<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-06-24</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>*Proofed title page(s).
*Reviewed structure.
*Checked division-marking material at heads and feet of divisions (HEADS, CLOSER, OPENER, ARGUMENT, EPIGRAPH, SIGNED, BYLINE, etc.).
*Added TYPEs to DIVs in order to validate.
*Checked for N=""s.
*Checked ^s.
*Checked placement and completeness of PBs.
*Checked for foreign, damage and missing-page GAPs, PROBLEMs, #, --.
*Checked for LBs, startqs / endqs, q;s, ABBRs, LETTERs and Qs.
*Checked for FIGUREs and decorated initials.
*Checked proofsheets and made corrections found there.
*Corrected <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">s etc.
*Converted <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">s to GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="[vendor name]".
*Revalidated.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B23562">
<STC T="W">G1138</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]17150495</BIBNO>
<VID>206305</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1">
<P>Winter-Evening CONFERENCE BETWEEN Neighbours.</P>
<P>PART III.</P>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.</Q>
<Q>Evil Communications corrupt good Man|ners. <BIBL>1 Cor. 15.33. <HI>Ex Menand. in Thaide.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. M.</HI> for <HI>R. Roy&s;ton</HI> Book&s;el|ler to His mo&s;t Sacred Maje&s;ty, in <HI>Amen Corner,</HI> 1686.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="imprimatur">
<PB REF="2">
<P>IMPRIMATUR.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Jan.</HI> 10. 1685/6</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>C. Al&s;ton R. P. D. Hen. Epi&s;c. Lond. &agrave; Sacris.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE READER.</HEAD>
<P>THE Papers before thee contain a Re|lation of a Third Conference, be|tween the &s;ame Per&s;ons who held the two former, (which were made publick about two years &s;ince) And this is pur&s;uant of the &s;ame general De&s;ign that was then laid, nam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ly, to rai&s;e the rate and &s;ubject of mens Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ver&s;ation, and to bring religious Di&s;cour&s;e a little more into fa&s;hion: than which nothing can be more gentile and manly, nor any thing either more u&s;eful, plea&s;ant or graceful, when once men are accu&s;tomed to it, and know how to manage it with an equal tempe|rature of affection and gravity.</P>
<P>The &s;pecial matter of the pre&s;ent Confe|rence is jointly to repre&s;ent, as well the pru|dence and comfortablene&s;s, as the ju&s;t rea|&s;on and nece&s;&s;ity of Religion.</P>
<P>And whether that great Point be here made out with that clear Evidence which &s;uch a Subject de&s;erves and requires, mu&s;t be left to thy judgment.</P>
<PB REF="3">
<P>But if I &s;hall not be thought too much a Party to interpo&s;e my Opinion, I profe&s;s &s;in|cerely that I verily think both the intere&s;t of piety and of comfortable living are hereby con|&s;iderably promoted.</P>
<P>And as for the Per&s;ons that &s;pent their <HI>Winter-Evening</HI> in this manner, I can a&s;|&s;ure thee, that they are &s;o well &s;atisfied in this employment of their time, that (tho' pro|bably thou wilt never hear more of them in Print, yet) they are re&s;olved to continue this cour&s;e privately among them&s;elves; as finding it to be both more delightful, and more pro|fitable, than either <HI>Coffee-Hou&s;e</HI> Club or <HI>Tavern</HI>-A&s;&s;ignations.</P>
<P>That which I am to request of thee at pre&s;ent is, That thou wilt con&s;ult thy rea&s;on and con&s;cience in the Peru&s;al of the&s;e Papers, and (for the time at lea&s;t) lay a&s;ide drolling Wit and Phanta&s;try: For I am well aware, that if thou canst find in thy heart to trifle in &s;o &s;erious a concern, thou may&s;t rai&s;e a preju|dice in thy &s;elf and others again&s;t what is here pre&s;ented: for that temper will ea&s;ily apprehend &s;everal little things to play upon in this way of writing.</P>
<P>But if thou wilt u&s;e that Candor with which the former E&s;&s;ays of this kind were entertain|ed, thou wilt then look attentively at the main De&s;ign, and finding that to be both pious and
<PB REF="3">generous, di&s;po&s;e thy &s;elf to make &s;uch al|lowances for circum&s;tances as u&s;e to be made to private conver&s;ation among&s;t Friends and Neighbours, con&s;idering that in tho&s;e Ca&s;es men u&s;ually <HI>&s;peak</HI> with almo&s;t the &s;ame &s;e|curity that they <HI>think.</HI></P>
<P>There is one thing more which I am obliged to preface on the behalf of <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> That whereas in the proving to <HI>Biophilus,</HI> That there is a God, and in explicating the Divine Nature, he hath made u&s;e of two or three Me|taphy&s;ical Terms, thou wilt not impute it either to his affectation of hard words, or much le&s;s think that he takes Sanctuary in ob&s;cure Phra&s;es: but rather con&s;ider that it was im|po&s;&s;ible to avoid them without multiplying words, and &s;o drawing the Argument out at &s;o great a length, as would have been much more inconvenient than that which thou com|plaine&s;t of.</P>
<P>I adde no more, but heartily commend this little Book to thy acceptance, and thee to the Grace of God, and the comforts of his Holy Spirit.</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Farewel.</SALUTE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dramatis personae">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>The Characters of the Per&s;ons in the following Conference.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>SEba&s;tian,</HI> a Learned and pious Gen|tleman, who takes all occa&s;ions of en|gaging tho&s;e he conver&s;es with, in &s;o|briety and a &s;en&s;e of Religion.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Philander,</HI> a Gentile and Ingenuous Per&s;on, but too much addicted to the light|ne&s;&s;es of the Age, till reclaimed by the Conver&s;ation of <HI>Seba&s;tian.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Biophilus,</HI> a Sceptical Per&s;on, who had no &s;ettled Belief of any thing; but e&s;pe|cially was aver&s;e to the great Doctrines of Chri&s;tianity, concerning the Immorta|lity of the Soul and the Life to come: and therefore con&s;equently was much con|cerned for the pre&s;ent Life. Till at length awakened by the di&s;creet Rea&s;onings of <HI>Se|ba&s;tian,</HI> and the affectionate Di&s;cour&s;es of <HI>Philander,</HI> he begins to deliberate of what before he de&s;pi&s;ed.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="argument">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>The ARGUMENT of the third CONFERENCE.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> and <HI>Philander,</HI> two very good men and intimate Friends, meeting together at the Hou&s;e of <HI>Biophilus,</HI> (in pur&s;uance of a former re&s;olution taken between them) under the Alle|gorical di&s;gui&s;e of a Journey to <HI>Ura|nia,</HI> begin to talk warmly of Religion and another World. <HI>Biophilus,</HI> who had never yet entertained any &s;erious apprehen&s;ions of tho&s;e matters, won|ders at their di&s;cour&s;e, which he e|&s;teems to be no better than Romantic, and profe&s;&s;es his &s;u&s;picion, that either Wine had heated them, or Enthu&s;i|a&s;m had tran&s;ported them. Both which groundle&s;s conceits of his, when <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> had effectually confuted, he then proceeds to make a twofold Effort upon <HI>Biophilus,</HI> to bring him into the &s;ame &s;en&s;e of things with him|&s;elf and <HI>Philander.</HI> In the former he attacks him where he thought he was mo&s;t acce&s;&s;ible; and upon the ac|count of prudence, and the common concern of &s;elf-pre&s;ervation, pre&s;&s;es him to a regard of Religion, as that
<PB REF="5">without which no man can either live or die comfortably. And when by this means he had in &s;ome mea&s;ure di&s;po&s;ed him to be &s;erious, he then in the &s;econd place repre&s;ents to him the whole Scheme of Religion, and now renders it as rational in it &s;elf, as be|fore he had &s;hewed it to be prudent and important. Hereupon the Sceptical Gentleman, after abundance of &s;hifts and eva&s;ions, is at la&s;t brought to a <HI>non plus.</HI> And thenceforth begins to enquire very mode&s;tly into the na|ture of Religion in general, and of the Chri&s;tian Religion in particular; which when <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> had al&s;o in|&s;tructed him in, he promi&s;es to &s;tudy it diligently for the time to come. Then <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> and <HI>Philander</HI> lea|ving him under that good re&s;olution, entertain one another with very pious and u&s;eful Di&s;cour&s;es, partly of the nece&s;&s;ity of con&s;tancy in Religion, and the con&s;iderations that will maintain it, partly of the means of obtaining and pre&s;erving an even temper of &s;piritual comfort, through the whole cour&s;e of a Chri&s;tians life. And &s;o the Night parts them.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="dialogue">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>Winter-Evening CONFERENCE BETWEEN Neighbours.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">PART III.</HEAD>
<STAGE>Seba&s;tian, Philander, Biophilus.</STAGE>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;tian.</SPEAKER>
<P>WELL met again, Gentlemen, I hope we &s;hall one day meet in Heaven.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Philander.</SPEAKER>
<P>God grant it, good <HI>Seba&s;ti|an,</HI> and truly for my part, I am per&s;wa|ded we &s;hall the &s;ooner come there, the more we have of your Company and Conver&s;ation in the mean time.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>No Complements, <HI>Philander,</HI> I am glad to ob&s;erve you &s;o cheerful.
<PB N="2" REF="6">Come, Gentlemen, what think you of our Journey, I hope by this time <HI>Biophi|lus</HI> is re&s;olved; you promi&s;ed, Sir, to con&s;ider of it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Biophilus.</SPEAKER>
<P>I have con&s;idered a little, but in truth I think Winter no good time for travelling, e&s;pecially for the underta|king of &s;o long a Journey.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Be not di&s;couraged, Sir, the Journey is not &s;o long as perhaps you may fancy it to be; and the way is &s;o very good, that it is but taking up a good re&s;olution, and we &s;hall be there pre|&s;ently.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay (if I mi&s;take not) we may make &s;ome con&s;iderable advance that way, even as we now &s;it by the Fire &s;ide.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You talk merrily, <HI>Phil.</HI> like a Man that hath travelled all the World over in a Map, and yet never went be|yond the &s;moke of his own Chimney.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You will think it &s;trange per|haps,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Winter and old Age are peculiar Sea&s;ons for the bu&s;ine&s;s of another World.</NOTE> but it's very true, that no time &s;o good as Winter for this Expedition; the &s;hort dayes, dark and cold Nights, the very dirt and wet, and all the &s;eeming di&s;advantages of the Sea&s;on (which pro|bably may run in your head, <HI>Biophilus</HI>) all make for our purpo&s;e. The &s;everi|ties of the weather which con&s;train us to lay a&s;ide other bu&s;ine&s;s, give us the more lei&s;ure to attend this; the &s;hort dayes are followed with long Evenings, which af|ford us opportunity to &s;et things in order, to di&s;cour&s;e together, and to in&s;truct and
<PB N="3" REF="6">animate one another in our intended En|terprize; and in the dark &s;olitary Nights (our minds being then free from the di|&s;traction of variety of objects) our thoughts will run this way with wonder|ful &s;peed, if we do but direct them right. So that (as <HI>Philander</HI> &s;aid) in truth we may &s;o order it, as to make real progre&s;s towards our de&s;igned Port, even as we &s;it here.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, if <HI>Philander</HI> have &s;uch a Voucher, I know not what to &s;ay; but in earne&s;t, I am &s;omewhat too old and cra&s;y to undertake the Journey.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, believe me, the older the better. An old Man, if he &s;et to it in earne&s;t, will out&s;trip all others in this Voyage; &s;uch men will lo&s;e no time in trifles, experience hath taught them cau|tion, and made them very wary of all di|ver&s;ions and impediments, and they have le&s;s clog of fle&s;h and blood about them. In &s;hort, &s;uch men are &s;o &s;en&s;ible of the in|conveniences of this our pre&s;ent Coun|try, that it is great odds, but they will put on &s;o vigorou&s;ly, as to get to their Journies end before the younge&s;t of us all. Be&s;ides all which it is very con&s;iderable, that the older and more infirm any man is, the more need he hath of the relief of that benign and whol&s;ome air, and to be at re&s;t in that quiet and peaceable Re|gion of <HI>&V;rania</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>See Conf.</HI> II. p. 129.</NOTE>, whither we are go|ing.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I &s;ee you are too many for me
<PB N="4" REF="7">at this way of Drollery; but now that I know whereabouts you are, I mu&s;t be for|ced to tell you plainly, that (though I very much e&s;teem your Company) I am &s;orry you are fallen again upon this Ro|mance of <HI>&V;rania:</HI> Is it not time to lay a&s;ide this new kind of Knight-Errantry?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You may remember, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> (by what pa&s;&s;ed between us at our la&s;t meeting) that by <HI>&V;rania</HI> we mean no|thing le&s;s than the <HI>Kingdom of Heaven;</HI> and by taking a Journey thither, we (con|&s;equently) intend nothing el&s;e than <HI>Reli|gion</HI> and a devout pro&s;ecution of happi|ne&s;s in another World. Now therefore if you will not be per&s;waded to bear us Company in the expedition, yet can you find in your heart to reproach either the end or the means (as you &s;eem to do) the former under the contemptible name of a Romance, and the latter by that of Knight-Errantry?</P>
<P>What, in the name of God, do you call realities, if the&s;e things be Romantick? As for the pre&s;ent World,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Vani|ty of this World, and reality of that which is to come.</NOTE> it is notori|ou&s;ly a meer piece of Pageantry, and all the glory of it pa&s;&s;es away in a vain &s;hew: and if in it &s;elf it were not altogether &s;o incon&s;iderable as experience &s;hews it to be; yet humane life is &s;o very &s;hort, that a man can be little more than a Spectator of that pomp as it pa&s;&s;es by him. For by that time he begins to live, he more than begins to die. Either therefore there mu&s;t be another Life and a World
<PB N="5" REF="7">to come in reality, or el&s;e nothing at all is &s;o, but all is Romance indeed.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I cry you mercy if I u&s;ed an in|decent expre&s;&s;ion. I did not intend to give any offence, nor is it either my tem|per or cu&s;tom to put affronts upon other mens Per&s;wa&s;ions; but I appeal to you (<HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> as a man of Judgment) what name ought I to call that thing by, of which (when I hear men talk confidently of) I have notwith&s;tanding neither any &s;en&s;e in my own mind, nor &s;ee any ratio|nal ground to believe it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I acknowledge your Civility, good <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and in an&s;wer to your que|&s;tion, I tell you truly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Serious Con&s;idera|tion nece&s;|&s;ary to Re|ligion.</NOTE> that without any offence to me you may call that thing by what name you plea&s;e, of which no rati|onal account can be given (let men talk as confidently of it as they will) provided you have taken full information about it, and have &s;o maturely and impartially con|&s;idered of it, that you may be thought a competent Judge in the Ca&s;e: But other|wi&s;e, let me tell you, you may happen to call &s;ome of the mo&s;t certain truths in na|ture by &s;ome &s;uch opprobrious names; for|a&s;much as &s;ome very certain things may on the &s;udden, and at the fir&s;t glimp&s;e, &s;eem not only mere Paradoxes, but utter Impo&s;&s;ibilities; which yet afterwards, upon more deliberate inquiry, will abun|dantly confute that cen&s;ure by their own evidence.</P>
<P>And even in &s;en&s;ible perceptions, you
<PB N="6" REF="8">know it is not &s;ufficient that a man have eyes in his head, but there mu&s;t be a fit di&s;|po&s;ition of tho&s;e eyes, a proper <HI>medium</HI> or well-di&s;po&s;ed air, convenient light, due di&s;tance of the object, and competent time for our &s;en&s;es to &s;urvey and take hold of it, or el&s;e we &s;hall make no true e&s;ti|mate of that which is pre&s;ented to us. Now if you transfer this to Religion, and imitate the &s;ame care and caution in judg|ing of that, you will doubtle&s;s be &s;o far from concluding it to be a Romance, that you will find it not only recommended to you by the wi&s;dom and experience of all the World, but agreeable to the rea&s;on of your own mind, and to the internal &s;en&s;e of your own Con&s;cience. And which is more, you will ob&s;erve the belief of tho&s;e things whereupon it is founded, to be &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, and of &s;uch moment and con|&s;equence, as that they will appear to be the very pillars of the World, the bond of humane Society, and the very things wherein your own neere&s;t and mo&s;t pecu|liar intere&s;t is involved; in&s;omuch, that it will be utterly impo&s;&s;ible that you &s;hould either live or dye comfortably without an hearty per&s;wa&s;ion of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now you &s;peak like your &s;elf, and I under&s;tand you, but I hope I under|&s;tand my &s;elf better than to be willing to be reputed an enemy to Civil Society, or much le&s;s to be an enemy to my &s;elf; let me therefore &s;ee tho&s;e two things (which you la&s;t mentioned) clearly made out,
<PB N="7" REF="8">and (without further trouble to you) I &s;hall think my &s;elf obliged to take new mea&s;ures, or at lea&s;t to make more dili|gent inquiry into this affair.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Though I &s;hould have been right glad to have found you better re&s;olved, and hoped that this pre&s;ent Conference &s;hould rather have been directed to the incouraging one another in our cour&s;e, than &s;pent in di&s;puting our Port; yet in hopes that at length you will become a Vo|tary for the <HI>Holy-Land,</HI> I will comply with your de&s;ires, and repre&s;ent to you the evi|dence of tho&s;e two things you in&s;i&s;t upon.</P>
<P>And for the fir&s;t you will ea&s;ily be &s;en&s;ible of the influence of Religion upon Civil Society,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The danger of irreligi|on to Civil Society.</NOTE> when you con&s;ider how in|conceivable it is, that mere external force or fear of humane Puni&s;hment &s;hould be &s;ufficient to keep the World in order, when (as it often happens that) lewd and flagitious men &s;hall find them&s;elves either &s;ecured from that danger by the &s;ecrecy of their Plots, or protected by their &s;trength and multitude. And then you mu&s;t acknowledge that to the ends afore|u&s;ed there is a nece&s;&s;ity that &s;ome &s;uperi|our power not only protect Governours from violence, but al&s;o &s;trike the minds of men with an awful apprehen&s;ion of them as his Favourites and Vicegerents; but this cannot be done but upon &s;uch Principles of Religion as we now &s;peak of: therefore he that infringes that, weakens both Law and Government,
<PB N="8" REF="9">and is an Enemy to Civil Society.</P>
<P>Again, there can be no obligation of Oaths, and con&s;equently no &s;ecurity of faith and tru&s;t between man and man, but upon &s;uppo&s;ition of a God that takes no|tice of what men do, and who will call them to an account accordingly in another World: &s;o that the man who is de&s;titute of the&s;e per&s;wa&s;ions, can neither give &s;e|curity of his Loyalty to his Prince, nor of Fidelity to his Friend or Neighbour, or any man he deals with.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why I pray you, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> may not men tru&s;t one another upon the &s;ecu|rity of honour, good nature, or gratitude, or &s;ome &s;uch obligation, without tho&s;e fetters of Con&s;cience which you &s;peak of?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas, alas, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> all tho&s;e bonds which you mention are too weak to re&s;train the licentious humour of man|kind; they may put &s;ome little bya&s;s up|on mens &s;pirits, but they cannot bridle their pa&s;&s;ions, curb their de&s;ire of re|venge, nor prevail with them to deny their extravagant intere&s;ts and inclinati|ons, when they &s;hall have an opportunity to gratify any of them, as we find by dai|ly experience. For in all the obligations (below Religion and Con&s;cience) a man is &s;uppo&s;ed to be accountable only to him|&s;elf; and therefore may di&s;pen&s;e with him&s;elf, and acquit him&s;elf upon what terms he plea&s;es. And therefore wi&s;e men, and e&s;pecially wi&s;e Princes, u&s;e not
<PB N="9" REF="9">to tru&s;t to any of tho&s;e defei&s;ible &s;ecuri|ties, but only to that of Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Well, but have not pretenders to Religion plaid fa&s;t and loo&s;e with Laws and Government, as well as other men? Nay generally you &s;hall ob&s;erve, that a Bigotted &s;ort of men are the principal Con&s;pirators and Actors of mo&s;t of the tumults and di&s;orders in the World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>If I &s;hould object to you the daily and horrible violations of Faith a|mong&s;t the pretenders to honour, inge|nuity, and gratitude; I know you would an&s;wer me, That tho&s;e per&s;ons were not really men of honour, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> but only pre|tenders. And &s;o you may an&s;wer your &s;elf in this ca&s;e, namely, That they are but pretenders to the real principles of Religion, that fal&s;ify their Faith and di|&s;turb Government.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, if I &s;hould grant you, That the very Bonds of Religion are not able always to re&s;train the rage and folly of &s;ome exorbitant per&s;ons; yet certainly it is the mo&s;t powerful means among&s;t mankind to that end, and incomparably beyond all tho&s;e you have named, for the &s;ake of that rea&s;on I have already given you. And therefore (as I was about to &s;ay) you may remember, when upon oc|ca&s;ion, <HI>Ptolomy</HI> King of <HI>Egypt,</HI> &s;ent one <HI>Theodorus,</HI> in the quality of his Emba&s;&s;a|dour, to <HI>Ly&s;imachus:</HI> this latter refu&s;es to treat with him, or admit him under that Character, becau&s;e he was reputed an
<PB N="10" REF="10">Athei&s;t; and being &s;uch, he lookt upon him as a per&s;on with whom there could be no &s;ecurity of civil intercour&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I remember the &s;tory, but I pray you then (by the way) if <HI>Ly&s;imachus</HI>'s Objection again&s;t <HI>Theodorus</HI> was &s;uffi|cient, how came <HI>Ptolomy</HI> notwith&s;tanding to tru&s;t him with the management of his affairs?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truly I can give you no other An&s;wer, but that it &s;eems he did not well under&s;tand the loo&s;e tenure of an Athei&s;t, nor had &s;o much prudence as his Neigh|bour. But let that pa&s;s, if you plea&s;e, and give me leave in the next place to re|pre&s;ent to you every mans per&s;onal con|cern in the truth of Religion, which is &s;uch (as I intimated before) that no man can either live or die comfortably with|out it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I, with all my heart. Let Prin|ces and States alone to manage their own matters. Shew me but that one point you la&s;t mentioned, and it &s;hall &s;uffice in the pre&s;ent ca&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>For that, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> you will ea&s;ily apprehend, that no man can die cheerfully without the &s;upports of Reli|gion (I mean if he die &s;en&s;ibly, and with his wits about him) becau&s;e the very be&s;t of &s;uch a mans Game, and the &s;umm of his expectations can be but this, That he &s;hall die like the Bea&s;t, and that vital principle in him, which we call the Soul, &s;hall be ab&s;olutely extingui&s;hed: &s;o that
<PB N="11" REF="10">he &s;hall thenceforth as perfectly cea&s;e to be what he was, as if he had never been.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Death very uncomfort|able with|out the &s;up|ports of Re|ligion.</NOTE> Now this I &s;uppo&s;e you will readily grant me, mu&s;t needs be not only a very un|comfortable pro&s;pect, but &s;uch a condi|tion as a man cannot think of without ju&s;t abhorrence, nor be reconciled to, without as great a contradiction, as it were for him to be &s;uppo&s;ed to hate his own being, which &s;urely is impo&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>Yet (as I &s;aid) this is the very be&s;t of the irreligious mans ca&s;e, and that which he can never be &s;ecure, will be the wor&s;t that &s;hall befal him; for if it &s;hall prove in the i&s;&s;ue of things, that there is ano|ther World (and at lea&s;t it may do &s;o for ought he knows) then his ca&s;e is &s;o much wor&s;e, as that now by death he mu&s;t enter upon an e&s;tate for ever, which he hath had no fore&s;ight of, nor made any pre|parations for. He encounters a God, whom he hath taken no care to propiti|ate towards him&s;elf in all the cour&s;e of his life, by any acts of Piety and Devoti|on; and what a di&s;mal plunge mu&s;t the ap|proaches of Death (together with &s;uch a &s;urprizal) of nece&s;&s;ity put &s;uch a man into?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>As for Death, I &s;hall ea&s;ily grant all you &s;ay, for that is no very comforta|ble thing at the be&s;t; the only refuge I know, is to make a virtue of nece&s;&s;ity, and &s;eeing die we mu&s;t, to take it pati|ently: but for that rea&s;on I am re&s;olved to live as long as I can, and as cheerfully
<PB N="12" REF="11">too, and why may not this be done with|out the bu&s;ine&s;s of Religion?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>In truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">No man can live com|fortably, but upon the grounds of Religion.</NOTE> <HI>Biophilus,</HI> the impo&s;|&s;ibility of living comfortably, without the helps of Religion, is every whit as evident as that of dying &s;o, and for the very &s;ame rea&s;ons, for as much as what|&s;oever renders Death terrible, mu&s;t needs make life unea&s;y too. For &s;ince death is acknowledged to be unavoidable, it can|not choo&s;e but run continually in &s;uch a mans head, Shortly I mu&s;t die, and either Everla&s;tingly cea&s;e to be, or (which is far wor&s;e) begin to be Eternally mi&s;era|ble: The lea&s;t of which two things (without the mi&s;erable refuge of a perpe|tual debauch to keep &s;uch a man from thinking) mu&s;t be of force enough to make his heart ake, and to &s;poil all the plea&s;ures of the pre&s;ent life: E&s;pecially con&s;idering withal, the uncertainty of the tenure, and the innumerable accidents of humane life; which la&s;t circum&s;tance makes it to become ju&s;t matter of fear at all times, that by &s;ome or other of tho&s;e accidents of mortality, his frail thred may abruptly be broken; and con&s;equent|ly who knows but by to morrow, not only all his projects and contrivances, but all his delights and entertainments will &s;uf|fer a total interruption.</P>
<P>But then if there be a God and another World (which he can never be &s;ure that there is not) then he can expect nothing le&s;s than very &s;uddenly to fall under the
<PB N="13" REF="11">vengeance of that great maje&s;ty whom he hath always provoked and never ap|pea&s;ed.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides all this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The cau&s;es of the timo|rou&s;ne&s;s of Athei&s;ts.</NOTE> as we commonly ob|&s;erve, that Athei&s;tical per&s;ons are of all men the mo&s;t timorous; &s;o there is great rea&s;on for it, if we con&s;ider what a dark and melancholy thing it mu&s;t needs be, for &s;o impotent a Creature as man is, to live in a World without a God, and with|out the &s;ecurity of a Providence: for there are a thou&s;and things confe&s;&s;edly too &s;trong for us, and which are able to cru&s;h and de&s;troy us every moment. And in this ca&s;e where a man hath no help in him&s;elf, if he have no Guardian about him neither, if (I &s;ay) he cannot look up to &s;ome higher Being as his Patron and Protector; it were meer madne&s;s to be Valiant: for all the grounds of Courage fail him, and therefore no wonder if his Spirits be broken and baffled by the dan|ger of his Ca&s;e, and the lone&s;omne&s;s of his Condition.</P>
