Motions of Bodies, tho' an Organ well fitted for that Purpofe, nor the Air, tho' aMf- dium well fitted, for conveying thofe tremulous Motions to it. And as the modern Sermon x. 287 modern Atheift will confefs this to be ridiculous upon the Epicurean Foot of Chance, fo it will be equally ridiculous- to affirm, that this particular Degree of Obliquity in the Earth's Annual Motion, (altho' there are fo many other De- grees of Obliquity which our Earth might have been equally capable of re- ceiving) was the Produce of a blind Neceffity. ndly^ Another Inftance I fhall give of Fore-thought and Contrivance, is, the Natural Oeconomy of the World, by which a fufficient Provifion is made for that vaft Family of Animals that dwell upon the Face of the Earth. If we had found our Globe filled with a Variety of Animals, and the Quantity of Provi- fion for Food and Maintenance no ways anfwerable to fuch a Number, or if there were Food enough, that thofe Animals had not Skill enough to find out fuch Food as would be proper for the Support of their Lives, we fhould judge aright, ii we concluded they came here by Chance or Necef- fity. But if we find that nothing is wanting Sermon X. wanting for the Suppott of fo large a Family of Creatures as there are upon our Earth, fuch a Variety of feveral Sorts of Food as fully anfwers the Occafions of fuch different Kinds of Creatures, and that all thefe Kinds, whether living in the Air, the Water, or the Earth, have a great Sagacity in finding out each their proper Food, which is undeniably the Truth of the Matter ; and was long ago taken Notice of as an Argu- ment of Senfe and Contrivance *; we mult confefs) that there mufi: have btQii fome Underftanding Being that had computed what Qiiantity of Food would be neccffary for their Maintenance, and had alfo furnilhed them with pro- per Inftinds for finding out in a wide World fuch Food, and fuch Accom- modations, * Vide Tull. de Natura Deorum, Lib. 2. p. 2o5. bnvicf. Paftuni anlmalibus large &c coplofe Na- tura eum qui culque aptus erat comparavlt. /i?ki a little further^ Dedit eadein Natura belluis & fen- fum St appeticum, ut altcro conatum habcrent ad Naturales partus capcfTcndos, altero fecernerent pe* ftifera a falutaribus. p. 207. Sermon X. 289 modations, as would be fitteft for them ; or if all this will not amount to a Proof of Fore-thought and goocl Senfe, we muft for ever defpair of find- ing any fuch Thing, and muft believe that a Fleet or an Army of Men may be as well provided with all Necef* faries, fo as nothing fliall be want- ing, whether we computed and pro- portioned the Supplies to the Num- ber of the People, and the Time that either was to be out upon Duty ; or whether no Confideration was had be- forehand what would be needful for fuch Numbers, and for fuch a Time t But i[ this be ridiculous to the lafl: Degree, we cannot but joyn with the * PjAlmiji in adoring and admiring God's Wifdom in the Contrivance of our Earth, v/here we find all well adjuftcd to the Occafions of the Creatures that were to inhabit it, and fay with him* 0 L. o R D, how njanifoid are thy Works ! in Wijdom hajl The ft made them all ; The Earth */ full of Thy Riches, unfortunate as to make s^ao other Difcoveries but that of their aasci U 2 own V 292 SeR NiON" ' t.1 Own Folly. For whilft he pretends feme Difficulties in Religious Belief, as t\\Q Reafon of his leaving us, he is, as I have already fhewn, contented to take up with much greater ones ia avoiding them, and can give no tole- rable Account of the moft remarkable Thdnomena in Nature, fuch. as Mo- tion, Intelligence, and the regular Va-' ficty that appears in the Univerfe ; and therefore muft have fuffered him- felf to be byafs'd by Prejudices while he was examining the Queftion in dif- pute between us; the Confequence of which will be, That he cannot fe- cure himfelf from the Apprehenfions of Punifliment from the Hands of Thnt God, whom he has wilfully de- nied. For I have already fliewn. That a Man may be culpable for his Er- rors and Miftakes, if he has not taken due CaVe to avoid them , but has fuf- fered himfelf to be fwayed by any Padion or Inclination, or any other Motive beiides a fincere Love for the Truth *. The only Refuge he ha!j left Sermon X. left muft be this ; That tho' there be a Wife and Powerful Being, that at firft created, and does fiill govern and direO: the Natural World , yet he fees no Reafon for believing,- that He has any Regard to the Mord World, to the Virtues and Vices of Men, or to their Religious Behaviour here ; that there is no fuch Things in Nature as Vertue and Vice, Honefty and Bafe- nefs ; or if there be, that Go d will take no Notice of them. What Grounds there are for fuch a Suppolition, will be confidered in the following Dif- courfe. 293 •nflj V I S E R M. 29S SERMON XI. Isaiah V. 20. W^o unto them that call Evil Good, and Good Evil ; that put Darknefs for Eighty and Light for Darknefs ) that put Bitter for Sweety and Sweet for Bitter. HE Petfons here mentioned were not Speculative Atheijts, but only very wicked Livers, that endeavoured to conceal their own bad A£lions by the pretence of fome good and laudable Deliga they had in their View ; and would therefore \} 4 pais 296 Pk R M O N XI. pafs thcni upon the World for Atts of Virtue and Goodnefs, whereas the rea^ ly good Ads of others, by their Mif- reprefentation of them, pafs'd for either Ads of Weaknefs or Wickednefs. They were not hardy enough to deny "a real Difterence between Good and Evil, Light and Darknefs, Bitter and Sweet ; they only endeavoured to put off their own Deeds of Darknefs^ for fuch as would bear the Light, and die niceil Obfervation ; and the Aclions of their Adverfaries, tho' they had never fo fair an Appearance, for fuch ^ would not bear to be look'd upon, or abide the Teft of a careful Infpedion. Tiieir ovfj Ads of Injufticc , how bitter fo- ever to thofe who -fulTcr'd by them, muft be taken for Ads of Kind nets, and the Effeds of Sweetnels of Tem- per ; whiiil: the mod: indulgent and beft natured Ads of other People fliall pals with them for a bitter and mali- cious Defign of Cheating and Ruining TVlcn. .. :, :^ 'Tis true, the Charader of tdicfe 'Men does not come up to that of oiir Sermon Xl 2f7 Hohbiji ; becaiiTe tho' they did in Rea- lity confound all the Diftindions of Moral Good and Evil; yet they did not offer to tell the World, as the H&b^ liji, with great Gravity pretends to do^ That there was no Difference between Virtue and Vice ; much lefs did they undertake a ferious Defence of fo mon- ftrous a Propofition : But neither any facred or profane Author would furnifh me with a Ttxt or a Motto that would exadly anfwer this Charader of our Hobbift\ becaufe there was generally more Modelty in the World, before A> made his Appearance in it. For he fcorns to palliate his Faults, or to im* pofe upon the World by making them pafs for Virtues, but openly and aloud maintains, That there are no Faults, or any fuch Differences n\ Nature as thofe of Virtue and Vice, in the ufual Meaning of thofe Words; and that nothing deferves fuch Names, initwhat is profitable or unprofitable, plealant or unpleafant ; that whoever talks of an unprofitable or unpleafant Clood, or a profitable and pleafant EviJ; ^? , * talk^ . S E R M O N XL taJksr rNonfenfc, has no Meaning in what he. fays, but utters mere Sounds without any Signification beioaging to them, i I HAVE akeady fhewn the Necef- (ity of admitting a Wife and Intelli- gent Being that concerns himfeif in the Government of the Natural World, in keeping up that Order which He at firft deligned, and does continually exe- cute ; there are many who profefs to be- lieve this, true, and yet pretend, " Tiiat " they cannot fee the fame Evidence '' for his concerning himfelf with the *' Behaviour o^ Moral Agents ; and think " that God does not mind which Way '' Things go in the Moral World ; they *^ are contented to believe that he has ^V taken all proper Care in ordering *'.and contriving the Motions of Na- " turd Agents^ and in feeing them fully *' executed according to his firil: De- " fign; but that a Moral Ag '^ a£ts freely, he ads in purfuance oS " tliat Nature which He has given • *'i " him. Sermon xt 295^, «f him, and his Aftions are equally agree- '' able to him, whether properly Free' " or Licentious, morally Good or mo-' " rally Evil." The Reafons by which they pretend to Support this Opinion;^ are thefe : ■ I//; " That they cannot fee any " biSerence between Moral Good and " Evil, Virtue and Vice. Or, ^dly, *Mf there (hould be fuch a " DiiTerence, they are fure that God " would not concern himfelf about the " Behaviour of" Mord Agents^ becaufe "they cannot obferve Him making a-^ " ny DiPiinaion by Rewards and Pu-^'. " nifliments, between the Obfervance " or not Obfervance of what is called " Moral Good. " As to the firft of thefe : *' They are " perfuaded that there is no fuch Thing " in Nature as Virtue or Vice, but that ^' 'tfs merely the Fafbion and Fancy of '' People, becaufe it varies m different " Countries , and at different Times : '' that Legiflators have always made the " Publick Utility, fuch as it appeared ^^ to them, the only Rule of their Laws. '' This 300 Sermon XL ^^y.This they think cannot be doubted ; " becaufe when 'twas beheved that the ^' Publick might be better ferved by " the Breach of a Law of Moral Ho- " neily, they made no Scruple of en* " 'couraging the Subjed, to break it. " Confequeiitly, Utility is the only Rule ". whereby to judge of Moral Ho- *^ neffy : And therefore no fuch Thing " as Moral Good , when it differs ^^ from the Natural Good ; but it lofes ^^ its Nature from the Time it ceafes " to be Profitable, and becomes Evil " or Unprofitable. Which fhews Ho- *' nefty or Virtue, when defer ted by *' Utility, to be an empty Name that " has no Exiftence in Nature, and a *' fit Subjeft for none but a Stoick, who *\ knew little of Nature, and was al- '' ways talking againft it;, to fpend his " Time upon. " K But for all this Objection, the Re- ligious Man aiiirms Virtue to be Vir- tue in Adverfity, even when the Pra- ikice of it is Unprofitable to us ; and Vice to be Vice, tho' we outwardly thi'i.v^ ^Sermon XI. got thrive and feem to be Gainers by it: And for thefe Reafons : i/, Because if we fuppofe the Exiftence of Intelligent Beings, fuch Beings I mean, as can compare one Thing with another, and underjimd as well as feel Differences, the different Circumftances of Perfons will necefla- ril7 make a Difference in the Charader of their Anions, with regard to the Judgment of fuch Intelligent Beings. 2dlj^ Because thofe who have con- fidered the Nature of human Adions with the moft Care, fuch as Philofophers and Legiflators, have built their Rules and Laws upon the Suppofition of there being fuch a Difference in Nature. ^^/j, Because thofe who leaft of all obferve Moral Differences in their Praftice, but referr all to Pleafure or Profit, cannot but confefs a Difference in fome Cafes. i/?, Because fo long as there are fuch Intelligent Beings, as can compare one Thing with another, and under- jU/id as well as feel Differences ; tlie different Circumffances of Perfons will neceffariiy 502 Sermon xi. n^ceffarily make a Difference in the Charader of their Aftions, with Re- gard to the Judgment of fuch Intelli- gent Beings. The great Fallacy of the HoihijPs Argument lies in this : That they confider a Man only as capable of receiving the Ideas of Pleafure and Pain, Convenience or Inconvenience^ without confidering him as a Rational Being that by comparing one Thing with another, and obferving how far they agree, and wherein they difagree, may take Notice of other Differences, which his Reafon affures him to be as real as thofe of Pleafure and Pain, Con- venience and Inconvenience. That the Animals inferior to Man difcover no- thing in the Nature of Things beyond the Pleafure and Pain they receive from them, may be probable enough ; becaufe we do not find they have luch a Pow^ er as Man has, of comparing their Ideas with one another, and of forming Com- plex ones, fuch as are thofe con- cerning Moral Truths ; or of forming general Propofitions from any reflex Ad of the Mind upon particular ;:;!Vf:i;?i: -; Things j ^- S E R'M O N XL 503 Things ; but to: ait IntelleQ:ual Being furniflied with fuch Powers of Mind, wliich Man confelTedly is, we affirm, that tliere muft appear to be what we call Moral as well as Natural Differences antecedent to all pofitive Laws made concerning them ; becaufe the different Circumftances of Things and Perfons muft neceffarily make a Difference iii human Adions, altho' the Material or Natural Adion confidered by itielf, and without Regard to thofe Circum- ftances, be exa(Sly the fame. For it cannot be denied that different Cir- camftances will neceffarily make the Relations of Perfons to each other real- ly different, and muft therefore fo far alter the Nature of any Adion, as to give it a different Chara' fible that fuch Works fhould have been performed, as are related in the Gofpeh altho' Sermon xii. 341 altho' they were not an EffeQ: of any Natural Powers of Matter in Motion : I COME now to fhew that fuch extraordinary Works, fuppofing them tq be done, will be a fuiKcient Proof of a DiWne Miflion; for thefe Two Rea- fons : i/, Because they could not be the natural Effeds of any Laws of Nature whatever. 2Mj, Because they could not be done by any inferior Agents indepen- dently of G o D : For the only Reafons that can be polTibly given, why the Ex- traordinary Works related in the Gofpeh^ Ihould not prove, that the Perfon who appeared to work them, was impow- erred by G o d, and therefore fent by Him, muft be either becaufe thefe Works were as much the Effedls of Natural Caufes, as any other not fo much taken Notice of, becaufe not fo ufual ; or that they might be perform- ed by fome invifible Agents fuperior in Power to Man, tho' vaftly inferior to God. Z ^ i/. The re 342 Sermon XII. i/, There is no Ground for fup-i pofing that the extraordinary Works related in the Go/pels^ as performed by our Saviour, were the natural Ef- fe6:s of any Laws of Nature unknown to Men; becaufe if they were fuch, no Reafon can be given, i/, Why no more of them are produced. And, 2dlyj Because fuppofing them to be fo ', yet how fhould our Saviour come to the Knowledge of them ? Since they are fuppofed to be unknown to Men. ift, I fay, That the Works we are told to have been done by our Savi- our, could not be the Effeds of any Laws of Nature; becaufe no Reafoa can be given why no more of them are produced. 'Tis certain, if we take in all the fretended as well as red Refur- redions of dead Bodies, with which the Hiftory of Mankind will furniih us, that they are exceeding few in Num- ber ; and if we leave out thofe that want a due Atteftation, their Number' will be much fmaller. That Nature Ihould Sermon XII. 343 fLould be many Hundreds of Years, I may fay, many Thoufands, in bring- ing forth the RefurreQ:ion of a dead Man; and yet that this fliould be as natural a Produd of hers, as the Birth of a Man, which happens every Day, is what no Body fure can be perfuaded to believe. As natural as the common Way of propagating Mankind is, yet if there had been very few Inftances of its Succefs in many Ages, we (hould fcarce have judged the Productions in that Way a Work of Nature ; becaufe there is no fuppofing any Thing to be the real Caufe of an Effed, when it fcarce ever produces that Effect. 'Tis not doubted that a real Caufe may be fometimes defeated by the contrary a6:- ings of other Caufes ; but that it liiould be almoft always fo, is what ca^ ncr ver be reconciled with thofe Signatures of Wifdom and Contrivance, which ap- pear in all thofe Parts of Nature, with which we are beft acquainted ^. An^ tho' the Mheifl will not allow them to Z 4 be * See Serm. X. 344- Sermon xil. be the Products of an Intelligent Be-" IN G, yet he will not deny that there is any Regularity in the Productions of Nature, or that generally fpeaking, na- tural Caufes do produce their proper EiTeds ; but no Body will fay there can be regular Produdlions, when the Caufes of thofe Productions fliall fail a Million of times for once fucceeding. I DO not deny that many natural EffeiCts may have pafsM upon the World for Prodigies, becaufe Men have not been always careful in obferving the "Workings of Nature, and that more ac- curate Inquiries have juftly enough thrown many of them out of the Num- ber of fuch Works as exceeded its Pow- er : That many Things, if feldom taken Notice of, have pafs'd upon the World for Prodigies or fuper-'hatural Effeds in fome illiterate Ages, which are now ac- counted for by the ordinary Laws o£ Nature. But then 'tis alfo to be con- fidered, that it has not been for Want of obferving the Nature of ^ead Bodies, that the RefurreClion of fucli Bodies has pafs'd for a Prodigy , but be- qaufe Sermon xil. 345 caufe Men were well afTured by a con- tinued Obfervation of them, that it was not the Nature of fuch Bodies to fpring out of their Graves, as Corn does out of the Ground ; and becaufe in all their Obfervation and Reading, they had met with exceeding few Inllances of this Nature, and therefore rightly judged, that Nature was not qualified for ma- king dead CarcafTes to fpring out of the Ground. For whatever occult Qua- lities there may be ia the Nature of Things, yet they might eafily fee that if any Thing fell out dire£lly contrary to the conftant and fettled Courfe of Things, or that a dead Body fliould become a livif^g one, inftead of a //V- ffig Body becoming a dead one, that this could not be a mere Effed of the Laws of Nature ; but muft have fome Caufe fuperior to thofe Laws, that was able to ad upon Matter in a different Manner from wliat was ufual. Some Caufe that had chofen to acl for the moft Part upon Matter in an uniform Manner, and yet referved to itfelf a Liberty, 34^ Serimon XII. Liberty, upon fome Occafions, of de- parting from that Rule. But, 2i/j, Supposing fome of thofe Ex- trordinary Works which feemed to be done at our Saviour's Command, becaufe they appeared immediately up- on his Speaking, as in his Inftantaneous Cures of Blind, Lame, and Sick People ; fuppofing, I fay, thefe to have been merely EfFeds of fome fecret Laws or Powers ia Nature, there ftill remains a great DiiBculty ia accounting for thefe Miracles, and that is. How our Sa- viour could know, when thefe un- known Powers would exert themfelves ? He foretold before his Death, That af- ter he had been laid in his Grave, He Ihould rife out of it the third Day. Taking it for granted, that the Refur- redion of a Man falls within the Com- pafs of the Powers of Nature, tho' un- known to us, becaufe they feldom ap- pear, it would be natural to ask this Qucftion, How our Saviour could know that the Laws of Nature would be ready to reftore a dead Body to Life again juft at that Time v/hcn He had Sermon xil. 347 had foretold He ihould rife again? There had been Millions and Millions, of Bodies, that had lain very quiet in their Graves for many Ages, and no Hiftorical Obfervations could pofTibly Jiave furnillied our Saviour with any Light, whereby to difcover when Na- ture would be ftrong enough to raife a dead Body; becaufe the Inftances mufl: have been too few to afford any Ground for forming a Judgment upon them. When He raifed Lazarus out of his Grave, it feems to be as impofTible that he fliould know that Nature would have Power to reflore him to Life again juft at that Time when he called to him to come out of his Grave, as . it would be for a mere Man by liis own Natural Powers, to reftore a dead Body to Life again. So again. What could have induced our Saviour to have attempted the giving Sight to a Perfon that had been blind from his Birth, had He trufted to the Powers of Nature for the Succefs of that Ope- ration ? When there had not been at that Time one Inftance from the Crea^ . tioa ^48 Sermon XIL tion of the World, of a Perfon's Seeing that had been born bh'nd ; Swce the World begitn was it not heard^ that any Maff opened the Eyes of one that was born blind ^. How our Saviour fhould be poilefs'd of a Piece of Knowledge which no Body has ever had either before or fince his Time, and is confefs'd by the Spinoftjl to be a Secret which he pre- tends not to fathom, is what he ought to give fome Account of. Till fuch Time, we have a Right to infift upon it, That thofe Inftantaneous Cures our Saviour performed upon the Perfon born blind, upon the Dumb and Deaf, upon the Sick of various Diftempers, and even upon fuch as were really dead, fhould be taken for fome uncommon Exercifes of the Power of God, and not for any Natural Effe£i:s of certain Powers of Nature. 