] 
 
 Trmzte Vices, TuUkk Benefits. 
 
 I N A 
 
 L E T T E R to the A U T H 0 R. 
 
 To which is added, 
 
 A Postscript, containing an 
 Obfcrvation or two upon Mr. Bayle, 
 
 By William Law, M. A 
 L O 0 K: 
 
 Printed for Will, and John iNNYsat 
 the ^Princes Anns at tlic W^eft-end of 
 Sf, Pml’i Omxch-YAvd, 17:4. 
 
S I R< 
 
 H A V E read your fcvcral Con>- 
 poiitions ia favour of the \i- 
 11^ CCS and Corruptions ^of Man- 
 
 no Apolopy, ior prefuming to 
 offer a W'ord or two on the Side 
 of Viftuc find Religion. 
 
 I lhall fpend no Time in Prefaec, or ge¬ 
 neral Rcflc.xionSj but proceed dircflly to 
 the Examination of Inch Paffages as expofe 
 moral Virtue, as a Eraud and ImpofitioHi 
 and render all Pretences to it^ as odious and 
 contemptible, 
 
 Tho' 1 diteft my felf rO jovt, 1 hope it 
 Will be no Offeitce, If 1 foinetimcs Ipeak^ 
 •as if I xvas fpcaking to a Chrillian, or 
 ffiGw foniG ways of thinking;? that m'ay be 
 bwing to that kind of wnflhip which is 
 profeilcd amortgft- us, ’^V'fiys Of thinking 
 detdV'd from reveal’d Religion are much 
 ii hi ■ii-fi 
 
mofc fuitablc to our low Capacities, 
 any arrogant Pretences to be wife, by our 
 oWii Lightr 
 
 Moral Virtue'j however difregarded in Pra- 
 fticc, has hitherto had a PpheljlatiVe Eftecin 
 amongft Men; herPraifes have been cele¬ 
 brated by Authors of all kinds, as the con- 
 jfcfs'd Beauty, Ornament anh-Perfection of 
 Human Nature.., 
 
 " t)n the COiitrafy, Ininmallty has been 
 look’d upon as the greateft Reproach and 
 Torment of Mankind; no Satyre hath 
 been thought fevere enough upon its natu¬ 
 ral Bafenefs'-and Deformity, nor any Wit 
 able to exprefs the Evils it . occafions in 
 private Life and publick Societies. 
 
 Your Goodnefs would not lufFcr yon to' 
 fee this part of Chriftendom, deluded with 
 fuch falfe Notions, of I. know not what 
 Esccellern'e in' Virtue, or Ewl in Vice; 
 but oblig’d you immediately to c.ompofe.a 
 Syjlem, (as you call- it) wlicfcin you do 
 thefc three things. 
 
 17? You confider Man,- merely as an 
 mal, havmg like other Animals, nothing 
 to do but to follow his Appetites^ 
 
 zdly You confider Man as cheated and 
 flatter’d out of his natural State, by the 
 Craft of Moralifts, and pretend to be vc- 
 fy Pure, that the moral plrtaes are the 
 
 Uticd 
 
[ ? ] 
 
 liticd offspring vjhlch Flattery begot upon 
 Tride. 
 
 So that Man and jMoraliry ate here both, 
 deftroy'd together 5 A'lan is declar’d to be 
 only an Anmal, timi Morality an Impo- 
 ifturc. 
 
 According to this Doftrinc, to fay that 
 aA4an is dilhoneft, is making him juft fuch 
 g Criminal as a Horfe that docs not dance. 
 
 But this is not all, for you dare farther 
 affirm in -praife of Immorality, That Evil 
 as vuell moral'l ■ as natural^ is the folid Ba- 
 Jis, the Life'and Support of all Trades and 
 Employments voithont exception ; that there 
 voe mnfl look for the true Origin of dll Arts 
 and Sciences , and that the Moment Evil 
 ceafes, the Society mufi be fpoil’d, If not dif- 
 folvd *. 
 
 Thcfc are the chief Doclrincs, which with 
 more than Fanatick Zeal you recommend- 
 to your Readers; and if lewd Stories, pro- 
 pliane Gbfervations, ioofc ]cfts, and haugh¬ 
 ty Aflertions, might pals for Arguments, 
 few People would be able to difputc with 
 you. 
 
 I fhall begin with your Definition of 
 Man. As for my part, fay you, vAthout 
 any Compliment to the courteous Reader, 
 or my felf, I believe, Man {befides Skin, 
 Flejh, Bojies, &c. that are obvious to the 
 B z Eye) 
 
U] 
 
 jEye) to be a Compound of various "Pajjl- 
 ons^ that all of them as they arc provok’d, 
 and come uppermofl, govern him by turns 
 ryhether he vill or no *. 
 
 Surely tins Definition, is too General, 
 bccaufe it feems to fait a JFolf or a Bear, 
 fls cxaftly as your felf, or. a Grecian 'Phi- 
 lofopher. 
 
 ■ You lay, you believe Man to be, tStc. now 
 I ean't underftand to what part of you, 
 this believing Faculty is to be aferib’d; for 
 you^ Definition of Man makes him inca¬ 
 pable of believing any thing, unlefs be¬ 
 lieving can be faid to be a Pajjion, or 
 fomc Faculty of Skin or Bones. 
 
 But fuppofing fuch a Belief as yours, bc- 
 eaufe of its blindnefs, might juftly be call’d 
 a Pallion, yet furcly there arc greater things 
 (joncciv’d by fomc Men, than can be aferib’d 
 to mere PalHons, or Skin and f lelh. 
 
 That reach of Thought, and ftrong Pe¬ 
 netration which has carry’d Sir Ifaac Nevv- 
 ion through fuch Regions of Science, mull; 
 truely be owing to fomc higher Principle. 
 Or will you fay, that all his Demonllra- 
 tionsj arc only fo many blind Sallies of 
 Pallion ? 
 
 If Man. had nothing but Infiincis and 
 PaJJions, he could not difpute about them 5 
 for 
 
 IntroJ. 
 
[ 5 1 
 
 for to difpute is no more an Infiinci, or 
 ‘PaJJion^ than it is a Leg, ox an ylrm. 
 
 If therefore you would prove your iclf 
 to be no more, than a Brute, or an Ani- 
 7naly how much of your Life you need al¬ 
 ter I can't tell, but you mull at leait for¬ 
 bear writing againll Virtue, for no mere 
 4nimal ever hated it. 
 
 Buthowever, finccyou defirctobc thought 
 only Skin and Blepb-, and a Compound of 
 Taffions, Ill forget your better part, as 
 much as you have done, and coulider you 
 in your own way. You tell us, that the 
 moral Virtues are the political offspring, 
 'uchich Flattery begot upon Bride 
 You therefore who arc an Advocate for 
 moral Vices, Ihould by the Rule of Con¬ 
 traries, be fuppofed to be afted by Humi¬ 
 lity but that being (as I think) not of 
 the number of the Paffions, you have no 
 Claim to be guided by it. 
 
 The prevailing Paffions, which you fay 
 have the foie Government of Man in their 
 turns, arc Pride, Shame, Pear, Luh, and An¬ 
 ger; you have appropriated the moral Vir¬ 
 tues to Bride, lb that your own Conduct 
 muft be aferibed either to Fear, Shame, 
 Anger or Lull, or elfc to a beautiful Union 
 and Concurrence of them all 
 
 I dont 
 
I don't dciubt, but you arc all'Q^dy. angry, 
 that I confider you, only as an Animal, that 
 acts as Anger or Luft or any. other Paffion 
 moves it, altho' it is your own AlTcrtion, 
 that you arc no better. But to, proceed, 
 
 Sagacious Moralifis, fay you, dra'OJ Men 
 like Angels, in hopes, that the iPride- at 
 haft of fame, ‘udll put them upon 'copymg 
 after the beautiful Originals, cjchich they 
 are reprefented to be 
 
 i am loth to charge you with Sagacity, 
 becaufc I would not accufe you falfly, but 
 if this Remark is well made, I can help 
 you to another full as juft, That Sa¬ 
 gacious Advocates for Immorality, dravj 
 Men like Brutes, in hopes, that the 'De¬ 
 pravity at leaft of fame, will pit them up¬ 
 on. copying after, the bafe Originals, which 
 they are reprefented to be,. 
 
 The Province you have chofen for your 
 ielf, is to deliver Man from the Sagacity 
 of Moralifts, the Encroachments of Vir¬ 
 tue, and to re-place him in the Rights and 
 Privileges of Brutality 5 to recall him from 
 the giddy Heights of rational Dignity, and 
 r\ngclick likenefs, to go to Grafs, or wal¬ 
 low in the Mire. 
 
 Had the Excellence of Man’s Nature, 
 been only a falfe Infinuation of crafty. Po¬ 
 liticians, the very faltcncfs of the thing, had 
 made 
 
, [ 7 ] 
 
 M^de fome Men at Peace with it, but this 
 Ddftrinc coining from Heaven, its being a 
 principle of Religion, and a foundation of 
 Iblid Virtue, has rouz’d up all this Zeal a* 
 gainft it. ‘ 
 
 And God faid, Let us mcJie Man in out 
 oiUn Image, after our Likenefs. 
 
 This was a Declaration of the Dignity of 
 Man’s Nature, made long before any of your 
 Sagacious M^ralills had a Meeting. As this 
 Dotlrinc came thus early from Heaven, fo 
 in the leveral Ages of the VvTrld, God has 
 had his Oracles, and Troj)hets, to raife 
 Mens Thoughts to their-firtt Original; to 
 preferve a Senfe of their Relation to God, 
 and Angclick Natures, and encourage them 
 to expeft a State of Greatnds fuitablc to 
 that Image after which they were created. 
 To zSme the?n, that, they that fleep in the 
 Dnji of the Earth fall awake, fome to 
 everlafting Life, and fome to Shame and 
 etserlafting Contempt. And they that be 
 wife fall fme as the brightnefs of the 
 Fmnanient, and they that turn many to 
 Righteoufnefs, as the Stars for evef and 
 ever *. 
 
 The lad Revelation whidt God has mads 
 to the World, by his Son |dus Chrift, is 
 greatly Glorious in this reiped, tlvat it has 
 more 
 
D 8], 
 
 more perftftly brought Life alid Immorta¬ 
 lity to light 5 that it turns our Thoughts 
 from the low Satisfaftions of Flcfh and 
 Senfe, to J>refs and afpire after that death- 
 Icfs State of Greatnefs, where we lhall be 
 as the AngeU of God. 
 
 It is not therefore the Sagacity and Ciuv 
 ning of any Philofophers that has trick’d 
 Men into Notions of Morality, as a thing 
 fuitable to a pretended Dignity of Nature 
 within them. 
 
 W it is God himfelf, who firft declared 
 the Excellence of human Nature, and has 
 made fo many Revelations fmcc, to fill Mens 
 Minds with high and noble Defires liiita- 
 blc to it. 
 
 Before I proceed to confider your Eth 
 quiry, into the Origin of moral Virtnty I- 
 ihall take Notice of the Apology that you 
 make to Jews and Chriftians. ■ , 
 
 You arc I'cnfiblc that what you have faid 
 is inconfilknt, both with the Old and New 
 Teftament, and therefore thus excufe your 
 feif to your fcrupulous Reader. 
 
 Tlwt in your Enquiry into the Origin of 
 moral Virtue, you Jpeak neither of Jews 
 7 ior_ Chriftians, but Man in his State _ of 
 Nature and Ignorance of the., true Dei^ 
 ty^. 
 
 The 
 
 ' p. XU-7. 
 
[9 ] 
 
 The Abfurdity of this Apology will ap¬ 
 pear from hence; Let us fuppole that you 
 had been making an Enquiry into the Ori¬ 
 gin of the World, and ihould declare that 
 it arofc from a c afial Cone ourfe of Atoms, 
 and then tel! your fcrupulous Reader, by way 
 of Excufe, that you did not mean the World, 
 which fe^ses and Chrijlians dwell upon, 
 but that which is inhabited by Man hi his 
 State of Nature and Ignorance of the true 
 ‘Deity. Could any thing be more weak or 
 fenfclcfs than fuch an Apology ? yet it is 
 exactly the lame as that which you have here 
 made. 
 
 For the difference of Jeiv or Heathen, 
 no more fuppofes or allows of two ditfe- 
 rent Origins of Morality, than it fuppofes 
 or allows of two ditferent Origins of the 
 World. 
 
 For as the Creation of the W^orld was 
 over, and owing to its true Caufe, before 
 the Exigence of either Jea; or Heathen, 
 fo Morality was in being, and I'prung from 
 its proper Source, before either ]cw or Hea¬ 
 then came into the World. And conle- 
 quently neither the Origin of the one or 
 the other admits of any different Account, 
 becaufc in the after Ages of the World, 
 fome People were call’d Jesus, and others 
 Heathens. Bclides, if you contradicF the 
 Religion of Jews and Chrillians, in your 
 Account of Morality, is it Ids a Contra- 
 C dielion, 
 
didion, or Icfs falfc, bccaufc you pretend 
 that your Face \vas turn’d towards "Pa- 
 guns ? 
 
 If you was to aflert that there was no 
 God, or true Religion, could it be any 
 Excufe, to fay that you was fpcaking to d 
 Mahoynetan ? 
 
 idfy To defend your Account of the 
 Origin of Morality, you fuppofe Man in 
 a S^tateof Nature, favage and brutal, with> 
 out any Notions of Morality or Ideas of 
 Religion. 
 
 Now this very Suppofition, is fo far from 
 being any Apology for you, that it enhances 
 your Accufation: For you fuppofe fuch a 
 State of Nature, (as yqu call it) as the Scrip¬ 
 ture makes it morally irapolTible, that Men 
 Ihould ever have been in. 
 
 M^hen Noah's Family came out of the 
 Ark, we prefume, they were as well edu¬ 
 cated in the Principles of Virtue and mo¬ 
 ral Wifdom, as any People were ever fince j 
 at leaft we arc fure they were well inhrud- 
 cd in the true Religion. 
 
 There was tlterefore a Time, when ail 
 the People in the World were well vers’d 
 in moral Virtue, and worfhip’d God ac¬ 
 cording to the true Religion. 
 
 Fie therefore that gives a later Account 
 of the Origin of moral Virtue, gives a 
 falfe Account of it. 
 
 Now 
 
Now as all parts of the World were by 
 degrees inhabited, by the Defeendants of 
 fuch Aiiceftors, as were well inllruacd 
 both in Religion and Morality, it is moral¬ 
 ly impollible that there Ihould be any Na¬ 
 tion of the World, amongft whom there was 
 no Remains of Morality, no Inllanccs of Vir¬ 
 tue, no Principles of Religion deriv’d from 
 their Anceftors. 
 
 At leaft it is abfolutcly impollible for you 
 to flrcw that there was any fuch Nation, 
 free from all Imprellions of RelRioii 
 and Morality. This you can no more do, 
 than you can lliew that all the ^Yorld arc 
 not dcfccndcd from Adam. 
 
 So that your Origin of moral Virtue fup- 
 pofes a Stare of Man, which tlic Scriptures 
 make it morally impollible ever to happen, 
 and which it is abfolutcly impollible for 
 you to Ihcw, that it really did ever happen. 
 
 But fuppofing fome of the Pollcrity of 
 Noah in fome Corner of the AVorld Ihould 
 have become lb degenerate, as to have not 
 the leaft Remains of Virtue or Religion left 
 amongft them; and fuppofe fome Philofo- 
 phers Ihould get amongft them, and wheedle 
 and flatter them into fome Notionsof Mora¬ 
 lity ; could that be call’d an Account of the 
 Origin of moral Virtue, when moral Vir¬ 
 tue from the beginning of the World had 
 been praclis’d and taught, by the virtuous 
 Anfcftors of fuch a depraved Oifspring ? 
 
To make the taming of fome fuch fup- 
 pos'd Savage Creatures the Origin of Mo¬ 
 rality, is as juft a way of thinking, as to 
 make the Hifiory of the curing People in 
 Bedlam, a true Account of the Origin of 
 Reafon. 
 
 idly Your Apology to your fcrupulous 
 Reader, as if your Origin of Morality re¬ 
 lated not to Jews or Chriftians, is falfe and 
 abfurd. 
 
 Becriufc, the Obfervarions which you have 
 made upon human Nature, on which, your 
 Origin of moral Virtue is founded, arc on¬ 
 ly fo many Obfervations upon the Man¬ 
 ners of all Orders of Chriflians. It is their 
 Palfcncfs, Hypocrific, Pride and Pallions, 
 that has induc'd you to confidcr Morality, 
 as having no rational Foundation in Mans 
 Nature, but as the political of spring tsohich 
 flattery begot upon Bride. 
 
 And yet, yon .good Man, are not talk¬ 
 ing about Chrifians or Jews. 
 
 But every Page of .your Book confutes 
 that Excufe, and indeed needs mult; for 
 how fhould your Obfervations relate to any 
 but to thole People, whofe Natures a^d 
 ■Practices have furnifh'd you with them ? 
 
 I have, fay you, fearched through every 
 Bdegree and Station of Men, at lalt you 
 tell us, you went to the Convents, but 
 
[ ■? ] 
 
 even there you found that all was Farce 
 and Hipocrify *. 
 
 You tell us allb; that whoever fearches 
 thus deep into human Nature will find, 
 that moral Virtue is the political offspring 
 ssjhich Flattery begot upon Tride. lYt this 
 fearching into all Orders of Men, into Con¬ 
 vents, and from thence making this Difeo- 
 very, that Morality is all owing to Fride 
 and Folicy, yet this is not pronouncing any¬ 
 thing upon Chriftians. 
 
 Nothing can be more weak than to form 
 your Opinion of human Nature, upon the 
 Tempers and Prafticesof all Orders of Chri¬ 
 ftians, and then pretend you are only treat¬ 
 ing of Man in fuch a State of Nature, as 
 you never faw one in, in your Life. 
 
 For how can your Obfervations upon 
 Men, under the power of Education, Cu- 
 ftom. Lav/s and Religion, tell you what 
 Man is, in aluppofed State, where allthefe 
 are wanting ^ 
 
 Or will v-tu fay that you are acquainted, 
 and intimaLcly acquainted with Men, fo 
 entirely divclted of all the Ideas of Reli¬ 
 gion, Morality and Virtue, that you can 
 make their Natures a true Specimen of Man 
 in his moft favage, brutal Condition ? 
 
 Tho' 
 
Tlio’ your Knowledge of human Nature 
 was great, yet you was forced it feems, to 
 vifit the Convents, before you could pro¬ 
 nounce any thing of them. It feems there¬ 
 fore ncceffary, in order to know what 
 Creatures Men are in a State of brutality, 
 deftitute of all Senfe of God and Virtue, 
 that you fhould know where to vifit them. 
 
 Again, this Apology of yours, happens 
 to be inconfiftent with the firft and main 
 pJinciplc upon which your fine Difeourfe is 
 founded. I mean your Definition of Man, 
 whom you define to be, befidcs Sk 'm, Flejb, 
 and Bones, &c. a compound of various Taf- 
 fons. This is the vile, abominable, falfc, 
 proud Animal, that you treat of under the 
 Name of Man. In your Excufe you tell 
 us, this is Man ’only in a State of Nature, 
 but in your Introdudion, you tell us, that 
 to forbear complimenting, that Definition 
 bciongs both to your felf, and the courte¬ 
 ous Reader. 
 
 So that you mufi cither allow that you 
 and your courteous Readers are all Savages, 
 in an uncnlightncd State of Nature, or cllc 
 that the xMan you have deferib’d, belongs 
 to all Orders of Chriltians. 
 
 'Having fhewn thcwcaknefs and felly of 
 your Apology, I proceed now to your more 
 particular Account of the Origin of 'moral- 
 Virtue. 
 
