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<DATE>2011-01-27</DATE>
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<NAME>Graham Hukill</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST A Carele&s;s Indifferency in Matters of RELIGION.</P>
<P>Being a TREATISE In Oppo&s;ition to tho&s;e that believe, That all Religions are Indifferent, and that it Imports not what Men Profe&s;s.</P>
<P>Done out of French.</P>
<P><HI>With an</HI> INTRODUCTION <HI>by</HI> Anthony Horneck, <HI>D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Maje&s;ties.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Henry Rhodes</HI> at the <HI>Star,</HI> the Corner of <HI>Bride Lane</HI> in <HI>Fleet&s;treet;</HI> and <HI>John Harris</HI> at the <HI>Harrow</HI> in the <HI>Poul|try,</HI> 1694.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="introduction">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>The Introduction.</HEAD>
<P>WHile there is a <HI>City of God,</HI> and a <HI>City of the Devil,</HI> a <HI>Kingdom of Light,</HI> and a Kingdom of <HI>Darkne&s;s,</HI> we mu&s;t expect, that Truth and Virtue will be oppo&s;ed by Sin, and Fal&s;hood; and the more important any Truth is, the greater oppo&s;ition it will meet with from, the <HI>in&s;truments of Unrighteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>He that reads the Hi&s;tory of the Church, will find how in every Age, one or other hath &s;tarted up. to bark again&s;t the Light, and even then, when Mira|cles &s;hined, and Wonders were fre&s;h, and Signs from Heaven accompanied the Doctrine; fal&s;e Apo|&s;tles transformed &s;ometimes into Angels of Light, have ri&s;en, to undermine the Structure.</P>
<P>There is not an Article of our Faith, but what hath been contradicted, and there is nothing &s;o Sacred, but the Enemy of Mankind, hath found out per&s;ons to &s;erve him in the polluting it. Nor mu&s;t we wonder, to find Truth a&s;&s;aulted, and its Beauty in danger of being &s;ullied. It would not look &s;o Glorious if it were not re&s;i&s;ted, and its Brightne&s;s doth in a great mea|&s;ure, ri&s;e, from <HI>the Quiver that rattles again&s;t it,</HI> from <HI>the glittering Spear and the Shield,</HI> The Darts thrown again&s;t it, &s;hew its worth, and the rage of Enemies di&s;covers its ine&s;timable value; the price
<PB REF="3">of the Trea&s;ure is enhanced by the practices of Thieves, and that there are tho&s;e, who attempt the &s;tealing of it, rai&s;es an appetite, and gree|dine&s;s in others, to embrace and keep it.</P>
<P>Indeed, Truth like a Tree, runs out into va|rious Branches, &s;ome whereof may be better &s;pared, than others, and though, to cut the lea&s;t &s;prig is dan|gerous, and injurious, yet, as in Human Bodies, a wound in the Arm, is not &s;o pernicious as in the Bow|els, and there is a va&s;t difference between an acci|dental Head-ach, and a Di&s;ea&s;e that incroaches upon the Vitals; &s;o while the le&s;&s;er Boughs of Truth are marred, though it may be the cau&s;e of ju&s;t Grief, yet we can exerci&s;e that piece of Cha|rity, which <HI>beareth all things,</HI> but it is enough to put us out of all patience, to &s;ee the heart of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ree levell'd at, and the Sap that feeds, and gives it life, in danger of being dried up.</P>
<P>Such is the degeneracy of the Age we live in, that the very Fundamentals of Religion are &s;truck at, and though Mode&s;ty was never any quality of the Devil, except it were in order to Deceive, yet his Boldne&s;s at this time &s;eems to &s;tep out of the com|mon Road, and though <HI>Practical Athei&s;m</HI> hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">een the &s;tratagem, he hath made u&s;e of all along, yet, his grand endeavour now, and of late years, is to lead Men into <HI>Speculative;</HI> And we &s;ee it hath &s;o far prevailed with abundance of Men, that they are grown very <HI>Indifferent,</HI> whether they believe any thing at all, concerning God or Religion.</P>
<P>As there is no error, but what Men pretend to give &s;ome rea&s;on for, &s;o it's like the Lukewarmne&s;s of &s;ome, the horrid Debauchery of others, the Di|vi&s;ions
<PB REF="3">that are among Chri&s;tians, and the Animo-&s;ities of one party again&s;t another, and I will be bold to mention, the late Revolution too, or rather the mi&s;con&s;truction of it, may be alledged, as cau&s;es of this <HI>Indifferency.</HI> But where Men will not be at the pains of &s;eparating the Dro&s;s from the Gold, and are loath to di&s;tingui&s;h the ill Dige&s;tion, from the goodne&s;s of the Food, or are for rejecting the u&s;e of things, becau&s;e they are managed ill by per&s;ons, who Idolize their Intere&s;t, or which is as bad, from the irregularity of Practice, infer a fal&s;ity of Doctrine, they mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily run into &s;trange Conceits, and make that an Argument of unbelief, which &s;hould engage them to a &s;tricter Enquiry.</P>
<P>We may ju&s;tly look upon't, as a &s;pecial Act of God's Providence, as <HI>Weeds</HI> do grow, &s;till to rai&s;e up Men to root them up, and to oppo&s;e the &s;preading Infection by &s;uitable Antidotes. This he doth, though few take notice of it, that he may not leave him&s;elf without witne&s;s, and to render tho&s;e, who are willingly catcht with the&s;e deceitful Baits, inexcu&s;able. Indeed it is not every excu&s;e, will take with an All-intelligent Being, and for Peo|ple to pretend, that they cannot be &s;atisfied in the great Principles of Religion, which are to make them good, and &s;erviceable to God and Man, either becau&s;e of the different Opinions about them, or be|cau&s;e of the ill u&s;e, that &s;ome make of them, or be|cau&s;e it is hard to know the Truth, is a frivilous Plea when we &s;ee, they are more inqui&s;itive after things, which make again&s;t Religion, then after that, which can be &s;aid for it, and wilfully neglect peru&s;ing, and con&s;idering Books, which a&s;&s;ert and vindicate the
<PB REF="4">power of it, and greedily &s;wallow the froth of witty Men, &s;pew'd out again&s;t its force, and energy. Since Athei&s;m and <HI>Indifferency</HI> have made tho&s;e incur&s;i|ons upon us, which to our Sorrow we behold, many admirable Treati&s;es have come forth to baffle its pre|tences. But the&s;e are very carefully &s;hun'd by the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">o&s;er &s;ort, or if any &s;uch be put into their hands, they are rejected with a <HI>Laugh,</HI> and a merry <HI>Je&s;t</HI> takes with them more, then the mo&s;t judicious Rea|&s;onings.</P>
<P>So f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">nd are Men of ruining them&s;elves, and &s;crape together, what tra&s;h they can, to fortifie them&s;elves again&s;t &s;ub&s;tantial Goodne&s;s. However, God is kind, in affording them helps to free them&s;elves from the Devil's &s;nares, and if tho&s;e Helps be wilfully reject|ed, it is &s;oon gue&s;&s;ed, at who&s;e door their De&s;truction will lye.</P>
<P>Truth &s;hall triumph at la&s;t, and all the prophane Herd &s;hall find, when it is too late, it may be, they had a God to deal with, that will not be mocked. Since nothing can &s;atisfie them, but experience of God's Ju&s;tice, they &s;hall find it to their co&s;t, and by intolerable angui&s;h of Mind, be convinc'd of that which they would not be per&s;uaded to believe, by the cleare&s;t Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Good Lord! That there &s;hould be a nece&s;&s;ity of ta|king pains to per&s;uade Men, that they are not Bea&s;ts, and that their Rea&s;on, Capacities, and Powers of their Souls, require &s;omething more then Eating and Drink|ing, and Sleeping, and minding their Bu&s;ine&s;s, and Plea&s;ures in the World! This hath been &s;o fully de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">on&s;trated by Wi&s;e and Con&s;iderate Men, that one would think, there &s;hould be no room left for&punc; Subter|fuges,
<PB REF="4">and Eva&s;ions, and as &s;uch per&s;ons ju&s;tly have thought, they could not employ their Talen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s bet|ter, then in a&s;&s;erting the &s;trong foundations of Religion, &s;o they de&s;erve. Eternal Commendations, for letting the World &s;ee, that whatever attempts have been made to ruine it, its pillars, like that of the Earth, are unmoveable, and its Notions &s;o riveted into our Natures, that we mu&s;t fir&s;t deny our Being, before we can deny its Principles.</P>
<P>The &s;ame I may &s;ay of the Author of the&s;e Papers, who ob&s;erving the &s;trange <HI>Indifferency,</HI> that is abroad in the World, hath endeavour'd <HI>to da&s;h that Child again&s;t the &s;tones.</HI> His Arguments are &s;trong, and weighty, and his An&s;wers to the Cavils and Excep|tions of Athei&s;tical Men, &s;hort, but pithy, and &s;uch as may &s;atisfie Men, who have not totally abandon'd the Dictates of right Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>Religion is a thing fitted to our Rea&s;on, and the more our Rea&s;on is employ'd about it, the more its ne|ce&s;&s;ity and Beauty, and Glory will appear. That Men are &s;o <HI>Indifferent</HI> about it, the principal cau&s;e is, becau&s;e rational Con&s;ideration is excluded, and they are guided more by their Sences then their Rea&s;on. They are for the mo&s;t part brought up, and educated into &s;en&s;uality, and whatever grati|fies their Sences, is made the darling Object of their Love, and becau&s;e Religion lays a re&s;traint upon the &s;en&s;ual Appetite, they are very willing to entertain prejudices again&s;t it, and any little exception &s;erves as an Argument again&s;t &s;ubmitting to the Holy Laws of it. The de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">per root this &s;en&s;uality takes, the more Religion is weakened, and thru&s;t out, till in time the common Principles of it are que&s;tion'd, and
<PB REF="5">at la&s;t, if it may be done with &s;afety, as to the Law of the Land, denied.</P>
<P>It's love to Vice, that corrupts Mens &V;nder&s;tand|ings, and if we examine and &s;earch into the root of all, it will be found that this <HI>Indifferency</HI> in mat|ters of Religion proceeds from Mens being addicted to &s;ome Sin, or other, they are loth to part with; and becau&s;e the &s;tricter Rules of Religion, are incon&s;i&s;tent with their unbrideled Lu&s;ts, they think it their Inte|re&s;t to abandon it, or if they retain any thing of it, it is only a &s;hadow, and no more.</P>
<P>There is nothing &s;o bad, but may be colour'd over with &s;pecious Arguments, and unthinking Men are &s;oon gravell'd with &s;uch kind of Objections, e&s;pecial|ly, if the bya&s;&s;e be toward evil; for then a very weak Argument will draw, and what it wants in &s;trength, is made up by the power of a vicious Inclination. This gives it weight, and makes that conclu&s;ive, which at other times would &s;carce de&s;erve a moment of &s;erious Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>That I recommend the peru&s;al of this Book, is not &s;o much to gratifie the Book-&s;eller, as to promote the publick Good; The Work is u&s;eful, and may help to reform the times, and put a &s;top to the growth of Licentiou&s;ne&s;s. The meane&s;t Reader may benefit him&s;elf by it, and it will furni&s;h him with An&s;wers to the vulgar Objections of <HI>Libertines.</HI> The &s;mall|ne&s;s of its Bulk will be an encouragement to look it over, and the &s;olid Rea&s;ons made u&s;e of, will by the Ble&s;&s;ing of God convince him, there is &s;ome|thing more in Religion, then <HI>Fancy.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>A. HORNECK.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>The PREFACE.</HEAD>
<P>THere are &s;o many People now a days, who believe, that all Religions are In|different, that 'tis not a thing to be wonder'd at, If &s;omething in Oppo&s;i|tion to &s;uch a growing Mi&s;chief &s;hould be written upon this &s;ubject. But we cannot forbear to ob|&s;erve, that there are five &s;ort of Per&s;ons who up|hold this Indifferency.</P>
<P N="1">1. There are &s;ome who do it purely out of Affection to Libertini&s;m, and becau&s;e that Natu|rally they love to be Independent. They will not acknowledge any Ma&s;ter over 'em, to the end they may be able to &s;ay, believe, and do what|ever they plea&s;e, without fearing to give an Ac|count hereafter.</P>
<P N="2">2. Others there are who do it out of Vanity; to the end they may be thought to be Wits of the Fir&s;t Order, that di&s;dain to herd with tho&s;e that follow the Common Opinion. And the&s;e People at fir&s;t are but weakly convinc'd of what they &s;ay; but by publi&s;hing continually their Singular Sentiments, they come to be fully per&s;uaded of the Truth of 'em at la&s;t, and haughtily &s;et them|&s;elves in the Rank of the People di&s;abus'd, look|ing with pity upon the Re&s;t of the World, that are &s;car'd with the thoughts of Futurity.</P>
<PB REF="6">
<P N="3">3. There are &s;ome who do it out of Sloth; becau&s;e they will not give them&s;elves the Trou|ble of Examining Religions. So that they &s;uf|fer them&s;elves to be ea&s;ily &s;urprized by the Rea|&s;ons of our Pretended <HI>Soaring Wits;</HI> finding them&s;elves by that means delivered from the care they ought to take in a more diligent and labo|rious Scrutiny.</P>
<P N="4">4. Others uphold this Opinion becau&s;e they find it very convenient for pre&s;erving their E&s;tates and their Honours, which they prefer before Truth, and love beyond all things in the World.</P>
<P N="5">5. There are &s;ome who do it, not becau&s;e they believe all Religions to be Indifferent, but becau&s;e they have peculiar Sentiments of Religi|on, which they dare not &s;ow abroad until they have In&s;inuated, that 'tis a very Indifferent thing what Men believe, that they may not offend 'em with their Opinions.</P>
<P>That which is mo&s;t to be Lamented is this, that the&s;e Wild Opinions very much corrupt and taint Others, which they do with &s;o much the le&s;s trouble, 1. Becau&s;e that naturally we love Li|berty, and we would willingly be Independent. 2. Becau&s;e we are pufft up with Pride, and that there is nothing that plea&s;es us &s;o much as to be di&s;tingui&s;h'd from others. 3. Becau&s;e labour di|&s;likes us, and for that we love not that which puts us to any hard&s;hip. 4. Becau&s;e we have too great an Affection for our Wealth, and for that it is a great Trouble to us to quit the Plea&s;ures and Comfortable Conveniences of this Life. There is nothing left une&s;&s;ay'd to &s;urprize tho&s;e Pious Souls that &s;eek to work out their Salvation.
<PB REF="6">There is great care taken to make 'em under|&s;tand that they ought to make Chri&s;tian Morality their Study, and that there is nothing but Mo|rality to be preach'd up. They tell us, that we have need to be corrected and reproved; that the Greate&s;t part of Men &s;ufficiently knows the Will of God, but that few practi&s;e it. This is agreed; but the Chief Aim of tho&s;e who thus di&s;cour&s;e, is artificially to in&s;inuate, that there is no nece&s;|&s;ity of tormenting our &s;elves, about what we ought to believe, only that we ought to live well. And thus they prepare People in&s;en&s;ibly to be|lieve, that all Religions are Indifferent. How|ever, we mu&s;t acknowledge, that they who are of this Opinion are not all alike corrupt; but yet they are &s;ufficiently erroneous for us to deplore the Misfortune of this Age. 'Tis for the Faith|ful to fortifie them&s;elves again&s;t tho&s;e Delu&s;ions, that we have undertaken this Treati&s;e, and with and endeavour to recall tho&s;e that are gone a&s;tray. This is the only aim that we have propo&s;ed to our &s;elves, and not to get the Reputation of an Author. We conjure all tho&s;e that read this Little Manual, to &s;trive with them&s;elves and to read it with Application. We be&s;eech 'em not to read it with a Libertine's Humour that Scoffs at every thing, but with a de&s;ire to &s;earch out the Truth, and with the &s;ame diligence that they &s;tudy Human Sciences. Let 'em con&s;ider,</P>
<P N="1">1. That the di&s;pute is not here about a Thing of little Importance, &s;ince it concerns their being Eternally Mi&s;erable if they are deceiv'd, as we &s;hall make appear in this Treati&s;e.</P>
<PB REF="7">
<P N="2">2. Let 'em not reject what we &s;hall &s;ay, under pretence of meeting with Rea&s;ons that are not fully convincing. For th&ocirc; there were but one good Rea&s;on in a Chapter, 'twere enough to oblige 'em to return from their Wandrings.</P>
<P N="3">3. That they ought not to de&s;pi&s;e the Argu|ments, under pretence that they have heard 'em &s;everal times; but let 'em carefully examine 'em, and lay a&s;ide their Prejudices.</P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, That it is not enough to find &s;ome petty fault, to reject the Rea&s;ons which are pro|duced; for that there is nothing &s;o ea&s;ie as to oppo&s;e &s;ome little Sophi&s;ms to good Arguments. But let 'em con&s;ult their own Con&s;ciences: I mo&s;t Heartily be&s;eech Almighty God to give a Ble&s;&s;ing to my weak Endeavours.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>PAge 18. Line 18. for <HI>Sees,</HI> read <HI>Seems.</HI> page 30. l. 32. dele <HI>All.</HI> p. 31. l. <HI>ult.</HI> for <HI>in,</HI> r. <HI>with.</HI> p. 34. l. 12. for <HI>no Confu&s;ion,</HI> r. <HI>nothing but Confu&s;ion.</HI> pa. 42. l. 33. for <HI>King</HI> r. <HI>Kind.</HI> pa. 46. l. 22. for the fir&s;t <HI>him,</HI> r. <HI>us.</HI> pa. 56. l. 31. for <HI>Proportions,</HI> r. <HI>Propo&s;itions.</HI> pa. 66. l. 19. for <HI>&s;ub&s;cribe,</HI> r. <HI>pre&s;cribe.</HI> pa. 69. l. 12. for <HI>wearing</HI> r. <HI>drawing.</HI> for <HI>upon</HI> r. <HI>from.</HI> pa. 71. l. 2. for <HI>of her,</HI> r. <HI>other.</HI> pa. 74. l. 6. for <HI>has,</HI> r. <HI>is.</HI> pa. 77. l. 8. In&s;ert <HI>Not.</HI> pa. 79. l. 18. for <HI>Animo&s;ity,</HI> r. <HI>Animality.</HI> pa. 89. Chap. XV. for <HI>they make,</HI> r. <HI>they may make.</HI> pa. 90. l. 8. after <HI>&s;trong,</HI> in&s;ert <HI>they.</HI> pa. 93. l. 4. for <HI>long,</HI> r. <HI>come.</HI> pa. 94. l. 26. for <HI>the things of Con&s;i&s;tence,</HI> r. <HI>Remorce of Con&s;cience.</HI> pa. 130. l. 32. for <HI>a&s;&s;ert,</HI> r. <HI>a&s;&s;erts.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB N="1" REF="7">
<HEAD>A TREATISE</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub"><HI>Again&s;t tho&s;e that believe that all Religions are Indifferent.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. I.</HI> Wherein, after we have &s;uppos'd that there is a God, we &s;hew that God is mo&s;t perfect. That he is the Author of all the Good which is in the Crea|tures, and that we ought to Fear and Honour him.</HEAD>
<P>THE Being of a God is a Truth &s;o Evident, that no Man can deny it without combating his own Rea|&s;on. There's no nece&s;&s;ity of &s;train|ing our Endeavours to believe it; for that Man mu&s;t put a Violence upon him&s;elf, who dares to contradict it. For proof of it, there is no need of rommaging for Metaphy&s;ical, high-flown, far fetch'd Arguments, &s;carcely within the
<PB N="2" REF="8">Reach of mo&s;t Men's Under&s;tanding. The Con|&s;ideration of this &s;ame &s;pacious Univer&s;e expos'd to our Eyes, and all the Creatures we behold within it, together with the Corre&s;pondency, the Symmetry and Relation of the &s;everal Innumera|ble parts to the Whole, is &s;ufficient to convince all people that will li&s;ten to their Rea&s;on. For as for tho&s;e that are not &s;truck with the &s;en&s;ible Marks which the Author of Nature has im|printed on his Works, they will never &s;ubmit to the Force of Di&s;pute. The mo&s;t E|loquent, and mo&s;t Learned of the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Cicero l. <HI>2.</HI> Nat. Deo|rum.</NOTE> Romans was &s;o over-rul'd by this particular Proof, that he makes no &s;cruple to maintain, after a great Phi|lo&s;opher, that if Men &s;hould of a &s;udden, &s;tart up from under the Earth, where they had remain'd in Darkne&s;s from the Time of their Birth, and all at once behold the Land, the Sea, and Hea|vens; the Beauty, the va&s;t Body and wonderful Effects of the Sun, they would not fail to ac|knowledge a Deity, and to confe&s;s that the whole which they contemplated was the Workman&s;hip of a God.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, either we mu&s;t believe that the Mat|ter is Eternal, or that the World is the Effect of Chance; or el&s;e we mu&s;t acknowledge that there is an All-powerful Being which made both the one and the other. Now it cannot be &s;aid, that a Dead and In&s;en&s;ible Ma&s;s, &s;uch as was the Mat|ter, is an Eternal Being, and without any Begin|ning, becau&s;e it would be the Greate&s;t of all Ab&s;urdities, to a&s;cribe to the Vile&s;t of all Beings, the Chiefe&s;t of all Perfections, which is to exi&s;t
<PB N="3" REF="8">of it &s;elf. Be&s;ides, in regard that Motion is not E&s;&s;ential to the Matter, tho' it &s;hould be &s;up|pos'd to be Eternal, we &s;hould be &s;till putting the Que&s;tion, when it began to have Motion? Who it was that gave it the fir&s;t Impre&s;&s;ions? Who it was that &s;hap'd it into &s;o many various Figures? Who made this Motion &s;o ju&s;t and Re|gular; and who it was that produc'd &s;uch an In|finite variety of Creatures out of one and the &s;ame Matter? So that when all is done, we mu&s;t come to one Sovereign Being, which we call GOD.</P>
<P>It cannot be &s;aid, that this Va&s;t Univer&s;e is the Effect of Chance, or that it was the Acci|dental Meeting of Certain little Bodies which produc'd it. The Pagan Philo&s;opher who main|tain'd this Opinion, that Nature mu&s;ter'd toge|ther all the Atomes of her Wi&s;dom to compo&s;e it, &s;eems to me no le&s;s Extravagant in this par|ticular then He, who, beholding &s;everal Pictures, wherein were to be ob&s;erv'd all the Rules of Exact and Elaborate Painting, and a great Num|ber of Figures curiou&s;ly drawn, &s;hould &s;ay, that it was the Workman&s;hip of Chance, or that the Colours mix'd &s;o Artfully together of them&s;elves.</P>
<P>What Man of &s;ound Judgment can be &s;o vain to think, that it was <HI>Chance</HI> that made the <HI>Whole</HI> which we Contemplate, the Heavens, the Earth, the Sun, the Stars, the Plants and Animals; That it was <HI>Chance,</HI> that in the Wombs of our Mo|thers form'd a Piece of Workman&s;hip &s;o perfect as that of our Bodies, who&s;e Structure, Figure, Organs, Members, their wonderful Symmetry and ju&s;t Proportion, is &s;till the Admiration of
<PB N="4" REF="9">Human Wi&s;dom: that it was <HI>Chance.</HI> which produc'd our Souls; that Soul which thinks, which rai&s;es it &s;elf above our Sences, and which corrects and govern 'em; that &s;earches after, in|vents and finds out, tho&s;e things that &s;eem'd im|po&s;&s;ible for Human Reach. La&s;tly, that it was <HI>Chance,</HI> which united this Soul &s;o perfectly with the Body, that &s;uch and &s;uch motions of the Bo|dy &s;tir up Thoughts in the Soul, and &s;uch and &s;uch Thoughts of the Soul, which produce variety of Motions in the Body. Certainly we mu&s;t no longer pretend to make u&s;e of our Rea&s;on, if we once deny the&s;e to be the Works of an All-pow|erful, mo&s;t Wi&s;e, All-under&s;tanding, and mo&s;t Perfect Being.</P>
<P>So that I &s;hall not undertake to refute tho&s;e, who in defence of <HI>Epicurus,</HI> adventure to bring &s;ome Examples of what <HI>Chance</HI> is able to per|form. For there is &s;o little proportion between what they alledge, and the Creatures which we &s;peak of, that 'tis a wonder that People who pre|tend to Wit, &s;hould employ it in &s;uch feeble Proofs. I might as ea&s;ily prove, that becau&s;e it &s;o happens, that three or four Letters may be &s;o thrown together by chance, as to form a word; a Man might as ea&s;ily make a Poem as accom|pli&s;h'd as <HI>Virgil</HI>'s <HI>Aeneads.</HI> Nay, th&ocirc; I &s;hould grant that <HI>Chance</HI> might form &s;ome one of tho&s;e Creatures which we every day admire; Shall we from thence infer, that it was <HI>Chance</HI> that &s;o well order'd all things, as to pre&s;cribe to every thing the particular U&s;e that is a&s;&s;ign'd it, or that &s;o well joyn'd and plac'd together all things, as to be u&s;eful the one to the other, the Heavens to
<PB N="5" REF="9">the Earth, the Earth to the Plants, the Plants to the Creatures? Th&ocirc; <HI>Chance</HI> might frame an Eye, how is it po&s;&s;ible for us to conceive, that <HI>Chance</HI> al&s;o made the Light, without which, the Eyes would &s;ignifie nothing?</P>
<P>Seeing then that matter is not Eternal, and that the World was not made of it &s;elf, either by <HI>Chance</HI> or the concurrence of Atoms, according to <HI>Epicurus,</HI> of nece&s;&s;ity we mu&s;t conclude, that there is an Almighty Being that made it, &s;ince no|thing but an infinite Power could draw the fir&s;t Matter out of Nothing, or give it &s;o lovely a Form. And this All Powerful Being is that which we call God.</P>
<P>It may be objected perhaps, that Nature is the cau&s;e of all tho&s;e Great Effects; 'tis &s;he, &s;ay they, that cau&s;es the Plants to &s;prout and &s;hoot forth, that gives Life to Men, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But all this while, what do they mean by Nature? Is it an Intelligent Cau&s;e? or a Blind and Stupid Cau&s;e? If it be a Stupid Cau&s;e, how comes it to act with &s;o much Wi&s;dom? If it be an Intelligent Cau&s;e, endu'd with infinite Wi&s;dom, is not this the cal|ling of Nature that which we call God? Or if they mean by Nature, that Order which ap|pears in the Production, Generation and Pre&s;er|vation of every Creature; then who e&s;tabli&s;h'd that Order, but that &s;overeign Being which we all adore?</P>
<P>'Tis then mo&s;t certain that there is a <HI>God;</HI> and we have no de&s;ign to enlarge any farther upon the proof of it. All Sciences lead us to this Truth, and all Nations in all Ages have acknowledg'd it, except &s;ome certain barbarous People among
<PB N="6" REF="10">whom Rea&s;on was almo&s;t extingui&s;h'd; and in &s;ome, Travellers have not ob&s;erv'd any &s;enti|ments of a Deity, becau&s;e they have not been &s;o &s;trictly nice to inform them&s;elves. But Man, who is naturally proud and high-minded, has ra|ther cho&s;en to wor&s;hip Wood and Stones, Bea&s;ts and Plants, Crocodils and Trees, Rats and Oni|ons, then to be without a God, and adore no|thing at all. However, we mu&s;t confe&s;s, that there were formerly, and &s;till are now-a-days, &s;ome People, who making an ill u&s;e of their Rea|&s;on, attacque this Principle and drawing off their Wit from every thing that might be able to prove a Deity, meerly to apply them&s;elves to whatever may increa&s;e and harden 'em in their Doubts, per&s;uade them&s;elves at length, that there is no God. But be&s;ides, that they who arrive to this degree of Impiety, are not very numerous; and that there is great rea&s;on to que&s;tion, whi|ther there be any real Athei&s;ts; I &s;peak of Athe|i&s;ts in Wit, if I may pre&s;ume &s;o to expre&s;s my &s;elf, and not of Athei&s;ts in Heart, there are ve|ry few who carry their incredulity to their Grave. The greate&s;t part confe&s;s in de&s;pite of their own Teeth, the Deity, who&s;e Enemy they declare them&s;elves to be; nor can they forbear implo|ring his Aid in their mo&s;t pre&s;&s;ing occa&s;ions, and upon unexpected Accidents; nece&s;&s;ity and their Con&s;cience forcing 'em to acknowledge, what before out of malice and di&s;dain of Heav'n they deny'd. Therefore the Impiety of &s;ome Libertines, who endeavour to prove there is no God, becau&s;e they could wi&s;h there were not,
<PB N="7" REF="10">ought not be any inducement for us to que|&s;tion a Verity &s;o univer&s;ally acknowledg'd.</P>
<P>But if it behoves our Rea&s;on as Haughty as it is, to confe&s;s a Deity, and that Man has a Ma|&s;ter, under who&s;e Empire it becomes him to hum|ble him&s;elf; it becomes him al&s;o to acknowledge that this Sovereign Power po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es all Perfecti|ons, and tho&s;e in &s;uch a degree, as that there can be none conceiv'd to be greater or more accom|pli&s;h'd.</P>
<P>This is the <HI>Idea</HI> which we naturally have of God; nor can we have any other, if we follow the Illuminations of Right Rea&s;on. Nothing is to be conceiv'd to be better, or more perfect then the Deity; and this is agreed on by all the World. For if he wanted &s;ome Perfection, or if he did not po&s;&s;e&s;s it in a Supream degree, then would &s;omething be conceiv'd more perfect then He. Therefore it mu&s;t be own'd, that who|ever &s;peaks of a God, &s;peaks of the mo&s;t perfect of all Beings, that exi&s;t or can exi&s;t.</P>
<P>I will not undertake to de&s;cribe all the&s;e Per|fections; they are Infinite: nor can the Angels them&s;elves, tho&s;e Ble&s;&s;ed Exi&s;tencies, who are always before this Sovereign Being, but very im|perfectly in&s;truct us who he is. 'Tis &s;ufficient that we ob&s;erve that no Man can have an <HI>Idea</HI> of a mo&s;t perfect Being, without conceiving at the &s;ame time, that he &s;ub&s;i&s;ts of him&s;elf, and nece&s;|&s;arily exi&s;ts; that he is an Eternal Being, and without any, Beginning: that he is an Indepen|dent Being, but upon whom all things depend: an All-&s;eeing, All-knowing, All-fore&s;eeing, and Omnipotent Exi&s;tence. A Being Sovereignly
<PB N="8" REF="11">good, mo&s;t Ju&s;t, mo&s;t Wi&s;e, and mo&s;t Happy. Thus it behoves us to conceive all the&s;e Perfecti|ons&punc; in the Being which we adore, and who is our God.</P>
<P>This is a Truth beyond all Conte&s;t: But it is al&s;o no le&s;s certain, that this mo&s;t perfect Being, who created the Matter, the World, and what|ever we behold contain'd within it, is the Au|thor of all the Good which is in the Creatures. All the Creatures can expect no Good, but from him who gave 'em their Being, and by whom they &s;ub&s;i&s;t. There is none but He who perfect|ly knows what is convenient for 'em, becau&s;e he knows all things; and He alone can only be&s;tow it upon 'em, by rea&s;on of his Omnipotency. The Pagans have acknowledg'd this, in the mid&s;t of their Ignorance, as it would be ea&s;ie for me to prove out of the Works of their mo&s;t celebrated Authors. They all agreed, that their Lives and their good Fortune (for that was their manner of &s;peaking) depended upon God. <HI>This is the Opinion of all Men,</HI> &s;aid <HI>Cicero:</HI> for I mind not what <HI>Ajaz</HI> &s;ays in <HI>Sophocles,</HI> and another no le&s;s impious in <HI>E&s;chylus,</HI> who upheld, that none but Fools and faint-hearted People implor'd the Om|nipotency of the Gods. But there have been others who have added, that Wi&s;dom and Virtue depended upon this Supream Being; that the Beginning and End, or the &s;ucce&s;s of all Things depended upon him: And the Emperor <HI>Marcus Aurelius Antoninus</HI> has tho&s;e &s;entiments upon this Subject, as put to &s;hame &s;everal fal&s;e Chri&s;tians. For he &s;ays, that there is an Effectual Virtue in God, which acts in us, and operates all our good
<PB N="9" REF="11">Actions, and all our good de&s;ires, and which re|moves from us all Opportunities and Occa&s;ions of falling into Sin.</P>