2dly^ Having fhewn that fome Miraculous Works mentioned in our Gofpels, fuppofing them to have been really performed, could not be the Ef- fects * John IX. 32, SeR MOIST xil. 349 fe£ls of any Powers of Nature, I am now to flaew, That fuch Works could not be performed by any Agents infe- rior to God ; and for this plain Rea- on, Becaufe fome of them, as for In- ftance, the raifing a Body to Life that has been once really dead, requires as great a Power as the giving Life at firfl: to fuch a Body. For, if we can judge at all , it will require as great a Power to reftore a Piece of Matter to Life again, when that Organization is fpoiled which was necefTary to Life, tho' it had been before animated, as to animate any Parcel of Matter, that ne- ver had any of the Organs necelTary for Life. And therefore the fame Pow- er, which could re-animate a Body that was reduced to an inanimate State, would be fufficient for animating any ^ Part of Matter whatfoever. But what- ever Extraordinary Works may be done, whether really or in appearance, by any Invifible Agents inferior to the Supreme Being, yet fo long as the Daft be- lieves him to be the Maker of the World, and of all Things that are con- tained g^o Sermon XII. tamed in it, he cannot believe any In- feriour Beings to have a natural Power, or a Power independent upon God, of making any new Species of Animals, or of forming any Individuals out of lifelefs Matter, of the fame Species with the prefent ones of God's making \ be- caufe a Power lodged in any Hands different from thofe of the Creator, of encreafing the Number of Animals in any other way than of His Appoint- ment, would be inconfiftent with the Oeconomy of the World, and the Fit- nefs of Provifions, both with Regard to the Qiiantity and Quality of them, for the Ufe of fuch Animals. For there is no conceiving how there fhould be fuch an exa6^ Adjuftment of Provifions for the Animate Part of the World, as I have already fhewn there is ^, with- out fuppofing that there was fome In- telligent Being, who had calculated what Qiiantity of Provifions would be neceifary for fupplying the AVants of fuch- -a Number of Animals, as He in- tended Sc» Sermon X Sermon xii. 351 tended fhould dwell upon the Face of the Earth. And it cannot be fup- pofed that God would furnilh any of his Creatur'es with a Power of difturb- ing his own Plan, and making it un- becoming his Wifdom to execute. If there have been any Inftances pretended of the Exercife of fuch a Power by inferior Agents without G 0 d's AfTiftance, becaufe in Oppofition to Him ; as in the Cafe of the JEgyp. ^Un Magicians, and of A^ollonim\ raif. xng a Lady to Life in Rome when Ihe was carrying to the Funeral Pile : I Answer, That as to ih^ Inflance of the Magicians, there is no Evidence that their Performances were more thaa Delufory or in Appearance : The Works which they did, as well as Mofes, were thefeTwo; the turning their Rods in- to Serpents, and bringing Frogs upon the Land of %/? : Thefe are the on- ly Wonders performed hy the JEgypUns, that have any Pretence to the making any of the AnimAte Kind : And yet neither of thefe Inftances will prove, that they had a Power of giving Life to 352 Sermon xil. to Lifelefs Matter. For as to the firft, njiz. the Converfion of their Rods into Serpents ; we have no Reafon 'to think that this was a real Change or Con- verfion into a living Creature ; becaufe we finc{ that AAYon\ Rod, after it had beeji at two different Times converted into a Serpent ; this fame Rod, I fay, was ever after called by the Writer of the Book of Exodusy a Rod or Wand, and employed to the Purpofes of a Rod '?-, The Rod which was turned into a Serfenty Jbdt thou take' in thine Hand, and Verfe 17, 'tis employed as a Rod to fmite upon the Waters; Chap. viii. 16.. it was ufed in fmiting the Duft of tht Land. So as after it had been twice a Serpent, it refumed its primitive Na^- ture of a Rod, and this too without the Help of any miraculous Change, ^s far as appears by the Hiftory ; and feems to have continued in that State ever after. But however it might have been with Jaronh Rod, yet had the Magicians Converfion of their Rod in- t6 * Exodiif, Chap. IV. and Chap. VH. y. JS- Sermon XIL 353 to a Serpent, been a real Change, it would be hard to give a Reafon, why they were not able to form Lice out of the Diift, as well as a Serpent out of tJieir wooden Wand : For as to the firft of thefe, the Magicians immediate- ly cry\i, as foon as they faw it, That it XV AS the Finger of GoD, and did not pretend to any Thing like it. And yet no Body will pretend to fee more Difficulty in animating Duft than m giving Ufe to a Piece of dead Wood. As to the fecond Inftance, the Scri- ptures fay nothing of Frogs being made by the Incantations of the Magicians, ^ but only that they brought them out of the Water upon the Land ; which certainly may be done without the Power of forming fuch Animals as Frogs. The laft Inftance is that of Apollonius of Ty.tna^ railing a Lady to Life that had been carried cut for dead. The Account which Vhihjlratus gives of it, tiio' he was well inclined to do all the Honour he could to Apc!loniu (Y JIa a o h 3$<5 .;f{^9f!;SERM0N XII. to have done, could not be the B& fe£ls of any Powers of Nature, nor of any Agent inferior to G o d, *'T AM to fhewj^^^^/j, That the Dif- ciples of our L ok d were quali%dNfor judging, Whether fucli Works v hfidelibus etiam potuijfep VfdeHy f - una in iis locis adfuiffent in qui^ bus i^fe Chrijlus difcipuUs app^ruif. This I think is fpeaking fully in Behalf of the Sincerity of our W itnejOTes, and of tlie Motives too of their Belief in the Re- furreftion ; tho' after all thefe Concef- fions, he will have it, that the Difciples might be deceived, aiid take an Ap- pearance for a Truth, * I have therefore nothing more to do, but to flaew from th^ Circumftances they give of this Fad, that they could .not be deceived as to the Fad of the Refurredion ; that they muft have been able to di- ^iftinguifh their real Mafter from his Sj-Cyhoft or Apparition. tr In the Morning immediately after (.the Sabbath was over, certain Women r went with Spices to embalm our Sa- viour's Body ; when they carae to. the .^^^^ 3 Sepulchre. 3$8 Sermon Xll; Sepulchre, they found the Stone rolled away, tho' they could not imagine by whom ; they went into the Grave, and were in a great Confternation upon not finding cur Saviour's Body there ; they went and told this to Two of his Difciples, who went to the Sepulchre, and found what the Women had told them to be true ; no Bodj there, only the Burying-Cloaths to be found. Thus far then mufl be evident to them, That the Body was not in the Sepulchre, whatever was the Caufe of its Re- moval : This is a Matter of Fad, of which no Body will deny they might be good WitnelTes : The only Difficul- ty that can be made, is, Whether the Appearances of our Saviour to his Difciples were real^ or only imagimty. It muft be obferved, from the Account which all our Evangelifts give of this Matter, that the Difciples were fa far from being credulous, or ready to be- lieve that their Mafter was rifen, that they all rejedcd the Story of the Wo- men, concerning his being rifen to Life, as2n idle Tale; They might therefore .^ A be Sermon XIL 359 be capable of being good WitneiTes, when they witneffed agdnft their Pre* judices. But let us fee what Reafons prevailed upon them, prejudiced as they were, to believe that He was really ri- {Qn ; and whether fuch Reafons would not have determined any Reafonable Man to believe as they did. They faw him at feveral Times, knew thzt He was exaftly Hke that Perfon, whoiti they faw t'other Day hanging upon a Crofs : They heard him talk often with them, they knew 'twas fo hke their Mailer's Voice, that they did not doubt they as really heard him talk, after He was dead, as they had done, while He was alive ^ and as if the Teftimo- ny of two of their Senfes was not a fufficient Proof of his being their ol(| Mafter , One of them , viz, Thomas was fo incredulous, that he declared' he would not believe it was really his Mafter, unlefs he might not only fee in his Hands the Marks of the Nails, with which the Jews had faftned them to the Crofs, hut alio thrujihis fingers into the Hc^leSf and thrufi his Hand into A a 4 hh 3<5o S E R M O N XII. his Sid^j that had been wounded by the Spear. Thomas was gratified in all this,; and convinced that it was not an Appa- rition that only counterfeited the Afped and Voice of his Mafter, but really and truly his Mafler raifed to Life again ; for by touching and handling his Mafter, he had a farther Evidence that it was hisi Mafter, and not an Apparition, becaufe- fuch h/tve not fk^j and. Boim^ as Thomas found his Mafter had, and therefore cried out for Joy, My Lo r d^ ^nd. my God. He did not appear to his Dif- ciples once, twice, or thrice, but a great many Times before his Afcenfion ; and thefe Appearances were not fhort and tranfient, but in fome of them H« ftaid lb long with them, as to eat and drink with them ; fo as they had fuf- ficient Opportunities, and Time enough for examining, whether it was He or not; and at laft they faw the fame Perfcn whom they had fo o^ten feen, parted from them, and afcending up into Heaven. If after all this Evi- dence , thefe Witneffes were deceived, we mull give up the Teftimony of the Sermon XH- 5^5% the Senfes as not. td be depended on in any Cafe whatever; and die Sfin(Mt. fift might, if. he had pleafedj with >as good Reafon have faid, That the Dil^ ciples of our L o ii d were deceived in believing their Mafter was any Thing- more than a Man i» Jpi>earance only evejf before Crucifixion ; 'till he is pleafed to tell us what Sort of Evidence he would have infifted upon, which theApoftles- had not. ; Lrct I T will not be fufficient to fay, That I have allowed tjie Magicians Rods to be only in Appearance turned into Ser- pents, and yet no doubt the Standers by were as fully perfuaded that the Rods were really become Serpents, as the Apoftles were that they faw their Lord, when they faw his j4pparmo;i>y Becaufe we don't find that the Standers by were difficult in believing the Con- verfion of the Magicians Rods, and therefore not careful in examining; whether it was fo or not. Whereas in this Inftance of the Refurreftion, Kjs Difciples were averfe to beheving ii true, and therefore nice in thbir Exi- ^'' mination : . ^62 Sermon XII. mination ; they had feveral Opportu- nities at different Times of feeing our Saviour ; whereas this Converfion of the Magicians Rod was once made, and quickly deftroycd by Aaron's Rod, fo Ijhat there was not much Time allowed for examining the Truth of that Ap- pearance; and there was no Necellity for Mofds\ difcovering that the Change was not rul ; becaufe their Rods being made to difappear by Aaron's Rod, was a fu&ient Confutation of the Power \yj which the Magicians a8:ed, altha' the Converfion in both Cafes had been only m ifpearance. If it be faid, That had our Saviour really rifen with the fame Body He laid down in the Grave, the Two Dif- cipies of his whom He joyned as they were travelling to Emmaus^ muft have fenown iiim, becaufe they both faw Jiini, ?jid hctd a long Difcourfe with him. Our Anfwer is, That St. Mark |;ells us, our Saviour appeared to them i* Wif^ i^oe(pir, in a different Drefs from what thofe Difcipies had been >\fed to fee hiro in j as He appeared at another Sermon Xll. ^6^ another Thtie to Mary Magdalen in the Habit of a Gardmer. That it often happens that we do not know out moft intimate Friends, when they have difguis'd themfelves with a Defign to he concealed from us ; efpecially if we meet them at a Place or Time, when and wikre we not only did not expeffc to fee them, but were fully perfuaded they were at that Time in another Place; \^hich was plainly the Cafe of the Two Difciples with Regard to our Sa- viour: For notwithftanding the Re- port the Women had made to them of his being living, they feem to have fcelieved nothing of the Matter, and therefore could have no Thoughts of meeting upon the Road a Perfon whom they did not believe to be alive : And then 'tis very poflible, they might entertain no Sufpicion of its being their MaJIer^ altho' the Perfon tliey faw and converfed with, might very much re- femble him, both in his Afped and his Voice. And therefore nothing can be inferred from this Fad, to the Preju- dice of a red Refurredioji : Nothing that 364 Sermon XII. that ought to hinder us from coticlu-' ding, That if after thofe frequent Occa- iSons which the Difciples of our LoRi^i^' hdid of feeing Him, of eating and drink- ing with Him, of handling Him after |iis Refurredion, their Teftimony of of his being alive might ftill be falfe ; they muft have been Deceivers,, and be- lieved nothing themfelves of the Fads they tell us : But Sj/inofa has. already acquitted them from any Defign of im-» poling upon us ; confequently, our Sa- .viouR muft have really rifen ^gain, and not iti Jppearame only : But by «S'^/- yjofa^s Confeflion, fuch a Faft exceeding all the Powers of Nature, muft have God for its Author. Which is enough to fhew, That fome uncommon Works may be a good Proof of a Divine Mifr fion : and therefore that it cannot be a good Reafon for refufing a feir Exami^ nation to any Revelation, to plead, Tljat there is no other Way of Proving it fuch, but by fome Extraordinary or yn^ common Works. HOUMfLC moSi 3<^5 SERMON XIII. ijc I Cor. X 21. '.•••■'ii! For after that, in the Wif dom of God, the World hy JVifdom knew not God,* it pJeafed God iy the fooUjhnefs of Preaching to fave them that believe. HE Dcfign of our Apoftle in this Chapter was, to mortify fome Perfons, who at that Time pretended to '*' defpife the Chriitian Reli- gion, becaufe of its Plainnefs and Sim- plicity. Befides many other Exceptions "^"they madcagainftitj fuch as the mean Eftate '^66 Sermon xili. Eftate of its firft Author , and his ' dying fo much like a common Male-^ fador, they were not a little offended at it, becaufe its Profeffors did not give their Dodrines the Air and Turn of the Schools, nor proved them from any of the then admired Principles of Truth; but required Men to take them upon the Credit and Authority of one Jesus, whom they affirmed to have been fent on Purpofe by God to pub- lifh them to the World: They expe- fted to have had the Immortality of the Soul, a Refurredion, and fuch-like Doctrines made out to them from Prin- ciples of Reafon and Philofophy ; for, as the Apoftle tells us. They fought after Wifdom^ v. 22. with which goodly Title they were wont to dignify their Spe- culations in Philofophy ; but when they found the Apoftles were Perfons alto- gether unacquainted with any of their Syftems, the then reputed Standards of Truth and good Senfe ; and that they chiefly infilled upon the Authority of their Master, they flighted their Preacliing, as fit only for the Enter- tainment Sermon XIII. ^5/ tainment of the illiterate and credulous Part of Mankind J the Authority of a Mailer, efpecially of One that came to ib bad an End, appeared to them to be no better than Foolifhnefs, or foohfh Talking. Christ crucified ^ to the Greeks FooUfhuejs^ v. 2j. As an An- fwer to this Way of Reafoning, St. Faul tells them, That if Chriftianity was FooU ifhmjs, it was only fuch to thofe who perifhed by rejefting it ; but as to thofe who embraced it, it was the Power of God, and the Wifdom of God : And as a Proof of the Truth of what he faid, he bids his Corinthians ask thefe vain Men, What they with all their Wifdom had done towards bringing the World to a true Senfe of Religion, and whether they could fhew any fuch Ef- fects of their Inftrudions, as were eve- ry Day produced by the Preaching of the Gofpel ? Where is the Wife ? Where is the Scribe ? Where is the Difiuter of this Ags^ Hath not God made foolifh the Wifdom of this World ? v. iK>. Of which he gives an undeniable Inllance, Tlmt after all their Attempts, and all their boafted 368 Sermon XilL boafted Wifdom, they were not got fo far as to know the ObjeQ: of their Wor- fliip aright ; or, allowing fome Few of them to have had juft Notions of the Deity, that yet they were never able to propagate any of them among the Reft of the World. And therefore as the Way of Wifdom and Knowledge had not fufliciently anfwered the Pur- pofes of informing the Bulk of Man- kind in their Duty, he tells them, God was pleafed to proceed with Men after a new Method, and to bring them to Himfelf and an holy Life, without profound Kj^owledge^ in a Way of Be- lieving, For after that, in the Wtfdom of God, the World by Wifdom knew not God, it f leafed Gob hy the Foolijhnefs of Preach^ ing to fave them that believe. From the Text thus explained, I fhall take an Occafion of comparing to- gether thefe two different Ways of In- Itrudion, by Faith, and Reafon : And after having eftablifhed the Reafonable- nefs of fubmitting to the Inftruiiions of Faith , fhew, That this is on ma- ny Accounts better fitted for Teaching Men Sermon- Xlll. 3^9 Men their Duty, and the Principles that enforce ky than Reafon or Phiiofophy : And coiifequendy) tho' the Nature and Will of God, as far as is necelTary to be known, was diiccverable (as the D^// fays]) by Natural Light ; yet a Reve- lation might be of great Ufe to Man- kind ; and therefore fuch a Method of Inftrudion not unworthy or unbecom* ing the Wifdom of G o d. I HAVE already obferved, That the Reafons by which . the Deiji pretends to defend himlelf, while he rejects Re- velation, without giving it a fair Hear- ing, arc thefe : i/, *' That there is no proving a Revelation, but by Miracles; and that Miracles will never prove any Thing but .our own Ignorance. 2dly, ^^ Th AT if they could be made to prove Something, they could not prove a Revelation, becaiife a Reve- lation would be ufelefs, and therefore cannot have God for its Author, who *' does nothing in vain, or without good ** Reafon. B b jdly, Be* . 370 Sermon XIII. ^dly, " Because there are fo ma- ^* -ny Pretences to Revelation, all of " them pretending to be fupported by " the Extraordinary Power of God, ^ " that there is no difcovering which " of them is the true one, if any fiich *' were." These are the Difficulties which hinder him, as he pretends, from be- lieving as we do. •'As to the firft ofthefe, I have con- fidered it already ^. The fecond Difii- iculty they fupport by thefe two Rea- fons : I * " Becaufe Authority cannot be *^ a fufficient Ground to form a Ra- " tional AHent upon. 2. Becaufe what- " ever is needful to be known in Re- *• ligious Matters, may be found out *' by Reafon and Difcourfe." I SHALL therefore fliew i/, That Authority may be a good Reafon for giving our Affent to a Propofition. i?