<P>Upon which account a per&s;on of Ho|nour, and a great Witt of this pre&s;ent Age, acknowledged &s;ome time before his death; <Q>That, although he, for his part,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Late E. of</HI> Roch.</NOTE> had no feeling of the comforts of Reli|gion, yet he accounted tho&s;e to be hap|py men, that could, and did live under the advantage of it.</Q> For indeed life is not life with tho&s;e &s;upports which that (and that only) affords us. But when a man hath, by the benefit of that Holy pru|dence,
<PB N="14" REF="12">put all his intere&s;t into God's Cu|&s;tody, and &s;ecured him&s;elf of another World; then he begins to live indeed, then he may laugh at the pre&s;ent World, de&s;pi&s;e temporal life, and defy death; for as much as thenceforth he is out of the reach of Chance, Fate, or Fortune.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>'Tis true,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philander <HI>ravi&s;h'd with the comforts of Religion.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Biophilus,</HI> 'tis true, as <HI>Se|ba&s;tian</HI> &s;aith, the World to come is the only Reality, and Religion the only Comfort. O happy we that know there is a God in the World, under who&s;e Providence we live! and ble&s;&s;ed be that Divine Goodne&s;s, which hath provided another World to receive us, and there promi&s;ed us Eternal Life.</P>
<P>O <HI>&V;rania, &V;rania,</HI> (Heaven I mean) thou end of cares and fears, and begin|ning of Joy without end! thou re&s;t of Souls, and only &s;atisfaction of great and wi&s;e minds! I am ravi&s;ht with the thoughts of thee; I am &s;o tran&s;ported with hopes of thee, that I am become all life and &s;pirit; methinks I begin to have wings, and could fly to Heaven.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> &s;peaks &s;hrewdly, I con|fe&s;s; but you, <HI>Philander,</HI> are too high a Flyer for me: you are &s;o much in the Al|titudes, that you mu&s;t pardon me, if I, a little, &s;u&s;pect that you have (according to your former cu&s;tom) been taking of a cheerful Cup, which, as a wi&s;e man ob&s;erves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 E&s;dr. 3. v. 21.</NOTE> <HI>makes men &s;peak all things by Ta|lents.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>You are in the very right of it,
<PB N="15" REF="12"><HI>Biophilus,</HI> I have taken a Do&s;e, and a lu&s;ty one too (as <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> will be my witne&s;s) &s;o that I find my &s;elf not a little elevated at this time. But, mi&s;take me not, it is not with drink; no (though I &s;ay it) I am grown a better husband, and more frugal of my time, than to &s;pend it on a De|bauch: or (if you will) I am become a great Coward, and am afraid of an after reckoning.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>What reckoning, man?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;in and danger of Drunken|ne&s;s, and that the plea&s;ures of it are fal&s;e and delu&s;ory.</NOTE> no other than that which <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> hath given us warning of, <HI>the Judgment to come.</HI> For I mu&s;t tell you, I very much doubt whether God Almigh|ty (who hath endowed us with noble Fa|culties, and thereby &s;eems to have de&s;ign|ed us for excellent purpo&s;es, and who hath al&s;o appointed our time to be but &s;hort in this world) will take it well at our hands, that we &s;hould drown the one, and drivel away the other in Sen&s;uality.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now you grow &s;erious, but what made you &s;o brisk even now? In truth I &s;u&s;pected you might have been bit|ten with your own Dog (as they &s;ay) and had prevented the Civility of my hou&s;e, by a liberal gla&s;s at home.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>O <HI>Biophilus,</HI> I thank God I am come to that pa&s;s now, that I can dance without a Fiddle, and be merry without the aid of the Bottle; and I look upon tho&s;e men to be in a very pittiable condi|tion that cannot do &s;o. For I have learn|ed, by my former unhappy experience,
<PB N="16" REF="13">that tho&s;e <HI>liquid Con&s;olations</HI> are meer cheats and palliative cures of Melancholy; and though perhaps a man may by the help of them rid him&s;elf of the trouble of his own thoughts for the pre&s;ent (which is all that Wine can pretend to) yet he doth but reprieve him&s;elf for a time, and he will find him&s;elf again ju&s;t where he was, as &s;oon as he becomes &s;ober: for Con&s;cience is not to be totally drowned in Drink, nor the clamour thereof to be deaded by the noi&s;e of Huzza's.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t</SPEAKER>
<P>It is very true which <HI>Philander</HI> &s;aith; for generally the mirth of a de|bauch, as it is &s;trained and artificial, &s;o it cannot la&s;t long: it is at be&s;t but like the effects of an high Cordial, which may &s;erve to rally the &s;pirits for &s;ome pre&s;ent encounter, but then they are &s;pent in the conflict, and fall and flagg again quickly after; or like tho&s;e mighty efforts which you &s;hall ob&s;erve &s;ome per&s;on to make in a Convul&s;ion, the re&s;ult of which will be, that &s;uch a man &s;hall become &s;o much le&s;s than him&s;elf after the Fit, as he was more than him&s;elf whil&s;t it was upon him: for any man &s;hall find, that when&s;oever the &s;pirits are extraordinarily exhilarated and dilated, they thereby become &s;o thin and volatile, that they ea&s;ily exhale and va|ni&s;h, and &s;o a man becomes far more me|lancholy and lumpi&s;h after, than he was before.</P>
<P>But now in intellectual delights and en|tertainments, wherein a man may be mer|ry
<PB N="17" REF="13">and wi&s;e together, and &s;o have no fear of an after-reckoning to pall the pre&s;ent enjoyment, and e&s;pecially in &s;uch plea&s;ures as come in upon the account of Religion, they afford a &s;till and &s;edate delight, which refre&s;h the heart more than dilate the countenance, and gently rai&s;e and &s;trengthen the &s;pirits, but do not in any mea&s;ure exhau&s;t them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You di&s;cour&s;e ingeniou&s;ly, <HI>Seba|&s;tian,</HI> but &s;ure you have not mended the matter: for it as good to be drunk with Wine as with conceitedne&s;s, which is the more la&s;ting di&s;temper; and I pray let me &s;ee if you can excu&s;e this tran&s;port of <HI>Phi|lander</HI> from fanatici&s;m as well as from that which I at fir&s;t &s;u&s;pected, for &s;ure it mu&s;t be one of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why, <HI>Biophilus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">That reli|gious joy is not fanati|cal, and the nature of Fanatici&s;m explained.</NOTE> do you think a man cannot be cheerful unle&s;s he be ei|ther mad or drunk?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>It &s;eems then in your opinion, fanatici&s;m is madne&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truly, Sir, I profe&s;s to you, I take it to be little better; e&s;pecially, if it be in any high degree. For what (I pray you) is it to be mad, but for a mans fancy or pa&s;&s;ions &s;o to get head of him, that he is hurried on wildly and ex|travagantly by &s;uch an unaccountable <HI>im|petus,</HI> as that his rea&s;on (the common principle of mankind) is not able to re|&s;train or govern him? And on the other &s;ide, what is it for a man to fear without danger, and to hope without ground; to
<PB N="18" REF="14">believe without <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> and to think, and &s;peak, or do &s;uch <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> whereof he can give no account which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> intelligible by the re&s;t of Mankind? this I take to be Fanatici&s;m, and this is as plainly a Di&s;ea&s;e and a Fit of the Body, as tho&s;e Convul&s;i|ons which we &s;pake of but now.</P>
<P>As for Example, If you &s;hall ob&s;erve a man pretend to believe plain impo&s;&s;ibili|ties, and not only &s;upinely and credu|lou&s;ly &s;wallow them, but confidently a|vouch and maintain them; it may be in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">egard of his &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s and good mean|ing, you will call him an Enthu&s;ia&s;t or Fa|natick: yet for as much as you are &s;ati&s;|fied, that the things he is &s;o confident of, are contradictions to the common &s;en&s;e and experience of Mankind (notwith|&s;tanding his confidence and devotion) you will conclude he is governed by other principles than tho&s;e of a man; and con|&s;equently that he is be&s;ides him&s;elf, and under &s;ome degree of madne&s;s.</P>
<P>Again, When you &s;ee a man, who can make no pretence to any Character of pub|lick Authority, nor can give any &s;ufficient proof of any &s;pecial and extraordinary Commi&s;&s;ion from God Almighty, &s;hall notwith&s;tanding be acted by &s;uch a heady and intemperate zeal, as to &s;uper&s;ede the publick Magi&s;trate, and take upon him|&s;elf to govern and reform the World; this indeed is Fanatici&s;m, but it cannot be acquitted of &s;ome &s;pice of madne&s;s withal.</P>
<PB N="19" REF="14">
<P>Or la&s;tly (to come more home to you) When a man &s;hall be perplexed with end|le&s;s &s;cruples, and fears and doubts of the danger and damnablene&s;s of &s;uch things as are manife&s;tly the violation of no Law, and &s;hall be dejected in his Con&s;cience, and ready to &s;ink into de&s;peration, at &s;uch time as yet he is not con&s;cious to him&s;elf, of either omitting any known duty, or committing any wicked thing: Or on the other &s;ide, when &s;uch a man &s;hall run into the other extream, and be tran&s;ported with Joy, and ravi&s;ht with Comfort; but upon no more intelligible grounds, than he had before for his fears and dejections of &s;pirit. Both the&s;e ca|&s;es may be very pittiable, but they are as well plain &s;ymptoms of a cra&s;y mind, as they are in&s;tances of Fanatici&s;m. But&mdash;</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am very glad to hear the&s;e things from you, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> and that you have &s;o &s;light an opinion of that &s;ort of men, who make &s;uch a figure, or rather &s;uch a du&s;t in the World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>So far then we are agreed, but by your favour, I believe all this which I have &s;aid will make nothing towards the proof of your charge again&s;t <HI>Philander;</HI> for though I impute unrea&s;onable and ex|travagant raptures to Fancy rather than to Faith, and account them rather a di|&s;temper of the body than the devotion of the mind; yet I mu&s;t tell you after all, that true and manly Religion is no cold and comfortle&s;s thing, it is not a
<PB N="20" REF="15">lukewarm notionality, not a formal and bayardly round of duties, not a dull <HI>tem|peramentum ad pondus,</HI> as they call it, but is lively, vigorous and &s;parkling, and hath its joys and ravi&s;hments too; only they are more &s;edate and governable, as well as more rational and accountable, than tho&s;e we &s;pake of before; and &s;o I &s;uppo&s;e you will find it to be with <HI>Phi|lander:</HI> He hath expre&s;t &s;ome heat, but not without light, and is both able to govern his expre&s;&s;ions, and to give you a &s;ober rea&s;on of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Hearty thanks, dear <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> for vindicating me from the mi&s;-appre|hen&s;ions my innocent joy had expo&s;ed me to with <HI>Biophilus;</HI> and herein you have not only done me a kindne&s;s, but obliged all good men, and done a right to true Piety it &s;elf, which is apt to be put out of countenance with the imputation of Fanatici&s;m, and &s;o far it &s;uffers thereby, that a great many well-di&s;po&s;ed (but over ba&s;hful and timorous) men are tempted to a very &s;trange kind of Hypocri&s;y, and to pretend them&s;elves wor&s;e than they are, and to trim it off in the indifferent &s;train of the World, for fear of incurring the cen&s;ure of being Zealots and Bigots in Religion.</P>
<P>But now I &s;hall take heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The true grounds of comfort in Religion.</NOTE> and adven|ture to let my light &s;hine out abroad, as well as burn within my Brea&s;t. And I cannot forbear upon this occa&s;ion to re|turn my mo&s;t humble thanks to God Al|mighty,
<PB N="21" REF="15">who hath given me cau&s;e to hope in his goodne&s;s, and the cordial of that hope, hath in &s;ome mea&s;ure antidoted me again&s;t the troubles and vexations of this pre&s;ent World; for I profe&s;s to you, there is &s;o much of care and fear, of la|bour and pain, of &s;orrow and di&s;quiet here below, what by cro&s;s accidents and di&s;appointments, what by the malice of evil men, or by the follies, peevi&s;hne&s;s, and jealou&s;ies of weak and &s;illy men; that were it not for the pro&s;pect of a better &s;tate of things above, and of re&s;t and peace, &s;tability and &s;atisfaction in ano|ther World, I &s;hould be very far from being fond of this pre&s;ent Life. But now when I con&s;ider, and am &s;atisfied, that at the wor&s;t I am under a Providence, &s;o that nothing befals by chance, or by the mere will of man, but by divine appointment and ordination; and con&s;equently there is nothing but what he both can and will make to work for good in the conclu&s;ion: And when withal I find my &s;elf re&s;olved to &s;ubmit to his wi&s;e purpo&s;es, by which means it is in my power to be wi&s;er and better by all Occurrences; and in &s;o do|ing, have my hopes improved into &s;ome mea&s;ure of a&s;&s;urance, that I &s;hall in due time be tran&s;lated into tho&s;e happy Re|gions above. This comforts my heart under all the pre&s;ent inconveniences, and not only &s;upports my &s;pirits, but cheers them, and refre&s;hes my very countenance. And &s;ometimes it happens, that the more
<PB N="22" REF="16">the vexations of the World had depre&s;t me, the higher do the&s;e Contemplations rai&s;e me; &s;o that I break out into &s;uch an holy triumph and bravery, as that which you <HI>(Biophilus)</HI> took notice of in me &s;ince we came together.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>What think you, now, <HI>Biophi|lus,</HI> is <HI>Philander</HI> mad or drunk?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, I acknowledge he &s;peaks like a Man, or an Angel rather (if there were any &s;uch thing) but &s;till I &s;u&s;pect there is &s;ome trick or other in it; I cannot &s;atisfie my &s;elf in the&s;e religious brave|ries, as he calls them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> what is there to amuze you in this matter? Con&s;ider with your &s;elf, how can it be otherwi&s;e, but that he who is throughly &s;atisfied that it is neither blind chance, nor &s;urly fate, nor &s;ome ill-natur'd and unlucky Being; but contrariwi&s;e, a great and wi&s;e and good God, that governs the World: how can it be (I &s;ay) but that &s;uch a man mu&s;t needs be very comfortable under &s;uch a Protection?</P>
<P>Or how can it come to pa&s;s that a man that lives virtuou&s;ly and piou&s;ly, who ap|proves him&s;elf to his own Rea&s;on and Con&s;cience, and, as near as he can, to the mind of that great God, who made, and governs the World, &s;hould be tor|mented with pannick fears of he knows not what; &s;ince, whether he looks up|ward or downward, into him&s;elf or a|broad, there is nothing can hurt him;
<PB N="23" REF="16">nothing but what mu&s;t needs cheer him with an hopeful expectation of a good i&s;&s;ue of &s;uch a cour&s;e in the up&s;hot of things;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The admi|rable and un&s;peaka|ble con&s;ola|tion of be|lieving E|ternal Life.</NOTE> e&s;pecially if withall he have a firm belief of Eternal Life in another world, and of un&s;peakable joy and felicity there attainable, and certainly to be enjoy|ed by him that pur&s;ues it in his life by &s;uch a cour&s;e of Vertue and Piety as afore|&s;aid. How can you imagine that &s;uch a man &s;hould be down in the mouth (as we &s;ay) or dull and out of humour? Nay, rather, how is it po&s;&s;ible he &s;hould be able to &s;mother &s;uch hopes, and con|ceal &s;uch joys? no, they are too great to be kept &s;ecret in his bo&s;om; they will break out now and then in trium|phant expre&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>Eternity, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> eternal life (I mean) is &s;o great, &s;o glorious, &s;o admi|rable an happine&s;s, that I can never be per&s;waded that man really believes it, and hath any good mea&s;ure of hopes that he &s;hall attain it, who can be &s;o re&s;erv'd and Stoical, as to keep his countenance whenever he thinks of it.</P>
<P>Do but judge with your &s;elf, if you could have ground to believe you &s;hould never forgoe this pre&s;ent life, but for ever enjoy your hou&s;e, your wife and children, nor ever be parted from tho&s;e wi&s;e and good friends you have made choice of, that no accident, no di&s;ea&s;e, nor malice of men or evil &s;pi|rits could reach you; but you might
<PB N="24" REF="17">pur&s;ue your de&s;igns, and meet with nothing to interrupt the train of your thoughts and projections, &s;o that you could know Death only in &s;peculation; in this ca&s;e you may ea&s;ily imagine, how much at ea&s;e a mans thoughts would be, how &s;e|cure his mind, how bold his &s;pirit, and how cheerful his countenance. But now to live for ever in the Glories of the Kingdom of Heaven, to be not only &s;e|cure from all pain or care, fear or danger, but to be in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of perfect and con&s;ummate bli&s;s, to injoy the favour of God, the pre&s;ence of the ever-ble&s;&s;ed Je&s;us, and the perpetual &s;ociety of all good men made perfect, and free from their igno|rances, errors, pa&s;&s;ions and infirmities. This is a &s;tate of life that I prote&s;t I can|not think of without a&s;toni&s;hment, nor &s;peak of without a pa&s;&s;ion, nor hope for without a rapture.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I &s;hould ea&s;ily con&s;ent to you in all this, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> if I thought it was real; for I am neither &s;o fond of a Grave as not to be de&s;irous to live as long as it is po&s;&s;ible, nor &s;o &s;evere to my &s;elf as to be willing to want any of tho&s;e comforts of Life and &s;upports in Death that are at|tainable: but in truth I &s;u&s;pect all the&s;e great things, <HI>Philander,</HI> that you talk of to be but plea&s;ant Dreams and the high rants of Fancy.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>But why &s;hould you think &s;o, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> &s;eeing it is very plain, that the &s;obere&s;t and be&s;t men are of this per&s;wa|&s;ion;
<PB N="25" REF="17">and for the mo&s;t part, the better the men are, the more lively is their &s;en&s;e of the&s;e things. Can you imagine that either God Almighty &s;hould put a cheat upon the very be&s;t of mankind (and up|on them e&s;pecially?) or can you think that the be&s;t of men &s;hould be the greate&s;t ly|ars, and pretend to that of which they had no real grounds? I pray therefore be free with me, and tell me the cau&s;es of your mi&s;tru&s;t in this ca&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I think I have rea&s;on to doubt the&s;e high pretences to the wonderful comforts of Religion, in the fir&s;t place; becau&s;e I ob&s;erve the &s;tate of mankind to be generally very unea&s;ie, and the World to be full of nothing more than melan|choly and complaint, which &s;ure could not be, if there were &s;uch effectual Re|medies ready at hand, and &s;uch an Hearts Ea&s;e in Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I will an&s;wer you in that pre|&s;ently, but I pray fir&s;t tell me (by the way) what do you think is the rea&s;on that there are &s;o many &s;ickly and valetu|dinary People in the World?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truly I think we may re&s;olve the greate&s;t part of tho&s;e long and tedi|ous di&s;tempers, under which &s;o many People langui&s;h, into Surfeits and other in&s;tances of their own Riot and Luxury.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very well, but you do not yet reach my meaning; I ask you there|fore again, Do you not think that there are a great many among&s;t tho&s;e that pine
<PB N="26" REF="18">away under the afore&s;aid lingring di&s;tem|pers, who might po&s;&s;ibly receive help and ea&s;e if they took due care of them|&s;elves?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes doubtle&s;s, for in tho&s;e chro|nical Di&s;ea&s;es there is time for advice and application, and fit intermi&s;&s;ions for Me|dicines to take place in; but the mi&s;chief is, &s;ome men are humour&s;ome and ob&s;tinate, and will take no advice whatever come of it: others deliver them&s;elves up to Empi|ricks and unskilful Per&s;ons, who often make the Di&s;ea&s;e wor&s;e than it was; and then there are &s;ome &s;o &s;oft and delicate, that although they have good advice gi|ven them, and might be cured, yet will not follow the rules that are pre&s;cribed to them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seb.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very good, now you have &s;aved me the labour, and have an&s;wered your own objection again&s;t the real comfort|ablene&s;s of Religion:<NOTE PLACE="marg">The cau&s;es of the un|comforta|blene&s;s of mens &s;pi|rits gene|rally.</NOTE> For there are the &s;ame three accounts to be a&s;&s;igned of the uncomfortablene&s;s of mens &s;pirits, which you have given of the &s;ickly e&s;tate of their Bodies, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place there are &s;ome men who fan&s;ie them&s;elves either too wi&s;e to be advi&s;ed, or think the ca&s;e of Humane Na|ture too de&s;perate to be cured; and there|fore grow moro&s;e and &s;ceptical, and will rather cloke them&s;elves up in a mu&s;ty me|lancholy re&s;ervedne&s;s for the pre&s;ent, and run the venture of all for the future, than give them&s;elves the trouble of any &s;erious
<PB N="27" REF="18">thoughts of Religion. Now you cannot expect that the&s;e men &s;hould find the com|fort of Religion, who were &s;o far from making experiment of it, that they were afraid of it, like tho&s;e wi&s;e men that for fear they &s;hould one time or other be poi|&s;oned, will therefore never eat any meat.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>If you would pardon my inter|rupting of you, I could tell you for all this, that there are &s;ome certain men in the World (though not many I confe&s;s) who enjoy them&s;elves very well, and yet never were in debt to any Religion for it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very likely, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> for &s;o as I remember, King <HI>John</HI> killed a very fat Stag that had never heard Ma&s;s in its life; and &s;o you &s;hall &s;ee an Oxe in the &s;tall, let him but have meat and drink and ea&s;e enough, he never repines at the ap|proach of the day of &s;laughter: in like manner there are a &s;ort of dull unthink|ing men, that pa&s;s away their time in a plea&s;ant dream of &s;en&s;uality, and never feel any want of the con&s;olations of Re|ligion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">How it comes to pa&s;s that &s;ome men &s;eem to live cheerfully without God and Religion.</NOTE> but it is not becau&s;e there is no need of them, but becau&s;e &s;uch Per&s;ons do not feel the need, nor indeed are &s;en|&s;ible of any thing el&s;e that is manly and generous.</P>
<P>If I &s;hould tell you it was dangerous be|ing upon &s;uch a precipice, I &s;uppo&s;e you would not think it a confutation of my caution to tell me, that notwith&s;tanding a certain blind man &s;lept and &s;nored &s;e|curely
<PB N="28" REF="19">upon it; for real danger is danger whether men be apprehen&s;ive of it or no: or if you &s;hould ob&s;erve a poor man to dream of plenty and all the affluence of the World, you will not count him to be as happy as he that really enjoys tho&s;e things; a dream is one thing, and real felicity is another: and though the former fan&s;ies him&s;elf for the pre&s;ent as happy as the other, yet I am &s;ure you who know one is a&s;leep and the other awake, do not think it to be &s;o. Thus it is in Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Your pardon again, it is not on|ly true that &s;ome &s;tupid and incapable Per&s;ons are at hearts ea&s;e without Reli|gion, but you &s;hall ob&s;erve &s;ome of a better mold; polite and ingenious men live very plea&s;antly, and yet are not be|holden to Religion for it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It may be &s;o; but then I doubt they mu&s;t be beholden to the Bottle for it, which they mu&s;t ply continually too to keep them from thinking: for I have &s;hewed you already that it is as impo&s;&s;ible for a thinking man (out of a Debauch and who cannot but be &s;en&s;ible that he mu&s;t die) to be comfortable without the aids of &s;ome Religion or other; as it is for you or me to caper and frollick upon the brink of &s;uch a Precipice as we &s;poke of but now: In &s;hort, &s;uch men as have Eyes in their heads have no other refuge, but to wink hard that they may not be &s;en|&s;ible of their danger.</P>
<P>And &s;o much for that. Now if you plea&s;e
<PB N="29" REF="19">I will proceed: In the &s;econd place then there is (as you well ob&s;erved) another &s;ort of men, who, though they are not &s;o refractory and contumacious as to defy the whole art of Phy&s;ick (as a perfect cheat) yet, out of &s;tingine&s;s, or &s;ome o|ther folly, will apply them&s;elves only to Quacks and Mountebanks, who, in|&s;tead of curing their pre&s;ent infirmities, by unskilful management, render them more dangerous and intolerable. So it is in this ca&s;e of Religion and the minds of men, there are tho&s;e who do not a|bandon them&s;elves to de&s;perate Athe|i&s;m, nor &s;ceptically ca&s;t off all care of Religion; but finding they cannot be at ea&s;e without &s;ome regard of God, and provi&s;ion for another World; yet (not falling into the hands of tho&s;e that were able to principle them right) en|tertain &s;uch imperfect and incon&s;i&s;tent Notions of Religion, as can really af|ford them no &s;olid con&s;olation. And this is a &s;econd cau&s;e why the World is &s;o uncomfortable, notwith&s;tanding all the relief that Religion pretends to give.</P>
<P>As for example;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fal&s;e noti|ons of God and Religi|on very un|comforta|ble.</NOTE> Suppo&s;e a man believes there is a God, yet if he look upon him under the notion of a cruel and unrelent|ing Tyrant, governed by meer will, and who aims at nothing but the &s;ecuring and greatning his own power, and con|&s;equently is &s;o far unconcerned for any of his creatures, that it is all one to him whether they be &s;aved or damned eter|nally;
<PB N="30" REF="20">you will ea&s;ily grant me that the belief of &s;uch a God cannot be very comfortable, &s;ince a man cannot think of him, nor much le&s;s exerci&s;e any act of Devotion towards him without horrour and affrightment.</P>
<P>Or, again, Suppo&s;e a man &s;hould en|tertain a le&s;s horrid notion of God, as that though he be not &s;uch a mon&s;ter as the former render'd him; yet that he is a nice and captious Deity, very techy and hard to plea&s;e, that would make no candid and equitable interpretation, nor allow of &s;incerity and good mean|ing, but mu&s;t have his mind to a tittle, and every thing mu&s;t be done preci&s;ely according to rule, and con&s;equently mu&s;t needs be able to find frequent occa&s;ions again&s;t his creatures, and was likely as of|ten to animadvert &s;everely upon them. This mu&s;t needs be a very uncomfortable principle of Religion, as well as the for|mer, &s;ince &s;uch a God is only the object of fear and not of love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Jo. 4.18.</NOTE> and <HI>all fear hath tor|ment.</HI></P>