You are plcafcd to impute iis Orip,in t9 
 Tride alone, that having the I'auK Canlc 
 as fine Cloaths, we may vvear as much, or 
 as little as weplcafe, without incurring any 
 greater Offence, than a little variation in 
 brefs. 
 
 If Tride be the only foundation of Vir¬ 
 tue, then the more vicious any one is, the 
 more humble he ought to be efteem'd; and 
 he who is the molt humble is at the great- 
 ell dillance he can be plac'd from moral 
 Virtue. And a perfect Humility (which by. 
 moft Moralifts has been reckon'd a Virtue) 
 mull according to this Account, render a- 
 ny one incapable of any Virtue; for fuch 
 a one not only wants that which you make 
 the only caufeof Virtue, but is poflcfs'd of 
 the contrary Qiiality. 
 
 Having carefully confidcr'd human Nature, 
 you have at lafl difeover’d, that the rnora^ 
 Virtues are the political offspring csjhicto 
 Flattery begot upon Tride. 
 
 You arc fo fond of this Difeovery, that 
 you can't help fhewing us how you made it. 
 
 The firft Moralifts or Philolbphers, lay 
 you, thoroughly examin’d all the Strength 
 and Frailty of our Nature, and obferving 
 that none were either fo fa vage, as not to 
 be charm’d with Praife, or fo defpkahle, as 
 patiently to bear Contempt juftly conclud¬ 
 ed, that Flattery , rniift be ihe powerful 
 
[ > 6 ] 
 
 Argument that could be ufed to human 
 Creatures *, 
 
 What a Graphical Dcfcription is here! 
 One would think that you had been an Eye 
 witnefs to all that pafs’d, and that you had 
 held the Candle to thole firlt Philofophers 
 when they were fo carefully peeping into 
 human Nature, You don't love to dwell ■ 
 upon little Matters, or elfe you could have 
 told us the Philofophers Name, who firft 
 difeover’d thii Flattery, how long he look'd 
 before he found it; how he prov’d it to be 
 agreeable to Pride 5 what Difputes happen'd 
 upon, the Occafion 5 and how many Ages 
 of the World had pafs'd, before this Con- 
 fiiltation of the Philofophers. 
 
 But however, you pals on to more ma¬ 
 terial Points: T^ey, fay you, (that is the 
 Philofophers) making ufe of this besuitch- 
 ing Engine, extoll’d the Excellency of our 
 Nature above other Animals, Having by 
 this artful way of Flattery, infnuated them- 
 felves into the Hearts of Men, they began 
 tQ inftrubi them in the Notions of Honour 
 and Shame, — they laid before them how 
 unbecoming it was the Dignity of fuch fub- 
 lime Creatures to be follicitous about grati¬ 
 fying thofe Appetites, which they had in 
 common with Brutes, &c. 
 
 This 
 
.This you take to be a fuffidcnt Proof, 
 that the moral Virtues are the political off'- 
 fpring sji'hich Flattery begot vpoji Tride. 
 
 I can go no farther till I prclent you with 
 a fine Speculation -of an Abflract-thinker, 
 upon the Origin of the ereel poflnre of Man¬ 
 kind. 
 
 “ If was his Opinion, that the nearer wc 
 fcarch into human Nature, the more wc 
 fliall be convinc’d, that walking upon our 
 ^ Feet with our Body ereft, was the folt- 
 “ tical ojfspnng •sshich Flattery begot upon 
 “ Tride. 
 
 “ The firft Legiflarors, lays he, having 
 “ examined the Strength and Weaknefs or 
 “ Man’s Body, they dilcover’d, that he wa.s 
 “ nor lb top heavy, bur that he might Hand 
 “ upright on his Feet, but the dilhculty was 
 “ how to raife him up. 
 
 Some Philofophcr more fagacious than 
 “ the refi found out, that though xVlan crept 
 “ on the Ground, yet he was made up of 
 “ Pride, and that if Flattery took hold: ot^ 
 “ that, he might eafily be fet on his Legs, 
 “ Making u.fe of this bewitching Engine, 
 “ they cxtolFd the excellency of his Shape 
 “ above other-Animals, and told him what 
 “ a groveling thing it was, to creep oil all 
 four like the mcaneft Animals. 
 
 Thus did thefe firft Philofophcrslhame 
 “ poor Man out of his natural State of creep- 
 “ ing, and wheedled him into the Digni* 
 D “ ty 
 
“ ty and Honour of walking upright, to. 
 “ fcrvc their o\yn ambitious Ends, and that 
 “ .they might have his Hands to be em- 
 ploy’d in their Drudgery 
 ."this Gentleman being deeply learn’d in 
 tIicKno\vlcdgc of human Nature, has much 
 the fainc Curiofities, concerning the Ori¬ 
 gin of Speech, and the firft Invention of 
 Truth, which he thinks upon a ftrift Rc- 
 fcarch into' Nature, may very' juEly be a- 
 ferib'd to Pride and Flattery. 
 
 W to return to your Hiftory. The next 
 Thing your Philofophers did, was this. 
 
 In order to introduce an Emulation a- 
 inongft Men ,, 'they divided the vohole Spe¬ 
 cies into tv: 6 Clajfes, vafily differing from 
 one. another. The one confifted of vile 
 groveling Wretches,, which they faid was 
 the Drofs of their Kind, and having only 
 the.. Shape of Men, differ'd from Brutes 
 only hi their outward Figure s but the other 
 Clafs of Men. were made dp of high Spirited 
 lofty Creatures '^. , 
 
 , 'Chronology,, and Geography, I prefumc, 
 arpStudies hot polite enough for your At- 
 feritlon, or cite I fuppofe you would have 
 toldus the Time \vhe% anid the Place where 
 all 'tliis happen’d! 
 
 , ' " For 
 
[ >9 ] 
 
 For it is material to know what the 
 World was doing before thefe Philofo- 
 phers made this Divifion; whether before 
 this, there was any Fear of God, any Be¬ 
 lief of a Providence; any Duty to Parents; 
 any Senfe of Equity 3 any Notions of Faith,' 
 or any Regard to Trutli. 
 
 For if the Enquiry was about the Origin 
 of Seeing, or Hearing, and you Ihould be 
 ever lb exad in telling me the manner how 
 fome cunning Phllofophers firlt brought that 
 Matter to bear, I Ihould be very fcrupulous 
 about It, unlefs you told me tire Time when, 
 and the Place where they met, what they 
 were doing before; how they came thh 
 ther, and how they knew when they were 
 there. 
 
 Now there is juft this lame Difficulty in 
 your Account of the Origin of moral Vir¬ 
 tue. . . 
 
 For, let me tell you, Sir, moral Virtue 
 came amongft Men, in the ftrnre irranner, as 
 Seeing, and Hearing came amongft them. 
 
 Had there ever been a Time, when there 
 was nothhrg of it in the World, it could 
 no more have been introduc'd, than the 
 Faculties of Seeing and Hearing could have 
 .been contriv'd by Men, who were MWand 
 deaf. 
 
 Were not the firft Principles and Reafons 
 of Morality connatural to us, andcftential to 
 our Minds,.there would have been nothing 
 Pa for 
 
[ao] 
 
 for the moral Philoiophcrs to have improv’d 
 upon. 
 
 "Nor indeed can any Art or Science be 
 form’dj but in fuch Matters, as where Na¬ 
 ture has taken the firft Steps her felf, and 
 fhewn certain Principles to proceed upon. 
 
 Terj'[)e^live fuppolcs an agreement in the 
 difFcrcnt Appearances of Objefts. 
 
 Mitjick fuppofes a confefs’d Perception of 
 various Sounds, and fo.does moral Thilofo- 
 phy fuppofe an acknowledg'd diftcrcncc of 
 Gobd and Evil. 
 
 Were we not all naturally Mathematici¬ 
 ans and Logicians, there would be no fuch 
 Sciences 5 for Science is only an improve¬ 
 ment of thofe firft Principles or Ways of 
 thinking which Nature has given us. 
 
 Take away the Mathematicians 
 or thofe firft Elements and Principles of 
 Rcafon, which are allow’d by the com¬ 
 mon Senfe of Mankind; and were Philofo- 
 phers even as cunning as your felf, they 
 muft give up all the Science. 
 
 ; Do but fuppofe all to be invented, and 
 then it will follow that nothing could be 
 invented in any Science. 
 
 It is thus in all Sciences, the rationality 
 of our Nature contains the firft Rules, or 
 Principles, and it is the Speculation of Man 
 that builds and enlarges upon them. 
 
 As the Mathematician, feeing the acknow¬ 
 ledg'd Differences and Proportions of Lines 
 and 
 
and Figures, proceeded upon them to en¬ 
 large Men’s Knowledge in fuch matters; fo 
 the moral Philolbphcrs, feeing the acknow¬ 
 ledg’d Difference between Right and Wrong, 
 Good and Evil, which the common Reafon 
 of Man conlcntcd to, they proceeded to en¬ 
 large and improve upon thenr. 
 
 So that their Labours arc but Speculations 
 and Harangues upon thofe common Princi¬ 
 ples of Morality, which were as connatural 
 to the Reafon of Man, as the firft Principles 
 of any otlicr Science. 
 
 Moral Thilofophy may be compar’d to 
 Eloquence it is an Improvement upon the 
 common Reafon of Man, as Eloquence is 
 an Improvement upon Speech. 
 
 Now Ihould fome ConnoJJlenr take it into 
 his Head to enquire into the Origin of 
 Speech, and tell the M^orld, “ That once 
 ‘‘ upon a time, fome Orators feeing that 
 Man had fomething in his Mouth, bj 
 “ the Movement of which, he could make 
 “ a particular Sound; they told him of the 
 Dignity and Honour of uttering fuch 
 “ Sounds, and fo through the pride of his 
 “ Nature taught the Anhiml to fpcak, tho’ 
 “ in reality, it was neither natural to him, 
 “ nor any true Excellence; but ambitious 
 Men flatter’d him into it, that he might 
 be the fitter to go on their Errands 
 Should any profound Thinker give this 
 Recount of the Origin of Speech, you would 
 iwye 
 
[-«] 
 
 have a Right to lay, that he had hole the 
 Difeovery from you, who have given us 
 juft the lame fallc and ridiculous Account 
 of the Origin of Morality. 
 
 .For it is full as rcafonablc, to make Elo¬ 
 quence the Origin of forming articulate 
 Sounds, as to make the Harangues or La¬ 
 bours of moral Philolbphcrs, the Origin of 
 moral Virtue. 
 
 Could it be fuppos’d, that an Under- 
 ftanding fo fne as yours, could be con¬ 
 ven'd to your TDefeendants, and that you 
 .fhould ever have a Grandfon as ''jsife as 
 your felf: It may be expccied that he v.'ill 
 be able to teach that Generation of Men, 
 that, Seeing, was firft introduc’d into the 
 ,\y.orld, by Sir Ifaac Ne'ivtons Trcatilc up¬ 
 on Of ticks. 
 
 -To' enquire into the Origin of moral 
 Virtue, is to enquire into the Origin of 
 Reafon, Truth, and t\\c. Relations oi Things. 
 
 And to fanfy that fomc Politicians con- 
 .'triv’d moral Virtue, is to fanfy that Ibrne 
 ^Politician contriv’d Reafon and Truth, and 
 .invented the difference between one rkdion 
 •and another. ■ 
 
 . .:Thcre is nothing that began to be, but 
 .'yyhat may be deftroyH or ceafe to be 5 but 
 
 Truth and Reafon .can never ccafg to be, 
 foTt implies a-Contradiction in ternis, for 
 .Ttuth and Reafon ever to ha^•c hacl a Bc- 
 I’ginnin^.. . 
 
[^ 3 ] 
 
 It is the fame in moral Virtue, which is 
 Truth and Reafon, confidcr’d in relation 
 to Aclions; and the difference between one 
 Action and another, is as immutable and 
 eternrd, as the'hffcrencc between one Line 
 and another, and can no more be dclfroy’d. 
 
 As things arc different by their own pro¬ 
 per Natures, independant of our Wills, lb 
 Actions nave their own peculiar Qualities 
 fromthcmfclves, and not from our Thoughts 
 about them. In thefe immutable Qiialities 
 of Actions, is founded, the fitnefs and rea- 
 fonablencls of them, which \vc can no more 
 alter, than we can change the Proportions 
 or Relations of Lines and Figures. 
 
 And it is no more the Rride of Man, 
 that has made this difference between Ac¬ 
 tions, than it is the Tride of Man, that 
 makes the difference berw'ccn a Circle and 
 a Square. 
 
 Moral Virtue therefore, if confidcr’d in 
 it fclf, as the Rule or Law of intelligent 
 Beings, had no Origin 5 that is, there never 
 Avas a rime when it began to be; but it is 
 as "utch without beginning as Truth and 
 Goodncls, which arc in their Natures as E- 
 tcrnal as God. 
 
 But moral Virtue, if confidcr’d, as the 
 Objeft of iVaa’s Knowledge, began with 
 the iirft Man, and is as natural to him, as 
 it is natural to Man to think and perceive, 
 or 
 
or feci the difference between Plcafure and 
 Pain. 
 
 For his rational Nature, as much implies 
 a fitnefs to perceive a difference in Aftions, 
 as to Right and Wrong, as it implies a ht- 
 nefs to perceive a difference in things as to 
 great and fmall, pleafing or painful. 
 
 . It may now be enquired, whether this 
 moral Virtue be our and how it ap¬ 
 
 pears, that we are under any Obligations to 
 behave our felves, according to this diffc- 
 rcijce of Right and Wrong that appears in 
 Adions. 
 
 Now the rcafonablcnefs and fitnefs of 
 Aclions themfelves is a Law to rational Be¬ 
 ings, and the fight of that rcafonablencfs 
 carries an Obligation. 
 
 , The different magnitude of things, is a 
 Rcafon to us, to acknowledge fuch Diffe¬ 
 rence 5 and He that affirms any thing con¬ 
 trary to tire fight of his Mind, offends a- 
 gainfl .the Law of his Nature. 
 
 The different natures of Ahiions, is a 
 Rcafon for us to act according to fuch Dif¬ 
 ferences, and He who does any thing con¬ 
 trary to the fight of his Mind in that rc- 
 Ipcft, fins againft the Law of his Nature. 
 
 Now that this is not an imaginary Ob¬ 
 ligation, or a Law fanfy’d by Moralifls, may 
 appear from hence j that this is a Law to 
 which even the Divine Nature is fubjccT:; for 
 Clotl is ncccflarily Juft and Good, not from 
 any 
 
any external Force, but from the Excellen¬ 
 cy of Jufticc and Goodnefs. Reafo/t is his 
 Law becaufc it is Reafon. That therefore 
 which is a Law to God becaufc of its Ex¬ 
 cellency, mull; furely be a La^JJ to all Be¬ 
 ings whom he has created capable of dif- 
 cerning that Excellency. For if the llca- 
 fon or Excellence of the thing, be of fuf- 
 ficient Foi'cc to determine the Action of 
 God, certainly it ought not to be thought 
 too little to determine us in our Actions. 
 
 Nor can that be faid to be an imagina¬ 
 ry fpeculative Law to intelligent Beings, 
 which is an inviolable Law to the molt 
 perfect, intelligent Nature. 
 
 zdly, It is the AVill of God, that makes 
 moral Virtue our Law, and obliges us to 
 acE rcafonably. 
 
 If yon ask how this Will of God ap¬ 
 pears, I muit beg leave at prefent, only to 
 fuppofc, that God is of inlinite julticc, 
 and Goodnefs, and Truth; and then the 
 thing proves it fclf: For fuch a God muft 
 neceflarily Will, that all his Creatures in 
 their feveral Proportions, be juft, and Good, 
 and True. 
 
 Few Mathematical Demonftrations con¬ 
 clude ftrongcr than this. There is only one 
 Objeclion to be made againft it, which is 
 to fuppofc, that God is neither juft or 
 True. 
 
If rather then yield, you will put the 
 Epicurean upon rae, and fay that God may 
 diifegard us, and neither Will one way, 
 nor the other. It may be anfwer’d, that 
 this is inconfilknt with the Idea of God 
 juft laid down; for a God of infinite Good- 
 nefs and Truth, can no more fail to Will 
 Goodiiefs and Truth in every Injfance, than 
 an infinite Being can fail to be prefent in 
 every Place, or an omnipotent Being be de¬ 
 ficient in any Acis of Power. So that it 
 is abfolutely neceflary to fay, either that 
 God, is not of infinite Goodnefs and Truth, 
 or to allow that He requires all his Crea¬ 
 tures in their fevcral Capacities, to be Juft, 
 and True, and Good. 
 
 Here, Sir, is the Noble and Divine Ori¬ 
 gin of moral Virtue, it is founded in the 
 immutable Relations of Things, in the 
 Pcrfcciions and Attributes of God, and 
 not in the Eride of Man, or the Craft of 
 cunning Politicians. 
 
 As the Reafons and Obligations to mo¬ 
 ral Virtue have always been in being, fo 
 has Mankind always had Sight of them: 
 It being as cftTential and natural, for a ra¬ 
 tional Being to perceive thefe difterences of 
 ADions, as it is for an extended Being to 
 Occupy Space. 
 
 And the Creation of a rational Nature, 
 as much implies a Sight of the reafonable- 
 nefs of things, as the Creation of an ex¬ 
 tended 
 
tended Being, implies its Poflcfilon of lb 
 much Space. 
 
 Matter of Fad alfo fupports this Obfer- 
 vation: For Hiftory tells us of no x\gc or 
 Country, where Men have not agreed to 
 aferibe, jttfticc, Goodnefs and Truth, to the 
 Supreme Being. 
 
 New this (hews, that they always not 
 only knew, what Goodnefs, Jufdcc and 
 Truth were, but alfo that they took tlienr 
 to be fuch excellent Qtialitics, as ought to 
 be aferib’d to the higheil and bell: Being. 
 
 How monftrous is it therefore, to im¬ 
 pute thefe fine moral Virtues to the Con¬ 
 trivance of Politicians, when all Ages of 
 the World have agreed to aferibe them to 
 God, and number them amongft his glorious 
 Attributes. 
 
 God is lull, therefore there is fuch a 
 thing as juftiec, independent of the YBill 
 and Contrivance of Man, is a way of rca- 
 foning that cannot be refuted, 
 
 It is in vain to fay, that there may be 
 a Divine ]ulHec and Goodnefs, and yet 
 what we call Goodnefs and jufiiec amongfr 
 Men, may be only a human Contrivance. 
 
 For to this it may be anfwer’d, that we 
 cannot aferibe any thing to God, of which 
 we have not fomc Conception our fclvcs. 
 Did we not perceive fomc degrees of Wif- 
 dom, we could not call him All-'di'ife did 
 we not feel Power, and undetfiand what it is, 
 E we 
 
[ ,8 ] 
 
 we coulJ not afcribc Omnipotence to God, 
 Porour Idea of God is only form'd by add¬ 
 ing infinite to every Perfeftion that \vc 
 have any Knowledge of. 
 
 So that had we not from the rationali¬ 
 ty of our Nature, as plain a Sight of juftice, 
 Goodnefs and Truth, as we have of ^Poiv- 
 er, Exigence, or any thing elfe, we could 
 not attribute them to God. 
 
 That wc are rational Beings, is as plain, 
 as that wc have Bodies, and bodily Senfes. 
 As*there is no Manfo refin’d and elevated, 
 but gives frequent Proof, that He is ftib- 
 jecl alfo to Inftinds and Pallions; fo there 
 is no one fo addicted to an Animal Life, 
 as to fhew no Signs of an higher Principle 
 within him. 
 
 It is this rationality of our Nature, that 
 makes us both capable of, and oblig'd to 
 praftife moral Virtue, and brings us into a 
 kind of Society with God and all other in¬ 
 telligent Beings. 
 