<P>From all the&s;e Truths I draw this Con&s;e|quence, which naturally flows from the&s;e Princi|ples; That it is ab&s;olutely our Duty to Honour this Infinite Being, to endeavour from day to day to under&s;tand him more perfectly, continually to admire his Virtues, to love and fear him, to make it our whole imployment to plea&s;e him, and &s;o to bear our &s;elves, that whatever we are, what ever we do, whatever we have, may be all or|der'd to his Glory. For let us but grant that there is a God in the World, that this God is mo&s;t perfect, that he is Supreamly Good, and that he is the Author of all the Good which we enjoy, and of all that we can hope for; certainly we cannot then forbear to admire his Perfections, but mu&s;t believe our &s;elves engag'd and bound to love him. Let us but acknowledge that this God is Omnipotent, and that it is in his Power to reduce all the Creatures he has made, into their Primitive Du&s;t, and that he is able Eternally to puni&s;h tho&s;e who violate his Laws, we mu&s;t be then a&s;&s;uredly convinc'd, that he is to be fear'd, and we ought not to provoke his Wrath. Let us be per&s;uaded that this God is mo&s;t Ju&s;t, that he loves Ju&s;tice, and that whatever he exacts from us, tends only to make us happy, and is nothing but what is mo&s;t conformable to ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> real Intere&s;ts, it creates a Plea&s;ure in us to obey him, and be &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive to his Will. Let us once be &s;en&s;ible, that this God is both able and wil|ling to redre&s;s all our Complaints, to deliver us
<PB N="10" REF="12">out of all our Mi&s;eries, and that all things de|pend upon his Conduct and Direction, it pre|&s;ently per&s;uades us to a &s;ole Reliance upon him. La&s;tly, Let us believe that this God is mo&s;t Wi&s;e, that he Created Man for tho&s;e ends which are mo&s;t worthy of him, and we can never que&s;tion, but that Men are bound to pur&s;ue tho&s;e ends to which they are appointed, in making a right u&s;e of that Rea&s;on which they have receiv'd, and ap|plying it to the Glory of him who gave it 'em. Now all the&s;e Acts of Veneration, Re&s;pect, Fear, Submi&s;&s;ion, Adoration, Admiration, Confidence, Obedience, and Love, are comprehended in the &s;ingle Word <HI>Religion.</HI> So that the Idea and Know|ledge of God, imports the Nece&s;&s;ity of a Re|ligion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. II.</HI> That Religion is not the Invention of Politicians.</HEAD>
<P>THere are &s;ome People who maintain that Religion, as al&s;o the Opinion of a God, is the Invention of certain Politicians, who, as they &s;uppo&s;e, made the People believe there is a Deity, on purpo&s;e to retain 'em in Sub|mi&s;&s;ion and Obedience; that there is a certain Wor&s;hip to be paid him; and that this Deity &s;everely puni&s;hes the Treacherous, the Seditious, and Rebels.</P>
<P>But it will be no difficult thing to make out the ab&s;urdity of this Opinion to tho&s;e who have any Love and Veneration for Truth. For to prove,
<PB N="11" REF="12">that there were any Legi&s;lators, or any cunning Politicians, who made the People believe that there is a God, and that there is a Nece&s;&s;ity of a Religion, they mu&s;t make it appear to us,</P>
<P N="1">1. That before the Birth of tho&s;e Legi&s;lators, and Founders of States and Dominions, the Peo|ple were ignorant that there was a God, and that they never paid him any Wor&s;hip.</P>
<P N="1">2. That tho&s;e Legi&s;lators never had them&s;elves any Fear or Sentiment of a Deity.</P>
<P>Now this is that which they will never be a|ble to prove; neither do I believe they will ever pre&s;ume to undertake it. Let 'em in&s;tance any time wherein People liv'd without acknowledg|ing a God. Let 'em tell us the Names of tho&s;e fir&s;t Men, that were the Authors of that Opini|on, that there is a Deity; at lea&s;t let 'em in&s;truct us when tho&s;e Ages were, that it fir&s;t began to be receiv'd in the World. 'Tis true, it cannot be deny'd but that there were &s;ome Politicians who have made advantagious u&s;e of this Fir&s;t Notion, That there is a Being who is far Superiour to all tho&s;e which we behold, or of which we have any knowledge, as they have no le&s;s &s;ucce&s;sfully made u&s;e of the Vanity of the People, and that love which they naturally have for Liberty, their Lives, their Children, or whatever el&s;e belongs to 'em: and of this Number were <HI>Jeroboam, Mi|nos, Lycurgus, Solon, Numa, Mahomet,</HI> and &s;ome others famous in Hi&s;tory. I mu&s;t acknowledge likewi&s;e that the&s;e Legi&s;lators very much con|firm'd the People in their Natural Propen&s;ity to a Religion; in regard they had too much Wit to be Ignorant, that without Religion Society would
<PB N="12" REF="13">degenerate into Common Robbery, &s;ince every one would then do what he pleas'd; the mo&s;t Crafty would be the mo&s;t Wi&s;e, and the mo&s;t Powerful and &s;tronge&s;t would be always Ma&s;ters. 'Tis mo&s;t certain al&s;o, that the&s;e Law-givers have made the People believe, that the Deity would be Wor&s;hip'd in &s;uch or &s;uch a Manner; and that they have introduc'd &s;uch Ceremonies as they thought mo&s;t proper for their De&s;igns. Nor will I &s;cruple to agree, that there have been &s;everal who derided the Deities which the People ador'd, and who have made 'em pay their Adoration to what Deities they pleas'd. The thing was ea&s;ie to be done in &s;uch Places, where the People were ignorant of the True God whom they were to &s;erve. But I aver, that never any of tho&s;e Le|gi&s;lators undertook to prove the Exi&s;tence of a God. They took that Truth for Granted, and built upon that Foundation. But they never prov'd it; and I am a&s;&s;uredly convinc'd, that if they had not met with it already engrav'd in the Hearts and Minds of all Men, they would never have &s;ucceeded in their Great De&s;igns.</P>
<P>Is it a thing to be believ'd, that two or three Men could deceive the whole World, or that for the E&s;tabli&s;hment of their Authority, they could ever impo&s;e their own Inventions upon People as Quick-&s;ighted as them&s;elves, that Laugh'd at Po|pular Errors, &s;uch as <HI>Socrates, Plato,</HI> or <HI>Cicero?</HI> I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> it probable, that they could have &s;educ'd and mi&s;led People who were not &s;ubjected to their Dominion; nay, People that commanded over others, to believe the Flatteries of tho&s;e who would needs per&s;uade 'em that their Law|givers
<PB N="13" REF="13">and Princes were Gods, and whom indeed they Wor&s;hip'd as &s;o many Deities? Is it po&s;&s;ible an Opinion, Originally no more then the Inven|tion of &s;ome Ambitious Per&s;ons, &s;hould be &s;o deeply rooted in the minds of all Men, that they could never Eradicate it again, whatever efforts they made, when we find every day that Men renounce &s;o many Vulgar-Errors, tho' &s;uck'd in with their Infant Milk?</P>
<P>La&s;tly, Is there any Appearance or Likelihood, that after &s;o many Ages, Men &s;hould never be Convinc'd of an Opinion that di&s;quiets and tur|moiles their Con&s;ciences with &s;o many Terrors and Convul&s;ions?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. III.</HI> Of the Indifference of Religions.</HEAD>
<P>TIs clear then, that all Men have a Natu|ral Inclination to Religion, in regard that All have an Opinion that there is a God. Now if they all under&s;tood this Deity after one and the &s;ame Manner, there would be but one Religion in the World. But their Idea's are &s;o various, that there are almo&s;t as many Religions as there are People. From whence the Que&s;tion has ri&s;en, Whether Men are equally acceptable to God, whatever Religion they profe&s;s? And whether they may be allow'd, as an Indifferent Thing, to be of any Religion? There are &s;ome People, and of the&s;e too many, God knows, who believe that all Religions are Indifferent: that
<PB N="14" REF="14">the Chief Religion, is to be Obedient to the Ma|gi&s;trates that Govern us; that God is in truth the Center to which all our Devotion ought to tend, but that it is of little Importance which way Men arrive at that Center, provided they get thither; and that there are &s;everal ways to be happy. <HI>&V;no itinere non po&s;&s;e perveniri ad tam grande Secretum,</HI> according to <HI>Symmachus.</HI> That we ought to be of the Religion of the People a|mong whom we live, and not to tye our &s;elves to any one particular manner of &s;erving God, but to be initiated into all &s;orts of Religions, <HI>E&s;&s;e totius Mundi Sacrorum Anti&s;titem,</HI> as a Pagan &s;aid. They who have given us Relations of the Belief of the <HI>Siamois,</HI> or People of <HI>Siam,</HI> report, that they believe, That God does not pre&s;erve the World, but only for the &s;ake of that Diver|ti&s;ement and plea&s;ure which he takes in the Vari|ety of Languages, Creatures, Habits, and Reli|gions; that this &s;ame Medley produces the &s;ame Effect as the Diver&s;ity of Flowers in a Garden, the difference of Meats at a Banquet, or the Di&s;tinction of Offices in a Princes Palace; for that in like manner God delights him&s;elf with in&s;piring into Mortals &s;everal manners of Adoring and Serving him; and that we ought to believe 'em all to be good, &s;ince they have all the &s;ame Object, and bring Man home to his la&s;t End. 'Tis al&s;o &s;aid, That the King of <HI>Siam</HI> made An&s;wer to the Per&s;on who propos'd to him, in the Name of an Amba&s;&s;ador from a Great Prince, his turn|ing Chri&s;tian, <HI>That he wonder'd, the Prince &s;hould &s;o much trouble him&s;elf in a bu&s;ine&s;s relating to God, for which it did not appear that God did any way
<PB N="15" REF="14">concern him&s;elf, as having left it wholly to our Di&s;|cretion. For,</HI> added he, <HI>the True God, who Created Heav'n and Earth and all the Creatures therein con|tain'd, and who has given 'em Natures and Inclina|tions &s;o different, had he &s;o pleas'd, at the &s;ame time, that he gave Men Bodies and Souls alike, could have infus'd into 'em the &s;ame &s;entiments of the Religion which they were to profe&s;s, and have &V;|nited all Nations under one Law. But,</HI> continued he, <HI>'tis obvious that Providence permits diver&s;ity of Sects and Opinions, becau&s;e that God takes as much delight to be ador'd with different Forms of Wor|&s;hip and Ceremonies, as to be glorifi'd by the Pro|digious Variety of Creatures, who&s;e &s;undry Beauties publi&s;h his Infinite Power.</HI></P>
<P>Now in regard, there are too too many among tho&s;e who call them&s;elves Chri&s;tians, who with Banners di&s;play'd, appear in defence of this Opi|nion, concerning the Indifferency of Religion, Our de&s;ign is to Combat 'em in the following Chapters. But fir&s;t of all it behoves us to ob|&s;erve, that they who are of this Opinion, do not all uphold it after one and the &s;ame manner. There are &s;ome who deny Providence; others who will not have it to be concern'd in Matters of Religion. There are &s;ome who a&s;&s;ert the Mortality of our Soul: Others aver, that to &s;peak properly, there is no &s;uch thing as <HI>True</HI> or <HI>Fal&s;e, Ju&s;t</HI> or <HI>&V;nju&s;t;</HI> but that every thing de|pends upon the Will of Man. There are &s;ome who believe, that Truth lies &s;till in Darkne&s;s, and that God has not reveal'd it; Others, that he has reveal'd it, but &s;o ob&s;curely, that there is no Here&s;ie which may not be prov'd by the
<PB N="16" REF="15">Word of God. Others maintain that Peace is to be preferr'd before Truth; and altogether cry up the great Good which would redound to the World from the Opinion of Indifferency in Reli|gion. Were but this Opinion every where re|ceiv'd, they &s;ay, there would be no more Wars about Religion, nor any more Contentions about My&s;teries of Faith. All Men would live toge|ther in perfect Unity, and this Lower World would be a Little Heaven. They extol the fir&s;t Author of this Opinion as one that never can be too Highly applauded, and erect Monuments and Statues to honour his Memory. All Men, they Cry, ought to give God continual Thanks for &s;ending &s;uch a Man into the World, and at the &s;ame time are &s;trangely troubl'd becau&s;e he was not Immortal. Let us now &s;ee whether this Opinion merits &s;o many Elogies, or rather, whe|ther it de&s;erve not publick Execration. And to the end, that none may have rea&s;on to complain, let us take all our <HI>Indifferents</HI> (for I beg the favour that I may have leave to call 'em &s;o) one after a|nother, and let us impartially examine what they hold forth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="17" REF="15">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. IV.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who deny a Providence.</HEAD>
<P>I Shall begin with tho&s;e, who, not daring to maintain that there is no God, yet pre|&s;ume to deny his Providence, and a&s;&s;ent with <HI>Epicurus,</HI> that the Supream Deity never concerns him&s;elf with what is acted upon Earth: That 'tis a thing beneath the Grandeur of a Sove|reign Being, to take cognizance of the Petty Af|fairs of Mortals here below; and &s;o 'tis very in|different to Him of what Religion they are.</P>
<P>True it is, that altho' the Love which it be|hoves us to have for Truth, &s;hould always oblige us to ty<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> our &s;elves up to the Belief of that Opi|nion which is mo&s;t conformable to our receiv'd <HI>Idea</HI>'s of God; neverthele&s;s it mu&s;t be acknow|ledg'd, that if there were no Providence, we might conclude it needle&s;s for Man to torment him&s;elf about Religion; and deem it lawful enough to make choice of that which be&s;t agrees with our Intere&s;ts, or with the Society with which we conver&s;e. But 'tis no difficult thing to refute this Opinion, which, with as good Rea|&s;on might be call'd, <HI>The Sponge of all Religions,</HI> as a Per&s;ian Author once &s;aid the &s;ame thing of the <HI>Fatality of the Stoicks.</HI> Nor &s;hall I make u&s;e of any more then two or three Arguments to overthrow it, without alledging any pa&s;&s;ages out of Scripture, becau&s;e I di&s;pute with People that will not acknowledge it to be Divinely in&s;pir'd.</P>
<PB N="18" REF="16">
<P>Fir&s;t, it mu&s;t be acknowledg'd, that they who deny a Providence, never &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider'd what God is. The <HI>Idea</HI> which we naturally have of God, in&s;tructs us, that he is the mo&s;t perfect of all Beings that exi&s;t, or may exi&s;t, as already has been &s;aid. Now can we believe, that a God, who &s;hould neglect his own Works, and &s;hould &s;hut him&s;elf up in Heaven, without taking any care of what he has created, can be a perfect Being, &s;eeing that among Men them&s;elves, tho&s;e per&s;ons have been always look'd upon with the Highe&s;t contempt who neglect their own Af|fairs. Fathers, for example, who never mind their own Children, and tho&s;e &s;lothful Princes, who like <HI>Sardanapalus,</HI> abandon the care of their Dominions, and leave their Subjects at liberty to do whatever &s;ees good in their own Eyes. How can &s;uch a &s;luggi&s;h Remi&s;sne&s;s, a Negli|gence &s;o unbecoming an imperfect Creature, be thought to be&s;eem the mo&s;t perfect of all Beings. At lea&s;t it cannot be deny'd, but that if God takes no care of his Creatures, there mu&s;t be a Being more perfect then he. But this is that which cannot be &s;aid of a God. <HI>Either me mu&s;t deny</HI> (&s;ays <HI>Cicero,</HI> I. Natur. Deor.) <HI>that there are Gods, or we mu&s;t confe&s;s, that they act &s;omething Great and Noble: Now there is nothing Greater or more Noble then the Conduct of the World. Were it otherwi&s;e, we &s;hould be forc'd to &s;ay, that there is &s;omething Better and more Perfect then the Deity.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, it is not to be imagin'd, that a mo&s;t Wife Being has created &s;o many Things which we admire, without propo&s;ing to him&s;elf &s;ome End or other. If he have made all the&s;e Things
<PB N="19" REF="16">to &s;ome End, can we believe that he takes no care to &s;ee whether he have attain'd his End or no, and whether his Creatures do what they ought to do. I know very well what <HI>Epicurus</HI> &s;aid, That it would be a defect in the Felicity of God, &s;hould he be troubl'd with the manage|ment of the World: But he was gro&s;ly mi&s;ta|ken, as having a Fal&s;e <HI>Idea</HI> of Felicity. For true Beatitude con&s;i&s;ts not in doing nothing, but in doing things both Great and Noble. A Being that is not perfect, cannot be happy in a high de|gree, more e&s;pecially, if you &s;peak of a Being Supreamly Wi&s;e. Now it cannot be imagin'd, that a Being, who neglects the looking after what he has taken plea&s;ure to create, can be a perfect Being. Therefore there-might be &s;ome ground for <HI>Epicurus</HI>'s Argument, if God might be thought to tire him&s;elf with Governing the World. But how can he be weary who does all things by the only Act of his Will, wherein his Almighty Hand, that ne'r was tir'd in building the va&s;t Structure, where all Beings are enclos'd, has not the lea&s;t &s;hare of Pains or Trouble.</P>
<P>But if they who deny Providence, never con|&s;ider what God is, neither did they ever con&s;i|der the nature of the Creatures. Certain it is, that as they were created out of nothing, they would infallibly return to nothing again, if the &s;ame hand that form'd 'em, did not &s;upport and pre&s;erve 'em; for becau&s;e they Exi&s;t at this In|&s;tant, it does not follow that they &s;hall Exi&s;t the next moment. 'Tis requi&s;ite then, that he who pre&s;erv'd 'em the fir&s;t moment, &s;hould pre&s;erve 'em &s;till; and this is &s;o much the more nece&s;&s;ary
<PB N="20" REF="17">for him to do, becau&s;e there are a thou&s;and Ac|cidents that might every hour de&s;troy 'em, were there not a Supream Being that pre&s;erves 'em. It is not the &s;ame thing with them, as with God, who&s;e E&s;&s;ence at the &s;ame time implies Exi&s;ten|cy: for we may think of the Being of Creatures, yet not &s;uppo&s;e that they Exi&s;t. Now if it be true, that the Creatures cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t without being &s;u&s;tain'd by the &s;ame Hand that made 'em, we mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity conclude from their &s;ub&s;i&s;t|ing, that there is a Providence.</P>
<P>We mu&s;t be farther confirm'd in this Opinion, if we con&s;ider the wonderful Order which is ob&s;erv'd in all parts of the Univer&s;e, that ne|ver alters, but has &s;ub&s;i&s;ted for &s;o many Ages in the mid&s;t of &s;o many Changes and Revolutions: The Harmony and Concord of &s;o many Crea|tures of different Natures; the Regular Moti|ons of tho&s;e Great Bodies, that roule Maje&s;ti|cally over our Heads: their Changes &s;o con&s;tant, their Conjunctions &s;o ju&s;t, their Revolutions &s;o well order'd, together with a thou&s;and things which are our continual wonder, yet, which we can never admire enough. For it is impo&s;&s;ible to revolve this Order in our Minds, without acknowledging a Providence, unle&s;s we de&s;ign'd to be as extravagant as He, who, ob&s;erving a State well Govern'd, a Family well manag'd, or an Army under good Conduct and Di&s;cipline, &s;hould deny that State or Kingdom to be Go|vern'd by any Magi&s;tracy, that the Family had any body to look after it, or that the Army had any General or Chieftain to Command it.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="17">
<P>They who deny a Providence extol them&s;elves in this Particular, very much, and make &s;ome Objections. If it were true, &s;ay they, that all things were well regulated, we &s;hould believe that God concern'd him&s;elf with what is acted here below; but we ob&s;erve &s;o many di&s;orders in the World, that we cannot per&s;uade our &s;elves that a Being altogether Wi&s;e and Omnipotent &s;hould govern the Univer&s;e. Nay, 'twould be much better, add they, to affirm, that he takes no heed of what happens upon Earth, then to a&s;|&s;ert that he beholds and &s;uffers &s;o much Confu|&s;ion. Whence comes it to pa&s;s that Thunder rat|tles in the De&s;arts, that Hail and Thunderbolts fall upon Rocks, and that it Rains upon the Sea? To what purpo&s;e &s;erve Flies, Worms, and other In&s;ects? Whence comes it to pa&s;s, that Moun|tains Vomit forth Fire and A&s;hes? Wherefore are we pe&s;ter'd with Mon&s;ters and Serpents? Were there a Providence, would it not hinder tho&s;e Inundations, tho&s;e Earthquakes that over|turn and &s;wallow-up whole Cities; tho&s;e Pe&s;ti|lences that lay wa&s;te whole Kingdoms, and tho&s;e Extraordinary Accidents that &s;eem to menace the Univer&s;e with utter Ruin? Or would that Pro|vidence permit the Oppre&s;&s;ion of Virtue, and the Triumphs of Vice and Impiety?</P>
<P>But fir&s;t I would fain know of tho&s;e who make the&s;e Objections, whether they are well a&s;&s;ur'd that what they call Di&s;order, be really Di&s;order, and what they &s;ay is badly Manag'd be truly the defect of Government? Did it never &s;o fall out that they deceiv'd them&s;elves, and have they not frequently blam'd the Conduct of Princes, while
<PB N="22" REF="18">they were ignorant of the Rea&s;ons, but admir'd it afterwards when they under&s;tood the Grounds of their Proceedings. What a Ra&s;hne&s;s is it in Mortal Men, who&s;e Under&s;tandings are confin'd within &s;uch Narrow Bounds, to determine &s;o po&s;itively of what they know not in the lea&s;t, and to believe there is Di&s;order in all things, of which they cannot reach the Cau&s;es? The Im|piety of tho&s;e People to me &s;eems no le&s;s Arro|gant then that of the K. of <HI>Ca&s;tille,</HI> who boa&s;ted that if God had call'd him to his Council, when he fram'd the World, he could have give him better Advice. We know no more, &s;ays one of the mo&s;t Celebrated Writers of this Age, the De|&s;igns of God in the Government of his Creatures, then an Infant, who having been bred up in a De&s;art, and all of a &s;udden brought into &s;ome great and Populous City, could be able to under&s;tand all the Changes that would happen, without Inter|mi&s;&s;ion, before his Eyes. He would many times blame what was by no means to be cen&s;ur'd, be|cau&s;e he could not under&s;tand the Rea&s;on of tho&s;e Alterations.</P>
<P>The Cau&s;e why they &s;o badly argue proceeds from this, that they con&s;ider tho&s;e things which appear to them &s;o ill manag'd, di&s;t junctively from the other Works of God, and for that they do not reflect with &s;ufficient Attention upon the Cor|re&s;pondency between tho&s;e things, and others which they know. Wherein they are no le&s;s ri|diculous then they, who content them&s;elves with only &s;eeing &s;ome Scenes of a Dramatic Poem, but never examine the Coherence and Unfolding, or rather Winding up of the Whole; or they
<PB N="23" REF="18">who in Pictures only fix their Eyes upon the Sha|dows; or&eacute;l&s;e like tho&s;e, who in a piece of Tapi&s;try work, look only upon the loo&s;e Bordering, which for the mo&s;t part pre&s;ents the Sight with only mon&s;trous and imperfect Figures.</P>
<P>In the Second place, I could wi&s;h, that they who find &s;o many di&s;orders, and &s;o much con|fu&s;ion upon the Earth, would tell me, Whether they meet with nothing that is rightly order'd? and, Whether they never ob&s;erv'd any characters of Wi&s;dom in the Conduct of the World? They would not pre&s;ume to aver it. Let 'em then tell me, by what means all tho&s;e things which appear to Them to be in decent Order, come to be &s;o wi&s;ely manag'd? Certainly they mu&s;t, at lea&s;t in that re&s;pect, acknowledge that there is a Providence; and as to other Things, they ought to have as much Equity, as a Man of good Sen&s;e, when he judges of a Book, that Treats of vari|ous Subjects, and which is written in &s;everal Lan|guages, of which he under&s;tands but one part. If that which he under&s;tands plea&s;es him, he ima|gins to him&s;elf, that what he under&s;tands not will be no le&s;s &s;atisfactory to him, could he but dive into the &s;ence of it. God would not con|ceal from Men, all the Ends for which he made all things: But &s;ome he has not unveil'd, on purpo&s;e to exerci&s;e and humble their Rea|&s;on, and that they might adore the Impene|trable depths of his Wi&s;dom. We ought to extol him, &s;ays <HI>St. Au&s;tin,</HI> as well for what we know to be wonderful in his Works, as for what we cannot penetrate. For that our Life
<PB N="24" REF="19">being of &s;o &s;hort continuance, and we our &s;elves confin'd within &s;o &s;mall a part of Time, and of the Univer&s;e; 'tis impo&s;&s;ible that we &s;hould com|prehend the Order and De&s;igns of that Eternal Wi&s;dom, that views the va&s;t immen&s;ity of Time with one &s;ingle Glance, and with linking toge|ther that infinite variety of the Events of this Life, like to many Rings cla&s;p'd one within an|other, forms that long Chain of his Providence, that &s;hall extend it &s;elf to the farthe&s;t &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of all Ages.</P>
<P>After the&s;e General Remarks, let us enter in|to the examination of the&s;e di&s;orders which they &s;peak of. They wonder, in the fir&s;t place, why Thunder rattles in uninhabited De&s;arts, that Hail falls upon Rocks; and why Lightning le|vels with the Ground high and large Trees: not minding that the&s;e are but the Con&s;equences of the Laws which God has e&s;tabli&s;h'd. I am as much to &s;eek wherefore they do not likewi&s;e complain that the Sun &s;hines upon, and warms tho&s;e De&s;arts, becau&s;e the Heat of the Sun ex|hales the Vapours and Exhalations which thick'n into tho&s;e Clouds that generate both Tempe&s;ts and Lightning. They wonder why the Rain which &s;erves to fertilize the Earth, falls not more regularly upon only Lands Manur'd, and not upon Highway's; or upon the Sea, which have no need of it. But do they think that Rain has no other Effects, then only to render the Earth fruitful. Do they not know, that the High|ways would crack and gape through Drouth, were they not moi&s;ten'd by the Rain? And that it is a great Refre&s;hment to tho&s;e that Travel in
<PB N="25" REF="19">hot Countries. <HI>Should it only Rain upon &s;own Lands,</HI> &s;ays that famous Author already cited. <HI>whence &s;hould proceed the Springs that are &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to quench our own, and the Thir&s;t of all Creatures; and how &s;hould the Rivers retain that abundance of water which renders 'em Navigable? It Rains upon the Sea: Who &s;ays that Rain is there unprofitable to temper the &s;altne&s;s of it, and to make it more whol|&s;ome for the nouri&s;hment of the Fi&s;h.</HI></P>
<P>They wonder that there &s;hould be Mountains cover'd with Snow, and others that vomit forth Fire, that there &s;hould be De&s;arts and &s;teep Rocks. Not con&s;idering that their variety of Objects it is, which makes the Beauty of the Uni|ver&s;e, and that God manife&s;ts his Wi&s;dom more in that Diver&s;ity, then in a Uniformity, th&ocirc; grateful to the &s;ight, yet &s;till the &s;ame.</P>
<P>They wonder why there &s;hould be In&s;ects, as if we could &s;ufficiently admire the Wi&s;dom of God in tho&s;e little Animals; for example, in the little Republick of the Bees, which employ'd the Brains of an Ancient Philo&s;opher, for above Three&s;core years; and which at this day finds work enough for tho&s;e that dive into the &s;ecrets of Nature. Should we as diligently enquire into the U&s;e of the&s;e little In&s;ects, as into the Benefit of Simples, we &s;hould doubtle&s;s di&s;cover very profitable Secrets, I will not except the very Flies and Gnats, which are &s;aid to be u&s;eful to purifie the Air, in places where there are the greate&s;t number of 'em, and where they are mo&s;t trouble&s;ome, and give the greate&s;t annoyance.</P>
<P>They admire there &s;hould be poi&s;onous Ser|pents, and other venemous Bea&s;ts, but never con|&s;ider
<PB N="26" REF="20">that there are many excellent Remedies extracted out of Serpents; and that Sovereign Antidotes are frequently made of compounded Poi&s;ons that &s;erve to ea&s;e the Pains of Men; and that in general, all the&s;e things which he be|lieves to be either &s;uperfluous or hurtful, would afford us matter of Admiration, if we con&s;ider'd 'em as we ought to do, and if we &s;hould find that in the General harmony of the Creatures, they produce the &s;ame Effect as Ba&s;es and Treb|bles in a lovely Con&s;ort.</P>
<P>As for Mon&s;ters, mo&s;t certain it is, that tho&s;e petty Mi&s;carriages and Deviations of Nature ought not to le&s;&s;en the e&s;teem, which it becomes us to have for Nature's Author: for that the&s;e Mon&s;ters no way render the World imperfect. On the contrary, this variety of Creatures, of which &s;ome are more perfect then others, con|tribute not a little to the Beauty of the Uni|ver&s;e. Mon&s;trous Animals are le&s;s perfect then others of their kind, who&s;e Proportions are more ju&s;t: but there are a thou&s;and things which are to be admir'd in the &s;tructure of deformed Bo|dies, which could only be the Handy-work of an Infinite Power. 'Tis with Mon&s;ters as with Di&s;cords in Mu&s;ick, where oft-times a Di&s;cord artfully intermixed with &s;everal Concords, makes the &s;weete&s;t Harmony. Be&s;ides, the&s;e Mon&s;ters are the Con&s;equences of that Commu|nication, which is between the Imagination of the Mother, and the Fruits in her Womb; which Communication was mo&s;t wi&s;ely e&s;tabli&s;h'd for the forming of the Infant. True it is, that God might have prevented this Communication from
<PB N="27" REF="20">cau&s;ing any di&s;order; but why may we not &s;ay as well, that it was the plea&s;ure of God to or|der it &s;o &s;ometimes for the puni&s;hment of Men? Sometimes to &s;et a greater value upon the Beau|ty of his other Works; Sometimes for other Rea&s;ons which are in Truth, unknown to us; which neverthele&s;s we ought not to find fault with, in regard, that of all tho&s;e things that fall within our Knowledge, there is not any one that does not afford us ample occa&s;ion to ac|knowledge the infinite Wi&s;dom of their Crea|tor.</P>
<P>They wonder that there &s;hould be Inundati|ons, Earthquakes, Subterraneal Conflagrations, and other Accidents which &s;eem to threaten the World with utter Ruin. But &s;o far it is, that they from hence can prove there is not a Provi|dence, that it is rather a proof of the contrary. For I be&s;eech ye, were there not a Providence, how is it po&s;&s;ible that the World &s;hould &s;ub&s;i&s;t in the mid&s;t of &s;uch violent Concu&s;&s;ions, or that it &s;hould have held out &s;o long time? A Ship abandon'd to the Mercy of the Winds, without either Helm or Pilot can never run a &s;teady cour&s;e, without da&s;hing again&s;t the Rocks, or be|ing &s;wallow'd up by the Waves.</P>
<P>Whence comes it then, that the&s;e &s;ubterraneal Fires, the&s;e Earthquakes, and the&s;e Inundations cau&s;e not that univer&s;al Havock which they might do? By what unexpected Power are the Effects of the&s;e dreadful Accidents, &s;u&s;pended or limited? Who is it that corrects the di&s;tempers of a corrupted Air? What Virtue purifies whole Cities and Regions infected with the Pe&s;tilence?