<P>Moreover, put ca&s;e a man &s;hould have a more kindly and benign notion of God, than either of the former, but yet finds him&s;elf perfectly at a lo&s;s how to plea&s;e the Divine Maje&s;ty, and propitiate him towards him&s;elf, in regard he knows of no declaration of his Mind and Will that he hath made (becau&s;e he either never heard of, or doth not believe the Holy Scriptures) it is impo&s;&s;ible but that a
<PB N="31" REF="20">devout Mind in this ca&s;e mu&s;t be very much perplexed and unea&s;ie; and the more devout the man is, the more will his perplexity be, in regard that when he hath done all he can to plea&s;e God, he cannot re&s;t &s;atisfied whether he hath &s;erved or di&s;&s;erved him all the while. Which in a great mea&s;ure was the condition of the gentile World, for lack of Divine Revelation; and therefore they were nece&s;&s;itated in their Devoti|ons to make u&s;e of abundance of vari|ous Rites, in hopes that if one &s;ort of them mi&s;&s;ed, the other might hitt to be acceptable to the Deity. And when all was done, they were not &s;ure that ei|ther, or any of them was perfectly a|greeable to his mind: and therefore as their Devotion mu&s;t needs be Super&s;ti|tious in the nature of it; &s;o con&s;equent|ly it mu&s;t be attended with pannick fears, and uncomfortable apprehen&s;ions, as the fruit of it.</P>
<P>Furthermore, Let us &s;uppo&s;e a man of &s;o high an attainment in Religion, as that he had &s;ome intimations of the Divine Will, as to matter of fact, but yet was under a di&s;pen&s;ation of Religion, which (at lea&s;t in the letter of it) con|&s;i&s;ted mainly of &s;undry nice and curious ob&s;ervances; &s;uch as the ab&s;taining from &s;uch or &s;uch meats; the performing &s;uch or &s;uch Rites and Ceremonies; of none of which he could give him&s;elf any ra|tional account, or be con&s;cious of any
<PB N="32" REF="21">other obligation to them, but only, this is commanded, and thus it mu&s;t be (which was the ca&s;e of the &s;uper&s;titious Jews, as it is al&s;o of a &s;ort of degenerate and Judaizing Chri&s;tians) now it is plain that this &s;tate of Religion mu&s;t needs be very uncomfortable al&s;o; becau&s;e a man mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity dragg on very heavily, where his rea&s;on doth not go before him, and his judgment is not con|vinced of the goodne&s;s and excellency of tho&s;e ob&s;ervances, as well as of the nece&s;&s;ity of them.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, if a man was under a Religi|on which could give him no a&s;&s;urance of any reward of his Devotion, but that for ought he knew he might at la&s;t have only his labour for his pain: fora&s;much as there was no way to a&s;&s;ure him whether it &s;hould be his portion to rot for ever in the Grave, or whether after death he &s;hould be transformed into &s;ome other creature; or that though the name and memory of his good actions &s;hould remain, yet his particular per&s;on was to be &s;wallowed up into the womb of general nature, and he for ever lo&s;t (&s;uch as which were the utmo&s;t hopes of the generality of the blind Pagans.)</P>
<P>Now I &s;ay &s;uch principles of Religion as this, or any of the aforementioned, mu&s;t needs be very uncomfortable; but all the&s;e, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> are as manife&s;tly fal&s;e, as they are &s;adly melancholy; and there|fore it is not any defect in Religion that
<PB N="33" REF="21">the &s;pirits of men are uncomfortable, but the default of tho&s;e bad notions they have taken up, in&s;tead of the true principles of Religion. And &s;o much for that &s;econd &s;ort of men.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am wonderfully plea&s;ed with this la&s;t Di&s;cour&s;e of yours, in which you have not more demon&s;trated the uncom|fortablene&s;s, than expo&s;ed the non&s;en&s;e and ab&s;urdity of a great number of Reli|gioni&s;ts; and therefore &s;o far I thank you. But then again, I mu&s;t tell you, upon due con&s;ideration, it makes as much again&s;t your &s;elf as any of them, &s;o far as con|cerns the point in hand between us. For after all that can be &s;aid, it is undeniable, that &s;ome men of very different per&s;wa&s;i|ons, are as cheerful in their &s;everal and re&s;pective ways, one as the other: now fora&s;much as the&s;e cannot all be true, in regard they contradict each other; doth it not therefore follow from hence, that the comfortablene&s;s of mens &s;pirits doth not depend meerly upon Religion, but upon &s;omething el&s;e?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>In truth you follow me very clo&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The cau&s;es of the com|fortablene&s;s of &s;ome mi|&s;taken Reli|gions.</NOTE> yet I have two or three things to &s;ay, which I do not doubt will acquit me in what I have &s;aid, and I hope may &s;a|tisfy you. Fir&s;t, It is to be con&s;idered, that a man may be &s;ound in his principles of Religion, and right for the main, who yet may differ from other men, and per|haps from the truth too, &s;o much as to make him be reputed of a different Reli|gion;
<PB N="34" REF="22">yet notwith&s;tanding tho&s;e great principles which he is &s;ound in, and that hone&s;t zeal he &s;hews in the pro&s;ecution of them, will procure him acceptance with God, and inable him to live very com|fortably: for fervent devotion will cover a multitude of errours, as well <HI>as charity doth a multitude of &s;ins.</HI> And this is to be hoped is the condition of a great many well-meaning, but deluded people.</P>
<P>Again, &s;econdly, it is ob&s;ervable in this ca&s;e, that many warm them&s;elves <HI>by sparks of their own kindling,</HI> and are heated more by their own motion, than by the grounds and cau&s;es of it: Zeal naturally warms the blood, and what&s;oe|ver warms, in &s;ome mea&s;ure comforts too; in&s;omuch that &s;ome men of very ra&s;cally opinions, and &s;uch as in the con|&s;equences of them, tend towards Hell, are yet rai&s;ed up towards Heaven by the power of an active and heated Phancy.</P>
<P>But after all, you mu&s;t remember (what I &s;aid before) that Truth is Truth, and Dream is Dream; my meaning is, the man of a mighty Zeal in his way, may &s;eem to him&s;elf happy (whatever his principles be) but it is only the man of &s;ound Principles of Religion, that can be truly and under&s;tandingly and con|&s;tantly comfortable.</P>
<P>And now I &s;uppo&s;e I may come to the <HI>third</HI> and la&s;t &s;ort of men, which di&s;pa|rage Religion (ju&s;t as an unruly Patient
<PB N="35" REF="22">di&s;credits his Phy&s;ician) namely tho&s;e, who,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A wicked life cannot be comfort|able, if a mans Reli|gion be ne|ver &s;o good.</NOTE> though they have right notions of Reli|gion, yet live carele&s;ly, and are by no means an&s;werable to their Principles in the conduct of their Lives.</P>
<P>Now it can be no wonder, nor any &s;lan|der to Religion, that &s;uch men who live wickedly &s;hould be uncomfortable in their Spirits. For we may as well expect this cold Weather to warm our &s;elves by a Glow-Worm, or a painted-Fire, as that any mans heart &s;hould be truly cheerful by the advantage of a Religion which con|&s;i&s;ted only in notion, and was not vigour|ou&s;ly practi&s;ed: nay, it would be a won|der indeed if &s;uch a man &s;hould not be &s;adly melancholy, lying continually under the la&s;hes of his own Con&s;cience, for con|tradicting the very Principles of his own mind. And this is &s;o far from reflect|ing any di&s;honour upon Religion, that it is a mighty vindication of the truth and power of it, when a mans own heart &s;hall revenge upon him his contempt of her dictates and Sentiments: and cer|tainly the better and more generous a mans Principles are (which he in this manner violates by a lewd Life) &s;o much more &s;harp will be the &s;tings of Con&s;ci|ence, and the unea&s;ine&s;s of his conditi|on.</P>
<P>But now, take a man who to right Prin|ciples in his mind joyns a conformable Holy Life, and (as there is all the rea&s;on in the World for it, &s;o) it is a thou&s;and
<PB N="36" REF="23">to one in experience, but he lives comfor|tably. And thus I think I have fully ac|quitted my &s;elf of your prime objection again&s;t the comfortablene&s;s of Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I confe&s;s, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you have &s;poke a great deal of rea&s;on, but yet per|haps you are not &s;o clearly come off as you may imagine: for I have &s;till to ob|ject, that many men of your Principles, and who (as it &s;eems) in con&s;equence of them, carry it &s;ometimes with full &s;ail of joy and courage, yet at other times are not able to maintain this tide, but flag, and are as much down by fits as other men; nay, do you not ob&s;erve that there are men in the World, who&s;e Principles I know you will allow, and withal who&s;e lives you cannot blame, and yet the&s;e ve|ry men &s;hall be remarkably uncomfortable, and no men fuller of complaints and more unea&s;ie than they. Therefore it &s;eems Religion is neither &s;uch a &s;table Principle of Comfort, nor &s;uch a <HI>Panacea,</HI> &s;uch a general remedy of the troubles of Hu|mane Life, as is pretended: if you can re|concile this with your former a&s;&s;ertions, I think I &s;hall then be forced to yield you the Cau&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is true which you ob&s;erve,<NOTE PLACE="marg">How it may happen that pious men may be un|comfortable.</NOTE> That &s;ometimes tho&s;e that &s;eem to have all the advantages of Religion, are not|with&s;tanding uncomfortable under them, and yet this may be no impeachment ei|ther of the truth, or of the efficacy of tho&s;e Principles. For this which you
<PB N="37" REF="23">&s;peak of may come to pa&s;s upon &s;eve|ral other accounts; as namely,</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place, it may be that he, in who&s;e whole cour&s;e of life we can ob&s;erve no blemi&s;h, may notwith&s;tanding be ju&s;t|ly charged by his own Con&s;cience for &s;e|veral &s;uch mi&s;carriages as may well make him unea&s;ie till he hath made his peace with God and him&s;elf again, by hearty Repentance and Reformation. Now you mu&s;t not impute this to the defect of con&s;olation in the Principles of Religion, but to the mans own defect of Piety For when&s;oever we &s;ee a man troubled for vi|olating the rules of his Religion, we have a kind of &s;en&s;ible experiment of the great reality and mighty power of it; and this may happen, though you &s;ee not the cau&s;es of it.</P>
<P>Again, It may be the Per&s;on who now lives very vertuou&s;ly, and con&s;equently might live comfortably upon the Princi|ples of Religion, hath formerly been a great &s;inner: and now, though his Re|pentance hath made his Peace with God, and &s;o there is nothing ju&s;tly to interrupt his Comfort; yet as often as he reflects upon the hainou&s;ne&s;s of his former mi&s;|carriages, no wonder if the briskne&s;s of his &s;pirit be abated, if it be but by the con&s;ideration of the danger he hath e&s;caped.</P>
<P>Again, It may happen that he who is not indeed con&s;cious to him&s;elf of any guilt which &s;hould deject his confidence
<PB N="38" REF="24">towards God; yet by the malicious arti|fice of the great Enemy of mankind, may have &s;uch black and frightful fancies rai&s;|ed in his head, as may very much di&s;com|po&s;e him for the pre&s;ent, till by Prayer and Application to the Grace of God he overcomes them.</P>
<P>Moreover &s;ometimes, when all is well within, and a mans own Heart doth not accu&s;e him, yet it may happen that out|ward afflictions may be &s;o vexatious, &s;o &s;harp and pinching to him, that for a time even a good mans &s;pirits may be di&s;ordered by them, till he recollect him|&s;elf, <HI>and,</HI> Samp&s;on <HI>like, &s;hake off tho&s;e Phi|li&s;tims that are upon him;</HI> I mean until he rally the forces of his Rea&s;on, or rather till by Faith he take Sanctuary in the im|pregnable Fortre&s;s of Con&s;cience and Re|ligion, and there he &s;ecurely weathers out the &s;torm, and all becomes quickly &s;erene and calm again.</P>
<P>But after all that is or can be &s;aid, al|lowance mu&s;t &s;till be made for an unhap|py temper of Body: for it mu&s;t be re|membred that Religion is a medicine for the Soul or Mind, and not for Bodily Di&s;|ea&s;es. You know the intimate corre|&s;pondence and quick &s;ympathy between tho&s;e two Inmates, Soul and Body, which is &s;uch, that like <HI>Hippocrates</HI>'s Twins, they mutually affect one another, &s;o that one of them cannot well enjoy it &s;elf, if the other be in di&s;order. Do but con|&s;ider how exceeding difficult it is to main|tain
<PB N="39" REF="24">the rate of a mans common Conver|&s;ation, and e&s;pecially to bear up to any mea&s;ure of brisk airyne&s;s, when the Bo|dy is but a little &s;ickly and di&s;compo&s;ed. And then how can you imagine but that there will be an unevenne&s;s of temper in a melancholy mans deportment, notwith|&s;tanding that the comforts of Religion &s;hould be as &s;olid and &s;table as I have re|pre&s;ented them to be?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But by your leave, Sir, I under|&s;tood you that there was &s;uch a Catho|lick and Paramount Antidote of all &s;or|row to be found in Religion, that your pious man could never have been &s;ad any more (like the Chimaera of a wi&s;e man among&s;t the Stoicks) neither outward Accidents could di&s;compo&s;e him, nor Bo|dily Infirmities interrupt his tranquillity and &s;elf-enjoyments.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Sure, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> you did not think I took every good man to become a God Almighty, or the powers of Re|ligion to be &s;o omnipotent, as that be|cau&s;e they can recreate a mans &s;pirits, they &s;hould therefore al&s;o make him in|tirely another Creature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The unhap|py influence of a melan|choly Body upon the Mind.</NOTE> You might as well imagine I a&s;&s;erted that this &s;piritual Remedy &s;hould pre&s;erve men from dying, as from being &s;ick or melancholy, when their con&s;titution is prone to it. For although by rea&s;on of the neer relation between Soul and Body (as I &s;aid be|fore) it is not to be doubted, but that the comforts of the mind upon account
<PB N="40" REF="25">of Religion, may, in a good mea&s;ure, cheer the bodily Spirits, yet, on the other &s;ide, it is to be expected that the Body will have its influence reciprocally; and when it is infirm, will depre&s;s and clog the Mind that it &s;hall be &s;ure to be &s;en&s;ible of the burden, and be able to move the le&s;s briskly in its cour&s;e. In &s;hort, the bu&s;ine&s;s between the Soul and Body &s;tands thus; namely, as, on the one hand, the Body can affect the mind &s;o far as to re|tard its motion, and check its flight; but not &s;o as altogether to oppo&s;e and hinder them: &s;o, on the other hand, the mind (if that be comfortable) comforts and re|fre&s;hes the bodily Spirits, but is not able entirely to alter them: For Temper will be Temper, and Melancholy will be Me|lancholy &s;till.</P>
<P>That therefore which I a&s;&s;ert and have hitherto endeavoured to prove, and that which the common experience of Pious men atte&s;ts, is no more but this, That there are never-failing Springs of Con|&s;olation in Religion, provided the I&s;&s;ues of them be not ob&s;tructed by &s;ome or o|ther of the afore&s;aid occa&s;ions.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I know, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you have well con&s;idered all that which you have &s;aid, and I thank God I have &s;ome experience of the truth of it for the mo&s;t part; and therefore have rea&s;on to rely upon your judgment for the re&s;t. But yet there is one thing runs in my thoughts, concern|ing which I would gladly ask your opini|on,
<PB N="41" REF="25">if I do not un&s;ea&s;onably interrupt your di&s;cour&s;e with <HI>Biophilus.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You will not interrupt me, <HI>Phi|lander,</HI> for I was at a full period; or if it was otherwi&s;e, we would make a Parenthe|&s;is for your &s;atisfaction: What is it there|fore wherein I can &s;erve you?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>The matter, in &s;hort then, is this: I have ob&s;erved &s;everal Divines, among&s;t the cau&s;es of perplexity and uncomfor|tablene&s;s of good men, to reckon one, of which you have hitherto taken no notice; namely, <HI>the ca&s;e of De&s;ertion,</HI> which they define to be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The unrea|&s;onablene&s;s of a com|monly re|ceived opi|nion con|cerning God's de|&s;erting of good men.</NOTE>
<Q>When God withdraws him&s;elf arbitrarily from &s;uch per&s;ons for a time, and hides his face from them upon the &s;ole account of his Preroga|tive, or for &s;ome rea&s;on be&s;t known to him&s;elf, but without the lea&s;t guilt or provocation on their parts.</Q> Now if this be true, it may then not only happen that the very be&s;t, and al&s;o the mo&s;t &s;an|guine and cheerful men naturally, may be very uncomfortable; but the very &s;tate of Spiritual comfort will be very uncertain and fluctuating: and which is wor&s;t of all, there will be a Di&s;ea&s;e without a Re|medy, a ca&s;e that admits of no Con&s;olation. For what can all Coun&s;els and Di&s;cour&s;es, or all the Exerci&s;es of Faith or Rea&s;on avail again&s;t a Peremptory Act of God?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is very true, <HI>Philander,</HI> as you ob&s;erve, there hath been &s;uch a No|tion broached, and the effects and con&s;e|quences have been bad enough: For be|&s;ides
<PB N="42" REF="26">what you have well alledged,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The ab&s;urd con&s;equen|ces of that opinion.</NOTE> under the pretence hereof, &s;ome have been &s;o abu&s;ed as to indulge their own humour, and as <HI>Jonas</HI> &s;aid, <HI>He did well to be angry,</HI> &s;o they fancy they ought to be melancho|ly, when God (as they imagine) &s;ets him|&s;elf again&s;t them, and they thereby are tempted to think hardly of the Divine Maje&s;ty, as if he was a great Tyrant who took plea&s;ure in the complaints of his Creatures; and which is wor&s;e than that (if wor&s;e can be) &s;ometimes evil men get this notion by the end, and then when|&s;oever their wicked lives render their Con&s;ciences unea&s;ie to them, they pre|&s;ently conceit it may be only the with|drawing of the Divine Favour from them, and how can they help it, &s;ince it is the Ca&s;e of good men to be &s;o dealt with?</P>
<P>But what ground there is for all this I cannot imagine.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The ground|le&s;ne&s;s of the afore&s;aid o|pinion.</NOTE> It is true we ought not to di&s;pute the Divine Prerogative; or what he may do if he plea&s;es. For we find it dangerous to take upon us to limit the Prerogative of Earthly Princes; and if they may have rea&s;ons for &s;uch things as we do not under&s;tand, much more hath God, who&s;e Wi&s;dom is infinite and un|&s;earchable: therefore not to define what God may or may not do, it is plain that there is no foundation in Holy Scripture (which is the declaration of his Will) to think he will take &s;uch a cour&s;e as this ca&s;e &s;uppo&s;es; and be&s;ides, it &s;eems in|con&s;i&s;tent
<PB N="43" REF="26">with his &s;incerity and good|ne&s;s, and can by no means be reconciled with that &s;etled and immoveable delight he declares him&s;elf to take in good men, that he &s;hould play fa&s;t and loo&s;e with them, or (as &s;ome have rudely expre&s;t it) play at bo-peep with his Children.</P>
<P>No, <HI>Philander,</HI> a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, infinite Goodne&s;s will not di&s;gui&s;e it &s;elf, and put on a frightful Vizard meerly to &s;care his weak and timorous Children; &s;o far from it, that contrariwi&s;e, &s;o long as men continue Con&s;tant, Loyal, and Dutiful towards him, he will be unchangeable in his favour, and con&s;tantly &s;hine out upon them in the bright Beams of love and kindne&s;s. And if it &s;hall happen that (as I granted to <HI>Biophilus</HI>) the melancho|ly of mens Con&s;titution &s;hall ri&s;e up in &s;uch black fumes, as not only to cloud their minds, but that (con&s;equently there|of) they may entertain di&s;mal apprehen|&s;ions of him; yet again&s;t all this he is rea|dy to relieve them by his Providence, and to a&s;&s;i&s;t and comfort them by his Holy Spirit, if he be devoutly applied to: but to be &s;ure he will never exa&s;perate the condition of a &s;incerely good man by any unprovoked act of his own. He hath told us, <HI>He will not break a brui&s;ed reed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 12.20. James 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>nor quench &s;moaking flax.</HI> And that, <HI>if men draw nigh to him, he will draw nigh to them;</HI> and he neither needs it, nor is inclined to try experiments upon poor melancholy men. Let us have a care
<PB N="44" REF="27">therefore of charging the effects of our own changeable humour (either of body or mind) upon the unchangeable God. For &s;o long as we walk by the Light of his Word, we may live under the Light of his Countenance, if (at lea&s;t) our own Melancholy interpo&s;e not, and eclip&s;e it to us: and (bateing outward troubles) we may, upon tho&s;e terms, in a good mea|&s;ure enjoy Heaven upon earth; we may be as bold as Lions, as cheerful as An|gels; in a word, as full of joy as our hearts can hold: For the Principles of Religion will beat all this out, and God will never interrupt the efficacy of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Oh Ble&s;&s;ed! For ever Ble&s;&s;ed be the Divine Goodne&s;s, and God's Ble&s;|&s;ing on your heart, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> for the good report and a&s;&s;urance you have given us of it. And now, Friends, why &s;hould we not be very good, that we may be thus comfortable?<NOTE PLACE="marg">An Holy Triumph in contempla|tion of the comfort of true Religi|on.</NOTE> and why &s;hould we not be comfortable if we be good? Why &s;hould the jolly Fellows out-do us, who&s;e hearts are filled with froth, and their heads with &s;team, and we that (if we be as we pretend to be) have God, and Con&s;cience, and Heaven on our &s;ides, hang down our heads, and hands, and by &s;o doing reproach our God, our Religion, and our &s;elves too.</P>
<P>Have not we &s;uch Notions of a God, as render him a ju&s;t and a <HI>faithful Creator,</HI> a wi&s;e and benign Being, that is tender of,
<PB N="45" REF="27">and exorable towards his Creatures: How then can we choo&s;e but love him, and de|light in him?</P>
<P>Hath not this Divine Maje&s;ty made his mind &s;o well known to us, that we cannot be to &s;eek what will plea&s;e him, but may go on cheerfully in the cour&s;e of our Duty without Di&s;tru&s;t or Scruple? And can we doubt his con&s;tancy to him&s;elf, and to that declaration he hath made of his Will, that we &s;hould &s;u&s;pect the end, if we u&s;e the means; &s;ince we may read our own de&s;tiny before-hand, and anticipate the Sentence of the Great Day of Judgment? Are not all his Laws &s;o ju&s;t and rational, that they agree with the very &s;en&s;e of our own Minds, &s;o that <HI>his Service is perfect Freedom?</HI> For as much as in a very proper &s;en&s;e we are governed by our own Laws, tho&s;e of the Go&s;pel being enacted in our own Con&s;ciences.</P>
<P>And are we not &s;atisfied that we &s;hall be &s;o far from lo&s;ing our labour in Re|ligion, that we have the fulle&s;t a&s;&s;urance (&s;uch a thing is capable of) that in reward of faithful &s;erving God in this Life, we &s;hall after death be rai&s;ed up again, and live for ever and ever with him in his Kingdom of Heaven? Surely all this toge|ther is &s;ufficient to make us fervent and hearty in the exerci&s;e of Religion, and comfortable in our Spirits when we have &s;o done.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Bravely re&s;olved, <HI>Philander,</HI> this pace (if you hold it) will bring you to
<PB N="46" REF="28"><HI>&V;rania</HI> pre&s;ently. But I will bear you company if I can; and therefore I add to what you have &s;aid, why &s;hould we be afraid to be alone, or in the dark, &s;ince we believe God is every where, and in the greate&s;t &s;olitude will afford us the com|fortable effects of his Pre&s;ence and Pro|vidence? or why &s;hould we be under dreadful apprehen&s;ions of the power and malicious enterpri&s;es of evil Spirits upon us, &s;eeing we are convinced <HI>that greater is he that is with us, than he that is in the World?</HI></P>
<P>Why &s;hould we be dejected at worldly lo&s;&s;es, or mi&s;carriages in our temporal affairs, when we know that <HI>in Heaven we have a more enduring Sub&s;tance?</HI></P>
<P>Why &s;hould we be di&s;mayed at the in|fliction of any pain or torture upon our bodies, either by the hand of God in a violent di&s;ea&s;e, or by the cruelty of men that hate and per&s;ecute us; &s;ince God hath promi&s;ed <HI>that no temptation &s;hall over|take us, but what we &s;hall be able to bear?</HI> that is, he both can, and will either abate the torments, or &s;upport us under them.</P>
<P>In a word, What need we be afraid of death it &s;elf, &s;ince <HI>it cannot kill the Soul,</HI> and is no more but only a dark pa&s;&s;age to a Kingdom of light and glory&mdash;</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You talk bravely, Gentlemen, but I prote&s;t I am amazed at you: for to this very day I never lookt upon Religion as any other than an au&s;tere and melancho|ly cour&s;e of life, and the mo&s;t unde|&s;ireable
<PB N="47" REF="28">thing in the whole World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>For God's &s;ake then, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> what is comfortable, if Religion be me|lancholy? Is the World &s;o very comfor|table, when you know it is full of no|thing but care and folly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">If Religion be not com|fortable, no|thing is, and Man|kind is a &s;ad and deplorable Creature.</NOTE> vexation and di&s;appointment? Is &s;in &s;o comfortable, which (after the commi&s;&s;ion of it) per|petually doggs a man with guilt, and or|dinarily blemi&s;hes his Credit, di&s;orders his Fortunes, impairs his Health, and cows and deba&s;es his Spirit? Or is Death &s;o comfortable a thing, which repre&s;ents to a man nothing but an horrible pit of Darkne&s;s, and the Land of Oblivion.</P>
<P>What (I &s;ay) then can be comfortable, if that be not &s;o, which is the only remedy again&s;t all the former? for it is plain that nothing but the hopes of another and bet|ter World at la&s;t can enable a man to en|joy him&s;elf tolerably in this pre&s;ent: No|thing but living virtuou&s;ly for the time to come, can repair the mi&s;chief of &s;ins formerly committed; and nothing but E|ternal Life is a &s;ufficient antidote again&s;t the fears of Death: and all the&s;e are the effects and benefits of Religion. There|fore if this be uncomfortable, mankind mu&s;t needs be the mo&s;t deplorably unhap|py kind of Being in the whole World. For though other Creatures are in &s;ome &s;ort fellow-&s;ufferers in the common cala|mity of this World; yet be&s;ides that their &s;hare is ordinarily not &s;o great as his, it is evident that they fear nothing,
<PB N="48" REF="29">for the future, but only feel the pre&s;ent evil, and they have no re&s;traint upon them from what they de&s;ire, nor no re|mor&s;e for what they have done; therefore if mankind have not the glory of his Con|&s;cience when he doth well, to &s;et again&s;t the checks and girds of it when he doth ami&s;s; and if he have not hopes to counter-ballance his fears, and a reward hereafter for his &s;elf-denial at pre&s;ent, his condition is far the wor&s;t of any Creature in the World. Therefore, as I &s;aid, Religion is his peculiar concern, and &s;ingular advantage, as that which only can repair all his misfortunes.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>But I pray, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> what do you apprehend in Religion that can make it look &s;o melancholy to you? <HI>Is it be|cau&s;e</HI> it &s;ets a God before you, than which nothing can be more de&s;irable? for <HI>God is love,</HI> is <HI>rich in goodn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s,</HI> nay goodne&s;s it &s;elf; in&s;omuch, that if it were po&s;&s;ible any thing in the Univer&s;e &s;hould be more good than he, that would be God: He made man, pre&s;erves him, loves him, delights in him, de&s;igns him to live eternally with him&s;elf. In a word, all imaginable Comfort is &s;o wrapt up in this one word, <HI>God,</HI> that I remember a brave Heathen &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">M. Antoni|nus.</NOTE> <HI>He would not be wil|ling to live a day in the World, if he thought there was not a God in it.</HI></P>