 For our Reafon gives us a fliarc in that 
 common Light, which all intelligent Be¬ 
 ings enjoy, and by making us Partakers of 
 the fame Things, fo far makes us of one 
 Society. 
 
 By our Reafon wc know fome Truths, 
 which God, and all intelligent Beings know 5 
 and apprehend fome Perfections, and diffe¬ 
 rent C^alitics in Things and Actions, which 
 all intelligent Beings apprehend. 
 
 Now 
 
[ ’ 9 ] 
 
 Now by being let into this Region of 
 Truth, by being able to fee fomc Truths 
 which God alfo fees, and to know ibrnc 
 Perfections which he alfo knows, we arc 
 as plainly declar’d to be raLioiial Beings, and 
 that Rcafon is one Law of our Nature ; as 
 the Principles of Flcih and Blood ihew us 
 to be Animals, and fubjccl to the Infunelsof 
 an Animal Life. 
 
 For how weak is it to fuppofe, that the 
 Animal Life Ihould be the foundation of 
 Laws of Nature, fo as to make it iit for us 
 to ad agreeable to its Wants and Dehres; 
 and that the Rat'icnality of our Beings, 
 which is, in fomc degree, a Likenefs to 
 God, Ihould be the Foundation of no Laws 
 of Nature, fo as to make it fit for us to 
 ad fuitable to its Perfedion and Idappi- 
 nefs; 
 
 The fhort is this, Truth and Renfon is 
 the Law by which God ads; Man is, in 
 fomc degree, made a Partaker or that Truth 
 and Reafon; therefore it is a Lavv' ro him 
 alfo. The mere we act according to Or¬ 
 der, Truth and PvCafon, the mere w e make 
 our fcives like God, who is Truth and Ilca- 
 fon it feif. 
 
 This is the flrong and immoveable Foun¬ 
 dation of moral JTrtne, having the fame 
 Certainty as the Attributes of God.- 
 
 Away then, I bcfccch you, with your 
 idle and prophanc Fancies about the Origin 
 
[ 3 °] 
 
 of moral Virtue. For once turn your Eyes 
 towards Heaven, and dare but to own a 
 juft and good God, and then you have 
 own’d the true Origin of Religion and mo¬ 
 ral Virtue. 
 
 Thus much will, I prefume, be thought 
 fufficient to vindicate the Excellency and 
 Obligations of moral Virtue from the fallc 
 and impious Accounts you have given of its 
 Origin. 
 
 I proceed to confider in the next place 
 fome other Methods that are made ufe of 
 to render inoral Virtue odious and contemp¬ 
 tible. 
 
 SECT. IT. 
 
 T he moft boafted Objection againft the 
 Reality of Virtue which is urged by 
 Men, who appropriate the Knowledge of 
 human Nature to themfelves, is this, that 
 no Adlion is performed by us thro’ a Love 
 ofGoodnefs, or upon a rational Principle of 
 Virtue, but that it is Complexion-, natural 
 Temper, Education, Tride, Shame, or fome 
 other blind Impulfe that moves us in all our 
 Adions that have the Appearance of Virtue. 
 Thus a Man who relieves an Objeft of Com¬ 
 panion, only gratifies his commiferating 
 Temper he is fubjeft to Tity, 'which is a 
 Frailty of our Natures, and of which the 
 
[31 ] 
 
 ■jjeakefi Minds have generally the greatefi 
 Share, as may be feen in Women and Chil¬ 
 dren.^ Again, the humbleft Man alive, fay 
 you, mujl confefs, that the Reward of a 
 virtuous All ion, which is the Satisfaiiion 
 that enfues upon it, confijls in a certain 
 Tleafure he procures to himfelf in contem¬ 
 plating his own IVorth ; which Rleafure, 
 together with the Occajion of it, are as cer¬ 
 tain Signs of Tride, as looking pale and 
 trembling at any imminent Danger are the 
 Symptoms of Fear.\ 
 
 Now, Sir, if this be a true Account of 
 the humbleft Men alive, then, by the Rule of 
 Contraries, this muft be a true Account of 
 the proudell Man alive, that the Satisfac¬ 
 tion he enjoys in being fo, confifts in a certain 
 Tleafure he procures to himfelf by contem,- 
 plating his own Vilenefs. 
 
 This accurate Defcription you have given 
 us of the Fleafure of the humbleft Man alive, 
 muft be owing to fuch a feeling Senfc as the 
 blind Man had of Light, who being ask'd 
 what it was like; anfwefd, that it was like 
 the Sound of a Trumpet. 
 
 But to confider this Charge againft human 
 Virtue, that it is nothing but Education, na¬ 
 tural Temper, or Complexion; this being 
 fo labour’d a Point, I fhall ftate the whole 
 Matter as clearly as I can. 
 
 ift. It is granted, that an Aftion is only 
 then virtuous when it is perform’d, becaufe 
 it 
 
 I P’ 42 > 
 
 t P> 43- 
 
it is agreeable to Rcafon, and thofe Laws 
 which God requires us to obierve. 
 
 Now this Virtue is Man's Duty, not as a 
 Task that is impos'd upon him, but as it is 
 the only Praclke, that is, the natural Plea- 
 lure and proper Good of his Being. 
 
 Virtue having that natural Fitnefs to a ra¬ 
 tional Soul that fine Sights have to the Eye, 
 or harmonious Sounds to the Ear. 
 
 A rational Being is in order, in its right 
 State and Frame, when it is acting rcalbna- 
 bl)'. 
 
 The infinite Goodnds of God makes him 
 infinitely happy, and the Perfection of c\xry 
 Being is its Happinefs, and the greater and 
 more perfea the Virtue of any one is, the 
 more perfeft is his Happinefs. 
 
 Now it is here to be obferv’d, that an 
 Aftion is not Ids virtuous, or lofes any of 
 its Excellency, bccaufc the Soul is delighted 
 and made happy by it 5 for it is the very Na¬ 
 ture of Virtue to produce fuch Eftects, and 
 it fhews the Reftitude of the Soul when it 
 can act virtuoufly with Delight, and fed its 
 Happinefs in fo doing. 
 
 This is being virtuous upon Principle, 
 and thro' a Love of Goodnefs ; for Good- 
 nets is lov'd for itfelf, when it is lov'd for 
 what it is, the true Good and proper De¬ 
 light of a rational Being. 
 
 Now will any one fay that there is no Ex¬ 
 cellence in Virtue, that it is mere Nature 
 and 
 
and Tmper, bccaufe it is fo agreeable, I’u 
 proper to our rational Natures? Then 
 let him lay there is no Excellence in the 
 Goodnefs and Juflice of God, becanfe it 
 is lb luirable to his Nature, and conflitutes 
 his Happinels. 
 
 Granting therefore that Virtue was irs 
 own Pxward, as it elevates and perfects the 
 Soul, and keeps it in a State of right em' 
 joyment, it would not be the lei's real'on- 
 ablc, on that Account. 
 
 Por Happinefs is the only reafonable Awi:/ 
 of every Being. 
 
 An AcPion is not good, or virtuous, be- 
 caufe it is Self-dmial, but becaufc it is ac¬ 
 cording to Duty; and he w'ho thro' long- 
 habits of Goodnefs, has made the Practice 
 of Virtue to have lefs of Self denial in ir, is 
 the molt virtuous Man. 
 
 Now, it is no Objection againfr the Reali¬ 
 ty of Goodnefs, that as rational Beinits, we 
 are naturally and camplexlonally difpos'd to 
 practife and delight in it; or that this na¬ 
 tural Difpofition, may by Excrcife, Medi¬ 
 tation, and Habits be heighten'd and cn- 
 creas’d. 
 
 For Cultom, Habit, and natural Temper 
 are proper Alliltanccs of our molt virtuous 
 Adtions, and cannot be faid to make them 
 Icfs rcafonablc, unlefs it be a Fault or Im¬ 
 perfection, to be habitually and Itrongly 
 difpos'd to Goodnefs. 
 
[ 54 ] 
 
 Thus much therefore is true of us con- 
 fider'd only as rational Beings / that we muft 
 even in that State be by Nature and Tem¬ 
 per fornfd to perceive Pleafure, from fome 
 particular ways of a'ding; and that the very 
 excellence of our Natures, confifts in a 
 Pitnefs and Difpofifion for virtuous Adions, 
 which the more we improve and ftrengthen 
 by Meditation and Habit, the mote rca- 
 fonablc we rndke our felvcs. 
 
 It has pleas’d God in the Formation of 
 Man,'to to unite this rational Nature to a 
 Body of Flefh and Blood, that they fliall 
 generally ad together 5 and that the Soul 
 Ihall as well be influenc’d by bodily Inftinds, 
 and Motions of the Blood and Spirits, as 
 by its own Thoughts and Refledions. 
 
 Thus, a delightful Thought conceiv’d ever 
 fo lecregly in the Mind, (hall at its firft Con- 
 eeption, have the Blood and Spirits join in 
 thePleafurc. 
 
 So. that every fight Judgment of the Mind, 
 every, proper Averfion or regular Love, has 
 as much the Concurrence of the Blood and 
 Spirits, as if they were the only Agents. 
 
 The Body being thus viftblc an Agent in 
 all that we do, has made fome weak Heads 
 imagine, that we are nothing clfe but Body: 
 As from the fame want of Thought fome 
 have concluded, that there is nothing be* 
 flde.s the material World, be'capfe notlting 
 die is obvious to their Eyes. 
 
 The 
 
The Soul being thus united to the Body, no 
 Act of the Man is Icfs rcafonablc, or virtuous, 
 becaufeit has the,Concurranccof the Blood 
 and Spirits : For this was the Intendment of 
 the Union, that a Creature of fuch a Form, 
 fhould exert its Inftinds and Paffions in con¬ 
 formity to Reafon. For Inftance, , 
 
 Suppofe any one, (hould meditate upon 
 the Attributes and Perfeftions of God, till 
 the great Idea had rais’d and warm’d his Spi¬ 
 rits ; tho’ the Refleftion is then fupported 
 by the Agitation of bodily Spirits, yet the 
 Meditation is not lefs religious, or lefs de¬ 
 vout, or rcafonable, becaufe the Heat of bo¬ 
 dily Spirits ailiftcd in it. 
 
 Suppofe any one Ihould fo often rcilecl 
 upon an eternal hate of Darknefs, and Se¬ 
 paration from God, till his Blood and Spi¬ 
 rits join in increafing the Horror 5 fuch an 
 Horror would nor be lefs rcafonable, be- 
 caufe the Body join’d in keeping it up. 
 
 The Mechanical Influence which our Spi- 
 tits and temperament have upon our ARi- 
 ons, does not take away from the reafona- 
 blenpfs of them, any more than the ratio¬ 
 nal Frame of our Minds, which is naturally 
 difpos’d to acquicfcc in the reafon of thinus, 
 deftroysthc reafonablcncfsof Actions. 
 
 As it would be no Exccllcqce in a pure 
 thinking Being, to be equally inclin’d to 
 Truth or Fallhood, fo it would add no 
 Merit to fuch a mi.xt: Nature as ours 
 
is, if our bodily temperaments were neither 
 more of lefs inclin'd to, or delighted with 
 one fort of Actions than another. 
 
 Let us only fuppofe, that a rational Soul 
 and an animal Nature, were united to aft 
 in a State of Pcrfonality. 
 
 It cannot be, that the rcafonablenefs of 
 its Aftions fhould be impair'd by the Body's 
 appearing to have a Share in them, becaufc, 
 it docs not aft according to its Nature, un- 
 Icfs the Body does concur; and in fuch a 
 mix'd Being, it is no more requir'd that its 
 Aiiions fhould be perform'd abllraftly by 
 pure Reafon, than it is allow'd that its Mo¬ 
 tions fliould be merely Animal. 
 
 Yet this is the falfe judgment which Men, 
 who are not the greateft Friends of Virtue, 
 make, becaufc the Influence of the animal 
 Nature is vifible, in the befi of Men 5 and 
 becaufc fuch Enquirers generally converfe 
 intimately only with the word, they rafldy 
 conclude -againft all Force of Principle, and 
 deny Reafon to have any Share in our 
 Aftions. 
 
 From what has been faid, we may cafily 
 fuppoit the Reality of Virtue from all the 
 Objections of thefe Criticks upon human 
 Nature. 
 
 For, granting the Force of Education, 
 tlic Power of Cuftom, and the Influence of 
 our bodily Inflinfts and Tempers 5 yet no¬ 
 thing can thence be concluded againft the 
 Share 
 
Share that Reafon and Principle arc requir’d 
 to have in our Adtions. 
 
 For both Reafon and Religion dired us to 
 ufc the Influence and Affillancc of all thefe 
 Helps; and confcqucntly they no more lelfcn 
 or take from the Reality of virtuous Aclions, 
 when wc are alliftcd by them, than Faffing 
 or ‘Prayer make our Piety Icfs excellent, bc- 
 caufc it was affifted by them. 
 
 And it is as fuitablc to our Natures to 
 ftrengthen and dlabliih our Virtue, by Edu¬ 
 cation, Cuftoni, Complexion, and bodily 
 Inftinds, as it is fuitablc to Religion, to 
 improve and heighten it by Falling and 
 Prayer. 
 
 And he who fays, that fuch or fuch 
 Adions have no Principle of Virtue or Re¬ 
 ligion in them, bccaufe they are made eafy 
 by Education, Temper and Practice, thinks 
 as weakly, as if he Ihould affirm, that fuch 
 Adions have no Reality of Principle in 
 them, bccaufe they arc the Effeds of Me¬ 
 ditation, and Habits of Attention ; for good 
 Habits of Body no more leflen the Excel¬ 
 lence of Virtue, than good Habits of Mind. 
 
 An Adion is virtuous, bccaufe it is an 
 Obedience to Reafon, and the Laws of God^ 
 and docs not ceafe to be fo, bccaufe the 
 Body is either form’d by Ufc, or created 
 'by Difpofition, eafy and ready for the Per¬ 
 formance of it. 
 
 A good 
 
, A good Education would be a Sin, if 
 the Benefit that is received from it, or the 
 Facility of performing good Adioqs, took 
 away from their Goodnefs. 
 
 Nay, all Habits of Virtue would, upon 
 this foot, be blameable, becaufe fuch Habits 
 mull be fuppos’d to have render’d both Body 
 and Mind more ready and exaft in Good¬ 
 nefs. 
 
 All thefe Abfurdities neceflarily follow 
 from this Argument, that there is no vir¬ 
 tuous Principle in our good Aftions, bc- 
 taufe Cuftom, Education, Temper, and Com¬ 
 plexion, have their Share in them. 
 
 zdly, This Objedlion againft the Reality 
 of Virtue, is rather a Calumny, than any 
 juft Charge againft it. 
 
 For, as it is as certain, that we think and 
 reafon, as, that we ai'e fubjeft to bodily In- 
 ftinfts and Habits, nothing can prove that 
 our Reafon and Reflexion do not princi¬ 
 pally concur in any Aftion, but the Im- 
 poflibility of it. He therefore that would 
 prove that my Mind does not adl upon a 
 Principle of Reafon, where he thinks that 
 Temper or Complexion may carry me thro’ 
 it, can never prove it, till he can flicw that 
 there was no Principle of Reafon, no proper 
 Motive, no Precept of Duty to move me to 
 it: For if there be a plain Reafon in the 
 Thing, if there be a Precept of Duty to 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 excite my Mind, as well as a natural Difpo- 
 fition in my Temper to perform the Aftion, 
 it is impolliblc for the moft penetrating Ge¬ 
 nius to prove that my Temperament had a 
 "rearer Share in the Aftion, than the Rea- 
 Ibn of my Mind ; and confcqucntly this 
 Objcclion is a mere Calumny, and an ill- 
 natufd Sufpicion, which can never prove 
 it felf to be juhly made. 
 
 Now, that Reafon is the chief Principle 
 in the Performance of good Aflions, may, 
 in fome degree, be learnt from hence. That 
 reafonablc and wife Adtions never occafion 
 any Sorrow or Repentance in the Mind; 
 but, on the contrary, in violent Aclions, 
 Avherc the Fermentation of the Blood arid 
 Spirits may be fupposM to have blindly hur¬ 
 ried on the Aftion, that Fermentation is no 
 fooner abated, but there arifes a Pain in the 
 Mind, and Reafon condemns the Aftion j 
 which Condemnation chiefly confifts in this, 
 that Reafon had not the Guidance of it; 
 which is a plain Confeffion, that it is the 
 way of our Nature to have Reafon govern 
 the Inftinefs and Motions of the Spirits, and 
 that flic fhrinks and is uneafy at thofc Aefions 
 where fhc was not the principal Agent. 
 
 If therefore Actions only latisfy and con¬ 
 tent us, by being approv’d by our Reafon, 
 it is a manifefl; Proof that our Reafon is the 
 principal Agent in our good Aidlions, 
 
 Nov 
 
Nor will it be any Objeftion t6 this, to 
 fay, that many People are fatisfy'd with falfe 
 Notions of Virtue and Religion ; for this 
 only Ihews that the Principle of Rcafon 
 may be weak, and of very little dilccrning 
 Force in fome People; but ftill it is their 
 Faculty of Rcafon, I'uch as it is, that gives 
 them Peace, when itprejidcs; and it is living 
 contrary to Rcafon, that gives them Pain, 
 as it gives Pain to others who enjoy a more 
 enlighten’d Mind. 
 
 .. i^f the, religious Turk abhors the Abomi¬ 
 nation of Wine, it cannot be faid, that fuch 
 Abhorrence is only the Fifed of Temper, 
 .bodily inftinds, and Cuftoin; unlcfs it could 
 -be Ihcwn that he would equally abhor, it, 
 tlio’ he was fully perfuaded that Mahomet 
 was a Cheat. 
 
 From this Account of human Nature, we 
 ,inay be able to rejed all thofc Reproaches 
 which arc call upon Virtue and Religion, as 
 if they were never founded upon any ra¬ 
 tional-Principle, but were the cafual blind 
 Effed of Cultom, Education, Temper, or 
 ■Complexion. 
 
 i/?. As it appears, that in our rational 
 Natures, we arc naturally and comple.xio- 
 nally form’d to pradife and delight in rca- 
 fonable Adions, and that fuch a Tendency 
 of Temper or ISiaturc towards Virtue, no 
 more Icllcns the Excellency of it, than the 
 Reditude 
 
] 
 
 Rectitude of Gods Nature, takes away the 
 Excellence of his Adions, 
 
 zdly. That Adions arc not Icfs virtuous 
 for being Jliitablc to any Difpofition, whe¬ 
 ther natural or acquir’d, than for being liiita- 
 ble to the Rcafon of the Mind, 
 
 3 ^7)', That Education, Cujiom, Habits, 
 Complexion, Ac. arc fo far from taking a- 
 way theRcafonablcncfs of our Adions, that 
 we could not be laid to ad realbnably, unlels 
 we endeavour’d to make a greater Progrcls 
 in Virtue by their Affiflancc. 
 
 ^thly. That it is impoffible, even in thofe 
 Adions, where Cuftom, Education, Com¬ 
 plexion and Habit feem to be in full Power, 
 for any one to prove that Rcafon and Prin¬ 
 ciple have not the greatell Share in them, 
 
 ^thly, That Peace of Mind, which at¬ 
 tends oiir good Aedions, is a plain Proof of 
 the Power which our Rcafon had in the Per¬ 
 formance of them. 
 
 To come now to a particular Inhance or 
 Two, 
 
 ijl, Thilds Charity z\\ 6 .Compaffion is no 
 Virtue, you fay, becaufe it is mere Com¬ 
 plexion and Temper; he gratilies his 'Tity, 
 G and 
 
[ +»] 
 
 and afts in Conformity to his Blood and 
 Spirits. 
 
 Now this is fo far from 'proving' that 
 he has not the Virtue of Charity, that 
 it might be urg’d as a Proofof his ha¬ 
 ving it. 
 