<PB N="28" REF="21">Certainly he mu&s;t be very blind, who &s;ees not that 'tis the &s;ame hand which made the Univer&s;e that pre&s;erves it; and that after God has made u&s;e of the&s;e Unundations, the&s;e Fires and Earth|quakes for tho&s;e ends, which to us are for the mo&s;t part unknown, he &s;tops 'em from going any farther, and de&s;troying the va&s;t Machine of the World.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, they are a&s;toni&s;h'd, that Good Men &s;hould be &s;o often oppre&s;t, and that the wick|ed &s;hould Triumph; That Impiety and Vice &s;hould Reign predominant, and that Innocence and Virtue &s;hould be overwhelmed. This is one of their great Objections, that has &s;o much per|plex'd the Wi&s;e in all Ages. <HI>Claudian</HI> confe&s;&s;es ingenuou&s;ly, <HI>That he que&s;tions whether the World be Governed by a Wi&s;e, Intelligent Providence, or by Blind Fortune, beholding Virtue under Oppre&s;&s;i|on; and</HI> Rufinus <HI>the mo&s;t famous Criminal of his Age, flouri&s;hing in High Advancement.</HI> And it is reported of a certain Philo&s;opher, that he be|came an Athei&s;t, becau&s;e he ob&s;erv'd, that God did not inflict immediate Puni&s;hment upon a per|jur'd Per&s;on. And the Wi&s;e <HI>Cato,</HI> unfortunate in fighting for the Liberty of his Country, could not forbear &s;aying, <HI>That there was a great Incer|tainty in the Government of the Gods.</HI> To which I may add what is related of <HI>Domocritus, That he put out his I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">yes with the Reverberation of a Glittering Buckler, becau&s;e he would not behold the Pro&s;perity of the Wicked.</HI> Th&ocirc; I mu&s;t confe&s;s, that this la&s;t Story &s;eems to me very improba|ble. For what likely hood is there that <HI>Do|mocritus,</HI> who only made it his Bu&s;ine&s;s to ri|dicule
<PB N="29" REF="21">all the World, &s;hould be troubl'd at the Pro&s;perity of the Ungodly?</P>
<P>Now, tho' this Objection &s;eems very plau&s;i|ble, neverthele&s;s it is very ea&s;ily an&s;wered. Fir&s;t it is not always true, that Virtue is oppre&s;s'd, and Vice recompenc'd. Good Men are not al|was Afflicted, and the Wicked are frequently puni&s;h'd; No Man will pre&s;ume to deny it. Nor are there any Ages or Years that do not furni&s;h us with Examples. Thus the &s;ame <HI>Clan|dian,</HI> who was offended at the Pro&s;perity of <HI>Ru|finus,</HI> &s;ays, That the Puni&s;hment which he re|ceiv'd, ab&s;olv'd the Gods, <HI>Ab&s;tulit hunc tandem Rufini Paena Tumultum, Ab&s;olvit&abque; Deos.</HI> In the Second Place, People who are not &s;o, are many times thought to be Virtuous and Good People, becau&s;e they carry a fair Out&s;ide of Probity and Piety. 'Tis needle&s;s to produce any Proofs of it; 'tis agreed upon by all the World; there is no Per&s;on that has not been frequently deceiv'd; and there are an Infinite number who deceive them&s;elves.</P>
<P>But to unfold this difficulty more clearly, I a&s;&s;ert, that they mo&s;t gro&s;ly deceive them&s;elves, when they imagine the Wicked to be happy, be|cau&s;e they appear to be &s;o; becau&s;e they are Rich; becau&s;e they are advanced to va&s;t prefer|ments, and wallow in plea&s;ure and delights. How many are there that &s;eem to enjoy a Per|fect Felicity, who are really mo&s;t unfortunate, and tormented with bitter Pangs of an accu&s;ing Con&s;cience? How many wealthy People are there, who&s;e Condition is much more &s;ad then that of the mo&s;t Mi&s;erable Wretches? How ma|ny
<PB N="30" REF="22">great Men are there, who in their Elevated Stations enjoy no re&s;t or quiet Day or Night? I need no other Te&s;timony then <HI>Tiberius,</HI> who could not forbear declaring to the Roman Senate, that every Day he dy'd a Cruel Death. <HI>Could you but look into the In&s;ides of tho&s;e that you e&s;teem Happy and Rich,</HI> &s;aid <HI>Seneca, you would find 'em to be Mi&s;erable, to be Poor, to be Infamous, and that they re&s;emble tho&s;e Walls which are only Painted without &s;ide. Such a Felicity is no &s;olid and true Felicity; 'tis only an Image and &s;light Appearance of it. For which rea&s;on it is, that while they can &s;tand upon their Legs, and make a vain Bravado of Grandeur, they appear what they are not, and make People believe 'em happy. But if any accident befals 'em, that puts 'em out of Order, and di&s;covers 'em, then you come to &s;ee the Filth and Infamy that bor|row'd Splendour conceals.</HI> And the Famous Hi&s;to|rian <HI>Tacitus,</HI> &s;peaking of Tyrants, <HI>could we but &s;ee their Souls laid open,</HI> &s;ays He, <HI>we &s;hould behold 'em torn and mangl'd by their own Crimes, like the Bodies of Criminals cut with the La&s;hes of the Whip.</HI> We mu&s;t not wonder then to &s;ee the Wicked Potent and Rich, in Grandeur and Reputation; &s;o far from thence concluding that there is no Providence, that we have no rea&s;on to envy their Felicity.</P>
<P>I confe&s;s however, that there would be &s;ome rea&s;on to be a&s;toni&s;h'd at their appearing Pro&s;pe|rity, were there no other Life but this, and that we were not then to come to Judgment. But before we blame the Conduct of the Almigh|ty, or before we deny a Providence, we ought to be a&s;&s;ur'd there is no other Life to be expected
<PB N="31" REF="22">after this, and that God will never puni&s;h tho&s;e whom he now &s;upports. Now I know not, whe|ther there be any one to be met with who will pre&s;ume to a&s;&s;ert, that he is clearly convinced, that there is nothing to be thought of after this Life, that there is nothing to be hop'd or fear'd after Death, tho' there are &s;everal who endea|vour to per&s;uade them&s;elves, that it is certainly true, with whom we &s;hall enter the Li&s;ts in the &s;equel of our Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>The Second Reflection is, That 'tis an Error to believe good Men Unhappy becau&s;e they are afflicted; &s;eeing that Afflictions are &s;o u&s;eful to tho&s;e that are expos'd to 'em, whereby to make 'em &s;en&s;ible of the Emptine&s;s of this World, and the Vanities of it; to wean 'em from this Earth, and make 'em think of a better Life; to tame their Pride; to reduce 'em from their Deviations and Wandrings, and bring 'em back to their Duty. The&s;e are the Benefits of Misfor-fortune, of which it would be ea&s;ie to convince the mo&s;t ob&s;tinate.</P>
<P>Now for a Man to be convinc'd, that Afflicti|ons do not render the Sufferers unhappy, he needs no more, but to con&s;ider the Tranquility of mind which Good Men enjoy when they are mo&s;t Afflicted. One would think &s;ometimes that he &s;uffers in the Body of another per&s;on, or that he is In&s;en&s;ible; or if it happen that through the Violence of his Pain, he di&s;covers &s;ome Motions of Impatience, and lets fall &s;ome Murmurings, he recovers him&s;elf pre&s;ently again. You &s;hall &s;ee Serenene&s;s and Joy re&s;eated in his Countenence: You &s;hall hear him ble&s;s God for Cha&s;tizing him
<PB N="32" REF="23">&s;o much Lenity; He acknowledges the Benefit of his Afflictions, and that he &s;tood in need of &s;uch Paternal Correction.</P>
<P>If they, again&s;t whom I di&s;pute, did but ac|knowledge the Divinity of the Scriptures, I could draw from thence an Infinite number of Proofs again&s;t 'em; but I &s;hall content my &s;elf with &s;ending 'em to the School of a Pagan, I mean <HI>Seneca,</HI> who has Compos'd a Treati&s;e upon this Subject <HI>Why &s;o many Calamities befall good Men?</HI> And thus he argues;</P>
<P><Q>When you &s;ee Good Men, and &s;uch as are acceptable to the Gods, in Pain, in Trouble, in Adver&s;ity, Travelling through a difficult and Rugged Road; but on the contrary, behold the Wicked in Joy, in Plenty, in Plea&s;ure, take notice that we are pleas'd with the Mode&s;ty of our Children, and the Liberty of our Servants, that we keep the fir&s;t under &s;evere Di&s;cipline and that we &s;ometimes bear with the boldne&s;s of the other. You ought to be|lieve the &s;ame thing of the Gods. They do not nurture Good Men in Plea&s;ures and De|lights; they try 'em, they harden 'em, they Train 'em up and In&s;truct 'em like Soldiers which they intend to li&s;t under their Banners.</Q></P>
<P>And becau&s;e it might be objected again&s;t him, <Q>Is it then advantageous to be Bani&s;h'd, to be reduc'd to Poverty, to behold the Death of Children, and a dearly beloved Wife, to be branded with Infamy, to &s;ee a Man's &s;elf be|reft of every thing;</Q> He an&s;wers; <Q>"If you wonder that this &s;hould be advantageous to any Body, you may as well admire that &s;ome
<PB N="33" REF="23">People are Cur'd by Cutting and Burning, and that Hunger and Drouth are made u&s;e of to the &s;ame Effect: But if you con&s;ider with your &s;elf, that &s;ometimes for Healths-&s;ake the Sur|geon is forced to rifle the Veins, to &s;crape and pluck away the Bones, and cut off Members which el&s;e would endanger the whole Body: You may as well permit us to tell ye, that there are Calamities no le&s;s advantageous to tho&s;e that endure 'em.</Q></P>
<P>But &s;ome will &s;ay, if there be a Providence, how comes it to pa&s;s that Sin is permitted? This is very near the &s;ame Argument, which a Pagan Philo&s;opher made u&s;e of, <HI>If there be a God,</HI> &s;aid He, <HI>whence proceeds Evil?</HI> But he as &s;ud|denly recollects him&s;elf, <HI>If there be no God whence proceeds Good?</HI> This Difficulty gave the Mani|chaeans an Occa&s;ion to &s;et up two Principles, the one of Good, the other of Evil; and <HI>Manes</HI> borrow'd this Opinion from the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> who at|tribute all their Ble&s;&s;ings to their God <HI>Oroma&s;des,</HI> and all their Evils to <HI>Arimanius;</HI> as the Egypti|ans made <HI>Typhon</HI> the Author of all their Calami|ties, while they look'd upon <HI>I&s;is</HI> and <HI>O&s;iris</HI> as the two Deities from which they received all their Kindne&s;&s;es. I confe&s;s, we know not the Rea&s;on why God permits Sin; yet all that can be in|ferr'd from thence, is only this, that &s;till we know not the De&s;igns of God; but this Igno|rance ought not to make us deny a Truth which we may clearly apprehend, and which is groun|ded upon the &s;ame Idea that we have of a mo&s;t perfect Being. This is merely want of the force of Wit, and to abandon Evident Truths, for
<PB N="34" REF="24">&s;ome Objections that are made us, which we cannot re&s;olve, tho' the &s;ame Objections have no other Ground, then the Ignorance and Weakne&s;s of Human Under&s;tanding: So that tho&s;e Peo|ple, who are call'd &s;oaring <HI>Wits,</HI> are indeed but pettie Wits, that have more of Pride in 'em then of Senfe and Rea&s;on,</P>
<P>What! mu&s;t we pre&s;ently deny a Providence, becau&s;e we are Ignorant of the Conduct of it? If there be a Providence, they Cry, there would be no Di&s;order; but if there be no Providence, there would be no Confu&s;ion. Certainly, altho' we could never yet di&s;cover, why God was pleas'd to permit Sin to enter into the World, yet we ought to believe that he has done it for Rea&s;ons becoming almo&s;t perfect Being. More e&s;pecially &s;ince Sin has given us an Opportunity to di&s;cover all the Properties of God, his Ju&s;tice, his Holine&s;s, his Mercy, his Power, his Wi&s;dom, not to &s;peak of the Admirable Work of our Re|demption, wherein all the Virtues of a Deity have appeared with &s;o much Lu&s;tre; but which God had never thought of, had there been no Sin.</P>
<P>Certain it is then, that there is a Providence; and this is that which it behov'd us to prove a|gain&s;t the fir&s;t Order of our <HI>Indifferent Men.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="35" REF="24">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. V.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who believe, that Providence does not concern it &s;elf in Affairs of Religion.</HEAD>
<P>THere are &s;ome who dare not ab&s;olutely deny that there is a Providence; but they believe that it only concerns it &s;elf in things of Highe&s;t Importance, as Kingdoms, Empires, or Republicks, but never examines what Belief the Inhabitants of the World profe&s;s, as if it were indifferent to it what Men profe&s;s'd.</P>
<P>'Twill be no difficult thing to refute this Opi|nion. For fir&s;t, 'tis an Error to believe that Providence has not the &s;ame &s;hare in the Govern|ment of Little as of Great Affairs. For why &s;hould we not believe, that God both Manages and Governs all that he pre&s;erves, and whatever he has made? Is it becau&s;e it is beneath a God to take care of the &s;malle&s;t In&s;ects? But why &s;hould that be &s;o, when he has been pleas'd to produce 'em out of Nothing? Have we not ra|ther rea&s;on to admire a Sovereign Being, who having all Creatures within the Extent of his Empire, cau&s;es 'em to &s;ub&s;i&s;t by his Word, and &s;u&s;tains 'em by his Power? Think they that God would deba&s;e him&s;elf too much in doing it? But if the Sun &s;hines upon the mo&s;t Contemptible Dunghils, yet cannot be &s;aid to di&s;grace him&s;elf, why will they not admit that God &s;hould act upon the meane&s;t of his Creatures, without any diminution of his Grandeur and Maje&s;ty.</P>
<PB N="36" REF="25">
<P>But they will &s;ay, That 'tis impo&s;&s;ible that God &s;hould manage and govern all things; as if they could be ignorant that the Knowledge and Power of God are Infinite, and that if it be his will alone, there needs no more for him to do in the Ruling and Ordering of all things. And therefore, the Rea&s;on why our Indifferents argue &s;o ill is this, becau&s;e they have no other Idea of God then of a Man, who&s;e illuminations are nar|rowly confin'd, who&s;e &s;trength is but very &s;mall, and who not being able to bu&s;ie him&s;elf every where, is con&s;train'd to employ him&s;elf upon a certain Number of Objects.</P>
<P>Moreover, they imagine, that becau&s;e we de|&s;pi&s;e all tho&s;e little things that are of no u&s;e to us, 'tis the &s;ame thing with God; never con&s;ide|ring, that if God took no care but only of tho&s;e Creatures that are u&s;eful to him, or of tho&s;e on|ly that bear &s;ome Proportion with him, all the Creatures, ev'n tho&s;e only which we mo&s;t e&s;teem, not being able to add to or dimini&s;h any thing from his Glory and Felicity; and being all infi|nitely below him, he might equally di&s;dain and neglect 'em all together.</P>
<P>But not to enter any farther into the Di&s;cu&s;|&s;ion of this Que&s;tion, mu&s;t not they be willing|ly blind, who dare pre&s;ume to number what concerns the Wor&s;hip which is due to the Deity, among things of little Importance? Is there any one which is of greater Moment, then that which has a regard to the Sovereign Being, which all Men ought to adore? And is it likely that God &s;hould Rule and Govern Monarchies and Repub|licks, and leave Men at their Liberty to &s;erve
<PB N="37" REF="25">him according to their Fancies? As if it were a thing Indifferent to Him, to be ador'd, for Ex|ample, under the &s;hape of the mo&s;t Vile and worthle&s;s Animals, as the Pagans painted &s;ome of their Gods. Is it po&s;&s;ible that Men can have &s;uch extravagant thoughts of the mo&s;t perfect of all Beings? Where is that King &s;o Negligent as to permit his Subjects the Liberty to act accor|ding to their own humours in his Affairs, in his Armies, in his Exchequer, and leaves it to their Di&s;cretion to Obey and Serve him as their Ca|pricio's lead 'em? How then can they who boa&s;t their Wit pre&s;ume to &s;ay of God, the Wi&s;e&s;t of all Beings, what no Man would adventure to &s;ay of a Per&s;on meerly Mortal?</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, were it true, that God took no care of things that concern Religion, whence comes it to pa&s;s, that they who are of this Opinion pay &s;ome certain Homage to the Deity? Wherefore do they &s;ometimes pray to him, &s;ince God takes no notice of what they do, and con&s;equently never troubles him&s;elf about their neglect of his Wor&s;hip? Their Actions ill agree with their Be|lief, and cau&s;e tho&s;e that &s;ee 'em to believe that they are of another Opinion. Therefore it was a good &s;aying of one <HI>Diocles,</HI> who e&s;pying <HI>Epicu|rus</HI> in the Temple, cry'd out, <HI>What a Fea&s;t, what a Spectacle is this for me, to &s;ee</HI> Epicurus <HI>in the Temple? All my Su&s;picions are Vani&s;h'd, Piety re|a&s;&s;umes her Seat, and I never more clearly beheld the Grandeur of</HI> Jupiter, <HI>then now, that I &s;ee</HI> Epicurus <HI>upon his Knees.</HI> Certainly, if this Opinion, which we have refuted were true, there would be ne|ver any more need of paying Wor&s;hip to a Dei|ty.
<PB N="38" REF="26">'Twas true, that <HI>Epicurus</HI> confe&s;s'd, that the Excellency of Divine Nature de&s;erv'd of it &s;elf, that &s;ome Honour &s;hould be given to Her, tho' &s;he concern'd her &s;elf no more with the World, then if there were no &s;hare of her in it, and tho' there were nothing to be expected by it from Her. But he only &s;poke thus in conformity to the Common Sentiments. For, in &s;hort, the God of that Phylo&s;opher, according to his Sy&s;tem, was a Piece apart from the Workman&s;hip, which a Man might well &s;uppo&s;e not to belong to it, and yet no change befall it. Otherwi&s;e it is cer|tain, that if he had acted and &s;poken conforma|bly to his Real Opinions, he would have &s;aid in plain Terms, that Piety was a fruitle&s;s thing, and he would never have perform'd any act of Re|ligion. <HI>Cicero</HI> therefore rightly under&s;tood him, <HI>l.</HI> 1. <HI>de Nat. Deor. There are &s;ome People,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>and have been, before now, who believe that the Gods never meddle with human Affairs. But if that Opinion be true, what will become of Piety?</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. VI.</HI> Of the Immortality of the Soul.</HEAD>
<P>I Come to tho&s;e who never much torment them&s;elves, whither there be any Providence or no, becau&s;e they hold the Soul to be Mortal, that it peri&s;hes with the Body, or at lea&s;t, that there is no farther fear of any thing after this Life; that there will be no Judgment; that all that has been &s;aid of Paradi&s;e and Hell
<PB N="39" REF="26">are meer Fables, &s;uch as the Pagan feign'd of their <HI>Eli&s;ian</HI> Fields, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And therefore that all Religions ought to be indifferent to Us; &s;ince we &s;hall be never the more Happy, nor the more Unfortunate, whatever Religion we Em|brace.</P>
<P>'Tis a wonderful thing, that there &s;hould be found among Chri&s;tians, Men that dare deny what the Heathens have acknowledg'd, and what the mo&s;t Barbarous of Nations acknowledge to this Day, as we are given to under&s;tand by ma|ny Relations. And this to &s;uch a degree, that far from believing that the Soul peri&s;hes, they have rather cho&s;en to hold, &s;ome of 'em, that the Soul was from all Eternity. Others, that when the Soul took leave of one Body it tran&s;|migrated into another, or el&s;e was re-united to God; or that it was transform'd into &s;ome Angel or Devil; or that it intermix'd it &s;elf with the Elements. And this Opinion of the Soul's being Immortal, infu&s;ed that Courage and Undauntedne&s;s into 'em, which they made ap|pear in Fight, as <HI>Bartholinus</HI> ob&s;erves of the <HI>Danes,</HI> in his Book of the Antiquity of <HI>Denmark.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis a thing &s;o much the more &s;urprizing, be|cau&s;e there are an Infinite Number of Rea&s;ons that convince us of the Immortality of the Soul. I might prove it by the ardent De&s;ires of Immor|tality, and by that Idea which we naturally have of a future Life; an Idea which nothing can Era|dicate: So that there is no per&s;on who indepent|ly from all Con&s;ideration, and from all Educa|tion, but either fears or hopes &s;omething, accor|ding as he has either led a Virtuous or Vicious
<PB N="40" REF="27">Life, when he ponders upon that &s;ame dark&s;om and gloomy Futurity, wherein the Pre&s;ent Life &s;ets from our Eyes. But to make out this Truth as clear as day, I argue thus. If the Soul dy'd, &s;uch a Death would happen, either becau&s;e the parts of it would come to &s;eparate, or becau&s;e it would de&s;troy it &s;elf; or becau&s;e &s;ome other created Sub&s;tance would de&s;troy it, or becau&s;e that God him&s;elf would annihilate it. There can be conceiv'd no other Cau&s;es of the Soul's dying. But it is certain, that there can nothing like this be &s;aid of our Soul.</P>
<P N="1">1. It cannot be &s;aid, that the Parts of the Soul &s;eparate from one another; becau&s;e the Soul has no parts. It is a Spirit. And he mu&s;t be blind that dares deny it, and a&s;&s;ert, that the Soul is no more then Matter, then Wind, or a Vapour, then a Certain Agitation of &s;ubtil Spirits intermix'd with the Blood. It is impo&s;&s;ible to conceive, that a Soul which knows it &s;elf, and all other Beings that &s;urround it, that reaches &s;ublime Truths, that knows an Invi&s;ible God, that re|flects with it &s;elf upon its own thoughts, that mea&s;ures the Stars, the Earlh, and Seas, that cor|rects our Sen&s;es and Imagination; that pene|trates into Futurity, and di&s;covers the deepe&s;t Secrets, &s;hould be nothing but anagitated Mat|ter; becau&s;e that nothing is more incomprehen|&s;ible then a Body that thinks, that rea&s;ons, that deliberates and reflects upon it &s;elf. Which way &s;oever the Parts of a Body are chang'd, it can never be brought to that pa&s;s by tho&s;e various Changes or Rangings, that if it knew not it &s;elf before, it &s;hould ever come to know it &s;elf; nor
<PB N="41" REF="27">could it ever be made capable of having one &s;in|gle thought. With all the Efforts of our Wit, we can never comprehend what <HI>Epicurus</HI> &s;aid, That our Rea&s;onings and our Idea's are no more then the Agitation of certain Little Bodies, and that the Circular Motion of an Atome, may be the Va&s;t and Immen&s;e Idea of Infinity. It is al&s;o as ab&s;urd to &s;ay that a Body knows, as to &s;ay that a thought is Red or Green; that the Act of ar|guing is Hot or Cold, or that a Metaphi&s;ical Spe|culation is round or &s;quare. 'Tis clear then, that the Soul is not Material, and that by Con|&s;equence it has no parts; and therefore it cannot dye. No Sickne&s;s can de&s;troy it, becau&s;e it has no blood, nor humour that can feed it. Nei|ther Sword, nor Fire can kill it, becau&s;e it has no parts that Iron can divide, or Fire con&s;ume.</P>
<P N="2">2. Neither can the Soul be &s;aid to de&s;troy it &s;elf; for Right Rea&s;on teaches us, that nothing tends of it &s;elf to its own De&s;truction and Ruin; that every Being is de&s;irous of it &s;elf to remain in the &s;ame Condition wherein it is; and that every Change that happens to any &s;ubject pro|ceeds from an Exterior Cau&s;e; be&s;ides, that it can never be conceiv'd how a Soul &s;hould de&s;troy it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="3">3. It cannot be &s;aid, that the Soul can be de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">troy'd by other Created Sub&s;tances; becau&s;e we ought not to a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves of what we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">annot conceive, unle&s;s God reveals it to us Now it is impo&s;&s;ible to comprehend that a Crea|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ed and finite Sub&s;tance, can de&s;troy a Spiritual Nature; nor do we know it to be otherwi&s;e by Revelation.</P>
<PB N="42" REF="28">
<P N="4">4. It cannot be &s;aid, that God de&s;troys and annihilates our Souls. For be&s;ides that the An|nihilation of a Being, is one of tho&s;e things of which there is not any example in Nature; we have no Revelation that God de&s;igns the Anni|hilation of Souls. On the contrary, if they with whom we contend, would acknowledge the Di|vinity of Scripture, it would be ea&s;ie for me to produce 'em proofs, which invincibly make out this immortality which we a&s;&s;ert.</P>
<P>This Fir&s;t Argument may be &s;upported by a Second, which is this, That if the Soul be not immortal, and that there be no other Life after this, we mu&s;t then conclude, that it was only given to Man to render him more mi&s;erable then the Bea&s;ts, and to be a torment to him. For if Man had not a Rational Soul, the Re|membrance of what is pa&s;s'd, the Con&s;ideration of the Pre&s;ent, and the Apprehen&s;ion of Futurity would never afflict his Mind; but he would be like the Bea&s;ts, which if we may believe the new Philo&s;ophers, feel no pain, or, if they do feel any, 'tis only a pre&s;ent pain. If then the Soul be not immortal, it would have been better that God had made us walking Machines, then to give us a Soul only to make us Suffer.</P>
<P>'Tis &s;aid, that Man being &s;o like to Bea&s;ts, all dies with him, as it is with other Crea|tures. But this Objection is unworthy a Ratio|nal Man. 'Tis true, that there is &s;ome Confor|mity between a Man and a Bea&s;t. A Man is Born and is &s;ubject to Death; he pre&s;erves his Life by nouri&s;hment, and his Kind by Generati|on, and he is &s;ubject to the irregularities of Hu|mors.