<P>It may be, you will &s;ay, this God is Ju&s;t and Holy, and jealous of his Ho|nour, and will revenge him&s;elf upon &s;tub|born
<PB N="49" REF="29">and incorrigible Sinners;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The great truths of Religion vindicated from the imputation of uncom|fortablene&s;s.</NOTE> all this is true, but what need you be one of tho&s;e that provoke him; and then, the ju&s;ter and holier he is, the better and more comfortable it is for you; or if you have offended him heretofore, yet if you re|pent and turn to him, he is &s;o exorable and pittiful, that no tender Parent hath more yerning Bowels, or more open Arms, to receive his Prodigal and lo&s;t Son re|turning home to him, than God hath to|wards penitent Sinners.</P>
<P>Will you object the &s;elf-denials required by Religion, as that a man mu&s;t re&s;train him&s;elf for Gods &s;ake of many things that are plea&s;ant to fle&s;h and blood? It is true there are &s;uch things required, but they are not &s;o many as that a many may not live very plea&s;antly notwith&s;tanding; and if they were more than they are, who would not comply with them to ob|tain the favour of &s;uch a God, and to gain Eternal Life upon tho&s;e terms?</P>
<P>I am &s;ure you cannot object again&s;t the direct and po&s;itive duties of Religion, &s;uch as Prayers and Prai&s;es to God, read|ing and meditating on his Word, or Acts of Beneficence and Charity towards mankind; for there is nothing more plea&s;ant and entertaining, nothing more delicious than the&s;e, if they be rightly under&s;tood. So that in &s;hort, it is no bet|ter than a meer &s;lander to call Religion uncomfortable, and &s;uch as could proceed from nothing but the Devil him&s;elf; or
<PB N="50" REF="30">if from men, it mu&s;t be &s;uch as had ne|ver tried it, nor were re&s;olved ever to do &s;o.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You mu&s;t pardon me, Gentle|men, I tell you plainly I never felt any of the&s;e Comforts of Religion which you &s;peak of.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I, there's the bu&s;ine&s;s, now you have &s;aid all, here lies the bottom of all the &s;candalous reports of Religion, as if it was a &s;owre melancholy thing. Try it, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and you will quickly con|fute your &s;elf, experience will do it for you; you u&s;ed to &s;ay, Seeing is believing; now in Gods name make experiment, <HI>Ta&s;te and &s;ee how good the Lord is;</HI> and let me tell you this for your incouragement, there were never yet any who effectu|ally made the experiment, and were di&s;appointed. A great many who &s;lighted Religion for a great while, at la&s;t have become &s;en&s;ible of their folly, and made their refuge in it; but it is ve|ry rare, and next to impo&s;&s;ible, to find any who in earne&s;t applied them&s;elves to it, that ever apo&s;tatized from it, or pre|tended they were di&s;appointed of Com|fort in it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But for God's &s;ake what do you mean by trying? what would you have me do? I &s;hould be very glad to live comfortably.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>By trying, we mean no more but this:<NOTE PLACE="marg">The true method of experimen|ting the comforts of Religion.</NOTE> You mu&s;t apply your &s;elf in earne&s;t to the knowledge and practice of
<PB N="51" REF="30">Religion, the very fir&s;t &s;tep to which is gravity and &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s of &s;pirit. It was, I remember, the &s;hort and weighty Coun|&s;el of the Great <HI>Hugo Grotius,</HI> when he lay on his Death-Bed, to &s;ome about him, who asked his advice, <HI>Be &s;erious,</HI> &s;aid he, and your work is half done: leave off tricks of wit and captious eva&s;ions, do not plea&s;e your &s;elf in a trifling pretence to extraordinary &s;agacity in finding flaws in &s;o weighty a concern as this we &s;peak of; but be willing to believe, and then (as I &s;aid) re&s;olve to live up to the con|victions of your con&s;cience, and you will in due time find the c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">fort of &s;o doing.</P>
<P>You do not expect to feel the warmth of the fire, this cold Sea&s;on, unle&s;s you draw near to it, and continue by it; no more rea&s;onably can you expect to feel the Comforts of Religion, till you have imbraced the Doctrines, and at lea&s;t be|gun to live by the Laws of it: but when you have &s;o done, from thenceforth you will begin to be &s;en&s;ible of what we have di&s;cour&s;ed, and according to your pro|gre&s;s, &s;uch will be the proportion of your Comfort, and per&s;evering in your cour&s;e you will every day find your &s;elf drawing nearer and nearer to Heaven; is it not &s;o, <HI>Seba&s;tian?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>True to a tittle, <HI>Philander,</HI> and &s;o you, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> will find it, if you (as I hope you will) make the experi|ment; for though (as our good Friend
<PB N="52" REF="31">here hath well ob&s;erved) the joys of Re|ligion come in gradually, and not all at once; yet, like the ri&s;ing Sun, they are always growing higher and higher to a perfect Day of Glory, and (therein un|like to that) never more &s;etting or &s;hut|ting in upon us in a total darkne&s;s again; as &s;oon as you &s;et your Face towards Hea|ven, and begin to live con&s;cientiou&s;ly, you &s;hall find your mind ea&s;ie, and your &s;pirits cheared with an admirable &s;ereni|ty; and when in con&s;equence of &s;uch beginning, you wor&s;hip God devoutly, you will find a comfort in his Pre&s;ence, and a &s;weet &s;en&s;e of him when you have fini&s;hed your duty; thence you will pro|ceed to feel a motion of bravery in your mind to re&s;i&s;t all kind of &s;in, and that will be followed with an un&s;peakable Plea&s;ure and Glory in Victory over your Pa&s;&s;ions and corrupt Inclinations; and thence-forward Religion will grow ea&s;ie and delightful to you, and you &s;hall be able to look towards the other World with hope and de&s;ire; and then finally the Holy Spirit will come into your Soul, and <HI>&s;eal you to the day of Redem|ption,</HI> and give you &s;uch a reli&s;h of the Glories above, that you &s;hall de&s;pi&s;e the pre&s;ent World, and be able to look through the dark Vault of Death, and take a view of Heaven.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Whatever the matter is, you two are able to ravi&s;h any mans heart with this Di&s;cour&s;e, I am &s;ure you have
<PB N="53" REF="31">filled me with admiration, you have a&s;to|ni&s;h'd me. But I pray what Religion mu&s;t a man be of, that he may make this experiment?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, &s;ure enough it mu&s;t be <HI>the Old Religion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Old Re|ligion is on|ly the com|fortable Re|ligion.</NOTE> or you will lo&s;e your labour. All Newfangles are mere cheats; they may &s;erve men to talk of, and make a noi&s;e with in the World, but they will never afford &s;ound Comfort in a man's need: &s;o far from it, that they di&s;tract a man with Novelty, and fill his head with endle&s;s &s;crupulo&s;ity. The way to Peace of Con&s;cience, and Spiritual Joy, is not to be of &s;uch an Opinion, Sect, or Party, or to be zealous of &s;uch a Mode or Ceremony; but to have a firm Faith in God, to live an Holy and Devout Life, this is the Old Religion, truly &s;o called, for it is as old as Go&s;pel it &s;elf, and con&s;equent|ly is the tried way to &s;olid Con&s;olation. But I pray, upon this occa&s;ion, give me leave to ask you a bold Que&s;tion, What Religion are you of at pre|&s;ent?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is a free Que&s;tion, I confe&s;s, but, (knowing whom I am among&s;t) I will give you as free an An&s;wer: truly, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> I am of no Religion at all, that I know of, unle&s;s you make me to be of one.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Then I do not wonder that you are &s;uch a Stranger to the Comforts of Religion, for it &s;eems all was Romance to you (as you call'd it) but I hope, how|ever,
<PB N="54" REF="32">you do not look upon it as a modi&s;h Qualification, and a piece of Gallan|try to be without Religion; take heed of that, good <HI>Biophilus,</HI> for <HI>God will not be mocked.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;ee I do not, <HI>Philander,</HI> but I know, on the other &s;ide, you would not have me di&s;&s;emble, and play the Hypo|crite neither; and therefore I have told you the very truth.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>You do very well in both tho&s;e particulars, but it's pity you &s;hould not find out a middle between Sceptici&s;m and Hypocri&s;y, which you have now a fair opportunity to do, being in the company of <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> if you plea&s;e to make u&s;e of it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>In earne&s;t, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> you are one of the &s;trange&s;t men in the World, if this be true which you &s;ay of your &s;elf; I pray, give me leave to inquire how you came to be in this condition?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Several oc|ca&s;ions of mens being irreligious.</NOTE> I am confi|dent you have not drowned your Religion in drink, (as &s;ome have done) for I take you to be a wi&s;er man, and more careful of your Life and Health; and I am as con|fident that you have not carele&s;ly lo&s;t it in your Travels in foreign Countries, as &s;ome young Gentlemen have done: What then! Hath the Hypocri&s;y of &s;ome high Pretenders (who either ridiculou&s;ly over-acting their parts, or lewdly pro&s;ti|tuting Religion to ba&s;e and villainous de|&s;igns) made you a&s;hamed of it? Or (which hath been very common in this
<PB N="55" REF="32">Age) have you run a wild round through all Opinions, till at la&s;t, being come a|bout to the very point you &s;et out from, you thenceforth concluded with your &s;elf according to the Proverb, <HI>As good never a whit, as never the better!</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You are very ingenious in your gue&s;&s;es, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> but all in vain; for you can never find what was never lo&s;t, nor can I have lo&s;t what I never had. I tell you again, I neither have, nor ever had any Religion that I know of.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>You might well have &s;pared tho&s;e la&s;t words, <HI>Biophilus;</HI> for I will undertake for you, you have no Religion indeed, if you do <HI>not know of it.</HI> Religion is not, like a di&s;ea&s;e, to be catch'd before we are aware, nor can it be impo&s;ed upon us without our con&s;ent and privity: be&s;ides, it is &s;o active and vigorous a Principle, that it will di&s;cover it &s;elf; and a man may as well carry fire in his bo&s;ome, and not be burnt, as carry Religion in his heart, and not be &s;en&s;ible of it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You mightily increa&s;e my won|der; I am at a lo&s;s how this could come to pa&s;s: did you grow, like a Mu&s;hrome, out of the Earth? Or what was the man|ner of your Education?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>My Birth, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ill Educa|tion.</NOTE> I &s;up|po&s;e, like other mens, but, perhaps, my Breeding might have &s;omething peculiar in it. For, among&s;t other things that hap|pened to me, it fell out that one of tho&s;e per&s;ons, who &s;hould e&s;pecially have taken
<PB N="56" REF="33">care of my in&s;titution, being a great Fa|natick, was &s;trongly of the opinion, that the Spirit of God (as his Phra&s;e was) mu&s;t immediately, and by him&s;elf, effect all the good that is in any man; and there|fore he concluded it would not only be lo&s;t labour, but a derogation from the Grace of God to make u&s;e of any means, or to be much concerned about my Educati|on. And then for the re&s;t of them to whom I was committed in my minori|ty, they were great Politicians, and pre|tended they &s;hould con&s;ult my intere&s;t mo&s;t by keeping me di&s;ingaged from any party in Religion, that &s;o I might be al|ways at liberty to joyn my &s;elf with that which &s;hould prove mo&s;t to my temporal advantage.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Shrewdly projected on both parts, in&s;omuch that it is hard to &s;ay whether the Divinity of the former, or the Politicks of the latter be the more won|derful.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Here was a beginning bad e|nough, I confe&s;s, but then when you grew a man, and became at your own di&s;po&s;e, what kept you unre&s;olv'd in this great Affair?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>For that, I mu&s;t tell you, that my &s;etting out in the world fell about the late times of publick di&s;traction, and then I ob&s;erved there were &s;o many Reli|gions, that it was not ea&s;y to re&s;olve which to choo&s;e, and upon that account I continued neuter &s;till.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="57" REF="33">
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> there you were wanting to your &s;elf, as much as your Guardians had been wanting to you be|fore; for the more di&s;putes concerning Religion there are in the World, it is far the greater probability that there is at lea&s;t &s;ome general truth among&s;t them, though many of the particulars mu&s;t needs be mi&s;takes: be&s;ides, if you had con&s;i|dered that matter diligently, you would have found that few, or none of tho&s;e di&s;|putes were about the Fundamentals of Re|ligion, but only about certain Notions, or Modes and Forms, and you might have ab&s;tracted from them, and been a good Chri&s;tian neverthele&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>It may be &s;o, and, I confe&s;s, I had &s;ometimes &s;uch thoughts; but then whenever I began to look that way, there were tho&s;e brisk young men about me, that, ob&s;erving me to grow a little &s;erious, would preach to me at this rate; What, <HI>Biophilus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ill company betrays men to Athei&s;m.</NOTE> do you grow weary of your Liberty? Do you not know there are bonds in Religion, as well as in Matrimo|ny? Are you not aware how it re&s;trains the plea&s;ures of life, and damps all jollity? if once you let loo&s;e that thing called Con|&s;cience, it will co&s;t you a great deal of art and pains to hamper it again, and &s;ub|due it to your intere&s;ts. Do but ob&s;erve (&s;ay they) that when&s;oever any man comes under the power of Religion, it a|bates his Courage and Bravery, and ren|ders him tame and &s;heepi&s;h, liable to be
<PB N="58" REF="34">affronted by every body. In a word, &s;aid they, all that which they call the fear of God, and concern for another World, is nothing but either the effect of Ignorance, Pedantry, or Hypocri&s;ie; but to make our &s;elves merry with both, is true Wit and Gallantry.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Lord, what pity it is that &s;uch men as you &s;peak of were not condemn|ed to wear Fools Coats, or that they have not &s;ome mark &s;et upon them, that men might avoid them as Lepers, or men infected with &s;ome &s;uch loath&s;ome and contagious Di&s;ea&s;e. I pray, Sir, what opinion had you of that &s;ort of men and the preachments they made?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>To tell you the truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The rude|ne&s;s and barharity of Athei&s;ts.</NOTE> I had not much better conceit of them my &s;elf, than you have: for though they pretend to Wit, yet it is little more than impu|dence and &s;currility; and be&s;ides that, they are rude towards the mo&s;t general per&s;wa&s;ion of mankind; I ob&s;erve withal that the greate&s;t talkers at that rate, are commonly men that not only pro&s;titute their Reputation, but &s;quander away their E&s;tate, their Health and Lives al&s;o with &s;uch incogitancy and prodigious folly, that I can by no means think their Judgment is to be relied upon in any &s;e|rious matter; yet I mu&s;t needs &s;ay, &s;ome|thing &s;tuck with me by the frequent Ha|rangues and Conver&s;ation of &s;uch men.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am in great hopes of you, <HI>Bi|ophilus,</HI> that you will come over to us,
<PB N="59" REF="34">now you betray the &s;ecrets of Athei&s;m. You have revealed the very <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity;</HI> 'tis liberty to be lewd and wick|ed, and perfect licentiou&s;ne&s;s that is the &s;e|cret root and cau&s;e of Athei&s;m, and men of a profligate &s;en&s;e and debauch'd tem|pers, are the principal Advocates for it, and the &s;worn Enemies to Religion, as indeed they are to every thing that is &s;erious.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Biophilus</HI> &s;peaks like a man of &s;en&s;e and ingenuity, and give me leave to &s;ay, Sir, I cannot tell whether I ought more to applaud the &s;agacity of your mind, or to deplore the unhappine&s;s of your Education and Acquaintance; it is a thou&s;and pities the former &s;hould lye under the fatal prejudices of the latter. And I &s;hould account nothing to have befallen me in my whole Life more lucky or de&s;ireable, than an opportunity of re|&s;cuing &s;uch a temper from &s;uch a cala|mity. But, I pray, with the &s;ame inge|nuity you have hitherto expre&s;t, tell me, have you gone away currently with this incuriou&s;ne&s;s or unconcernedne&s;s for Re|ligion? have you not &s;ometimes had con|flicts within your &s;elf upon the point we are upon?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I confe&s;s I have; for &s;ometimes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The irreli|gious man's conflict with him|&s;elf.</NOTE> whenas I could not but ob&s;erve this bu|&s;ine&s;s of Religion to be the great Theme of the World, I mean to be that which the generality of mankind are very bu&s;y and &s;ollicitous about (for I can call to mind
<PB N="60" REF="35">but very few who have not in &s;ome &s;ort or other pretended to it) and I take no|tice al&s;o, that mo&s;t of the &s;harpe&s;t di|&s;putes and hotte&s;t conte&s;ts are rai&s;ed a|bout it; &s;urely then (thought I) the&s;e men are in earne&s;t, and believe them|&s;elves in this affair, and then why &s;hould I make the adventure alone? it may be|come me in prudence to have &s;ome con|cern about it too: e&s;pecially when I con|&s;idered and &s;aw plainly that by the cour&s;e of all the World I mu&s;t &s;hortly dye; and fora&s;much as it was impo&s;&s;ible for me to be certain what might or might not come afterwards, and what &s;trange revoluti|ons might &s;ucceed my going off the Stage of this World, within the compa&s;s of that va&s;t tract of time which I was like|ly to leave behind me. Hereupon me|thought it became me in di&s;cretion to provide for the wor&s;t. To all which I mu&s;t add, that I have at &s;everal times had unaccountable qualms and mi&s;-givings of heart (upon &s;ome of the foregoing con&s;iderations, or &s;omething of that na|ture) which not a little &s;tartled me for the pre&s;ent; but then I endeavoured to check them as the effects of melancholy and mere panick fears, notwith&s;tanding, in &s;pight of my heart, they would return upon me, and gave me &s;u&s;picion that they might have &s;ome other ground than I was aware of.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Well, and would not the&s;e things prevail upon you to lay a&s;ide
<PB N="61" REF="35">your neutrality, and determine you to a &s;erious con&s;ideration of Religion?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>No truly they did not, for I had other thoughts came into my mind, which &s;eemed to counter-ballance the former, and brought me to an <HI>aequilibri|um,</HI> or to hang in &s;uch a &s;u&s;pence as you now find me in; for I &s;u&s;pected my &s;u|&s;picions, and fell in doubt whether tho&s;e odd kind of bodeings and pre&s;ages of my own mind, which I told you of, concern|ing God and a future State, might not proceed from the meer weakne&s;s and ti|midity of Humane Nature, or from Ig|norance, Melancholy, or natural Super|&s;tition, without any ju&s;t and rea&s;onable foundation. And then as for tho&s;e ap|prehen&s;ions of Religion, which I ob&s;er|ved to be generally in other men, I there|in &s;u&s;pected the arts of cunning men and State-Politicians, who might po&s;&s;ibly have de&s;igns to over-reach others into tho&s;e per&s;wa&s;ions which they had no &s;en&s;e of them&s;elves. Upon &s;uch con&s;iderations as the&s;e, I was inclined on the other &s;ide, not to give my &s;elf any trouble about that which &s;eemed &s;o dark and uncer|tain.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pity you with all my heart, <HI>Biophilus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Devotion towards God is nei|ther the ef|fect of Igno|rance, Cow|ardi&s;e, Su|per&s;tition, &amp;c. but hath real, and rational grounds.</NOTE> and yet my wonder is almo&s;t equal to my pity, that a man of your &s;agacity &s;hould be &s;taggered by &s;uch groundle&s;s phancies; and withal, I can|not but hope that your &s;econd thoughts will ea&s;ily a&s;&s;oil you in this ca&s;e. For in the
<PB N="62" REF="36">fir&s;t place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp;c. <HI>but hath real, and rational grounds.</HI></NOTE> you cannot but have ob&s;erved that many of the &s;hrowde&s;t men in the World, are as much under an awful &s;en&s;e of Religion as the mo&s;t ea&s;y and injudicious. Nay ordinarily, the more throughly learn|ed and wi&s;e any men are, the more hearty and earne&s;t they are in this affair. From whence you cannot (without doing vio|lence to your di&s;cretion) but conclude, that Religion and Devotion are far from be|ing the meer effects of ignorance and im|po&s;ture; whatever &s;ome &s;hatter brain'd and debauch'd Per&s;ons would fain per|&s;wade them&s;elves and others.</P>
<P>And then in the &s;econd place, when you con&s;ider that the mo&s;t brave and couragious do as well take &s;anctuary in Religion, and imbrace it as ardently as the mo&s;t timorous and cowardly; you will have no more rea&s;on to impute the ri&s;e of Piety to pu&s;illanimity or &s;uper&s;ti|tious fears, than you had before to charge it upon folly and ignorance, or the cheats of Politicians, but mu&s;t be forced to conclude this great bu&s;ine&s;s to be more deeply founded, and to depend upon higher Cau&s;es.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;ay well, Sir, and I &s;hould be apt to think &s;o too, if I could learn what tho&s;e higher Cau&s;es and deep Foundati|ons are, which you &s;peak of; and herein I would gladly have your advice, who (as I am per&s;waded) have too great a judgment to be led away with popular errors, and (I am confident) who&s;e in|tegrity
<PB N="63" REF="36">is &s;uch as will not &s;uffer you to be acce&s;&s;ary to the impo&s;ing upon me. Tell me, therefore, I be&s;eech you, into what real cau&s;es I ought to re&s;olve, either tho&s;e pri|vate impre&s;&s;ions of Religion I have found in my &s;elf, or tho&s;e more publick effects of it, which I have ob&s;erved in others.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Play the man, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and judge with your &s;elf, into what cau&s;es &s;hould you, or can you re&s;olve &s;uch ef|fects, but tho&s;e that are as real, and &s;ub&s;tan|tial as the effects them&s;elves: namely, the plain rea&s;onablene&s;s of that thing (called Religion) approving it &s;elf both to the inward &s;en&s;e of your own mind, and to humane nature in general; that is to &s;ay, there is fir&s;t a natural impre&s;s of Religi|on, which God hath left upon the con&s;ci|ences of men, which is, as it were, the internal &s;en&s;e of the Soul: and then when rea&s;on reflects al&s;o upon this bu&s;ine&s;s, humane judgment prudentially weighing and e&s;timating the rea&s;ons for it, and the objections again&s;t it, together with the moment and importance of the thing, pro|nounces it upon due con&s;ideration, to be the prime and mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary concern of mankind.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But if you will make me your di&s;ciple, I mu&s;t intreat you to deal more expre&s;ly, and particularly with me, and to open, to the very bottom, the Foun|dations of the thing in que&s;tion. And let me beg your pardon, if I tell you that you are ob&s;erved to be a man of &s;uch
<PB N="64" REF="37">Eloquence, that you are able to wheedle a man into your opinion, be it what it can. But I pray deal plainly, and rationally with me, &s;eeing that otherwi&s;e if I &s;hould become your Convert, you will have but little credit by me, &s;ince, in that ca&s;e, my zeal would be without knowledge, and my heat without light; and, be&s;ides, (to wi&s;er men) you will but &s;eem to beg the que&s;tion, and artificially to per&s;wade to that which you cannot prove. Therefore (as I intimated before) pray make me to under&s;tand, that Religion is as rea&s;onable in it &s;elf, and in its Principles, as you have repre&s;ented it to be important in the con|&s;equences of it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I under&s;tand you, but I have gone more than half way in that already; for having &s;hewed you the con&s;equence of Religion to be &s;uch, as that a man can neither live nor die comfortably without it, there is therefore all the rea&s;on in the world for it. For he that proves a thing to be nece&s;&s;ary, does more than prove it to be real.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>That was a &s;ide-blow, which I did not expect, I confe&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prudence, and Self|love oblige a man to be religi|ous.</NOTE> But it is an home-thru&s;t to the bu&s;ine&s;s, it doth <HI>jugulum petere</HI> (as they &s;ay) for it obliges you as you are a man, and pretend either to prudence, or &s;elf-love, to apply your &s;elf &s;eriou&s;ly to this affair; nay, if there &s;hould be wanting &s;uch other proofs as you require, you cannot rea&s;on|ably in&s;i&s;t upon that, for you will acknow|ledge
<PB N="65" REF="37">that &s;elf-pre&s;ervation is the fir&s;t and &s;ure&s;t Principle in Nature; and &s;ure that is good proof, which proves that man to be wor&s;e than a Fool who doth not follow it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>That is home indeed: But let me tell you, it is one of my greate&s;t pre|judices again&s;t Religion, that the mo&s;t zealous Defenders of it talk of probable arguments, and prudential con&s;iderations, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Now for my part, I require natural and direct proofs, and nothing le&s;s will &s;atisfie me.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>And, good <HI>Biophilus,</HI> had you not &s;uch given you in our la&s;t Conference, and that in the very point which you cho&s;e to joyn I&s;&s;ue upon?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s, in that one point, <HI>of a Judgment to come,</HI> you argued &s;o &s;hrewd|ly, that &s;omething of it &s;ticks by me &s;till, but it may be it was becau&s;e I granted &s;ome things then for Civility &s;ake, which I will not be held to now; be&s;ides, if you &s;hould make out &s;ome &s;ingle point, and not the re&s;t, I &s;hall be never the nearer: for it will but make a Di&s;pute and Confu|&s;ion in my mind, and will come to no I&s;&s;ue: for as much as if all tho&s;e things that are nece&s;&s;ary to the Being, and to the Obligation of Religion, be not re&s;ol|ved of, there can be no &s;uch thing as it. I de&s;ire therefore now to &s;ee your whole <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> laid together, and all the grounds of it &s;ub&s;tantially made out.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why, that is done to my hand,