 For his Body is in that Difpofition that it 
 fhould be, fuppofing that his Mind had been 
 long exercis’d and endued with Habits of 
 Charity; it gives that farther Pleafurc in 
 charitable A£ts, which the right Turn of 
 the Inftinfts, and Blood and Spirits, fhould 
 give to the Mind in every virtuous Aftion. 
 
 For as I have obferv’d, Man is then in 
 his beft State, when the Courfc of the Blood 
 and Spirits aft in Concurrence with his Rea- 
 Fon ; fo that when my Body, with its Ik- 
 fiiniis and Motions, joyns with the right 
 Judgments of my Mind, what I fo perform 
 has all the Perfection that an human Crea¬ 
 ture is able to exert. 
 
 This Complexion, therefore, or bodily 
 Difpofition towards charitable ACts, is fp 
 far from implying that therefore the Mind 
 has no Share in the ACtion, that were the 
 Mind in its beft State, and in its full Power, 
 (as at firft created) it would ufe a greatef 
 and more conftant Concurrence of all bo¬ 
 dily Tempers in the Performance of hef 
 Duty. 
 
 So that when Complexion, or bodily 
 Temperament readily joy a ia tlic Perfor- 
 mancs 
 
[«] 
 
 riiancc of good Actions, this is fo far from 
 implying any Dcfcd of Principle, or want 
 of rational Motive, that it fhcws, in fomc 
 degree, the Remains of that primitive Refti- 
 tude of Body and Mind before the Fall. 
 
 zdly. To fay that Thilo’s Charity is mere 
 Complexion, is a Calumny, and groundlefs 
 Accuiation; it is a Sulpicion as ill-grounded, 
 as if I was to fufpeft that a Man had no 
 Pride in his Mind, bccaufe there appear’d an 
 Haughtinefs in his Carriage; or no Humility 
 within, bccaufe of a natural Lowlinels with¬ 
 out : It is a Sufpicion thus founded againft 
 all the Appearances of Truth, and is forc’d 
 to make thofe the Proofs of the Abfcncc of 
 a Thing, which are the natural Signs of its 
 Prefencc. 
 
 And as it is thus unrcafonablc, fo is it 
 utterly impoffible that it Ihould evcj: juftify 
 it felf. 
 
 For feeing it is not only pofllble, but 
 natural for this complexionalDifpofition to 
 acf in Conformity to the internal Principle 
 of the Mind, it can never be proved that it 
 does not. 
 
 It can never be proved, that Reafon and 
 Religion have not a greater Share in Fhild^ 
 Charity, than his Complexion. How far 
 fome Precept of Religion, fome Principle 
 of Reafon may influence his Mind, cannot 
 he known by themoft fagacious Philofopher; 
 
 G a there- 
 
[ 44 ] 
 
 therefore the Charge againft his Charity, as 
 the mere Effed of Complexion, miA be 
 always ill-natufd, imjulf, and groimdlels. 
 
 Farther, granting that Thilo was com- 
 plcxionally difpofed to Pity andCompalllon, 
 even before he conld be fuppofed to act 
 upon a Principle of Virtue and Religion 5 
 yet even this Suppofition will make no¬ 
 thing againft it afterwards. 
 
 For will any one argue, that a Man can 
 never fear, love, or hate, upon Prineiples" 
 of Reafon, beeaufe Children fear, love, and 
 hate, before Reafon is of any Force to di- 
 reft them? 
 
 Yet this is as wife, as to fuppofe that a 
 Man's Complexion is never made to con¬ 
 cur with a Principle of Reafon, beeaufe fuch 
 Complexion appear’d, before Reafon could 
 be fuppofed of fufficient Power to guide it. 
 
 As to what you fay, that Tity is as 
 much a Frailty of our Nature, as A'uger, 
 Fride, &c. That the vseakeft Minds have 
 generally the great eft Share of it, forvshich 
 Reafon none are more compajftonate than Wo¬ 
 men and Children.^ 
 
 Two Things may be obferv’d, Firft, the 
 Inconfifteney of this AiTertion with the reft 
 of your Book, 
 
 * P- 42- 
 
 Here 
 
Hci'C you derive the Compaffion of Wo¬ 
 men, from a luppofcd IVeaknefs of Mmd-^ 
 which fuppofes, that their Tempers depend 
 upon their Minds, and arc fubjccd to them, 
 and influenc'd by them; tho’ in this \ cry 
 Page, you make Tity to be only an Tm- 
 piilfc of Nature, and it be your chief De- 
 fign rhrouuhout your Book to Ihcw, that 
 all our Tempers and Paflions arc mere Me- 
 chanifm, and Con(iiU{tion, founded onlv 
 in the Temper and Tone of oiu'bodily Spi¬ 
 rits. 
 
 So that according to your deep Philolb- 
 phy, Titv is only an impulfe of Nature, 
 and bodily Temper; yet Women arc more 
 pitiful than Men, becaufc they have (as you 
 fuppofc) ‘useaker Minds. 
 
 That is, their Minds, becaufc ’iseak, have 
 a Power over their Tempers, and form their 
 Difpofitions; but Mens Minds being firong, 
 have no Inch Power. 
 
 To v/hat Temper of Mind fuch Philofo- 
 phy as this is to be imputed, need not be 
 obierv’d, 
 
 ^dly. To fay that Women have the 
 H'eakeji tMi/ids, is laying more than you are 
 able to prove. If they arc more inclin'd 
 to Companion, through a I'cndcrncls of 
 Nature, it is fo far from being a n''eak?kfs 
 of their Minds, that it is a right ludnmcnt, 
 
[+ 6 ] 
 
 alTifted, or made more eafy by a happy Tcn- 
 dcrnefs of their Conftitutions. 
 
 And it is owing, perhaps, to this Make 
 of their Spirits, that they are commonly 
 more affefted with the Truths of Religion, 
 than the Generality of Men are. 
 
 When our Minds are once foften’d, by 
 whatever Caufe it is, we are generally in the 
 bcft Difpofition for the ImprelTions of Re¬ 
 ligion; fo that Tity is fo far from being 
 as much a. Frailty, i&Tride Anger, that^ 
 they are as different in their Effects, as a 
 Heart of Flepj and a Heart of Stone, which 
 Holy Scripture makes as different as a Blef- 
 fing and a Curfe, 
 
 But to return (if this be a Digrcfllon) to 
 my Subjed. 
 
 Let us now farther fuppofe, that Fhilds 
 Charity is greatly owing to his Nature and 
 Complexion; that the quality of his Spi¬ 
 rits began the Difpofition, and helped to 
 tecommend this Virtue to the Mind ; yet 
 may fuch a Virtue be as truly rational and 
 religious, as if it had been let into the Mind 
 any other way. 
 
 Sicknefs, Foverty, and 'iOiftrefs, have a 
 natural Tendency to corred our Follies, and 
 convert our Minds towards our true Good. 
 Thefe Conditions of Life may make it as 
 eafy for a M?n to be humble and compaffio- 
 %ate, as any uodily Complexion whatever; 
 yet is fuch Humility zxACompaJfm not to be 
 eftcem’d 
 
[ 47 ] 
 
 cftcem’d void of Principle or Ucafoii, be- 
 caufe fuch Caufes contributed towards them, 
 and led the Mind into them. 
 
 For the Mind is acting according to the 
 trueft Principles of ileafon and Religion, when 
 it makes Advantage of thefe external Helps, 
 and turnsAl^y?' and ‘Pain^Sicknefs znAHealth^ 
 into occafional Caufes of greater Piety. 
 
 Nor is it any more a Diminution of the 
 Reality of Philo’s Charity, to fay, that 
 bodily Temper firft prepar’d and inclin’d 
 his Mind towards it, than it is a Diminution 
 of the Reality of any one's Repentance^ to 
 fay, that it was fome Misfortune or crofs 
 Accident that firft difpofed and fitted his 
 Mind for it. 
 
 P)avid faid (without fear of deftroying 
 the Reality of his Piety) It is good for ?ne, 
 that I have been ajfli^cd. 
 
 Now if Adions, or Ways of Life may 
 be good, tho’ Affliftions contributed to¬ 
 wards them, furcly they may be equally 
 good, tho’ fome Bodily Tempers proved in 
 fome degree the Occalions of them. 
 
 And it is as confiftent with true and real 
 Virtue, to owe its Rife to fome bodily 
 Conftitution or Temper, as it is confiftent 
 with folid and fubftantial Piety, to owe its 
 (Beginning to fome particular Calamity or 
 Aftion of God’s Providence. 
 
 But to proceed: It is farther objefted, 
 that Philo’s Charity muft be ?nere Complexion, 
 and 
 
[ 48 ] 
 
 and not Vittiie; for if it v/ere Virtue, he 
 would not allow hiinfelf in the Negled of 
 other Duties. . 
 
 This, again, is a falfe Conclufion; for a 
 Man may perform one Duty upon a Prin¬ 
 ciple of Virtue, and Senfe of Duty, and 
 yet thro' Miftake, or Negligence, be dch- 
 cient in others. 
 
 Such' great Judges of human Nature, 
 fhould conlider, that crxn in worldly Af¬ 
 fairs, a Man docs not always aft up to the 
 fame Principle in every thing he docs. 
 
 \Vhll any one fry, that Avarus docs not 
 confidcr Gain, when he is making Bargains, 
 bccaufe at fomc other Times he feeras not 
 to value Expcncc ? 
 
 If not, why then muft Thilo be look’d upon 
 as not at all influenc’d by a Senfe of Duty 
 in his Afts of Charity, bccaufe at fome 
 other Times and Occafions, he feems not 
 to be govern’d by it. 
 
 Our prefent State, is a State of great 
 Weaknefs and imperfeftion, and our llea- 
 fon, weak as it is, has a Thoufand Impedi¬ 
 ments to hinder and divert its Porcc. In 
 the Affairs of Civil Life, we are neither 
 pcrfcftly wife, nor wholly foolilh ; and we 
 are almofi: the fame Men in the Things that 
 relate to God. In fomc Inflanccs, llcafoil 
 and Religion get more Power over us, and 
 guide us under a Senfe of Duty; whilfl: in 
 other Parts of our Life, it may be very ap¬ 
 parent 
 
parent that Rcafon has a Icfs Share in our 
 Actions. 
 
 Blit to conclude that Rcafon, or a Prin¬ 
 ciple of Virtue, docs not influence us in 
 any Part of our Behaviour, becaule it does 
 not acT: equally and conftantly in every other 
 Part of our Lives; is as ahfurd, as to affirm^ 
 that we don’t thmk at all in any Thing 
 that we do, bccaufe we don’t think with the 
 fame Exaftnefs or Attention in every Thing 
 that is done by us. 
 
 If Ti^hilo lives in the NeglcR or Violation 
 of fome Duties, this fhews that he is a weak, 
 imperfeft Man; but it docs not fliew that he 
 is the fame \Yc:ik and imperfect Man, and as 
 devoid of any Principle of Virtue, when he 
 docs his Duty, as where he neglects it: Por 
 it is as pollible for him to be charitable upon 
 a Principle of Duty, and yet fail in fome 
 other Refpefts, as it is poiliblc for a Man 
 to ufc his Rcafon in fome Things, and not 
 in others; or to rcafon right in fome Points, 
 and yield to Folly in others. 
 
 So that to impute Actions fecmingly vir¬ 
 tuous, folcly to natural Temper or Com- 
 plexitm, or fome other blind Motive, be- 
 caufc the Man is not uniform in his LitEg 
 is groundlcfs and abfurd ; all that can with 
 any Truth be affirm’d of fuch a Man, is thisj 
 that he is not uniform in his Actions, and 
 that thro’ fome Millake, or Nculigcnce, he 
 H is 
 
[ 5 ° ] 
 
 is nof fo careful of his Duty in fdriie Ke- 
 fpects as in others. 
 
 Our Underfimding and Reafon^ even in 
 Matters of mere Speculation, is well-nigh 
 as '.veak and inconftant, as in Points of Duty 
 and Confcicnce, 
 
 Few Syftems of Philofophy, but obtrude 
 ionic Errors upon us with as much Affu-' 
 ranee, as they affirm the Truth: ‘Defcartes 
 aflerted a Tlemm j Sir Ifaac Ne'u.'tofi has 
 proved a Vacuum. 
 
 Now will any one fay, that it was not 
 the Reafon or Underjlanding of ‘Defcartes 
 that demonftrated fo many folid Truths, bc- 
 caufe he yielded to Falfiry and Error in the 
 Doftrine of a ‘Plenum? Yet it would be 
 much more reafonable to affirm this, in 
 -Matters of mere'Speculation, than to affirm^ 
 that in Points of Pradicc and Duty, a Man 
 is in no Aldions govern’d by Reafon and 
 Principle, becaufe in feme Inftances he afls 
 weakly, and not according to Reafon, 
 
 Fof, produce but the true Reafon why a 
 Philofopher may be faid to proceed in fome 
 Speculations according to ftrid Reafon and 
 Truth, and yet hold fome Tenets contrary 
 to them, and then you will ffiew that it is 
 poffiblc, nay, highly probable, that a Man 
 may, in fome Points of Duty, afl upon a 
 Principle of Reafon and Virtue, though in 
 lonie Things he may fwetve from them. 
 
 Thsr- 
 
There is, I acknowledge, a great Diffe¬ 
 rence in bodily Temperaments; to that one 
 Man may be born with better Difpofitions 
 for the Practice of tome Virtues than 
 others, yet it is Reafon within, that is the 
 chief Principle that aftuates all of them; 
 for the jineft Spirits arc Things as blind and 
 fcnfelcfs of themfclvcs, as the Hands and 
 Feet, or the grolTcr Parts of the Body. 
 
 IVit and Under[fandrng depend much up¬ 
 on bodily Temperament; yet who is lb 
 weak as to imagine, that therefore the Rca- 
 fon of the Mind has no Share in Arts and 
 Sciences. 
 
 It is the fame in Virtue, or at Icaff, as to 
 fome particular Virtues; there may be a 
 kind Difpofition in the animal Spirits to 
 produce them, but it is great Weaknefs to 
 fuppofe that Reafon and Judgment have no 
 Part in them. 
 
 It is impoffible for our Hinted Capaci¬ 
 ties to explain or calculate the Powers 
 that are to be attributed to our Souls and 
 Bodies in the Performance of Aclions, bc- 
 caufe we have no clear Ideas of them; but 
 we know enough to affirm the united Ope¬ 
 ration of both, and to ffiew that he rcalbns 
 falfcly, who would alcribc an Aclion wholly 
 to the Body, bccaufe it appears to have fome 
 Share in it; bccaufe, fuppofmg it to take its 
 Rife wholly ixom Reafon, the Union of the 
 SouUiidBody requires, that the Body ffiould 
 H 3 appear 
 
appear to have the lame Part in the Pro- 
 dutlion of the Aclion. 
 
 There is nothing; more various, imper- 
 eepribic, or more out of our Sight, than 
 the Motives of human Adions. We know 
 no more \\o\^ /hgtments, Opinions, aft upon 
 the Mind, or how far they contribute to 
 our Choices, than we can tell how far the 
 Air, and how far the Sim operates in the 
 Growth of Plants. 
 
 When a Free-Thinker allcrts, that our' 
 religious Beliefs and Bcrfiiafwns are not a,t 
 all the Caiifes of human Actions, he pro¬ 
 ceeds upon as good Grounds, as if he had 
 laid, that Air is not at all the Caufe of the 
 Circulation of the Blood, 
 
 For it is as cafy to fhew that Air has no 
 Influence ppon our Bodies, as that Reafon 
 and Opinions have no Power over our 
 Minds. 
 
 And it is more pollible to tell how far 
 the Fluids, and how far the Solids in an 
 human Body contribute to bodily Action, 
 than it is to affirm how far Opinions and 
 Judgments, and how far Temper and Com¬ 
 plexion operate in human Aftions. 
 
 Nay, thefe Gentlemen themfclvcs, to make 
 their Philofophy Hill more ridiculous, arc 
 frequently wondering at the ftrangc and 
 nipnftrous ContradiPlions, which they think 
 ■they difeoyer in human Nature. 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 As if they fhould fay, that finding hu¬ 
 man Nature to be rmaccountable, they there¬ 
 fore take upon them to give certain and 
 fojitive Accounts of its manner of afting. 
 
 I (hall be pardon'd for infifiing fo long 
 upon this Article, becaufc it is that on which 
 fome celebrated JVits have fpent fo much 
 Fains, to the Prejudice of Religion and Mo¬ 
 rality. It is not eafy to imagine the fatal 
 EffeRs that Mr. Ba)ic% and Efprit’s Wri¬ 
 tings have had upon People’s Minds, by, de¬ 
 nying the Power of Reafon and Religion, 
 and aferibing all human Aftions to Com¬ 
 plexion, natural Temper, &c. 
 
 It is an eafy Thing to be a Wit, and a 
 Rhilofopher, if you will but write againll 
 Religion and Virtue 5 for I need not fay 
 all Arguments, but all Fancies, are admitted 
 as Demonftrations on that Side; and the 
 bolder Steps you take, the furer you arc of 
 being eftcem’d a Genius. 
 
 Had Mr. Bayle fill’d his Books with the 
 moll ufeful, noble Truths, he had not had 
 half fo many Admirers, as for one fingle 
 Sentence, which the moil thoughtlefs Rake 
 might have faid through the mere ARurance 
 of his own Extravagancies. 
 
 ' Speaking of Fornication, I queftion, fays 
 he, whether one Man in a Hundred is clear 
 of this Guilt. 
 
 Could he have faid a more extravagant 
 Thing, that had refleded more upon Mof 
 rality, 
 
[ 5 +] 
 
 rality, and the Power of Religion, he had 
 ftill been more admired. It is thus that 
 Mr. Bayle and Efprit have purchafed the 
 Efteem, and incrcafed the Numbers of In¬ 
 fidels and Libertines. 
 
 Thefe Gentlemen are dead, and their 
 Alhcs fafe, if the Death of Men implies no 
 . -more than the Fall of Leaves. 
 
 What Realbns you have to appear in the 
 fame Caufe of Immorality, or what Secu¬ 
 rity you have againft the Power of God, 
 is, I dare fay, not known to your felf. 
 
 , Infidelity and Irreligion have fewTopicks 
 for Refledion, they have not fo much as 
 One Argument on their fide. 
 
 You can no more fhew that you are not 
 immortal, than you can Ihew what was 
 doing before the Creation of the World. 
 
 ^ To fanfy that all expires wifh the Body, 
 is as well iiipportcd, as if you was to fanfy 
 that there are no Beings but .what are vifi- 
 ble.'to your Eyes. To fuppofe that Man 
 ; Will, never be called to an Account, is as 
 touch to bp depended upon, as if you fup- 
 •,p,ofpd that there will be nothing in Being a 
 •..Xhoufand Years hence, 
 
 Yet thefe are t\),c ftrong Emtidations of 
 'Infidelity and Prophanenefs, thefe are the 
 ■ 0id.E.ri$C'iples np.qn which, great ‘Philofo- 
 phers eftablilh, deluded, (or >as they call 
 
 .. A 
 
[ 55 1 
 
 A Revelation from God, that juftifies it 
 felf from the Creation of the World; that 
 tells you every Truth that a wife Man would 
 be 2 ;lad to hear; that is fupported with all 
 the Authority that an omnipotent God can 
 give; that is confirm’d with all the Affu- 
 rance that human Teftimony can afford, is 
 of no Weight againft a few bold Aifertions 
 of weak Mmtals, who exceed their Fellow- 
 Creatures only in Arrogance and Prefump- 
 tion. 
 
 SECT. HI. 
 
 O NE would imagine, by what has al¬ 
 ready pafs’d, that you had fulEciently 
 vented your PalTion upon moral Virtue, 
 and that you had hardly any more Arrows 
 to draw againft it; but you proceed to fltew 
 us, that however you may fail in Argu¬ 
 ment, you will never be wanting in Incli¬ 
 nation to attack it. 
 