^/y. That a Revelation is better fitted on many Accounts for Teaching Men their Duty, than Reafon or Phi- lofophj. * SecScrra. XII. Sermon XIII. 37 r lofofhy : And therefore that 'tis not un- becoming the Wifdom of God 'to make one. iff. The Reafonablenefs of Believing, or the Reafonablenefs of fuch a Perfua- fion, as is entirely built upon Faith or Authority, is to be proved. By a Perfuafi- on formed upon Fai(h or Authority, in Di- ftindion from a Perfuafion that refts up- on Reafon only ; I mean, a Perfuafion, That a Propofition is true, altho' our Reafon cannot difcover any necelTary Agreement between the Parts of the Propofition ; but believes them to be truly conne8:ed, becaufe we are told as much; fo as if God reveals a Propo- fition to us, which Natural Reafon dif. covers to be evidently and neceffarily true, as He has done in the Moral Law ; all fuch as do evidently perceive it to be true, can't be properly faid to take it for a Truth upon Faith, or the Authority of G o D, but upon the Reafon and Evi- dence of the Thing : becaufe where the Proof is clear and evident, the Reafon of Aflent will be refolved into its Evi- dence, not into the Authority of the B b 2 Perfon \ 2^72 Sermon XlII. Perfon who relates It to us for a TrutL And therefore when a certain f Au- thor tells us, '' We neither ought, nor " can AfTent to any Propofition, till the ." Mind does thoroughly underftand, and "evidently perceive it to be true;" -he efre£lually excludes Authority from being any Reafon of our Aflent j it be- ing then only that our AlTent proceeds from a Principle of Faith, when 'tis giv- en before any fuch Evidence appears. God had left Mankind, except a very fmall Part, the jF^iv/, almoft with- out any other Diredions, than what Natural Reafon could furnifli them with. For excepting fome few Tradi- tions, fuch as thofe concerning the For- mation of the Earth, and the Drown- ing it by a Deluge of Waters, and fome others, (which too had the ufual Fate of Dodrines conveyed in the Way of Tradition, viz, of being fo confounded with Fable and Story, that to difcover how much of them was true, what added to the Original Tradition, was near as difficult, ; ^ II t Chrillianity not Myfterious. Sermon XIII. 373 difficult, as it would have been to have difcovered thofe Truths without the Help of any Tradition ;) excepting fome few Traditions, whatever they found put, was in a Way of Reafon and Phi- iojophy^' by fuch Inferences as Keafon wa^ able to draw from its own Principles. God fent no Prophets amongft them to declare authoritatively what their Duty was, but every one was to find it out as well as he could. Not but that He raifed up Great and Learned Men, fuch as many of the Philofophers in tlie feveral Seels were, to be the Interpre- ters of Duty to the People, and perhaps aflifted them too in thofe great Difco- veries they made concerning Himfelf, and their Duty to Him ; but then God did all this in a Way of Reafon and human Wifdom : They never pretend- ed they had them from G o d, or urged Men to the Belief of them on that Ac- count ; the only Arguments they infill- ed on , were fuch rational Deductions from the Nature of Things, as Reafon ^nd Obfervation might have furnifl^ed them \yith. But notwithftanding all B b ^ their 374 S'feRMoN xin. th'etr 'wife Inftruflions, and the Difco- veries made by them concerning tW Object of Worfhip; yet we find th# Bulk of Mankind made fmall Improve-' ments under them •, for St. P^/// tells us, the World with all its Wifdom was not gotten fo far, as to know the True God; and therefore God obferving the fmall Proficiency Men made under this Sort of Teachers, was pleafed to take it upon Himfelf to teach Mankind, and free them from the Trouble of Searching what their Duty was, by long and elaborate Dedudions from Princi- ples of Reafon ; that now they fliould "rely upon his Credit for fucli Truths -as they wanted to be fatisfied in ; that they fhould have His Authority for a Proof, inftead of thofe tedious, and of- ten Times flippery Inferences from Rea- fon, or thofe much more uncertain and ill-grounded Traditions, which tverethe 'beft Means they had of coming at the Knowledge of fome Truths of the great- eft Importance. One would think that Mankind fhould have received this Method of id a being Sermon xiil 375 being Taught byGop with the great- efl: Satis&aion, and a due Senle of their Obligations to G o d their Teach- er ; that no one iliould have puf Him upon proving what He alTerted, before they could beheve Him ; that his Ve- racity, whom Natural Reafon difcovers to be too Wife to be impoled upon flimfelfy and too Good to impofe upoqi others^ fliould have removed all Objer Sions againft fuch a Method of Inftru- £lion : And yet fame People pretend to affure us, That Alfent given to what we don't thoroughly underfland, tho' Supported by the greateft Authority, is repugnant to the Nature of a Rational Being : That clear and diftiiiQ: Idea^ iire ;to the Underifanding, what Light and a fit Medium are to the Eye; and that a Man may as well fee an ObjeQ:, when either of thefe are wanting, as the Mind aflent to any Truth, of whidi |t has not clear and dilfin^i Ideas : Tliat Authority, as fuch, being a Thing foreign to the Propofition, to which we give our Aifent, and not making it more intelligible than it was before, cannot B b 4 therefore 37^ Sermon XIII. therefore induce a Rational AITent ; and confequently , that the Obedience of Faith, and Refignation of Underftand- in^y fo much talk'd of, are a perfe^ Contradiftion to the Nature of an hu- man Mind. '^^ I F tliis Objedion were juft, it would not be eafy to make out what the Apo- ftle contends for, viz. The Preferable- nefs of the Way of Faith above that of Wrfdomy for the Salvation of Mankind. For, li all Affent muft be refolved into clear and diftin6l Ideas as the fole Caufe of it, and no Man could Affent, 'till he had fuch Ideas ; there would be no Room left for Affenting upon a Princi- ple of Faith ; for, as I before obferved, all Propofitions of Faith, properly fo called, do fuppofe that the Peribn to whom they are fuch, does not tliorougli- ly underfland them. That all Affent muft be grounded on fome Kind of Evidence or other, is very certain ; and alfo that a Man muft have a clear and diftinfl: Perception of the Senfe of a Propofition, before lie can give any Af- fent to it J otherwife he would Ai^cm Sermon Xllt. gff to he knows not what: But then it does not follow that a Man can't give his AiTent, 'till he is able to iind out thofe Proofs, which ihew the Connexi- on and Agreement between the Parts of the Propofition ; for why may not Authority, affirming the Truth of a Propofition, be a fuiBcient Evidence to warrant our Ailent ? 'Tis true. Authority , as fuch , does not help* us to underftand the Propofition bet- ter than we did before ; and yet the Opinion we may have of the Per- fon's "Skill and Veracity, who tells us tlie Propofition is true, may be to us, who have this Opinion of him, a pro- bable Evidence of its Truth, and a Ra- tional Ground of Perfuafion. For no one can doubt, whether a Man may not rationally enough give his Aifent to the Truth of any one Propofition in Euclid^ if he underilands the Terms of it, al- tho', being unacquainted with that Sci- ence, he may not be able to demon- ftrate it ; and yet the only Ground of his Affent, in luch Cafe, would be the Authority of fome Perfon, whom he believed 37^ Sermon XIIL believed able to do it. For the iarae Reafoii, tho' we are far from having any clear and diftinft Ideas of a Re« furredion, and can fee no Connexion between our dying and rifnig to Life again, yet we may Affent to this PrOf pofition, That the Dead fhall Hve again, i^ we be once fatisfied that the Perfon who tells us it fhall be fo, is a Lover of Truth, and able to conned the Parts g, if he thought him to be an honejR: Man, and to have better Eyes than hrmfelf ; and yet the Report of fuch a Perfon does not help him to fee the Thing better, than he did before. But, ■ 2%, I Proceed to fhew fome of the Advantages of this Way of Teach- ing the World by Faith, above that of Reafon : As, i/, Upon account of its Certainty; Whilil Mankind was left to the Dire- Qions of Natural Reafon, we meet %ith nothing but Uncertainty and Ir- refolution about Truths of the Kigheft Concern; they were perpetually Dif- puting about the Origh of the World, '-" fome 38( Sermon xiii. fome contending it owed its Original to a lucky jumbling together of the Parts of Matter : Others, That befidcs Matter, there was another Principle, viz. Mind, that a8:uated Matter, and raifed it into that beautiful Order we now fee it in. Others not feeing how the rnany Goods and Evils that he eve- ry where fo intermixed, could, being fo contrary in their Natures, proceed from the fame Principle, concluded, That be- fides Matter, there muft be Two other Principles, One the Author of all the Good, and the Other of all the Evil m the World. Nor were they lels at a Lofs about the Government of the World ; one, and that no inconfidera- ble Se£t of Philofophers, leaving it to the Guidance of Chume ; others to Fate or Nectffipj ; and others to a G o d or Free Jgent, The Generality of Men were under great Uncertainty as to their For* givenefs, after their having offended the D iL 1 T Y. Some hoped their Concern for having done fo, and a Refolution to beimve better for the future, would be fufiicient to make their Peace with Go D ; Sermon XIII. 381 God; but the greateft Part would not trufl: to this, without adding a Vi-- carious Death, as an Atonement for their Faults: But whether either, or both of them, would be accepted, was more than Reafon could inform them; becaufe it could not appear that God was obliged by any of his Perfections to accept of either or of both ; and fuch Things as depend upon his Will, and are Ads of Bounty or Favour, cannot be known 'till He pleafes to reveal them. If we look into their Debates concern- ing the Happinefs which God defigned Man for, we fhall find them at a great Lofs where to fix it ; however, they generally look'd no farther for it than on this Side the Grave, many of them denying any Reward beyond this Life, and the reft very much doubting it ; io as St. Paul might juftly charge the Gen- tile World with not knowing the True God. For tho' fome of them had ve- ry juft and honourable Notions of God, and did difcover there was a Great and Good Being, that at firft made, and does ftill govern the World : yet they could 382 Sermon XIIL could not, neither was it likely that they lliould, perfuade the reft of the World to be of their Mind. Becaufe there were feme Objedions which the» lay againft this Suppofition, for which Reafon was unable to account ; as for Inftance, They could never give any Man a fatisfaftory Account of the ma- ny Evils, both Moral and Natural, that were too vifible in the World ; or recon- cile them with the Suppofal of a Good and Gracious Being at the Helm of our AjBPairs; becaufe they knew nothing of the happy State of the firft Parents of Mankind ; and that they were deprived of it for an A6t of wilRil Difobedience, and that our Mortality, with all the Confequences attending fuch a State, is an Effed of their Mifmanagement *. For as to the pre-exiftent State, which was the beft Account they were able to give of this Difficulty, no Proof could be made of it; and therefore thofe who would not take up their Opinions upon truft, chofe to afcribe the * Rom. V. 19. Sermon Xlll. 385 the Government of the World to Fate, or any Thing rather than God, upon whofe Goodnefs they thought it would highly refled, if He had created a Ra- tional Being with fuch a Biafs to Evil, _and placed it in fo uncomfortable an Habitation. The Difficulties attending fome Rehgious Truths in a Way of Rea- fon,feem to have determin'd fome of them to the Way of propoling their Senti- ments as Matters difputable ; in which Manner the Academy proceeded with their Scholars. They declared againfi: all Dogmatical Determinations in Matters of Religion, and contented themfelves with examining the feveral Pretences of others, without eftablifliing any Opi- nion of their own upon more than fro^ hable Grounds. Thus we find Cfcero who was one of the Learnedefl: among them, engaging the feveral Seds of Phi- lofophers in a Difpute about the Nature of the Gods, expofing m their Turns the Weaknefs of each of them, and at laft refufing, tho' defired by Cotu, to tell us, what himfelf thought of the 384 Sermon XIII. the Subjed *. We have then the moft confiderable Man of a Sed remarkable for Men of Abihties, at a Time too when Learning and good Senfe were at the higheft Pitch in Greece and Rowe, tacitly giving up the Caufe .of Reafon and Philofophy, as infufficient to in/fire any Man m Truths concerning God and Religion. What then could the reft of the World do, when their greateft Men were fo much divided in thefe Matters ? efpecially when thofe who had the moft Truih on their Sides, made the leafl Pretences to Certainty ; we may eafily imagine that but Few, j^nd thofe of very inquifitive Tempei's, would give themfelves the Trouble of entring into their Speculations, that the reft of the World would flight their Lectures, as defpairing to find where the Truth lay, when they were fo much divided about it. And fo it proved ; their Di- vifions did fo weaken their Authority, and the Influence which otherwife they mult * Viue Lib. -J. Ad fvnem, de Natura Deoruiiu Sermon Xlli: 38^ mufl: have had, that altho' many of them were convinced of the Unity of the Deity themillves, they were ne- ver able to ftop the Progrefs of Polj- theifm^ Of oblige the Government of any one State in the World, to fet up the Worfhip of the One True God. They were fo little able to reform Mankind in this Particular, that in St. Paul's Time their Difciples (the Heathers World) ftill went on in their old Way of Worfl7ip ; In changing the Glory of the mcorrupttUe God, into an Image wA^e like to corru^^ iihle Many and to Birds, and Four-footed ^eaflsy and Creep/^g Things ^. Whereas when God Himfelf undertook to teach the World in a Way of Faith, all Wa- vering and Irrefolution concerning his Nature and Will, quickly vaniQi'd. The Apoftles were well agreed in publifhing the fame Dodrines, and propofed them to their Hearers as certain Truths ; and thofe that gave in their Names hearti- ly to this New Inftitution, Mt off all Difputes of this Kind, and adhered fted- C c dily Rom. [86 S E R xM O N XIII. dily to what the Apoilles taught them ; being fully perfuaded that what they taught them was the Truth : The good Efte£ls of this Agreement quickly ap- peared in the wonderful Succefs they had in Propagating the Chriftian Do- ftrine ; Foljthcijm and Idolatry being forced every where to give Place to the Worlliip of the One True God, which in a very few Centuries became the eftabhflied Worfliip of almoft the then known World. And tho' the firlt Preachers of this Way lay under great Difadvantages, as being of a Nation that the Greeks and Romam look'd up- on as little better than barbarous, the' they were not verfed in the Ways of Reafoning, and the Arts of Perfuafion, that were then moft likely to hav^e re- commended their Do6lrines ; yet when the World came to confider the Strength of that Evidence, which they brought in Proof of them , and from thence faw plainly that Truth was to be found amongfl: them, which the endlefs Dis- putes and Wrajgliiigs of their great Men had forbidden them to expert, they Sermon XIII. 387 they quickly came over to them, quit- ted all their old Engagements in Favour of the Religion of their Country, and fubmitted themfelves to their Inftru- 6i:ions ; which was more than the Phi- lofophers, thofe great Mafters of Rea- foning, and who fo well underftood the Art of managing Mens PalTions, could ever effe8:. For, whatever Re- pute their Schools might have as fit Places for Teaching Men the Rules of human Wifdom ; yet it is plain from the Multitude of their Oracles, and the frequent Recourfe that was had to them upon all Occafions, that the World did not think their Reafonings in Matters of Religion were much to be depended on, and that Faith was a much more certain Principle of Truth. Perhaps it may be thought I have ufed an Argument that may be turned upon me, and upon that Faith which 'tis brought to defend, becaufe it does not appear that there has ever been any better Agreement in O^iraom among Chriftians, than there was a- mong Heathens ) and therefore if the C c 2 great \ 388 Sermon XIIL great Diverfity of Opinions amongft thern, be a good Argument to prove the Vncertat.-itj they were in, then as great a Difference amongft Chriftians, ought in all Reafon to inferr as great an Uncertainty ; that the Hiftories of pafs'd and prefent Times , and the large Catalogues of Herefies that are given us by E^^iphanius, Philajlrius and others do abundantly [hQW, that the Difputes between Chriftians concerning Articles of Religion, come not fhort of thofe among Heathens. That tho' the Authority of Scripture be granted, yet the World is never the nearer to an Agreement in the Articles of Religion, as is plain by the infinite Number of Commentaries upon the fame Scriptures, and the conftant Appeal of all Seds of Chriftians , how oppofite foever la their Opinions, to the lame Holy Wri- tings : and therefore the Way of Faith feems not to have any great Advan- tages above that of Reafon on the Score of d-rtainty. In Anfwer to this, it may be faid, That as to the Catalogues of Herefies given Sermon XIII. 389 given us by the Ancients, they were not much to be relied upon ; that many of them were concerning Matters of fmall Confequence, and not belonging to the Eflence of Rehgion, as appears by the Catalogues themfelves ; and the Writers of thofe Times obfcrve, That People were then very forward in mar king unfair Reprefentations of their Ad- versaries Opinions, and calling every O- pinion that differed from their own, by the odious Title of Herefy. That if Chriftians did differ about the Senfe of fome Places of Scripture that contain^ ed Articles of Importance, fuch as thofe which concerned the InC'Xrrjation of the Word in the Verfon of our Saviour, a Trinity in "Vnttj^ and fome other difficult Dodrines ; that yet as to thofe Articles in which I have charged the Heathens with being very much di- vided, fuch as thofe concerning the Ma- K E R and Governor of the World, whether there was any one Intelligent Being to whom thefe Titles did of Right belong : If there was, whether He had made any Provifion in fome Q Q I othr 390 Sermon XIII. ether State for fuch as had ferved Him faithfully, tho' imperfedllyn this : As to any of thefe Articles, the Difputes among fuch as profelTed the Chriftian Religion were always exceeding few, if compared with thofe amongft the Heathens : And no Chriftian Se6: of any Note at this Time, denies any of them. That thefe are of all others Truths of the greateft Concern, as without which there could be no fuf- ficient Reafon for ferving God at all ; for he that cometh to G o d, muft be- lieve thefe two Things ; that He ii^ and that He is a Rewarder of them that feek Him, That the Belief of the other Do- ctrines of Religion is chiefly required of us for this very End, that our Faith m thefe might be more firm and bet- ter grounded ; and therefore an Agree- ment amongft Chriftians, fo much want- ed among fuch as were under the Guidance of Natural Light, tho' it were to be found only in thefe Truths; yet if we confider the Importance of them to Religion, would fufiiciently prove a ReveUtio-a to be better qualified for Teaching Sermon Xlli. 391 Teaching Mankind the Principles and Motives to Duty, than Reafofi or Pht- lojbphy. However, fuppofing that by De- dudions made from Principles of Rea- Ibn, the wiler and more intelligent Part of the World could have arrived at as great Certainty^ and been as well a- greed in thefe Articles I have now mentioned, as we Chriftians are hy the