<PB N="66" REF="38">and yours too, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and you may &s;ave me the labour, if you plea&s;e, by con|&s;ulting the incomparable <HI>Hugo Groti|us,</HI> Bi&s;hop <HI>Wilkins,</HI> or &s;everal other excel|lent Per&s;ons, (whom I need not name) who have performed this with exqui&s;ite Learning and Judgment. And if you have not the Books by you, I will furni&s;h you with any of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">The advan|tage of con|ference a|bove read|ing of Books in this debate of Religion.</NOTE> I thank you for the kind offer, but, with your leave, I will &s;tick to my fir&s;t Reque&s;t; that we may di&s;cu&s;s this matter between our &s;elves; both becau&s;e in this way of Conference you can explain your &s;elf to me more fully, if I &s;hould not reach your meaning at fir&s;t; and be&s;ides, I do not love that other men &s;hould make my An&s;wers, or Objections for me, but had rather make them my &s;elf, (as be&s;t knowing where the Shoe pinches).</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>If you will have it &s;o, I am con|tent to be at your &s;ervice to the uttermo&s;t of my power; but let me tell you by the way, that, though I take offence at no|thing, yet I a little wonder'd at the cau|tion you put in (even now) again&s;t Elo|quence; what did you mean, <HI>Biophilus?</HI> What was you afraid of? For my part, I can pretend to no other Skill, than to render tho&s;e things plain and ea&s;y, that were before true and rea&s;onable, or at mo&s;t to be able to deliver hard arguments in &s;oft words. Now, is an argument ever the &s;tronger for being crabbed, and rough? Or the weaker, or le&s;s effectual, for being
<PB N="67" REF="38">&s;mooth and oyly? Is it &s;uch a plea&s;ure to be non-plus'd in Mood and Figure, that you had rather be &s;nap'd in the Mou&s;e-trap of a Syllogi&s;m, than treated Socratically, and gentilely? I promi&s;e you, I will u&s;e no Legerdemain, no &s;light of hand with you; or if I &s;hould go about it, you are too &s;agacious to be impo&s;ed upon by me. If you have a phancy for &s;chola&s;tick Gib|beri&s;h, and love to be cramp'd with an <HI>Ergo,</HI> I am not altogether to &s;eek in that way neither: but, if you give me leave, I would rather chu&s;e that way of di&s;cour|&s;ing which we have held hitherto, as that which is lea&s;t apt to rai&s;e any heat or pa&s;&s;ion, and which will the mo&s;t plainly and naturally repre&s;ent the truth of things to you.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, marry, in &s;uch a ca&s;e as this, I have as little phancy for chopping of Logick, as for the long wheedles of Rhetorick; I require only (as I &s;aid) &s;ub|&s;tantial proofs; and &s;o your arguments be &s;trong, I care not how &s;oft and &s;ilken the lines be. Go on, therefore, in your own way, <HI>in God's name.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I, that was well thought of in|deed; for without <HI>God</HI>'s <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing</HI> we &s;hall lo&s;e all our labour: which that we may not do, let us both beg of him to guide our minds in this affair, and let me al&s;o re|que&s;t of you, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> that you will grant me the&s;e two or three rea&s;onable things, which are &s;o very nece&s;&s;ary to the &s;ucce&s;s of our debate, that I &s;hall be able to calculate
<PB N="68" REF="39">the i&s;&s;ue of it, from your ingenuity in the conce&s;&s;ion of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Without more words, what are your demands?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prelimina|ries to the di&s;pute a|bout Reli|gion.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t place, I de&s;ire that you will wholly lay a&s;ide all Drollery, in the management of this cau&s;e, not only becau&s;e the bu&s;ine&s;s we are upon (as I hope you &s;hall acknowledge by and by) is too weigh|ty and &s;olemn to be lightfully, and triflingly dealt withall: but e&s;pecially becau&s;e this wanton trick of Drollery,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Again&s;t wanton Wit and Drollery in religious matters.</NOTE> is the only En|gine in the World that can do mi&s;chief to Religion. Rea&s;on, with all its batte|ries, can never &s;hake it; Experience can never confute it; the greate&s;t &s;hrewdne&s;s and &s;agacity can never di&s;cover any flaws in it: but there is no fence again&s;t this flail of prophane and &s;currilous Drol|lery, that, with its api&s;h tricks and Buffoonry, is able to render, not only the wi&s;e&s;t man in the world, but the mo&s;t &s;o|lid and &s;ub&s;tantial truth, ridiculous. And therefore I have ob&s;erved that &s;pecu|lative Athei&s;ts are commonly well gifted this way; and the be&s;t of their game is to put off that with a je&s;t, which they can never an&s;wer with all the wit they have.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>'Tis granted; I will be very &s;e|rious: what would you more?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>My next demand is, that you will not doubt without cau&s;e, or &s;ome rea|&s;on a&s;&s;ignable of your doubting or deny|ing any thing in Religion; for be&s;ides that otherwi&s;e the humour of doubting
<PB N="69" REF="39">is endle&s;s and infinite,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Doubting without end, and de|nying with|out ground, are the u&s;u|al methods of Athe|i&s;ts.</NOTE> and a man may at this rate doubt and deny the things that are mo&s;t evident in nature, and e|ven the principles of Di&s;cour&s;e it &s;elf, as well as of Religion; be&s;ides this, I &s;ay, to doubt and deny thus groundle&s;ly and licentiou&s;ly or peevi&s;hly, is not &s;o much properly to doubt, as plainly to &s;hew an unwillingne&s;s we have that the thing we di&s;pute about &s;hould be true, which is cowardly and di&s;ingenuous.</P>
<P>There is, certainly, a mode&s;ty, or a kind of gentile carriage due to all di&s;putes, e&s;pecially of this nature as we are upon; and it is not allowable to be carping and captious, or to make u&s;e of little tricks and &s;hifts to evade and put off an argu|ment in&s;tead of an&s;wering it. And let me tell you, this I have ob&s;erved to be the u&s;ual method of the Adver&s;aries of Religi|on. They will put a man to prove every thing, even the mo&s;t &s;elf-evident propo&s;i|tion: and one que&s;tion &s;hall beget another, and that another, only to perplex the cau&s;e, and to &s;tave off the conclu&s;ion: or when a man hath given very rea&s;onable evidence of the point, they will yet put it off with, It may be otherwi&s;e; as if nothing could be true, but what is impo&s;&s;ible to be otherwi&s;e: which is as ab&s;urd, as if when a man hath with the greate&s;t care and choice of his Materials, and according to the be&s;t Rules of Architecture built an hou&s;e, he &s;hould yet be afraid to dwell in it when all is done, merely becau&s;e you cannot prove it
<PB N="70" REF="40">to be impo&s;&s;ible but that &s;uch an hou&s;e may pre&s;ently fall and oppre&s;s him in its Ruine.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Be &s;ecure of me in that point al&s;o, I will di&s;cour&s;e fairly and ingenu|ou&s;ly, and weigh the force of your argu|ments with the be&s;t judgment I have: is that all you would have?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>There is but one thing more I would ask, and indeed that is implied in what you have yielded already; but that we may not mi&s;take one another, I will mention it, <HI>viz.</HI> that you will be willing to believe Religion, if you &s;ee rea&s;on for it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>That is not an ingenuous de|mand, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> if I under&s;tand you: for whil&s;t you &s;eem to ask my con&s;ent, you plainly beg your cau&s;e; whereas you are to prove it with that evidence, as to make me believe it whether I will or no.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nothing can make a man be|lieve a|gain&s;t his will.</NOTE> There it is now, that makes the nece&s;&s;ity of my demand apparent: for it is a mighty mi&s;take, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> to think that any arguments what&s;oever can be &s;ufficient to make a man believe whether he will or no. It is a great que&s;tion whether God Almighty can make any man believe again&s;t his will: indeed it &s;eems a contradiction to &s;uppo&s;e it. He hath given men Freedom of Will, and <HI>put them in the hand of their own coun&s;el;</HI> bid them make their election, choo&s;e life or death: by which means, as wi&s;e and good men have the Glory and Comfort
<PB N="71" REF="40">to co-operate towards their own happi|ne&s;s; &s;o perver&s;e and ob&s;tinate men have the &s;hame and remor&s;e of being guilty of their own de&s;truction. For when both Parties have light to guide them, and motives and arguments to per&s;wade them, the one ingenuou&s;ly complies, but the other willfully refu&s;es, and imploys the Prerogative of his nature, both again&s;t God, and his own Soul.</P>
<P>But in an humane way, it is plainly impo&s;&s;ible: for if a man have taken up his po&s;t, which he re&s;olves to maintain, it is not in the power of rea&s;on to remove him from it; the will is immoveable by any thing but it &s;elf, and rea&s;on is no equal match for it. Now this is the ca&s;e of a great part of the Adver&s;aries to Religion, and this is the main di&s;ad|vantage of it's cau&s;e, that &s;uch men have no mind it &s;hould be true; and then, <HI>non per&s;uadebis etiam&s;i per&s;ua&s;eris,</HI> they will hold the Conclu&s;ion in &s;pight of the Pre|mi&s;&s;es: and this is the rea&s;on why I require of you to be willing to believe, before I be|gin my argument; not that I require you &s;hould believe without proof, but that you &s;hould not oppo&s;e prejudice to my argu|ment, but be true to your rea&s;on and to the evidence that &s;hall be given.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>If that be all you mean, 'tis granted al&s;o; and now that you have done with your cautions, before you enter up|on the bu&s;ine&s;s, I mu&s;t ask one thing of you, namely, that in this Socratical
<PB N="72" REF="41">way of di&s;cour&s;ing as you call it) you will not be too prolix in your arguments, heaping one con&s;equence upon the neck of another, till they make &s;o long a train, that a man cannot &s;ee from end to end, but deal conci&s;ely and dcretorily, that I may be brought as compendiou&s;ly as may be to the point you drive at.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Indeed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Shortne&s;s of rea&s;on and impatience of the whole proce&s;s of an argument, is the fatal mi&s;carriage of Athei&s;ts.</NOTE> <HI>Biophilus,</HI> if I had thought of it, I ought to have cautioned again&s;t that very thing which you now demand: for this is another capital mi|&s;take in tho&s;e men that are &s;trangers to the&s;e matters, and which hath the fatal mi&s;chief to confirm a great many in Athe|i&s;m, they expect to jump into the full under&s;tanding of Religion pre&s;ently, when&s;oever they make it the &s;ubject of their di&s;cour&s;e; and if it be not decided in one Syllogi&s;m or two, they immedi|ately begin a triumph, and conclude it is a thing cannot be proved at all by rea|&s;on. I confe&s;s to you that God in com|pa&s;&s;ion to mankind hath di&s;covered a &s;hort cut over to the other World; I mean a very compendious way to a full knowledge of, and &s;atisfaction in, all the my&s;teries of Religion, and that is by the <HI>Holy Scripture,</HI> which he devi&s;ed on pur|po&s;e, becau&s;e &s;ome mens capacities will not reach to a long argument, and the occa&s;ions and bu&s;y life of others will not give them lei&s;ure to attend the difficult and laborious proce&s;s of rea&s;on. But be|cau&s;e you reject that, and will not permit
<PB N="73" REF="41">God Almighty to judge for you, but will be your own judge in the ca&s;e; therefore you mu&s;t have patience in this way of probation you put me upon. For if a man will take nothing for current Coin, but what he hath wrought out of the Ore him&s;elf, nor believe any thing to be truth but what he hath drawn out of the depth by his own skill and &s;trength, he mu&s;t be content to take a great deal of pains, and be at the expence of a great deal of time, before he can arrive at &s;atisfaction; however, I hope, you &s;hall have no oc|ca&s;ion to accu&s;e me of tediou&s;ne&s;s in this argument.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;peak rea&s;on, I confe&s;s, and I yield you this together with all your other Preliminaries: Now therefore to the bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Know then, <HI>Biophilus</HI> (without any farther preface) that all this great Fabrick of Religion &s;tands upon the&s;e three Pillars, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That there is a God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The three Pillars of Religion, &amp; the &s;tre&s;s that lies o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> each of them.</NOTE> as the Ob|ject of Devotion and Religious Ob&s;er|vance.</P>
<P>Secondly, That this God exerci&s;es a Providence over his Creatures, and man|kind e&s;pecially; and &s;o by ob&s;erving how they carry them&s;elves towards him, and con&s;equently being able to reward or pu|ni&s;h them accordingly, lays an obligation upon them to ob&s;erve and wor&s;hip him.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That mankind is a &s;ubject capable of &s;uch an obligation, and of
<PB N="74" REF="42">paying &s;uch Devotion and Ob&s;ervance to the Deity.</P>
<P>Mi&s;take me not: I &s;ay, upon all the&s;e three together in conjunction doth the truth and reality of Religion depend; but if any one of them was wanting, it will be manife&s;t that Religion would va|ni&s;h into a Romance, and come to no|thing.</P>
<P>For in the fir&s;t place, If there were no God, it would not only be certain that there is nothing to whom Religion could be due, but it would be as certain that there could be no Providence nor other con&s;ideration to inforce the care of it; and then con&s;equently let the con&s;titution of mankind be as capable of noble per|formances as can be imagined, yet there could be no ground nor foundation of Religion.</P>
<P>Again, If we &s;hould acknowledge the Being of a God, and him al&s;o fit to be wor&s;hipped; yet if there be no Provi|dence, &s;o that this God doth not mind whether men &s;erve or di&s;&s;erve him, and con&s;equently could not reward or puni&s;h accordingly, though it might in this ca&s;e be fan&s;ied to be a decent thing for all Creatures to pay &s;ome kind of homage to &s;o excellent a Being; yet there can be no danger to them if they do not &s;o, and con&s;equently no &s;ufficient obligation upon them to perform it.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, If there be both a God and a Providence acknowledged, and con&s;e|quently
<PB N="75" REF="42">an obligation to Religion: yet if mankind be not a &s;ubject capable of it; that is, If either he hath it not in his power to know Gods Will, or it is not in his choice to &s;erve or di&s;&s;erve him, the bu&s;ine&s;s of Religion cannot concern him, nor can it be expected from him.</P>
<P>But if all the&s;e three things meet, and prove certainly true, then is this bu&s;ine&s;s of Religion fully founded, and as im|moveable as the foundations of Heaven and Earth. For, as I &s;aid, the fir&s;t pro|po&s;ition de&s;cribes the Object, the third qualifies the Subject, and the &s;econd lays the Obligation of Religion, which is all that can be required in the ca&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You begin very &s;hrewdly, I pro|te&s;t, and like a man that would do the bu&s;ine&s;s at la&s;t. Your argument is clo&s;e and &s;ub&s;tantial, your enumeration of par|ticulars exact, and your con&s;equence un|deniable: I &s;ay, if tho&s;e three things be proved, which yet you only &s;uppo&s;e; the pinch of the bu&s;ine&s;s therefore lies in the proof of tho&s;e three a&s;&s;ertions; and if you are able to make out the truth of them &s;everally, as you have done the con|&s;equence of Religion from the acknow|ledgement of them joyntly, I mu&s;t turn over a new leaf, and be a Pro&s;elyte, there is no help for it. Fir&s;t therefore how do you prove there is a God?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Ah, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> Hath not God given &s;ufficient proof of him&s;elf to your own Heart and Con&s;cience, by the lively
<PB N="76" REF="43">impre&s;&s;es he hath made of him&s;elf there; and hath he not made demon&s;tration of his Divinity to all the World by all his operations, e&s;pecially by the creation of this mighty Fabrick of Heaven and Earth, and all that admirable Power, Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s, which &s;hines through the whole frame of Nature. This (let me tell you) is the proof of him&s;elf, which he him&s;elf appeals to, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 19.1. <HI>The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament &s;etteth forth his handy-work.</HI> And again, <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.22. <HI>The invi&s;ible things of him are &s;een by the creation of the world,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>What pity it is that &s;o brave a beginning &s;hould come off thus poor|ly! I did &s;u&s;pect it would come to this; but could you think, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> that I would be born down with the Authori|ty of an old Book in &s;uch a ca&s;e as this is?<NOTE PLACE="marg">The proof of the Be|ing of God.</NOTE> no, no, I mu&s;t have my rea&s;on &s;atis|fied: I &s;ay again therefore, how do you prove there is a God?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You are, I perceive, as quick in replying as you are &s;low in believing; however I am glad, that though you are incredulous, you are not humour&s;ome too. Some man perhaps in your place would have &s;aid, Let me &s;ee a God; but it &s;eems you are content to have your rea&s;on &s;a|tisfied. Now do not mi&s;take me, <HI>Bio|philus,</HI> I did not intend to urge you with the Authority of tho&s;e Sacred Writers, but with the force of the Argument they make u&s;e of. Tell me then in earne&s;t,
<PB N="77" REF="43">how do you &s;atisfie your rea&s;on concern|ing the exi&s;tence of any thing which you do not &s;ee? or, in brief, Do you not think that to be &s;ufficient proof of the Being of a Cau&s;e, when it is made out by its effects?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes, I do; for if I &s;ee (<HI>Phae|nomena,</HI> or) appearances of things, which I can give no account of without re&s;olv|ing them into &s;uch a cau&s;e, then I con|clude &s;uch a cau&s;e mu&s;t be as real as tho&s;e appearances or effects are.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very good, then I tell you, af|ter the &s;ame manner I prove there is a God, namely, becau&s;e there are &s;uch ef|fects as &s;peak and nece&s;&s;arily require &s;uch a Cau&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now you are right again, make that out and you do your work.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>That there is &s;uch a thing as that which we call the World, or this great building of Heaven and Earth, with all the Furniture and Inhabitants of it, this I am &s;ure you will grant; but how this World came to be what it is, is to be con&s;idered of: Now &s;ay I, as Art betrays an Arti&s;t, and the Effect the Cau&s;e; &s;o doth the Being of a World &s;peak a God that made it. The meer ex|i&s;tence of &s;uch a thing as a World, re|quires that there be a Cau&s;e of that ex|i&s;tence, and that is it which we mean by a <HI>fir&s;t Cau&s;e;</HI> and then the admirable art and plain foot&s;teps of skill and contri|vance, which are vi&s;ible in the frame of
<PB N="78" REF="44">this world, require that this fir&s;t Cau&s;e be wi&s;e and powerful, which is the more <HI>com|pleat Notion of a God.</HI> So that (as I &s;aid) &s;o &s;urely as there is a World, &s;o &s;urely there mu&s;t be a God; for as much as if there had not been a God to make it, there could have been nothing at all: is not this plain proof, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and &s;uch as you required?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very far from it I a&s;&s;ure you (if my under&s;tanding fail me not) for, in the fir&s;t place, why might not the world make it &s;elf? Or, &s;econdly, why might it not be from Eternity, without beginning? Or, la&s;tly, why might it not be made by chance? All which opinions, you know, have had their re&s;pective Patrons. Now any of the&s;e ways (it is evident, that) your argument for a God comes to nothing.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God help you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">That the World could not make it &s;elf.</NOTE> <HI>Biophilus,</HI> Did not you promi&s;e that you would not &s;eek to &s;hift off the arguments I &s;hould bring for this cau&s;e, by little quirks and eva&s;i|ons? And can you &s;o &s;oon find in your heart to give countenance to the mo&s;t exploded ab&s;urdities? Nay, to &s;wallow the mo&s;t palpable contradictions, rather than yield to rea&s;on for the belief of a God. And that this is your ca&s;e, is evident enough, by the multitude of &s;hifts you mu&s;ter toge|ther at this pre&s;ent: for I a&s;&s;ure my &s;elf, if you dur&s;t have tru&s;ted to any one of the&s;e &s;ingly, you would have in&s;i&s;ted on that, and not mentioned the other; and you know if each of them &s;ingle are ab&s;urd, the combination of them all toge|ther,
<PB N="79" REF="44">cannot mend the matter, nor make a rea&s;onable objection again&s;t the argu|ment I have brought.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;ay well, but then you mu&s;t make it appear that all the&s;e are mere &s;ub|terfuges, otherwi&s;e they mu&s;t &s;tand for a &s;ufficient an&s;wer: and, I pray you, in the fir&s;t place, why might not the world make it &s;elf? and then there is no need of a God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Even for this &s;mall rea&s;on the world could not make it &s;elf, becau&s;e it implies a flat contradiction: for then it mu&s;t be Cau&s;e and Effect, in the &s;ame re|&s;pect, and at the &s;ame time; <HI>i. e.</HI> it mu&s;t act before it was, and be before it &s;elf: in a word, it mu&s;t be and not be together, and if that be not ab&s;urd enough, I know not what is &s;o.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I confe&s;s, you &s;eem to have loa|ded that conceit with <HI>odium</HI> enough; but then, how comes it to pa&s;s that the men of your per&s;wa&s;ion dige&s;t all this impo&s;&s;i|bility well enough in another way, when they &s;ay God had his being from him&s;elf, or gave being to him&s;elf? If this can be true, I &s;ee not but the other may.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very right, Sir, for either of them is impo&s;&s;ible: but you mi&s;take (the men of my per&s;wa&s;ion, as you call them) for there is no man of &s;en&s;e will &s;ay or mean that po&s;itively God gave begin|ning, or being to him&s;elf; but only ne|gatively, that he had not his being from any other cau&s;e; that is, he is properly an Eternal nece&s;&s;ary Being, without any cau|&s;es,
<PB N="80" REF="45">or beginning at all: and if you go a|bout to apply this to the World, you for|&s;ake your fir&s;t hold, and fly to your &s;e|cond refuge.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am &s;en&s;ible of what you &s;ay. I confe&s;s, my fir&s;t objection is not tena|ble, but what &s;ay you then to the &s;econd? Why may not the World be eternal? And then you &s;eem to grant there can be no nece&s;&s;ity of a God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>To your &s;econd eva&s;ion I op|po&s;e the&s;e three things, which when you have con&s;idered of, I doubt not but you will &s;ee it to be no better than the former. Namely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">That the world could not be from Eter|nity.</NOTE> fir&s;t, I will &s;hew you that you can gain nothing by it, if it &s;hould be true. Secondly, That the &s;uppo&s;ition of it is more difficult and incredible, than that which you &s;eek to avoid by it: and Thirdly, that it is impo&s;&s;ible it &s;hould be true.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, You can gain nothing towards the &s;atisfaction of your mind, or for the ea&s;ing you of any difficulty, by a&s;&s;erting the Eternity of the World. For the great|e&s;t difficulty in the whole bu&s;ine&s;s of Re|ligion, and indeed in all Philo&s;ophy too, is to acknowledge &s;uch a thing as an Eter|nal Being, or any thing that hath neither cau&s;es nor beginning, which here you &s;wallow without chewing, in &s;uppo&s;ing the world to be eternal.</P>
<P>It is true indeed, if a man look to the very bottom of things, it is not to be a|voided, but that &s;ome Eternal, and &s;elf-exi&s;tent
<PB N="81" REF="45">Being mu&s;t be granted. For &s;eeing nothing can give being to it &s;elf (as I &s;hew'd you but now) it is plain that either &s;omething mu&s;t have been without beginning, or nothing could have been at all; <HI>i. e.</HI> there mu&s;t be either an Eter|nal God, or &s;ome eternal Cau&s;e or other, or nothing could ever have been in time. For whatever fir&s;t begins to be, mu&s;t take its ri&s;e from &s;omething that had no beginning.</P>
<P>This, I &s;ay, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be yielded by every con&s;idering man, and you confe&s;s as much, when, to avoid the acknow|ledgment of a God, you &s;uppo&s;e the World to be eternal. Now in &s;o doing you bring in as great a difficulty (at lea&s;t) as that which you would &s;eem to avoid; for the belief of an eternal Being is ma|nife&s;tly the harde&s;t thing to conceive in the whole Notion of a God: &s;o that (as I &s;aid) you expedite no difficulty thereby, but only plainly betray an unwillingne&s;s to believe there is a God, and that is all that comes of it.</P>
<P>Nay, &s;econdly, This &s;uppo&s;ition of yours is far more difficult than that which it is de&s;igned to avoid. For it is ap|parently more unrea&s;onable to allow E|ternity to the World than to God; be|cau&s;e to be eternal, or to be without cau&s;e and beginning, implies a nece&s;&s;ity of ex|i&s;tence, or that &s;uch a thing could not but be: for nothing can be conceived to be without Efficient or Cau&s;e of its being,
<PB N="82" REF="46">but that which could not but be, or which was impo&s;&s;ible not to be. Now I dare ap|peal to you whether it be not more rea&s;ona|ble to &s;uppo&s;e &s;uch a &s;uperlatively excellent kind of Being, to be the priviledge of a wi&s;e, powerful and free Agent (by which we mean a God) than to apply it to that Lump of Matter (which we call the World) or (which amounts to the &s;ame thing) whether it be not more likely that this wonderful Prerogative of fir&s;t being, or nece&s;&s;ity of exi&s;tence (which you acknowledge mu&s;t be &s;eated &s;omewhere) &s;hould be accompanied with Life, Under|&s;tanding, Freedom of Will, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> all which are in the Notion of a God, than that &s;uch a Prerogative &s;hould go alone, and &s;o the fir&s;t and principal being be in effect one of the meane&s;t, as being de&s;titute of all tho&s;e other perfections, as mu&s;t needs be, if the World be that fir&s;t and Eternal Being.</P>
<P>E&s;pecially if you ca&s;t in this al&s;o, that neither you nor any rational man would ever have gone about to fan&s;ie the Worlds being nece&s;&s;arily exi&s;tent or without be|ginning, but only for want of a God to make it (I mean upon account of the difficulty of under&s;tanding &s;uch a Being as is required in the ca&s;e) now fora&s;|much as that includes no greater diffi|culty, than what you are con&s;trained to acknowledge without a God, it is ex|treamly unju&s;t to rely upon it as a &s;uffi|cient objection again&s;t him.</P>
<PB N="83" REF="46">
<P>But, thirdly and la&s;tly, This &s;ugge&s;ti|on of yours concerning the Eternity of the World is plainly impo&s;&s;ible to be true: as it were ea&s;y to make out in any of the &s;everal parts or parcels, of which it con&s;i&s;ts. But I will content my &s;elf to &s;hew it you in the in&s;tance of mankind only, and that after this manner.</P>
<P>If mankind was from Eternity or with|out beginning, then it mu&s;t con&s;equent|ly be acknowledged that there have been infinite Succe&s;&s;ions of men, one after a|nother, and that &s;ome of tho&s;e Genera|tions have been infinitely di&s;tant from o|thers. For all this is implyed in infi|nite Succe&s;&s;ion, or the Eternity of &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ive Beings. But now let us take what link we will of this Chain, I mean, let us take what man &s;oever in this infinite line, it is certain he will be but Thirty, or Forty, or an Hundred Years (more or le&s;s) elder than &s;ome &s;on of his, which proceeded from him by lineal De&s;cent. And then it is as plain that in this ca&s;e, that Son of his (whoever he was) is not eternal or of infinite duration, becau&s;e he is of le&s;s duration than his Father, by the &s;aid Thirty or Forty Years (or more or le&s;s;) and on the other &s;ide, it is plain al&s;o, that the Father cannot be eternal, or of infinite duration neither, becau&s;e he is but Thirty or Forty Years (as a|fore&s;aid) elder than the &s;aid Son who was finite. For a finite number added to a finite can never make an infinite.