 You fer your felf with an Air of Satis- 
 faftion, as if Morality and Religion lay at 
 your Feet, to examine into the Pulchrum 
 and Honeftum of the A7itients ■, that is, to 
 enciuire ixhether the-re be any real Excellency 
 or JVorth in Thrngs, a Ere-emmence of one 
 Thing abo-ve another^ 
 
 And 
 
[ 56 ] 
 
 And to fhew that there is no inch Thing 
 as any real Worth or Excellency in Things 
 or Actions, but that all is mere Whim and 
 Fancy, you proceed thus: 
 
 In the Works of Nature, Worth aiid Ex¬ 
 cellency is as uncertain. Hov) 'whimfical is 
 the Florift! Sometimes Tulip, fometbnes 
 Auricula, fjallengrofshisEfleem. What 
 Mortal can decide vshich is the handfo-mejl 
 AbJlraB from the Mode in king, to zeear 
 great Buttons, or fmallones j;,? 
 
 In Morals, fay you, there is no greater 
 Certainty*. 
 
 So that according to your Philofophy, he 
 who perfers Equity to Injufticc, is but like 
 him that chufes a great Button rather than 
 Tifmall one; and he who prefers Fidelity to 
 Falfcnefs, as whimfical as the Florifi, who 
 admires the Auricula more than the Tulip. 
 
 Now if there be only this Difference be¬ 
 tween then there can be no greater 
 
 Difference between Agents; the befl of M cii 
 can only exccll the vileft of their Race, as 
 a Tulip may cxcell an Auricula. 
 
 Nay, if Truth and Falfhood be nootherwife 
 different from one another, than as one 
 Button differs from another, then it miift 
 follow, that there can be no greater Diffe¬ 
 rence between the Author of the one, and 
 the Author of the other* 
 
 Now, 
 
 11 P- 377. p. 379- 
 
Now, the Reli‘j,ion of our Country tells 
 hs, that God is Truth, and the Devil the 
 Author of Lies. 
 
 This, Sir, you fee is t!;e ciircft, imme- 
 diare Blalphcmy of \our Notions, and not 
 drawn from them by any diilant or remote 
 Conlcqucnccs. 
 
 And if I fliould asu you why onefliould 
 be worlhipp'd rather than the other, Ilhould 
 puzzle your profound Philofophy, as much 
 as if I ask’d you which was the hneft Flower; 
 for you cannot tell me that one of thefe 
 Beings is really good, and the other really 
 evil, and yet maintain, that there is no real 
 Goodnefs in Truth, nor any real Evil in Lies 
 and Fallhood. 
 
 It is utterly impollible to anfwcr this 
 Qiteftion, without giving up your Uncer¬ 
 tainty - in Morals, and allowing that there 
 is fomething certain and immutable in the 
 \V orth and Excellency of Things and Aftions. 
 
 Should any one charge you with the 
 grofleft Villanics, and moll flagrant Immo¬ 
 ralities that ever were committed by Man, 
 you could have no more Pretence to be an¬ 
 gry at the Imputation, .than if he had laid, 
 you was parti.cuiarly fdnd of little Buttons. 
 
 :To proceed: Which is the befl Religion, 
 fay you, is a ^ueftion that has cnv.ft'd more 
 Mifehief than all other ^lejiions together^. 
 
Religion never comes in your way, but 
 it puts you in a Paffion 5 tho’ I dare fay, 
 you never had any harm by it in your Life. 
 This is a heavy Charge upon Religion, and 
 upon the beft Religion, for that is it which 
 is enquired after. You charge a great deal 
 of Mifchicf to this Enquiry alter the beft 
 Religion, on purpofc to enhance, I fuppoie, 
 your own Merit, that you may appear to 
 do a more publick Good, tviio endeavour 
 to deftroy the very Idea of it. ' 
 
 . But as mifehievous as you reckon this En¬ 
 quiry to be, lam of another Opinion, taken 
 from him who made the Enquiry neccllary, 
 who is God himfelf. 
 
 Thou fhalt have m other Godbejides we, was 
 fetting up the beft Religion; and 
 not make to thy felf any graven Image, &c. 
 was a Determination againft Taganifm. Nov 
 I look upon the beft Religion to be a Mat¬ 
 ter of great Moment, bccaufc, God has com¬ 
 manded it; and take the Enquiry after it to 
 be well authoriz’d, becaufe God has forbid 
 all falfe Worlhip. 
 
 If you like it the worfe for having this 
 'Authority, andftiouldbe better pleas’d with 
 Religion, if it was fome Politician’s Inven¬ 
 tion, I fhall only fay, that you are fonder 
 of Cheats than I am. 
 
 Again; I don’t allow my felf to be angry 
 at the Enquiry after the beft Religion, be¬ 
 caufe I find that our blclfed Saviour came 
 
[ 59 ] 
 
 into theWorld to tcp.ch Men the bcfl;Religion, 
 and with the highe't llcwarJ: and Punifh- 
 incnts topcrh;auc Men to il'ck after and em¬ 
 brace it. Tb:s is Life eternal, to knoiv Thee, 
 the only trnc God, and Jejiis Chrif sjsbovi 
 thou haft font. And again, Go ye and teach 
 all Nations, bahtizing them in the Name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghof i and lo, I am Hith yon aim ay, even 
 unto the End of the IVorld. 
 
 This convinces me, that the Enqiiit}' after 
 the beft Religion, is the noblcft, the moft 
 happy and bencficiaL of all others, becaulc 
 it is an Enquiry after eternal Happinefs; 
 But hnee you take it to have done more 
 Mifchief than all other Enquiries, you know 
 now where to charge it, you know who it 
 was that lent Twelve Apoftlcs, endu'd with 
 reMlefs Power, to perfuade all the Nations 
 of the World to enquire after, and receive 
 ■the one beft Religion. Ask it, fay you, 
 {i. e. which is the beft Religion) Peking, 
 at Conftantinople, at Rome, and you’ll re¬ 
 ceive three diftinci Anfveers, extremely dif¬ 
 ferent from one another, yet all of them 
 equally pofitive and peremptory. Chriftians 
 aremell ajfnred of the Falfity of theFagan 
 and Mahometan Superjlitions but' enquire 
 of the feveral Sedts they are. divided into, 
 which is the true Church of Chrift ? And 
 all of them will tell you it is theirs’^. 
 
 I 2 Then 
 
 P- 379- 
 
[ 6o ] 
 
 Then comes youv Golden Conclufion 
 It is manifeft, then, that the hunting after 
 this Pulchrum and Honeftum, is, not much 
 better than a JFild-Goofe Chafe, 
 
 Here I obrerve, that very confiftently in¬ 
 deed with your felf, having rejefted all moral 
 Virtue, and natural Religion, yon treat Re¬ 
 velation in the fame manner. Chrillianity 
 and Paganifm arc put upon the lame foot, 
 and the Enquiry which is the beft, cftccm'd 
 no better than Ti IVild-Goofe Chafe, &c. Is 
 this Declaration .of yours the Effeft of a fe- 
 rious Enquiry into the Merits of different 
 Religions? That, cannot be, it reflects too 
 tnuch upon fo fine an Underftaading as 
 yours, to fuppofe, that you could ever have 
 been ferioufly chafing of ivild Geefe. 
 
 The Acutenefs of your Parts, muft have 
 always prevented the Enquiry. You know, 
 I fuppofe, aborigine, from yqur Cradle, that 
 there was no God, or you could not havp 
 been always fo clear about the InfignificanCy 
 of any Religio'n ; for if there be a God, If 
 is more tJiaiTp'robable that he is to bewor- 
 fhipp d," and if is hardly to be fuppos'd that 
 all'WaysIofAyorlhj'p'are equally acceptable 
 to him. ' 
 
 'You .reprefenf' the. finquify; after the beft 
 .Religidrij''as( a; mere Wild-Goofe Chafe, be- 
 Cduie, ■ if the' Queftion' is.put at C'ffi- 
 
 Jfantinofle, 'dr ambngft the variotls Sects of 
 
 ^ ^ Chri- 
 
[ 6i ] 
 
 Chrifti-arus all of them claim the only trite 
 Worlhip. 
 
 Now, Sir, ril remove the Qitcftion from 
 the Difciples and Followers, to the Au¬ 
 thors of thefe Religions. You fhall put the 
 Qucllion thus, Ask Jefiis, ask Mahomet, 
 ask fome Tagan Impoilor, and'youll receive 
 three diftinct Anfwcrs, extremely different 
 from one another, and yet equally pofitivc 
 and peremptory. 
 
 Will you Hand to your Conclufion here, 
 that therefore it is Madnefs to concern our 
 fclvcs more about the one than the other ? 
 
 Is there any Creature fo abfurd, as to 
 think this an Argument againfl Chrift, or 
 that the Enquiry after him is Folly, becaufc 
 there was one Mahomet call’d for Difciples ? 
 
 Yet the Argument is full as juft and co¬ 
 gent againft Chrift himfelf, as againft the 
 Religion which he has inftitutedj for if rhe 
 Religion of Chriji and that of Mahomet 
 have nothing to diftinguifh them, and Chri- 
 ftianity is to be ridiettrd and defpis’d, be- 
 caufe there is fuch a Religion as Mahome- 
 tifin, then it does undeniably follow, that 
 Chrift, when, on Earth, might be juftly ,re- 
 jedfed, becaufc there have been other Per- 
 ■fons who have pretended to come from God. 
 
 This Argument of yours,' (if it proves 
 any thing) proves ut impoftlble that there 
 ever fhould be any Revelation or Religion 
 frpm God, which Mankind would be obliged 
 
[ 6i ] 
 
 to receive, folong as there was either wicked. 
 Spirits or wicked Men in the AVorld. Por 
 evil Spirits and evil Men will have evil Dc- 
 hgns, and will oppofc the Wifdom and Pro¬ 
 vidence of God, in Petting up Ways of Re¬ 
 ligion fuitable to their own Tempers and De- 
 figns. But according to your Argument, no 
 ileligion has any Pretence to our Regard, 
 when once it is oppos'd; nor need we trou¬ 
 ble our Heads about the Truth of any, bc- 
 caufe there is more than one that lays Clamt 
 to it, which is as good Senfe, as if you was 
 to affirm, that a Lie was a Demonftration, 
 that there was no fuch thing as Truth. 
 
 AVhercas the very Poffibility of a falfc Re¬ 
 ligion implies the Poffibility of a true 
 one, as much as Falffiood implies the Poffi¬ 
 bility of Truth, or Wrong fuppofes Right. 
 
 The wifeft Spdech therefore that you can 
 make to ypur fagacious Pollowers, is this; 
 
 “ Gentlemen, I would not have you to 
 eat or drink,, becaufe Thyjicians differ 
 “, yery much, about Diet, and Poifons arc 
 generally conveyed that \yay; nor would 
 “,I have; you take any Aloney, .beeaufe there 
 is counterfeit Coin in thcT^orld. 
 
 ■ “ There arc. a great many , falfe; Accounts 
 of . Things, therefore r,y6n,. .fiecd not, 
 .“nay,, pughjr not fo trouhle, your felvcs 
 f' abopt any fth^t 'are, true. ’ f ■ 
 
 You 
 
[^ 3 ] 
 
 “ You may laugh at “David, when he 
 fays, the Heavens declare the Glory of 
 God, and the Firmament feweth his 
 handy -vjork, bccaufc there is a con¬ 
 trary Opinion, a Fool that hath [aid in 
 his Heart there is no God. 
 
 “ You need not regard Chriftianity, or 
 its divine Inftitution, becaule there art 
 other Religions at ‘Peking and Conftanti- 
 nople ; nor need you worlhip the true God, 
 bccaufc in Egypt they worfliippcd Leeks 
 and Onions: Nay, you need not hold 
 that there is any true God, bccaufc there 
 are People who have invented falfc Deities, 
 “■ When any Hiftory is urg'd upon you, 
 you may anfwcr, that of Robinfon Crufoe, 
 is call'd a true Account; or any one pre¬ 
 tends to be pofitive on the fide of Vir¬ 
 tue, you may confute his Arrogance, by 
 faying, it can never be proved that the 
 Auricula exceeds the Tulip. 
 
 “ Thcfe are Prong and Ihort Maxims, 
 which will fupport you againft the Wif- 
 dom of all Ages; they confurc whole 
 Volumes of Prophets and Apoftles with 
 a Word fpeaking. 
 
 “ Thefc are Dodrincs that require no 
 Study or Application, and you may be¬ 
 lieve them to be proper, by their Pitnefs 
 for Life, You may drink, debauch, eat, 
 and ilcep as you pleafe, without hinder¬ 
 ing your Progrefs in thde Dodrincs, 
 “ Luxury, 
 
LuxiUy and Wantonncfs will improve 
 your Readinefs, and your very Dulneis 
 will make you more acute. 
 
 “ Nay, the more you fink into Scnfuality 
 '' and the animal Life, the more } ou will 
 ' feel and relilh the Truth of thcle Senti- 
 ‘ ments. Though you arc to fiy from all 
 ^ jlppcarance of Truth, and avoid all Con- 
 ^ cern about any Religion, as you v ould 
 avoid the Folly of chafing of cscild Geefi ^ 
 ‘ yet you mull remember, that you arc 
 ‘ my Scholars; For I am an Abjluict- 
 '■ Th'mker, and in thefe my abllraft Specu- 
 lations, you mull be my diligent and du* 
 ‘ tiful Scholars. Though Chriftianity may 
 be defpis’d, bccaufc other R.eligions are 
 ' fet up againft it, yet you mull value me 
 ‘ the the more for being contrary to the 
 wileft Men of all Ages in the World. 
 
 “ Though there is nothing certain or 
 ’■ valuable in religious Truths, though moral 
 ‘ Virtue is the Offspring of Pride, the hi- 
 ‘ mention of Philofophers, and all mere 
 ^ Whim and Fancy 5 yet my Speculations 
 having the utmoll Contrariety to all that 
 “ is virtuous, moral, or religious, you may 
 fafely put your whole Trull and Confi- 
 dence in them. 
 
 This is the bell Speech that you can pof- 
 ftbly make to, your deluded Followers 5 and 
 I dare fay, if your Principles would allow 
 o£ 
 
of greater Stupidity or Dullnefs, you would 
 not be without a Party, who, to avoid Sal¬ 
 vation, would joyn with ail Enemy to Vir¬ 
 tue, merely for the Sake of his Caufe. 
 
 The Infidelity of the prefent Age is very 
 gteat, and Ihcws fuch a Contempt of facred 
 Things, as was hardly ever heard of be¬ 
 fore. 
 
 If one enquires into the Grounds of it, it 
 feems founded on fuch an implicit Ealth re- 
 pofed in Men of wanton and fenfual Minds, 
 as is look’d upon to be mean and flavilh, 
 when yielded to the higlleft Evidence in 
 Matters of the laft Moment. 
 
 To believe Mofes and the Tfoj)hets, is 
 tidicLil’d, bccaufe it is believing ; but to be 
 a Slave to a wanton Infidel, and blindly 
 fwear into his Opinions, is glorious and 
 manly, bccaufe it is Free-thinking. 
 
 ‘Deifts Free-thinkers are generally con- 
 fider’d as Unbelievers \ but upon Examina¬ 
 tion, they will appear to be Men of the 
 moll refignd and implicit Faith in the 
 World; they would believe Tranfnbflantia- 
 tion, but that it implies a believing in God ; 
 for they never rcfign their Rcafon, but when 
 it is to yield to fomething that oppofes 
 Salvation. 
 
 Por the 'lieifis Creed has as many Arti- 
 ticles as the Chrifiians, and requires a much 
 greater Sufpenfion of our Rcafon to believe 
 ^em. So that if to believe Things upon 
 K no 
 
[ 66 ] 
 
 no Authority, or without any Rcafon, be 
 an Argument of Credulity, the Free thmker 
 will appear to be the moft eafy, credulous 
 Creature alive. In the firft place, he is to 
 believe almoft all the fame Articles to be 
 falfc, which the Cliriftian believes to be 
 true. 
 
 Now, it may cafily be Htewn, that it re¬ 
 quires ftronger Acls of Faith to believe thefe 
 Articles to be falfe, than to believe them 
 to be true. 
 
 For, taking Faith to be an Affent of the 
 Mind to fomc Propolition, qF wiiich we 
 have'no certain Knowledge, it’will a,ppcar 
 that the Deift's Faith is much ftronger, and 
 has more of Credulity in it than the Chri- 
 ftian’s. For inftance, the Chriftian believes 
 tht RkfuneBmir of the Dead, becaufc he 
 finds it fupported by fuch Evidence and Au* 
 thority,.as cannot poftibly be higher, fup- 
 poiing the Thing was true ,• and he docs 
 no more Violence to his Rcafon in believing 
 it, than in fuppofmg that God may intend 
 to do fome Things, which the Reafon of 
 Man can’t conceive how they will be cf- 
 feded. 
 
 On the contrary, the Fieifi belknjes there 
 Will be no Refurreciioa. And how great is 
 his Faith ! for he pretends to no Evidence 
 or Authority to fupport it, it is a pure, 
 naked Aflent of his Mind to what he docs 
 
[ 67 ] 
 
 not know to be true, and of which no Body 
 has or can give him any full Afllirancc. 
 
 So that the Difference between a Cbrt- 
 Jiian and a 'Deiji docs not confift in this, 
 that the one alfents to Things unknown, 
 and the other docs not 5 but in this, that 
 the Chriftian aflcnts to Things unknown, 
 bn the account of Evidence; the other al'- 
 fents to Things unknown, without any Evi¬ 
 dence at all. 
 
 'Which fltews, that the Chrifiian is the 
 rational Believer, and the T)eijt the blind 
 Bigot. 
 
 Ask a T)eifi or a Free-thinker why he bc-^ 
 lieves Chriftianity to be an Impofture, you 
 muft not expeft to have any Arguments of¬ 
 fer d you; but however, all Arguments 
 afide, he can tell you, that the Enquiry after 
 the beft Religion has done more Mifchiefy 
 than all other Enquiries together; that it 
 is, at beft, but a JFild-Goofe Chafe ; he will 
 tell you how Jefus has been call'd the Gali¬ 
 lean by way of Contempt; that there arc 
 various Readings in the Scriptures; that 
 Mr. tVbifion is the moll learned and fincere 
 Divine of the Age; that he has call'd the 
 prefent Doclrine of the Trinity an Apftafy 
 and fays, that the prefent Text of the Old 
 Teftanient, is not that which was tiled in 
 our Saviour's Time : He may, perhaps, crack 
 a Jeft upon Ibmc Text of the New Tefta- 
 ni^nt, and tell you how fuchaoncufedto fay, 
 1\ a that 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 that 'isoorhng a Miracle, was like, jhewing a 
 Trick. 
 
 If you have Strength enough to maintain 
 your Ground againft fuch Attacks as thefe, 
 
 ■ the Deijls cm get no Power over you: But 
 it muft be confefs'd, that idle and foolifli as 
 thefe Arts appear in Point of Reafon, yet 
 they are very fatal in their Effeds upon the 
 Minds of Men. 
 
 Religion requires a ferious and wife Ufc 
 , of our Reafon, and can only recommend it 
 -felf to us, when we are in a Difpofition to 
 reafon and think foberly; it preferves its 
 Power over our Minds no longer, than whilft 
 we'confider it as the molt ferious, impor¬ 
 tant, and facred Thing in the World. 
 
 Kcncc it appears, why we are generally to 
 fo little affefted with Religion, becaufe we 
 arc fcldomin aStateof fober thinking. The 
 Concerns of the World keep our Spirits 
 ;in a conftant Hurry, and prevent our judg¬ 
 ing rightly of thole things, which arc not 
 to be judg'd of, but by cool Reafon. 
 