Help of Revelation ; yet ftill the Way of Faith would be much more efleclual towards a general Inltruction of the World, than that of Reafon ; becaufe a Revelation teaches in a Method that is better fuited to the diiierent Opportu- nities and Apprehenfofis of Men. And that i/, Because its Way of Teaching is much lliorter and more compendi- ous than that of Reafon, therefore bet- ter fitted for the different Opportunities of Men. 2dly^ Because 'tis more eafy and more intelligible ; confequently, better fuited to the different Degrees of Un? derilandigg among Men. C c 4 i/?, H-^- 392 Sermon XIII. ly?, Because its Method of Teach- ing is fliorter. If we confider the State of Mankind, we may obferve that much the greatefc Part are given up to La- bour, and enflaved to a mean Condi- tion, almoft all their Time and Pains laid out in making the necejlTary Pro- vifions for Life. And therefore if we would undertake to teach fuch Perfons their Duty, we mud ufe the fliortefl: Method with them that's pofTible ^ -, but if we compare together the diffe- rent Ways of Proof from Re a Jon and from Faub^ we fhall eafily obferve that any Truth will be much fooner learnt, when 'tis proved by an Argument drawn from Faith^ than the fame Truth would be by Reafo/2 ; for if we would learn any Thing in the Way of Arguing from Principles of Reafon^ we mulf be oftentimes content to go Step by Step thro' feveral Confequences, before we can arrive at our Conclufion ; efpeciaUy if the Truths we would underftand, be of a Complex Nature, fuch as are thofe wliich ; Ongen contra Celfum. Lib, i. p, 9, Sermon Xlll. 393 which concern our Duty. For before we can underftand our Obligation to any of the Moral Laws by Reafon^ we muft confider our own Natures, and obferve the natural Tendencies of Things ; and from thefe inferr our Obli- gations. As for Inftance ; If I would underftand whether I am obliged to be juft in my Dealings, Reafon would difcover it to be fo, becaufe Man is naturally made for Society, and can't live with tolerable Comfort without it ; and tlie World is fo ordered, that un- lefs juft and fair Dealings were obferved, no Society could poftibly be kept up, but would quickly end in Tumult and Confufion : From thence I would con- clude, That fince God had made Juftice fo necefTary to the Well-being of Man- kind, that He intended Men fhould pra- ctice this Virtue ; to underftand our Obligation to this, or any other Duty in a Way of Faith, nothing more is neceflkry, than feeing what the Scrip- tures, which are the Word of God, de- termine m this Matter. There we may prefently learn what our Duty is, by applying g94 Sermon Xiii. applying what the Scriptures fay, to our own Cafe, and difcover at one View what Reafon can't make evident to us, 'till it has put us to the Trouble of ranging our Thoughts, and obferving the Relation and Dependence they have one upon another. This is none of the leaft Advantages which Faith has above Reafon, that it inftruds us in fo com- pendious a Method, that there is no Man, let his Circumftances be never fo ftrait, but may find Time enough to learn his Duty. 2.dly^ As Faith teaches us in a fbort- er Way, fo in a more intelligible one, and which is therefore better fitted for the different Degrees of Underftanding amongft Men. Whiift there was no other Way of Teaching the World but by Natural Reafon, we find the wifer Heathens were fo fenfible of the Diffi- culty of Teaching Men their Duty, that they would conftantly run thro' a Courfe of the difficult Parts of Know- ledge, with their Scholars, before they could think them capable of learning Morality, The Epcurems required the Knowledge Sermon XIII. 39$ Knowledge of Natural Things, the PU- tomjls fome Skill in the Mathematicks^ as a Preparatory to their Ethical Le£lures. They found by Experience how little the Generality of the World could ap- prehend them, when they were Rea- foning concerning the Supreme Being, and their feveral Duties to Him, and therefore generally agreed in excluding the Bulk of Mankind from a PofTibi- lity of attaining to any great Degrees of Virtue ; looking upon fuch only as capable of Virtue, who were furnifhed with good Natural Abilities, and had enjoyed the Benefits of a hberal Edu- cation ; but as to all the reft of the "World, we find Sen ecu ranking them among the Beafts that perifli ; fo as by their own Confeflion, the Way of K^4- fon could never have done much to- wards bringing the World to a Senfe of their Duty, when they fhut out the greateil Part of it from a Capacity of receiving Benefit by it. And 'tis eafy to obferve, that the Generality of Men are hardly capable of any other No- tices of Things, than what are imprefs'd by 3p5 Sermon XIII. by the Objects of Senfe ; they have not Skill enough to compare fimple Terms fb exactly with one another , as to compound them into true Propofitions, and then to inferr from every Propo- fition its Natural Confequences and De- dudions; nor vi^hen they are made for them, always to fee the Connexion and Force of the Argument. An Argument that ftrikes their Senfes fball much more effectually convince them of any Truth, than any the moft exa£l and elaborate Reafonings upon it : And therefore the Miracles performed by our Saviour and his Apoftles, did quickly draw the Multitude after them, and in a little Time brought them in. more Difciples, than the abftrufe Spe- culations of the Philofophers had ever done before. For every Man is able to judge whether a blind Man had been reftored to his Sight • whether the Deaf to their Hearing, and whether the Dead had been raifed to Life again ; Senfe being the proper Judge in thefe Cafes, and then any Man, that had either feen Of heard of fuch Tilings done, would Sermon XIII. '397 would naturally draw the fame Con- clufion from them, as the poor Man in the Go/pel did, when cured of his blind- nefs, that the Perfon who had performed that Cure muft be one that came with Power from above ^ // this Man were not of God he could, do nothing *. Thus far every Man will be able to Reafon, let his Underftanding be never fo mean or fhallow. The Advantages of a Re- velation for teaching Men their Duty would be farther feen, by comparing the Pra8:ice of Preaching the Rehgion to the People, as 'tis done in our Chur- ches, with the Lectures of the Philo- fophers, or the Tnftrudions of Pagan Priefts : Which will be done in the following Difcourfe. - I'N the mean Time this Obfervation naturally arifes from the Whole, That all Endeavours of undermining Reve- lation, and weakning its Authority, are direO: Attempts upon the Good and Happinefs of Mankind ; fince the deftroying its Credit, is bringing the World .* Johii ix. 35" 398 Sermok XIII. World back again to the InftruQions of Natural Reafon , which how little qiiahfied it is for an Univerfal Guide, we have already feen. And therefore, before any undertake to run-down Re- velation, I would beg of them to con- fider a few Things ; That they would look back upon former Times, thofe Times of Ignorance , which God is faid to have wink'd at; I would defire them to refled upon the extravagant Superftitions , and abfurd Rites that made the greateft Part of the Efta- blifhed Worfliip of the Heathen Na- tions, and then I would ask them, Whe- ther it was not greatly for the Ho- nour and Happinefs of Mankind, to be refcued from fuch Errors as were a Reproach and Scandal to human Na- ture ; and to have a Rational Wcrfhip and Religion in the Room of 'em ? And whether 'tis not highly probable, that if the Credit of Revelation were once deftroyed, the World would in a few Ages return to as bad a State as that in \vhich Chriftian Religion found it? I am fure they can't bring any good Arguments Sermon xill. 395? Arguments to prove it would not be fo j and tho' it mufl: be confefTed, that notwithftanding Revelation, the World is ftill bad enough ; yet if we compare the Hiftories of the Times that were before, with thofe that fucceeded, we Ihall foon fee that it has been much improved by it; as might be fhewn in the many irrational Cuftoms, and obfcene Rites of Worlhip (fuch as thofe paid to the Mother of the Gods ^) that have been abolifhed in the feveral Na- tions , where If has been received ; when the Preachers of Natural Reli- ' gion could never prevail with the Peo- ple to part with any of them. From hence too we may obferve, That the Unbeliever cannot be fafe from the Apprehenfions of Punifhment in a future State, while he has no bet- ter Arguments for rejecting our Chri- ftian Revelation, than pleading the Dif- ficulty of feeing what Ufe a Revelation could be of to Mankind. S E R M. * Vide Aug. de CIvitate Dei. Lib. 2. cap. -^, & 5, 401 SERMON XIV. I Cor. I. 21* For after thaty in the Wif- dom of Go Dy the World hyWifdom knew not God, it pJeafed God ly the foolijhnefs of Preaching to fave them that believe. HE Want of a Revelati- on has been proved from the Uncertainty in which Mankind was, with regard to fuch Truths as it nearly concern'd every Body to know. Sucli as thefe ; Whether there were any Su- preme Intelligent Being that took no- D d tice 402 Sermon XIV. tice of the A£lions and Behaviour of Men ; and whether, fuppofing fuch an ofi^ He would forgive Mens voluntary Miftakes, upon their being fincerely con- cern'd for them, and refolving to do better for the fiiture ; and whether He defigned to take any farther notice of them after they were once dead, by re- floring them to Life again, and Re- warding or Punifhing them for their Behaviour here. As to all thefe, I have already fliewn, That the World labour- ed under great Uncertainties. I have alfo proved the Infuificiency of Reafon for^refcuing Mankind from this Uncer- tainty, and for inftruding them in their Duty, from the Confideration of thofe diiPerent Ranks and Orders feen amongft Men : That the lower Order, which is > tl:^e J Generality of Men, is enflaved to ^ mean Condition, that fuch a Condition will . not allow Time fulncient for Spe- culation,, or for confidering in a Way .q£ Reafi»wlut their Duty was. That hx a W^y pf Author it) Mens Duty igiglit be made much more eafy and .intelligible to ^ them than by Reafon or Fhilojo^hj, SfiRWb^'XlV. '403 Vhllofophy, I am' further to prove the Ufeftibefs of a Revelation by one Me- thod of Teaching Men their Duty z^- hsf//> 't6 'it, which is, By Preaching that Rehglon in mix'd AfTemblies, where Perfons of all Degrees may meet, and receive Inftruttion by that which the Vain Philofophers in my Text called the Toolijbmfs of Freachwg. 1 AM not obliged to confider, Whe- ther under Natural Religion the World might not have been better taught than they were, in Virtue of fuch Princi- ples as Natural Reafon might have fug- gefted to them; tho' I have already Siewn^, That Morality could not be explained fo familiarly in a Philofophi- cal Le8:ure, as it is in our Homilies or bifcourfes to the People; but whe- ther in FaQ, after a Trial of Four or Five Thoufand Years, they did hit upon fo good a Method of Reform- ing the World, as this of Preaching , which was introduced among us by RevtUtiof?, The Excellency of this In- ^^." D d 2 ftitution 1* • "^ SeQ SeriT). XIII- 404 Sermon XIV. flitution will eafily appear, if we cor^ fider it as inviting all Sorts of Perfons ta come and be Hearers; and alfo the Number of Places which have been ufually fet aj)art for the Performance of this Religious Exercife. I have al- ready obferved, That only Perfons of Letters or of a liberal Education, pre- tended to go to the Schools of the Phi- lofophers, but now all Ranks of Men, the loweft and moft indigent of the People, all Ages, the Old as well as the Young, "Women as well as Men, have always had a free Accefs to thefe Schools for the Education of a Chriftian, I mean our Churches. And if the Schools of Philofophers had made their Le£iures as intelligible as our Sermons', yet it muft be confidered that their Difcourfes, fo far as Religion was concerned in them, were merely Ethical^ regarding Mens Behaviour towards one another, without concerning themfelves to tell the People the Manner of Reverence or "Worfhip, that would be moft agreeable to- the Supreme Being; they none of Sermon xiv. 4.0$ of them approved any of the then efta- biifhed Ways of Addrefling the Di- vine Being, and had not Courage enough to teach their Scholars any other, only in general Terms, That the bell Way of Worfbipping Him, was to imi- tate Him, and that they told them was beft done by ftudying and obferving his Laws ; which was, in other Words, nothing more than perfuading them tq obferve Moral Duties jon account of their Be.iuty znA Excellency^ as being a Tranfcript of the Divine Nature ; with- out prefTing upon their Difciples the Pradice of Morality upon any Keligi- ous Motives, fuch as the Hopes of God's Favour, and the Fear of his Difpleafure ; without telling them, they mull: practice Virtue, becaufe God would reward them for fo doing, an(i' punifh them if they did otherwife. Ac-' cordingly we find fome of the Fathers of the Church reproaching the Pagans with this unlawful Divorce which tleir ' Philofophers had made of Religion from Morality, " The Pagan Philofcphy, fa^'s. D d 3 LiiciA-r}t}u\ 4o6f Sermon XlV. Lic^amus ^, ^' and ReligioK^ are Two "Things quite diftind one from the " other ; Morality has its particular Do- " dors, ( meaning the Philofophers ) " who do not teach the Manner of " approaching the Gods. " So that had the Ledures read in their Schools^'? been more intelHgible than our Sermons,: yet this Infiitution would have been in- feriour to our VreMhingy as one great Branch of Rehgion, ^-/-si. The Manner of Addreffing to Gqd in Rehgious Worfhip, together with the only folid Supports of a Virtuous Life, viz., A Religious Fear of the Deity, were not taught by them. And as to the Heathen Priefts, whofe peculiar Bufinefs ic was to teach the People how to behave to- wards God; thefe, I fay, made no Difcourfes to the People concerning their "* Philofophia 5c religio Deorum disjurifta funt, tl quidem alij funt profefTores fapieritix per quoS utiquc ad Deos non aditur. Alij lleliglonis anti- ftites, per quos fapere non dlfcitur, Laftant. In- ftitut. Lib. 4. cap. 3. their Duty to their Neighbour; thcf never gave themfelves the Trouble to teach Men the Rules of Virtue ; but fpent their Time in performing S:icriii- cal Rites , and certain Ceremonies of their Religion, and in inftrucling Peo-i ; pie to follow the preicribed Formulary of external Devotion. " Thofe (fays " L^cfamus ^) who teach the Wor- " fhip of the Gods, take no Notice of *' any Thing that may ferve to regu» ^^ late Manners and the. .Condud of ^' Life, they do not in the. leaft feared " after Truth, but apply themfelves " only to learn the Ceremonies of Dir '^ vine Worfliip, which require nothing " but the MiniHry. of tlie Body, and "in which the Sentiments of the Heart " have no Part. " And in another Place f , " Religion has hkewife its ^' Minifters , who do not teach the D d 4 *' Rules * Nihil ibi difleritur quod proScjat ad mores excolendos vitamque formandam, nee habet in- quificionein aliquam Veritatis, fed tancumaiodo ri- tuin colendi, qui non Officio mentis, fed iniaffteriqr corporis coaftac. Inftitut, Lib, 4. cap. 3, t Ibidem. 4o8 Sermon XIV. "Rules of Morality. " St. Aufim,m has a PafTage to the fame Purpofe, in which he challenges the Heathens to Ihew " any fuch Places as our Church- " es, where the Precepts of the Mc- " ral Law are ufually read by the " Priefts, and heard by the People, \V which, he tells them, is the Cafe ** wherever the Chriftian Religion pre- "vails." .: We have no Reafon to think thefe Fathers have wronged the Heathen Priefts, if we confider that they could not with any Decency pretend to have- given the People any LefTons of Mo- rality ; becaufe they muft have founded" very ill from the Mouths of fuch Per^ fons as were obliged, if they would talk confiftently with the Principles . of that Religion, to give fuch frightful Ideas; — ■ in-? - - .'• * Dicatur in quibus locis hxc docentium Deo- rum folebant prsecepta recitarl, Sc a culteribus c6-7 rum populis frequenter audiri, ficut nos oftcndimns" ad hoc Ecclefias inftitutas, quaquaverfuni Religia, Chriftiana Di^ditur. lib. 2. cap. 6. De Civi- uzc Dei. Sermon XIV.-^ 409 Ideas of the Divinity, afcribe to it fo many grofs Imperfedions, Weakneffes, and even Vices, as v^ould be abhorred by any Man that; had but a moderate' Senfe of Honefty. * ^- '' ' But farther, if we confider the Number of Places fet apart for the Performance of this Rehgious Exercife, we fliall ftill find the Advantages to lie on the Side of a Revelation ; thefe Places are to be met with, not only in Cities and great Towns, but even in the meaneft Villages, by which a Pro-i' vifion is made for the Countryman, as. well as the Citizen, that he may be taught his Duty, and well skilled in his Religion, without ftirring out of the Bounds of his Village or Parifh. Whereas the Schools of. the Philofo- phers were very few, and thofe in Places only where there was on other Accounts a great Refort ; they were not enough difperfed, as our Churches have been from the Beginning of Chrifli- ^nity, for the general Inftrudlon of Mankind; fo that had their Ledures been as plain as pur Sei^ljapjis , tl;^" greatefl 4io Sermon XIV* greatefl: Part of the World could not have reforted to them, by reafon of the Diftance they lived from thofe Schools : The lower Sort of People not having Time from their Trades and Employments, to travel far for Inftru- 6:ion. I cannot forbear tranfcribing the Words of the moft Learned Dr. Prideaux in his Connexion * upon this Occafion" ^f.As the JVjvi-, fays he, had their Syna- " gogues, m which the Law and the " Prophets were read unto them every *' Sabbath Day, fo the Chriftians had " their Churches, m which from the ^^ Beginning all the Dodrines and Du- *^ ties of their Religion were every " Lord's Day taught, inculcated and " explained to them ; and by G o d's *' Bleffing upon this Method, chiefly " was it, that this Holy Religion ilill " bore up againft all Oppreflions, and ** notwithftanding the Ten Perfecutions " and all other Artifices and Methods " of Cruelty and OpprefTion , which *' Hell and Heathenifm could devife to " fupprefs * Connexion, PArt i. pag.^ 309.. _ " fupprefs it, grew up and increafed^ " under them ; which "Julian the Jpo-^' '^ JUfe was fo fenfible of, that when "he put all his Wits to work to find " out new Methods for rellori ngthe ^' Heathen Impiety, he could not think '' of any more effeaual for this Pur-J " pofe than to employ his Philofopher$^ " to preach it up every Week to the " People, in the fame Manner as the " Minifters of the Gofpel did the « Chrift ian Religion ^. " The Ufe that I would make of this Paffage is, To fhew, what Opinion one of the fubtileft, a^ well as moll malicious Adverfaries,"^ that ever the Chriftian Religion met with, had of this Way of doing Ser^-^ vice to any Religion, by Preaching it to the People, as 'tis done in our Churches. Which is a fufficient An- fwer to fuch of our Unbelievers, as will not allow it potable for a Revelatioa to be of any Ufe or Service to Man- kind. But ■* Gregory Nazianzen Oratio contra Ji'.lianum. 412 Sermon XIV. , JBu T then, if a Revelation be realljf of fuch Ufe to Mankind, it may be a^k'd, Why there have not been more Preachers of it, fo that all the World niight have had the Benefit of it ? and • in particular , Why the Chriftian Re- ligion was confined to the Rom apj Em- pire, or at leafl not extended much farther? That as God is acknowledg- ed to be the Common Father of All, and no Refpecter of Perfons or Na- tions, if this Religion had God for its Author, it would have been communi- cated to the Vpper as well as the Lorn- er Jfia, to the Chine fe and Tartars^ as well as to thofe Parts of Afia which were m the Roman Empire, or border- ing upon it ; to the Urge Continent of Amertcay as well as to the fmaller one of Europe, The Want of fuch an Uni^ verfaiity, has been urged by a late Au- thor f, as a fufficient Reafqn for Re- jecting any Revelation, tho' . it comes recommended by every other Proof that can be defired; and for this Reafon, That \ Blount's Mlfcellanics, p«f out by Gildon. Sermon Xl^. 