<PB N="43" REF="28">All this is common with the Bea&s;ts. I confe&s;s likewi&s;e that there is a Conformity which is di&s;graceful to Man; and this is that which con&s;i&s;ts in the di&s;orders of the Body and Sences, and the Predominancy of the Pa&s;&s;ions. 'Tis a &s;hame to Man, that his Pa&s;&s;ions over-rule him, where Rea&s;on ought to Command, and that he is not the Ma&s;ter of his own Body, nor of all the Motions of it. Neverthele&s;s, all that can be concluded from hence, is, that Man is Mor|tal, &s;o far as he has any thing of Conformity with Bea&s;ts. But we mu&s;t renounce our Rea&s;on, if we deny that Man has not an infinite number of things that exalt him above Brutes; and in that re&s;pect it is, that Man is Immortal.</P>
<P>Alth&ocirc; they who believe the Soul to be Mor|tal, laugh at the Revelation, yet there are &s;ome who make u&s;e of a Pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes,</HI> to con|firm their Opinion. 'Tis in the <HI>Chap.</HI> 13.19, 20, 21. <HI>The &s;ame thing befalls both Man and Bea&s;ts, the death of the One is like the death of the other, both the one and the other breathe the &s;ame Breath, and Man has no advantage above a Bea&s;t; for all is vanity; All goes the &s;ame way; All was du&s;t and to du&s;t they &s;hall return. Who knows whether the breath of Man mounts upward, or whether the breath of a Bea&s;t de&s;cends downward.</HI></P>
<P>But if the&s;e People who borrow the Autho|rity of <HI>Salomon</HI> to &s;upport their Error, had read the Book from which they-fetcht their Argu|ment, they would have &s;een that that &s;ame Great and Wi&s;e Prince was far from believing the Soul to be Mortal. His aim is there, only to withdraw the hearts of Men from the Love of
<PB N="44" REF="29">the World, from their extraordinary Propen&s;i|ty to the Creatures, and all things that fall under the Sen&s;es. On purpo&s;e to incline and per&s;uade 'em to Love, to Fear, and Serve the Lord only. And this is the conclu&s;ion which he draws at the end of his Book from all the Arguments which he produc'd before. The &s;cope of the whole Di&s;cour&s;e is, <HI>Fear God and keep his Command|ments; for this is the whole Duty of Man.</HI> Now I leave it to Judgment, Whether if <HI>Salomon</HI> had thought that the Soul did not &s;ub&s;i&s;t after death, he would have taken &s;o much pains, to excite Men to the exerci&s;es of Piety, for which there was no reward to be expected, &s;ince the Belief of the Immortality of the Soul, is the Foundati|on of Piety and Religion.</P>
<P>But for an ab&s;olute Conviction, that this Great King did not believe the Soul to be mor|tal, there needs no more then to read his Tenth Chapter. From the very beginning he threatens Men with a Judgment to come, and exhorts 'em to remember God in the days of their youth, and not to delay their Turning to God till&punc; the la&s;t years of their Lives. A needle&s;s Ex|hortation if the Soul were to dye. For what rea&s;on is there that Man &s;hould fear any thing after death, if All were to dye with him. After|wards in the 9th Ver&s;e he tells us in expre&s;s terms, <HI>That the du&s;t returns to the earth from whence it was taken, but that the Spirit returns to God that gave it.</HI> Is not this an invincible Proof that he believed the Immortality of our Souls. For how could it be &s;aid, that our Spirit &s;hould return to God that gave it; if it &s;ub&s;i&s;ted no long|er
<PB N="45" REF="29">after it was departed from the Body which it enlivened. Is it po&s;&s;ible that a nothing of Soul and Spirit &s;hould return to the Bo&s;om of God?</P>
<P>The wi&s;e <HI>Salomon</HI> &s;o little believ'd our Soul to be Mortal, that in the &s;ame Chapter, <HI>ver.</HI> 17. he &s;ays, <HI>God &s;hall judge the Ju&s;t and the &V;nju&s;t; and then &s;hall be the time for all things, and over all his Works.</HI> which he would never have &s;aid, had he had the lea&s;t Thought that our Soul di|ed with the Body.</P>
<P>So that by the Pa&s;&s;age which they alledge, he meant no other thing, but that in re&s;pect of the Body, the condition of the Bea&s;ts was equal to that of Men, that the &s;ame thing befals him, and that to judge by outward appearances, when we &s;ee a Man dye, it &s;eems as if he dy'd like a Bea&s;t; and that there was no difference between 'em. And this was the Judgment which the Prophane Libertines in <HI>Salomon</HI>'s time made of it.</P>
<P>But what we have &s;aid, is certainly the pre|ci&s;e &s;ence of the words. For if from the &s;ay|ing of <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes, Who knows whether the breath of a Bea&s;t a&s;cends upward, and the breath of a Bea&s;t de&s;cends downward?</HI> We mu&s;t conclude that if <HI>Sa|lomon</HI> was ignorant of that which was to happen, he would have &s;poken again&s;t his own knowledge, &s;eeing that in the 12th Chapter he &s;ays expre&s;ly, <HI>That the Spirit returns to God.</HI> We mu&s;t al&s;o believe, that he que&s;tions whether or no the Breath of Bea&s;ts de&s;cended downward, &s;ince he makes u&s;e of the &s;ame Expre&s;&s;ion, who knows whether the Breath of a Bea&s;t, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Now is this a thing that &s;o wi&s;e a Man as <HI>Salomon</HI> could doubt of, or could he be inclin'd to ob&s;erve an Error which few believe,
<PB N="46" REF="30" MS="y">that the Spirit of Bea&s;ts is immortal? Th&ocirc; we mu&s;t confe&s;s there are &s;ome people that are of this Opinion, if we may believe the <HI>Portugue&s;e</HI> Relation of the Ea&s;tern <HI>Aethiopia.</HI></P>
<P>It will be &s;aid, perhaps, that the Soul being &s;trictly united with the Body, it cannot be con|ceiv'd how the Body &s;hould dye, and the Soul be Immortal. But this Argument is ab&s;urd: for were the Soul and Body of the &s;ame Nature, there were &s;ome room for this Objection. But in regard they are of a different Nature, and that the motions of the Soul are ab&s;olutely in|dependent from tho&s;e of the Body; As for ex|ample, when &s;he meditates upon God; Why may we not &s;ay, that it &s;ub&s;i&s;ts without a Body like the Angels? And &s;o much for this &s;ubject; Let us now examine whether we ought to be|lieve a day of Judgment?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>Of the Judgment to come.</HEAD>
<P>IT is impo&s;&s;ible to reflect upon the Nature of God, without being convinc'd of a Day of Judgment. The <HI>Idea</HI> which we have of God, obliges him to look upon him as a Being Supreamly Wi&s;e, mo&s;t Ju&s;t, mo&s;t Holy, and mo&s;t Perfect, But we can never con&s;ider him as a Being mo&s;t Wi&s;e, Ju&s;t, and Perfect, unle&s;s we under&s;tand at the &s;ame time, that he is one day to call Men to Judgment, and to reward or pu|ni&s;h 'em, according as they have lived upon the Earth. In &s;hort, How can it be conceiv'd, that a God who made all things, who loves Order
<PB N="47" REF="30">and Holine&s;s to the highe&s;t Degree, and who always acts conformably to his Virtues, can let go un|puni&s;h'd the Contempts which his Creatures put upon his Laws, and that he can look with the &s;ame Glances of his favour upon tho&s;e that em|ploy them&s;elves in his Prai&s;es, and they that Vomit forth Bla&s;phemies again&s;t him; tho&s;e that confe&s;s his Holy Name, and tho&s;e that abjure it; upon Virtuous Men, and the mo&s;t Infamous De|bauchees; upon St. <HI>Peter</HI> and a <HI>Herod;</HI> upon St. <HI>Paul</HI> and a <HI>Nero;</HI> a St. <HI>John</HI> and a <HI>Domitian;</HI> and yet this is that which we mu&s;t &s;ay of God, were it true that there would be no Day of Judgment. For that Per&s;on mu&s;t be very Ignorant of the Affairs and Tran&s;actions of this World, who un|der&s;tands not, that Puni&s;hment does not always attend the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, and that the Wicked are not always Cha&s;tiz'd; but that the Innocent are &s;ometimes oppre&s;s'd, and the Guilty ju&s;tify'd.</P>
<P>Now can we believe, that the Sanctity and Wi&s;dom of God would &s;uffer Virtue to remain without Reward, or Vice without Puni&s;hment, had he not decreed a Day wherein to render unto every Man according to his Works? No, doubtle&s;s, God has not &s;uffer'd the Wicked all to go Unpuni&s;h'd, that Men might not believe there was no Providence; nor does he puni&s;h all, that Men might thence infer, there will be a time of Judgment. The Invi&s;ible Hand of God collects together whatever Man does, whatever he thinks, and whatever he &s;ays; all is hoarded up in the Trea&s;ure of his Ju&s;tice. But after God has ga|ther'd all his Magazine, he will return all back
<PB N="48" REF="31">again, and cau&s;e to Re-de&s;cend on Men, what|ever Men &s;ent up to Heaven.</P>
<P>To this fir&s;t Argument, in my Opinion, ano|ther may be added, which is taken from the Re|mor&s;e, the Troubles, and the Agitations of Con|&s;cience, when a Man has committed any Crimes, tho' &s;ecret Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, and &s;uch are not to be di&s;cover'd. For from whence proceed tho&s;e Ter|rors, I be&s;eech ye, if it be not from an Appre|hen&s;ion of a Judgment, which there is no po&s;&s;ibi|lity of avoiding?</P>
<P>It may be objected perhaps, that there are none but the weaker &s;ort that labour under the&s;e Di&s;quiets, the&s;e Turmoils and &s;tings of Con&s;ci|ence; little Children, poor Ideots, and &s;illy Wo|men. But where is that Man, who having &s;worn a fal&s;e Oath, committed a Murder, or any other Crying Act of Inju&s;tice, is not &s;en&s;ible of the &s;harpe Rebukes and Upbraidings of his Con&s;ci|ence? 'Tis not what Women only or Children do; this is a que&s;tion reaches all that have of|fended again&s;t Heaven.</P>
<P>It may be al&s;o farther &s;aid, that 'tis the Ap|prehen&s;ion of the Rigour of Human Laws which cau&s;es all tho&s;e Terrors, not the Dread of any Caele&s;tial Tribunal. But whence then comes it to pa&s;s, that tho&s;e Monarchs, who &s;et them&s;elves above the Reach of all Terre&s;tial Ju&s;tice, and boa&s;ted of their Abominations, were not exemp|ted from the&s;e Affrights and Convul&s;ions of &s;elf-Conviction; &s;uch as <HI>Nero, Tiberius, Caligula Caracalla,</HI> who were flattered every day, that they might do what they pleas'd, and who never heard
<PB N="49" REF="31">a word of the Law of God, of the Severity of his Ju&s;tice, or of a Judgment to come?</P>
<P>Others will alledge, that the&s;e Commotions are the Effect of our Education. But how comes it, that we neglect and contemn &s;o many other things infus'd into us by our Education, but ne|ver can deface the&s;e deep Impre&s;&s;ions? Whence proceeds it, that all Mankind, with their con|joyn'd Efforts, could never calm the&s;e Tempe|&s;tuous Agitations, nor di&s;&s;ipate the&s;e Fears? Whence comes it to pa&s;s, that upon th' approach of Death, the Greate&s;t Libertines, and mo&s;t Pro|phane, tremble at the remembrance of their Im|piety, and their Horrors &s;till augment, the nearer they draw toward their end? For, if no|thing were to follow but Annihilation, whence &s;o much Agony.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, it will be &s;aid, that there are many People who feel none of the&s;e Inward Stings. But be&s;ides that, it would be a difficult thing to name any of tho&s;e Per&s;ons who&s;e Con&s;ciences are altogether dead and In&s;en&s;ible; and that o|thers might be thought to be void of all Fear, becau&s;e they knew how to conceal it; their In|con&s;iderable Number can by no means weak'n our Argument; as it does not follow that the Exi&s;tence of God is not a Truth beyond Con|troul, becau&s;e there are &s;ome perhaps that do not believe it.</P>
<P>The Univer&s;al Con&s;ent, in reference to this Point, of all Nations that have acknowledg'd a Deity, is a &s;ufficiently convincing Proof of the Truth of what we po&s;itively a&s;&s;ert. For how comes it, that &s;o many Men agree in this parti|cular,
<PB N="50" REF="32">altho' they differ in &s;o many other Things? Is it not a Proof that this is one of tho&s;e Truths of which we come to the knowledge as &s;oon as we begin to make u&s;e of our Rea&s;on, and which we cannot with&s;tand without renouncing the Light of our Intellects? It would be no difficult Thing for me to prove this Univer&s;al Con&s;ent, would I but collect together what the Pagans have written concerning the condition of Souls after Death; of the Judges before whom they were to appear; of the Puni&s;hments and Rewards prepar'd for Men in the other World; all that <HI>Plato</HI> believ'd upon this Subject; and Particularly the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plat. de Re|pub. l. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> Recital which he cau&s;es one <HI>Amnenius</HI> to make in his Republic, whom he introduces return'd to Earth twelve Days after his Death, to make a Report of all that is tran&s;|acted in Hell, and giving an Account, that the Judges, before whom the Souls of the Departed appear, place the Ju&s;t upon the Right hand, and the Wicked upon the Left, and cau&s;e the Virtuous to a&s;cend to Heaven, while the Latter are forced to de&s;cend.</P>
<P>I might add what <HI>Strabo</HI> relates of the <HI>Brach|mans</HI> among the Indians; what is recited to us by tho&s;e who have Travell'd into <HI>A&s;ia, Africa,</HI> and <HI>America.</HI> And I might add to all the&s;e Proofs, another, which might be drawn from the Opinion of almo&s;t all Nations, that there was a nece&s;&s;ary Duty incumbent upon 'em to ap+pea&s;e the Deity; which prevail'd &s;o far, tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> many offer'd Human Sacrifices for that pur+po&s;e.</P>
<PB N="51" REF="32">
<P>I add to all the&s;e Arguments this Reflection, That if there be no future Judgment, Virtue is no more then a Fantom, and that 'tis a Folly to pur&s;ue her Maxims: Men may give them&s;elves over to all &s;orts of Crimes and Impieties, with|out Reluctancy; he may be a Traytor, Perjur'd Wretch, a Knave, a Faithle&s;s Villain, an Adul|terer; from this time forward he has no more to do but to make him&s;elf mo&s;t powerful in Soci|ety, and pre&s;erve his Life, &s;ince he has nothing to fear after Death, no more then if he had led a Life the mo&s;t Exact and Virtuous that could be imagin'd. But where is that Man to be found that wou'd not abominate an Opinion, that fa|vours, in this manner, the mo&s;t Horrid of Crimes, and mo&s;t Impious Enormities? Or if it were re|ceiv'd, what Man would be willing to brook that the World &s;hould be no other then a wide Re|ceptacle of only Thieves and Robbers, a meer Chaos, where there was no Curb upon the Con|&s;cience?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. VIII.</HI> Where it is prov'd, that altho' we had no certain Proofs of a Judgment to come, yet we ought to live in &s;uch a manner, as if we were a&s;&s;ur'd of one.</HEAD>
<P>LET us pre&s;s a little clo&s;er upon tho&s;e a|gain&s;t whom we di&s;pute, and put the Que&s;tion to 'em, whether they are well a&s;&s;ur'd, that all that is &s;aid of the Day of Judg|ment
<PB N="52" REF="33">and Life to come, are Fables and Stories, as they loudly gave out. Do they believe it to be a thing contrary to the Virtue of a mo&s;t Per|fect Being, to puni&s;h tho&s;e who have &s;o often Vi|olated his Laws, tho&s;e that refus'd to obey him, and whom he &s;par'd in this Life? Is it le&s;s be|coming God to be Ju&s;t then to be Merciful? I que&s;tion whether any Body will pre&s;ume to up|hold it, tho' there are many who have doubted the Truth of the Day of Judgment; and others, who upon their Death-beds have &s;aid, That they were going to be inform'd of three Things; whe|ther there were a God? whether the Soul were Immortal? and whether there were a Heaven or Hell? a very Edifying Confe&s;&s;ion. I will grant that our <HI>Indifferent-Men</HI> may not be ab&s;olutely convinc'd by our alledg'd Rea&s;ons, or by any others which we could produce; However, they mu&s;t confe&s;s, that there is &s;ome cau&s;e to Que&s;ti|on, whether the Sentiment which they have em|brac'd be true or no. They believe, that all Remor&s;e of Con&s;cience proceeds from the Pre|judices of Education. But I believe they pro|ceed from an Apprehen&s;ion of being puni&s;h'd for what we have committed, and from the fear of a Judgment, which is not po&s;&s;ible for us to avoid. They &s;ay, that I am deceiv'd; yet they ought at lea&s;t to acknowledge, that it is not &s;o clear that I am in an Error; but that there may be &s;ome rea&s;on to doubt whether I am or no. This then appears to be their Condition, that they know not certainly, according to their own Confe&s;&s;ion, whether they &s;hall be Eternally Mi|&s;erable, as it is requi&s;ite for 'em to acknowledge&punc;
<PB N="53" REF="33">that they have de&s;erv'd to be by their Tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ions, or whether they &s;hall be annihilated. Good God! What an Uncertainty is this! Would it not then be better, in the mid&s;t of this uncer|tainty, to practi&s;e that which would gain 'em Eternal Felicity, if it be true that there is a Pa|radi&s;e, then to do tho&s;e things that are reward|ed with Eternal Pains, if there be a Judgment, or a Hell? In the choice of Opinions, which Men know not certainly whether they be true or fal&s;e, &s;ound Judgment and right Rea&s;on re|quire, that Men &s;hould prefer that Steerage that leads 'em to gain, if truth be on their &s;ide, and where there is nothing to lo&s;e, if they be de|ceiv'd; and on the other hand, reject that by which they can gain nothing, tho' they were in the Right, but much to lo&s;e, &s;hould it prove their Misfortune to be deluded. This is now our Ca&s;e. A Man who lives as if he were to be judg'd, has nothing to be afraid of, &s;uppo&s;ing he &s;hould be deceiv'd, but every thing to hope for, if he be not in an Error. He has nothing to be afraid of, if he has been mi&s;taken, unle&s;s it be, that af|ter Death he finds no God, no Paradi&s;e, nor meets any more with him&s;elf again. I confe&s;s, that this is to be look'd upon as a great Misfor|tune; but at lea&s;t he ought no more to be afraid of any &s;uffering, or that he &s;hall be more Mi&s;e|rable then he who has liv'd, as if there were no Judgment to be expected. Both the one and the other mu&s;t lo&s;e their Being, and all the Con&s;e|quences of Being, as Pain, Plea&s;ure, Felicity, and Mi&s;ery. This is the greate&s;t Mi&s;chief that can befall a Good Chri&s;tian, &s;uppo&s;ing him to be
<PB N="54" REF="34">in an Error. But if he be not deceiv'd, he may be &s;ure of enjoying Felicity Eternal, and Infinite Happine&s;s. There is then great Gain attends him, if he be not deluded; but there is nothing to lo&s;e in ca&s;e he be, by the Confe&s;&s;ion of the ungodly them&s;elves. On the other &s;ide, a Man who believes not a la&s;t Judgment, and who lives in the unbelief of it, has nothing to hope for, if he be not deceived, becau&s;e his greate&s;t Felicity is to be annihilated; but every thing to be a|fraid of, if he be under a mi&s;take. For if at his departure our of the World, he finds there is a God, that there is a Judgment, or a Hell, there cannot be imagin'd a Creature more mi&s;erable.</P>
<P>Now let any Man judge, whether it be not the Accompli&s;hment of Extravagance, to make choice of an Opinion, whereby a Man runs the risk of being Eternally Mi&s;erable, and hopes for nothing but Annihilation: And whether, th&ocirc; there were no certain proofs of a Judgment to come, it were not better for 'em always to demean them&s;elves, as if they were to be judg'd. I &s;ay no more; for this is &s;ufficient to &s;hew, that &s;ince our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> are not a&s;&s;ur'd that thare is no Judgment, they ought not to build upon this Opinion the <HI>Indifferency</HI> of Re|ligions.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="55" REF="34">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. IX.</HI> Wherein is examin'd, whether there be any thing True or Fal&s;e, Ju&s;t or &V;nju&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>AMong tho&s;e whom I call <HI>Indifferent Men,</HI> there are &s;ome who believe, that there is nothing True or Fal&s;e, Ju&s;t or Unju&s;t, &s;o that it is lawful to do whatever a Man plea|&s;es, and to embrace that Religion that agrees mo&s;t with their Intere&s;ts. Who could ever be|lieve that in our Age there &s;hould be People that &s;hould go about to introduce &s;uch Sceptici&s;m in|to Religion. There is nothing True, &s;ay they: Yet at lea&s;t, according to their Sentiments, it mu&s;t be true, that there is nothing True. More|over, is it not True, that they who maintain this Argument, have a Being, that they are Think|ing Souls, and extended Bodies; That it is im|po&s;&s;ible a Thing &s;hould be, and not be at the &s;ame time, that Two and Two make Four, and that the Whole is bigger then the Part? Certainly, there is no body &s;o extravagant as to deny it. We do not di&s;pure of this matter, will the <HI>Indif|ferent Men</HI> &s;ay; but of things that concern Re|ligion, I grant it. 'Tis already very much; that they will confe&s;s that there is &s;omething True; but &s;till it is not true, that there is a God; that this God is mo&s;t Perfect, mo&s;t Ju&s;t, Omnipotent, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> At lea&s;t, it is no more True, then to &s;ay, there is no God, or, that this God is an imperfect Being and Unju&s;t.</P>
<P>I do not believe that the&s;e Skepticks dare de|ny it, unle&s;s they will &s;peak again&s;t their own
<PB N="56" REF="35">Con&s;ciences. For then there is nothing &s;o ea&s;ie as to deny every thing, and to maintain at Noon|day that the Sun is not ri&s;en, or that a Circle is a Square. I am well a&s;&s;ur'd, that if our <HI>Pyrrho|nians</HI> would &s;peak &s;incerely, they would acknow|ledge, that it is al&s;o true, that God ought to be &s;erv'd, and that, in &s;uch a manner as is agreea|ble to his Nature. They are therefore mo&s;t gro&s;ly mi&s;taken, who a&s;&s;ert, that there is nothing of Truth. In &s;hort, every Propo&s;ition ought to be True or Fal&s;e. It is True, when it affirms or denies nothing of a &s;ubject, but what we ought to affirm or deny. It is Fal&s;e, when it affirms or denies what ought not to be affirm'd or deny'd. But is it not certain, will our Skepticks &s;ay, that upon every Subject we may find out Rea|&s;ons, <HI>pro</HI> and <HI>con,</HI> equally &s;trong and convincing? I grant there are &s;everal Subjects upon which Men may argue variou&s;ly; in&s;omuch that they &s;hall be at a great lo&s;s which &s;ide to take, before they have carefully weigh'd and con&s;ider'd the Arguments on both &s;ides. I confe&s;s al&s;o, that there are &s;ome very evident Truths that have been di&s;puted among Philo&s;ophers; among others, &s;ome have deny'd Motion. Wit loves to &s;port &s;ometimes, and endeavours to ob&s;cure by So|phi&s;ms, Things the mo&s;t plain and per&s;picuous: but I deny, that what is &s;aid on both &s;ides is equally &s;olid, and that it is fit to compare So|phi&s;ms with good Arguments. There are &s;ome propo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">tions to which we cannot refu&s;e our a&s;&s;ent; and &s;ome that we cannot deny without acting a|gain&s;t the Light of our Under&s;tanding. There are &s;ome that are not &s;o apparent, and others that open|ly
<PB N="57" REF="35">oppo&s;e Rea&s;on. All that our Skepticks &s;ay, does but teach us, that we ought to &s;tand upon our Guards, and not to ha&s;ten our Judgment with too much precepitancy, but to &s;u&s;pend it, till Conviction, and our Under&s;tanding force us from that He&s;itation. So that I extremely approve the Rules &s;et down by a Philo&s;opher of our Age, who would have us, when we propo&s;e any thing, not only carefully to examin the Thing, and to determin nothing till after we have well thought upon it, but al&s;o to &s;ee.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Whether it be not true, that we believe the thing in di&s;pute for no other Rea&s;on, but be|cau&s;e our Ma&s;ters have &s;o taught us.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Whether it be not True, that we believe the thing upon no other account, but only be|cau&s;e it was approved by a great number of Per|&s;ons that have gain'd a Repute in the World.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Whether it be not True, that we believe the thing, by rea&s;on of long U&s;e and Cu&s;tom; that is to &s;ay, Becau&s;e we have &s;uch an <HI>Idea</HI> in our heads from our Education and our Infancy, and for that we judge that &s;everal things were True, becau&s;e they were conformable to that <HI>Idea.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Whether it be not True, that we conclude the Truth in Di&s;pute, from a &s;uppo&s;ed Princi|ple, and &s;uch a one which we never examin'd.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. Whether it be not True, that we believe the Thing, only becau&s;e it is a Novelty.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The&s;e are the Precautions which we ought to take; but 'tis an extravagancy, to maintain that there is nothing True. We haturally all of us love Truth, and we de&s;ire to find it out. Is it then to be thought that this De&s;ire &s;hould be En|grafted
<PB N="58" REF="36">in all Men, if there were nothing True or Fal&s;e?</P>
<P>What I a&s;&s;ert of Truth, I al&s;o &s;peak of Ju&s;tice or Inju&s;tice; that is to &s;ay, that there is &s;ome|thing of Ju&s;t or Unju&s;t, and that there is a ne|ce&s;&s;ary di&s;tinction between Good and Evil, be|tween that which is Hone&s;t, and that which is not &s;o.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, were there no rea&s;on for this di&s;tin|ction, it mu&s;t be &s;aid, that Paracides and Bla&s;|phemers, to &s;peak Properly, Commit no Crime; that 'tis the &s;ame thing whether we Hate or Love God; whether we Honour our Parents, or Cut their Throats.</P>
<P>Now I be&s;eech ye, Can &s;uch Sentiments en|ter our Thoughts without Horror? They will &s;ay, perhaps, that this Horror proceeds from the Prejudices of Education. But if it be &s;o, How comes it to pa&s;s, that the &s;ame Horror is Univer&s;al among all People, th&ocirc; their Education be very different?</P>
<P>They will likewi&s;e object, that Legi&s;lators, and Governors of States and Kingdoms have ta|ken great Care to infu&s;e into the People, that there is &s;omthing of Ju&s;t and Unju&s;t. But is it probable, that tho&s;e Legi&s;lators could have a|greed &s;o exactly without con&s;ulting together, to impo&s;e the &s;ame things upon &s;o many different People? That they were &s;o &s;ufficiently powerful, as to engrave their Precepts in the bottom of the Peoples Hearts; or &s;o politick and cunning, as to in&s;pire into 'em that nicene&s;s, as to make it a &s;cruple of Con&s;cience to di&s;obey 'em? Or how is it to be imagin'd, that &s;o va&s;t a number of
<PB N="59" REF="36">People would entertain and uphold Laws that recompence Virtue, and puni&s;h Vice, but which are otherwi&s;e &s;o very &s;evere and irk&s;om, unle&s;s there were a Natural Light, which makes all Men agree in the point of their Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>Had not Man a Natural Idea, and a Natural Love of Duty, Men might be made believe in that particular, whatever Impo&s;ture pleas'd; and they might be per&s;uaded, that Ingratitude, Per|&s;idiou&s;ne&s;s, and Bla&s;phemy, are Virtues which ought to be e&s;teemed; Neverthele&s;s, nothing is more Impo&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>It will be &s;aid, that &s;everal Nations have &s;ub|mitted to Bad Laws as well as good. But cer|tain it is, that never any Legi&s;lators could im|po&s;e tho&s;e Laws which were altogether bad. The Lawgivers concern'd, &s;till intermix'd 'em among the good ones, and endeavour to &s;upport 'em with good Principles, already in vogue a|mong the People: They have al&s;o made u&s;e of Force to e&s;tabli&s;h or pre&s;erve 'em; &s;o that &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion to unju&s;t Con&s;titutions is a proof of the Nece&s;&s;ity of tho&s;e which are ju&s;t.</P>
<P>But let us pre&s;s a little clo&s;er upon our <HI>Pyrrhe|nians.</HI> Either they are bound to obey their Rea|&s;on, or they are not. If they are not oblig'd, their Rea&s;on &s;tands 'em in no &s;tead, and it is in Vain that Nature has made 'em Rational Crea|tures. If they are bound, they do ill when they withdraw their Obedience from it. Therefore there is a difference between Good and Evil. It will be objected, no doubt, that Rea&s;on di|ctates to one Man that the Thing is Good, to another, that it is Bad, &s;o that it depends purely
<PB N="60" REF="37">upon humour. But certain it is, that there are &s;ome things good, and others bad, by the Con|&s;ent of all Mankind. So that in that re&s;pect, our Rea&s;on is beyond all Controul. Moreover, the Force of that Objection reaches no farther then to prove, that all Men have not the &s;ame parts; and that they do not all di&s;tingui&s;h Good and Evil as they ought to do. But they are not able to prove from thence that there is nothing Ju&s;t or Unju&s;t: On the other &s;ide, 'tis a certain proof, that Men have naturally an Idea, that there is &s;ome thing Ju&s;t, and &s;ome thing which is not &s;o.</P>
<P>Let us then put this Que&s;tion to our Skeptics, whether the Creature owes Nothing or Some|thing to his Creator? No Man dur&s;t hitherto maintain, that the Creature owes him. Nothing. If any thing, he is oblig'd to performances, and if he do not pay what he owes, he does ill. There are &s;ome things, which are good in them&s;elves, and others which are not &s;o; and therefore 'tis to build a Sandy Foundation, to pretend to prove that Religions are Indifferent, becau&s;e there is nothing by Nature Good or Evil.</P>
<P>I &s;hall add but one word more in Oppo&s;ition to tho&s;e who a&s;&s;ert, that to &s;peak properly, there is nothing Ju&s;t but what agrees with our Intere&s;t, or with the Public Benefit. This Opinion is very ab&s;urd, 1. Becau&s;e, that Right Rea&s;on ob|liges us frequently to act again&s;t our own Inte|re&s;ts, and Commands us to do tho&s;e things that prove mi&s;chievous and hurtful to us, as it prohi|bits us from other things that might redound to our Benefit, yet after we have followed the Di|ctates
<PB N="61" REF="37">of Right Rea&s;on, receive a great deal of Comfort and Satisfaction for &s;o doing. 2. Be|cau&s;e, that if Profit and Advantage were to be the Chief Rule of our Actions, our fir&s;t Begin|ning and la&s;t End, there would be no Truth nor Sincerity between Man and Man, it would be in vain that Nature has made us Sociable Crea|tures, and it would behove us rather to &s;ay, that Men were Created to be Robbers and Poi&s;oners, when their Intere&s;t requir'd it; which is the mo&s;t Horrid thing in the World. 3. Becau&s;e, that if Profit were to be the Rule of all our Acti|ons; and if the Idea of Hone&s;ty were a meer Illu&s;ion, all Men in the World would never di|&s;tingui&s;h as they do between Profitable and Ho|ne&s;t; and Men the mo&s;t Corrupt would never be &s;en&s;ible from time to time, of the Force of that Idea. For this is a convincing Proof, that this Idea is one of the Fir&s;t E&s;tabli&s;hments of Nature.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. X.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who believe, that the Truth is Conceal'd.</HEAD>