<PB N="84" REF="47">Therefore (upon the whole) this race of mankind cannot be infinite, but mu&s;t have had a beginning, and con&s;equently there mu&s;t be a God who gave beginning to him, and to all things el&s;e. What think you now, <HI>Biophilus?</HI> what is become of your &s;econd eva&s;ion of a God, by &s;uppo|&s;ing the World to be eternal?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truly I cannot well tell what to &s;ay, but that I am deceived in you; I &s;u&s;pected you would have entertained me with long Harangues, and have wheed|led me with Oratory: but I fear now you will run me down by main force, unle&s;s there be &s;ome trick of &s;ophi&s;try in it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God forbid that I &s;hould <HI>tell a lye for him,</HI> who&s;e Cau&s;e needs not to be defended by a Cheat; no, a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf the argument is &s;ound and &s;ub&s;tantial, if I had known the lea&s;t flaw in it, I would ne|ver have made u&s;e of it; and I am confi|dent, the more you con&s;ider it, the more &s;olid and unan&s;werable you will find it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Then I perceive, I am reduced to my la&s;t refuge, that the World was made by chance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">That the World was not made by chance.</NOTE> or el&s;e I mu&s;t yield you there is a God; and why may not that be true, which a great Sect of Philo&s;ophers, I mean the Epicureans, held, <HI>viz.</HI> That &s;ome lucky hitt of matter at la&s;t produ|ced the World without a God? And if once things were gotten into Being with|out him, there could be no nece&s;&s;ity af|terwards to introduce him, and con&s;e|quently no obligation of Religious Ob|&s;ervance towards him.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="85" REF="47">
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>In tho&s;e la&s;t words you rea&s;on very well, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and it's pity you had not a better Hypothe&s;is to exerci&s;e it up|on. For it is very true, that if it was po&s;&s;ible to imagine a World to be made any other way, or without a God, there could be no &s;ufficient rea&s;on to bring him upon the &s;tage, or much le&s;s any Religi|ous Obligation towards him; and there|fore doubtle&s;s it was only hypocri&s;y and a piece of cunning in your Epicurean Friends, to bring in a God when they had fan&s;ied the making of the World without him: the former they did to de|cline the <HI>odium</HI> of flat Athei&s;m, and to &s;ecure them&s;elves from the danger of Humane Laws; but by the latter they undermined the rea&s;ons of Religi|on, which was the thing they aimed at. But as to that Hypothe&s;is of theirs, which you now e&s;pou&s;e, it is the mo&s;t mi&s;erable &s;hift of all you have made. For</P>
<P N="1">1. This takes for granted, That the matter of the World exi&s;ted of it &s;elf and was eternal, which I doubt not but hath appeared ab&s;urd enough by what hath been &s;aid already upon the former head.</P>
<P N="2">2. It &s;uppo&s;es al&s;o matter to be in mo|tion, without any cau&s;e of that motion; which is wor&s;e than the former, &s;ince we can never &s;atisfie our &s;elves that motion naturally belongs to matter, but contra|riwi&s;e, that it is only pa&s;&s;ive, and capable
<PB N="86" REF="48">of receiving it from &s;omething el&s;e. Now till the&s;e two things be proved, it is in vain to dream what lucky hits might happen in order to the production of a World.</P>
<P N="3">3. It &s;uppo&s;es mere Chance and blind Contingency to be the &s;ole cau&s;e of the mo&s;t wi&s;e, regular, and artificial effects that can be imagined. Now it &s;eems be|yond mea&s;ure ridiculous to think that &s;uch a World as this plainly is, wherein there are undeniably all the foot&s;teps of the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite skill and contri|vance; wherein (I &s;ay) there is both &s;uch admirable variety of things, and yet &s;uch exact order and corre&s;pondence of one thing with another, and withal &s;uch con&s;tancy in the laws of the whole, that this &s;hould be effected notwith&s;tanding, without any rea&s;on or wi&s;dom, and be the product of blind Chance. It were certainly a thou&s;and times more manly to imagine that Books were written by the ca&s;ual coincidence of letters, or Hou&s;es and Ships were built by a fortuitous jum|ble of Stones, Iron and Timber, than that chance &s;hould make &s;uch a World as this, which for Greatne&s;s, Order, Sym|metry and Beauty, and all other in&s;tances of Art and Wi&s;dom, infinitely &s;urpa&s;&s;es all humane performances what&s;oever: and now what is become of your three for|midable objections?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, do not triumph too &s;oon, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> the field is not yet won, for I
<PB N="87" REF="48">have a re&s;erve that may chance put you to it &s;till, and it is this; You have, I con|fe&s;s, argued &s;martly to prove the World could not be made without an Efficient, but you forget that this will recoil up|on your &s;elf, who have taken no care for matter out of which God &s;hould make a World; and &s;ure it is as difficult to want Matter as to want an Ar|chitect.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is very true, I have not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">God needed not matter out of which to make a World.</NOTE> in my Hypothe&s;is, provided matter for the making of the World, but yet I have proved an eternal, perfect and unlimit|ed Being for the Efficient, who may ve|ry well be &s;uppo&s;ed to be able to &s;up|ply the want of that out of his own e|minent perfection: for it is certain that the fir&s;t and &s;upream cau&s;e mu&s;t needs have the Root and Seeds of all things in him&s;elf, and eminently contain all the powers of inferiour cau&s;es, and con&s;e|quently may well be &s;uppo&s;ed able to &s;upply a material Cau&s;e, at lea&s;t here is no contradiction in all this, and there|fore it cannot be &s;aid to be impo&s;&s;ible, (for nothing can be ju&s;tly pronounced to be the latter, but what falls under the former) but now for motion to begin without a mover, and any thing to be effected without an active cau&s;e, is plainly contradictious to our Rea&s;on, and therefore to be pronounced impo&s;&s;i|ble.</P>
<PB N="88" REF="49">
<P>You &s;ee an in&s;tance, or at lea&s;t &s;ome kind of re&s;emblance of the former in our &s;elves; we frame thoughts out of the pregnancy of our own minds without any matter to make them of, and therefore we may much rather allow God to be able to do &s;o.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, if I &s;hould grant you that God had matter at hand out of which to make a World, you would be at the &s;ame lo&s;s &s;till to know how he was able to make Souls out of it; and &s;uch things there are in the World, which it is e|very whit as difficult to &s;hew how they can be extracted out of matter, as to &s;uppo&s;e matter it &s;elf to be &s;upplyed by the un|con&s;ined power of the &s;upream Agent; and therefore you had as good re&s;t &s;atis|fied in the an&s;wer above, <HI>viz.</HI> that for any thing to begin to be without an Ef|ficient is contradictious, but to begin to be without a material Cau&s;e can never be proved to be &s;o. And now, I hope, your Re&s;erve is vanqui&s;hed as well as your Main Body, and you will now ac|knowledge that, notwith&s;tanding all your objections to the contrary, the mere Fa|brick of the World is a &s;ufficient evi|dence of a God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I have with great &s;atisfaction heard all this long di&s;pute between you my two Friends; I could not in Con&s;ci|ence take your part, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and I know,
<PB N="89" REF="49"><HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you needed not my a&s;&s;i&s;tance, and I am glad to &s;ee Victory begin to in|cline to the right &s;ide: but all this while I could not choo&s;e but &s;tand and admire the Divine Patience, who &s;uffers the curi|ous and ingrateful with of man to impeach his very Being. Lord! that tho&s;e who were brought into the World by him, &s;hould &s;o &s;trenuou&s;ly endeavour to exclude him out of it; and that tho&s;e &s;hould mu&s;ter up all their wits again&s;t him, that made them to differ from the Bea&s;ts.</P>
<P>But what &s;hould be the occa&s;ion of this I cannot imagine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">It is matter of ju&s;t won|der that men &s;hould be &s;o un|willing to believe a God, and take &s;o much pains to di&s;pute him out of Being.</NOTE> nor what &s;hould tempt men to be &s;o unwilling to believe a God. If like (what the Poets &s;ay of) <HI>Saturn,</HI> he eat up his own Children; or like <HI>Mo|loch,</HI> the Idol of the <HI>Ammonites,</HI> he could be pretended to take delight in the &s;ad cryes and dying groans of his Wor&s;hip|pers, they could not well do more again&s;t him than they do.</P>
<P>Or if he was a &s;evere Tyrant, that lay at catch for his Subjects, and like <HI>Bu|&s;yris</HI> or <HI>Phalaris,</HI> imployed him&s;elf whol|ly in devi&s;ing Tortures for them; or if he was a God of meer Power and Will, and &s;o always to be horribly dreaded, becau&s;e men know not what u&s;e he would make of his unlimited Power, no wonder then if they were willing to be rid of him.</P>
<P>Or if he was only (<GAP DESC="foreign">) a meer nece&s;&s;ary Agent, that only &s;er|ved a certain turn in the World, namely,
<PB N="90" REF="50">to give beginning to motion, then when that work was done, men might per|haps be content to &s;pare him.</P>
<P>But &s;ince he is perfect Wi&s;dom, and perfect Goodne&s;s, and in one word, Per|fection it &s;elf, containing in his own Na|ture all that is de&s;ireable, the fir&s;t of Be|ings, and therefore can want nothing, becau&s;e there was nothing before him to re&s;train or limit him, and becau&s;e all things were in him as in their Fountain, infinitely full and &s;elf-&s;ufficient, that he can need nothing from his Creatures, nor can grudge them any thing that is fit for them.</P>
<P>A God that made us meerly out of the over-flowings of his own Goodne&s;s, and that he might have tho&s;e whom he might delight and make happy in the communications of him&s;elf to them.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>That God is a de&s;ire|able Being,</HI> &amp;c.</NOTE></P>
<P>A God that is always pre&s;ent to us, tender of us, and daily doth us good in this World, and hath provided an Hea|ven of un&s;peakable felicity to receive us into, and treat us in, when he takes us hence.</P>
<P>What can tempt us, I &s;ay, to wi&s;h he were not, to di&s;pute his Being, or &s;o much as to entertain a doubt concerning him, who is the mo&s;t de&s;irable thing in the whole World?</P>
<P>Come, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> lay down your Arms, and &s;ubmit to this great and good God, and he will pardon you; you di&s;pute all this while again&s;t your &s;elf and your own
<PB N="91" REF="50">Comfort more than again&s;t him. There is no contending with the Almighty, he can confute you with Thunder, and Fire and Brim&s;tone, and &s;o he might right him&s;elf, but then you will peri&s;h; but he is pitiful and gracious, and had rather you &s;hould be &s;en&s;ible of his Goodne&s;s, than feel the effects of his Power. You &s;aid rea&s;on would &s;atisfie you, and I think you have had it from <HI>Seba&s;tian;</HI> deal in|genuou&s;ly therefore, Do you not &s;ee &s;uf|ficient ground to believe there is a God? It is no di&s;honour to yield to truth.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I perceive I am a&s;&s;aulted on both &s;ides, like the Traveller in the Fable, by the Sun and the Wind; <HI>Seba&s;tian</HI> hath pre&s;t hard upon me by Arguments, and you, <HI>Philander,</HI> have charmed me with your Eloquence, and the lovely Picture you have drawn of God. I can no long|er with&s;tand you, I yield, I yield there is a God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God be thanked we are gotten one &s;tep onwards of our way towards Re|ligion, we have a God to Wor&s;hip; but I mu&s;t ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;s to you (as I have intimated already) that this will not do the bu&s;ine&s;s if we go no further. For though in con&s;ideration that there is a God, and he a great and excellent Being, it may be fit and decent to wor&s;hip him; yet this hath not the effect of a Law, nor &s;ufficiently obliges any Creature to the doing of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">That there is a Provi|dence in and over the World, is the &s;econd Principle of Religion.</NOTE> unle&s;s it appear al&s;o that this God exerci&s;e a Providence over the
<PB N="92" REF="51">World, that is, unle&s;s he ob&s;erve the Carriage, remark the Actions, whether good or evil, of tho&s;e he expects Religi|ous Ob&s;ervance from, and will &s;ome way or other call them to account, and re|ward or puni&s;h them re&s;pectively. But if this &s;econd Point be made out too, this will bring the bu&s;ine&s;s home, and make it the great concern of all tho&s;e that love them&s;elves, to be Devout and Re|ligious.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am very &s;en&s;ible of it, <HI>Seba|&s;tian,</HI> and that not only becau&s;e my old Ma&s;ter <HI>Epicurus</HI> granted a God, but deny|ing a Providence, thought him&s;elf &s;ecure enough from that God, and under no Obligations to Religion; but al&s;o becau&s;e your own method, which you have laid down, requires it: let that therefore be your next undertaking.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It &s;hall be &s;o, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and that not only for the rea&s;ons you give me for &s;o doing, but al&s;o becau&s;e I am aware, that although the Argument I made u&s;e of for the proof of the Being of God, be &s;trong and unan&s;werable, yet I confe&s;s it was &s;omething ob&s;cure and me|taphy&s;ical (which there was no help for) but now if I make out that there is a Pro|vidence, this will add both light and &s;trength to what I have hitherto di&s;cour|&s;ed. For though it may be imagined that there is a God, and yet no Providence, yet it is indubitable, that if there be a Providence, there mu&s;t be a God.</P>
<PB N="93" REF="51">
<P>Now that there is &s;uch a Providence as we &s;peak of, I doubt not to con|vince any con&s;iderate man of, the&s;e two ways, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. From the Cau&s;es and Rea&s;ons of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. From the vi&s;ible In&s;tances and Ef|fects of it.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Proofs of a Providence.</NOTE> There is very great rea&s;on to a&s;&s;ure ones &s;elf that God exer|ci&s;es a Providence over the World from the con&s;ideration of tho&s;e perfections, which (by what hath been &s;aid already) appear to be in the Divine Nature, namely, infinite Wi&s;dom and Power, both which we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily a&s;cribe to him, whom we allow to be Creator of the World. Now there can be no rea|&s;on to doubt whether it be in his pow|er to look over and mind all the pa&s;&s;a|ges of the World, when we have ac|knowledged his Power to have been &s;uffi|cient to give beginning to that which was not, and to make a World out of nothing, which is incomparably the more difficult Province.</P>
<P>And then if we are &s;atisfied that &s;uch a Providence is not impo&s;&s;ible, the &s;ame Wi&s;dom which joyned with his Power in making the World, will oblige him to exert and put forth him&s;elf in the ma|nagement of it when he hath made it. For it is not conceiveable that a wi&s;e Being &s;hould wholly abandon and be unconcern|ed for that piece of Workman&s;hip of
<PB N="94" REF="52">his wherein he hath made the greate&s;t de|mon&s;tration of Art and Skill in the contri|vance of. Such a &s;upine negligence as this is not ea&s;ily to be &s;u&s;pected in the meane&s;t of intelligent Beings; and there|fore there can be no colour of rea&s;on that the fir&s;t and mo&s;t perfect of Beings &s;hould be thought guilty of it.</P>
<P>This I take to be a &s;ufficient argu|ment of a Providence between you and me, now that you are come to the ac|knowledgment of a God and Creator of the World; but I will not in&s;i&s;t upon it, becau&s;e I promi&s;ed to give &s;uch evi|dence of this point, as &s;hould at the &s;ame time (and <HI>&agrave; majori,</HI> as they &s;ay) con|clude the former Principle al&s;o, I mean, That there is a God.</P>
<P>And therefore I &s;hould now come to the &s;econd way of probation, <HI>viz.</HI> from the vi&s;ible in&s;tances and effects of a Pro|vidence, but (you remember) I have al|ready prevented my &s;elf herein, by what pa&s;t between us in a former Conference,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> Conf. 2. <HI>pag.</HI> 183. <HI>to p.</HI> 201.</NOTE> where I &s;hew'd, at large, the evident Foot&s;teps of Providence in his manage|ing or over-ruling the ordinary cour&s;e of nature in two remarkable in&s;tances, <HI>viz.</HI> 1. In the Prophecies and Predictions of things to come, which have been &s;o ad|mirably verified in the Event, as mu&s;t argue an All-&s;eeing Eye over all the motions of &s;econd cau&s;es. And 2. In the Miracles that have been wrought in the &s;everal Ages of the World, wherein the Divine Ma|je&s;ty
<PB N="95" REF="52">hath apparently interpo&s;ed, and ei|ther &s;u&s;pended or over-ruled, heightned or accelerated the motion and force of natural Cau&s;es, and by both together, gi|ven proof of his Being, and of his mind|ing the affairs of the World.</P>
<P>I a&s;&s;ure my &s;elf I &s;hall not need to re|peat that Argument at large, but may tru&s;t your memory for it; only, if now upon &s;o long time of con&s;ideration, you have any thing material to object on that account, I am ready to make good what I have a&s;&s;erted.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I mu&s;t needs &s;ay you deal fairly and ingenuou&s;ly thus far; and now that I recollect the &s;umm and drift of that di&s;|cour&s;e of yours, I have, as I think,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The great Objection again&s;t Providence is, that there are no miracles to be &s;een now.</NOTE> this very material thing to &s;ay again&s;t it, namely, that we cannot ob&s;erve any &s;uch interpo&s;itions of Divine Providence as you &s;peak of, now-a-days, but the World is left wholly to the cour&s;e of natural Cau&s;es. If you could have appealed ei|ther to Miracles or Prophecy in the pre|&s;ent Age, &s;o that a man might have made his own Eyes witne&s;&s;es of matter of fact, then the Argument would have been irrefragable; but fora&s;much as we &s;ee no &s;uch things in the pre&s;ent times, why &s;hould we be &s;o credulous as to be|lieve there ever were? A&s;&s;oil me this dif|ficulty clearly and &s;ub&s;tantially, and it will go a great way with me; for I ac|knowledge (as you ob&s;erve) that if this Argument be &s;ound, the influence of it
<PB N="96" REF="53">extends further than the pre&s;ent que&s;tion, and to be &s;ure will leave no doubt that there is a God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am very &s;en&s;ible of the im|portance of your objection, and of the nece&s;&s;ity that a &s;ufficient an&s;wer be made to it; but I do not, in the lea&s;t, doubt but you will find it in the following parti|culars,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A full An|&s;wer to the afore&s;aid Objection.</NOTE> by that time you have laid them together.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, I &s;uppo&s;e you will grant me that there can be no need of, or rea&s;on for God's di&s;playing him&s;elf by Mira|cles or a Spirit of Prophecy in the pre|&s;ent Age, for the a&s;&s;urance of a Provi|dence, if &s;o be we may be &s;ufficiently &s;ecu|red that he hath indubitably given tho&s;e evidences already in former Ages. For he that hath once &s;ufficient grounds gi|ven him to believe &s;uch a point, hath al|ways an obligation upon him to believe that thing, without repeated proofs of it. And it is unrea&s;onable to expect that God Almighty &s;hould be bound to exert his Omnipotency, or any way put out of cour&s;e the order of natural cau&s;es, merely for the gratification of mens cu|rio&s;ity or phancy, but only for the &s;atis|faction of their rea&s;on in &s;o important a point.</P>
<P>Then, Secondly, In the next place I will &s;hew you that (bateing merely the gratifying of curio&s;ity and phancy, as a|fore&s;aid) we may have as credible and &s;ufficient a&s;&s;urance of a Miracle or other
<PB N="97" REF="53">extraordinary pa&s;&s;age of Providence, which was done many Ages agone, as we could have, if &s;uch a thing was to be done in the pre&s;ent Age. This will perhaps &s;eem a little &s;trange to you at fir&s;t, but your wonder will abate when you con&s;ider the&s;e two things:</P>
<P N="1">1. That it cannot be expected that God &s;hould &s;o far comply with the hu|mour of men, as to work Miracles eve|ry day, and in the &s;ight of every man. Miracles are a kind of Parenthe&s;is in the ordinary cour&s;e of Nature, or, as it were, a &s;hort digre&s;&s;ion from the u&s;ual method of things. Now if &s;uch digre&s;&s;i|ons &s;hould be daily made, it would be, in a manner, a total &s;uper&s;eding of the ordinary cour&s;e of Nature; and &s;o in&s;tead of &s;erving the particular turn or humour of &s;ome men, the whole Race of Man|kind would be deprived of a greater and more remarkable Miracle than all the other put together, namely, that of the &s;table and con&s;tant cour&s;e of Nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The demand of daily and frequent Miracles is very ab&s;urd.</NOTE> And &s;uch frequent irregularities as mu&s;t follow upon that conce&s;&s;ion, would put a very great temptation upon men to &s;u&s;|pect that there was no con&s;tant Law and Rule in the Creation, but that Chance carried all before it; which would make an objection indeed again&s;t Providence. And yet it is certain that notwith&s;tand|ing this horrible mi&s;chief, &s;o it mu&s;t be done, if every particular man mu&s;t have his eyes witne&s;&s;es of Miracles before he
<PB N="98" REF="54">believes them. For it is plain that if God &s;hould vouch&s;afe one or more Mi|racles to the pre&s;ent Age, it could not be done before every man: and therefore &s;ome of them, if they will believe a Pro|vidence upon that account, mu&s;t tru&s;t to other mens eyes for the grounds of their belief.</P>
<P>And thus we &s;ee it was in tho&s;e times and places where Miracles were mo&s;t frequent, as &s;uppo&s;e in the time of our Saviour, tho&s;e mighty Works which he wrought whil&s;t he was upon Earth, and even his Re&s;urrection it &s;elf, were not obvious to the eyes of all men, but only to &s;o many as might render them &s;uf|ficiently credible by their te&s;timony; and as for the generality, they mu&s;t content them&s;elves <HI>to believe without &s;eeing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S^t <HI>John</HI> 20.29.</NOTE> as he him&s;elf told them.</P>
<P N="2">2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Antient Miracles are as cre|dible as tho&s;e that are pre&s;ent, and in &s;ome re&s;pects more certain.</NOTE> If God &s;hould &s;o far conde&s;cend to the incredulity of men, as to permit ge|nerally their Eyes and Sen&s;es to be wit|ne&s;&s;es of &s;uch extraordinary pa&s;&s;ages of Providence as we &s;peak of, it would not have &s;uch &s;ucce&s;s as you imagine; for there would not want objections again&s;t this al&s;o: &s;ome would then &s;u&s;pect their very Sen&s;es, or &s;ay that either their i|maginations were deluded, or el&s;e it may be all was done by natural cau&s;es, though perhaps they did not well under&s;tand them, or at lea&s;t would conclude that which appears to be a Miracle was mere|ly an accident, and &s;o there is no ac|count
<PB N="99" REF="54">to be &s;ought or given of it. Thus we know the greate&s;t Miracles that ever were wrought have been &s;hifted off, and eluded even in the times wherein they were done, and by tho&s;e men that &s;aw them. But now when tho&s;e things that I make the in&s;tances of a Providence, (the an|tient Miracles I mean) have undergone the Te&s;t of time, and been canva&s;&s;ed and di&s;cu&s;&s;ed in &s;everal Ages, and yet no flaw is found in them: in this ca&s;e, I &s;ay, we have more full ground for our be|lief, than if the things had been fre&s;h before our eyes: for that &s;ame incredu|lous humour which now objects again&s;t the credit of things, becau&s;e they were done long ago, would find out as good a trick to put upon a pre&s;ent Mi|racle (if it was to be had), namely &s;uch a man would &s;ay (and with more colour of rea&s;on,) that though I cannot detect the cheat of this for the pre&s;ent, yet time may di&s;cover it, which cannot be &s;aid in the other ca&s;e.</P>
<P>But, Thirdly and la&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The pre&s;ent times not de&s;titute of marks of Provi|dence.</NOTE> I add to all afore&s;aid, that though it is true that all Ages are not alike illu&s;trated with &s;uch prodigious Acts of Providence as are properly and &s;trictly called Miracles, yet there is no time of the World wherein there are not very plainly the prints of Divinity, and evidences of a Providence continually pre&s;iding over the World: if men do not humour&s;omly de&s;pi&s;e them (for want of the pompous circum|&s;tances
<PB N="100" REF="55">of Miracles) or &s;tupidly overlook them, becau&s;e of their commonne&s;s and frequency; &s;uch as (for example) the pre&s;er|ving the &s;everal &s;pecies of things in the World, that among&s;t that va&s;t multitude of the kinds of Birds, or In&s;ects, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and their &s;everal enmities to one another, and the many accidents all of them are expo&s;ed to, there &s;hould notwith&s;tand|ing in &s;o long a tract of time, not be any one kind of them lo&s;t or extingui&s;hed.</P>
<P>That the Holy Scriptures and Chri|&s;tian Religion &s;hould be upheld in &s;pight of the combination of Wit and Igno|rance, Power and Malice again&s;t them.</P>
<P>That civil Government &s;hould be pre|&s;erved again&s;t all the intere&s;ts of re&s;ol|vedly wicked men, and again&s;t all the bruti&s;h violence of the inraged <HI>Mobile.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides the remarkable infatuation of the Coun&s;els, di&s;covering the Plots, and defeating the de&s;igns of crafty and A|thei&s;tical Politicians: The frequent ter|rours upon the Con&s;ciences, and damps upon the Spirits of the mo&s;t de&s;perate and flagitious men, and the a&s;&s;i&s;ting, ani|mating and comforting the hearts of good men in their greate&s;t Agonies and mo&s;t difficult undertakings. Some of the&s;e things I mentioned before in our former Conference, and all of them are &s;uch as happen in every Age, and are never the le&s;s evidences of a Providence for being ordinary.</P>
<PB N="101" REF="55">
<P>Indeed it may and doth fall out that now and then things happen quite otherwi&s;e, as that Con&s;piracies of wick|ed men are &s;ucce&s;sful, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and God Al|mighty &s;eems to order it &s;o on pur|po&s;e, becau&s;e he will not be traced in his methods, and becau&s;e he will leave &s;ome trials of mens willingne&s;s to be|lieve in him and depend upon him; but the other cour&s;e is &s;o u&s;ual, and things often fall out &s;o patly that way, that it mu&s;t be extream humourou&s;ne&s;s to deny a Providence in them.</P>
<P>But, be&s;ides all the&s;e, there is one thing more comes now to my mind, which is indeed beyond all the fore|mentioned, and &s;eems to be &s;et up on purpo&s;e by Divine Providence as a &s;tanding monument of it &s;elf to all A|ges, and that is the pre&s;ent condition of the <HI>Jews.</HI></P>
<P>They were once a great and flouri&s;h|ing Kingdom, and fortunate beyond all ex|ample; but now from the time that they grew incurably wicked and rebellious a|gain&s;t the God that had &s;o &s;ignally ble&s;t them, and had to all their other impi|eties crucified the Saviour of the World; They have now (I &s;ay) for the &s;pace of &s;ixteen or &s;eventeen hundred of years, been <HI>like the field which God hath cur&s;ed,</HI> and been the mo&s;t prodigious in&s;tance of unhappine&s;s that ever was in the World. Fora&s;much as though they are &s;till va&s;t|ly numerous, a cunning, crafty and pro|jecting
<PB N="102" REF="56">&s;ort of people, yet they are eve|ry where &s;cattered through all Nations, but every where under marks of infamy, and no where able to become a people &s;o as to live under Laws, and a Govern|ment of their own: notwith&s;tanding all which, and which is the wonder of all, they keep up their Stock and Pedigree with the greate&s;t exactne&s;s imaginable, as if God intended (as certainly he did) by all this to &s;et them forth as a lively in&s;tance both of his ju&s;t Providence, and of the truth of the Spirit of Prophecy in the Holy Scriptures. And now this, together with the foregoing in&s;tances, I think, affords &s;ufficient evidence that God doth not now neglect the World, and leave all to run in the Road of na|tural cau&s;es, but even in the&s;e latter A|ges as well as formerly gives &s;ome &s;ig|nal &s;trokes of an over-ruling hand: which was the thing to be proved. And thus the two fir&s;t Principles of Re|ligion are &s;ecured. What think you, <HI>Biophilus?</HI> deal plainly, and if you have any thing further to &s;ay to the contra|ry, propound it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truly I have nothing very ma|terial to &s;ay farther.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Then God be thanked we have now gained two feet for Religion to &s;tand upon; namely, we have a God to whom it is due, and we have an obligation from the con&s;ideration of his Providence, to make all the World careful and ob&s;ervant
<PB N="103" REF="56">of him, at lea&s;t &s;o far as any part of the Creation is capable of &s;uch a duty.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very right, but I remember you &s;aid, That to lay the foundation of Re|ligion effectually, there mu&s;t be con&s;idera|tion al&s;o of the &s;ubjects of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The third Principle of Religion, that man is a Subject capable of it.</NOTE> and it mu&s;t appear in particular, that mankind is un|der a capacity of the afore&s;aid obligation, and of paying and performing this duty towards the Divine Maje&s;ty accordingly. Now as for this, though I fore&s;ee no dif|ficulty in the ca&s;e, yet however, I pray, expre&s;s your &s;elf a little more fully a|bout it, le&s;t I &s;hould be under any mi|&s;take.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The bottom of this third point is no more but this. To make mankind a &s;ubject capable of the obligations of Religion, the&s;e three things are requi|&s;ite;</P>
<P N="1">1. That he be able in &s;ome mea&s;ure to judge what carriage from him&s;elf is fit and decent towards God.</P>
<P N="2">2. That he be a free Agent, and have it in his choice and power to determine him&s;elf towards the performance of what he under&s;tands to be fit and decent, or towards the contrary if he will.</P>
<P N="3">3. That he be able to reflect upon what he hath done, &s;o as to accu&s;e and condemn, or to acquit and ju&s;tifie him&s;elf accordingly as his actions and carriage to|wards the Deity have been agreeable or di&s;agreeable to the judgment afore&s;aid.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t of the&s;e Powers and Capa|cities
<PB N="104" REF="57">is commonly called <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> the &s;econd, <HI>Will</HI> or <HI>Freedom of choice;</HI> and the third is known by the name of <HI>Con|&s;cience.</HI></P>