413 " That if no one Revelation has been ^ equally made known to All, that none " can be wanting or needful to any, " And then, there being no real Want " of a Revelation , there can be no " Reafon for expeding any other- Light *' from God, than what He commu- " nicated to us when He gave us our ^' Reafoning Faculty, as He does no- " thing in vain, or gives any extraor^ ^'di/tary Fowersy when i\\Q ordinary ones .^^: are fufficient. " I HAVE already fhewn, That a Re- velation was wanting on feveral Ac- counts ; and therefore am only obliged to fee, whether a partial Revelation be as good an Argument to prove that fuch a Religion cannot come from God, as any Miracles or extraordinary Works would be to prove that it muft come from Him. That the firfl: cannot be fo good an Argument to invalidate 2l Revelation, as the latter is to con* frm it, is evident, becaufe we are fure 'tis inconfiftent with the Nature of Go D to exercife his Power in fo extra- Ordinary as Manner, as is that of a Mi- racle, 4H Sermon XIV. racle, in Behalf of a Falfhood, (which muft be the Cafe, if a falfe Reh'gion was fupported by true Miracles *) as 'tis impoliible that a 'Being, whofe Charader is that of a Lover of Truth, Ihould, conliftently with its own Na- turCj countenance an Impofture or Falf- hooi Whereas we are fo far from fee- ing any Inconfiftence with the Nature of G o D, altho' a Religion fbould be communicated to fome, and not to o- tliers, that fuch Communications appear to be mere Matters of Favour, which may be granted or refufed, without af- fecting any Moral Attribute of God i And then the Argument drawn from the former cannot be depended upon ; becaufe there is nothing for it but the Will and Pleafure of a Being, who was not at all reftrained from acting either Way ; whereas the latter depends upon his Nature, which is necefTarily what it is ; and therefore the A6ls flow- ing from it as incapable of Change, a^ the Nature itfelf from which they flow. But, 2d!y, — "» ' ' - ■ ' Sre Sermon XIL Sermon X1V< 4.!^ 2dly^ Supposing it was not a Mat- ter of mere Favour ; yet i{ it was to be communicated at fome Time or other to all Nations, and any Reafon could be gi- ven, why not to all at the fame Time, then no Argument could be drawn from the partial Preaching of the Chri- ilian JReligion, which would afFe£t its Divinity. But, i/, Altho' when we confider the Uncertainty Mankind was in with Re- gard to the Will of G o D , we might have believed that Goo of his Good- nefs would, fome Time or other, make Himfelf better known to us, yet it would be a Favour m Him to go out of the common Courfe of his Providence for any of our Advantages. The Light of Reafon He had given us for our Di- rection, and if that fhone but darkly^ yet if God would have been merciful to fuch as made the beft Ufe of that dim tf^hty neither his Juftice nor Goodnefs CQuld have been called in queftion, tho' He had not made any extraordinary Com- munications of his Will to Mankind. We can be grateful in owning the Ai- vantages j\.i6 Sermon XlV, vantages we ChrifiUns have above HeA- thens (in as much as we are aflured of Forgivenefs of our Sins on Account of the meritorious Death of our Savi- our, of which the Heathen could not be certain) without prefuming to fay, that God could not, confiftently with his Attributes, have remitted our Of- fences, and will ftill forgive thofe, who never had the Gofpel Preached to them, without the Knowledge of fuch an A- tonement. We freely own the Advan- tages of Faith or Revelation for a gene- ral Inftrudion of the World, and yet will not fay that God has left himfelf without a Witnefs in the heathen World : that It was poflible for Men to find out the main Strokes of their Duty, and to hope that God would pardon upon Re- pentance, is Evident from many of the Heathen Writers upon Morality. If o- thers of meaner Capacities, and whofe Opportunities of Improvement were left, could not flrike out their Duty in a way of Reafon ; this plainly fliews that God was not obliged to give all Men equal Abilities for underftanding Natural Re- ligioa, Sermon XIV. ligion, and therefore it can never be a good Argument againft a Revealed Reli- gion, fhould any one argue, That 'tis not from God, becaufe not equally com- municated, or not giv^en to All, as well as to Some. Since no Reafon can be given, why God ihould be at per- fect Liberty in diftributing Natural Light in various Degrees to different Men, and different Nations, which will not equally hold with Regard to Su^ prmtural Light , or that fuperadded Alfiftance, in the Way of a Revelati* on. But, 2.dlyj Supposing it was not a Matter of Favour in G o d to make a Revelation of our Duty ; yet if our Chriftian Revelation fliall be commu- nicated to All at fome Time or other, and fome Reafons might be affigned, why it fhould be communicated to Some and not to Others ; then its Want of Univerfality would not affeft its Divi- nity, or its having God for its Author, ibr thofe who lay Strefs upon this Ar- gument, muft take thefe Two Things tor granted, viz. That the Gofpel will E e never 4(,§ . Sermon XIV? nev^r be univerfally propagated ; and timt no polTible Reafons can be afligned, why ^11 Nations, as well as fome^ have not the Gofpel communicated to them at the fame Time, If there is no Rea- fon for taking either of thefe for grant- ed ; then the whole Support of this Ob- jection is taken away. As- to the firft of thefe, an Apoftle of our Saviour's, St. Faul f, has told xis, That the. Time will come, vVheii the Fulnefs of the Gentiles Ihaii be brought into the Church of Christ; and that then the "Jem too fhould univerfally come into a Profef- fion of our Chriftian Religion. A Preach- er then of this Religion having told us, that this would be the Cafe^ no Deifi can with Reafon object , that becaufe the Time is not yet come, therefore it will never come. If St. Paul had told us the precife Time, when this fliould be ; and fuch Time had been elapfed, we muft have given up this Argument con- cerning the Univerfal Propagation of our Religion, ,■ I iji %\f II*,; III — III I . ■ I II ,11 — :. .' t Romans xi." ^$, Sermon XIV. 419 Religion, and owned that the Apoftle' had miliaken our Saviour's' Meaning* But as there are no particular Marks or • Signatures, by which we may judge at what particular Time this lliould be. brought to pafs, no Argument can be fairly drawn againft our Chriftian R^^l- ligion, from its not being as yet uni^x verfal. But then it may be faid, That if Revelation is a great Benefit, it can- not be thought, that as the whole Earth > is the Lord's, and the Fulnefs thereof and that He is as much the Common: Father of the paji Generations, as of thofe which are yet to come; it cannot be thouglit, that He would have left fo many Parts oi the Earth in Darknefs- for fo many Ages fince the Go/pel wa$ firft pubiiibed in the Roman Empirec;- but would have long e'er this commu- nicated the G off el to them. Our An- fwer to this is, That tho' we do not pretend to tell the particular Reafons which determined an infinitely >Vife Being not to fend his Apoftles into Chipd^/T^rtary, or America^ at the fame Time .as. He fent them over all the E e 2 Roman .4.20 Sermon XIV. Romm World : Yet l^ any probable Reafon can be afTigned, why it was not at the fame Time Preached to them, thdt will be fujSicient to deftroy the Force of this Objedion. One Reafon why the Chriftian Re- ligion was not Preached to every Na- tion of the Earth, at the fame Time as it was to thofe who lived within the Bounds of the Roman Empire or bor- dered upon it, might be. That fuch Nations were not qualified for receiv* ing the Gojfel at that Time. All Law- givers have been won't to fuit their Laws to the Nature of the People for whom they defigned them ; if the Peo- ple they were to govern were igno* rant and unpolillied , the prefcribing to them at frjl the moft exad Rules of Behaviour , would be Labour loft upon them, they would be incapable of bearing with them, and therefore re- ceive no Benefit from them. As their Barbarity wore off, fome Irregularities, which had been before tolerated, would be then with good Reafon corrected aad reformed, according to the ftrifteft Rules Sermon XIV. 42 1 Rules of good Senfe. The Great lie- giflator of* the World feems to Imve aded in this Manner, with Regard to the Two Inftitutions He gave by M?- fes and by Christ; by the firft He allowed of fome Things in Condefcen- lion to the Obftinacy and Stupidity of the Ifraelites, fuch as Divorces upon the flighteil: Pretences; He enjoyned many carnal Ordinances, of which the Pro- phet ^ Ezekid fays, by Order from God, that they were not good in themfelves> nor acceptable to Him on any other Account, than as they were at tha Time neceflary to preferve them from imitating the Fafhions of their Neigh- bouring Nations , aad paying Divine Worfhip to Stocks and Stones. When they were well cured of this Inclination to worfhip the Deity after the Man- ner of their Neighbours, as 'tis allow- ed on all Hands they were before our S A V I o u r's coming amongft them. He then fent a Perfon to deliver them a more perfed Religion. When their E e 3; Notions 42 2 S E R ISf O N XIV. Notions concerning the Nature of the Supreme Being were improved by the fpiritual Interpretations jwhich their Pro- phets from Time to Time- gave of the Law of ^foJesy and by their Converfe with the Greek Philofophers, which ap- pears plainly by the Writings of thofe Jen^s that lived after the Bai?jlomfi Cap- tivity, fuch as the Writers of the Book oiWifdomy Ecclejiajiicus, and others, then God fent his Son to them., to teach them a more Spiritual Worfliip ; a Worfbip or Honour more fuitable to the real Nature of G o D, than entertaining Him, as they bad hitherto done, with Sheep and Oxen, which God was pleafed to accept at their Hands, 'till they were capable of knowing Him better. At this Time, 'tis to be particularly obferved. That all Nations, as well as the Jervsy viz. all that lived within the Bounds of the Re- v}An Empire, or were Borderers up- on it, had more or lefs profited by fre- quenting the Schools of the Philofo- phers, and Reading their Eihkd and Me- taj^hyjicd Leclures, in which they treat- ed coacerning the Nature of God, and the Sermqn XIV. 425 the Excellency of Virtue, in a much clearer Manner than any othsrs^ m any other Parts of the World, had eyer done before them. And tho' their Excellent Difcourfes were not fufficient for peiv fuading People to give up the Eftablilh- ed Religion ; yet they prepared Mens Minds for receiving a better, when- ever it fhould come to them well re- commended. Whereas the other Parts pf;,^)B World which had no Commerce with the RomafjSy as far as we know any thing of them, were perfedly Barba- rous, being ignorant of the firft Rudi- ments, of Religion ; i£ they had any Traditions o£ the firft Antiquity, yet they knew not how to make any \J{q of them, or draw any ufeful Conclu- flons from them, as Dr. Burnet oh- ferves '^, Tho' the Bd>jloviam and £- gjptUns had been in- PofeiTion.qf ve- 17 ancient Traditions for many Ages, yet nothing of Ufe was , drawn from them, 'till the Greek f hjofophers uja- E e 4 .^der^oqk ' ■.\;:r-. ,■• — ' — — v^: ;j^i «>,it: * Archasologia, cap. S. p. 72, 75. 424^^ Sermon XI V. dertook them, of which he gives one remarkable Inftance, " That tho' theft ** Nations had Records of all the Ecliiffes ^' that had been from the Beginning of " the "World, yet they were never a- " ble to foretell an Eclipje ; that this " Difcovery was reft-rved for Thales^ " who from their Hiftorical Regiilers " of ^aft Eclipjes, took the firft Hint of " calculating the Timcso!^ future ones." And therefore fuch Perfons for Want of improving their Minds , would have been incapable of relilhing a Religion fo perfectly Rational as our Chriftian ; It would have been cafting Pearls before Swine, giving them what they would not have thanked God for, becaufe too much above their Way of Thinking. As to the AmericmSy we know not when that Continent was firft peopled, or wb^.ther it was at all before oifr Saviour's Coming ; for Garcilajfo tells us when the Spamards firfl: came there, they could give no Account of them- felves higher up than Five Hundred Years , and therefore the Gofpel not : ^^::^ii beins Sermon XIV. 425 being preached in that great Continent of America, at the fame Time , as it was in the Romm Empire, ought to be no Objedion againil it. I need not take any Notice of the Objedion, as it concerns the Scjthians or Tartars^ becaufe having none of their Hiftories to inform us of them, we are at full Liberty to fuppofe them as barbarous, and as unqualify 'd for receiving Chri- ftianity, as we pleafe. The onely Nation which could pretend to any Degree of • Politenels at that Time, and which had not the Gofpel preached to them, were the Chirtefe : And yet how much foever the Literature of thefe People has been cried up, 'tis certain it was very mean. 'Tis plain they were very poorly skilled in Meuphyficks, not hav- ing any Notion of a Supreme Being; ^nd this cannot be doubted. Since * Fa- ther ' De fummo ac primo rerum Authore fhirjim apud omnes Silentium ; quippe In tarn Coplbia lingua, . ne nomen quidem Deus habec Marcini Hilloria Sinica. Lib. i. 42(5 S/J? R M O N XIV. tjicr Martini who was long jn . the Country , and well underftood thejr language, alTures us, " That there *' was not a Name in the Qhinefe ^ Language which would exprefs the ^ lowdl Idea, which the moft barba- " rous Nations had of a God : " And the Synrn Infcription , difcover'd in 1625, is a farther Proof of it : For tho' there had been Sjrian MifRonaries in that Country for above One Hundred Forty-fix Years, and therefore fome of them mull: have throughly under- wood the Qhinefe Language, yet when they were to ereO: a Monument with an Infcription for perpetuating the Me^ mory of their Mififion , they were forced to exprefs the Soveraign f 'Being by the Syriack , Word Aloho :^ tho' every other Word of the Infcrip- tion is in the Chine fe Language : Juft as the Sfaniards ufe the Word Dios.XQ^ inftruQ: fuch of the Americans^ who have not any Idea of a Go d, or any Word * China Illuftrata. Kircheri, pag. 1: /^ Sermon xiv. ^,2^ In their Language by which to exprefs it. And therefore if any People were difquahfied for receiving fo excellent an Inrtitution as our Chriftian, the Chweje mufl be of that Number, as being ignorant of that which is prefuppofed to every Revelation, the Being of a God, or a Free, Intelli- gent, and Powerful Agent. Whereas the Greek Philofophy, being fpread o- ver all the Roman Empire, had form- ed Mens Minds into a truer Way of Thinliing, and from thence infenfibly led them into jufter Notions of Reli- gion, than were to be met with in thofe Places where it was not known * and made them ready to embrace a Rational Religion , as foon as it was propofed to them ; which would be a fuiJicient Reafon why our Gofpel fiiould be preached to them^ and not to the Chinefe^ and other barbarous Nations. And therefore, for all this terrible Ob- jedion, a Revelation might have God for its Author, and be of ufe to Man- kind, tho' all Nations were not at the fame Time favoured with it. Haying 4.28 Sermon XIV, Having Ihewn fome of the Ad- vantages of a Revelation, and that it may be of Ufe to Mankind, altho' no one Revelation has as yet been communicated to ^, and that 'tis pof- iible fuch Evidence may be given of a Revelation's being from God, as ought to fatisfie every Reafonable En- cjuirer ; nothing more feems to be neceHary , befides proving that our xXJihriftiurt is fupported by fuch Evi- dence. {;: In the mean Time I flaall obferve,That it concerns every feriousPerfon, who does not beheve God has communicated Him- ^t\i by a Revelation, to examine care- Hilly into the feveral Pretenfions to Revelations: For fince there appears nothing unworthy of God, nothing but what highly becomes Him, as He is a Good and Gracious Being, in com- municating what would be a Benefit to his Creatures ; it muft appear very probable, that He has before this Time niade fome Revelation fome where or pther. As the Deiji has heard of the Chriftian Religion, \ would particu- larly Sermon XIV. iarly recommend That to his Confide- ration ; and he will, if he be a ferious Perfon, think himfelf obliged, before he fettles himfelf in 'Delfm^ to confider carefully the Nature and Force of the Evidence by which 'tis fupported, and not, as a great Part of our Ddjis^ re- je6; it merely for fuch Reafons^ as mull affed Revelation in general. For if it were barely pofRble, that the Goodnefs of God might have inclined him fome Time or other, to fupply the Defers of Natural Light by a MeiTage from Heaven, it would be both our Duty and Interefl: to en- quire, Whether he had done fo or not, and not offer to flaew our Wit asainft the Ghriftian Religion, as the Manner of fome is, before they have well con- fidered it, and found any Thing in either its Do£lrines or Precepts that is unbecoming G o d to require of us. • For fo much Refpe£l is due from us to every Thing that carries the Title of a Revelation from God, that we fbould give it a fair Hearing before we re^ je£l it J left haply while we may think we 430 S E R M o jsr XlV. we are Expofing and Laughing at a< Cheat, we be found in enrnejl fighting againft God. So much Regard is due to our own Intereft, as not to make a Jeft of an Offer that may be to our Advantage, 'till we were fure tliat the Perfon who made the Of- fer m God's N^me^ did it without his Authority, We only defire that the Deift would not laugh, before, he knows what 'ris he laughs at ; and then we are fure to hear no more from him of the Religious Books ofi[,; the Bramms, Perfee\ and Siamefe^ as. j Books of Equal Credit and Authority with thofe of our Chriftian Religion. For I am perfuaded he cannot mean, that all Religions are equally Ratio- nal, or equally ufefull to Mankind, (be-»jr, caufe if he knows any Tiling, he knows they are not ;) but he thinks that they are, and muft be all of equal Autho- rity, one of them as much from God as another, the fame Evidence for one as another, that is , none at all. And the Reafon given for this SeRxMon XIV. 431 this, is only this poor one, viz. That there is no diftihguifliing what we call Miracles from the meer EfFe6ls of Natural Caufes, and then indeed there can be no knowing when God fpeaks, when not. If this be falfe, as I am fully perfuaded it is, and havfe already fhewn it to be fo in a former Dit courfe ^, then the Deift will one Day forely repent of his having made d^ Sport oftheChriftian Religion, and will then call himfelf Fool, for not being able to diftinguifh between the Voice of G o D fpeaking to him in the Per- fons of Christ and Lazarus raifed from their Graves, and when it only Ipeaks to him m the moft ordinary and common A8:s of his Providence : He will then wifh he had been fitote fe- rious in a Concern of this Nature, and not jefted, when he fbotild have foberly examin'd , whether God had not fpoken to hrm by his So?i ; xvhe- ther * SermoG XII. ij.32 Sermon XIV. tlier there was not Ibme Truth in what St. Paul told the Corinthians in the Words of my Text< that after the World had tired itfelf in. feeking after God by the Help of Wifdom or Philofophy, it pleafed God by a Re- velation, or what fome at that Time, and what he, and his Brethren ftill call Foolifhncfs of Preachings to fave them that belisvs. SERM. 433 SERMON XV. 2 P E T. I. l6. For we have not followed cunningly devifed Fables, when we made known un^ to you the power and com- ing of our Lord Jesus C H R I s T,^^^ were Eye- witnejfes of His kJM^- H E Writer of this Epiftle in thefe Words endeavours to remove a Sufpicion, as if he and the reft of his Brethren their Mafter's Perfor- He tells thofe that fliould read F f this had magnified mances. 