 Every one knows, that Sicknefs, Adver- 
 lity, and the approach of Death, are advan- 
 tagious Scafons for the Truths of Religion 
 to alFcft us 5 whereas they carry no other 
 Advantage, than as they bring a Man into 
 iuch a State, as difpofes him to think fe- 
 rioufly. For this Reafon, they who only 
 laugh at Religion, may be faid to have us'd 
 the ftrongeft Argument againft it, for there 
 
is no coming at it any othet way; it is 
 only to be attack’d by little Jells, and lewd 
 flings of Wit, fuch as may betray the Mind 
 into Levity, and corrupt the Imagination, 
 which lb far as it is effefted, lb far is the 
 power of Religion leflen’d. 
 
 It is not the Deifts bufinefs to reafon fo- 
 bcrly, and confider the Weight and Moment 
 of things with exacfnefs; for to reafon fober- 
 ly, is to aft againft himfelf, and put his 
 Reader into that State of Mind in which 
 Religion has its chief Force. 
 
 But idle Stories about Gods and Godefles, 
 and Pagan Myfterics, fawey Jells, lewd In¬ 
 nuendo’s, and nick-names given to ferious 
 Things, ferve the Caufe of Infldclity, much 
 better, than any Arguments, it has yet found 
 out. 
 
 For thefe ferve not only to confound and 
 dillraft the Mind, and leflen the difference 
 of things, but they alfo gratify and engage 
 the molt immoral and wicked Men, as they 
 furnifh them with a Confutation of Reli¬ 
 gion at fo cheap a Rate. 
 
 , How many fine Gentlemen mull have 
 been forc'd to have own’d thcmfelves Chri- 
 ftians, had not fuch Ihort Confutations of 
 Chriftianity been provided to their Hands! 
 But as the Caufe is now manag’d, no one 
 can be too dull, fenfelefs or debauch’d, to 
 be a powerful Dcilt; a poor inflam’d Wretch, 
 who never had tkc nl’e pf his Reafon in his 
 Life, 
 
Life, may eafily call Religion a Dulcinea del 
 tobofa, and all who would procure any re¬ 
 gard to it, errants, and when he has 
 done this, he may reckon himfclf a great 
 Genius, and to have fhewn as much Learn¬ 
 ing in favour of Deifm, as the firft Rate In¬ 
 fidel of the Age. L 
 
 How nlany .iiycly had buried their 
 
 Parts in fwearing and Obfceiiity, had not 
 all Jefts upon Scripture been allow’d, as 
 true. Proofs of ‘Deifm and Politenefs! 
 
 And tho’ the Fraternity now boafts of its 
 Nutnbcrs,(as every Vice ifitcouldfpcak might 
 do the fame) yet, if no one was to be ah 
 low’d to be a till he had examin’d the 
 Truths and Authority of Religion, as he 
 
 ould examine the Title to an EftatCi ' even 
 the prefent Age, would be able to IheW 
 more Squarers of the Circle, or Difeove- 
 rers of the Longitude, than Frofeyfors of 
 Deifm. ' ' , 
 
 Nay, was one to ask the moft philofb- 
 phic’al amongft them, to fhew thc^w/ 
 Danger of being a good Ghrillian, or' the 
 fatal Confequences of living in e'xpcclation 
 of the. RefurreSiien, and Judgment to come; 
 was. he ask’d to Ihew the certain fafety of 
 Infidelity, -or why an Infidel can be no Suf¬ 
 ferer for rejeding the offers of the Gofpel, 
 he could give you as plain. ah-Anfwer, as 
 if; ..you, had'ask’d what State'this^ Globe of 
 Earth will be in, five thoufand Years hence. 
 
 ' ! but 
 
But indeed it feems nccdlcfs to obfetve 
 that Prudence or common Senfe, have no 
 Hand in Iniidclitv. Sclf-mutthcr does not 
 more dirccdly prove Lunacy, than Infidelity 
 proves the lol’s of Reafon. 
 
 There is no one that feems more to de¬ 
 pend upon the Polly and' Madnefs of his, 
 Readers, than you do. 
 
 You tell them that you are a mere Ani¬ 
 mal govern’d by Appetites over which you 
 have no Power; that is, you dclcribe your 
 fclf as a Machine that would look well in 
 a Bridie^ and then pretend to talk of God, 
 and Providence, and Religion, and Mora¬ 
 lity, and to pierce into the inmoll; nature 
 of Things and Aedions, with as much Eafe, 
 as if you was feme fuperior Form, that was 
 made up of pure Wifdom and Intelligence. 
 
 But the thing is, you knew what fide you 
 had chofen, and that if you was not want¬ 
 ing in Impiety, Lcwdncls, and Reproaches 
 upon Virtue, you might abound in Non- 
 fenfe as much as you pleas’d. 
 
 And indeed it mull; be confcls’d, that as 
 hardly any Authority is fufiicicnt to re¬ 
 commend a Perfon, that comes from God, 
 to do us good, fo is there fcarcc any Folly 
 great enough to cxpolc another, that comes 
 a Mifiloncr from the Kingdom of Dark- 
 nefs to do us Harm, 
 
[ p ] 
 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 Y O U arc at laft fo fcnfible of the Abi¬ 
 lities, which you have difeover’d in lay¬ 
 ing open the Myftcries of human Nature, that 
 you think it but a necelTary piece of Civi- 
 ly, to make an Apology to the World, for 
 fhewing fuch a fuperior Knowledge. Thus * 
 fay you. 
 
 What Hurt do 1 do to Hlan, if I make 
 him more knoisen to himfelf than he ‘-a:as 
 before ? 
 
 But sjee are fo defperately in Love with 
 Flattery, that we can never relft a Truth 
 that is mortifying. 
 
 To prove the Jufticeof this Remark, you 
 fay, 7 don’t believe the Immortality of the. 
 Soul would even have found fo general a 
 Reception in human Capacities as it has, 
 had it not been a pleafing one, that extoll’d 
 and was a Compliment to the whole Spe¬ 
 cies *. 
 
 This Remark fuppofes that the Mortality 
 of the Soul is a Truth, for you make our 
 not believing it to be Mortal, a Proof 
 that we can’t relilh a Truth that is morti- 
 fjung. You alfo impute our Opinion of 
 the Souls Immortality, to a defperate love 
 
 *. F*. 25^.' 
 
[ 73 ] 
 
 of Flatery, which is giving it as furcaAIark 
 of an Ertoig as you could well have thouglit 
 of. 
 
 The I'cafonablcncfs of this Remark, is 
 founded upoJt that Advantage and Dig::;- 
 ty, which arifes from Immortality; this is 
 it which induces you to think that its Re¬ 
 ception in human Capacities is owing to a 
 love of Flattery. 
 
 You might have made the fame Remark 
 upon the Belief of the Being and Provi¬ 
 dence of God, that they had never had fo 
 general a Reception in human Capacities, 
 were not Men defperatcly in love •'sjitb 
 Flattery, and not able to relif a Truth 
 that is mortifying. 
 
 For the Being and Brovidence of God, 
 are the moft plcafing Truths, and more ex¬ 
 toll and elevate Mans Nature and Condi¬ 
 tion than any thing elfe, and whilft we' 
 allert the Pi'ovidcncc of God, we alfcrt our 
 own Flappincfs, as being the Care and Con¬ 
 cern of fo great and glorious a Nature. 
 
 But how ought that Man to be treated 
 who Ihould bring the Belief of a Divine 
 Being as an Inhance of the Power of Flat¬ 
 tery over human Nature, or alledge the Do-' 
 ftrine of Providence as a Proof, that we 
 can’t relilh a Truth that is mortifying. 
 
 Yet this would be as well, as to intla'nce 
 as you have done in the Immortality of 
 site Soul. For it is as reafonablc to rejoice 
 
[ 74 ] 
 
 ill the Iraniditality of our Souls, as in the 
 Being of God, and it is as impious to fay, 
 that we hold its Immortality, bccaufc wc 
 cannot relilh a Truth that is mortifying,' 
 as to fay that wc believe the Providence of 
 God for the fame Rcafon. 
 
 W'hat an Averfion muft you have to the 
 Force of this Principle, that when you was 
 to fhew, that we can't relilh a Truth that 
 Js mortifying, you could like no Inftance 
 fowell, as the general disbelief of the Souls 
 Mortality ? Can it be fuppos'd that you 
 would have iiiftanc'd in this Opinion, if 
 you had not wilh’d that it Ihould lofe its 
 Force upon Mens Minds, be no longer con- 
 iider’d as the corner Stone of Religion, 
 but as a Notion founded in the Falfencfs, 
 Pride and Flattery of Man's Nature? 
 
 Was any one ever fo angry at the Ma^ 
 cedonim Hero’s Vanity of being a God j 
 deed he have reproach'd him more, than 
 by imputing it to a deflorate love of Flat¬ 
 tery. 
 
 Yet this is the tender Method, in which 
 you have chofc to expofe the Belief of the 
 Souls Immortality, as owing to a defperate 
 love of Flattery. 
 
 You will perhaps fay,, Have I deny’d the 
 houls Immortality ? 
 
 In exprefs Terms you have not deny’d if j 
 Inch a flat denial would have fignify'd much, 
 iefs, than what you have laid, 
 
L 75 ] 
 
 You knew very well, that to impute the 
 Belief of it to Falfcnefs and Flattery, was 
 the heft way of denying it. 
 
 It is rejected here in a manner that highly 
 fuits the Temper of Irrcligion, by being 
 confider’d not only as falfc, but as arifing 
 from the bafeft Oiulitics of Human Nature, 
 Tride, and a defperate Lo\c of Flattery. 
 
 Thefe Things lerve not only to raife a 
 Disbelief, but to excite an Indignation a- 
 gainft a Principle owing to fuch reproach¬ 
 ful Caufes 5 and what is ftill a greater Point 
 gain’d, they teach People to look wdth Con¬ 
 tempt and Dillike on thofe Perfons, and 
 that Religion which teaches fuch a Prin¬ 
 ciple. 
 
 Our bleflcd Saviour faith, 1 am the Re- 
 furreBion and the Life, he that lieliewth in 
 me Fall never die. 
 
 Now, according to your Philofophy, this 
 Speech of our Saviour’s muft be be reckon’d 
 an artful Application to thcWcakncfs and 
 Vanity of Human Nature, an Addrefs to 
 the blind Side of Man, to incrcafe his Love 
 of Flattery, and keep him from a true 
 Knowledge of himfclf. 
 
 For if Man believes the Immortality of 
 his Soul, through a defperate Love of Flat¬ 
 tery, certainly he who comes to encou¬ 
 rage and eftablifli fuch a Belief, comes to 
 encourage and eftablifh that iunnoderat? 
 i-py? of Flattery. 
 
[ 76 ] 
 
 Nay, :this Doftrine of yours not only 
 fc;-vcs .to cxpofe the Opinion of the Im- 
 moitaliry of the Soul, and reproaches the 
 Chrihian Religion which teaches it; but it 
 prepares a Man to be Proof againfe all Do¬ 
 ctrines of Religion that have any Happinefs 
 in them; for whatever is believ’d or practis'd 
 that tends any way to raife or exalt the 
 Condition of Man, is equally fubjcct to 
 this P.cproach, that it is receiv’d through 
 an cxcclhvc Fondnefs of Flattery. 
 
 So that your wife Philolbphy comes to 
 this, that if there was no Flonour or Hap- 
 pincfs in Religion, was there no Greatnefs 
 to, be acquir’d by our obeying God, it could 
 not be charg’d upon our Pride and Vanity; 
 blit fince Religion is in order to Flappinefs, 
 and fincc our worfliipping of God, implies 
 our having a great and glorious Friend and 
 Bcncfador, fuch a Religion may be owing 
 to a .Vice of our Nature, a defiperate Love 
 of Flattery. 
 
 And the fame may be Paid of every vir¬ 
 tuous Aftion, that it is practis’d through a 
 defperate Love qf Flattery, in as much as 
 Virtue is ftippos’d to make us Friends and 
 Favourites of God, and fp dignifies and exalts 
 our Spate. 
 
 Nay, this way oL arguing proyes, that 
 the greater and more glorious the Idea is, 
 which we form of God,; the more we may 
 be influenc’d by an ill Mptiyc; for the 
 greater 
 
[ 77 ] 
 
 greater and more glorious we reprefent tire 
 Nature of God, the more we raile and dig- 
 jiiify our felves, who are related to lb great a 
 Ecing, and are in Covenant with him. 
 
 So that to clear our fclvcs of a dclpcratc 
 Love of Flattery, and to ilicw that we can 
 relifir Truths that arc mortifying, we fhoukl 
 conceive very low and mean Notions of God, 
 and liich as made it neither our Honour nor 
 Flappinefs to worlliip him. 
 
 Such a Religion as this, that had nothing 
 in it worthy of God or Men, might, ac¬ 
 cording to your Account, be owing to fomc 
 rational Principle, and not imputable to the 
 Pride or Vanity of Mans Natiue. 
 
 For fince you impute the Belief of the 
 Soul’s Immortality to a delperate love of 
 Flattery, bccaufe liich Bclici let us out to 
 great Advantage, and adds Dignity to our 
 Nature, 
 
 The fame Imputation is equally chargeable 
 upon every Doclrine or Practice that pro- 
 miles any Happinefs or Honour to i s; and 
 no Religion or Opinions can be free from 
 that Charge, but Inch as arc of no Benefit 
 or Advantage to us. 
 
 From this therefore we may believe, that 
 h.adwe a Religion which propofed nothing 
 worthy of God, or beneficial to, Man, the 
 T^eifis and Wits of your Size, would all 
 of them turn ‘Prtejis, and devoutly >vait at 
 its Altars. 
 
 To 
 
To fpcak now a Word or two concerning 
 Tride. 
 
 ‘Pride is an Error or a Vice; as Cove- 
 toufnefs is a Vice, it is a noble Dcfire, ill 
 direfted: It is a right Defire, earneftiy to 
 dcfire Happinefs; but that Dcfire is finful, 
 when it is wholly ftt upon Gold, or any 
 Other falfe Good. 
 
 So a Dcfire of Greatnefs is an excellent 
 Delire, a right Turn of Mind 5 but when it 
 fixes upon a falfe Honour, it is a vitious Ir¬ 
 regularity, To dcfire the higheft Exaltation 
 of which our Nature is capable, is as right 
 a Difpofition, as to defire to be as like to God 
 as we can. 
 
 Now, had you faid that the Belief of the 
 Soul’s Immortality was afllftcd and ftrength- 
 ned in us, through a Defire of Greatnefs, 
 you had faid as rcafonable a Thing, as to 
 iky that Chrillianity makes a ftronger Im- 
 preffion upon the Minds of Men, through 
 a Defire of Happinefs. 
 
 For had we not thefe Difpofitions, nei¬ 
 ther Religion, nor any thing elfc that was 
 of any Advantage to us, could take any hold 
 of us: For, what would the Happinefs or 
 Greatnefs of any Propofal fignify to Beings, 
 whofe Natures were not affefted with them f 
 
 Now, to fay that Religion is better re¬ 
 ceived through this Tendency of our Na¬ 
 ture, is no more a Reproach, than it is to 
 
[ 79 ] 
 
 fay that our Underftandiug and Reafon re¬ 
 commend Religion to us. 
 
 For thefe Difpofitions or Inclinations con- 
 ftitute the Excellence of our Nature, and 
 give us all the Dignity that we have. 
 
 It being as right a Judgment of the Mind, 
 to defire to be as like to God as our Na¬ 
 tures will allow, as it is to prefer Truth to 
 Fallhood. 
 
 But to impute our Belief of the Immor¬ 
 tality of the Soul to Tride, is as ridiculous, 
 as to impute our Defire of eternal Happi- 
 nefs to Avarice. 
 
 For Tride, confider’d as a Vice, is no 
 more the Caufe of our Approbation of Im¬ 
 mortality, than Avarice is the Caufe of our 
 fetting our Affcc"lion on Things above. 
 
 Pride is as earthly and down-looking a 
 Vice as Covetoufnefs, and as truly finks the 
 Soul into a State of Meannefs. 
 
 A Delight in falfe Honour as much dc- 
 bafes and hinders the Mind from afpiring 
 after its true Greatnefs, as a Fondnefs for 
 empty Riches keeps the Soul averfc from 
 the Approbation of her true Good, That 
 this is the Effect of Pride, that it debafes 
 the Mind, and makes it unable to rciiffi its 
 true Grcatnels, that it unfits it for the Re¬ 
 ception of Dodrincs which exalt and raife 
 our Nature, may be allb learnt from Him, 
 who came to lead us unto all Truth. 
 
 Speak* 
 
[ 8o ] 
 
 ■Speaking of vain-glorious Men, fays our 
 blcired Saviour, how can ye believe^ which 
 receive Honour one of iinother^ and feek not 
 that Honour, which comethfrorn God aloyie'^. 
 
 But you make the Pride of Man, the 
 ‘Caufe of his believing divine Truths 5 tho’ 
 they arc as oppofitc to one another, as Ava¬ 
 rice and Hcavcnly-mindcdncfs, Light and 
 Darknefs. 
 
 To make fome Apology for your fejf, 
 you hy, ■What Hurt do 1 do to a Man, if I 
 make him more hiown to himfelf than he 
 was before ? 
 
 You Ihould have put the Queftion thus; 
 What Hurt do I do to a Man, if I make 
 him more vicious than he was before, if I 
 deprave his Undeiitanding, and lead him 
 into a Contempt,and Dillikeof theftrongeft 
 Principles of Religion ? 
 
 For if there is any Danger either to your 
 felf or others, in corrupting their MindSj 
 ahd deftroying the Motives to Religion and 
 Virtue, you arc capable of no other Apology, 
 but what that Being may make, who goeth 
 about as a roaring Lion, feeking whom he 
 may devour. 
 
 The Arrow that flieth by Hay, and the 
 Hefiilence that walketh in Harknefs, are 
 mere Blcllings, if compar’d to the Man who 
 iiifufcs 
 
 * Si.JqIu V. 44.- 
 
[ 8 . ] 
 
 infufcs vicious Opinions into the Mind, which 
 weakens the Power of Religion, and makes 
 Men Icis devoted to the V/orlhip aud Ser¬ 
 vice of God. 
 
 How can you fay, that you have only 
 made Man more known to himfclf, by teach¬ 
 ing him that the general Belief of the Soul's 
 Immortality is owing to a defperate Love 
 of Flattery r 
 
 Have you proved, that he docs not know 
 himfelf if he thinks it is owing to any other 
 Cattle Have you lb much as attenipted to 
 fhew, that it can have no otltcr Foundation? 
 That it is not founded in Rcafon, Religion, 
 and the Attributes of God. 
 
 But proving (I recoiled) is no Talent of 
 yours; and if you may be allowed to 
 in any thing, it is in loole Infinuations, 
 pofitive Aifertions, and vain Conjedurcs. 
 
 SECT. 
 
 Y ou come now to give us a Taftc of 
 your Skill in Thrafedlogy, or the Force 
 and Propriety of Words. All forts of Learn- ■ 
 ing feem to be at your Service, and you arc 
 fo conftant to your felt’ as to make them all 
 confpirc in one and the fame Defign againft 
 R,digionfc 
 
 Hope, 
 
 M 
 
[8^ ] 
 
 Hope, being a Word of great Confolation 
 in the Chriftian Religion, you have pitch'd 
 upon that, as moft deferving the kind Af- 
 iiftance of your learned Hand. 
 