<P>IN the Croud of our <HI>Indifferent-Men,</HI> there are &s;ome who dare not po&s;itively maintain, that there is nothing true; but they believe that Truth is plung'd in <HI>Democritus</HI>'s Well, and that it is entirely Conceal'd from Men; and that therefore, 'tis no great matter what Religi|on we Embrace, becau&s;e we know not where Truth re&s;ides.</P>
<PB N="62" REF="38">
<P>But what we have already &s;aid in the forego|ing Chapter, &s;hews the Ab&s;urdity of this Opini|on. For we have &s;ufficiently prov'd, that all the&s;e Truths are not conceal'd from Men, but that there are a great Number, who are clearly Convinc'd, that there is a God, that he is mo&s;t Wi&s;e, Almighty, mo&s;t Perfect, that we ought to &s;erve him, and that we ought to do as we would be done by.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, it would be a &s;trange thing if there were no Truths; that God had given us under|&s;tanding capable to reach and apprehend 'em, and yet that he &s;hould not have reveal'd 'em to us, or that he &s;hould not have fix'd a kind of Rela|tion between tho&s;e Truths and our Under&s;tan|dings, to know when they meet, and when they do not meet, together. In like manner, it would be a &s;urprizing thing, that God &s;hould have Created Light, and given Men Eyes to &s;ee it, yet never produce it into the World. The Idea which we have of God, is, that he is a Being both good and gracious by doing good. Now what Idea can we have of a God that has made Creatures, and yet would conceal him&s;elf from 'em; who has endu'd 'em with Rea&s;on to under|&s;tand Truth, yet had not reveal'd to 'em tho&s;e Truths which it mo&s;t concern'd 'em to know?</P>
<P>If it be objected, that there are an infinite number of Truths which Man can never dive into by the Light of Nature, we mu&s;t be forc'd to grant it, becau&s;e we cannot deny it. 'Tis not to &s;peak of the My&s;teries of the Trinity and Incarnation, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which the Chri&s;tian Religion has taught us, and into which the wit of Man can
<PB N="63" REF="38">never penetrate; there are &s;everal other Truths le&s;s difficult to apprehend; which Men however had been altogether ignorant of, had it not been for Revelation. For Example, Men might naturally know, by the Light of Rea&s;on only, that there is a God, and that this God ought to be ador'd, but he knows not after what manner this Sovereign Be|ing will be ador'd. He knows that he is a Sinner, but he knows not by the Light of Nature, which way to make his Peace with God. He may know that his Soul is Immortal; but he knows not what will become of his Soul: nor had the Pagans in this Particular any other then confus'd Idea, which may be well judg'd by what the Emperor <HI>Adrian</HI> &s;aid. And it appears by the Di&s;cour&s;es of <HI>Socrates,</HI> that Wi&s;e Philo&s;opher, be|fore his Death, that he was no better inform'd upon this Subject then the Emperor.</P>
<P>It is certain then, that Revelation is nece&s;&s;ary; but we a&s;&s;ert al&s;o, that this Revelation has been made; and that God has manife&s;ted to Men whatever is requi&s;ite for 'em to know, to the end they may be happy; and this is that Reve|lation which we meet with in the Old and New Te&s;tament.</P>
</DIV2>
<PB N="64" REF="39">
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XI.</HI> Of the Divinity of the Scripture.</HEAD>
<P>IN regard there are &s;everal Per&s;ons that will not acknowledge the Books of the Old and New Te&s;tament to be Divinely in&s;pir'd, 'tis nece&s;&s;ary to &s;ettle the Confirmation of this Truth before we go any farther; and this is that which we &s;hall &s;uccinctly undertake in this Chapter, until we &s;hall have accompli&s;h'd it more at large, with God's permi&s;&s;ion, in another Treati&s;e.</P>
<P>Nor do I believe it to be a thing &s;o difficult to demon&s;trate the Divinity of the Scriptures, as at fir&s;t it &s;eems to be. For either they mu&s;t &s;ay, that God has not made him&s;elf known, or that he has reveal'd him&s;elf, but that we know not where this Revelation is: or el&s;e they mu&s;t con|fe&s;s, that it is to be found in the Scriptures. They cannot &s;ay, that God has not made him&s;elf known, for we have prov'd in the foregoing Chapter, that they cannot maintain it, without having a very unworthy Idea of God. They cannot &s;ay, that God has reveal'd him&s;elf, but that they know not where this Revelation is. For wherefore &s;hould God have reveal'd him&s;elf, if the Book be not known wherein he has declar'd his Will to Men? Therefore they mu&s;t confe&s;s, that God has made him&s;elf known in the Books of the Old and New Te&s;tament. For they cannot tell us of any other; becau&s;e there is no other which has more the Characters of Divinity; and tho&s;e Characters
<PB N="65" REF="39">are &s;o vi&s;ible, that he mu&s;t willingly hoodwink his own Eyes that cannot &s;ee 'em.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, what could be de&s;ir'd in a Book of which God was the Author, then what is found in the Sacred Writings? Who is there that would not look upon it as a Divine Work? <HI>A Book</HI> that teaches us Truths &s;o Extraordinary, &s;o Sublime, that Men could never otherwi&s;e have been able to have invented; Yet &s;uch as have a &s;trict Co|herence and Tye however with the Common Notions, which Nature, or rather the God of Nature has imprinted in our Minds; and which teaches 'em in a manner &s;o lofty and &s;o plain at the &s;ame time, that tho' there &s;eem not to appear in it any Ornaments of Vulgar Eloquence, yet there is all that human Art can afford Us; a Sovereign Authority which Imprints re&s;pect in the Soul of him that reads it, and a winning Fa|cility, which attracts and captivates their Atten|tion.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that gives us a greater Idea of God, then can be conceiv'd; that de&s;cribes him to us as a Spirit, that has no Communication with mat|ter, an Infinite Spirit that is every where, an Al|mighty Being, that does all things; that Created the World, and &s;u&s;tains it by his Providence; who is the Ruler of all Events, the ab&s;olute Ma|&s;ter of all things, the Judge of Men and Angels.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> which clearly Unfolds to us, what Human Rea&s;on would never have di&s;cover'd but very imperfectly, which never pronounces any Cen&s;ures, nor gives any Cen&s;ures, but what the Con&s;cience finds to be mo&s;t ju&s;t; that promi&s;es nothing but what the Con&s;cience de&s;ires; that
<PB N="66" REF="40">threatens nothing but what the Con&s;cience dreads: and does it not thence appear, that the Author of the Con&s;cience is the Author of this Book.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that Humbles Man before God, by giving him to under&s;tand his emptine&s;s, his pro|found wretchedne&s;s, his natural Corruption and Sin: that romages the very Secrets and En|trenchments of our Souls, to &s;hew us our con|ceal'd Vices, our Vanity, our Pride, our Self-Love, our Love of the World, our Love of Re|venge, the Seeds of Incredulity and Prophanene&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that combats all &s;orts of Sins, not one excepted, not &s;o much as the &s;lighte&s;t; and &s;everal that were unknown to the mo&s;t au&s;tere Sects of Philo&s;ophers; not &s;o much as a Glance or a Thought e&s;capes it; it a&s;&s;ails all the Moti|ons of Concupi&s;cence, and all Appearances of Evil.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that is not contented to &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">b&s;cribe us an exterior Holine&s;s, but which req&ucirc;ires that our Souls &s;hould be as pure as our Bodies, and that we &s;hould exalt our Virtue to an Heroick Degree, and be like God.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that requires that we &s;hould have no other Rule but the Law and Will of God, and no other end but his Glory, and which ex|acts from us, that we &s;hould principally, and above all things in the World, love the Author of our Being, and that we &s;hould love our Neigh|bor as our Selves.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that has nothing of Contradiction in all the Parts of it; and which pre&s;ents to our Eyes the <HI>Idea</HI> of a Wi&s;dom, like to that which is ob&s;erv'd in this va&s;t Univer&s;e; th&ocirc; they who
<PB N="67" REF="40">wrote it, never had any commun~ication one with another, but were &s;eparated by long Intervals of Ages, which &s;hews that they were all in&s;pir'd with the &s;ame Spirit, and that they had a Sove|reign Ma&s;ter over 'em, who precided over the whole work.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> which has foretold extraordinary Events before they happen'd; and with &s;o much certainty, that you would rather take it to be a recital of things pa&s;t, then a prediction of things to come: which &s;hews us, that it &s;prings from a Spirit, before which all things are pre&s;ent, which &s;ees all things, and which clearly &s;hines in the darkne&s;s of Futurity, in regard that nothing hap|pens which it has not ordain'd.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> which having di&s;cover'd to Man, that he is Criminal, and Guilty before an Infi|nite Maje&s;ty, which mu&s;t be atton'd, teaches him afterwards the true means by which he was re|concil'd to his Judge, and &s;hews him a Divine Per&s;on, that de&s;cends from Heaven to take up|on him Human Nature like his own, who under that Nature &s;uffers a cruel Death; who by that Death &s;atisfies the Ju&s;tice of God, extingui&s;hes the Heat of his Wrath, and makes an Attonement for our &s;ins, which the Blood of Bulls and Goats, nor all the Purifications of the Law were never able to expiate.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that appea&s;es all the troubles of the Soul, which all the Books in the World were never able to do; which &s;ecures us again&s;t all our Terrors, cau&s;ed by the Confideration of our Sins, the thoughts of Death, and of a Judgment to come, and fills us with that Peace and Com|fort,
<PB N="68" REF="41">which neither can be expre&s;s'd nor con|ceiv'd.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> wherein the Doctrine contain'd &s;up|plies all the nece&s;&s;ities of the Soul, and &s;atisfies all her de&s;ires; for there is no que&s;tion to be made, but that a Book, where our Soul, who&s;e De&s;ires are Infinite, finds plenary &s;atisfaction, mu&s;t be the Production of a Deity, who being only able to know what we would de&s;ire, is on|ly able him&s;elf alone to content us.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> the Doctrine of which produces &s;uch extraordinary Effects, that when it is once re|ceiv'd into our Hearts, there is nothing able to &s;hake our Con&s;tancy and our Faith; no, not the mo&s;t cruel of Torments.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> who&s;e Doctrine has been receiv'd in|to the World, maugre all the Efforts of the De|vil, tho&ocirc; it were only divulg'd by Fi&s;hermen and Toll-gatherers, and for Enemies met with the mo&s;t Eloquent Orators, the mo&s;t refin'd Philo|&s;ophers, mo&s;t potent Kings and Emperors, who per&s;ecuted, and put to the mo&s;t cruel of Tor|ments, tho&s;e that preach'd it.</P>
<P><HI>A Book,</HI> that has been confirm'd by an Infinite-number of Miracles, and by the Blood of a va&s;t number of Martyrs, of all Orders, of both Sexes, of all Conditions, of all Ages.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, <HI>A Book,</HI> that to this very day pre|&s;erves it's pri&s;tin Veneration, th&ocirc; no endeavours have been omitted to obliterate it, while &s;o ma|ny Works have peri&s;h'd, which one would have thought would have endur'd as long as the Sun.</P>
<P>If this be not the work of God, let 'em tell us, what is a Divine Book, or let 'em &s;hew us
<PB N="69" REF="41" MS="y">any others, wherein all the&s;e Characters meet to|gether. But that's more then ever they will be able to do.</P>
<P>'Tis certain then, that God is reveal'd to Men and that this Revelation is found in the Books of the Old and New Te&s;tament.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XII.</HI> Of the Clearne&s;s of the Holy Scripture.</HEAD>
<P>THere are &s;ome Men, who acknowledge the Divinity of the Scripture, but they &s;ay, 'tis &s;o ob&s;cure, that no Body can di&s;cover by it, which is the true Religion; that there never was any Heretick but vaunted of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">earing his Paradoxes, upon the Writings of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles. So that no Man can be confident from thence, what Religion to fix up|on becau&s;e all the Religions in the World are not equally to be prov'd by the Holy Scripture. According to which Opinion we may as well &s;ay, that the Oracles of God are like tho&s;e of the Sy|bills, and that it fares with the Holy Gho&s;t as with the <HI>Apollo</HI> of the Pagans, who&s;e An&s;wers were &s;o ob&s;cure, that they might well be taken in two oppo&s;ite Sen&s;es.</P>
<P>I do not, however, believe that they who are of this Opinion, will pre&s;ume to maintain, that Pagani&s;m and Mahometi&s;m can be prov'd by Script<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="3 letters">s, or that Judai&s;m is to be found in the Books of the New Te&s;tamon<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. And therefore they mu&s;t acknowledg, that it ought not to be
<PB N="70" REF="42">an indifferent Thing to 'em, whither they be Turks, Pagans or Jews, but that they ought to embrace the Chri&s;tian Religion. 'Tis one point gain'd then, that we have brought 'em to be Chri&s;tians, but we mu&s;t not &s;top there. Cer|tainly they who a&s;&s;ert the Scripture to be &s;o ob|&s;cure, that they cannot thereby apprehend which is the true Religion, have a &s;trange <HI>Idea</HI> of God. For God has given us the Scriptures to &s;ome end: this they cannot deny, unle&s;s they will doubt of the Wi&s;dom of the mo&s;t perfect Being. This <HI>End</HI> he teaches us him&s;elf by his Servants. <HI>All things,</HI> &s;ays <HI>St. Paul,</HI> Rom. 15.4. <HI>were written for our In&s;truction, to the end, that through Patience and Con&s;olation in the Holy Scriptures, we might have hope.</HI> And the &s;ame Apo&s;tle declares, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.16, 17. <HI>That the whole Scripture is Divinely in&s;pir'd, and properly for Teaching, Convincing, Correcting and In&s;tructing according to Ju&s;tice, to the end the Man of God may be accompli&s;h'd, and perfectly in|&s;tructed in every good work.</HI> But I be&s;eech ye, what In&s;truction, what Con&s;olation can a Man re|ceive from a Book &s;o ob&s;cure as the Scripture, if what our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> a&s;&s;ert, be true? Or can a work of that nature accompli&s;h a Man of God? 'Tis the Plea&s;ure of God that we &s;hould have recour&s;e to his Word, as to the Rule of our Faith and our Manners; the Apo&s;tles Anathema|tize tho&s;e that teach any other Doctrine, and command the Faithful not to hold communicati|on with &s;uch &s;ort of People, and pronounce the Peace of God upon all tho&s;e that walk according to that Rule. But how is it po&s;&s;ible that this Book can &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">rve for a Rule, if it be &s;o extreamly
<PB N="71" REF="42" MS="y">ob&s;cure? and why &s;hould Anathema's be thun|der'd out again&s;t all tho&s;e that teach any of her Doctrine then what is contain'd therein, if we cannot preci&s;ely know what it is that it teaches?</P>
<P>Either God could not clearly reveal him&s;elf to Men, or el&s;e it was not his Plea&s;ure &s;o to do. Can it be faid, that he could not? What is Im|po&s;&s;ible to the Father and Author of Light? who him&s;elf has placed the Sun and the Stars in the Firmament, to enlighten the whole World? Can it be &s;aid, that it was not his Plea&s;ure? How! Would not the Father of Mercy, who&s;e Goodne&s;s is Infinite, vouch&s;afe to make his Will clearly known to Men, to the end they may pay him faithful Obedience? If &s;o, wherefore does he threaten pains Eternal to tho&s;e that di&s;obey him, and believe not in his Word?</P>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s, there are many things ob&s;cure|ly deliver'd in Holy Scripture. It contains pecu|liar Depths and My&s;teries. And it was the Plea|&s;ure of God it &s;hould be &s;o, to humble our Lofty Rea&s;on pufft up with Knowledge; to waken our Minds, that fall a&s;leep when we meet with no difficulty; to oblige us to Pray, Meditate, and Labour; make us the more earne&s;tly wi&s;h for that day when we &s;hall be fill'd with the knowledge of all things the mo&s;t ob&s;cure. But if there be things ob&s;cure and difficult in Scrip|ture, there are others that are mo&s;t clear and ea&s;ie. It proportions it &s;elf to all, and offers it &s;elf to all. There is in it a Simplicity that de|ba&s;es it &s;elf to the mo&s;t Simple, and a Loftine&s;s that exerci&s;es the mo&s;t Learned. All indiffe|rently drain from it; but far from being able to
<PB N="72" REF="43">empty it by filling our &s;elves, we always leave behind Aby&s;&s;es of Knowledge and Wi&s;dom, which we adore, without being able to comprehend 'em. <HI>Thus the Loftine&s;s of it a&s;toni&s;hes the Haughty; it awakes the Sloathful by the Importance of the Mat|ter concerning which it treats; The Difficulties contain'd in it exerci&s;e the Indu&s;try, and it nouri&s;hes the Wi&s;e with its Illuminations,</HI> according to the &s;aying of St. <HI>Au&s;tin;</HI> which is that which Saint <HI>Gregory</HI> very well explains in his Letter to the Arch-Bi&s;hop of <HI>Seville,</HI> when he &s;ent him his Mo|rals upon <HI>Job. As the word of God,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>en|clo&s;es My&s;teries able to exerci&s;e the Wits of the mo&s;t clear-&s;ighted, &s;o it al&s;o contains clear and evident Truths, proper to feed the &s;imple and le&s;s Learned. Outwardly it has wherewithal to give Milk to Babes, and within her Secret Folds and Concealments &s;uffi|cient to ravi&s;h with admiration the &s;ublime&s;t of Human Wits; like a River &s;o &s;hallow in &s;ome pla|ces that a Lamb may wade over, and in others deep enough for an Elephant to Swim.</HI> And in the Preface to the 20th Book of his Morals, he thus expre&s;&s;es him&s;elf.</P>
<P><Q>The Scripture is incomparably &s;uperior to all other Doctrine; not only for that it brings us Tidings of nothing but certain Truths; not only becau&s;e it calls us to a Heavenly Coun|try, becau&s;e it changes the Hearts of tho&s;e that read it, by withdrawing 'em from Terre&s;trial De&s;ires, and inflaming 'em with a De&s;ire of Heaven; but al&s;o for that at the &s;ame time that it exerci&s;es the more Intelligent and perfect with Ob&s;cure Texts, it Care&s;&s;es and Comforts the more imperfect and feeble Under&s;tandings
<PB N="73" REF="43">with the &s;weetne&s;s and ea&s;ine&s;s of its precepts. It is neither &s;o ob&s;cure as to &s;care Men from reading it, nor &s;o ea&s;ie to be under&s;tood, as to incur Contempt. The more Familiar it is, the le&s;s it di&s;reli&s;hes: the more Men Meditate upon it, the Higher Value they put upon it. It a&s;&s;i&s;ts our Souls by the Simplicity of Words, and the Sublimity of the Sence which is there|in contain'd; and &s;eems to grow and exalt it &s;elf by degrees, as they that read it rai&s;e them&s;elves and grow in Under&s;tanding. So that the mo&s;t Ignorant, and they that have the meane&s;t parts under&s;tand &s;omething in it, and the Learned always meet with Novelty.</Q> To which we may add what St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> &s;ays, That it propo&s;es to us whatever is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary for the Conduct of our Lives; that it explains and illu&s;trates it &s;elf, by expounding clearly to us in &s;ome parts, what it delivers but ob&s;curely in o|thers. This pious Bi&s;hop every where in&s;inuates, that the Scriptures manner of teaching is propor|tionable to all &s;orts of Conditions, and to the Under&s;tanding of Readers the mo&s;t &s;imple, and of meane&s;t Capacities; that it invites all Men by a plain and &s;imple Di&s;cour&s;e to &s;eek therein, wherewith to nouri&s;h them&s;elves with apparent Truths, and wherewith to exerci&s;e them&s;elves in the di&s;covery of tho&s;e that are conceal'd; that if it puts to &s;hame the Vanity of the Haughty, by rea&s;on of the &s;ublimity of it, to which they cannot reach; if the Depth of it affrights and terrifies tho&s;e that &s;trive to penetrate into it; it nouri&s;hes by Vertue of tho&s;e Truths wherewith it is repleni&s;h'd, the mo&s;t exalted Souls, and af|fords
<PB N="74" REF="44">Children that Food which is proper for 'em, through the Familiarity wherewith it &s;peaks.</P>
<P>To be convinc'd of the Clearne&s;s of the Scrip|tures, there needs no more then to reflect upon what is taught us therein. Does it not clearly teach us to know an Eternal God, &s;overeignly Good, mo&s;t Wi&s;e, mo&s;t Potent, and mo&s;t Ju&s;t, who has expanded the Heavens, and laid the Foundations of the Earth by his Almighty Power; who &s;u&s;tains all things by his Word, who has created Men and Angels, who pre&s;erves 'em, and and is to judge 'em? Does it not clearly &s;hew us the profound Mi&s;ery of Man, his Corruption, his Sin, his inability to free him&s;elf from the &s;ad Condition he is in? Does it not clearly &s;hew us what Chri&s;t has done for us, to deliver us out of this Inconvenience; how he came into the World to put on our Nature; how he dy'd for our Sins; how he ro&s;e for our Ju&s;tification; how he a&s;cen|ded Gloriou&s;ly into Heaven, to prepare a Place for us; and how he is to return to open our Tombs, and to rai&s;e us to his Eternal Sanctuary? Does it not clearly tell us what Ble&s;&s;ings this Di|vine Saviour has merited for us, Pardon for our Sins, our Peace with God, the Gift of his Spi|rit, Salvation, Eternal Redemption, and Infinite Glory? La&s;tly, Does it not clearly &s;hew us, what God requires from us, Faith, Repentance, Hope, Charity, Patience, and all tho&s;e Virtues which we ought to put in Practice, and all tho&s;e Vices from which we ought to ab&s;tain.</P>
<P>Lot Men judge after all this, whether they have any rea&s;on to accu&s;e the Holy Scriptures of Ob&s;curity. Certainly, if there be any ob&s;cure
<PB N="75" REF="44">Places, it ought to be acknowledg'd, that what|ever is nece&s;&s;ary for our Knowledge is clearly explain'd. So that 'tis the &s;ame thing with the Holy Scripture as with the Book of Nature; both contain things which all the World may know; others require Application and Study; others cannot be comprehended.</P>
<P>But is it not true, &s;ay our <HI>Indifferent Men,</HI> that all Here&s;ies may be prov'd by Scripture? I con|fe&s;s that the Hereticks boa&s;t their drawing their Opinions from Divine Sources; the more cun|ningly to deceive tho&s;e that they have a mind to &s;educe. Such were <HI>Arrius, Ne&s;torius, Eutyches, Macedonius, Socinus,</HI> and an Infinite Number of others. But tho' the&s;e Hereticks vaunted their having a&s;&s;erted nothing but what they extracted from Divine Writings; 'tis fal&s;e that their Proofs are &s;olid; and that they have any rea&s;on to infer from thence that the Scripture is &s;o ob&s;cure, that all &s;orts of Opinions may be drawn from thence. This only ought to engage us to take all the Care imaginable to under&s;tand it aright; not to pur&s;ue our own Prejudices; not to expound the Scripture according to our own Pa&s;&s;ions. Not to read it, on purpo&s;e to pick out Opinions which we have already invented; but &s;uch as we ought to have; to examine well the Meaning of the Holy Spirit, and the end which he propo&s;es to him&s;elf; to compare Scripture with Scripture; and not to &s;tudy it with a de&s;ign to &s;et up new Opinions to &s;ignalize our &s;elves in the World, and gain Di&s;ciples; but only with a pro&s;pect of advancing in the Knowledge of the My&s;teries of our Salvation, and in the Study of Piety.</P>
</DIV2>
<PB N="76" REF="45">
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIII.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who believe, that although the Truth be clearly explain'd in Scripture, yet that it ought to be indifferent to us what Religion we embrace.</HEAD>
<P>WE have hitherto di&s;puted again&s;t tho&s;e that will not acknowledge the Divi|nity of Scripture, or who would make it u&s;ele&s;s to us. Now our main Bu&s;ine&s;s is, to contend with Tho&s;e who agree, that the Truth is &s;ufficiently explain'd in Scripture; but &s;till they believe that we have no occa&s;ion to tor|ment our &s;elves about the Choice of a Religion; or at lea&s;t, they live as if they believ'd &s;o. This &s;ort of <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> is very numerous; &s;o that 'tis but ju&s;t, that we &s;hould apply our &s;elves a little to refute 'em.</P>
<P>I draw my fir&s;t Argument again&s;t 'em from hence, that we ought always to prefer Truth before a Lye; and that we ought always to em|brace that Truth, when we have once attain'd to the Knowledge of it. For if it be &s;o, then it follows of nece&s;&s;ity, that all Religions ought not to be Indifferent.</P>
<P>It will be no difficult Thing to apprehend the Force of this Inference, if it be but con&s;ider'd, that all Religions, being contrary the one to the other, and &s;till accu&s;ing each other of Fal&s;hood, it mu&s;t be nece&s;&s;arily concluded, that Truth is one of the&s;e Religions, and Fal&s;hood in the Re&s;t. If then we ought to prefer Truth before Fal&s;hood, we ought to abide in that Religion where Truth
<PB N="77" REF="45" MS="y">&s;hall be found, and avoid all the re&s;t as &s;o ma|ny Sects.</P>
<P>This Propo&s;ition, that Truth is always to be preferr'd before Fal&s;hood, and that we ought to embrace the Truth when we have once attain'd to the Knowledge of it, &s;eems to have no need of Proofs. For where is that Man who will pre&s;ume to aver that Truth is to be preferr'd be|fore Fal&s;hood? Had God reveal'd to us which Sect of Philo&s;ophers is the True one, there is no Per&s;on but would willingly &s;ubmit. 'Tis for the finding out the&s;e Philo&s;ophical Truths, that the Learned read with &s;o much Application what the Ancient Philo&s;ophers have written, and what the Moderns have di&s;covered, and 'tis with that de&s;ign that they make &s;o many Experiments at this Day. Now then, if it be true in things that concern Philo&s;ophy, and which are of no u&s;e in Reference to Salvation; How much more ought we to lave Truth in matters of Religion, where our Sovereign Good lies at Stake. More e&s;pecially, &s;ince God has taught us what is true, what is fal&s;e, what plea&s;es, and what offends him. The Love of Truth &s;eems to be born with us, &s;o that even Children love it. 'Twas &s;o highly e&s;teemed among the Pagans, that their Authors make no Scruple to a&s;&s;ert, that 'tis the Riche&s;t Pre&s;ent that God ever made Mankind; that it renders Mortals equal to God; and that if a Soul and Body were to be attributed to the De|ity, Truth mu&s;t be allowed him for the Soul, and Light for the Body. They al&s;o deemed them&s;elves &s;o Happy, when they found it out, that they offer'd Hecatombs to their Gods, to
<PB N="78" REF="46">return 'em Thanks for the Di&s;covery of &s;o preci|ous a Trea&s;ure. Who would not be a&s;toni&s;hed then, that in the Chri&s;tian World, there &s;hould be per&s;ons &s;o daring as to maintain, that in Re|ligion Fal&s;hood might be &s;ometimes preferr'd be|fore Truth, though upon all other occa&s;ions of Life they prefer Truth before Fal&s;hood, and take no delight in being deceiv'd. Their Crime is al|&s;o &s;o much the Greater, for that God is the Au|thor of Truth, and the Devil the Father of Lyes: &s;o that no Man can prefer Fal&s;hood before Truth, but he mu&s;t prefer the Devil before God; which is not a thing to be thought of without Horror.</P>
<P>Our <HI>Indifferent Men,</HI> that very well perceive the force of this Argument, make u&s;e of all their Wit to an&s;wer it.</P>
<P N="1">I. They &s;ay in the Fir&s;t place, that there is no Religion, which has not &s;ome Truths; and therefore They, who upon &s;ome occa&s;ions, and as their Intere&s;ts require, embrace new Religions, cannot be &s;aid to embrace Fal&s;hood before Truth, becau&s;e they always meet with the Choice&s;t and mo&s;t E&s;&s;ential Truths in all &s;orts of Religious Societies.</P>
<P>This fir&s;t An&s;wer, or rather Eva&s;ion, is very ab&s;urd; for the preferring Religions where there are &s;ome Truths, but withal very great and gro&s;s Errors, before a Religion which is pure, and which teaches us all the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;a|ry Truths, is a manife&s;t preferring of a Lye be|fore Truth; and this is that which our <HI>Indiffe|rent Men</HI> do.</P>
<P>Now that they may &s;ee how much they are deceiv'd, I be&s;eech 'em to con&s;ider,</P>
<PB N="79" REF="46">
<P N="1">1. That tho&s;e Truths which are ob&s;erv'd in all Religions, are &s;tifl'd in certain Sects, with an innumerable company of Errors, which are dif|ficult to be di&s;cover'd.</P>
<P N="2">2. That tho&s;e General Truths, to &s;peak pro|perly, con&s;titute no particular Religion.</P>
<P>Every Religion, if I may be permitted to &s;ay &s;o, has a <HI>Genus,</HI> and a <HI>Difference.</HI> The <HI>Genus</HI> of all Religions are tho&s;e principal Truths which are known to all Men, but that which makes the di&s;tinction, is either the Teaching of other Truths or Errors. So that the Principal Truths are not the Rea&s;on that a Religion is &s;uch a Re|ligion; but either Errors, and then the Religion is fal&s;e; or other Truths, which are not joyn'd to the former, and then the Religion is True. As that which makes a Man to be a Man, is not his <HI>Animo&s;ity,</HI> or his being a Creature; that's his <HI>Genus:</HI> but it is his Rea&s;on which makes him a Rational Creature. So they who prefer a fal&s;e Religion before a True one, cannot excu&s;e them|&s;elves by &s;aying, That that &s;ame very Religion has &s;ome Truths; becau&s;e tho&s;e Truths, as I have &s;aid already, to &s;peak properly, con&s;titute no Religion.</P>
<P>But our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> will &s;ay, that if we ought always to prefer Truth before a Lye, we ought then to quit a Religion wherein we find &s;ome Errors.</P>
<P>I an&s;wer Fir&s;t, That if there be any Religion purer then that which we profe&s;s, we ought not to be a&s;ham'd of quitting our Religion, to em|brace another. But in the &s;econd place, I &s;ay, we ought to di&s;tingui&s;h between the Errors. There are &s;ome which are Capital and Mortal,