434- Sermon XV. this Epiftle, that they had not drawn up, as fome others, an artificial Ac- count of Things, but had given them a plain Narrative of the Miraculous Pow- ers which themfelves had feen their Lord Exercifing. That they had not, as the manner of fome was, dreft up a Life with a proper mixture of the Mar- 'velo^ to fet it off the better ; for they had told them nothing concerning our Saviqur but what themfelves had been Eye-witnefles to. And as another of the Difcipks lays ^, That which we have Ifeardy which ive have feen with our Ejes, which we- have looked upof^y and our Hands hdve handled^ That which we have feen and heard^ declare tve unto you. And yet this plain and honeft Declaration of thefe Apoftles will not fatisfy fome Per- fons. They will not believe the Difci- pies ever faw any of thefe miraculous Works which, as they pretended, were done by their Malter. I have already Ihewn, that if fuch uncommon Works, as are related in our Gofpels, had been really * \ John.i. I, J. Sermon XV. 435 really done by Him, they would have been a good Proof of his Mifiion, and that the Religion He taught was from God: We have alfo feen * that our L o R d's Difciples could not be impofed upon in the Account they have left us of thofe uncommon Works, by taking JppearAmes for Realities. The on-^ ly remaining Difficulty is, to fatisfy the Unbeliever, That they were Ho- neft Men, and believed their own Ac-' count. fij'jd -'This leads me to the third Rea- ibn by which the Deift defends him- felf, in not examining into the Merits of any Revelation ; becaufe there are a great many Pretences to Revelation, and no certain Criteria whereby to diiiin- guilh the true one, if any fuch were,from Impoftures ; for that there will be al- ways Reafon for fufpeCbing Perfons that pretend to extraordinary Communica- tions with Heaven : That to be the Heads of a Religious Party, is a tempt- ing Confideration ; if it meets with F f 2 wifhed ■f See Sermon XII, 43<5 Sermon XV. wifhed for Succefs, Riches and Honours attend them : And therefore the Tefti- mony of fuch Perfons will be always fufpicious; and then as much Reafon for fufpecting the Account given by the Apoftles of our Saviour's Miracles, as the fabulous Accounts contained in other Religions ; "which if true, would put the Gofpel upon a Level with the Zs^^f of Z^yoajler^ the Shajlcr that con- tains the Religion of the Mian Bramins^ or any other Book that pretends to be Divine. That by the Confeffion of Proteftants, the Succeffors of the Apo- ftles have invented many cunningly de- Vifed Fables of Miracles, and the Deifi will not believe but that the firft Wit- neffes to Chriftianity, as well as thofe that came after them, might have fome worldly Views in deceiving us; for befides the Honour of being Heads of a Party, they had not much to lofe, and were like to have a Chance for iiiending their Circumftances of Life. I WILL therefore fhew, That the A- poftles, as Things then were, could lie under no Temptation of forging Mira- cles ; Sermon XV. 437 clcs, and that 'tis altogether improba- ble they fliould intend to deceive us, by giving an Account of Things that they knew to be falfc ; becaufe fuppo- fing their Account of our Saviour's Miracles to be a falfe one, they would have had no Inducement for making a Profeflion of the Chriifian Religion, as they muft fee, if they faw at all, that the making fuch a ProfefTion, would make them Abundance of Enemies, that would have fhe Power, as well as the Will, to ill ufe them, and no Profpe6l of an Equivalent to balance Inconveniences. Mankind does ufually balance the Chances for Proiit with thofe of Lofs, and fatjsfy themfelves, that what they aim at , is feafible , before they will undertake it ; And therefore if the Apoftles were Deceiv- ers, they muft have propofed to them- felycs an Advantage greater than the Pains they were to take, otherwife they would have been no better than Fools, which they cannot be fuppofed to have been by any that look into their Writings ; befides, no body ^m F f 5 beheve, 438 Sermon XV. believe, that a few Fools fhould be able to cheat all the Wife Men in the World. But as the State of Things was at that Time, there was no Ground for expecting any Profit or Advantage by Preaching the Religion, unlefs the Generahty of thofe to whom they Preached the Gofpel received it, and that 'twas probable the Apoftles would meet with fuch Succefs. But I will fhew, i/, That the Apoftles could not poiTibly exped to live eafy, unlefs they could reconcile the greateft Part of thofe, with whom they lived, tp a liking of the GofpeL -^ 2dl)iy That there was no Proba-" bility that the Gofpel would have any fuch Succefs , at leaft in their own Times ; and who would care to have their Brains knock'd out for the Benefit of they did not know w^ho, that were to fucceed them ? -t-ii/. The Apoftles could not expeft to live^- eafy, unlefs they could recon- cile the greatefl Part of thofe they were obliged to converfe with, to a liking Sermon XV. fiking of tKe GofpeL The World was then divided in Point of Religion into Jews and Gemles, The Writers that are called profane, ^o agree with our Received Gofpels^ that at the Time when Chriftianiiy firfl; appeared, the World^ in Point of Religion, was divided into Jews, and Heathms or Fagafis, With Re- gard to the Jews^ the Apoftles could ex- ped nothing from them, but the worft of Ufage, as they were obliged to fpeak In the beft Manner of that Perfon , whom the whole Nation of the Jews had treated as a Malefa£i:or, and whofe Crucifixion they had been very inflru- mental m procuring. They could not therefore but think they Oiould draw lipon themfelves the utmoft Difpleafure of the Jswifh Government, ii they re- fleded upon its Proceedings ; efpecially if they were to tell the People, as Fettr did, That their Governors were either fo weak, or fo wicked, as to procure the Death of that Perfon, whom God had fent to be the Saviour of their Nation. And yet the Apoftles fpoke thus plain- ly, and m a publick Manner; as we fee F ^ 4 h 439 44-0 Sermon XV. in the Acts of the ApoJIles ^. The chiet Prieih and Elders miift fee, tint there was no Way of keeping up their Au- thority, unlefs they could Silence thefe Perfons. And the Apoftles muft fee too, that they would Hick at nothing to flop the Progrefs of this Se8:. The Apoftles alfo could not but know, that a} People fo tenacious of the Ceremo- nies of their Religion, would never en- dure any Perfons, if they offered to depreciate them, or draw Men off from their Efteem of them ; they might rea- fonably fear their Master's Predidion would prove true, That thofe who killed them, would think that they dtd G o D good Service, The Account which is given of the J^jry, by fuch Writers as lived near the Time when the Go- fid was firfl Preached , fuificiently fhews their Fondnefs for the Ceremo- nies of their Religion. "Juvenal tells usj That they would not Ihew the moll common A6ls of Civility, fuch as the putting a Man right, when he was out ef * Chap. ii. 36. Sermon xv. 441 of his Way , or directing him to a Place, where he might find Water, to any but fuch as were of the fame Re- h'gion ^. And we may obferve from Horace, That they were taken Notice oi in his Time, as a Sed of Religion that was moft induftrious in making Prolelytes \, We may eafily guefs, and fo might the Apoftles, what fort of Entertainment they were to meet with from a People fo much wedded to their own Religion. And tho' the Apoftles at jirfl allowed Converts from Judaifm to retain many of the Cere- monies of their Religion, together with Chriftianity, and were even fo complaifant to them, as to o-. blige the Gentile Converts to abftain from fome Things that were moft dK- agreeable * Non monftrare Vias, eadcm nifi facra colenti, Qujefitum ad fontem folos deducere Verpos. Juvenal Sat. 14. v. ic], 4. t Ac veluti te Judaei, cogcmus in hanc concedere turbam. Horat, Lib. i. Sat. 4. V- 1-^;^}. 44^ Sermon XV* agreeable to the Jervs, fuch as the eating Things that had been offered, to Idols, and Blood, yet there was no Reafon to think that thefe Allowances would fatisfy the Jem J becaufe they muft fee that the main Part of their Religion , the Temple- Service, muft fink, if Chriftianity pre- vailed, and that the Apoftles only per- mitted, without laying any Strefs up- on , any other Ceremonies of their Religion. J-^N EITHER could the Apoftles look for any better Quarter from the G^»- tiles ; efpecially if they offered to make any Profelytes from that Religion: They muft foreiee, that they fhould be ha- ted by them, for making Profeffion of a Religion different from their own, as they faw their own Countrymen, the Jen?s, were univerfally detefted by them for the fame Reafon. And that Rea- fons of State as well as thofe of Re» ligion , would oblige every Heathen Government to fupprefs, i^ poffible, thofe thdt oppofed the eftablifhed Su- perftition , and to take away the Lives and Liberties of fuch, as would be Sermon XV. 4^5 be judged by them Difturbers of the State, for endeavouring to carry o^ Mens Minds from the Government- Worfliip. And we find in Fa^t that Chriftians were fo generally hated at Rome^ when Chriftianity firfl: appeared there, that when the City was fet on Fire by Nero^ and the People general- ly believed it was done by his Order, yet they were pleafed to fee the Chri- ftians fuffer as Incendiaries. For T^- citus tells us, '' That when Nero laid " the burning of the City to the " Chriftians Charge, they were not fo " much found Guilty by any Force " of Evidence, as by the Univerfal " Abhorrence which every Body had of " that Sort of People ^ ". People be- lieved them innocent as to the Firing of Rome^ and yet were pleafed to fee them puniflied as Incendiaries : It was Jiot much doubted, as Tacitus tells us, That Nero himfelf was the Incendi- ary ; and yet the Averfion was fo ftrong againfl: the Chriftian$ , that the * Convifti odio humani Generis. Tacit, Annal. Lib, ly. 444 Sermon xv. the CompafHon which ufually at- tends upon the miferable, when they are believed to be innocent , could not be raifed by all their Sufferings : And therefore 'tis plain whilft this A- verfion lafted, there could be no Hopes for the Apoftles of living tolerably eafy with them. But, 2dly^ I AM now to confid^r whe- ther they could have any Probability of converting, at their firil: fetting out, fuch a Number of Gentiles and 'Jem , as would fecure them , for the reft of their Life, from the Ill-will of thofe that continued in their Infidelity , and reward them too for the Pains they had taken in converting them. The only Pretence for fufpe£ling the Apo- ftles Honefty muft be, that they might have an Eye to the ProHts and Emolu- ments, which many of their SuccejGTors met with. That St. Feter might dream of faring as well as the beft of his Succeffors at Rome have done. So For- fhyry would have it thought. That thofe who pretended to Miracles, by which he means Chriftians , wer^ tempted Sermon XV. 44$ tempted b^ a Profpect of Profit to turn Chriftians ^. But we have al- ready feen that this could not pofli- hly enter into their Heads, unlefs they believed they fhould quickly convert fuch Numbers, as would be able to fupport them againft all Oppofition. But the Improbability of fuch quick Converfions will eafily appear, if we confider, ifli The Nature of the Religion to which they were to convert them, to- gether with the State of Virtue and Vice, as it was when they began to preach the Gofpel. And 2dlyy The Difficulty of Impofing upon the "World at that Time, when they began to preach the Gofpel, by falfe Miracles or a Suppofititious Re- furreftion. 1/, Let us confider the Nature of the Religion to which they were to convert Homines ruftlcani 6c pauperes, quoniam ni- hil habebant, Magicis artlbus operati funt qux- i&m Signa. Hieron, Breylarium Pfalterlj, Plalm. 8i. 44-5 Sermon XV. convert the Jeiv or Gentile^ and how they were difpofed at that Time for receiving fuch a Religion. Every one knows the Difficulty of perfuading Numbers of Men to quit their Opinions in Religion ; tho' they be never fo weak and indefenlible, \i they have been for a long Time the Religious Profeflion of the Country where they live. And 'tis as well known that the Difficulty will be greater, if the Religion they are to be converted to, flatters none of the Vices of Mankind ; and the Difficulty ftill encreafes, when the Perfons that are to be converted to fuch a Religion, are notorioufly bad Livers. If this was the true State of the Matter, it muft be allowed that theApoftles, fuppofing them to have common Underftanding, could not flatter themfelves with the Hopes of many Converts. That tlie Doctrine which the Apoftles preached, fuch as we have it in the Gofpels^ (and I fhall afterwards prove that we have that Gofpel fuch as it was preach- ed Sermon XV. ed by the Apoftles * ) does not in- dulge Men in any irregular Behavi- our, how agreeable foever to thePaf- fions and Appetites of Mankind , can- not be denied by any Deifi that has ever read the Gofpels ; they cannot deny that the Gofpel contains a more perfed Morality, than ever appeared before in the World : And that it re- quires the Prafl:ice of every Thing that delerves the Name of Virtue, and ibrbids every Appetite and Paflion of corrupted Nature ; fo far I mean as fuch Appetite and Paflion are Effefts of the Corruption of our Natures. It does not allow Men to commute for Internal Goodnefs by External Perfor- mances ; it propofes no Advantage to any Body upon any better Terms , than thofe of parting with every vi- cious Inclination, and becoming truely good and virtuous Perfons. It was a meer Slander which Celfus, and after- wards Julia'/^y caft upon the Chriftian Religion, as if it drew People into it, by ^ S^e Sermon XVI. 4.48 Sermon XV. by promiiing them an Expiation of all Crimes how great foever, if they would, only perform fome External Ads ^ , fuch as beating the Head, and thump- ing the Breaft, without any real Change of their Way of Life. For every one that reads our New Tejlament muft fee, that this Uft was chiefly infifted upon by the Apoftles. And "Julian too, as he was once of the Religion, might have known, from the Twelfth and Thirteenth Canons of the famous Coun- cil of Nice^ that the Church in his Time did require a good Life, as a neceflkry Part of Repentance, and not meerly thofe External Signs of it. Whatever Relaxations may have been iinc'c allowed of, will not at all affe£l my Argument, which is drawn from the Religion fuch as it was preached by, the Jpoftles. If we look into the State of Man- Jcind at that Time, we fliall find the J^ivs fo attached to the Out-fide of |:heir Religion , that they had almoft loit ■ ■■■ ^ ■ ^ ■ ' ^ Vide Juiiii)l-r.c files. Sermon XV. 449 lofl the Spirit of it. Then there would be fmall Hopes of perfuading fuch Per- ibns to part with their Ceremonies , the only Cloak for their Wickednefs , for a Religion that required a fincere and unafFeded Goodnefs. And as lit- tle could the Apoftles hope for Succefs among the Greek f and Romans', for all the Hiftorians who have left us any Account of thofe Times, give fuch a Charader of the Corruptions that ge- nerally prevailed in them, as would make any Man, who had the leafl: Remains of Virtue left, to deteft them. A Religion that enjoins its Followers to moderate their Defircs of Worldly Things, would never fuit the Tafte of fuch an Age. A Voluptuous, Ambiti- ous , or Covetous Man would never bear the Reftraints, which the Gofpel lays upon Mens Inclinations ; and there- fore the Apoftles could not expeft to make many Profelytes out of this Kind of People, and yet this was the Gene- ral Charader of the Age. B u T it may be faid, that tho' the Mature of the Religion was forbid- G g ding 450 Sermon XV. ding enough to a bad Liver, yet they might flatter themfelves, that it would quickly make its Way in the World, by the over-bearing Weight of thofe aftonilhing Fafts, wliich they related concerning the Author or firft Publilher of it, as they knew Mankind, efpecially the lower Part of it, with whom tlie Apoftles fucceeded befl:, was always apt to be much affeded with Prodigies and marvelous Relations. i WILL therefore fhew, 2^/y, The extreme Difficulty which the Apoftles muft have met with at the Time when they began to preach the Goff^^ had they intended to impofe upon the World by fdfe Miracles or a fuppof%tf^ iious Refurredion. The Impoftui'es and forged Miracles, that were pretended to ibme Ages after the Times of the Apoftles, have led many Perfons into a Sufpicion, as if the Miracles which the Apoftles relate, as performed by our Saviour and themfelves, might be of the fame Sort. But 'i!l we confider the ' different Circumftances the Apo- ftles were in from thofe of their Suc- celTor^ Sermon XV. 451 ceiTors, who palmed upon the World many cunningly devifed, Fables^ we fhall find that nothing was eafier, than for them to make the World believe, or at leaft feem to believe, fi£titious Mi- racles ; and nothing harder than for the Apoftles to have fucceeded with fuch Miracles. Which will be made evident by confidering, tfi y The Circumftances of the Perfons that were to carry on the Cheat, And, 2flf/y, The People that were to be cheated. . i/, The Perfons that were to car- ry on the Cheat. The Number of them was no lefs than Twelve ; if they were to be employed as Wit- nefles of a Matter of Fad, we would not defire fewer ; but they were too many if they were to be intrufted with a Secret. They muft be mad that Ihould embark in fuch a Defign with fo great a Number, and believe that a Secret could be kept by fo many Perfons, when any of them might have made his Fortune by betraying it, and G g 2 had 4^2 Sermon XV. had Reafon to fear Gibbets and Croffes for keeping it. And yet had any one of them been tempted by Promifes or Threatnings to difcover the Secret,- the Defign had been ruined beyond Recove- ry, and all their Hopes of making Con- verts extinguifhed. The Apoftles there- fore muft have been very weak Men, inftead of being Crafty Men, as the Objedion fuppofes them to be, had they built their Hopes of Succefs upon fuch a fandy Foundation. Efpecially too, if we confider the Perfons themfelves, as well as the Number of them. Men who by the Accoutt they give of them- felves, had all forfaken their Mafter, as loon as the Jemjh Government laid hold of Him ; even the Perfon that appeared to have the moft Courage, and Love for his Mafier^ v^hen he faw Him charg- ed with Capital Crimes, for Fear of fuf- fering with Him, denied he had any Knowledge of Him. Such Perfons, I lay, that had not Courage enough to ftand by a Truth, cannot be fuppofed lit Inftruments for carrying on a Cheat : As they would la all Probability fqueak, as Sermon xv. 453 as foon as their Lives were in Dan- ger; for certain they could never have trufted one another, after they had fo notorious a Proof of their Unfaithful- neis to their Mafter ; For why fhould they fuppofe they could ftand morq courageoufly by one another, than they had done by their Majiery whonn they difowned at the firft approach of Dan? ger ? And no Body can believe that th? ■ Apoflles would have given fo fcandalous i an Account of their own Behaviour , had it not been true. "Whereas thofe who afterwards counterfeited Miracles, if they had the Ill-luck to be difcovered, ran no Ha- , . zard of either Life or Fortune. The ■ Chriftian Religion had then the Support and Encouragement of the Civil Go- vernment, and therefore whatever was done in Favour of it, would pafs for a pious Zeal for the Service of G o d and Christ: There would be little Reafon to fear, that thofe who were concerned in the Cheat, whatever their Numbers were, fhould make a Difco-r very of it, becaufe there would be no G g J worl it 454 Sermon xv. worldly Motives to betray one another : For if the Miracle fucceeded , they; might hope to be Gainers by it ; and' if it was difcovered , they had no- thing worfe to fear, than that fome People might fay of them, That they had more Zjal t\i2iiiVnderJlandhjg, And therefore 'tis a groundlels Sufpicion which is drawn from the Counterfeit Miracles of the Vlth, and following Centuries to the Miracles of our S av i- OUR and his Apoftles. But, 2dly^ I F we confider the People that were to be cheated , the Cafe of the Apoftles and their Succeffors was very different. ijly As the Perfons that were to be* lieve their Account of Miracles, were Enemies to tlie Chriftian Religion. 