 All Hope, fay you, includes Doubt ■, a 
 fdver Inkhorn may pafs in Speech, becaufe 
 every Body knows what we mean by it, but 
 a certain Hope cannot. The Epithet deflroys 
 the Effence of tbe Snbfiantive} it is palpa¬ 
 ble Nonfenfe. The Reafon therefore why it 
 is not fo fhocking to fome, to hear a Man 
 fpeak of certain Hope, as if he foould talk of 
 hot Ice, or liquid Oak, isnotbecaufe there is 
 lefs Nonfenfe contain d in the firjt, than in 
 cither of the latter but becaufe the Word 
 Hope, I mean the Effence of it, is not fo clear^ 
 ly underftood by the Generality of the Teople, 
 as the Words and, Effences of Ice and Oak 
 are*. 
 
 What a Triumph is here over Rcligion i' 
 .And with how much Eafe do you rejeft an 
 Article of Faith with a Noun Subjian- 
 the! 
 
 Inour j?«r/<«/Servicewe have thefe Words, 
 In fure and certahi Hope of a Refurrebld 
 m, &c. 
 
 This it feems cannot pafs in Speech, with* 
 put the Deftrudion of a Subfiairtive ^ it is 
 ffackingy and palpable NQnfenfe, 
 
 Let 
 
 P. U9. 
 
Let it firft be obfcrv'd,, that Hope implies 
 the Belief, ExpeBation, or Hependance of 
 fomething that iliall come to pafs. Now I 
 lliould think that a Thing may as well be 
 expefted with Certainty, as Uncertainty ; 
 and that its being certain to happen, is lao 
 Inconliftency in the Exprcfllon. It can hardly 
 be denied, but that a Man may be certain 
 that fome Things will never happen; and 
 where is the Contradiction of fuppofing him 
 as certain that fome Things will happen? 
 
 But to come to your own Arguments. 
 
 All Hope, fry you, includesHouht. This 
 as much contradicts my Underftanding, as 
 if you had faid, that allTrnft includes Hijf- 
 dence and that I can't truit a Man, unlefs 
 I diftruft him. The Apoftlc lays, by Hope 
 vje are favd} according to you, he muft 
 mean, by Honbting we are fav’d; for if 
 Hope necellarily includes Houbting, and 
 \Hope be neceflary to Salvation, it evidently 
 follows, t\\ztHoubting is neceflary to Salva¬ 
 tion j and every Exhortation to hope in God, 
 is an Exhortation to doubt of God. 
 
 Our blelfed Saviour laid, if ye ha-ve Faith, 
 and doubt not, &c. Now had you been pre- 
 fent at this Saying, you could have fhewn 
 the Impollibility of what he exhorted them 
 to; that Faith or Hope implied Houbting-, 
 and that to talk of certain Hope or Faith, was 
 as Ihocking to a fine Undetuanding, as to 
 tails of hot Ice, or liquid Qak. 
 
 U z 
 
 Certain 
 
[ 84 ] 
 
 Certain Hope, 'you fay, is palpable Non- 
 fenfe, bccaulc the Epithet deftroys the Ef- 
 icnce of the Subftantl-ve. 
 
 So that E)oubiing is the Effcnce of Hope, 
 and confcquently whatever clfe belongs to 
 Hope, x'iowl'j accidental-, theEffence of Hope 
 is Doubting. 
 
 ■ Now if Doubting is the Effcnce of Hope, 
 then where there is the mod Doubting there 
 mud be the mod of Hope, for where there is 
 mod of the Effcnce of a thing, there muff 
 nccedarily be mod of the thing it fclf. 
 
 Now it fecins to me as ridiculous, to 
 make Houhting the Edence of Hope, as to 
 make Fear, the Edence of Courage. For 
 Hope fo far as it goes, as much excludes 
 Doubting, as Courage fo far as it extends, 
 banilhes Fear. There may be a weak Hope 
 which is mix’d with Doubt, as there may be 
 a half Courage that is attended with Fear, 
 but a thorough Hope as truly rejects Doubt, 
 as a perfed Courage fliakes off all Fear, 
 And it is jud ^nd\ Rocking Nonfenfe to talk 
 of a certain Hope, as to Ipcak of a fear- 
 lefs Courage: And there is jud fo much 
 Murder of the Subfiantive in one Cafe, as 
 the other. 
 
 . Hope or Expedatioja docs not imply In¬ 
 certainty, but Futurity., that tlic things cx- 
 peded, are not in being, but are to come 
 to pafs; this is all that is of the Edence of 
 Hope 5 
 
[ 85 ] , 
 
 Hope; 'it is only the of things that 
 
 makes it. 
 
 Let the things'come to pafs, and the Hope 
 ceafes, this is the only way of dellroying 
 it. But whether the things to come be 
 with Certainty or Uncertainty e.x'pefted, no 
 more dellroys that Difpofition of Mind 
 which is call'd Hope, than the Palfion of 
 Fear is dellroy’d, by exerting it felf rcafo- 
 nably or unrcafonably. 
 
 Hope is uncertain, not becaufe we can¬ 
 not hope or cxpccl: with Certainty, but be¬ 
 caufe the things wc hop’d for, arc gene¬ 
 rally not in our Power, fo as we can be 
 feciirc of the Event. 
 
 But you ridiculoufly fuppofe, that Hope, 
 or Expeftation, as a Faculty of the Mind 
 ncccflarily includes Incertainty, as if a Man 
 cannot exped or hope for that, which he is 
 furc will anfwcr his Expectation; or that 
 he mull ceafe to expect things, becaufc he 
 has certain grounds to expeft them, Thcfc 
 are the Abfurditics which you plunge into, 
 rather than allow a cert am Hojje of the 
 Refurre^fion of the Dead. 
 
 Hope is as the things hop’d for; in un¬ 
 certain things it is uncertain. But if God 
 is pleas’d to inform us of things to come, 
 wc are with certain Hope and Expectation 
 to depend upon them. 
 
 Agree- 
 
[ ] 
 
 Agreeable to this, St. Taiil fays, In hope 
 of eternal Life, which God, that cannot lye, 
 promifed before the IVorld began. 
 
 Here we have an Apoftle's Authority for 
 a certain Hope, made as undeniable as the 
 Veracity of God. 
 
 But this muft be very (hocking to a Gen¬ 
 tleman of your refin’d Underftan ling 5 and 
 muft give you a farther uneafinefs to be¬ 
 hold the Deftruftion of a whole Noun Sub- 
 fiantive, to eftablifh only an Article of 
 Religion. 
 
 You compare certain Hope, to hot Ice, 
 ox liquid Oak, and fay that th? Exprcfllons 
 would be equally fhocking, were the Na¬ 
 ture of Hope as well underftood, as the Na¬ 
 ture of Ice and Oak. 
 
 Had you not been us’d to underftand eve¬ 
 ry thing wrong,’ you had never made this 
 Obfervation 5 for the contrary to this, hap¬ 
 pens to be true, that the Expreffion is not 
 fo (hocking in one Cafe as the other, be- 
 caufe the Nature of Hope is as well under¬ 
 ftood, as that of Ice, dec. 
 
 It is not fhocking to fay certain Hope, 
 bccaufe, Hope is known to be founded up- 
 ■ on fome degrees of Allurance. 
 
 But does Ice fuppofc fome degrees of 
 Heat in order to its Exiftenccl Is Ice hot¬ 
 ter or Colder, as Hope is more or Icfs af- 
 fiir’d > Hope is ftronger and better, the more 
 it.has of AfTurance, and the lefs it is op¬ 
 pos’d 
 
pos’d with Doubts; but is Ice the ftrongcr 
 and harder, the more it has of Heat, or the 
 lefs it is furreunded with Cold? 
 
 Your Comparifou alfo of certain Hope, 
 to liquid Oak, is equally ingenious and 
 worthy of your felf; for it fuppofes that aa 
 Oak changes from a folid to liquid, as Hope 
 hucduates from Doubts to Belief. For were 
 not an Oak as various in its Nature, as to 
 liquid and folid, as Hope is various in its 
 Nature, asto®w/^f Affurance, it muft. 
 be phocking Nonfenfe, to make a liquid Oak 
 the fame thing as an ajfufd Hope. 
 
 I have been the longer upon this Point, 
 becaufe it is Icvcll’d at the very Foundati¬ 
 on of our Religion, and would teach People 
 to doubt of its greateft Articles, through 
 the mere force of a Word or two, and for 
 the fake of a Noun Subjlantive. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 I HAD now taken my Leave of you, if 
 the Letter you pubUrn’d in the London 
 Journal, in defence of your Book, had not 
 been jull put into nry Hands. 
 
 Having feen your Talent at Apology, I 
 expected no great Matter from you in that 
 Way; but hotvever I am now convinc’d, 
 
tli.it Tout Book gives us but a fmall EBay of 
 your x\bilitics, and that you can exceed it 
 as much as you plcafc. 
 
 For who would imagine that the Author 
 of fo poor a Rhapfody, could produce fuch 
 maftcrly Strokes as thefc in the Defence of 
 it. 
 
 My Vanity., fiy you, I never could con¬ 
 quer, fo veell as I could veijh, and I am 
 too frond to commit Crimes. 
 
 Surely no one after this will venture to. 
 lay any thing to your Charge, fince great 
 mull be your innocence, if Pride be the 
 Guardian of it. 
 
 But if any one fhould chance to humble- 
 you, you muft then fall into a defenfclefs 
 State. But if you are not to be prov’d 
 guilty, till you can be Ihcwn to be defici¬ 
 ent in Pride, it n,iay require fomc time to 
 effect it. 
 
 Since you ground your Vindication ib 
 much upon your Pride, it may not uc a-, 
 mils to recoiled the Definition you have 
 given us of it in your own Book. Tride, 
 fay you, is that natural Faculty, by vihich 
 every Mortal, that has any Underjlanding, 
 overvalues and imagines better things of 
 hirnfelf, than any impartial Judge tho¬ 
 roughly acquainted vcith all his Qualities 
 and Circumjtances viouldallovt hinV. 
 
 A pretty 
 
[ 89 i 
 
 A piCtty Qiialiiication indeed, foraiMan 
 ro found his Innocence upon! Yet, you 
 (with a more than ordinary Brighrncls) own 
 that you arc govern'd by tim Vice, to prove 
 your lelf to be JVndtlefs. 
 
 Should a blind Man who had loft his 
 Way, allcdge his Blindnefs, as a Proof that 
 he could not lol'e it, he would fhew that 
 he was juft as well acquainted with the Ad¬ 
 vantages of Blindnefs, as you are with the 
 Eft'cefs of Pride. 
 
 The next ingenious Step that you take 
 is this; The Fable of the Bees, fay you, 
 defignd for the Entertainment of Beople of 
 Kno'ji'ledge and Education, it is a Book 
 of fe-vere and exalted Morality, that con¬ 
 tains a ftriil Tejl of Virtue. 
 
 Had you Paid that the Author was a 
 Seraphim, and that he never was any nearer 
 the Earth'than the fix'd Stars, I fhoulii have 
 thought you in as fober d AVay as you no\v 
 appear to be in. 
 
 That you intended it for the Entertaim 
 rnent of Teople of Knoszledge and Educa¬ 
 tion, is what I can't fay is falfc, for, if your 
 Pride is fudv as you aifert,- you may be ca¬ 
 pable of intending any thing 5 I know of no¬ 
 thing too monftrous fot you to go about. 
 
 But if you can believe, that you hard 
 writ a Book of fevere and exalted Morality, 
 you rnuft not laugh at thole who believe' 
 Stocks and Stones to be Objeds of Wor- 
 N Ihip, 
 
[ 90 ] 
 
 fhip, or took a Leek or an Onion to bs a 
 Deity. 
 
 You are happy in this, that you have made 
 an Allcrtion which an Adverlary cannot far¬ 
 ther expofe,- bccaufc there is no iuperior De¬ 
 gree of Extravagance to which it can be 
 compar’d. 
 
 For if a Perfon will write a Book to prove 
 that Man is a mere Animal, and that moral 
 Virtue is the political Oftspring which Flar^ 
 tery begot upon Pride, and . then call it a 
 Book oi fevere and exalted Morality, he has 
 this Satisfaftion, that no Skill can aggravate 
 Ais Nonfenfe. 
 
 Such as it is, you fay, you are fatisfydit 
 has diverted "Perfans of great Probity and 
 ■Virtue, 
 
 Pray, Sir, how docs this, appear > Where 
 do you find theft People of great Virtue ? 
 When you writ your Book, you knew of no 
 fuch People. Virtue was then no where to be 
 found : For you tell us, that having in vain 
 fought for it in the World, you at laftwenf 
 to the Convents, but even there k had no 
 Exiftence. But now, it ftems, rather than 
 want an Apology, yon’ll fuppoft even whaS 
 confutes your Book, and' what you moft 
 hate, that there is fuel; a.Being as a Man of 
 great Virtue. 
 
 I lay it down,- you add, as a firfi Prin^ 
 f iple, that in all Societies, great or fmall, ft' 
 is the Duty of every Member of it to be goody 
 that. 
 
L 91 ] 
 
 that Virtue ought to be encourag’d. Vice dif- 
 countenanc'd, the Laucs obey’d, and the 
 Tranjgreffors gumjJhd-, and then, you fay, 
 there is not a Line in the ‘urhole Book that 
 contradiVs this LdoBrine. 
 
 This comes fo oddly from yon, that it 
 need not be expos'd to the Reader ; if you 
 had intended it as a ptblick Recantation of 
 all that you had deliver’d before, there had 
 been fomething in it; but to fay, that there 
 is not a Line in your Book that co^itradiBs 
 this, is trulling too much to the \Vcakncfs 
 of your Readers: For, can you pretend to 
 have n firftTrmciple, or to talk of Duty or 
 Virtue, after you have declar’d, that the 
 moral Virtues are all a (Iheat, by making 
 them the political Of spring yu'hich Flattery 
 begot upon Bride ? 
 
 Can you recommcjid Goodnefs, who 
 have compar’d the ‘Pttlchrmn and Honeffmn 
 in Aftions, to the whimfical Dillindtions of 
 Flouoers, and made the Difference between 
 Good and Evil as fanduil, as the Difference 
 between a Tulip and an Auricula. 
 
 When therefore vou pretend to lay it 
 down as a firft Principle, that it is the Duty 
 of every Man to be good, &c. 
 
 It amounts to as much as if you had laid, 
 having fhewn, that there is nothing bur 
 Fancy in the Preference of Flowers, 1 lay 
 it down as a dril Princible, ■ that it is the 
 
aho''ce oil other Yloiseers j that the Love of 
 Tulips ought to be encouragdi and that of 
 Auriculae difcomitenanc'd, (See.-, 
 
 But however, left ,any of your Rea¬ 
 ders ihould imagine that you meant Ibmc- 
 thingmpre than this, and, to clear your fclf 
 from all Sufpicion of Gravity or Seriouf- 
 neft, in your Recommendation of Virtue 
 and Goadnefs, you immediately add this Ex¬ 
 plication of your fclf. 
 
 Would you banifb Fraud and Luxury, pre¬ 
 vent Trophanenefs and Irreligion, and make 
 the Generality of theTeople charitable, good, 
 and virtuous s break doven the Trintmg- 
 ‘Preffes, melt the Founds, and burn all the 
 Books in the Ifland j knock down Foreign 
 Trade, prohibit all Commerce with Strangers, 
 and permit no Ships to go to Sea refiore to 
 the Clergy, the King, and the Barons, their 
 antient Privileges, Prerogatives, and Pof- 
 fejlons s build new Churches, and convert 
 all the Coin you can come at, into fa- 
 'cred Utenfils ■, ereCt Monafteries R'nd Alrns- 
 houfes in Abundance, and let no Parif be 
 without a Charity-School -, let the Clergy 
 preach Abftinence and Self-denial to others, 
 and take what Liberty they pleafe fur them- 
 felves let no Man be made Lord-Jreafurer 
 but a Bifiop. — By fuch pious Endeavours, 
 and wholefome Regulations, the Scene would 
 foon be Ater’d,-— Such a Change wouldin- 
 f.uence the Manners of the Nation, andren- 
 
[ 9 ? ] 
 
 der them temperate, ho'/iejf, nnd fiicere, and 
 from the next Generation might tea-- 
 fonably expeht an harmkfs, innocent, ami 
 ■-jcell meaning Teople, that '■jconid ne-ver dif- 
 pute the Dochrne of 'Tajjive-Obedience, nor 
 any other Orthodox Principles, but be fub- 
 mifhe to Superiors, and unanimous in Re¬ 
 ligions IVorfip*. 
 
 It muft be own’d, that you never fo much 
 exceeded youtlclf as in this Flight of your 
 Oratory. Aul' had your teeming Imagina¬ 
 tion been able to have produc’d one more 
 Evil or Folly, it had been added to the 
 lovely Idea you have form’d of a People in¬ 
 tending to live like Chrirtirms. 
 
 He that can now lul'pecl yon guilty of one 
 fober Thought in relation to Religion or 
 jMorality, muft be acknowledg’d to be very 
 Icnlclefs. 
 
 For, mention your Regard to Religion 
 or Virtue as often as you pleafe, you have 
 here taken care to affurc us, that you wilh , 
 theft'. Prol'perity as heartily as you wilh to 
 fee the Kingdom full of Monafieries, and 
 all our Money converted inro (acred Uten-' 
 fils. 
 
 But I beg pardon for fuppoling, that what 
 you have fo clearly laid to, iliew your x-Vb- 
 horrcnce of Religion and Contempt of 
 Virtue, needs any illuftratiou, 
 
 But 
 
 * P- 259" 
 
[9+] 
 
 But to carry on the Banter you ftill add. 
 If I have fhewn the fFay to vjorlMy Great- 
 nefSy I have alv}ays veiihont Hejitation pre¬ 
 fer’d the Road that leads to Virtue. . 
 
 Had there Been one inftance of this kind 
 in your Book, I fuppofc you would have 
 referr’d us to it. But enough lias been al¬ 
 ready obfervd, to Ihew what Virtue im¬ 
 plies in your Syftcm. I lhall however pro¬ 
 duce one Paflage to fhew, how you alvays 
 and without Hefitation pefer the Road that" 
 leads to Virtue. 
 
 , Speaking of Ltift you fay, the artfulMo- 
 ralifls have taught ns chearfully to fubdue 
 it. And then you cry out, Oh! the mighty 
 Brize we have in view for all our Self-de¬ 
 nial! Can any, Man be fo ferious as to ab- 
 fiainfrom Laughter, when hecanfders that 
 for fo much Deciit and Infinceriiy frablis’d 
 uyon ourfeIves as well as others., we have 
 no other Recomperice, then the vain Satis- 
 fabiion of making our Species appear more~ 
 exalted, a^id ranote from that of other Ani¬ 
 mals than it really is, and we in our own 
 Coifciences know it to be. *. 
 
 Thus it is, that without Hefitation you 
 give your Approbation of Virtue; you make 
 the Moderation of our Paffions to be even 
 a Siu againfl; pur ow'n Confciences, as afting 
 . deceit- 
 
deceitfully contnxy to know be¬ 
 
 comes us. 
 
 You make Self-denial-, or any Reftraints 
 which diftinguUh us from Brutes, to be fo 
 ridiculous a Thing, as ought to excite the 
 Laughter and Contempt of every Crea¬ 
 ture. 
 
 Thus is your proftitutc Pen wantonly em¬ 
 ployed, to put out as far as you can, the Light 
 ■of Rcafon and Religion, and deliver up 
 mankind to Senfuality and Vilencfs. 
 
 Should I now lament the mifcrablc Fruits 
 of Free-thinking, which thus tend not only 
 to fet us loofe from the Regards of Religion, 
 but to deftroy whatever is reafonablc, decent, 
 or comely in human Nature 5 tho’ as a Friend 
 of Religion I might be cenfur’d by fome, 
 yet furely as an advocate for the Dignity of 
 Man, I might be pardon’d by all. 
 
 But it is our peculiar Unhappinefs as 
 Clergymen, that if we lit loofe to the Du¬ 
 ties of R.cligion, we are doubly reproach’d, 
 and if we firmly alfert its Doctrines, we fall 
 under as great Condemnation. 
 