<P>Without the fir&s;t of the&s;e, namely if mankind had not <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding</HI> to di&s;|cern the difference of things, and &s;ome rule within him whereby to judge of moral good end evil, he would be law|le&s;s and bruti&s;h, having no other mea|&s;ures to go by than his pa&s;&s;ions and &s;en&s;es.</P>
<P>Without the &s;econd, namely, If he had not <HI>Freedom of Will</HI> to determine him&s;elf towards good and evil, as he plea&s;ed, he mu&s;t then be under a fatal nece&s;&s;ity of doing what&s;oever he &s;hould happen to do: and then as he could give no proof of his temper and inclination, &s;o there could be no &s;uch thing as ac|ceptablene&s;s to God when he did well, nor blameablene&s;s when he did other|wi&s;e; becau&s;e there could be no &s;uch things as virtue or vice in his ca&s;e: and con&s;equently no more room for either rewards or puni&s;hments, than there is in the motion of Plants or Stones, or any other the mo&s;t in&s;en&s;ible things.</P>
<P>Without the third and la&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> If mankind had not &s;uch a faculty in him as we call <HI>Con&s;cience,</HI> &s;o as to reflect up|on his own actions and carriage, and by virtue of which he either applauds and ju&s;tifies him&s;elf when he hath obeyed the be&s;t rea&s;on of his mind, or upbraids
<PB N="105" REF="57">and &s;courges him&s;elf when&s;oever he hath done otherwi&s;e, he could neither have any &s;pur to virtue, nor check upon vice, and con&s;equently would have no regard what u&s;e he made of his liberty.</P>
<P>But by all the&s;e together (if they ap|pear to be inherent in humane nature) mankind is fully qualified for the obli|gations of Religion.</P>
<P>Now looking over the World as far as we can, we find no Creature that we conver&s;e with, to be indowed with the&s;e faculties but our &s;elves, and then look|ing into our &s;elves we find by undeni|able experience that we have every one of the afore&s;aid capacities in our nature: and hence I conclude that man, and man only of all Creatures (in the vi&s;ible World) is the Subject of Religion. And this I called the third fundamental Prin|ciple of Religion; not that I take it to be properly and &s;trictly &s;o, but in regard it is manife&s;t by what hath been &s;aid, that there can be no &s;ure ground for Religion without it.</P>
<P>And thus, I think, I have fully an&s;wered your demand concerning the ground-work of Religion, and laid out a Foundation both large enough, and &s;trong enough to bear the whole Structure. And now I hope you will &s;ee no cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect it to be a meer melancholy Fancy, or po|litick Stratagem, the Re&s;ult of Educati|on, or effect of Weakne&s;s and Fear, but the mo&s;t manly and rational thing
<PB N="106" REF="58">that any man can concern him&s;elf a|bout.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I confe&s;s, you have done as you &s;ay, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> and I thank you hearti|ly for it; it is true, I could &s;till have found out &s;omething or other to have replied, but I promi&s;ed you I would not u&s;e mere &s;ubterfuges and di&s;ingenuous &s;hifts, and I find without them there is no|thing to be &s;aid further in the ca&s;e: &s;o that in plain <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> I mu&s;t profe&s;s I cannot tell whether more to admire you or my &s;elf, pardon the expre&s;&s;ion; I mean, whether more to be a&s;hamed of my own &s;tupidity, that have thus long laugh'd in my &s;leeve at Religion, or your prudence that fir&s;t hedg'd me in with your preliminary demands, that my mind could not rove from the point, and then pur&s;ued me with clo&s;e argu|ments, that I have no way to e&s;cape. In &s;hort, I am convinced &s;o far, that Re|ligion is a thing diligently to be heed|ed, and carefully inquired into; I pray therefore, leave me not in the Briers you have brought me into, but as you have di&s;covered to me the Foundations, &s;o tell me what Super&s;tructions mu&s;t be made upon them. In the fir&s;t place, what do you mean by Religion?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>By Religion in general I under|&s;tand nothing el&s;e but a &s;erious Study to know God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">A general de&s;cription of Religion.</NOTE> <HI>together with a careful endeavour to plea&s;e him, and procure his favour.</HI> This is that which not only the &s;everal Sects of
<PB N="107" REF="58">Chri&s;tians mean by Religion, but is that which all men of Sen&s;e, and even the better &s;ort of Pagans them&s;elves agree in.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>By the ea&s;ine&s;s of your ex|pre&s;&s;ion, and the few words you have made u&s;e of in this de&s;cription, one would think the bu&s;ine&s;s it &s;elf was more ea&s;y than I doubt I &s;hall find it to be: but, I pray, however con&s;ider me as an Idiot and a Stranger to this matter, and conde&s;cend to explain your &s;elf more particularly; and fir&s;t give me leave to ask you what you mean by the know|ing of God? Do you intend any thing more than the acknowledgment that there is a God?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> I here under|&s;tand a great deal more by the know|ing of God, than I did in all our for|mer di&s;cour&s;e whil&s;t we were only lay|ing the Foundations of Religion; there indeed no more was required than to ac|knowledge his Being, and that becau&s;e (as I then &s;hew'd you) therein lies the fir&s;t rea&s;on of &s;uch a thing as we call Religion. For there is nothing to oblige a man to have any regard to him&s;elf, nor to make any difference of his actions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The nece&s;&s;i|ty of &s;tudy|ing to know the Divine Na|ture.</NOTE> till he acknowledge &s;uch a Being as hath a Sovereignty over him, and to whom he is accountable for his Carriage. But now when that is re&s;olved of, then there ari&s;es a two-fold occa&s;ion of &s;tudy|ing farther to know the God which he acknowledges to be;</P>
<PB N="108" REF="59">
<P>Namely, Fir&s;t, becau&s;e it cannot but appear a point of great decency and regard towards this acknowledged Sove|reign of the World, that we imploy our minds, the noble&s;t powers we have, in the &s;tudy and contemplation of him; and indeed to do otherwi&s;e is not only un|manly, but an argument of &s;uch con|tempt as is not con&s;i&s;tent with the real per|&s;wa&s;ion of &s;uch a Being as God.</P>
<P>Again, Secondly, Fora&s;much as by the bare acknowledgment that there is a God, we &s;ee rea&s;on to make a diffe|rence of things, and to have a care of our actions with re&s;pect to him; &s;o now when we are come to that, it will fur|ther concern us in particular to have &s;ome rule and mea&s;ure to govern our &s;elves by, and whereby to make a di|&s;tinction of good and evil, to the end that we may plea&s;e him in what we do: and that is only attainable by &s;erious &s;tudy of the Divine Nature, Attributes and &s;uch declarations of his Mind and Will as he hath made.</P>
<P>For you mu&s;t know that it is not every thing what&s;oever we may fan&s;ie, that will plea&s;e him. For then all Religions would be alike true and &s;afe, and none but Athei&s;ts and Hypocrites could mi&s;|carry. But it is certain God hath a mind of his own, and that Devotion or ob&s;ervance only plea&s;es him which is agreeable to him; all other is fooli&s;h Super&s;tition, and at be&s;t but lo&s;t la|bour.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="109" REF="59">
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But I hope, after all, you do not intend to repre&s;ent the Deity as a touchy and humour&s;ome kind of Be|ing: for then con&s;equently, Religion mu&s;t needs be the mo&s;t anxious thing in the World, and far from what you have hitherto made me believe it was.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God forbid, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> that &s;uch a thought of the Divine Maje&s;ty &s;hould enter into any man's heart, or that I &s;hould be guilty of mi&s;repre&s;enting Re|ligion at that rate. As for God him|&s;elf, he is certainly nothing el&s;e but wi&s;e and great Goodne&s;s, too great to be fondly taken with little things, and too wi&s;e and good to be offended with little things; and therefore Religion cannot con&s;i&s;t in Niceties and Punctili|o's, as if it was the &s;ervile flattery of a Tyrant, and not the ingenuous &s;ervice of loyal Subjects to a brave and gene|rous Prince; notwith&s;tanding, as I &s;aid before, he hath a Mind and Will of his own, and expects that &s;hould be com|plied with, if we intend to procure his fa|vour.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The nece&s;&s;ity of &s;tudying to know the Divine Will as well as his Nature.</NOTE></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But is it not enough that a man live well and virtuou&s;ly, and &s;erve God devoutly? Will not that plea&s;e and pro|pitiate him to us?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes doubtle&s;s it will, but &s;till you mu&s;t have a rule and &s;tandard for all that; otherwi&s;e there will be no real dif|ference of Virtue and Vice, nor no di|&s;tinction between Super&s;tition and De|votion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="110" REF="60">
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now am I in a Wilderne&s;s, when I thought my &s;elf even at <HI>Ca|naan.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why, what's the matter, <HI>Bio|philus?</HI> could you think that mere good meaning, or any kind of blind Devotion would &s;erve the turn? or that man might pre&s;cribe to his Maker what he &s;hould be pleas'd withal.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>The matter is plainly this, <HI>Se|ba&s;tian:</HI> I perceive that if a man have a mind to be Religious, he &s;hall be at a lo&s;s which way to take, and what to do; his own Con&s;cience, you &s;ay, is not a &s;ufficient Guide for him, becau&s;e that may be mi&s;taken, and therefore he mu&s;t have a rule; well, to come by this rule, he mu&s;t (&s;ay you) &s;tudy to know Gods Nature, and that is not enough, but God hath a Mind and Will of his own, and that mu&s;t be known too; and that's not all neither, for he may alter his mind, and then we are at a wor&s;e lo&s;s than ever: if therefore this be the &s;tate of the ca&s;e, it is to no purpo&s;e to think or talk further of this bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Come, cheer up, man, there is no danger of all this you dream of, this &s;eeming difficulty will pre&s;ently clear up, by that time I have told you, that Gods Mind and Nature are &s;o intirely the &s;ame, that what&s;oever is agreeable to his Na|ture cannot be contradicted by any act of his Will; and what&s;oever is the expre&s;s of his Will, is al&s;o a true Copy of his
<PB N="111" REF="60">Nature (at lea&s;t in the general). And therefore if we perfectly under&s;tood the Divine Nature, there would be no need that he &s;hould make any declaration of his Will;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The mea|&s;ures of De|votion are partly the Divine Na|ture, and partly his Will.</NOTE> for then it would be the only in&s;tance of Religion to imitate and en|deavour to re&s;emble him, which is the true&s;t honour that can be done to him, and con&s;equently could not fail to plea&s;e him. But now fora&s;much as we neither do nor can perfectly under&s;tand his Na|ture, becau&s;e it is too great and too &s;ub|lime for us to take a full view of it, therefore it is that we &s;tand in need of the declaration of his Will for our guide in his &s;ervice.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>If this be &s;o (as it &s;eems rea|&s;onable enough) then why did you &s;peak of his Nature in this ca&s;e, &s;eeing the bu&s;ine&s;s lies in the &s;tudying of the Divine Will, at lea&s;t, if there be any &s;uch thing as a declaration of it which may be come at?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The rea&s;on of my making men|tion both of the Divine Nature and the Divine Will to you in this ca&s;e, will be|come as evident to you as any thing we have di&s;cour&s;ed of, by that time you have con&s;idered the&s;e two things:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That fora&s;much as natural light (which is the common principle of man|kind) can make &s;ome di&s;covery of the Nature of God to us, but little or no|thing of his Will; therefore it is ne|ce&s;&s;ary, that &s;uch as have not Divine Re|velation, &s;hould by the u&s;e of rea&s;on &s;tu|dy
<PB N="112" REF="61">the Divine Nature for their guidance in the mean time.</P>
<P>Again, &s;econdly, It is very con&s;iderable, that even tho&s;e that live under the ad|vantage of Divine Revelation, may be impo&s;ed upon by counterfeit Oracles, and &s;uch as fal&s;ly pretend to be di&s;cove|rers of the Will of God, if they do not well &s;tudy the Divine Nature, by the knowledge of which they may be able to detect &s;uch frauds and Impo&s;tures; for if a Doctrine be broached in the World, that is contrary to the natural and rea&s;onable Notions men have of God, although &s;uch Doctrine pretend never &s;o much to Divinity;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Deu|teronomy 13.1, 2, 3, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> nay, if it &s;hould &s;eem to have the &s;ame miraculous atte&s;tation to it that the Go&s;pel it &s;elf hath, we may and ought to reject it upon this ac|count, that we are &s;ure nothing can come from God which contradicts him&s;elf, nor can there be any declaration of his Will which is contrary to the known mea|&s;ures of his Nature: and therefore the Na|ture of God as well as the Will of God, is to be &s;tudied and attended to as our Rule in this great affair of Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now I think I under&s;tand you thus far; and if I be not mi&s;taken, then I have two great things &s;till to ask your a&s;&s;i&s;tance in: 1. That you will help me to under&s;tand the Divine Nature. 2. That you will direct me how I may come to
<PB N="113" REF="61">the knowledge of his Will, by which two together I find I mu&s;t be enabled both to plea&s;e him and procure his fa|vour: and, fir&s;t, I pray explain the Nature of God to me.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I know you are a wi&s;er man than to expect from me that I &s;hould give you a perfect definition of the Di|vine Maje&s;ty; for by what hath been &s;aid already, you cannot but be &s;en&s;ible of the vanity and impo&s;&s;ibility of &s;uch an attempt on my part, and con&s;equent|ly of the ab&s;urdity of &s;uch a demand on yours: but if your de&s;ire be (as I &s;up|po&s;e it is) that I &s;hould repre&s;ent God to you under &s;uch expre&s;&s;ions as that we may under&s;tand one another what we mean when we &s;peak of him, and al&s;o may &s;ufficiently di&s;tingui&s;h him from all other Beings, then I doubt not to give you &s;atisfaction.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I ask no more but what you pro|mi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A de&s;cripti|on of the Divine Na|ture.</NOTE> &s;aving that I expect al&s;o that your de&s;cription of him &s;hould not only ren|der him a fit Object of Religion, but al&s;o in &s;ome mea&s;ure a rule for it too, according to what you la&s;t di&s;cour|&s;ed.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I under&s;tand you, and why may not the&s;e few words &s;atisfie you, <HI>viz. God is an Infinite and Eternal Spirit.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Ah <HI>Seba&s;tian!</HI> The Words are few indeed, but they are &s;uch as will put you to the expence of a great ma|ny more before I &s;hall under&s;tand them;
<PB N="114" REF="62">every word is a My&s;tery, <HI>Spirit, Eter|nal, Infinite!</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Be of good courage, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> for though I foretold you we &s;hould ne|ver be able fully to comprehend the Divine Maje&s;ty, yet with a little Pati|ence and Attention you &s;hall find tho&s;e Phra&s;es very intelligible, and neither to be Non&s;en&s;e or Gibberi&s;h, nor Cramp-words to conceal a conceited Ignorance under, as your old Friends the Epicu|reans are wont to call them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I confe&s;s you have not di&s;ap|pointed me hitherto, and therefore I will not de&s;pair, nor do I intend any longer to di&s;pute with you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The word [Spirit] explained, and the na|ture of the thing.</NOTE> but to learn of you; therefore, I pray, in the fir&s;t place, tell me plainly and intelligibly what a Spirit is, and what you mean when you &s;ay God is a <HI>Spirit.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You may remember, that what you now demand was the Subject of part of our former Conference,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> Conf. 2. <HI>from</HI> p. 176. <HI>to</HI> p. 179.</NOTE> wherein I indeavoured to &s;ettle the Notion of a Spirit, and not only to convince you of the nece&s;&s;ity of acknowledging &s;uch a kind of Being, but al&s;o to po&s;&s;e&s;s you with &s;ome apprehen&s;ions of the nature of it: and therefore, I hope, I &s;hall not need to go over that again. But now, when I call God a Spirit, I mean neither more nor le&s;s than this, namely, that <HI>he is an under&s;tanding, free and powerful Sub&s;tance, which yet is not vi&s;ible, nor can fall un|der the notice of our bodily Sen&s;es:</HI> this, I
<PB N="115" REF="62">take it, is the proper notion of a Spirit.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place, I call a Spirit a <HI>Sub&s;tance,</HI> that you may be &s;ure I mean not a Spectre or Fantom (as your Friends u&s;e to &s;u&s;pect) but &s;omething which is as real as Matter or Body it &s;elf.</P>
<P>And yet, in the &s;econd place, to di|&s;tingui&s;h it from Matter or bodily Sub|&s;tance, I &s;ay it is <HI>not vi&s;ible,</HI> nor can fall under the notice of our bodily Sen|&s;es, as that other kind of Sub&s;tance doth, or at lea&s;t is &s;uppo&s;ed to do.</P>
<P>And then, in the la&s;t place, to &s;hew you that this is no contradiction, and to deliver you from the prejudice of Sen&s;e, I repre&s;ent to you the <HI>Effects and Operations</HI> of a Spirit, which are &s;uch as mu&s;t needs argue it to be a Sub&s;tance, and an excellent one too; namely that it hath power to move the matter wherein it re&s;ides, and al&s;o hath Un|der&s;tanding and Will or Choice, which Matter is incapable of.</P>
<P>So that look what that thing which we call a Soul is in our &s;elves, that doth this notion of Spirit imply God to be to the whole World; namely as by <HI>that</HI> we move our bodies, and un|der&s;tand a rea&s;on for, and can give check to our own motion, &s;o doth God pre&s;ide over the World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I acknowledge you have deli|vered a con&s;i&s;tent notion of &s;uch a thing as a Spirit, and therefore I &s;ee no im|po&s;&s;ibility that there &s;hould be &s;uch a
<PB N="116" REF="63">thing. But how doth it appear that there is really and actually &s;uch a thing as a Spi|rit, or that if there be a God, he mu&s;t needs be a Spirit?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The rea&s;on is very plain by what hath been &s;aid already, when I pro|ved to you the exi&s;tence of a God. For there it was confe&s;&s;ed on both hands that &s;omething mu&s;t be eternal, or nothing could have been at all; and then I de|mon&s;trated that Matter could not be that Eternal Being, therefore it mu&s;t be Spi|rit or nothing that gave beginning to things, and con&s;equently this thing Spirit is not only a con&s;i&s;tent Notion, but a ne|ce&s;&s;ary Reality, and God is that Spirit.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, to convince you of this the more effectually, let me mind you of what, I think, I have heretofore ob&s;er|ved, <HI>viz.</HI> that we find in our &s;elves &s;omething which not only moves and acts our Bodies, but al&s;o &s;ometimes bears hard again&s;t them, cro&s;&s;es and con|trols them in their Intere&s;ts and Incli|nations.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The u&s;eful|ne&s;s of ac|knowledg|ing God to be a &s;piritu|al Sub|&s;tance.</NOTE> Now &s;urely that which doth &s;o, mu&s;t needs be &s;omething of an higher and different nature from them, and is no other than that kind of Spiritual Be|ing which we call a Soul; and &s;o you have another and more obvious Evidence of the actual exi&s;tence of Spiritual Sub&s;tance.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I apprehend you, but, I pray, excu&s;e me one que&s;tion more on this point, and that is, What is the impor|tance of this to Religion? Or of what
<PB N="117" REF="63">influence will the acknowledgment of God to be a Spirit have upon the ru|ling and directing a man in his Devo|tions towards him?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The belief that God is a Spi|rit is of very great con&s;equence to Re|ligion upon &s;everal accounts.</P>
<P>Partly as it obliges us to be very &s;in|cere, hearty and inward in all our De|votions to him, and not think to put him off with Out-&s;ides and Comple|ments: for &s;eeing <HI>he is a Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.24.</NOTE> <HI>he will be wor&s;hipped in Spirit and Truth.</HI></P>
<P>Partly al&s;o as it renders it evident to us, that neither the &s;ound of Words, nor any peculiar Po&s;ture, Ceremony, or o|ther &s;uch like childi&s;h Trifles can of them&s;elves be acceptable to him who is a great and a wi&s;e Spirit, no nor yet the Fat of Bea&s;ts, nor the Odours of &s;weet Incen&s;e, nor Gold, nor Silver, nor any of tho&s;e things that are admired among&s;t men; but lea&s;t of all &s;uch &s;en&s;ual and la&s;civious Rites as were in u&s;e among&s;t the Pagans: for as none of the former can be &s;uitable Oblations to &s;uch a pure Being; &s;o it is certain tho&s;e la&s;t named can only befit an impure Spirit, &s;uch an one as the Devil is.</P>
<P>But principally, as it convinces us of the Vanity and Impiety of making Ima|ges of God, or of thinking to do ho|nour to him by the u&s;e of them in his Wor&s;hip, &s;ince he being a Spiritual Sub|&s;tance can by no means be repre&s;ented
<PB N="118" REF="64">by them, but mu&s;t needs be deba&s;ed and rendred much meaner to our thoughts than he is by &s;uch repre&s;entations; and therefore we find, that not only the Ho|ly Scripture in the Books both of Old and New Te&s;tament, utterly con|domas &s;uch u&s;ages as Idolatrous, and abo|minable to him; but we may al&s;o ob|&s;erve that among&s;t the Pagans them|&s;elves, all tho&s;e who arrived at this no|tion that God was a Spirit, rejected I|mage-Wor&s;hip, and thought that of the Mind and Spirit to be only acceptable to him.</P>
<P>To all which add, that the belief of the Spiritual Nature of God inables us more ea&s;ily to conceive of the great|ne&s;s of his Power, and that it is ea&s;ie to him to mind and govern the World without trouble or wearine&s;s to him|&s;elf, and with the greater advantage to us. For it is not imaginable that a perfectly immaterial Sub&s;tance &s;hould be &s;en&s;ible of any la&s;&s;itude or decay: and thus the belief of God's being a Spirit, confirms our tru&s;t in his Divine Provi|dence which is the prime Spring and Motive of Devotion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am abundantly &s;atisfied that God is a Spirit, and that he ought to be &s;o acknowledged. Now proceed, in the next place, to tell me what you mean when you &s;ay he is <HI>Eternal.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>By God's being an Eternal Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Of Gods Eternity, and the ne|ce&s;&s;ity of ac|knowledg|ing it.</NOTE> I mean that as he had no Be|ginning,
<PB N="119" REF="64">&s;o he can have no end of his Being, and that becau&s;e (as I &s;hewed you) he is nece&s;&s;arily, or could not but be; for we agreed even now that &s;uch an excellency of Being mu&s;t be allowed to &s;omething or other, or el&s;e no|thing could have been at all: and I made it plain that it could not be at|tributed to the World, or any part of it, and therefore mu&s;t be due to God.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I &s;ee, I might have &s;aved you the trouble of that que&s;tion, yet you will excu&s;e it, &s;ince it leads me to ano|ther, which I cannot &s;o well re&s;olve without your help: <HI>viz.</HI> of what mo|ment is it to Religion whether God be acknowledged to be Eternal or not?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Oh! Of very great moment; for, in the fir&s;t place, this being ac|knowledged, we are thereby a&s;&s;ured that all the inferiour Gods of the Gentiles, or what&s;oever were either &s;uppo&s;ed to be born, or to have a beginning, or to die, or decline in Power and Divinity, could not be Gods, but the Idols of fooli&s;h and deluded men; and at the &s;ame time we are as certain that the true God can neither do, nor be capa|ble of any hurt or detriment, no nor of any change, but ever remains immu|tably the &s;ame. For what&s;oever is liable to change, may al&s;o cea&s;e to be.</P>
<P>Again, Upon the con&s;ideration of God's Eternity depends a great Obli|gation
<PB N="120" REF="65">to Religion, fora&s;much as by this means he hath it always in his power to reward or puni&s;h men accord|ing to their demerit, wherein con&s;i&s;ts a great Secret of his Providence, name|ly the rea&s;on of his Patience and Long-&s;uffering, that he doth not pre&s;ently ex|ecute vengeance upon wicked men, nor, on the other &s;ide, immediately deliver good men out of the troubles and injuries they meet with in this World, becau&s;e he hath it always in his power to do it, and if he do it not in this World, will be &s;ure to do it in the next.</P>
<P>To both which may be added, that although the notion of Eternity of time to come be a great deep into which we cannot look without Giddine&s;s and Di&s;turbance, yet we may be certain there is &s;uch a thing, becau&s;e we are &s;ure that God cannot cea&s;e to be, no more than he began to be; and therefore the fol|licitude which is in men about what is to come after their deaths, is not the effect of timidity and weakne&s;s, (as you &s;ome|time &s;u&s;pected) but a rational and well-grounded Prudence, as I then told you.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But yet there is one very dif|ficult thing remains to be explained, namely, what do you mean when you &s;ay God is an <HI>Infinite</HI> Spirit?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>By that I mean that whereas all other Beings (as well Spiritual as Material) which are not nece&s;&s;arily,<NOTE PLACE="marg">God's Infi|nity ex|plained, and the u&s;e of belie|ving it.</NOTE> or which might not have been, mu&s;t con|&s;equently,
<PB N="121" REF="65">when&s;oever they come into Being, depend upon him, who hath Be|ing in him&s;elf, and &s;o be limited and circum&s;cribed by him; that is, they can have but only &s;uch a certain portion of Power, Life and Under&s;tanding as he hath allotted them: on the contrary, he that was before all things, and the cau&s;e of all things, and who could not but be, mu&s;t needs be unlimited in all kind of perfections, fora&s;much as there was nothing before him to limit him, nothing equal to him to rival him, nothing af|ter him to intrench upon him, and con|&s;equently all conceivable perfection mu&s;t be e&s;&s;entially in him; that is, he mu&s;t be mo&s;t powerful, mo&s;t wi&s;e, mo&s;t ju&s;t and mo&s;t good, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I think I need not ask you of what importance this la&s;t point is to Religion, for (as dull as I am) I am a|ware that this Attribute of the Deity renders him the Object of our Admira|tion, Fear, Tru&s;t, and all other in&s;tan|ces of Devotion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is very true, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> and be&s;ides, by virtue of this infinity he can be pre&s;ent to all places, to take notice of all pa&s;&s;ages, he can ea&s;ily accompli&s;h what&s;oever he promi&s;es or threatens; he can be &s;traitned in nothing, nor need any thing, having all things in him&s;elf, and con&s;equently of that, it is impo&s;&s;ible to conceive of him as a &s;tin|gy, narrow-hearted Being that can envy
<PB N="122" REF="66">or malign his Creatures, but contrari|wi&s;e, he mu&s;t be un&s;peakably good, and take delight in nothing more than in communicating of his own fulne&s;s to them.</P>
<P>But that which I would e&s;pecially remark is this, that a Being infinite in Goodne&s;s, Wi&s;dom, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as afore&s;aid, can never be the Author of ab&s;urd, or har&s;h and impo&s;&s;ible Laws; for any &s;uch would be a contradiction to the afore|named Perfections of his Nature: and therefore as we have upon this account great Obligations to &s;erve him cheer|fully; &s;o we may a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves that what&s;oever pretends to be a Divine Law, and can be made appear to be inhu|manely rigorous, or intolerably difficult to be ob&s;erved, is either no Law of his, or at the lea&s;t it is not rightly inter|preted.</P>
<P>And thus, I hope, I have, in &s;ome mea&s;ure, explained to you the Nature of God, and al&s;o led you to ob&s;erve the main &s;trokes of Piety, or the Laws of natural Religion towards him, dedu|cible from tho&s;e Principles: and you your &s;elf by attentive con&s;ideration, may be able to deduce many others of like nature. What other &s;ervice do you now command me?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>After hearty thanks, good <HI>Se|ba&s;tian,</HI> for the mild and candid treat|ment you have given me all along, which together with that clearne&s;s of
<PB N="123" REF="66">rea&s;on which &s;hines out in your di&s;|cour&s;e, have made me perfectly yours. I would in the next place reque&s;t of you (if I be not too importunely trouble|&s;ome) that you will in like manner di&s;cour&s;e to me of the Divine Will, as you have done of his Nature; that &s;o I may be more fully in&s;tructed in this great bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I &s;hall never think it trouble|&s;ome, or un&s;ea&s;onable to &s;erve you in &s;uch an affair as this; but, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> if we &s;hould go no further, and that I had nothing to &s;ay concerning Divine Reve|lation, yet you &s;ee we have enough al|ready to render Religion not only wor|thy of a prudent mans care, but to be the mo&s;t rea&s;onable and nece&s;&s;ary thing in the whole World: &s;o that Athei&s;m with all its boa&s;ts of Wit and extraor|dinary Sagacity, and Sceptici&s;m too with all its Caution and Re&s;ervedne&s;s, are quite beaten out of the Field.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I acknowledge it, good <HI>Seba&s;ti|an,</HI> with Glory to God, and &s;hame e|nough to my &s;elf&mdash;</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God be thanked for this gen|tle Thaw, and the pro&s;pect we have of a fruitful Sea&s;on after the cold Wea|ther.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I ob&s;erve no change in the Air; but however, good <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> let not the thoughts of that divert you from what we were upon.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Never fear it, Sir, I am mind|ful