2dlfj As they were better able in their Time to diftmguifh fiditious from real Miracles. r-ixAfty A.S the Perfons that were to be- lieve their Account of Miracles, were Enemies to the Chriftian Religion, and as fuch^ would not eafily give Credit to thofe Miracles which were to be the chief SeRxMON XV. 4$^ chief Support of that Religion. It is natural to believe that thofe who ha- ted the Religion, would be no Friends to Miracles, becaufe tliefe were to give it a Reputation in the World. The Apoftles who muft fee that nothing but the Force of Evidence would work upon them, would have therefore little Reafon for hoping that their Miracles, if counter^ feit^ Ihould pais the Examination of fuch prejudiced Perfons ; whereas thofe who boafted of Miracles in fome par* tieular Ages of the Church , did it a* mong fuch as were Friends to Chri* ftianity, and wifhed to liave the fame Evidence given to it m their Times | as had been m thofe of the Apoflles^ And therefore fuch Perfons being pre- poffefs'd in Favour of them, there v/ould be little Difficulty m impofing falfe Mi* racks upon them. They knew that fuch Perfons would wifii, for th^ Ho^ |iour of the Religion, that their Mi- racles wer-e true ones; and therefore would not be too curious in exami- ning, for fear they fhould find it to hz otherwife than they wilhed for, Be^ fides, ^ g 4 o^dly^ 45^ Sermon XV, 2dlj^ There was another Difad- vantage which the Apoftles lay under, which was that they lived in a difcerning and inquifitive Age, that would not take Things upon Truft, bccaufe well ^ble to diftinguifh Ft^ions from - Realities, When the Apoftles firft began to preach the Gofpel , moft Parts of Learning were in as great a Degree of Perfecti- on as they had ever been before ; The Inquiries into Nature and its feveral Powers, carried to a very great Height, when compared with fome fucceeding Ages. And therefore the World would have been much better qualified for dit llinguifhing the Natural from the Mar-^ velous. The Apoftles, confidering their Education, could not hope to impofe upon fuch a People, or if they had been fo vain to attempt it, muft have been quickly convidled of an Impofture. If it. be faid that they began with the lower Part of the World, and made Converts at iirft of fuch as were very ignorant,^ which Celfus charges upon them ; fup-} pofing it to be true, that they at firft) made Converts of only the lower Part;- which Sermon XV. 457 which yet is falfe ; it cannot be fup- pofed that the upper Part of the World would fit idle, and let them carry Peo- ple ofl' from the Eftablifhed Worfhip , had they been able to detect them of any Fraud. We find by P//>j's Letter to Trajan, That the Great Men fpared neither Coft nor Pains, neither Promifes nor Threats, to make the Chrifl:ians con- fefs or own a Clieat. If the Apofl:Ies had been Men of fo much Cunning as the Objection fuppofes, they would have bti^n difcouraged from undertaking a Cheat in fo unfeafonable a Time. The proper Times for Impofture are Times of Ignorance, when any Thing unufual may be made to pafs for a ./^^/^ Mi- racle, and Perfons are ready to believe any Thing fi:range that is told them , and the more unlikely to be true, the. more forward in beheving. Such are the Times in which Fraud and Impo-r ftures are wont to thrive, and fuch were the Times, when to the Shame of Chri- fliians, counterfeit Miracles crept into the Church of God: And the Hiftorie% of thofe Times fliew that the. Pretencesi I. : ■ to ^^S Sermon XV. to Miracles were multiplied, in Propoiy tion as the Ignorance of the People en- creas'd. And therefore tho' latter Ages might carry on Cheats fuccefsfully, it does not follow that the Apoftles could hope to do fo : Or becaufe fome of the Suc- ceflbrs of St. Peter in a dark Age, might make People believe they work'd Mira^ cles when they did not, that St. Peter in a Criticd Age might have made the World believe the Refurre£lion of ouf Saviour, altho' in Reality no fuch Thing had been. Thus I have fhewn that the Apc^ files could propofe no worldly Advan? tage to themfelves by embracing th^ Chriftian Religion ; as they could nQ|; reafonably expeCfc to make Converts of the greateft Part of the Roman Em-, pire , or to get the Chriflian to be the Eftablifhed Religion in their own Times; and that unlefs this could be eiFeded, they muft, inftead of Honours and Emoluments , exped the worft oif Treatment from both "Jerv and Gentile^ and tbat if they built their Hopes of Succefs upon pretending to a Power of working Sermon XV. 459 \Vorking Miracles, that there was not any Likely hood they would be able to make falfe Miracles pafs for true Ones, with Perfons prejudic'd againft the Belief of them. Such Perfons too as had Abili- ties fufficient for diftinguilliiiig Kealmes from Impjiures. Thefe are fuch Diffi- culties attending the Deifi\ Suppofition of the Apoftles being Deceivers ; fo ir- reconcilable with the ufual Workings of the Human Nature, that we ought to believe them fincere Perfons. I F it be faid that the Apoftles might pleafe themfelves with being Heads of a Party , and in Courfe efteemM by fuch as they could bring into it ; which h the only poflible Inducement left them ; This is fuch thin Diet, as would never fupport a Man againft the Diffi- culties which the Apoftles expe^Eted, and adlually met with : For what Induce- ment would it be, to be efteemed by a fmall Number of Perfons, almoft all of them of mean Condition; and at the fame Time to be defpifed by the reft of the World; and not only defpifed , but perfecuted even to Death. 460 Sermon XV. Death. "Whatever Pride and Vanity there may be in our Natures, yet no Man of Common Senfe can think the Efteem of a few mean Perfons , a fuf- ficient Recompence for being fcorned and defpifed by all thofe who had any Character for Reputation hi the World. Had the Defire of Glory been their Motive for Preaching the Gofpel, they mufl: have been quickly difcouraged , when they faw themfelves treated with greater Contempt than any other Sort of Men, meerly for Preaching it. They mufl: have given over the Attempt when they found nothing got by it , but the Reputation of being Perfons that were either mad or very wicked. St. Vaul tells us they were looked up- on as fools Jar Chris t's Sake ^, that they were expofed in the Theatres to be a SfeHacle to the People f , as pro- fane Perfons, that were Enemies to all Religion ; they were firft laugh'd at, ?nd then put to Death. Thofe who can 'fM -...J ;^ xCor. iy. jo. i ihld, v«r. 9, ''% ^ican believcj that any Perfons can be tickled with fuch Sort of Fame, may ^believe any Thing: And therefore the Deiji labours in vain, whilft he endea- ^vours to perfuade himfelf and others j llhat the Apoftles were Deceivers. The only Refuge left him would be this: That the Apoftles preached ^no fuch Religion at the fame Time fet down in the Writings of the New Te^ fiametJt^ but that the whole was a fi- r (ftitious Account of Things and Perfons, 3publiflied fome Years after that Time, 'When it would not be eafy to confute the Publilhers. But 'tis impoflible this ^'fhould be true, becaufe if the firft Publication of the Religion had been 2 fome Yeai-s after that Time which the Scriptures mention, as thofe Scriptures exprefsly fay the Gofpel had been preached fome Years before this Publi- cation of it, and in fo Publick a Place as Jerufalem, the Metropolis of Judea^ and the Jem difperfed over the Roman Empire ; every one muft prefently have found it to be a Cheat, becaufe the Jews could have told them, they had never V \62 Sermon XV. never before heard of any fuch Reli- gion preached in their Country. But we are further aflurcd that the Gofpel was not Jirji preached fome Years after the Time fet down in the Kfew Tefta- rnenty becaule we have an Heathen Author of good Credit, that was born but a few Years after the firft Preaching of it ; who fpeaking of the Beginning of Chriftianity tells us, '* That the Au- ^^ thor of this Sed was Christ; " who m the Reign of Tiberius was " put to Death by Pontius Pilate^ Go- ** vernor of Judea^ " which agrees with the Times given by the Sacred Writers: And then he fays, " The' *^ it was thus nipped in the Bud by " putting the Author to Death, yet it " broke out anew, and fpread not on- " \y through Judea^ but reached even " unto Rome itfelf ^ ". This Author was too exa£t an Hiftorian to give a felfe Account of the Original of a Se6i:, wliich was fo fiear his own Time. But "'ji>i''v--'* 'V- -M ' *-'-> '■■ - -i-' ■ " — • I * Tackus Annal. Lib. 15. Sermon XV. 463 But I Ihall fay no more to this Ob- jeftion of the Deift^ becaufe it would be doing it too much Honour to dif- cover all its Weakneffes. Having now fhewn, That the firft Preachers of the Gofpel could not be Deceivers, fuppofing the Gofpel to have been Preached about that Time, that the Writers of the New Ttjlament tell us : That the Reafon of the Thing, Ihews it muft have been Preached at that Time .; that the Teftimony of an Author that was an Enemy to the Chri- ftian Religion confirms it : Having alfo fhewn before, That if the Apoftles were fincere Perfons, they could not be deceived in the Relation they gave of our Saviour's Miracles, by taking mere Appearances for Realities : And that fuch Extraordinary Works as they relate, muft have the immediate Pow- er of God for the Author of them; we have then a folid Foundation for the Divine Authority of our Chriftian Religion to reft upon ; as it cannot be fuppofed that God would have Coun- tenanced 4(^4 Sermojst XV. tenanced it in. fo extraordinary a Man- ner, if it had not been from Heaven ; efpecially when the Religion itfelf lays Claim to fuch an Original: Nothing more can be necelTary for juftifying the Faith of a Chriftian, and at the fame Time expofing the Unbeliever, for ma- king Difficulties in Religious Belief his Reafon for not receiving our Chriftian Revelation, than Ihewing what AlTu- ranee we have, that the Writings of the New Teftament or our Four Gofpelsy do contain a true Account of the Chri- ftian Religion, fuch as it was at firft Preached by the Apoftles. And the Ground for any Doubt in this Cafe is, Becaufe many Perfons did put out G, Sjhxi o u R, writ by: them ; fince . they' '' knew no better Way of gaining Cre- dit to their Oofpels \, than - that * t)f a&xiag. the Name of feme A'poftle to' them -, and as we have proved them, to be Honeft Men, nothing more can be neceifary for clearing our GofpeU fro^^ -^y -Sufpicipn of h^mg' ' stinmhgly ; devij^ed F4/U\hvit iliewjng their A^vqq^. ment with what was Preached, by the 4/11 .' ' T ■' V. •',- v.,i I Y^^ -.ff*-* Jpofiler. • A .:^ - .^'^ -■ ..^^ I WILL therefore fliew, f/?, <\Ehat we have good Reafori to believe, . tbat thc^PLeceived Gofpeh were either writ, or allowed of by- fome Apollle. 2!!^/)', Th AT "there is no good Evi-^^. denes that any of the AjfocrjifhaLGof^els.A were writ by that Apolfle or A'pollles, whofe Name they bear : And how it might come to pafs that they ^ere re- ceived by fome , as the Writings of an Ap9(tle> and yet be afterv/ards rcjecl- ed.- ijf, I AM to fliew, That we have good Reafqn for believing that the jR^- ceivcd Se R M a:N XVL donJ: /^6^ cehed Go/pels were eitlier writ, ' or al- lowed of by fome Apoftle. in proving* this Propofition, I WILL fhew i/,' That there were Gofpels written from the Beginning of Chriftianity, by the Perfons whofe Names we have at the Head of our Goffds, :■ 2^/^, THAT.thQre, of them :^i^hicli bear not the Name of an Apoftle, (as Mark and Luke) were always fuppofed* to have been {qqvi and allowed of by fome Apoftle. ^ dly^ T H A T ; the^ Gofpvls which are come down- to our Times, were thdrs^ and not any Jpocrjphal Go/pels, jji. That, there were Gofpels writ* ten from the Beginning of Chrillianity. by the Perfons whofe Names we have at the Head of our Gafpds. This is a Matter of Fad, and muft therefore be; determined by fuch Writers, as lived* ' ' neareft to the Times of their being firft publifhed. If we can fhew, that' both thofe Heretical Chriftians, who did not in all Points approve of thefe Gdi^^ fpflsy and made ufe of others^ did yet ' -- H h ? allow 470 SERMt)N XVi. allow them to be written by thofe Per- fons, as well . as thoje Chriftians who made Ufe of no others, we fliall fuf- ficiently prove that thefe Perfons did write thofe Go/pels. To begin with the Orthodox, or fuch as allowed them in all RefpeQ:s to be genuine. We find by Iremus ^, a Perfon curious in enquiring into Matters of this Nature, who flou- rifhed in the lid Century, that St. Mat^ thewput out a Gofpel, after him St. Mark^ tJje» St. Luke , a^d laji of all St. John. After him Eufehius ^, who took great Pains in fearcliing for all Sorts of Wri* tings from the very Beginning of Chri- ftianity, whether Friends or Enemies, tells us, That the Four Go/pels were iv h^oxayys/j^oK^ among fuch Books as were on all Hands allowed to be writ by thofe Perfons whofe Names are pre- fixed to them. It is needlefs to men- tion any more Authorities of this Kind, becaufe the Church which ufed thefe Gofpeis, "'^y^* Irenaus edit. Mafiuec. pag. 174/ . hf. . .i:Eufeb. I lift. Ecclefiaft. Lib. 3. cap «5, S E R M ON xyi. 47 1 Go/pels, mufl: be fuppofed to believe them written by thofe Perfons. And therefore I fliall proceed to' the Heretical Chriftians, whole Teftimo- ny will be more confiderable, as thefe Gvfpels did in many Places oppofe fome or other of their particular Opinions; and yet we find thefe Go/pels were in fuch an univerfal Efteem, that the ear-i Heft Hereticks found it neceffary to havd Recourfe to them, and to defend their Opinions by the Authority of thefe Go* fpi^^f, as Irefjdus afTures us *, " That the '" Authority of thefe Gofpels is fo firni- ** ly Eftablifhed , that even Heretical H h 4 '' Chriftians (is — : ^„„i^ 0"' * Tanta eft aarem circa haec Evangella firmltas, at 8c ipfi. Hxretici teftimonium reddant eis, Sc ex ipfis egrediens unufguifque eorum , conetur fuam confirmare doftrinam. Eblonxl etenim eo Erange- lio quod eft: fecundum Matthscum folo utentes, ex iilo ipfo convincuncur. Marcloii autem id, quod eft: fecundum Lucam, circumcidens, ex his qux adhuc iervantur penes eum, blafphemus in Deum Often- ditur. Qui autem Jefum feparant a Chrifto, & impafllbilem peiTeveraire Chriftum, pafTum vero Je- fum dicunr, id quod fecundum Marcum eft prxfe- rcntes Evangeliuni : Hi auteni qui a Valentino fant, eo quod eeft fecundym Johannem plcnuTime ^ ptentes ad Oftenfionem conjugationum fiiaru^ji,. Ire* hxiis, pag.:a9o, ,i^^.,^ f 472 Sermon XVL ^^ Chriftians could not difpute it, and " were contented to fupport, as well ^' as they could, their particular Opini- '' ons by them. That the Ebionites de- ** fended themfelves by St. Mattherv's " Gofpsl ; the Marcionites by that of *' St. Luke : Another Herefy ( whofe " Name he does not tell us) juftified " their Opinions by St* Mark''s Gofpel ; *' and the Valentima^s by that of St. " 'John ". That thefe laft received St. John\ Gofpel^ becaufe they thought the Firfl: Chapter of St. 'John was a Con- firmation of their Notion of the ^Eons hwg in Pairf. Thus we find the mod early Hereticks endeavouring to defend themfelves by the Authority of thefe Gofpels, I A M aware it has been queftion'd, whether the Ebionites made ufe of St. Matthew's Gofpel^ or whether it was an* other Gofpel, which was commonly cal- led according to the Hdrews ; which if true, Irenmus was deceived in faying, That the Four Gofpels were confirmed hy the Teftimcny of Hereticks ; fince one of them, ziz, St. Matthe)vs would not Sermon xvk 473 not have: had any fuch Confirmation. That we may give a dillindl AnTwer to this Objeftion, it muft be obferv'd, that if theGo/j?el of St. Matthew was writ by him in Hebrew or Syriack (which the earlieil Writers affirm) it muft have been for the Benefit of fuch Perfons, , as underftood thofe Languages, and not the 7 the Hebrew Go/pel of St. Matthew, would ?i be this, That thofe Writers who a^A firmed that St. Matthew writ his Gofpel in Hebrew y were deceived. And yet we^ know that Papias -^ in the Eaft, wha *? converfed with the Difciples of the A*^ ^ . poftles, and was very inquifitive to know what they faid or did, tells us pofitive- ly, that St. Matthew writ his Go/pel in Hebrew ; he fpeaks of it as a Matter of '-:■ Faa .• * Eurebius. Lib. 3. cap. 39. , Sermion xvl ^Jf Facl that was not> at that Time doubt- ed of. St. Jremus in the Weft fays, St. Mauherv, being among the Hebrews^ writ his Gof^el m their Diale(!il ^ ; and others fay I "St. Matthew writ it in that Lan- guage for the Sake of fuch Sjria» Jews converted to Chriftianity, as were ig- norant of the Greek Tongue f . But for all this Evidence, the many Additions and /Differences from the Greek of St. . Matthew y found in the Goffel ufed by\^ the Nazarenes and Ehionitesj have made many believe, that they did not ufe j. St, Matthen^'^s Go/pel. Whereas they ought to confider (efpecially as the Evidence is fo ftrong againft them) that thofe Additions and Alterations might be ow- ing to the Cuftom of thofe Times , when Chriilians took a great deal of Pains to inform themfelves of what the Difciples of the ApolHes had learn'd from their Mafters, as appears by Papias || ; and to preferve them would probably put them down between the Lines , and * Epiphan. Hxref. 