<PB N="80" REF="47">which creep into our Wor&s;hip and our Manners; which di&s;compo&s;e and overturn the very founda|tions of Chri&s;tianity; but there are others which are not altogether incompatible with Piety; as there are likewi&s;e two &s;orts of Truths; the one which are of highe&s;t importance, of which we cannot be ignorant and yet be Sav'd; others which are not &s;o nece&s;&s;ary; &s;o that without the knowledge thereof, we may one day obtain Sal|vation. Tis certain, that we ought to abandon a Communion, which de&s;troys E&s;&s;entially the Service of God, and which continues ob&s;tinare in Errors, directly oppo&s;ite to the Salvation of Mankind. But we may be &s;tedfa&s;t to a Religi|on wherein are only &s;ome &s;catter'd Errors of &s;mall Importance, contenting our &s;elves with not approving tho&s;e Errors; as in civil Society we refrain from Familiarity with tho&s;e per&s;ons whom we find to be notoriou&s;ly vicious, becau&s;e that a Corre&s;pondency with &s;uch per&s;ons would be a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ain to tho&s;e that make Profe&s;&s;ion of Honour and Virtue. But with all mildne&s;s we bear with the defects of tho&s;e per&s;ons, who not being per|ver&s;ly wicked, retain the Tinctures only of Hu|man frailty.</P>
<P N="2">2. In the &s;econd place they &s;ay, that we ought to prefer Truth before a Lye, but that we ought to perfer Peace before Truth. This is an Eva|&s;ion that meets with no better luck then the for|mer? 'Tis true that God loves Peace, but &s;uch a Peace as is conjoyn'd with Truth, becau&s;e he is no le&s;s the God of Truth, then the God of Peace, and for that Peace without Truth is a con&s;piracy again&s;t God; &s;o that War is to be
<PB N="81" REF="47">preferr'd before a Peace that &s;eparates us from God. This is no more then what the Pagans them&s;elves acknowledg'd; and if they have &s;aid that Peace is the mo&s;t excellent. Thing in the World; they have likewi&s;e a&s;&s;erted, that we ought never to commit an unju&s;t or ba&s;e Act for the enjoyment of it. The love of Peace ought only to encline us to tolerate tho&s;e Corre&s;pon|dences that are not guilty of Capital Errors, and &s;uch as are incompatible with our Salvation. And therefore we cannot con&s;ent with tho&s;e ancient Authors, who made &s;uch a noi&s;e about Innocent Opinions, as if they had overturn'd all Chri&s;ti|anity. As <HI>Phila&s;tius,</HI> who lookt upon tho&s;e as very great Hereticks, who attributed the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Hebrews</HI> to <HI>St. Clement</HI> and <HI>St. Barnahas,</HI> and not to <HI>St. Paul;</HI> and tho&s;e who did not be|lieve that <HI>David</HI> compos'd the 150 <HI>P&s;alms.</HI> We cannot approve Pope <HI>Victor,</HI> who for a Petty Que&s;tion excommunicated the Churches of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> by that means di&s;membring the Great and Glo|rious Body of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; which was very well repre&s;ented to him by <HI>Ireneus;</HI> and we believe, as that Bi&s;hop did, that for the &s;ake of Peace it is much better to bear with the petty defects of the Church, then to violate the Peace of it by correcting the Church; in regard the Mi&s;chief of the Rupture is incomparably much greator then the Fruit which is to be reap'd from the Cen&s;ure of &s;uch an Error. But the love of Peace ought never to oblige us to prefer Communions, full of Errors, before another which is much more pure; becau&s;e nothing ought to be dearer to us then Truth, and for that we ought arwaps
<PB N="82" REF="48">to remember what <HI>St. Paul</HI> &s;ays, that we never ought to do Evil that Good may come of it. To which we may add, That Truth of it &s;elf is not contrary to Peace, and that it is only by Acci|dent, that it is the occa&s;ion of Wars and Com|motions. 'Tis not Truth, but the Corruption of Men, which cau&s;es War, and is the Fuel of Di&s;cord.</P>
<P N="3">3. They will &s;ay in the Third Place, that God always Pardons the Good Intention, and there|fore he will not deny Salvation to tho&s;e who prefer Peace before Truth, becau&s;e they think they plea&s;e God in doing &s;o. This Third Obje|ction is refuted very ea&s;ily by the &s;ame Scripture, which teaches us, that a Good Intention is not &s;uf|ficient to ju&s;tifie our Actions before God, when we do that which he has forbid us to do. And to be convinc'd of this, there needs no more then to read the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Saul.</HI> God had com|manded him to exterminate the <HI>Amalekites</HI> in &s;uch a manner as he enjoyn'd him: Neverthele&s;s he &s;par'd the be&s;t of the Oxen, and the be&s;t of the Sheep to Sacrifice to the Lord. One would have thought there had been nothing blame-wor|thy in this Action. Neverthele&s;s, <HI>Samuel</HI> gives him a terrible Reprimand. <HI>Has the Lord,</HI> &s;aid He, <HI>as great delight-in Burnt Offerings and Sacrifi|ces, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than &s;acrifice, and to hearken, then the fat of Rams. For Rebellion is the &s;in of witchcraft, and &s;tubborne&s;s is as Iniquity and Idolatry; becau&s;e thou ha&s;t rejected the word of the Lord, he has al&s;o rejecte? Thee from being King.</HI> Thus you &s;ee how his good Intention was rewarded. To this we
<PB N="83" REF="48">may add the Hi&s;tory recited in the 1&s;t of <HI>Kings</HI> chap. 13. A man of God was &s;ent to <HI>Bethel</HI> to pro|phe&s;ie again&s;t the Altar of <HI>Jeroboam;</HI> He per|formed exactly the Command which had been given him; and becau&s;e that God had forbid him to eat and drink in that Country, he would not enter into <HI>Jeroboam</HI>'s Palace. But meeting an old Prophet in his return, who a&s;&s;ur'd him that an Angel had commanded him from the Eternal, to carry him back to his Hou&s;e, and to give him to eat, the Man of God &s;uffered him&s;elf to be over-rul'd, and went and Din'd with the Pro|phet. He thought that that was no violation of the Fir&s;t Order he had receiv'd, becau&s;e he made no que&s;tion of the Truth of what was told him: His Intention was only to obey the Eternal. Ne|verthele&s;s, God call'd this Action Rebellion; and at the &s;ame moment caus'd the Old Prophet, that had brought him back, to pronounce to him the Sentence of his Death, which was afterwards executed by a Lyon. To teach us, not only that there is no Authority which ought to oblige us to violate the Commands of God, but al&s;o, that our Good Intentions are not &s;ufficient for our Ju&s;tification. The Hi&s;tory of <HI>&V;zzah</HI> de|&s;crib'd, <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.6. confirms the &s;ame Truth. This Man, &s;eeing that the Oxen that drew the Ark, drew it all a one &s;ide, and fearing that Au|gu&s;t Symbol of the Pre&s;ence of God &s;hould fall, &s;tretch'd forth his Hand to hold it. There is no que&s;tion to be made, but that his Intention was Good. Neverthele&s;s God &s;mote him, and he dy'd upon the &s;pot, becau&s;e that none but the Prie&s;ts and Levites were to touch the Ark. After
<PB N="84" REF="49">all this, let our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> flatter them&s;elves with their good Intentions. The Jews believ'd they offer'd a plea&s;ing &s;acrifice to God, in put|ting the Chri&s;tians to Death. But can it be ima|gined, that their good Intentions were accepta|ble to God? Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s Intention was good when he per&s;ecuted the Church; but was that Intention &s;ufficient to ju&s;tifie him? He does not think &s;o him&s;elf, &s;ince he acknowledges his Sin, and Confe&s;&s;es that if God had given him Grace, 'twas the mo&s;t Illu&s;trious Proof of his Clemen|cy. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIV.</HI> Three Arguments again&s;t the Indifferent-Men.</HEAD>
<P>I Draw a Second Argument again&s;t the&s;e who defend Indifferency of Religions from hence, that the Scripture cau&s;es us to look upon it as a great Crime, for a Man to aban|don a Truth to the knowledge of which he has once attain'd; and as a Crime that ought to be &s;everely-puni&s;h'd. For it would never &s;peak in that manner if it were true, that it was lawful to Sacrifice Truth for Peace. There needs no more then to read the Author of the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> Chap. 6. v. 4, 5.6. <HI>For is it po&s;&s;ible for tho&s;e who were once enlighten'd and have ta&s;ted of the Heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Gho&s;t, and have ta&s;ted the Good Word of God, and the Powers of the World to come; If they &s;hall fall away, to renew them again vnto Repentance:
<PB N="85" REF="49">Seeing they Cruoifie to them&s;elves the Son of God a|fre&s;h, and put him to open &s;hame.</HI> Can People be painted out in blacker Colours then to compane 'em with tho&s;e that Crucify the Son of God? They are al&s;o much more to be blam'd; for they who Nail'd to the Cro&s;s the Saviour of the World, had no knowledge of him; but the&s;e Men Crucifie him, well knowing who he is. The fir&s;t put him to Death in Mortal Fle&s;h, but the Second Crucifie him in Glory and Immorta|lity. The Apo&s;tle &s;hews us yet more clearly the Enormity of their Sin, and the puni&s;hment which they de&s;erve in the Tenth Chapter of the &s;ame Epi&s;tle. <HI>For if we Sin,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>wilfully, after we have receiv'd the Knowledge of the Truth, there remains no more &s;acrifice for Sins; but a certain fearful looking for Judgment, and fiery Indignation which &s;hall devour the Adver&s;aries. He that de&s;pis'd Mo&s;es's Law died without Mercy, under two or three Witne&s;&s;es. Of how much &s;urer puni&s;hment, &s;uppo&s;e ye, &s;hall he be thought worthy, who has trodden un|der foot the Son of God, and has counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was &s;anctify'd, an unholy Thing, and has done de&s;pite to the Spirit of Grace? For we know him that has &s;aid, Vengeance belongs unto Me, and I will recompence &s;aith the Lord.</HI> And again, <HI>The Lord &s;hall Judge his peo|ple. It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God.</HI> Is it po&s;&s;ible that St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;hould thus di&s;cour&s;e, if there were any Rea&s;ons to in|duce a Man to for&s;ake the Truth, without &s;tir|ring, and without being afraid of the Judgments of God.</P>
<PB N="86" REF="50">
<P>But becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks here of tho&s;e that quit the Truth voluntarily, and for that perhaps it may be thought, that he di&s;cour&s;es not here of tho&s;e who for&s;ake the Religion which they think mo&s;t pure, to avoid the Mi&s;chiefs they might &s;uffer by it, but only of tho&s;e who quit their Religion without any Nece&s;&s;ity, there needs no more then to read the following Ver&s;es, where he exhorts the Faithful Hebrews to &s;uffer as they had done, rather then renounce the Truth; <HI>But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were Illuminated ye endured a great &s;ight of Afflictions; Partly while ye were made a Gazing-Stock, both by reproaches and Afflictions, and partly while ye became the Companions of them that were &s;o us'd. Ca&s;t not away therefore your Confidence, which has great Recompence of reward. For ye have need of Patience,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Which gives me an occa&s;ion to proceed to a Second proof which confirms what we have &s;aid, and is taken from the Exhortations of Scripture to die for the Truth. In a word, it would be a great piece of cruelty, to impo&s;e upon Men a Yoak &s;o heavy, without any nece&s;&s;ity, and to engage 'em to &s;uffer all &s;orts of Cruelties rather then renounce the Truth, if it might be &s;ome|times abandon'd without a Crime. The Life of Men who are made after the Image of God, and who have been redeem'd by the Blood of his Son, is it &s;o meanly to be priz'd, that they &s;hould be oblig'd to expo&s;e it without Compul&s;ive Rea|&s;ons? How comes it then to pa&s;s, that Chri&s;t exhorts us &s;o often to carry his Cro&s;s? Whence proceeds it that it is the Fir&s;t Le&s;&s;on that he
<PB N="87" REF="50">gives his Di&s;ciples. <HI>If any one will come after me, let him deny him&s;elf, and take up his Cro&s;s and follow me.</HI> Mat. 16.24. <HI>And he that taketh not his Cro&s;s, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his Life &s;hall lo&s;e it; and he that lo&s;es his Life for my &s;ake, &s;hall find it,</HI> Mat. 10. v. 38, 39. Whence comes it that the Apo&s;tles &s;o often repeat the &s;ame Exhortation? Wherefore do they command us to bear the Reproach of Chri&s;t, and to follow the Examples of tho&s;e that were Ston'd, Saw'd, or &s;lain by the Sword, who have wander'd in De&s;arts, upon Mountains, and lurk'd in Dens and Caverns of the Earth? Would Wi&s;e Men, and in&s;pir'd by God, &s;peak thus, were it an Indifferent Thing what Religion a Man profe&s;s'd?</P>
<P>To this Argument I &s;hall add another which is taken from a Pa&s;&s;age in St. <HI>Paul,</HI> where that &s;ame Doctor of the Gentiles pronounces Anathe|ma's upon all tho&s;e that &s;hould preach any other Go&s;pel then that which he had preach'd him&s;elf, though he &s;hould be another St. <HI>Paul</HI> de&s;cended from Heaven, and one of tho&s;e Ble&s;&s;ed Spirits that continually behold the Face of God. <HI>But though We, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Go&s;pel unto ye, then that ye have received, let him be accur&s;ed,</HI> Gal. 1.8. Certainly, Light is not more oppo&s;ite to Darkne&s;s, then the words of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> are contrary to the Opinions of tho&s;e again&s;t whom we di&s;pute. The Apo&s;tle anathe|matizes tho&s;e tho&s;e that preach any other Go&s;pel but that which he has taught. Yet they with whom we di&s;pute, judge it to be an Indifferent Thing, and of no Importance to embrace a Religion
<PB N="88" REF="51">which teaches another Doctrine, then that which St. <HI>Paul</HI> has taught. This Argument is &s;o much the &s;tronger, becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle thunders out his Cur&s;e again&s;t people, who only went about to joyn the Religion of Chri&s;t to that of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> Wherein they were far le&s;s Culpable then our <HI>Indifferent Men,</HI> who would not only joyn <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> with Chri&s;t, but Je&s;us Chri&s;t with the World; the Religion of Je&s;us Chri&s;t with other Religi|ons, which are no more then Human Inventions, and make it their bu&s;ine&s;s to &s;erve God and <HI>Mammon.</HI></P>
<P>Nor can I forbear to ob&s;erve in this Place that this Pa&s;&s;age ab&s;olutely overturns the Opinion of tho&s;e who imagine, that 'tis enough to believe that Je&s;us Chri&s;t is the promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> and to admit of tho&s;e Truths which are common to all Religions; but that other Things are not of any great Importance; and that there is no nece&s;&s;ity of di&s;puting upon that point. For they who are rebuk'd by St. <HI>Paul</HI> acknowledged <HI>Je&s;us</HI> for the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> they al&s;o confe&s;s'd the mo&s;t Emi|nent Truths of the Go&s;pel, but he could not per|&s;uade 'em altogether to renounce <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and to lay a&s;ide Circumci&s;ion. Neverthele&s;s, they are Ana|thematized by St. <HI>Paul.</HI> Judge then what Anathe|ma's that Great Apo&s;tle would now thunder out, were he to de&s;cend from Heaven. Be&s;ides, that it might be ea&s;ie to prove, that &s;hould we grant, what is far from us to do, that it is &s;ufficient to believe that Chri&s;t is the Promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> whom the Prophets call the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Eternal of Ju&s;tice, it would follow from thence, that there are Religions which would
<PB N="89" REF="51">be thought to be Chri&s;tians, which are Fal&s;e Religions, and which we cannot embrace with|out offending God.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XV.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who believe they make Profe&s;&s;ion of a Religion, though they believe it to be fal&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>THE Greate&s;t part of our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> believe, that without committing any Crime, they may ob&s;erve the Ceremo|nies, and practi&s;e the Wor&s;hip of a Fal&s;e Reli|gion; that the World may be brought to an A|greement with Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and that both the one and the other may be &s;erv'd at the &s;ame Time; like that &s;ame Emperor who had in his Clo&s;et the Images of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>Abraham, Orpheus,</HI> and <HI>Apollonius:</HI> Or rather like tho&s;e, (of whom <HI>Adrian</HI> &s;peaks in a Letter to <HI>Servianus,</HI> cited by <HI>Vopi&s;cus</HI>) who called them&s;elves Bi&s;hops of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and &s;erved the God <HI>Serapis.</HI> This Opi|nion is dangerous, th&ocirc; ea&s;ie to be refuted, and no le&s;s ea&s;ie to &s;hew that Diffimulation in Reli|gion de&s;erves Rebuke and Cen&s;ure; and that it is Condemned by all the Sacred Writers.</P>
<P N="1">I. If it were Lawful to di&s;&s;emble and con|ceal our thoughts concerning Religion, how comes it to pa&s;s, that in the Reign of <HI>Ahab</HI> and <HI>Jezabel,</HI> God owns none for his Servants, but &s;uch as had not bowed their Knee to <HI>Baal,</HI> th&ocirc; there be no que&s;tion to be made, but that &s;everal of tho&s;e who pro&s;trated them&s;elves before that
<PB N="90" REF="52">Idol, ador'd in their Hearts the True God of <HI>I&s;rael?</HI></P>
<P N="2">II. Wherefore Je&s;us Chri&s;t declares expre&s;ly, that we cannot be of the Number of his Sheep, and follow <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">trangers, <HI>John</HI> 10.4, 5. <HI>And when he putteth forth his own Sheep, he goeth before them, and the Sheep follow him; for they know his Voice; But a Stranger will not follow, but fly from him; for they know not the Voice of Strangers.</HI></P>
<P N="3">III. Whence it comes to pa&s;s, that this Di|vine Saviour teaches us, <HI>Mat.</HI> 6.24. <HI>That we can|not &s;erve two Ma&s;ters.</HI></P>
<P N="4">IV. Wherefore does he expre&s;ly forbid us <HI>to deny him before Men.</HI> Mat. 10.33. Had it not been &s;ufficient for him to have &s;aid, <HI>Who &s;hall deny me in his Heart?</HI> Why does he expre&s;s him|&s;elf &s;o peremptorily, <HI>Whoever &s;hall deny me before Men,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Who &s;hall be a&s;hamed of Me, of him will I be a&s;hamed.</HI> This is one of tho&s;e Pa&s;&s;ages that <HI>Avitus</HI> made u&s;e of again&s;t <HI>Gandebaud,</HI> who made profe&s;&s;ion of Arriani&s;m, th&ocirc; he acknow|ledg'd Je&s;us Chri&s;t for a God.</P>
<P N="5">V. Whence comes it to pa&s;s, that Je&s;us Chri&s;t, if we de&s;ire to be his Di&s;ciples, requires of us that we &s;hould renounce and for&s;ake our World|ly Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and break the &s;tricte&s;t Tyes of Nature that unite us with our Neare&s;t Relations <HI>Luke</HI> 14.26. <HI>If any one comes to me, and hate not his Father and Mother, Wife and Children, Bre|thren and Si&s;ters, yea and his own Life al&s;o, he can|not be my Di&s;ciple.</HI> And v. 33. <HI>So likewi&s;e, who|&s;oever he be of you, that for&s;aketh not all he hath, he cannot be my Di&s;ciple.</HI></P>
<PB N="91" REF="52">
<P N="6">VI. Wherefore St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls tho&s;e Idolaters who committed any one of tho&s;e Acts which the Pagans practis'd, 1. <HI>Corinth.</HI> 10.</P>
<P N="7">VII. If it be &s;ufficient for a Man to believe in his Heart, without making open Profe&s;&s;ion of the Truth, how comes it that the &s;ame Apo&s;tle Commands us, <HI>to believe in our Hearts, and make Confe&s;&s;ion with our Mouths unto Salvation,</HI> Rom. 10.9, 10. And that St. <HI>Peter</HI> would have us <HI>Be rea|dy always to give an An&s;wer to every Man that asks ye a Rea&s;on of the Hope that is in you.</HI> 1. Pet. 3.15.</P>
<P N="8">VIII. If it be true that Man may be faithful and practi&s;e a Fal&s;e wor&s;hip, and ob&s;erve the Ceremonies of a Corrupt Religion, then <HI>might He Drink the Cup of the Lord, and the Cup of Devills,</HI> contrary to the &s;aying of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> 1. <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. and have Communion with God, yet walk in Darkne&s;s, contrary to the Precepts of St. <HI>John</HI> 1 Epi&s;t. C. 1. v. 6. And a Man may have re|ceived the Good Seed of God into his Heart, and withdraw him&s;elf in time of Per&s;ecution, con|trary to the Doctrine of Chri&s;t, <HI>Mat.</HI> 13.</P>
<P N="9">IX. A Man might be an Idolater and yet be Saved, contrary to what the Apo&s;tle deter|mins, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. <HI>that Idolaters &s;hall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.</HI></P>
<P N="10">X. He may be regi&s;ter'd in the Book of Life of the Lamb, and adore the Bea&s;t, contra|ry to what is written by St. <HI>John,</HI> Apoc. 13.8. <HI>And all that &s;hall Wor&s;hip the Bea&s;t, who&s;e Names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb.</HI></P>
<P N="11">XI. If the Opinion of tho&s;e, again&s;t whom we Combat, were true, would St. <HI>John</HI> threaten Eternal Torments to the Adorers of the Bea&s;t?
<PB N="92" REF="53">Apoc. 14. v. 9, 10, 11. <HI>If any Man wor&s;hip the Bea&s;t and his Image, and receive his mark in his Forehead, or in his hand, the &s;ame &s;hall drink the Wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out with|out mixture, into the Cup of his indignation, and be &s;hall be tormented with Fire and Brim&s;tone in the Pre&s;ence of the Holy Angels, and in the Pre&s;ence of the Lamb. And the &s;moke of their torment a&s;cend|eth up for ever and ever,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="12">XII. The &s;ame beloved Di&s;ciple would have placed the <HI>Fearful</HI> at the head of tho&s;e for whom the Lake of Fire and Brim&s;tone is re&s;er|ved. <HI>Apoc.</HI> 21.8. Would Je&s;us Chri&s;t threaten to &s;pue the Lukewarm out of his Mouth, <HI>Apoc.</HI> 3.16. For who are the <HI>Fearful</HI> and <HI>Lukewarm,</HI> but they who under&s;tand the Truth, yet fearing the Hatred and Cruelty of the World, compo&s;e their outward Behaviour in &s;uch a manner, that they make a &s;hew of approving a Religion, of which they acknowledge the Fal&s;hood. Such as have an Orthodox Soul, and Lips of Infidels; who will neither be altogether for Je&s;us Chri&s;t, not altogether for the World; who divide them|&s;elves between the One and the Other, and would fain be reconcil'd to Both: In a word, who do that which our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> believe may be done without a Crime.</P>
<P N="13">XIII. Whence comes it to pa&s;s, that the Holy Gho&s;t condemns tho&s;e that halt on both &s;ides, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 18.21. <HI>Zephan.</HI> 1.5. and tho&s;e that wor&s;hip and &s;wear by the Lord, yet &s;wear by <HI>Maloham</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P N="14">XIV. Wherefore is it, that the Two Apo&s;tles <HI>St. Paul</HI> and <HI>St. John;</HI> of which the one had
<PB N="93" REF="53">been taken up into Heaven, the Other had &s;een in the Spirit the Heavenly Jeru&s;alem, Commands us to come out from among the Unfaithful, and from <HI>Babylon,</HI> Apoc. 18.4. <HI>Long out of her my People,</HI> &s;ays the Lord by <HI>St. John, that ye be not partakers of her &s;ins, and that we receive not of her Plagues:</HI> and 2 Cor. 6.14, 15, 16, 17. <HI>Be ye not unequally yoak'd with &V;nbelievers; for what fellow|&s;hip hath Righteou&s;ne&s;s with &V;nrighteou&s;ne&s;s? and what Communion hath Light with Darkne&s;s? What Concord hath Chri&s;t with Behal? or what part hath he that believes with an Infidel? What Agreement has the Temple of God with Idols? For ye are the Temple of the Living God,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Wherefore come out from among 'em, and be ye &s;eparate, &s;ays the Lord, and touch not the &V;nclean thing, and I will receive ye.</HI></P>
<P N="15">XV. La&s;tly, Wherefore is it, that we are commanded to &s;uffer for Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;ake, and that the Spirit of God makes &s;uch large Promi|&s;es to tho&s;e that &s;uffer Per&s;ecution, <HI>Matth.</HI> 5.10. <HI>Heb.</HI> 12. <HI>James</HI> 5.10.11. <HI>Phil.</HI> 1.29. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.11, 12.</P>
<P>I add to all the&s;e Proofs, tho&s;e Pa&s;&s;ages of Scripture, where the Apo&s;tles command us to offer to God not only our Souls but our Bodies al&s;o: and to Glorifie him in our Bodies and our Spirit. <HI>Rom.</HI> 12.1. <HI>I be&s;eech you therefore, Bre|thren, that ye pre&s;ent your Bodies a living &s;acrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is your rea&s;onable &s;ervice.</HI> and 1 Cor. 6.20. <HI>For ye are bought with price, therefore Glorifis God in your Body, and in your Spirit, which are Gods.</HI> Is it not a great piece of Sacriledge to refu&s;e the giving of that to
<PB N="94" REF="54">God which belongs to him. He created both our Bodies and Souls, he has redeem'd 'em both, the one in the other; Is it not then ju&s;t, that we &s;hould con&s;ecrate both to him? Wherefore &s;hould we &s;eparate what God has joyn'd, and what he has given us, to the end we &s;hould employ it to his Glory? How great a &s;in it is, how great a piece of Impiety, to divide our &s;elves between God, to whom we owe all things, and the World to which we owe nothing? To deny our Tongues to God, to whom we owe our Lives; and to be a&s;ham'd of calling our &s;elves the Servants and Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t, who was not a&s;ham'd to call us his Brethren, and who for our &s;akes has &s;uf|fer'd a mo&s;t cruel and ignominious death.</P>
<P>To demon&s;trate yet more clearly the Fal&s;hood of this Opinion, which I labour to de&s;troy, I think it convenient to make the&s;e few Reflexi|ons.</P>
<P>The Fir&s;t is, That it is a &s;trange thing, that there &s;hould be &s;o many People that make no &s;cruple of Lying in Religion, which is a thing of the greate&s;t Importance, and the mo&s;t Sacred in the World; in regard that Lying is a Vice unworthy a Man of Honour. The greate&s;t De|bauchees become &s;en&s;ible of the things of Con|&s;cience, if they happen to &s;wear a Fal&s;hood be|fore a Judge; So true it is, that we have a na|tural Aver&s;ion again&s;t telling a Lye. Who would not wonder then, that Men who are de&s;irous of Reputation, &s;hould not be a&s;ham'd to lye in a thing that is mo&s;t grave and &s;erious in the World; the Concern of God him&s;elf, of Truth and our own Salvation. If a Subject, who gives but the
<PB N="95" REF="54">lea&s;t &s;u&s;pition of an Intention to Revolt from his Prince, and who only lets fall &s;ome words that will admit of a bad Con&s;truction, is handl'd with &s;o much &s;everity, in regard that Royal Maje&s;ty is &s;o Sacred, that it is not to be injur'd in any manner whatever, without incurring the guilt of a hainous Crime; What greater Tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion can a Man commit, then to make a &s;hew of being an Enemy to God and his Truth? What Torments ought not they to expect, who are guilty of &s;uch Impiety?</P>
<P>The Second Reflexion is this, That they who di&s;&s;emble in Religion, commit a very great crime again&s;t their Brethren, for they incite 'em by their own example to Apo&s;tacy, and make 'em believe, that the Religion which they profe&s;s is the true Religion. So that if they who poi&s;on the Body, are lookt upon as the wicked'&s;t Peo|ple in the World; How much more criminal are they who poi&s;on the Soul; who pre&s;ent their Brethren the Mortal Draught, and make a &s;hew of Drinking it to the end, that others may not be afraid of &s;wallowing it? And what Torments ought not they to fear from Him who threatens to puni&s;h mo&s;t &s;everely Lyers, and &s;uch as give &s;candal to his little Children.</P>
<P>This Remark is &s;o much the more nece&s;&s;ary becau&s;e there are &s;everal Per&s;ons who believe, that a Man may abide in a fal&s;e Religion, with a de&s;ign to make known the Truth to tho&s;e who know it not, wherein they gro&s;ly abu&s;e them|&s;elves. For be&s;ides that, I would willingly ask 'em, whether they can &s;peak it with a &s;afe Con|&s;cience, that they only &s;tick to the fal&s;e Religion
<PB N="96" REF="55">which they profe&s;s, on purpo&s;e to &s;hew the fal&s;|hood of it, and whether it be not meerly becau&s;e they find it more advantageous for their Bu&s;ine&s;s, and for the enjoyment of the Conveniencies of Life; I would put this farther que&s;tion to 'em, were the Fir&s;t of the&s;e the real Motive that de|tains 'em, Who is he that has enjoyn'd 'em to extend their Charity &s;o far as to expo&s;e them|&s;elves willingly to Damnation, out of hopes to convert others? For where is it that God has promis'd to Save tho&s;e who &s;hall turn Idolaters to Save their Brethren? Does not <HI>St. Paul</HI> expre&s;ly &s;ay, That we ought not to do evil, that good may come of it? But &s;o far are they from Con|verting others by adhering to a fal&s;e Religion, that quite the contrary, they confirm 'em in their own Opinion, and corrupt many by their bad Example. They may make good Hypocrites like them&s;elves, but very rarely good Chri&s;ti|ans.</P>
<P>The Third Reflexion which I add to the two preceding is this, That if Di&s;&s;imulation in Re|ligion be permitted, and that it be lawful to em|brace that which be&s;t agrees with our carnal In|tere&s;ts, we mu&s;t confe&s;s, that the Martyrs who have laid down their Lives with &s;o much Cou|rage, and &s;uffered &s;uch cruel Torments, were all Fools and Madmen, while they rather cho&s;e to lo&s;e their Lives, when there was no nece&s;&s;ity for it, and peri&s;h in the mid&s;t of con&s;uming Flames, then to conde&s;cend to the lea&s;t comply|ance, th&ocirc; but in outward &s;hew, and buckle to their Per&s;ecutors. But God forbid we &s;hould deprive tho&s;e Chri&s;tian Hero's of their merited
<PB N="97" REF="55">Honour, and look upon as extravagant, the wi|&s;e&s;t of all Mortals. Have we not more rea&s;on to call our <HI>Lukewarm,</HI> and our fearful Chri&s;tians Fools, who rather chu&s;e to pre&s;erve their Wealth and Worldly Advantages, then one day to en|joy tho&s;e Eternal Felicities which God prepares for tho&s;e that will be faithful to him; who are more afraid of the pre&s;ent then the future; of that which can Kill the Body, then of that which precipitates the Soul into Hell: who are more afraid of Death, then of the cruel Torments of Hell; who prefer the World before God, and Time before Eternity.</P>
<P>To the&s;e Three Reflexions I &s;hall add a Fourth, which &s;eems to me to be of great Importance, that the In&s;ide can never be good, when the Out&s;ide is evil. And that it is not po&s;&s;ible for a Man to deny God with his Lips, but he mu&s;t renounce him in his Heart, when he has had time to reflect upon what he has done. I &s;ay, when he has had time to con&s;ider with him&s;elf, that I may not oppo&s;e the Example of <HI>St. Peter,</HI> who&s;e Fears &s;o far di&s;turb'd his Mind, that, quite tran&s;ported beyond him&s;elf, and only &s;tudying which way to avoid the danger that threatned him, he nei|ther remembred Je&s;us Chri&s;t, nor the Promi&s;e which he had made him.</P>