 In all other Caufes a Man is better re¬ 
 ceiv'd, bccaufe it is his proper Bufinefs to 
 appear, yet that which flaould recommend 
 our Pleadings, happens to make them Icfs 
 regarded ; W'e arc worie heard, bccaufe God 
 hasmrade it our Duty to fpcak. 
 
 But I wave this Topick ; for, if when wc 
 afi’ert the common Doctrines of Chrihianity, 
 
■'j'dr arc thought too much iutcrcftcd, \vs 
 fliall harcily be reckon'd lei's felfifh; when 
 wc plead for .common Equity towards our 
 I'clves. 
 
 You have therefore pick'd out a right 
 Body of Men to ridicule j and. your man¬ 
 ner of doing it, Ihews, you knew, that no 
 want of Wit would make you lefs fuccefs- 
 ful. 
 
 Wc often fuffer from Sorters and Car^ 
 men, who venture to be linart upon us,' 
 thro' an Alfurancc, that wc mull lofe by re¬ 
 plying. A Security like this has encourag'd 
 you to be very liberal of your Mirth, and fuch 
 Mirth as might pal's for ^ulnefs upon any 
 other Subjccl:. 
 
 I won't fay how infinite your AYit has been 
 upon ourDrefs and Habit, or wdiat uncom¬ 
 mon Vivacity ybu have flrewn upon the 
 Beaver Hat, wdrether new or old. 
 
 Had }'ou fpar'd our Majeftick Gate, flick 
 faces ke[Jt conflantly flafld, handfome Nails 
 diligently far'd, and Linen tranffarently 
 curious^-, nothing of the Sndme \\z<i been 
 found in your Book. It mull be confefs'd 
 this is an heavy Charge againll the Triefthoodj 
 but wc may fee you was loath to enhance 
 it, or you miglit have mention’d the black 
 Eyes the high foreheads, and the dimpled 
 ■ ChinSi 
 
[ 97 ] 
 
 Chins-, \vhich may be prov’d upon levcral 
 of them, and which they fl:e\v in the Face 
 of the \i^orid at Noon-Day. 
 
 But fuice I have charg'd you with 
 I don’t think it fair to leave you under fogrofs 
 an Accufatioii, without fomething to fup- 
 port your Spirits, Read therefore the fol¬ 
 lowing Words of the mold excellent Brn- 
 yere-. 
 
 '' Have the Libertmes, fays Ire, v:ho value 
 themfelves fo much upon the Title of Wits, 
 have- they Wit enough to perceive that they 
 are only' call'd fo by Irony ? 
 
 Ybn can'hardly relilb any thing of minC;i 
 after this 'taftc of fo fine a Writer, I lhall 
 therefore trouble you but little farther. 
 
 If-ydu hxdo'hdcr, that I have taken no No¬ 
 tice of the dreadful Evils you charge upon 
 Charity-Schools,, and the fad Effefts which 
 fuch catechizing Houfes mufl: have upon a 
 Kingdom that is both Chriftian and Brote- 
 jiantpl muft tell you that I purpofely avoided 
 it. Some Things are To plain, that it is 
 yieldingtoo much to offer to defend them. 
 
 Chriftians, I hope,' will have fo much 
 common Senfe as to know, that no Chri¬ 
 ftian can call fuch Houfes an evil r and as 
 to Complaints from other hands, wiio would 
 not wilh that the Enemies of Chriftianity 
 may have every Day more reafon to com¬ 
 plain, 
 
 As 
 
 O 
 
As to your Part they will obferve, that 
 in thcfc very Writings, where you complain 
 of the Evil of Charity-Schools, you make 
 moral Virtue a Cheat, the Offspring oiTride, 
 and the Enquiry after the befi 'Religion but 
 a JVild-Goofe Chafe. A very worthy Per- 
 ion indeed to talk of cither Good os Evil I 
 
 Whilft we can preferve but the very Name 
 of lleligion, a charitable Contribution to 
 educate Children in it, niuft be reckon'd a- 
 niongft our bell Works. 
 
 Charity-Schools can never need a Defenfc 
 in a Kingdom, that boafts of having the 
 Scriptures in the vulgar Tongue. For if it 
 be our Glory and Happinefs to have the Bi¬ 
 ble in Englijb, furely it mufl: be in fome 
 Degree glorious to teach our Natives how 
 to read it. 
 
 You fay, if ariy one can Ihew the leaji 
 TittleoiBlafphemy oiTrophanenefs, in your 
 Book, or any Thing tending to Immorality, 
 or d Corruption of Manners you will burn it 
 yourfelf, at any Time or Tlace your Adver- 
 fary foall appoint . I appoint the firftXime 
 and the moft publick Place, and if you keep 
 your Word, fiiali be yoiuf humble Servant. 
 
POSTSCRIPT, 
 
 H Aving in my Second Section men-' 
 tion d Mr. Bajk as the principal Au¬ 
 thor amongft thefe, whole Parts have been 
 employed to arraign and expol'e Virtue and 
 Religion as being only the blind Effects of 
 Complexion, natural Temper and Cnfiom, &c. 
 It may not be improper to recommend to 
 his Admirers, the following Inltances of 
 that Gentleman’s great Tenetration and 
 Clearnefs on this Subject. 
 
 Mr. Bayle engag’d in a Caufc where he 
 found it ncccflary to aflert, that a 'Society 
 of Atheifts, might be as virtuous Men, as 
 a Society of other People profclling Reli¬ 
 gion ; and to maintain this Opinion, he 
 was farther oblig’d to declare, that religious 
 Opinions and Beliefs had no Influence at alt 
 upon Mens Actions. 
 
 This Step was very ncccflary to be taken; 
 for if religious Opinions or Beliefs were al¬ 
 lowed to have a-fiy Influence upon our Ac¬ 
 tions, then it muft alfo have been allowed 
 that a Society of Athei(is rcufl: have been 
 Ids virtuous,than a Society of People holding 
 religious Opinions. 
 
 Mr. Bayle therefore roundly deny’d, that 
 veligious Opinions have any Influence upon 
 ‘ * Oz usi 
 
[ IQO ] 
 
 Us; and fet himfclf to prove, that Comple¬ 
 xion, natural Temper, Cuftom, &C; arc the 
 only Caufes of our Aftions. 
 
 Thus he fays, he is perfmded that Man 
 is that kind of Creature, issho 'nsoith all his 
 boafted Reafon, never by the ^Principles 
 of his Belief *. Again, it cannot be denfd, 
 that Man acts continually, againfi Princi¬ 
 ples. And again, I pretend to have dernon- 
 jirated that Men never aB by Principle. 
 
 Mr. Bayle has often diverted himfclf with 
 jhe Unreafonablenefs of thofc ’Divines, who 
 firft declare the Sublimity and Inconcciva- 
 blcnefs of the Chriftian Myfterics, and then 
 pretend to explain them. But they may 
 laugh at him in their Turn, who happens 
 to be as weak and unreafonable even in his 
 Philofophical Chair. 
 
 For he can give it you out as an unde¬ 
 niable Maxim, that the Mind of Man be- 
 ing fiibjeB to infinite Caprice and Variety, 
 no Rule can be laid doven concerning it, not 
 liable to a thoufand ObjeBions **; and then 
 tell you he has demonfir at ed, that Man ne¬ 
 ver acis by Principle: As if he had Paid, I 
 give you here a certain and infallible Rule 
 concerning the Mind of Man,, not liable 
 to one Objedion; tho" I affure you, that 
 no Rule can be laid, dovsn, not liable to a 
 thoufand ObjeBions, 
 
 Mr. Bayle 
 
 Mifcell. Reflea, p. 
 
 P ibid. p. 279. 
 
[ > 0 ' ] 
 
 Mr. Bayle, to llicw that his Society of 
 Atheifls might be as virtuous as other Men, 
 affirms, that a cscicked Inclination neither a- 
 rifes from our Ignorance of Gods Exijience, 
 nor is check’d by the Krio-^xledge of a fu- 
 freme'Jiidge'-jchopunifesandreicards. And 
 that an Inclination to Evil, belongs 710 more 
 to a Heart void of the Senfe of God, than 
 one pojfejfed --jclth it, and that one is un¬ 
 der no loafer a Rem than the olber{i). 
 
 Vv'ith how much Reafon and Freedom of 
 Mind Mr. Bayle afierrs this, may be ftfeix 
 from what he fays in other Places. Thus 
 in his hiftorical Hi A mary he can tell you, 
 that there is nothing fo advantageous to 
 Man, if vse confider either the Mmd or tho 
 Heart, as to know God rightly (2). 
 
 He can commend the Saying of Silius 
 Italicus, as very pertinently I'pokcn of the 
 Carthagmians, alas, miferabk Mortals! your 
 Ignorance of the divine Nature is the ori¬ 
 ginal Canfe of your Crimes. Again, Ivront 
 deny there have been Ragans, vrho making 
 the utmoft Ufe of their Notions of the di^ 
 vine Nature, ha ie render’d it the Means of 
 abating the Violence of their RajjionsC). 
 
 Thcle Contradiclions need no Illudra- 
 tion ; I ffiall pals on to Ihcw you a few jnore 
 of the lame Kind, 
 
 Mr. Bayle 
 
 (1) Ihid.p. 294. (!) Vol. 4. i>. 2683, 
 
 (!) Mifcel. llefied. p. 294, 
 
[ ] 
 
 Mr. Eayle affirms, that Man never acts 
 hy theTrinciyles of his Belief. Yet fee how 
 often he teaches the contrary. Speaking of 
 the ftrange Opinions and Prafticcs of fomc 
 Bagans, 'ivho, tho per funded of a ^Providence, 
 deny’d nothing to their Ltifts and Paffions: 
 He gives this as the Reafon of their Con- 
 dud, either that they rm^^ fuppofe the Gods 
 approved thefe Ways, or elfe that one need 
 not trouble ones felf whether they did or 
 'w(i). 
 
 Sec here this elevated Free-Thinker, affert- 
 ing that Man never aEts by his Belief-, and 
 yet making it necejfary, that the Pagans mud 
 have had fnch or fuch a Belief, or elfc they 
 could never have aded as they did. 
 
 Indances of this Kind are very numerous, 
 ■^in the Article of the Sadducees, he fays, 
 the good Life of the Sadducees might have 
 beenanEffeh of their htYrtylozaProvidence. 
 Again, the Orthodox will feel the Aefivity 
 of that Imprejfion, as well as the Saddu¬ 
 cees, and that being moreover perfuaded of 
 a future State, Religion will have a greater 
 Influence upon their Lives [i). 
 
 Here a Belief of a Pro^■idcnce in this 
 World, is allow’d to be the Caufc of a 
 good Life, and a Perfuafion of a future State 
 affirm’d to have a YYiW greater Inf uence vpow 
 our 
 
 (0 Ibid. p. 4?,!, 
 
 ( 2 ; Hift. Did. 
 
[ >°? 1 
 
 our Lives; aud yet the lamc^rf^t^ Reafoner 
 demonftrates, that Men always acl v/ithout 
 any Regard to their Beliefs or Berfnajions. 
 
 To demonftrate that Beliefs and Opinions 
 have no part in the forming our Lives, 
 Mr. Bayle appeals to the Lives of Chriftians; 
 for, sjsere it Gthe'rssife, fays he, ko~jj is it 
 pojjlbk that Chriftians, fo clearly injlrucled 
 from Revelation, fupported by fo many Mi¬ 
 racles, that they muft renounce their Sins, 
 in order to be eternally happy, and to prevent 
 eternal Mifcry, fboiild yet live as they do, 
 in the moft enormous JFays of Sin and Bbifo- 
 bedience. 
 
 This is Mr. Boyles invincible Demonftra- 
 tion, that Beliefs and Berfuafions have no 
 Efteft upon us, and that Man never ads by 
 Principle 5 tho’ you lhall fee that he can as 
 well demonftrate the contrary to this. 
 
 In the Article of Sorninona-codom, fpeak- 
 ing of this Dodrme, viz. That an old Sin¬ 
 ner vcho has enjoy'd all the B lea fares of Life, 
 vsill be eternally happy, provided be truly re¬ 
 pent on his Death-Bed: He makes this Re¬ 
 mark, doubtlefs, this may be the Reafonvshy 
 the Fear of God's Judgments, or the Hopes 
 of his Revjards, make no great Tmprejftons 
 upon ■vrorldly Beople*. 
 
 Here you fee this learned Philofopher 
 urges the Lives of Chriftians, as a Demon- 
 Jhation 
 
[ i°4 ] 
 
 jfration that Men never ad by Terfuajtoni 
 and yet tells you, as a Thing pafi all doubt., 
 that they live as they do, through a Ter- 
 fuajion that a Death-lied Repentance will let 
 all at right. 
 
 Take another Inftance of the fame kind; 
 
 Religion and Principle have no Effed upon 
 Its: Xhh-muft be the Cafe, fays Mr. Bayle, 
 or.tJ%e\inti'ent 'Pagans, issho sjsere under 'the 
 T^ke of 7mmberlefs Super fit ions, contmually 
 employ'd, in appeafrag the Anger of their 
 Idols, assed by rnfinite Prodigies, and firmly 
 perfuaded the Gods d'lfpenfed Good or E-vtl, 
 according to the Lifie they lead, had been re- 
 Jhaind fronn all the abominable Crimes they 
 committed^. 
 
 This Paragraph is to lltcw, that religious 
 Perfuafioris have no Effed upon us, becaule, 
 if tiieV' had, the Perfuafions of the Pagans 
 mull: have made them good Men. 
 
 But Mr. Bayle here forgets, that he him- 
 felf has aihrm’d that the 'Pagan Religion not 
 only taught ridiculous Things, but that it 
 ‘ucas befidss a Religion authorizing the moji 
 abominable Crimes;. That they sz’ere led to 
 their Crimes by their very Religion ; that 'it 
 mufi have been a Point ofi Faith vjith them ■, 
 that to make themfelves Imitators of God, 
 they ought to be Cheats, Envious, Fornica¬ 
 tors, Adidterers. 
 
 * RcRct. p. 275. 1] Ibid., p. 
 
[ ‘05 1 
 
 So that this Philofophcr fhcws, with great 
 Confiftency,. that the Religion of the Ra~ 
 gans engag’d them in abominable Crimes ; 
 and that the Ragans did not aft by their 
 Religion, becauje they were guilty of abo- 
 mmable Crimes. 
 
 But I proceed no farther at prefent, this 
 Specimen of Mr. Eagle’s Abfurdities and 
 ContradiBions on this very Article, where 
 he has been raoll admir’d, may futfice to 
 Ihew, that ifhc has gain’d upon Mens Minds, 
 it has been by other Arts than thofe of clear 
 Reafoning, I would not by this infinuate, 
 that he was not a Man of fine Parts 5 BeU 
 larmin’i Abfurdities, tho’ ever lb many, fill 
 leave room to acknowledge his great Abili¬ 
 ties. This feems to have been Mr. Bayle’s 
 Cafe; he was no Jefuit or Rapijl, but he 
 was as great a Zealot in his way. Belldr- 
 min contradifted himfelf for the fake of 
 Mother Church ; and Mr. Bayle contradifted 
 himfelf, as heartily, for the fake of an ima¬ 
 ginary Society, a Society of Atheifts. 
 
 I have put down thefe few contradiftory 
 Paflages, for the fake of fuch as are Profe- 
 lytes to Mr. Bayle s Philofophy ; let them 
 here fee, that in following him, they only 
 leave Religion, to follow Blindnefs and Bi- 
 gottry in Syftems of Prophanenefs. 
 
 When Clergymen contradift one another, 
 tho’ it be but upon a Ceremony of Religion, 
 Infidels make great Advantage of it; for, 
 P Irrcii' 
 
[ ,o6 ] 
 
 Irreligion having no Arguments of its o\Viij 
 is forc’d to catch at every Foreign -Ob- 
 jcclion. 
 
 • But Mr. Bayles Self-contradiBions upon 
 the chief Article ot his Philofophy, may, 
 pu/i'.aps, nor iclVen his Autliority with our 
 I'.i en of Reafon. 
 
 For whether out Free-Thinkers arc not 
 fuch Bigots, as to adore Mr. Bayle’s. Contra¬ 
 dictions.; it what I will not prefumc to fay. 
 
 rii promife for nothing, but their little 
 Iviinds, and blind Zeal, to have a Share iit 
 every Error that can give Offence to W'clM 
 minded Men. 
 
 p’ INIS. 
 
 1 
 
BOOKS printed for Will, and 
 John Innys at the Trinces Arms, 
 at the Weft-end of St. Tauh Church- 
 Yard. 
 
 T H E Bifhop of Bangor’s Idte Sermon,, 
 and his Letter to Dr. Snape in De¬ 
 fence of it anfwcred, and the dangerous 
 Nature of Lome Doctrine in his Prcl'erva- 
 tive, fet forth. In a Letter to his Lordihip.- 
 By W. Law, M. A. .The Eighth EditioiL 
 Octavo. 
 
 A Second Letter to the Bifhop of Ban¬ 
 gor ; Wherein his Lordihip’s Notions of Be- 
 ii.cdiction, Abfolution, and Church Com¬ 
 munion, arc proved to be deltruftivc of eve¬ 
 ry Iilftitution of the Chriftian Religion. To 
 which is added a Poftfeript, in Anfwer to. the 
 Objections that have been made agaiiift his 
 former Letter. By W. Law, M. A. The 
 Third Edition,. Octavo. 
 
 A Reply to the Biihop of Bangor’s An., 
 fwer, tothcReprefciitation of the Commit¬ 
 tee of Convocation, humbly addrefs’d to 
 
 his Lordihip,:,8voi. . 
 
 An Anfwet to fomc late Papers, cntitulcdj 
 The Indepeildcnt Whigg; fofar as they re¬ 
 late to the Church of E'ngRud,- as by Law 
 eftahUQicd; in which 'her Dx)6trines, Creeds^ 
 Liturgy andEftablifhmen,t> Her. Clergy with 
 their Rights, Divine and Humane, are mo- 
 dcftly 
 
Booh p'ktedfor W. and J. Innys, 
 deftly defended ; - and their Authors new No¬ 
 tions prov’d to be, not only abfurd and ri¬ 
 diculous, but alfo direftly oppofite to thofc 
 very Texts of God's Word, on which he 
 pretend to found them. By Francis Squire, 
 A. M. Rector of Exford, and Vicar of Cut- 
 eombe. and L'uxborow, Somerfet. 8 vo. 17 2 3. 
 
 An Addrefs to Parents; Shewing them 
 the Obligations they are under, to take Care 
 of the Chriftian Education of their Chil¬ 
 dren, and laying before them the Chriftian 
 Points, in which they ought to inftruft them. 
 By JofephHoolc,Vicarof Haxey, 8vo. 1724, 
 
 Eight Sermons preach'd at the Cathedral 
 Church of St, Paul,-in Defence of the Di¬ 
 vinity of our Lord Jefus Chrift ^ upon the 
 Encouragement by the Lady Moyer, and at 
 the Appointment of the Lord Biihop of Lon¬ 
 don. The id Edition, Svo. 1720. 
 
 A Sermon preach'd before the Sons of 
 thc-Clcrgy, at their Annivcrlary Meeting in 
 the Cathc^al Church of St. Paul, Decern. 
 t4. 1721. 8vo. 
 
 The Cafe of Arian Subfcriptioii confider’d; 
 and- the feveral Pleas and Excufes for it par¬ 
 ticularly examined and confuted. The 2d 
 Edition, Syo. 1721. 
 
 A Supplement to the Cafe of Arian Sub- 
 feription confider'd, in Anfwer to a late 
 Pamplet, intituled. The Cafe of Subferip- 
 tion to the Cafe of the 39 Articles, confi- 
 der’d, 8vo. 1722. i