51. f Eufeb. H. E. lib. 3. cap. 8. jj Euf^b. lib. 5. cap. 39, 47 § Sermon XVL and at the Margin of their Copy of t;he Goffely from whence fuch Interlinea- tions and Margmal Notes might by De- grees flip into the Texty and fo become Part of the Gof^d itfelf. Many Alterations too might have been introduced by the ^biom^es into their Copies, with a De- lign to favour fome of the pecuh'ar O- pinions of their SeQ:. I am perfuaded there is more Probability that thofe Alterations which were found in fome Copies af St. Matthem^s Hebrew Gofpel'^ (as appears by fome PafTages St. ^erom has quoted from it,) might have been introduced in fome fuch Way, than that all the Ecclefiaftical Writers who have fpoken of this Matter, even the earlieft of them, fhould be deceived in thefe two Matters of Fa£t, 'ulz.. That St. Matthew writ his Gofpel in Hebrew, and that the Hebrerv Go/pel which the Naz,A^ renes and Ebiomtes made ufe of, was St. ]\fattherv^3 GofpeL As to thofe who deny ^he firjl of thefe, Grotms fcruplesnot to fay, Nullis ]ujf:ts de Caufis maximum pix ^^tiquitatis Qovfenfiomrf% repudiant ^, ^ * Ccm. in Match, cap. i. •:'''• S E R M O N XVI. *479 pi But it may be faid that if thefe Hereticks did quote the Go/pel of St. Matihtrv, as^ well as the other Hereticks tJid the other Gofpeis, that this would only prove that fuch Gofpels with fuch Titles were in their Times : But that their not receiving them, fhould feem to prove that thofe, which each reje£fc- ed, were not thought by them to be writ or authoriz'd by an ApolHe ; that they only made ufe of them to defend their own Opinions againft the Ortha- doxy who allowed them to be writ by thofe Perfons, whofe Names they bear. The Anfwer to this is, That we can- not find any of thefe Hereticks ever denied thefe Gofpels being wrote by thofe Perfons , even when they were hard prefs'd to reconcile their Opinions with thefe Gofpels. If there had been the leaft Sufpicion whether Matthew, Marky Luke and Joh^ had writ any Gofpels^ there would have been an eafy Anfwer to the Orthodox, in telling them that it was doubtful whether the Gofpels, which oppofed their Opinions, were writ by -thofe Perfons. But when the Church prefs'd 480 Sermon XVI. prefs'd them with PafTages, drawn from thefe Go/pels, they anfwered them ei- ther by giving a diflperent Senfe to the "Words, if they would admit any ; or by denying thofe Words to belong to the Writer of th^ Gofpel ; for fome of them, as particularly the Marchmtesy ftruck out of their Copies of the Goft^ely whatever was qffenfive to them, as we have already feen by he?i£us : Or elfe they defended themfelves by quoting fome Apocryphal Gojptly which ia an Age not over Critical , they found to be of great Service to them : for by prefixing the Name of an Apoftle to Go/pels of their own putting out in Fa- vour of their, particular Opinions, they f^t up the Authority of one Apoftle againfl: another. This fliews that in the- earliefl: Times of Chriftianity, when their Spurioufnefs might have been de-| teded, there was, no PofTibility of dif- puting , whether Four Go/pels were writ by thofe, whofe Names they- bore. a-lly^ I AM to fhew now, That fuch of the Gofptls Ijs bear not the Nam^ of an Sermon* XVI. 481 an Ai^oi\k,'viz,^M^rk'2ini Lake, weijb always fuppofed 'to have b^en fqen' arid allowed of by fome Apoftlc. To begin with St. A^arl'. He is faid by Jrenaus to have been a Follower of St. Feter^ and an Interpreter of his Sermons ; And •one that was antienter, being a Contem- porary with the imnfiediate Difciples of the Apoftles , ^ Fapas , fays, " That ** Mark, who was Peter^s Interpre- " ter, had written exaOily all that he " had retained in his Memory, with- " out obferving the Order of the Words '^ and Actioiis of Jesus Christ; ^' for he had not himfelf heard Jesus " Chris t,' not having followed Him ; *^ but he 'had followed Peter, who '* Preached to the People, according as " their Neceflities required. " Clemens Jlexandrims tells us, That St. Mark^ who for a long Time followed Feter^ put into Writing the Gofpel which Sf. Feter had Preached at (the Requeft of the Faithful, and that this Gcfpel was I i approved * Marcus Interpres & Senator Petri. Ircnxus, pag. 187. VideEufeb. Hift. Ecclef. Lib. 3. 0.3$?. 482 Sermon XVL approved by St. ?eter ; for the Truth of which Eufihfus brings not only Cle- mensj but F/tfUs to be his Vouchers ^. If in his t Vlth Book he quotes the fame Clemens for faying, that Peter nei- ther approved, nor difallowed of Sto Mark^s Gofpely Valefius in his Notes up- on the Place tells us, That this is eafily reconciled; becaufe in the Vlth Book he fpeaks only of a pubiick Approba- tion of this Goffely and in the lid Book of what Encouragement St. Peter gave to it in private amongft his Friends. As for St. Luke^ we find by [Origen and Eufebius^ that it was the general Opi- nion of Chriftians, That St. Faul meant his Gofpely when he faid of him, " Luke *' the beloved Phyfician, whofe Praifc *' is in the Gofpel. " If this were true, we have the Approbation of an Apo- ftle given to his Go/pel, and an Anfwer to Amyntor^ when he asks us, " Why *' we do not receive the Epijiles oiBar- <' nabas and Clemens among the Canoni- y '' cd " Eufeb. H. Ecc. Lib. 2. cap. 14. t Eufcb, Lib, 6. cap. 14. Sermon XVi. 48^ " cal Books, as wdl-^s Mark and. Luke, " fince the RvHt were as much Com- *' panions and Fellow-Labourers with " the Apoftles as the later? " And the Anfwer is this; That thefe Gof^eUy were not only compofed by fuch as had been Companions with an Apoflle, but were aifo believed, to have received the Allowance of fome Apoftle^ So Eufehius tells us, That 'twas commonly, beheved \ St. John look'd over the.. thrcQGoJpels oi Mdnhew, Mark and Luke:, ,and approved of them. But there is no Evidence pretended for the Epijlles of Barnabas and Clemens being approved by any Apoftles. Some have even que- ftioned, whether they were the real Au- thors of thofe Epijihs which now bear their Names, efpecially of that which bears the Name of Bamahas, And there- fore the Church might have good Rea- fon for receiving Mark and Luke, and not Qlemtm and Bamahas, into the Ca- I i 2 non A'^TVfn«"«tf7«, Eufeb. Lib. 3, cap z^. pag. 95. 484. Sermon xVL non of the Holy Scriptures *,, and the jFaith of a Chriftian may be well grounded which receives thefe Gofpe for a Part of its Rule, without con- cerning itfelf about the Epiftles of Cle- mens and Barftahas, :^dlyy We are now to fee, whether the Go/pels which are come down to our Times, are really the Go/pels writ by them, or only Apocryphal Writings, with their Names to them. And the Reafon for fuch a Sufpicion may be grounded upon this, That if the Hebrew Gofpel of St. Matthem could be altered to fuch a Degree, and fo foon after its Publifhing, that in the Time of Eufe- * bius it was become doubtful, whether it Was -his Gofpel or not; what Security Gan we have , who live at a much greater Diftance from the Time when thefe Go/pels were firll Publifhed, that our Gofpels are not as much alteredj as the Hebrew Gofpel of St. Matthew was in the Time of Eufebius : when the Al- terations were fo many, as to make it pafs with fcveral for an Apocrjphal Book, entitled, The Gofpel nccordirjg to the He- brews. Sermon XVI. 4^$ brews. Our Anfwer is, That feoolcs in the Hands of the Gentile Chriftians, couid not be altered fo eafily, as thofe that were in the Hands of only one Nation, viz.. 'the converted Jem^ and thofe oa- ly the converted Syrian Jews ; for only thefe made Ufe of the Hehrew Gofpel of St. Matthew. Whereas thofe who read the Gofpel in Greek, were difperfed all over the World ; confequently, a Mul- titude of Copies in Places at the great- :^€ft Dirtance from one another: And 'therefore if any confiderable Alterations '■"had been made in om Place, they muft 'have been taken Notice of by thofe of another Place, who had none of them in their Copies of the Gofpel. Befides the Number of Copies in Parts very di- ftant from each other, which has always heen the Cafe of our Greek Copies of the Gofpel; there have been from the Beginning a great Number of Tran^ (iations from the Greek, into the feveral Languages that were commonly fpoken in the feveral Countries which made Pror feffion of the Chriftian Religion. If there had beta any confiderable Alte- I i I ration? Sermon XYI. rations made in our Greek Copies of the; Gofpels, they muil have been difcover- ed by fooie or other of the Old Verfu bns.; as the Hebrew Copy of St. Mat- thew was found to be greatly altered, by comparing it with the Greek Verfion ; whereas the Greek Copies agree for the '/fwfi Part with all the Verfions that iiave been made from the Greek : And therefore we cannot doubt that the Go- fpels which we receive as Canonkd^ \vere the Gofpels of Matthew^ Mark, Luke and Jolm. I fiiall have occafion to fpeak more particularly as to the Faith- fulnefs of our Copies of the Gofpels ^ in the mean Time, I Proceed to the Second general Head which was, That thei-c is no good Evidence that any of the Jpocrjh fhal Gofpels were writ by that Apoftle, or thofe Apoftles, whofe Name they bear-, and therefore when they give any Accounts different from the Re- ceived Gofpels, that they are not to be regarded. That no good Evidence, can be produced in Behalf of the Jpch i^rypbal Gofpels, will appear, if I can prove. Sbrmon XVI. 487 prove, i/, That they were not takea Notice of 'till many Years after that Apo- ftle's Time, whofe Writing they pre- tend to be. Or, zdljy That if they were quoted early by fome Writers, they were not quoted as the Writings of an Apoftle. The Author of Nazarems has exprefs'd a particular Fondnefs for the pretended Gofpel of Barnabas^ and the Reafon of his Fondnefs feems to be its contradict- ing the Account our Cammed Gofpels give of our S a v i o u r's Death and Re- iurredlion. But 'tis certain, this Gofpel efcaped the Searches of Inquifitive Men, fuch as Eufebius and ^erom^ who made it their Bufinefs to inform themfelves of every Thing relating to Ecclefiaftical Antiquity ; and was not difcovered 'till ^bove Four Hundred Years after it muft have been writ, fuppofmg St. Bar- mhos to have been the Author of it. For the firft niention that ToUnd, could find to be made of this Gofpel, was m the Decree of Pope GeUfius^ in a Council jield at Rome in the Year 49 j *. But I i 4 I I-" I ■ — - — ' * NaxarenuS' pag. t Tom. xi. Cqmment. in Match. Sermon xvl. 493 ginning univerfdy allowed to be the Authors of them. And thus " I have ihewh that tfie Canonical Gofpels re- ceived by us were the Gofpels of M«f- therv^ Mark, Luke and John, that both the Gofpels of Mark and Luke were ge- nerally thought to have received the Approbation of an Apoftle, and 'there- fore we may depend upon a true Ac- count of the Chriftian Religion in thefe Gofpels. That no cJther Gofpels are to be regarded , when they differ from .thefe, whatever pompous Titles . may be at the Head of them ; becaufe no good Evidence, that any of them were the Work of an Apoftle. Therefore nothing more can be necelTary for fet- tling a Man's Faith ^- in the Chriftian Religion , but to fhcw that notwith- ftanding the Originals of the Evange- lifts are loii , ( from which only we could hope for an exa£l Copy of thefe Gofpels) and the Copies that have been ti-anfcribed from them , do differ in many Particulars ; yet the Variations cither do not affed any Thing necef- fary to be believed or praftifedj or if thcv 494- Sermon xvl they doy the true Reading is flill prc-» ferved in fome Copy or other. 'T I s evident to any one that has confulted the Various Readings collcQ:- cd by Dr. Mills, that a great Part of them' are meer Trifles, that do not aiFed the Senfe of the Writer of the Gofpel, whicli^ foever Reading we take. That many of thofc, which are fuppofed to have'' been alter'd by Djfign, had only a Re* ' lation to Mifquotations of the Old Te- ftAmenty or to reconciling one Evange- lift with another, when they thought them to differ in fome Circumftance of a Fad ; or to leaving out fome Pa{^ iages which they thought might be , or they found a£lually were, perverted and mifunderftood : Or fubftituting o- thers lefs liable to Exception in the Room of them ; Or elfe the Alteration might affed fome mcejfary Dodrine of a Chriftian's Faith. To fome one or o* ther of thefe Heads may be reduced moft of the Alterations, that are fup- pofed to have been defignedly made in our Gofpels. An Inftance of the firfi: Sort is fuppofed to be found ia MattL Sermon XVl. 49^ xiii. 55. ThAt it might be fulfilled by the Prophet^ I will o^en my Mouth in Para^ hies, 8^0. ^ Porphyry read it in the Copy he ufed, the Prophet Ifaiah, and made it aa ObjeQion againft the Evan*, gdifk. And St. Jerom owns he found ia fome Copies the Prophet Ifaiahy but that Ifjiiah was left out of the greattfi Part of the Copies in his Time, be- caufe no fuch Quotation was to be found ia Jfftiah ; for which Reafon he fays, Arbitror poftea fabUtum effe a frudentihus viris ^, An Inftance of altering to rQ- concile one Evangelift with another h given in the Time of our Saviour's Crucifixion, which St. Mark fays was the Third Hour, and ^t. Jolm about the Sixth , and yet 'tis obfcrved, that fome Copies of St. John had the Third Hour, as well as fome Copies of St. Mark had the Si^th Hour, jtift as the Tranfcriber was inclined either to bring St. Joh» to St. Marky or St. Mark to St. * Hieron. Comment, fuper Matth. cap. 13. * See the Author of the Commentar>- o;i the 7fth Pfaltn. Breviariura Hieron 49^ Sermoh XVI. St. Joh^. Of OmifTions, and of fubfti- tuting one Word for another, the In- ftances are , Luke xix. 41. and Joh» vif. 8. The firft is Christ's Weep- ing over Jerufdem ; this was thought a Paffion unbecoming our Saviour and therefore, as Epiphanius tells us , was , left out of thofe Copies which were then thought moft corred ^. In the other Place ofjoh» vii. 8. 'tis thought that one Word is fubftituted in the Place of another : Our Saviour had told his Difciples, that He would have them go to the Feaft of the Pajfover, but as to Himfelf that He defigned not to go thither ; and yet it appears by the Se- quel of the Hiftbry, that He aftually did go. St. Jerom obferves, that Por^ phyry had mark'd this PaiTage as an Ar- gument of our Saviour's Inconflan- cy J and therefore that the i«. was changed Epiphanius in Ancorato. cap. 31, Sermon XVL 45)7 changed iiito «^9 to avoid the Force of this Obje6iion. Our Anfwer to all this is, That no Body ever denied there have been fuch weak Perfons among Chriflians, as might alter their Copies of the Gofpels in fuch Places, as they found themfelves unable to defend againft the Objedions the Heathens made to them. But then we fay, tliat there is no Probability that fiich Alterations fhould fo far ob- tain, as to throw out the true Reading in all the Copies of the World. That Copies of the Gofpels in the Original were difpers'd into fo many Hands, be- fides the many Verfwm of thofe Go- spels, that neither weak Cliriftians, nor St„ Jeromes frttdeM Man^ would have it in their Power to carry their Alterati- ons into ail the Copies in all tlie diffe- rent and diftant Parts of the World* And we find it to be true in Fad, that in thefe Places, which are ilippos'd to have h^t]i altered by Defign, xh.Q ge- nuine Reading is preferved at this E^y ^.1 fome Copy or other. And tho* St ^^^m fays, 'm his Time Ifxiah was \<^h JC k oul: S E R xM o N XVI: out of moft Copies in Manh. xiil J5, yet Kj^/ler in his Edition of iW/7/j's New Tefiam^jt tells us of one Copy in the Frefjch King's Library that has it at this Day, viz. the 6th Parifian ; as to the other Inilances of defigned Alterations, we find that which isjuppofed to be the true Reading, in more Copies than are thofe that Want it ; but if it had been otherwife, as no Part of a Chriftian's Faith or Pradice would have been af- feded by not having the true Read- ing of the Evanieliji in any of thefe In- ftances *, I WILL proceed to confider the In- ftances of defigned Alterations in a Point of Faith, as concerning the Divinity of the Son; 'tis thought, that the Dif- pute between the Orthodox and Arians was carried on with fo much Warmth, that the ArUns altered their Copies m fuch Places v/liere Christ was called God, or equalled to the Father, as I Tim. iii. 16. God maniftfitd in the Flejhy this Ibme fay, was changed into, which was mampjted in the flefb • to avoid the Force .c?f • tlie . Word God. 'Tis certain both Sermgk XVI. 499*^ both Readings were fupported by a great Number of Copies ; which Ihews the Induftry of one of the Parties, to jfupport its Opinion. And the famou's Text in I 'John v. 7. of the Ihrre that hear Witnefs in Heaven^ is fuppofed to have been put into this £/(/?/^ to ferye Purpofes. Tho' thefe Inftances are not in the Gofpels, but the Epiftles, yet as the Gof- pels might have been as eafily altered^ as any of the Epiltles at that Time^ I think myfelf obliged to fhew, that a Chriflian has lefs Reafon to fear find- ing the true Reading in thefe Inftances of defigned Alterations , than in the former Ones ; becaufe the Alterations before mention'd were made fome of them much earlier , when there were fewer Copies of the Gofpels, than there were of thefe Epiftles in the Time of thQ Jriaff Controverfy. For when J* j^ius firfl fet up his Doftrine, Chrifli- anity was the Eftablifhed Religion, and difperfed over all Parts of the Roman Empire, and confequently Copies of the ^m Tejiamem very much multiplied; K k 2 and 500 Sermon XVL and it was the Intered of either Side to watch one another , that neither fhould corrupt the Witneffes. And therefore whatever Inclination there might be in the Orthodox or Arian to alter the Scriptures, it would not be in their Power , at leaft in all fuch Places as related to this Controverfy. Confequently every Chriftian may liave enough to build his Faith upon in the New Tejiament^ fuch as 'tis brought down to our Times. If fometimes there be a Difficulty of determining among ma- ny, which is the true Reading, and we know not whether fome neceffary Do- ftrine of the Religion be not treated of in the Place, we need not be follicitous ; for if it be fuchy we fliall find it in other Places, where there is no Diilicul- ty in fettling the Tpxt ; becaufe thofe which are undoubtedly the neceffary Doftrines of the Chriftian Religion, are fo often repeated in the New Teftame?3ty fuch as we have it, and fo clofely wo- ven into the very Body of it, that there would be no removing any one of them out of every Place of the New Ttfiamenty without Sermon XVI. $oi without fubftituting another Sett of Golpds and EpilHes in the Room of the prefent ones, as will be evident to every one that makes the Experiment on any one Article of that which is caird, the Jpo les Creed : But we have already ihtwnit to be impofiible that our Gofpels fhould be, as to the main Part of them, any other tlian thofc whicli were writ by Matthew, Mark, Luke and Joh» ; and the fame Reafon will hold as to thefe Epiftles, which were more univerfally fpread, more Copies and Tranflations of them in the Time of Arius, than there were of the Gofpels, when forac of the Alterations before mentioned were made* T H u s I have Ihewn that there is no Ground for fufpefting, that the Chriftian Religion was from the Be- ginning of it a cunningly devijed Fxhle^ becaufe thofe who firft Preached it , muft have been fincere Perfons, and alfo that it cannot have been lb altered fince their Time, as to become one m ours ; becaufe whatever Aherations may have been made in fome Copies by Tran- fcribers, 5o2 Sermon XVL fcribers, they could not affe6t our ChrU itian Faith, or hinder us from receiv- ing the Gofpel, fuch as it was Preach- ed by the Apoftles, in all material Points. And therefore whatever the Ufdel may think of the Gofpel, I doubt not, it will appear to all impartial Enquirers to be no lefs than a MeiTage from Heaven made known to us., as St. Feter expreffes it, in the Words of my Tej^f, by the Fower andComirjg of our Lord JesusChrist, as of a Perfon ap- pointed by God to declare his Will to Mankind., u « And now I hope to have fully Ihewn the dangerous State of Infideli- ty ; or that all the Difficulties the Mn- believer pretends to raife again ft Reli- gious Principles, cannot fecure him a- gainft the Apprehenfions of Puniflhment in a future State ; we have therefore nothing more - to do, but to beg of God, That He would be fo Good as to incline the Heart of the Unbeliever to believe in Him and his Son Jesus Christ. O Sermon XVI. 503 " O merciful God, who haft made '' all Men, and hateft Nothing that " Thou haft made, nor wouldeft *' the Death of a Sinner, but ra- ^^ ther that he fhould be converted " and live, have Mercy upon all '* JewSy Turks, Infidels and Hereticks • . '* and take from them all Igno- " ranee, Hardnefs of Heart, and vrr" Contempt of Thy Word; and " fo fetch them Home, blefted ''Lord, to Thy Flock, that ' " they may be faved among the *' Remnant of the true Ifraelitesy • *' and be made one Fold under " One Shepherd, JesusChrist *' our Lord, who liveth and reign- *' eth with Thee, and the Holy "Spirit, One God, World *' without End. Amen^ FINIS. i