<P>'Twill be no difficult thing to under&s;tand this 4th Reflexion, if we con&s;ider that 'tis in the Heart that Men take that unhappy and cur&s;ed Re&s;olu|tion to renounce Je&s;us Chri&s;t with their Lips, and that 'tis in their Hearts that they meditate an Accommodation with the pre&s;ent Time. 'Tis therefore to no purpo&s;e for 'em to &s;ay, that they
<PB N="98" REF="56">re&s;erve their Hearts for God, and that they &s;ur|render 'em entirely to him, th&ocirc; they for&s;ake his Truth; that they do not renounce him with their Hearts, alth&ocirc; they deny him with their Lips. To talk in this manner is to deceive them&s;elves; and they who di&s;cour&s;e after this manner, are like a Woman, that &s;hould &s;ay, &s;he had bequeath'd her Heart to her Husband, and only made her Body common to her Lovers: Or to a Man that &s;hould rend the Reputation of his Neighbor, or Murder him, yet pretend that in his Heart he abhorr'd Murder, Backbiting and Calumny, and that he tenderly lov'd the Per&s;on whom he had bereft of Life.</P>
<P>They who di&s;&s;emble cannot deny but that the motions of Self-Love prevail over the Impul&s;es of the Love of God, becau&s;e they will neither &s;acrifice their Wealth, nor their Ea&s;e to his Glo|ry. So that if they were always to be judg'd by the Sentiments of their Hearts, they would always de&s;erve no le&s;s then Condemnation and Death.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVI.</HI> An An&s;wer to &s;ome Objections.</HEAD>
<P>'TIS but rea&s;onable now to An&s;wer &s;ome Objections which they make us.</P>
<P>The Fir&s;t is drawn from that which Je&s;us Chri&s;t &s;ays, <HI>John</HI> 4.24. <HI>God is a Spirit, and they that wor&s;hip him, mu&s;t wor&s;hip him in Spirit and Truth.</HI> Therefore, &s;ay they, God is &s;atisfy'd
<PB N="99" REF="56">with the Heart, and with the in&s;ide Wor&s;hip, not requiring exterior Adoration.</P>
<P>But if this be the Con&s;equence which is to be drawn from the words of the Saviour of the World, Why does he exhort us to own him be|fore Men, to bear his Cro&s;s, and to &s;uffer for him? Certainly, if he required no more then the Heart, wherefore does he exact from us an outward Profe&s;&s;ion, which expo&s;es us to a Thou|&s;and Di&s;graces, and a Thou&s;and Sufferings? Is our Life of &s;o little value, that he would have us to be &s;o prodigal of it, when there is no oc|ca&s;ion? But what Man of Judgement is there, who does not perceive, that his meaning is only to &s;hew us, what &s;ort of Wor&s;hip is mo&s;t plea|&s;ing to God, and that it his plea&s;ure, that under the Go&s;pel we &s;hould pay him a Spiritual Wor|&s;hip, ab&s;tracted from Matter, and all tho&s;e Ob|&s;ervances which were only proper for the Infan|cy of the Church; independant from Circum|&s;tances of Time, Per&s;ons and Places? Whether it be, that God, filling all the World with the Immen&s;ity of his Being, is no longer to be Ador'd at <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> or <HI>Guerezin</HI> only; or whether it be, that, being a Spirit, he is not rightly Honour'd by the Oblations of Bulls and Goats. He neither eats their Fle&s;h nor drinks their Blood; or whe|ther it be, that which way &s;oever you look upon the&s;e &s;orts of Wor&s;hip, they have no Relation or Corre&s;pondence, nor any way &s;ute with the na|ture of God; and to &s;peak properly, are no more then &s;hadows or Types of the True Wor|&s;hip which God requires. This is the Sence of the&s;e words; and there needs no more to be
<PB N="100" REF="57">convinc'd of it then to read what goes before. But we mu&s;t not conclude from thence that God is &s;atisfy'd with the Adoration of the Heart, while the Body lies pro&s;trate at the Feet of a fal&s;e De|ity. This is not a Wor&s;hipping God in Truth, but a Dividing his Adoration, by bequeathing the Inward wor&s;hip to God, and the outward Reverence to &s;ome other Object. For Truth is no other then the Conformity of Out&s;ide and In&s;ide. He that has the Outward Formality without the Inward Sincerity is a Hypocrite; and he who &s;ays he has the Inward without the Exteriour Reality is a Lyer.</P>
<P>The Second Objection is drawn from what St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ays in his Epi&s;tle to the Romans, Chap. 14. v. 22. <HI>Ha&s;t thou Faith, have it to thy &s;elf before God.</HI></P>
<P>But there needs no more then to read that Pa&s;&s;age with attention, and to examine what obliged the Apo&s;tle to hold that Argument, for any Man to apprehend, that he &s;peaks, there, of the Belief and Faith of a Believer, that Je&s;us Chri&s;t has &s;et us at full Liberty; that he has abo|li&s;h'd the di&s;tinction of Days and Meats, that was ob&s;erved under the Old Covenant. St. <HI>Paul</HI> therefore means, that if we find our &s;elves in Company with weak People, who would be &s;can|dalized to &s;ee us take our full Liberty, it would be better to ab&s;tain from the U&s;e of tho&s;e things which God has permitted us, to re&s;erve our Faith to our &s;elves, then to give any Scandal: Becau&s;e the Di&s;pute was only concerning Indif|ferent things; and for that whether we Eat or Eat not, we commit no Sin. But are we thence
<PB N="101" REF="57">to conclude, that the &s;ame Conduct is to be ob|&s;erv'd in Things, the u&s;e of which is &s;o far from being Indifferent, that it is ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary; and &s;uch as Je&s;us Chri&s;t recommends to us with &s;o much Care; threatening us, withal, with E|ternal Puni&s;hment if we neglect 'em. If that Con&s;equence were to be drawn from the words of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> how comes it to pa&s;s that he exhorts us to make Confe&s;&s;ion with our Mouths unto Salvation, and to lay down our Lives for the Go&s;pel? Certainly if it were &s;ufficient to have faith in the heart, there would be no nece&s;&s;ity of doing good Works. Contrary to the &s;aying of St. <HI>James,</HI> c. 2. v. 14. <HI>What doth it profit, my Brethren, though a Man &s;ay he hath Faith, and hath not Works? can faith &s;ave him?</HI> I can hardly think it worth while to refute here the Argu|ment which they draw from another Pa&s;&s;age of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> where he exhorts that Men &s;hould make Supplications in all places. For he mu&s;t be blind who under&s;tands not, that the Aim of S. <HI>Paul</HI> is only to oppo&s;e tho&s;e Per&s;ons, who thought the Virtue and Efficacy of Prayers depended up|on the Quality of the Place where they were made. It was a general Error of the Pagans, and the People of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> made a Great Di&s;tincti|on between Places; in pur&s;uance of what God had &s;aid, that he would make choice of one cer|tain place to fix his Name there. The de&s;ign of St. <HI>Paul</HI> therefore is to reach us, that Je&s;us Chri&s;t had aboli&s;hed the Mo&s;aic Pedanti&s;m; that there was no longer any di&s;tinction to be made of Pla|ces for Divine Wor&s;hip, in regard there was no Corner of the World that was not fill'd with the
<PB N="102" REF="58">Pre&s;ence of God, and where he did not favou|rably hear our Vows. But &s;o far was he from pretending that it &s;hould be inferr'd from thence, that he forbids all Communion with Idolaters.</P>
<P>The third Objection is taken from the 6th Chapter of <HI>Baruch,</HI> v.5. and from a Letter which they pretend that <HI>Jeremy</HI> wrote to tho&s;e that were to be carried away Captive to <HI>Babylon.</HI><Q>When you &s;hall be enter'd into <HI>Babylon,</HI> you &s;hall remain there &s;everal Years, and a long time, even till Seven Generations: Neverthe|le&s;s, after that, I will bring ye back in peace. Now you &s;hall &s;ee at <HI>Babylon</HI> Gods of Silver and Wood which &s;hall be carried upon Mens Shoulders, and which &s;hall terrifie the Nations. Take heed that ye become not in any manner like tho&s;e Strangers, and that ye be not &s;eiz'd with the tear of tho&s;e Gods, when you &s;hall behold the People before and behind, that &s;hall adore 'em; but &s;ay in your hearts, Lord, it is thou alone that art to be ador'd.</Q></P>
<P>In an&s;wer to this Argument, I will not exa|mine whether the Book be Canonical or no; th&ocirc; all Men agree, that the Jews never look'd upon it to be Authentick. That <HI>Meliton, Origen,</HI> Sr. <HI>Hilary, Gregory Nazianzene,</HI> and <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> make no mention of it, and that St. <HI>Jerome</HI> ex|pre&s;ly rejects it, in his Preface upon <HI>Jeremy.</HI> 'Tis not my bu&s;ine&s;s here to di&s;cu&s;s that Que|&s;tion, any farther then as it contributes to refute the Mi&s;take of our Adver&s;aries. For it &s;ays ex|pre&s;ly, <HI>Take heed of Conforming in any manner whatever to Strangers.</HI> Would he have trou|bled
<PB N="103" REF="58">him&s;elf with any &s;uch Exhortation, had it been lawful for the People without offending God, to pro&s;trate them&s;elves before the Gods of Gold and Silver, only &s;aying in their Hearts, Lord, it is thou alone who art to be ador'd? The enjoyning us to &s;ay in our Hearts, that God is only to be ador'd, is that a Permi&s;&s;ion to Wor&s;hip any other but Him? And the Pro&s;tra|ting our &s;elves before an Idol, only &s;aying what <HI>Jeremy</HI> commands us, is not that a Perfect Con|demnation of our &s;elves? The Meaning there|fore of that Holy Prophet is only to in&s;truct us, that when we behold Idolaters Wor&s;hipping a Counterfeit Deity, if it be not convenient boldly to Rebuke their Idolatry, for fear of rai&s;ing Se|dition, it behoves us at lea&s;t to Condemn it in our Hearts, without imitating their Conduct&punc; or the practi&s;e or tho&s;e who behold with delight the Pomp and Magnificence of Idolatrous Wor|&s;hip.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, They make u&s;e of what St. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;aid to <HI>Cornelius,</HI> and which we read in the 10th Chap|ter of the <HI>Acts. Of a Truth, I perceive that God is no re&s;pecter of Per&s;ons; But in, every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteou&s;ne&s;s, is accepted with him.</HI> But that Man mu&s;t very unfortunately deceive him&s;elf, who &s;ees not that St. <HI>Peter</HI> means no other Thing, but that he per|ceived that Salvation was no longer peculiar to the Nation of the Jews; that it was no longer Nece&s;&s;ary to be of the Po&s;terity of <HI>Jacob</HI> ac|cording to the Fle&s;h, for a Man to be accep|ted with God; and that there was no longer
<PB N="104" REF="59">any Di&s;tinction between the <HI>Jew</HI> and the <HI>Greek,</HI> the <HI>Scythian</HI> and the <HI>Barbarian.</HI></P>
<P>This is the &s;en&s;e of tho&s;e Words. But it is not to be thence inferr'd, that a Man may be ac|cepted with God, let him be of what Religion he plea&s;es. Had St. <HI>Peter</HI> had any &s;uch thought, would he have taken &s;o much pains to Convert People to Chri&s;tianity? Or have expo&s;ed him|&s;elf to the ill will of his whole Nation. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> holds the &s;ame Argument as Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> Rom. 10. v. 12, 13. but he had &s;aid before, that with the Mouth Confe&s;&s;ion is made unto Salvation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVII.</HI> An An&s;wer to the Examples brought from <HI>Nicodemus, Naaman,</HI> and St. <HI>Paul.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WE have &s;een the Pa&s;&s;ages of which our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> make u&s;e; now let us examine the Examples which they bring.</P>
<P N="1">1. They propo&s;e to us the Examples of <HI>Zacha|ry, Elizabeth, Simeon,</HI> St. <HI>John Bapti&s;t,</HI> the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, and Chri&s;t him&s;elf, who often intermix'd them&s;elves with the Congregations of the Jews, th&ocirc; they were very Corrupt, and ob&s;erved the Ceremonies of the Law. But it is apparent that the&s;e Examples prove nothing of what they pre|tend to. I confe&s;s, that <HI>Zachary,</HI> that <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> &amp;c. intermix'd them&s;elves with the A&s;&s;emblies of the Jews, becau&s;e it was the will of God that they &s;hould pay him their Homage due in his Tem|ple,
<PB N="105" REF="59">and that there was no command as yet to &s;epa|rate from the Communion of the Jews. They ob&s;erv'd the Ceremonies of the Law, becau&s;e tho&s;e Ceremonies were not then aboli&s;hed. Je&s;us Chri&s;t was not yet a&s;cended into Heaven. Then wherefore &s;hould they not intermix them&s;elves in the A&s;&s;emblies of the Jews? The Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was there read every Sabbath-Day; they read the Prophets; they offer'd the Sacrifices which God had ordain'd; there was no Idolatry in the Wor&s;hip; they ador'd no other God there but the God of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> The Scrib<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s and Phari&s;ees con&s;train'd no Body to believe their Expo&s;itions of the Law: They could di&s;tingui&s;h the whol&s;om true Doctrine from the Traditions of Fal&s;e Teachers, and beware of their Leav'n, as Chri&s;t exhorted his Di&s;ciples. Let 'em now examine what rea&s;on they have to bring the&s;e Examples.</P>
<P N="2">2. They propo&s;e to us the Example of <HI>Nicodemus,</HI> who th&ocirc; he were throughly convinc'd of the Do|ctrine of Je&s;us Chri&s;t dur&s;t not give him a vi&s;it in Publick, for fear of being expell'd the Synagogue; and the &s;ame thing is reported of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arima|thea.</HI></P>
<P>Now upon this Example I ob&s;erve three things. The Fir&s;t is, that th&ocirc; <HI>Nicodemus,</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea</HI> did not openly take the Part of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, yet they never intermixed in any Society which God had forbid 'em.</P>
<P>The Second thing is, that <HI>Nicodemus, Jo&s;eph,</HI> and others, who did as they did, are extreamly blam'd in Scripture, <HI>John</HI> 12.42. <HI>Neverthele&s;s a|mong the Chief Rulers al&s;o many believ'd in him; but becau&s;e of the Phari&s;ees they did not confe&s;s him,
<PB N="106" REF="60">le&s;t they &s;hould be put out of the Synagogue; for they loved the Prai&s;e of Men more then the Prai&s;e of God.</HI></P>
<P>The Third thing is, that <HI>Nicodemus</HI> oppo&s;ed the Re&s;olution which the Phari&s;ees took again&s;t Je&s;us Chri&s;t; that <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> would never give his con&s;ent; and that both the one and the other, no longer di&s;&s;embling their Thoughts, at a Time when the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves for&s;ook Chri&s;t, and that the one deny'd him, the other had betray'd him, openly demanded his Body, and cau&s;ed it to be honourably buried; having the Courage to con|fe&s;s him Dead, whom they dur&s;t not confe&s;s when he was alive.</P>
<P>After the&s;e three Remarks, let us compare our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> with tho&s;e Illu&s;trious Jews. <HI>Nico|demus</HI> never intermix'd with any forbidden A&s;|&s;embly. Our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> believe they may do it, and yet commit no Crime. <HI>Nicodemus</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> be&s;tow'd a Publick Funeral upon our Lord Je&s;us, and oppo&s;ed the Coun&s;els which the Phari&s;ees took together in Combination again&s;t him. But our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> are a&s;ham'd to &s;peak for the Truth, or to uphold the Cau&s;e of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>So that if <HI>Nicodemus</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> are blam'd by St. <HI>John,</HI> at a time when they dur&s;t not openly confe&s;s Je&s;us Chri&s;t, judge how much more Cri|minal our fal&s;e <HI>Nicodemites</HI> are, who&s;e know|ledge is much greater then that of the Jews.</P>
<P>They Object in the Third Place, the Example of <HI>Naaman</HI> the <HI>Syrian,</HI> who under&s;tanding the True God, forbore not however from entring into the Temple of <HI>Rimmon,</HI> when his Ma&s;ter went thither to pay his Devotions; and they
<PB N="107" REF="60">pretend that <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> the Prophet gave him leave to comply with the King's Wor&s;hip in Pro&s;trating him&s;elf as he did.</P>
<P>In An&s;wer to this Example, I make the&s;e Re|flexions following,</P>
<P N="1">1. That <HI>Naaman</HI> never demanded of the Pro|phet that he might be permitted to di&s;&s;emble his Religion before the King of <HI>Syria.</HI> On the other &s;ide he vow'd, and promi&s;ed that he would Sa|crifice to no other Deity but the Eternal God, 2. Kings, 5.17. <HI>Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy Servant two Mules Burthen of Earth? For thy Servant will henceforth offer neither burn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters"> Offering, nor Sacrifice unto any other Gods, but un|to the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>The Second Reflexion is, that <HI>Naaman</HI> made but only one Reque&s;t; not to enter into the Temple of <HI>Rimmon</HI> when he plea&s;ed, for that had been a piece of Impiety; but only that it might not be imputed to him for a Crime if he bow'd in the Hou&s;e of <HI>Rimmon,</HI> when his Ma&s;ter went to Wor&s;hip there, and lean'd on his hand.</P>
<P>The&s;e two Reflexions already &s;hew the Diffe|rence between the Conduct of our <HI>Indifferent Men,</HI> and that of <HI>Naaman. Naaman</HI> openly de|clared, that he &s;erved the God of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and that he would &s;erve none but him. And there is no doubt but that he prote&s;ted the &s;ame thing to his Ma&s;ter, when he related to him the Miracle of his Cure. But our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> believe, that for their better Security, they may profe&s;s the &s;ame Religion with Idolaters; and by con&s;e|quence may have another Object of their Wor|&s;hip then God, when they are among People who
<PB N="108" REF="61">believe that another &s;ort of Religions wor&s;hip may be paid to any other Deity. <HI>Naaman</HI> only de&s;ired that he might be permitted to &s;erve his Ma&s;ter as he was bound in duty to do; but our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> require, that they may be permitted to di&s;&s;emble without any other rea&s;on then for their own Convenience and Profit.</P>
<P><HI>Naaman</HI> is extreamly troubled in Con&s;cience about paying this Civil Service to his Ma&s;ter, and begs Pardon of God, as being afraid of com|mitting a Sin. His Con&s;cience had &s;uch an Ab|horrency of Idolatry, that he could not brook any thing which had the lea&s;t Affinity with it. But our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> make no &s;cruple to give them&s;elves that Liberty which he denied him&s;elf, and believe they may do that without offending God, which <HI>Naaman</HI> never did; th&ocirc; <HI>Naaman</HI> was bred up in Idolatry, and had no other In|&s;truction then what he received from his Cure; whereas our Antagoni&s;ts clearly know the will of God; which will not permit us to doubt, but that <HI>Naaman</HI> will ri&s;e up in Judgment again&s;t 'em, and that they will undergo &s;evere Puni&s;h|ment.</P>
<P>But in regard our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> in&s;i&s;t very much upon <HI>Naaman</HI>'s de&s;iring that God would pardon him, if he pro&s;trated him&s;elf in the Tem|ple of <HI>Rimmon,</HI> when the King his Ma&s;ter lean'd upon his Hand, and upon <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI>'s an&s;wering him, <HI>go in Peace;</HI> as if by tho&s;e words he gave him leave to do as he de&s;ired, 'tis nece&s;&s;ary to ob&s;erve in this Place,</P>
<P N="1">1. That the Terms in the Original may be under&s;tood, as if <HI>Naaman,</HI> after he had made a
<PB N="109" REF="61">Vow, never from thence forward to Wor&s;hip or &s;erve any other then the True God, had deli|ver'd him&s;elf in this manner. <HI>I beg of the Lord to pardon this thy Servant, That when my Ma&s;ter enter'd into the Hou&s;e of</HI> Rimmon <HI>to pro&s;trate him&s;elf there, and that when he lean'd upon my Hand, I al&s;o pro&s;trated my &s;elf; for that I &s;ay, let the Lord pardon me.</HI> Reading it in this man|ner, there is nothing of Difficulty in the Story; in regard that according to this Ver&s;ion, he begs Pardon for what is pa&s;s'd, but not for what is to come.</P>
<P N="2">2. That <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> by tho&s;e Words, <HI>go in Peace,</HI> gave no Permi&s;&s;ion to <HI>Naaman;</HI> he only di&s;mi&s;s'd him with that &s;ame Complemental Form of Speech which was then in u&s;e among the He|brews.</P>
<P N="3">3. That th&ocirc; tho&s;e words of the Prophet &s;hould imply a Permi&s;&s;ion, it would only relate to the Reque&s;t that <HI>Naaman</HI> had made. The <HI>Syrian</HI> had only demanded of <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> whether he could not give him two Mules lading of Earth of the Holy Land; and after that, he had begg'd of God, that he would pardon him, if the King leaning upon his Hand, he &s;hould happen to pro|&s;trate him&s;elf together with him, in the Temple of <HI>Rimmon. Eli&s;ha</HI> therefore an&s;wers to the Fir&s;t demand, but not to the Second.</P>
<P N="4">4. That th&ocirc; the Words &s;hould include the Pro|phets permi&s;&s;ion, we ought not to conclude from thence, that a Man may be an Idolater, and yet re&s;erve his Heart immaculate for God. For that was not the Thing vvhich <HI>Naaman</HI> de&s;ir'd of the Prophet; and th&ocirc; the Prophet had granted it,
<PB N="110" REF="62">neverthele&s;s we never ought to do it. Becau&s;e it is certain, that God has expre&s;ly forbid Idola|try, and whatever has the lea&s;t Relation to it; &s;o that, if not only a Prophet, but all the Angels of Heaven &s;hould &s;ay the contrary, we ought to look upon 'em as <HI>Anathema</HI>'s. All that we are to infer from thence is this, That they who &s;erve Princes are permitted to be pre&s;ent at the Ce|remonies of their Ma&s;ters Religion, when the Duty of their Employment obliges 'em to pay 'em any Service. And this is that which <HI>Valen|tinian</HI> did, in compliance with the Emperor <HI>Ju|lian,</HI> when he enter'd into the Temple of <HI>For|tune;</HI> and what in the la&s;t Age the Elect. of <HI>Sax|ony</HI> did, in re&s;pect of the Emperor <HI>Charles</HI> the V.</P>
<P>I add to the&s;e Reflexions,</P>
<P N="1">1. That there is &s;ome Rea&s;on to doubt, whe|ther we may be allow'd to practi&s;e under the new Covenant, what might be tolerated, under the Old, in a poor Pagan, who&s;e Knowledge was very &s;mall, and who had had no other In&s;tructi|on, but what the Prophet had given him in his Familiar Conver&s;ation. But we may be thought to be oblig'd to greater Duties; We, that have been bred in the School of Chri&s;t, and are en|viron'd with &s;uch a Cloud of Witne&s;&s;es, who ra|ther cho&s;e to dye a thou&s;and times, than to do any thing that might be ill interpreted.</P>
<P N="2">2. That No Man ought to do that which <HI>Naaman</HI> did, in de&s;pite of his Con&s;cience.</P>
<P N="3">3. That if any one be oblig'd to do it, he ought not to give any occa&s;ion for others to be|lieve that he approves what is done in a fal&s;e
<PB N="111" REF="62">Religion. Quite the contrary, he ought to let the World &s;ee, that he dete&s;ts it, and abhors the Errors, the Wor&s;hip, the My&s;teries and Cere|monies of it. This is that which <HI>Valentinian</HI> did. For <HI>Theodoret</HI> ob&s;erves, that one day as he was attending upon <HI>Julian</HI> to the Temple of <HI>Fortune,</HI> he gave a good Cuff to the Verger that &s;prinkl'd the Holy Water upon all that enter'd, becau&s;e he ob&s;erv'd that a drop of Water had fall'n upon him&s;elf; and cry'd out aloud, that he was contaminated thereby, in&s;tead of being pu|rify'd. Which &s;o provoked the Emperor, that he bani&s;h'd <HI>Valentinian:</HI> But he remain'd not long in exile; for within a year, and &s;ome few Months afterwards, he became Ma&s;ter of the Empire him&s;elf.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, I conclude, that it is much the &s;afer way to renounce all tho&s;e Employments, then to engage our Selves in Actions contrary to our Belief; and that it's better to quit 'em, then to &s;candalize our Brethren.</P>
<P>In the Fourth Place, the Example of St. <HI>Paul</HI> is objected, who as he teaches us him&s;elf, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.20, 21, 22, <HI>And unto the Jews I became a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are un|der the Law, as under the Law, that I might gain them that are under the Law; To them that are without Law, as without Law (being not without Law to God, but under the Law to Chri&s;t) that I might gain them that are without the Law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all Men, that I might by all means &s;ave &s;ome.</HI> After &s;o fair an Example &s;et, who is there, &s;ay they, who would &s;cruple to
<PB N="112" REF="63">conform to the Times, to the Place where he lives, and the Per&s;ons with whom he conver&s;es.</P>
<P>I An&s;wer, that no Body denies, but that we ought to conform to Time, to Place, and Per|&s;ons; provided we do nothing again&s;t our Con|&s;cience, and that we acquit our &s;elves of the&s;e Duties which the True Religion exacts from us. We ought to conform with Time and Place in be|taking our &s;elves to flight, when we are per&s;e|cuted; to quit our Country, and change our Habitations, till, like <HI>Jo&s;eph, Mat.</HI> 2. we un|der&s;tand, that they who &s;eek our Lives are dead. We ought to comply with per&s;ons, to avoid the expo&s;ing of Holy things to the Prophane, and giving occa&s;ion of &s;candal to the weak. Thus <HI>St. Paul</HI> became a Jew to the Jews, ob&s;erving tho&s;e Ceremonies among 'em, which were not contrary to the Chri&s;tian Faith, by circumci&s;ing <HI>Timothy,</HI> and cau&s;ing him&s;elf to be &s;haved at <HI>Cenchreas.</HI> He was under the Law to tho&s;e that were under the Law, in ab&s;taining from tho&s;e Ceremonies that might offend the Gentiles. La&s;tly, he became weak to the weak, by com|plying with their Infirmities. Read upon this Subject, <HI>Rom.</HI> 14.15, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8. But that Holy Apo&s;tle never practis'd any ba&s;e or treacherous compliances with any body, only he became all things to all Men, in things Permitted and In|different; you may Judge by his manner of re|proving <HI>St. Peter,</HI> who trode not aright, but con|&s;train'd the Gentiles to <HI>Judai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e. Gal.</HI> 2.14. What then can our Antagoni&s;ts prove from hence? Let 'em become all things to all Men, like <HI>St. Paul,</HI> we will never blame 'em. But does it follow
<PB N="113" REF="63">from thence, that we may embrace all Religions, abandon the True one, and profe&s;s a Fal&s;e one? like that &s;ame <HI>Ecebolus,</HI> who was &s;ometimes Or|thodox, &s;ometimes Arrian, &s;ometimes Pagan. God pre&s;erve us from any &s;uch thoughts. Had St. <HI>Paul</HI> been of our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI>'s mind, would he have undergone &s;o many Afflictions; expos'd him&s;elf to &s;o many dangers; would he have &s;uffer'd him&s;elf to be loaded with &s;o many Chains; or would he have dy'd by the hand of the Common Executioner? No, without doubt, There was nothing more ea&s;ie for him then to have avoided tho&s;e bitter and continual Per&s;ecu|tions. He need have done no more, then to have extolled <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to the Jews; <HI>Jupiter, Mer|cury,</HI> and the re&s;t of their Counterfeit Deities to the Pagans; and thus he would have plea&s;ed all. But then he would not have taught Je&s;us Chri&s;t. He preaches him up every where, th&ocirc; they threa|ten him with a thou&s;and Torments, in the <HI>Are|opagus</HI> at <HI>Rome,</HI> among the Jews and Gentiles; never di&s;&s;embling his Sentiments: So far from being a&s;hamed of the Go&s;pel of his Divine Savi|our, that he Preached him both boldly and pub|lickly, and made it his chiefe&s;t Glory &s;o to do.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="114" REF="64">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVIII.</HI> An An&s;wer to &s;ome Rea&s;ons which are brought by our Antagoni&s;ts.</HEAD>
<P>OUR <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> make &s;ome Objecti|ons al&s;o. In the fir&s;t place they put the Que&s;tion, whether God cannot &s;ave Peo|ple of all &s;orts of Religions; e&s;pecially &s;uch as confe&s;s Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and acknowledge him to be the Son of God, the Promi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> Crucify'd, Dead, and Ri&s;en from the Grave. This Que&s;ti|on is Ridiculous; for the Bu&s;ine&s;s in Di&s;pute is not what God can do, nor &s;hall we undertake to &s;et Bounds to his Infinite Mercy. But we can|not believe that he will &s;ave tho&s;e that depart from a Pure Communion; who abjure his Truth; who make publick Profe&s;&s;ion of doing Things which they do not believe, and who Die unre|pentant in that &s;ad Condition. God has &s;o clear|ly Explained him&s;elf in this matter, that he mu&s;t willingly &s;eek his own De&s;truction, that flatters him&s;elf to obtain Mercy, and follows the Foot|&s;teps of our <HI>Indifferent Men.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ay they in the Second Place, is it not a hard Ca&s;e to be de&s;poil'd of our E&s;tates, to be deprived of our Honours, and Conveniencies of Life, to be Bani&s;h'd, to renounce our Plea&s;ures, to live in a Comfortle&s;s and lonely De&s;art, to be confin'd to a Dark and Loath&s;om Dungeon, and to die cruelly by the hand of the Hangman? I grant that this is all unplea&s;ing to the Fle&s;h. But do they not find that God &s;ufficiently recom|pences
<PB N="115" REF="64">tho&s;e who &s;uffer for his &s;ake? That he gives 'em his Heaven, and gave 'em him&s;elf. Whatever the Suff'rings are to which the Lord Je&s;us expo&s;es his Believers and his Members, are they comparable to what he &s;uffer'd him&s;elf to purcha&s;e our Salvation? Or is there any Propor|tion between them and the Recompence which the Mercy of God be&s;tows upon us; between the Mi&s;eries of this Life, and tho&s;e which we may ju&s;tly be afraid of after Death; between the Ble&s;&s;ings which it is in his Power to bereave us of, and tho&s;e which he has prepared for us; between the fal&s;e Plea&s;ures which we are re|quir'd to renounce, and the &s;olid Plea&s;ures which we hope to enjoy; between the Honours and Dignities which we quit in this World, and tho&s;e Eternal Glories to which we are de&s;igned? 'Tis a hard ca&s;e to be per&s;ecuted, crys the Fle&s;h; but is it not a happy thing to be favour'd of God, to be at peace in our Souls, to be a&s;&s;ur'd of the Love of the Father of Heaven, to be Heirs of an Eternal Inheritance, to wear one day a Crown of Life, and to enjoy an endle&s;s Felicity? 'Tis a hard ca&s;e to live in Adver&s;ity; but is it not infinitely more tedious for a Man to bear about him his Accu&s;er, his Witne&s;s, his Judge, and his Executioner; to be gnaw'd by a Worm that never Dies, and to enjoy no Repo&s;e? It is a terrible Thing to be reduc'd to the Condition of <HI>Lazarus;</HI> but it is much more dreadful to be ca&s;t headlong into Hell with the Wicked Rich Man, while <HI>Lazarus</HI> is receiv'd into <HI>Abraham</HI>'s Bo&s;om. It is a hard Ca&s;e for a Man to lay down his Life; but is it not a happine&s;s to lo&s;e
<PB N="116" REF="65">it for Je&s;us Chri&s;t's &s;ake, to the end we may live Eternally with him? What is it which God re|quires of us, which the Devil does not exact from his Slaves, th&ocirc; they never can expect other from him then Eternal Mi&s;ery; and what we do not frequently do our &s;elves upon wicked Im|pul&s;es, and to &s;atisfie our Pa&s;&s;ions? I &s;hall not extend this Di&s;cour&s;e any farther: I only be&s;eech God that our <HI>Indifferent Men</HI> and <HI>Libertines</HI> may &s;eriou&s;ly reflect upon it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIX.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who maintain, that we ought to believe what the Magi&s;trates will have us believe.</HEAD>
<P>I Come now to tho&s;e who hold, that the So|vereign Law, which is to be followed as well in Sacred, as in Civil Matters, is the Law of Magi&s;trates, and that every Thing is to be &s;ubjected to their Commands. This was the Sentiment of an Author famous once in <HI>England,</HI> and who has &s;till but too many followers. He believ'd that the Ifraelites were bound to receive for the Law of God, what <HI>Abraham</HI> delivered to 'em for the Law of God; and that the Publick Laws &s;upply the Place of Con&s;cience to all Men. He &s;aid moreover, explaining tho&s;e words of <HI>Matt.</HI> 10.32. <HI>Who &s;hall deny me before Men, &amp;c.</HI> That a Subject was not to be blam'd for re|nouncing Chri&s;t, if he were thereto con&s;train'd by his Prince. I compare the Author of this Opinion to that &s;ame wretched Flatterer, who
<PB N="117" REF="65">formerly propo&s;ed, in favour of his Prince, a De|claration importing, that nothing &s;hould be look'd upon as ju&s;t, but what the King requir'd.</P>
<P>Nor much unlike to this was the Practi&s;e of tho&s;e Hereticks which a certain Philo&s;opher upbraided, that they ador'd not God, but the Imperial Pomp, changing Opinions according to the Sentiments of that Prince under whom they lived. This is an Impious Opinion, and it is very ea&s;ie to &s;hew the Fal&s;hood of it.</P>
<P>In a word, were there any Ground for this Opinion, there would be no longer any other Deity to be acknowledged but the Magi&s;trate, under whom we are born Subjects, and we ought not to admit of any other Rule for the Conduct of our Lives, and our Manners, then the Laws of Princes. There would be no need of Infor|ming our &s;elves what God has reveal'd to Men, or what his Plea&s;ure is; but what the Magi&s;trate commands us. We mu&s;t expound the Scripture ac|cording to the Sentiments of the Magi&s;trates under whom we Live, and not as it expounds it &s;elf; as that Emperor pretended, who by an Edict ordain'd that a certain Pa&s;&s;age of Scripture &s;hould be ex|plain'd according to his Sen&s;e: We ought to obey 'em in de&s;pight of our Con&s;ciences and the Light of Right Rea&s;on; and <HI>Daniel</HI> is extreamly to be blam'd, who refus'd to obey the Impious Edicts of the Prince under whom he lived. Who can hear &s;uch Di&s;cour&s;es as this without trembling. Be&s;ides, is it not ridiculous to think that Men are bereft of their Rea&s;on, and the knowledge of Good and Evil, &s;o &s;oon as they li&s;t them&s;elves in a Society, while that &s;ame Knowledge re&s;ides
<PB N="118" REF="66">only in Sovereigns; or that we &s;hould be bound to do that, which we know to be a Sin.</P>
<P>But &s;ay they, does not the Scripture command us to obey the Magi&s;trate? 'Tis very true, nor does any Body deny it. We al&s;o farther believe, that we ought to be obedient to higher Powers, th&ocirc; they make profe&s;&s;ion of a Contrary Religion to ours; according to the Example not only of the Apo&s;tles, but al&s;o of the Fathers of the Church, and particularly of St. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> who being ac|cus'd for having con&s;pir'd again&s;t <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> becau&s;e he was a Chri&s;tian, and the Emperor was a Pagan, made An&s;wer. <HI>We Chri&s;tians are &s;o far from Con&s;piring again&s;t our Emperors, that we put up our Supplications every day for</HI> Cae&s;ar, <HI>becau&s;e he is our Prince, alth&ocirc; he Wor&s;hip other Deities then we do.</HI> But if we believe that it behoves us to obey Magi&s;trates, we add withal, that we are not bound to pay our Obedience to 'em, but in things which are not contrary to the word of God. We believe that we ought to give to <HI>Cae|&s;ar</HI> that which is <HI>Cae&s;ars,</HI> but withal, that we ought to give to God that which is God's, as Je&s;us Chri&s;t in&s;tructs us. When the Law of the Prince agrees with the Law of God, then we obey him without Scruple; but when the Princes Law does not corre&s;pond with the Law of God, we make no difficulty to a&s;&s;ert, that it is a piece of Impiety to obey that Law, becau&s;e it is bet|ter to obey God then Man, as the Apo&s;tle en|joyns us. What greater Affront can be put upon God, then to obey Men rather then Him, to ob|&s;erve Human Laws, and violate Divine Com|mands. He is the King of Kings, and Lord of
<PB N="119" REF="66">Lords; When he opens his Mouth, he alone ought to be hearkned to, and we ought not then to heed what Men ordain, when it is contrary to the Command of our Great Ma&s;ter. The Companions of <HI>Daniel</HI> were highly commended for refu&s;ing to pro&s;trate them&s;elves before the Statue of <HI>Nebuchadnezzar,</HI> though that haughty Prince had ordained it under &s;evere Penalties; but the I&s;raelites are blamed for having followed <HI>Jeroboam,</HI> and for having abandoned the Temple of the True God. This Doctrine has been al|mo&s;t Univer&s;ally received by all Chri&s;tians, and I could cite upon this Subject <HI>Tertullian,</HI> St. <HI>Am|bro&s;e,</HI> St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> St. <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> &amp;c. The Popes Decretals are in Expre&s;s Terms. <HI>If the Lord Commands Things which are not Contrary to the Scripture, let the Servant be &s;ubject to his Lord; but if he Commands things contrary, let him obey the Lord of the Soul, not the Lord of the Body. If the Emperor commands what is good, execute the Command, if it be Evil, An&s;wer, God is to be obey'd before Man.</HI> This is that which was practi&s;ed by the <HI>Thebean</HI> Legion; if it be true, at lea&s;t what &s;ome Authors have written, all the Soldiers of that Legion were Chri&s;tians. Now after they had pa&s;s'd the <HI>Alps,</HI> and were ap|proaching near <HI>Maximian</HI>'s Army, they Under|&s;tood, that the Emperor, according to Cu&s;tom, was re&s;olved to make all his Soldiers &s;wear Al|legiance to him, upon an Altar Con&s;ecrated to a Counterfeit Deity, and that they were to take an Oath contrary to the Impul&s;es of their Con|&s;cience; which having obliged 'em to draw off in a Body from the re&s;t of the Camp, <HI>Maximian</HI>
<PB N="120" REF="67">&s;ent his Commands to 'em to come away and &s;a|crifice to the Gods; to which <HI>Mauricius,</HI> Chief of the Legion, <HI>Exuperus</HI> and <HI>Candidus,</HI> an&s;wered, in the name of all the re&s;t, That they were all ready to fight again&s;t the Enemies of the Empire, but that they would never &s;acrifice to fal&s;e Gods, nor act again&s;t their Brethren. <HI>Maximian,</HI> in|cens'd at this An&s;wer, caus'd the whole Legion to be twice decimated, and every Tenth Man to be put to death; but &s;eeing that would do no good, but that the Soldiers &s;till continued &s;tedfa&s;t in their Profe&s;&s;ion of the Truth, he &s;ent the whole Ar|my again&s;t that &s;ingle Legion, which &s;urround|ing 'em on every &s;ide, put 'em all to the Sword; And thus, with their Blood, they &s;eal'd to that Truth, That lo&s;s of Life is to be preferr'd a thou|&s;and times before acting contrary to the Light of a Man's Con&s;cience.</P>
<P>But in regard the Truth of this Hi&s;tory is call'd in que&s;tion, I &s;hall produce another which is beyond all contradiction; which is the Story of <HI>Julian</HI>'s Soldiers. That Emperor had &s;urpriz'd 'em by ordaining that they &s;hould &s;trow &s;ome grains of Incen&s;e, before they received the Lar|ge&s;&s;e, which he was about to be&s;tow upon 'em. Some of 'em being inform'd of the Fraud, the re&s;t did innocently what was requir'd from 'em, but being told of the fault which they had com|mitted, they were not contented to come and cry out in the publick Market-place, <HI>We are Chri&s;tians, Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord, we have not renounced thee. If our Hand has committed a Crime, our Will has not con&s;ented;</HI> But they came to the Emperor, and with exalted Voices, <HI>Re&s;erve,</HI> &s;aid they, <HI>our Gifts
<PB N="121" REF="67">for the Soldiers; Sacrifice us to Je&s;us Chri&s;t who is our Monarch; Burn us in the Place where we have &s;trew'd the Incen&s;e; Cut off our hands that have com|mitted &s;o great a Crime, as to &s;tretch them&s;elves out upon your Altars. Di&s;tribute your Gold to tho&s;e who are not &s;orry for having received it: Je&s;us Chri&s;t is &s;ufficient for us, and &s;upplies all our wants.</HI> After this, they patiently and joyfully &s;uffered death, every one of them, except one who was par|don'd by the Emperor, but who was very &s;orry that he had not the Honour to abrogate his Crime by the &s;ame Martyrdom which his Compa|nions had undergone.</P>
<P>But &s;ay they, Does not <HI>St. Paul</HI> Teach us, that we ought to &s;ubmit our &s;elves to Princes, not on|ly for Wrath, but al&s;o for Con&s;cience &s;ake. 'Tis very true; but it does not follow from thence, that Princes or Magi&s;trates have any right over the Con&s;cience, or that they have any Power to make us believe what they plea&s;e. No Body has any Right over the Con&s;cience, but only he that infu&s;ed it into Men. This is that which has been acknowledg'd in all Ages. I could ea&s;ily prove it, would I but collect together, what has been written upon this Subject. I could cite the Fathers of the Church, <HI>Tertullian, Lactantius, St Hilarie,</HI> and <HI>St. Athana&s;ius.</HI> I could al&s;o cite &s;everal Councils, as the Fourth Council of <HI>Toledo,</HI> in the year 633. wherein there pa&s;t a Decree in the&s;e words. As for the <HI>Jews, The Synod has ordain'd that from henceforth, that no body &s;hall be forc'd to believe. For God has compa&s;&s;ion upon whom he will have mercy, and hardens whom he plea&s;es; and People are not to be &s;av'd by force, but willingly;
<PB N="122" REF="68">for the better ob&s;ervance of the outward form of Ju|&s;tice, For as Man lo&s;t him&s;elf by obeying the Serpent willingly, &s;o is he al&s;o Sav'd by believing, and turn|ing to God, when he calls him by his Grace. Let Per&s;ua&s;ion therefore be made u&s;e of, and not violence, to incline 'em to turn freely, and without any con|&s;traint.</HI> And the <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hop of</HI> Seville <HI>loudly con|demns that Prince, who had con&s;train'd by his Pow|er, tho&s;e that ought to have been converted by Rea|&s;on.</HI> To which may be added that &s;ame Law, of which, mention is made in the <HI>African Codex</HI> of Mon&s;ieur <HI>Ju&s;tel,</HI> by which every one is left at his liberty, whether he will embrace the Chri|&s;tian Religion, or not. I could al&s;o quote &s;eve|ral Emperors. For example, The Emperor <HI>Con|&s;tantine,</HI> who had de&s;ir'd that all his Subjects might be Chri&s;tians, without con&s;training any body. The Emperor <HI>Jovian,</HI> who is applauded, for that he gave every body leave to profe&s;s what Religion he pleas'd. The Emperor <HI>Valentinian,</HI> who &s;et forth Laws, by which he gave Liberty to every body to profe&s;s the Religion wherein he was bred. The Emperor <HI>Marcian,</HI> who in the Letter which he wrote to the <HI>Archimandrites,</HI> and the Monks of <HI>Jeru&s;alem, We will not hale,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>or drag any Per&s;on, whoever he be, into the way of Truth, either by T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">reats, or by Violence:</HI> and the Emperor <HI>Con&s;tant in Pogonatus,</HI> who in his Letter to the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome,</HI> upon occa&s;ion of the Sixth Univer&s;al Council&punc; which he call'd at <HI>Con|&s;tantinople,</HI> expre&s;ly &s;ays, <HI>We could invite and ex|hort all the W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">rld, to amend them&s;elves, and unite with the Chri&s;tians, but we will con&s;train no body.</HI> 'Tis true, that <HI>Charlemaigne</HI> us'd violence towards
<PB N="123" REF="68">the <HI>Saxons;</HI> but his Conduct is blam'd be <HI>Ale<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ letters">n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> his Tutor; as was al&s;o that of King <HI>Chilperic,</HI> by <HI>Gregory</HI> the Fir&s;t; and that of King <HI>Si&s;ebut</HI> in <HI>Spain,</HI> by the Council of <HI>Toledo.</HI> La&s;tly, I could cite the Pagans them&s;elves, who have been of the &s;ame Opinion, That no body has Right over the Con&s;cience, and that the Will is not to be forc'd, as appears by what was written by an <HI>Indian</HI> Phi|lo&s;opher to <HI>Alexander. Thy Friends advi&s;e thee to offer violence to the</HI> Indian <HI>Philo&s;ophers: Thou may&s;t remove their Bodies from one Place to another, but thou can&s;t never force their Minds,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>There is no Prince or King that can make us do any thing again&s;t our Will.</HI> This is a mo&s;t certain Truth, and they who are of another Opinion, talk again&s;t the Light of their Under&s;tandings. Thus M. <HI>Le B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">et,</HI> Coun&s;ellor of State, in his Treati&s;e of the King's Sovereignty, di&s;cu&s;&s;ing the Que&s;tion, Whether it be Lawful &s;ometimes to di&s;obey the King? An&s;wers, That in matters of Religion there is no wavering to be admitted, between the Fear of God and Man. And he al&s;o maintains; That in au&s;tere and har&s;h Proceedings, the Mini&s;ter of the Prince's Cruelties participates of his Crime; and that a Judge who pronounces an unju&s;t Sen|tence, re&s;olving upon Inju&s;tice, and condemns the Innocent upon privy Signet Letters, tran&s;|gre&s;&s;es in his Obedience; becau&s;e that being a Me&s;&s;enger of Ju&s;tice, he never ought to abu&s;e it, to colour over the Fury and Iniquity of a Prince, who borrows the Formalities of it. What think ye, was the meaning of <HI>St. Paul,</HI> when he teaches us that we ought to &s;ubmit to Princes, not only for Wrath, but al&s;o for Con&s;cience &s;ake? No
<PB N="124" REF="69">other, without que&s;tion, but that we ought to &s;ubmit to the Higher Powers, in things which are not forbid by the Law of God, not only for Wrath, that is to &s;ay, becau&s;e there is no re&s;i&s;t|ing 'em without puni&s;hment, and without incur|ring their Indignation, but al&s;o for Con&s;cience &s;ake; that is, becau&s;e the word of God binds our Con&s;ciences to it. For if we allow any greater Latitude to the words, it mu&s;t be &s;aid, that <HI>St. Paul</HI> meant, that we &s;hould &s;acrifice to fal&s;e Gods, if we liv'd under a Prince that &s;hould c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">mmand it. Which is that which no Man dares pre&s;ume to &s;ay; Since no Man can be ignorant of the Opinion of that faithful Servant of God in this particular. We &s;ay no more of it here, be|cau&s;e we have already &s;poken concerning it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XX.</HI> Again&s;t tho&s;e who believe it &s;ufficient to live, ac|cording to the Rules of Moral Hone&s;ty.</HEAD>
<P>THere are many People who believe it to be &s;ufficient to live well, but that 'twas no great matter what they believ'd: that it was enough to reform their Manners, but that there was no nece&s;&s;ity of tormenting a Man's &s;elf about his Belief, and that he may be Sav'd in all S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">cts, provided he ab&s;tains from tho&s;e Vices which the Law of God and right Rea&s;on con|demn. But they who are of this Opinion, are gro&s;ly mi&s;taken; nor will it be a difficult thing to evince 'em.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, if it be &s;ufficient to lead an Innocent Life, without ever troubling our &s;elves what we ought
<PB N="125" REF="69">to believe, 'tis a wonderful thing that Faith &s;hould be &s;o often recommended to us, and that the Holy Men of God &s;hould declare, that with|out it there is no Salvation. <HI>Amend your Lives,</HI> &s;ays Chri&s;t, but at the &s;ame time, <HI>believe in the Go&s;pel. If thou believ'&s;t,</HI> &s;aid <HI>Philip</HI> to the Eunuch, and he An&s;wer'd, <HI>I believe that Je&s;us is the Son of God. If thou confe&s;s with thy Mouth the Lord Je&s;us, and &s;halt believe in thine heart, that God has rais'd him from the dead, thou &s;halt be &s;av'd. But without Faith it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e him.</HI> Heb. 11.6. <HI>He that believeth in him is not condemn'd; but he that believeth not is already condemn'd; becau&s;e he has not believ'd in the name of the only begotten of God.</HI> And this Faith is di&s;tingui&s;h'd from good Works, as you may find in the Epi&s;tles to the <HI>Ro|man<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> the <HI>Glatians,</HI> and in other Places. I confe&s;s, that Faith alone without Charity, is not &s;uffici|ent to Save. <HI>Th&ocirc; I &s;hould &s;peak with the Tongue; of Men and Angels, if I have not Charity, I am be|come as &s;ounding Bra&s;s, or a Tinkling Cymb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">l. And th&ocirc; I have the Gift of Prophecy, and &V;nder&s;tand all Mi&s;teries and all Knowledge, and th&ocirc; I have all Faith, that I could remove Mountains, and have no Charity, I am nothing,</HI> 1 Cor. 13. I confe&s;s al&s;o, that without Sanctification we cannot &s;ee God. <HI>Heb.</HI> 12. But I averr, in the Fir&s;t place, that there is no Sanctification, where there is no Faith. 'Tis Faith that purifies the Heart. Secondly, That Faith ought to have Charity for its foundation, it ought to proceed, &s;aith <HI>St. Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1.5. <HI>From a good Con&s;cience, a pure Heart, and a Faith unfeigned.</HI> Faith is dead without Charity; but there is no true Charity without Faith.</P>
<PB N="126" REF="70">
<P N="2">II. If it be &s;ufficient to live morally well, I cannot conceive wherefore <HI>St. John</HI> 1 Epi&s;t. cap. 4. would have us try the Spirits with &s;o much care, to avoid the receiving all Doctrines that are Taught us, <HI>Beloved,</HI> &s;ays He, <HI>Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God.</HI> And for fear le&s;t Men &s;hould think that exami|nation of the Spirits was recommended to 'em, only to try whether they taught a &s;trict or loo&s;e Morality; the Apo&s;tle adds, <HI>That every Spirit that confe&s;&s;eth not that Ie&s;us Chri&s;t is come in the fle&s;h, is not of God; but this is that Spirit of Antichri&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. If no Man then can be of God, unle&s;s he con|fe&s;s Chri&s;t come in the fle&s;h, certainly it cannot be &s;ufficient to live morally well, to be &s;av'd; unle&s;s Men think they can obtain Salvation with|out being of God. Moreover, whence comes it that the &s;ame Apo&s;tle in his Second Epi&s;tle, for|bids the Faithful to receive into their Hou&s;es, or to bid good &s;peed to tho&s;e that bring not the Doctrine of Chri&s;t; for it appears that he &s;peaks of the &s;ame <HI>Seducers,</HI> who confe&s;s'd not that Je|&s;us Chri&s;t was come in the Fle&s;h. Wherefore is it that he would have us &s;tand &s;o &s;trictly upon our Guards, when the bu&s;ine&s;s in Di&s;pute is about the receiving a Doctrine, or not receiving it, if it were &s;ufficient for a Man to correct his Man|ners to be Sav'd.</P>
<P N="3">III. I draw a Third Argument from hence, that the Doctor of the Gentiles thunders out Ana|thema's again&s;t tho&s;e that pre&s;s the ob&s;ervation of the Mo&s;aic Ceremonies, th&ocirc; they carefully en|joyn'd the practi&s;e of the Moral Law. If it were &s;ufficient to ob&s;erve the Decalogue; would Chri|&s;tian Charity have allow'd <HI>St. Paul</HI> to Anathema|tize
<PB N="127" REF="70">People who believ'd in Chri&s;t, only that they were <HI>zealous of the Law.</HI> Acts 21.20. and who were only for joyning <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> the Ceremonies of the one, to the Go&s;pel of the other.</P>
<P N="4">IV. If this Opinion which we oppo&s;e were true, whence comes it that the Scripture condemns the Unbelievers to Eternal Pains, <HI>Apoc.</HI> 21.8. and that it excludes Idolaters out of the Kingdom of Heaven, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6.10. There can be no other Rea|&s;on given, but only becau&s;e that living Morally well, is not &s;ufficient for the obtaining of Eternal Salvation; but that it behoves us to believe tho&s;e Truths which are Taught us.</P>
<P>Fifthly, If Living according to the Rules of Moral Hone&s;ty, were &s;ufficient to bring a Man to Heaven, I would fain know the Rea&s;on why the Apo&s;tles take &s;o much pains to in&s;truct Peo|ple in the Truths of the Go&s;pel; why do they keep &s;uch a &s;tir to prove that Chri&s;t is the Pro|mi&s;ed <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> that they &s;peak of his Divinity and his Cro&s;s, two things that equally &s;tumbled both the Jews, and the Gentiles? Had it not been &s;ufficient to have taught 'em Good Morality?</P>
<P>Sixthly, Whence comes in to pa&s;s, that Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles &s;o frequently exhort us to &s;uffer for their Truth; and that &s;o many per&s;ons have &s;uffered Martyrdom in Defence of the Truth, of which they might have been ignorant, if we may believe our Antagoni&s;ts, without be|ing deprived of Salvation. There would have been but very few Confe&s;&s;ors and Martyrs, had Moral Hone&s;ty been &s;ufficient to bring us to E|ternal Felicity.</P>
<P>To all the&s;e Proofs I add this Important Re|flexion, that we draw from the Truths of the
<PB N="128" REF="71">Go&s;pel, which are propos'd to us to the end we &s;hould believe 'em, the mo&s;t powerful Morives that are able to engage us to Holine&s;s. There is nothing more prevalent to incline Men to San|ctification, then to make known to 'em a God that loves Men, to that Degree, as to give 'em his only begotten Son: a God that abhors and dete&s;ts Sin to that degree that he rather cho&s;e to expo&s;e to Death his only Son in whom he is well plea&s;ed, then to leave Sin Unpuni&s;hed. A God that takes upon him Human Nature, and under that Nature, &s;uffers a mo&s;t Cruel Death to make an Atonement for the Sin of Men, and to &s;atisfie Divine Vengeance, ju&s;tly provoked again&s;t 'em.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, A God that penetrates into the mo&s;t &s;ecret Folds and Concealments of the Heart, who is to rai&s;e the Dead, and bring 'em to appear be|fore his Throne, to give an Account of all their Actions. It behoves us therefore to believe, if we will live well; and to believe and live well, if we intend to be Sav'd.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXI.</HI> That the Opinion of Indifferenay in Religions has di&s;plea&s;ed almo&s;t all People.</HEAD>
<P>THere remains nothing more for me, but only to An&s;wer an Argument which is attribu|ted to the King of <HI>Siam,</HI> and which we have cited already in the Third Chapter: <Q>The True God, <HI>&s;aid he,</HI> who Created the Heaven and the Earth, and all the Creatures therein contained, and who has given 'em Natures and
<PB N="129" REF="71">Inclinations &s;o different, had he &s;o plea&s;ed, by giving Bodies and Souls alike to Men, could have in&s;pir'd into 'em the &s;ame Sentiments, as to what Religion it behov'd 'em to follow; and have cau&s;ed all Nations to agree and unire under one and the &s;ame Law. But it &s;eems that Providence permits diver&s;ity of Sects, be|cau&s;e God takes as much delight to be ho|noured with different &s;orts of Wor&s;hip, and various Ceremonies, as to be glorify'd by a Prodigious Number of Creatures, the variety of who&s;e Beauty's &s;et forth and Magnifies his Infinite Power.</Q></P>
<P>There are &s;ome People who &s;uffer them&s;elves to be dazled with this Argument; but I be&s;eech 'em to con&s;ider, that it may be prov'd as well, that God takes plea&s;ure in the Sins which Men Commit. For it might be &s;aid, that had God &s;o plea&s;ed, by giving to Men Bodies and Souls alike, he might have infu&s;ed into 'em the &s;ame Senti|ments for Virtue; but that it &s;eems as if he permitted the one to be Wi&s;e and Virtuous, the other to be very Vicious, becau&s;e he takes delight in the variety of Humours and Inclinations. Now I am apt to believe there are very few that would approve &s;uch a Method of Arguing.</P>
<P>To this fir&s;t An&s;wer I may add two more. The fir&s;t is, That there might be &s;omething Plau&s;ible in this fir&s;t Argument of the King of <HI>Siam,</HI> if God had not really made known to Men what it was that he requir'd 'em to believe, and what they were to do. But we have proved that he has reveal'd it to 'em, and that they need no more then read the Scripture with attention, and without prejudice, to under&s;tand which is the True Religion.</P>
<PB N="130" REF="72">
<P>The Second An&s;wer is, That this Argument is grounded upon a fal&s;e Principle, that God might have in&s;pired into all Men the &s;ame Sentiments of Religion, had he not taken delight in Variety. For God is not bound to make him&s;elf known alike to all Men. He is ab&s;olutely at his own Liberty in all his Works. They to whom he has reveal'd him&s;elf have no more cau&s;e to magnifie them&s;elves then others; and they from whom he conceals him&s;elf, have no cau&s;e to complain.</P>
<P>Moreover, it is not to be imagined from the Opinion which the King of <HI>Siam</HI> &s;eems to have concerning Indifferency in Religions, that this Sentiment derives it &s;elf naturally into the Thoughts of all Men. On the other &s;ide, it would be ea&s;ie to prove, that the greate&s;t part of Reli|gions have condemned it.</P>
<P>The thing is clear in re&s;pect of the Chri&s;tian Religion, nor is there any need of bringing far|ther Proofs. The Pagans were &s;o fixed to their Old Opinions, that one of the mo&s;t Learned Interpreters of <HI>Virgil</HI> ob&s;erves, that great Care was taken both among the Athenians and the Romans, that no body introduced New Religi|ons. For that Rea&s;on it was, that <HI>Socrates</HI> was condemned at <HI>Athens,</HI> that the Jews were expell'd <HI>Rome,</HI> and that the Books of <HI>Numa</HI> were burnt.</P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> reports, that the Athenians inflicted grievous puni&s;hments upon tho&s;e that introduc'd new Deities, and dur&s;t pre&s;ume &s;o much as to &s;peak again&s;t their Law. <HI>Dioni&s;ius</HI> of <HI>Halicar|na&s;&s;us</HI> a&s;&s;erts, that not only the Greeks, but al&s;o the Barbarians carefully pre&s;erv'd the Religion of their Ance&s;tors; and the &s;ame thing is reported of the Scythians and Per&s;ians. Neverthele&s;s we
<PB N="131" REF="72">will not deny, what <HI>Socrates</HI> &s;aid, that it was lawful for every Body to &s;erve the Deity, accor|ding to the Cu&s;tom of the Country, and that Foreign Gods were often tran&s;ported to <HI>Rome</HI> and <HI>Athens.</HI> But give us leave to make the&s;e Three Remarks. 1. That the Te&s;timony of <HI>So|crates</HI> is of no Weight, becau&s;e he was Condem|ned at <HI>Athens.</HI> 2. That the greate&s;t Part of tho&s;e Deities which were tran&s;ported to <HI>Rome,</HI> were remov'd out of the Cities which the Ro|mans had Be&s;ieg'd, and were by the Prie&s;t In|vited, before the whole Army, to the Capital of all <HI>Italy,</HI> where they &s;hould have, as they &s;aid, more Temples, more Sacrifices, and more Ador|ers. To which we may add, that they were therefore removed, becau&s;e it was an Opinion a|mong 'em, that all Places had their Tutelar Deities, and that they could not take Cities, till after they had removed the Gods that protected 'em. 3. That tho&s;e Gods which were carried to <HI>Rome, Athens,</HI> and other Places, and tho&s;e that were there Wor&s;hiped under the Character of unknown Gods, are &s;ufficient proofs, that &s;ome Accident fell out, of which they believed &s;ome Deity, that was unknown to 'em, to be the Au|thor; and make it appear, that the Romans were of Opinion, that the more Gods they had in their Cities, the more Protectors they had. But from thence it does not follow that the <HI>Athenians</HI> and <HI>Romans</HI> believ'd, that all Religions were Indiffe|rent. For had they &s;o thought, why did they per&s;ecute &s;o Cruelly the Chri&s;tians and the Jews. It is certain al&s;o, that they derided tho&s;e New Gods that were introduced, as appears by the Comedies of <HI>Ari&s;tophanes.</HI> To which I may add,
<PB N="132" REF="73">that the <HI>Bramiry</HI> among the Indians, who are the Ancient <HI>Brachmans,</HI> believe that every Body may be &s;aved in his own Religion, provided he fol|low exactly the way that God has &s;hewed him; but that he &s;hall be Damn'd, if he pur&s;ues any other.</P>
<P>As for the <HI>Mahometans,</HI> 'tis very true, that <HI>Mahomet</HI> &s;eems to favour Indifferency in Religi|ons, while he &s;ays in his <HI>Alcoran,</HI> that every Man who lives well, who Wor&s;hips the true God, and does good Works, whether Chri&s;tian or Jew, obtains the Favour of his God. Neverthele&s;s, 'tis certain, that in another place he a&s;&s;erts, that the Law is the only way of Salvation, and or|dains his Religion to be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the World by force of Arms. Indeed it would be a kind of Wonder, that the Mahometans &s;hould think, that the Chri&s;tians could be Saved, &s;eeing that the Chri&s;tians aver <HI>Mahomet</HI> to be an Impo&s;tor, and daily beg of God, that that &s;ame fal&s;e Pro|phet may have no more followers, but that his Religion may be rooted from the Earth. More|over, 'tis well known, that the Turks openly con|demn the Per&s;ians. Which they would never do, if 'they thought all Religions were Indifferent.</P>
<P>As for the Jews, the Thing is &s;o certain, that he who que&s;tions it, mu&s;t never have read their Writings: For they continually cur&s;e the Chri&s;ti|ans, and are &s;o ob&s;tinately per&s;uaded of the Truth of their Religion, nay more, That it is the only True Religion in the World, that there have been &s;everal who have rather cho&s;en to die, then Violate the meane&s;t precept of their Law.</P>
<TRAILER>THE END.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