<PB N="124" REF="67">of you, and glad to &s;ee you &s;o ear|ne&s;tly inqui&s;itive after that you was &s;o cold towards, and &s;o incurious of here|tofore. But what was you about to &s;ay?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I remember you &s;aid that hu|mane rea&s;on was too &s;hort to be a Standard for God Almighty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Concerning the know|ledge of the Divine Will.</NOTE> and that if it was po&s;&s;ible for us perfectly to un|der&s;tand the Divine Nature (which we cannot) yet &s;ince he is a free Agent, and hath a mind of his own, and will not be pre&s;cribed to by us, it is nece&s;|&s;ary in order to the plea&s;ing and propi|tiating him towards our &s;elves, that we &s;hould &s;ome way or other be more par|ticularly in&s;tructed concerning his Will and Plea&s;ure: now therefore my de&s;ire is (if it be po&s;&s;ible) to be a&s;certained of the Divine Will, that I may know how to carry my &s;elf agreeably there|unto.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is a worthy re&s;olution of yours, and a very noble inquiry that hath taken ri&s;e from thence, and let me add, it is &s;uch an inquiry as you may ju&s;tly expect &s;atisfaction in: for &s;ince na|tural rea&s;on and indu&s;try cannot give us &s;ufficient light in the ca&s;e, it is not con&s;i&s;tent with the Divine Goodne&s;s to leave men de&s;titute of &s;ome certain way of information, what he requires and expects from them: And that it is po&s;|&s;ible for God to &s;upply that defect of our under&s;tanding, there can be no
<PB N="125" REF="67">doubt, &s;ince it cannot be imagined that Almighty Power and Wi&s;dom &s;hould ever want means to expre&s;s his Sence to the &s;ons of men, or to a&s;&s;ure them that &s;uch is indeed his mind without all dan|ger of impo&s;ture or delu&s;ion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>By what I now under&s;tand of the Divine Nature, I cannot but grant it very po&s;&s;ible for God to do &s;o; and I in&s;i&s;t upon the fitne&s;s and rea&s;onable|ne&s;s that &s;ome &s;uch thing &s;hould be done: but I inquire where is it done, and how may a man have recour&s;e to it?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Fir&s;t let me ask you what ways are there imaginable that might give you or any other man &s;atisfaction in this ca&s;e? and what are tho&s;e you could think fit for God to make u&s;e of to this pur|po&s;e?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I could think of &s;everal ways whereby God might, if he plea&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Several ways of Divine Re|velation.</NOTE> make known his mind to men; namely, I doubt not but he can, if he will, &s;peak from Heaven in an audible Voice, &s;o that we &s;hall hear him as we hear one another; or if he thought good to conde&s;cend &s;o far, he could per&s;onally appear in the World, and in&s;truct men in what he re|quires of them; or again, he could &s;ing|ly apply him&s;elf to particular Per&s;ons, and by &s;ome &s;ecret operations of his, in&s;till his mind into their Hearts; or, to name no more, he could guide the thoughts and hands of &s;ome certain men, whil&s;t they committed his Will to Writing,
<PB N="126" REF="68">which &s;hould be a Record and Dige&s;t of the Divine Laws to all Ages of the World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Very good: Then I hope it will abundantly &s;atisfie you, if I &s;hew you that God hath not only made u&s;e of &s;ome one or other of the&s;e ways you mention, but hath by all and every one of them notified his plea&s;ure at &s;ome time or o|ther to the &s;ons of men.</P>
<P>As for in&s;tance, In the fir&s;t Ages of the World, before there were any Divine Laws &s;ettled for the conduct of mens lives, it was not unu&s;ual with the Divine Maje&s;ty to give particular intimations of his mind, e&s;pecially in &s;uch ca&s;es as the u&s;e of natural rea&s;on could not extend to; and tho&s;e that were extraordinary good men, had very frequent experience of this in tho&s;e antient times, and even the bet|ter &s;ort of Heathens were not de&s;titute of &s;uch &s;pecial di&s;coveries of Gods Will (among&s;t other occa&s;ions to &s;upply the defects of Humane Rea&s;on in Divine Things) and there is nothing more known and acknowledged among&s;t them than this.</P>
<P>And then it is al&s;o certain, that though God as a Spirit hath properly no voice of his own, yet he hath &s;everal times framed a voice, and cau&s;ed it to be heard from Heaven as his, the famous in&s;tance whereof was at the giving of Laws to the Jewi&s;h Nation from Mount <HI>Sinai;</HI> nor have later times (no not among&s;t the Pagans
<PB N="127" REF="68">them&s;elves) been altogether left without &s;uch prodigious di&s;coveries of the Divine Will, unle&s;s we call in que&s;tion the cre|dit of all their Writings.</P>
<P>But for Gods conde&s;cending to come him&s;elf into the World, and to in&s;truct men in &s;uch things as are agreeable to his Will, this was mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly verifi|ed in the Conver&s;ation of our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us in Humane Nature upon Earth, who had all the atte&s;tations to his Divinity that could be de&s;ired, both in the Wonders of his Birth, the Mira|cles of his Life, and the Glories of his Re&s;urrection, but e&s;pecially in the fre|quent and humble Mini&s;try of Angels to him as occa&s;ion &s;erved. And he famili|arly and fully interpreted the mind of God to men; and the more to awaken the attention of mankind to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 3.17.</NOTE> a voice from Heaven al&s;o attended his entrance on this Office.</P>
<P>And then in the la&s;t place, for Gods declaring his mind to us by the mini&s;try of men, this he hath abundantly done in the Books of Holy Scripture, which as they were dictated by him&s;elf to tho&s;e Holy Men that compo&s;ed them, &s;o they have been carefully pre&s;erved by his &s;pe|cial Providence from the changes and corruption that all humane things are li|able to, that &s;o they might convey his Plea&s;ure to all Per&s;ons, Climates and A|ges of the World.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But do you mean that a man
<PB N="128" REF="69">may con&s;ult which of the&s;e Oracles, and when he plea&s;es, for a re&s;olution in any matter of difficulty that occurs in the bu|&s;ine&s;s of Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>No indeed, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> that you mu&s;t not expect, but mu&s;t content your &s;elf only with the la&s;t of the four, name|ly, the Holy Scripture, that is the &s;tand|ing and <HI>lively Oracle of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.12. 2 Pet. 1.18, 19.</NOTE> and <HI>more &s;ure than a voice from Heaven.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>But may I not ask, why might not &s;ome of tho&s;e other Declarations of the Divine Mind have been continued as well as that of the Scripture, e&s;pecially either a voice from Heaven, or &s;ome immediate impre&s;s of God Almighty up|on the minds of men, if it had been but for the atte&s;tation to, and fuller confirma|tion of the Bible, and the written way of Divine Revelation.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> we mu&s;t not ask God a rea&s;on of that, but be thankful to him for what he hath afforded us, e|&s;pecially &s;ince that is as much as is ne|ce&s;&s;ary for our guidance: for tho&s;e that <HI>hear not Mo&s;es and the Prophets,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.31.</NOTE> <HI>neither will they hear if one ro&s;e from the Dead,</HI> much le&s;s if they heard a voice from Heaven.</P>
<P>Neverthele&s;s I mu&s;t tell you I do not think it altogether impo&s;&s;ible to give a mode&s;t man more particular &s;atisfaction in this ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The rea&s;on of the &s;ur|cea&s;e of voi|ces from Heaven and &s;pecial O|racles.</NOTE> for there were apparently &s;pecial rea&s;ons why God &s;hould make &s;uch &s;pecial and prodigious di&s;coveries
<PB N="129" REF="69">of him&s;elf in former times as he doth not make now-a-days, namely becau&s;e for a good part of the Age of the World there was no written Law, and &s;o God mu&s;t apply him&s;elf to men in &s;ome extraordinary way, or they would have had no in&s;truction in his Will at all. And then after that the Law was gi|ven by voice from Heaven on Mount <HI>Si|nai,</HI> and written on Tables of Stone, it was in it &s;elf &s;o imperfect a draught of the Divine Mind, and for the mo&s;t part &s;o accommodated to the weakne&s;s of that people, and to the infancy of the World, that it would have been hard to have kept a man of any Sagacity in a con&s;tant belief of it as coming from God, if he had not continually and from time to time made prodigious Atte&s;ta|tions to it: But now e&s;pecially &s;ince our Saviour came into the World, and we have the Books of the New Te&s;ta|ment, as well as of the Old, there is &s;o full a declaration of the Divine Mind, and that not in Types and Figures nei|ther, but in &s;o plain a way, and with &s;o much agreeablene&s;s of the things di&s;co|vered to the rea&s;on of mankind; that there is no need of any &s;econdary Atte&s;ta|tion, nor any thing more than that it ap|pear that tho&s;e Writings were indited by God.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, it is to be con&s;idered that the way of giving an&s;wer by a voice from Heaven, unle&s;s it had been grant|ed
<PB N="130" REF="70">to every man (and then it mu&s;t have been done almo&s;t every day and hour, and in every part of the World al&s;o) could not have given better &s;atisfaction to the generality of men (I mean to &s;uch as were not Ear-witne&s;&s;es of &s;uch a voice) than this way of Scripture doth: for without infinite and continual Miracles, it mu&s;t have been their lot and duty to believe without hearing &s;uch a voice.</P>
<P>And for that other way of <HI>&s;ecret in|timation of God's</HI> Mind to the Minds of men by a private and particular O|racle, it is plain that it could go no farther than to &s;atisfie that particular per&s;on to whom &s;uch an&s;wer was given; and therefore was only fit to be made u&s;e of in extraordinary ca&s;es, and even &s;ome extraordinary per&s;ons, and even then there was need of &s;ome Miracle to attend &s;uch intimations, in order to the &s;ecuring the minds of &s;uch men from the delu&s;ions of the Devil, or their own Fancies: and when that was done, this di&s;covery could go no farther than the per&s;on to whom it was parti|cularly made; for it <HI>was like the white &s;tone which no man knew but he that re|ceived it:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2.17.</NOTE> The re&s;t of mankind could have no other advantage by it, nor be better &s;ecured of the Oracle, than we are of what we learn by the Holy Scripture, no nor &s;o well neither, as you will &s;ee by and by, if you plea&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="131" REF="70">
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>With all my heart, for that is the very point I de&s;ire to be re&s;ol|ved in; but in order thereto, fir&s;t, let me intreat you to explain what you mean by this way of Divine Legi&s;lati|on, or this way of delivering the Will of God by the writings of the Holy Scripture.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The way is this:<NOTE PLACE="marg">What is meant by God's indi|ting the Ho|ly Scripture, and the rea&s;onable|ne&s;s of it.</NOTE> Divine Wi&s;|dom re&s;olving to give a &s;tanding Law and Guide to mankind, in the fir&s;t place, in&s;pired certain Holy men, that is, made clear impre&s;&s;ions of his own Sentiments upon their minds, and then al&s;o guided and governed them in the writing and publi&s;hing the afore&s;aid impre&s;&s;ions for the u&s;e of others.</P>
<P>That it is ea&s;ie for God Almighty to imprint his own &s;en&s;e upon the minds of &s;uch men as he &s;hall choo&s;e for that pur|po&s;e, you cannot doubt when you con&s;i|der that Power of his which he di&s;play|ed in the Creation, and that therefore the minds of men mu&s;t needs be <HI>in his hands, as Clay in the hands of the Potter,</HI> &s;o that he can mold and figure them as he plea&s;es.</P>
<P>That he can give a&s;&s;urance to the minds of &s;uch men, that it is he him&s;elf that makes tho&s;e impre&s;&s;ions upon them, and no other Agent, you have acknow|ledged already; and there can be no more cau&s;e to doubt it, than you have, whe|ther it be I that &s;peak to you, or a Spirit out of the Wall: for certainly God hath
<PB N="132" REF="71">ways enough to di&s;tingui&s;h him&s;elf and his Motions from Illu&s;ions.</P>
<P>That al&s;o he &s;hould be able to guide and govern tho&s;e holy Pen-men in the writing of what he him&s;elf had put into their minds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Holy Scripture is the &s;upply of the de|fects of na|tural rea|&s;on.</NOTE> and in delivering his &s;en&s;e &s;o fully and clearly as to an&s;wer his end, and become a &s;ufficient rule for men to govern them&s;elves by, mu&s;t be granted, or you make him more impotent than a man.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, That he could by his Provi|dence pre&s;erve the Books &s;o written from being imbezel'd or corrupted, that &s;o they may an&s;wer the ends afore&s;aid, can|not be denied without denying his Pro|vidence, and &s;ubverting the foundation of Religion.</P>
<P>So that in &s;umm, this way of the Ho|ly Scripture mu&s;t needs be a very &s;uffici|ent way of Divine Legi&s;lation, and an abundant &s;upply of the defects of Natu|ral Rea&s;on in Divine Things.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I grant all you have hitherto &s;aid, which amounts to no more but this, that it is not impo&s;&s;ible for God to do &s;o; but now the que&s;tion is, How &s;hall it appear that <HI>(de facto)</HI> he hath done &s;o? or (which amounts to the &s;ame thing) How do you prove that tho&s;e Books (commonly call'd the Bible) are indeed what they pretend to be?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>There lies the pinch of the bu|&s;ine&s;s indeed, as you well ob&s;erve; and therefore, in order to your full &s;atisfa|ction
<PB N="133" REF="71">in that point, let me de&s;ire you to lay together the four following par|ticulars.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The proof of the Divine Authority of the Books of Holy Scripture.</NOTE> It cannot be denied but that the Books of Holy Scripture are (at lea&s;t generally &s;peaking) the mo&s;t anti|ent Monuments in the whole World. Wherefore, be&s;ides the veneration which we commonly allow to antiquity, it is apparent that they have indured the te&s;t of all times pa&s;t, and that all the wit of man hath not been able hitherto to find any con&s;iderable flaw in them, and con&s;equently their authority and credi|bility is &s;o much greater than any other Books, by how much the time is longer &s;ince they were written and publi&s;hed; for there have not been wanting tho&s;e that have endeavoured to expo&s;e them, and if they had been able to have done it, doubtle&s;s long e're this time, the&s;e Books had lo&s;t all their veneration: But &s;ince they &s;till retain their Dignity and E&s;teem (notwith&s;tanding all efforts of their enemies to the contrary) there is ground enough to believe they never &s;hall be able to do it, and con&s;equently that there can be no rea&s;onable &s;u&s;pici|on of the truth of them.</P>
<P>To which may be added, that &s;ince Divine Providence hath al&s;o &s;o long pre|&s;erved and watch'd over the&s;e writings, it is very natural to collect that there|fore they are &s;uch as he peculiarly owns and recommends to us.</P>
<PB N="134" REF="72">
<P>Secondly, It is to be con&s;idered that the Doctrine of the&s;e Books is perfect|ly agreeable to the natural notions we have of God, and therefore being fit for him to be the Author of, they mu&s;t con&s;equently be fit for us to en|tertain, as coming from him, at lea&s;t up|on rea&s;onable evidence of fact that they did &s;o.</P>
<P>If indeed any man could ju&s;tly charge the&s;e writings as containing any thing ab|&s;urd or impo&s;&s;ible, or make appear that they countenanced &s;uch things as are di&s;|agreeable to what we naturally know of God, or can di&s;cern to be in him by the be&s;t improvement of our under&s;tanding: Then (as I have granted before) we could not be bound to believe them, al|though they &s;hould be &s;uppo&s;ed to have all the confirmation imaginable; for no man can believe what he will, nor be obliged to act contrary to the natural Sen&s;e and Principles of his mind, upon any authority what&s;oever.</P>
<P>But when&s;oever a doctrine is pro|pounded that is rea&s;onable in it &s;elf, and be&s;ides hath rea&s;onable evidence that it came from God, and is part of his revealed Will, then it is highly rea|&s;onable that we &s;hould receive it as &s;uch, notwith&s;tanding &s;ome trifling objections which may be to the contrary.</P>
<P>Thirdly, It is e&s;pecially to be mind|ed that the Doctrine of the Holy Scri|pture hath not wanted &s;uch &s;pecial a&s;&s;u|rances
<PB N="135" REF="72">that it came from God, as were fit for him to give, or for men to expect. For all tho&s;e Holy men that delivered any part of it to the World, were abet|ted by Miracles wrought for the confir|mation of what they &s;o delivered: &s;o that either God Almighty mu&s;t be &s;up|po&s;ed to &s;et the &s;eal of his Omnipoten|cy to a Fal&s;hood, or el&s;e the&s;e Doctrines are the di&s;coveries of the Mind of God.</P>
<P>Now that there was &s;uch miraculous proof, we may be a&s;&s;ured in the gene|ral by this con&s;ideration, that it is not i|maginable that &s;uch Doctrine and &s;uch Books &s;hould have obtained that credit in the times when they were &s;et on foot, without &s;uch confirmation, e&s;pecially &s;ince the matter of tho&s;e writings in a great part was &s;o very different from the Notions, and Practices, and Intere&s;ts of tho&s;e Ages and Per&s;ons to whom they were publi&s;h'd. <Q>In&s;omuch that (as a great Man &s;aid of old) to &s;uppo&s;e the World to be brought to the reception of the&s;e Doctrines without a Miracle, might ju&s;tly &s;eem the greate&s;t Miracle that ever was.</Q></P>
<P>And in particular, that the Books of the Old Te&s;tament had &s;uch Divine Atte&s;ta|tion, the very Books them&s;elves frequently appeal to, or at lea&s;t give us the Hi&s;to|ry of &s;uch things of this kind as could neither be with&s;tood and denied by the men of the pre&s;ent Age when they
<PB N="136" REF="73">were done, nor confuted by tho&s;e that came after; be&s;ides the famous Spirit of Prophecy, which di&s;played it &s;elf all along tho&s;e times (of which more by and by).</P>
<P>And then for the New Te&s;tament, be|&s;ides all the Miracles wrought by our Savi|our and his Apo&s;tles, that one of his Re&s;ur|rection was a thing both &s;o notorious to be ob&s;erved, and &s;o ea&s;ie to have been confuted if it had been fal&s;e, that there is no colour of rea&s;on to doubt of it, and con&s;equently none to doubt of his Doctrine: and then in the Apo&s;tles times, that miraculous ability of &s;peak|ing with all kind of Tongues, which was &s;uddenly be&s;towed upon the Chri|&s;tians on the famous day of <HI>Penteco&s;t, Acts</HI> 2.1. was a thing equally &s;tupen|dous in it &s;elf, and irrefragable in its Evidence of the Chri&s;tian Religi|on.</P>
<P>Now I have &s;hewed you before, that what&s;oever point hath been once &s;ufficient|ly proved, it mu&s;t be true for ever, and there can be no rea&s;on to expect after-Miracles for confirmation of it.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, it is ob&s;ervable that the &s;eve|ral parts of Holy Scripture, I mean the Books of the Old and New Te&s;tament, (as they are u&s;ually di&s;tingui&s;hed) do, like a pair of Indentures, ju&s;tifie one a|nother, and a&s;&s;ure us that there can be no fraud nor forgery in either of them; for be&s;ides that they bearing witne&s;s to
<PB N="137" REF="73">one another, one of them cannot be fal&s;e, unle&s;s the other be &s;o too; and if either of them be proved by Miracles, the o|ther would be fully a&s;&s;ured by the &s;ame means, although it had no Miracles pe|culiar to it &s;elf.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this I &s;ay, it is, in the fir&s;t place, certain that the&s;e &s;everal Books, or Parts of Holy Scripture were written and publi&s;hed in &s;everal Ages of the World which were very remote from each other, and con&s;equently by &s;uch men as could po&s;&s;ibly hold no corre|&s;pondence or confederacy with each o|ther.</P>
<P>And then again, &s;econdly, it is as plain al&s;o that (for in&s;tance) the Old Te&s;tament foretells, many Ages before, what things &s;hould come to pa&s;s many Ages after; wherefore if tho&s;e things come to pa&s;s accordingly, there can be no doubt but God in&s;pired tho&s;e men that prophe&s;ied tho&s;e things: and if the New Te&s;tament, on the other &s;ide, contain a relation of &s;uch Events as ful|ly an&s;wer to tho&s;e Predictions, then are both of them mo&s;t certainly true.</P>
<P>And now laying the&s;e four things to|gether, and only &s;etting a&s;ide the de|mand of pre&s;ent and daily Miracles, which I have &s;hewed to be unrea&s;onable to expect, I pray tell me, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> what further evidence can any ingenuous man require in &s;uch a ca&s;e as this is?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="138" REF="74">
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>To &s;peak the truth from my heart, I cannot tell.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why then I hope, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> you think your &s;elf now concerned in tho&s;e Sacred Records, and for the time to come will make them a principal part of your &s;tudy, e&s;pecially the New Te|&s;tament.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I plainly &s;ee I ought to do &s;o; but why do you lay that Empha&s;is e&s;pe|cially on the New Te&s;tament?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>For no le&s;s rea&s;on than becau&s;e that part of Holy Scripture contains the cleare&s;t and fulle&s;t di&s;covery of the Mind of God, as being the ultimate and mo&s;t perfect declaration of him&s;elf, made by the very Son of God in hu|mane nature.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am hitherto an utter &s;tranger to the Contents of tho&s;e Books; (to my &s;hame be it &s;poken) I pray therefore, give me in &s;hort the Summ of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Summ of the New Te&s;tament.</NOTE> for that you mu&s;t excu&s;e me, and let me by all means advi&s;e you to &s;tudy the Books them&s;elves, they are ea&s;ie to be had, and I can a&s;&s;ure you, you will receive greater &s;atisfaction, and profit more by that cour&s;e, than by a|ny Epitome I can make of them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Nay, good <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> it is not my intention to decline the reading of the New Te&s;tament, but you perceive I have lo&s;t too much time already, there|fore let me again reque&s;t you to give me (at lea&s;t) a compendious view of
<PB N="139" REF="74">the principal things contained in the&s;e Writings.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Since you will have it &s;o, I comply with your de&s;ires, and as far as I can comprehend &s;o great and weighty a Subject, and &s;o full a Writing in my mind, I mu&s;t tell you, <HI>The New Te&s;tament</HI> principally con&s;i&s;ts of the&s;e three things.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, An exact and excellent rule of Ho|ly Living, by conforming our &s;elves to which, we &s;hall mo&s;t certainly plea&s;e God, and mo&s;t effectually procure his Favour.</P>
<P>Secondly, The mo&s;t powerful and ef|fectual motives to provoke us to an u|niform and thorough compliance with the afore&s;aid rule.</P>
<P>Thirdly, The mo&s;t proper means and a&s;&s;i&s;tances to that end, that &s;o we may not only be incouraged to undertake, but inabled to accompli&s;h that Holy cour&s;e which is propounded and pre|&s;cribed.</P>
<P>This (I take it) is a Summary of the whole Go&s;pel, at lea&s;t (as I &s;aid) the principal contents of it.</P>
<P>For by the fir&s;t of the&s;e particulars we have a Law given us to guide our Con&s;ciences, and a generous Model or De&s;ign of rai&s;ing and improving the &s;tate of Mankind.</P>
<P>By the &s;econd our Affections are infla|med, and our endeavours incouraged pro|portionably to the de&s;ign afore&s;aid, and by the la&s;t particular our infirmities are re|lieved, and we are a&s;&s;ured of attaining that
<PB N="140" REF="75">glorious de&s;ign, if we be not wanting to our &s;elves.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I wonder in my heart what made you &s;o unwilling to gratifie this reque&s;t of mine; by this little glimp&s;e which you have now afforded me, I &s;ee plainly that tho&s;e Books contain a very admirable In&s;titution, unle&s;s it be that you have &s;ome &s;trange art in repre&s;enting things, and rai&s;ing ones opinion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> there is no art in the ca&s;e, but the mere excellency of Chri&s;tianity appearing in its genuine <HI>Colours,</HI> as you will be more throughly convinced when you have &s;tu|died it well, and e&s;pecially have made experiment of it in practice.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>As cold and diffident as my tem|per hath been hitherto, I am now on the &s;udden inflamed, I am inamour'd on this Idea of Religion you &s;peak of:<NOTE PLACE="marg">The peculi|ar Laws of the Chri&s;ti|an Religi|on.</NOTE> pray therefore explain the&s;e things more ful|ly to me; and fir&s;t I de&s;ire to know more particularly what the peculiar Laws and Rules of this In&s;titution are.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>For that, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> you mu&s;t know, that this In&s;titution of the Go&s;pel, being (as I &s;aid) the la&s;t and ultimate Re|velation of the Divine Will, mu&s;t con|&s;equently be more exact and perfect than any other; yet notwith&s;tanding it is not de&s;tructive, but only perfective of tho&s;e that went before it: and therefore, as it contradicts no former Prophecy or Re|velation of Gods Will; &s;o it repeals no
<PB N="141" REF="75">Law of Nature or Rea&s;on, derogates from no rule of Piety, Gratitude, Civili|ty or Humanity, but only adds to them and improves them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 5.17.</NOTE> for &s;o our Saviour him&s;elf hath told us, <HI>He came not to de|&s;troy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them.</HI> So that indeed the Chri&s;tian In&s;ti|tution is a pandect or dige&s;t of all that is <HI>grave, decent, prudent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>virtuous or prai&s;e|worthy,</HI> all which thing, it not only re|inforces by more powerful arguments (as I will &s;hew you by and by) but requires every of them in greater perfection. But now the &s;upplement or addition it makes to all tho&s;e, is that which is to be cal|led the peculiar character of this Religi|on, and that, I think, may be reduced to the&s;e three heads.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It injoins a more excellent and &s;piritual Wor&s;hip of God.</P>
<P>Secondly, A more refined Purity of Heart and Life.</P>
<P>Thirdly, A more noble, generous, and diffu&s;ive Charity.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Go&s;pel pre&s;cribes a more Spi|ritual Wor&s;hip than was in u&s;e in the World before; &s;o our Saviour expre&s;ly affirms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.23, 24.</NOTE> <HI>The time now comes when the true wor&s;hippers &s;hall wor&s;hip the father in &s;pirit and truth,</HI> and gives the rea&s;on, <HI>becau&s;e God is a &s;pirit,</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">More Spiri|tual Wor|&s;hip peculi|arly requi|red by the Go&s;pel.</NOTE> It is true God ever was a Spirit, and it is impo&s;&s;ible he &s;hould ever have been otherwi&s;e (as I have &s;hown you before) but his Spiritual Na|ture was not &s;o well under&s;tood hereto|fore,
<PB N="142" REF="76">whil&s;t he was wont to repre&s;ent him&s;elf by Fire, or in Humane Shape a|mong&s;t men; and whil&s;t he required to have a Temple built for his re&s;idence, as if he required an external &s;tate of Grandeur or bodily accommodation; and la&s;tly, whil&s;t he required &s;acrifices and oblations to be made to him of &s;uch things as are of value among&s;t men, as if he was a nece&s;&s;itous Deity, and u&s;ed to eat and drink as his Wor&s;hippers do. But now, &s;ince he hath given proof of his mighty Maje&s;ty, without tho&s;e vi&s;i|ble appearances and the &s;ons of men are better in&s;tructed that he is a pure Spirit without all mixture of matter, and infinitely full, perfect and happy in him&s;elf, without any acce&s;&s;ion of other things to him: Henceforth he will not be wor&s;hipped with the &s;teams of blood and fat, nor plea&s;ed with clouds of In|cen&s;e, but with hearty Adorations, with rai&s;ed Affections, with the Contempla|tions of pure Minds, with inward Reve|rence and Admiration of him, with de|vout Prayers and Prai&s;es offered to him, with Love, with Tru&s;t and Confidence in him, and endeavours of conforming our &s;elves to him; This is the Wor&s;hip that is &s;uitable to a good, an happy, and a &s;piritual Being, yet not excluding bodi|ly expre&s;&s;ions of reverence neither, but as principally requiring the former, and making this latter only the acce&s;&s;ary and effect of that.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="143" REF="76">2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Purity of heart is a|nother great and peculi|ar Law of Chri&s;tia|nity.</NOTE> The Go&s;pel requires a more refi|ned temper of Heart and Life than was u&s;ually practi&s;ed, or ea&s;ie to be arrived at before, namely, it pre&s;cribes to our inward man as well as our outward acti|ons, and that our Hearts be pure as well as our bodily Members; that our Rea|&s;on have the ma&s;tery of our Lu&s;ts and Pa&s;&s;ions, &s;o that we neither indulge our &s;en&s;uality in the intemperate u&s;e of Plea|&s;ure, nor live as if we were born to eat and drink, but be in &s;ome mea&s;ure above the gu&s;to and reli&s;h of bodily entertain|ments; that we &s;ubdue our pa&s;&s;ions and inclinations to anger and revenge, and &s;oar above the tempe&s;t of this World, &s;o as to de&s;pi&s;e the u&s;ual cares and fears, and &s;olicitudes of the pre&s;ent life, and enjoy our &s;elves in a kind of divine tran|quillity and &s;ecurity.</P>
<P>The generality of mankind, both Jews and Pagans, thought it a mighty felicity to hoard up Riches, to gra&s;p Civil Pow|er, a ravi&s;hing thing to &s;wim in &s;en&s;ual Plea&s;ures, and nothing was counted either more &s;weet or more brave than to re|venge a mans &s;elf when he thought he was affronted; but as the glory of all the&s;e things is faded by the light of the Go|&s;pel, &s;o the de&s;ires of them are to be mortified by the Laws of Chri&s;tianity; the mind is to be freed of the&s;e &s;ordid entertainments, and to be taken up with more pure and &s;piritual delights, with intellectual plea&s;ures, with the trea&s;ures
<PB N="144" REF="77">of Wi&s;dom and Knowledge, with the Glory of Conque&s;t (not over other men, but) over our &s;elves, our brutal Lu&s;ts, with the joys of God's Favour, and the peace of our own Con&s;cience.</P>
<P N="3">3.<NOTE PLACE="marg">&V;niver&s;al Charity a|nother pecu|liar Law of the Chri&s;ti|an Religi|on.</NOTE> And la&s;tly, This Religion requires a larger Spirit, and a more noble and diffu&s;ive Charity than agrees with the common &s;tandard of the World, or than was pre&s;cribed by any other Religion. The Charity of a Pagan commonly ex|tended no farther than his Family and Friends, or at mo&s;t to his own City and Country; and that of the Jews to their own Nation and Religion only: but to love their Enemies was by both of them lookt upon as &s;o far from ne|ce&s;&s;ary, that it was thought impo&s;&s;ible and ab&s;urd. Whereas this in&s;titution re|quires us to love our very Enemies, and tho&s;e that mortally hate us; to render good for evil; to embrace all the World in our Affections; to look upon all mankind as our Brethren, the Children of one common Parent; that there be no men &s;o &s;illy or peevi&s;h, &s;o mean and contemptible, or &s;o remote from us in Blood, Country, Manners or Opinion, but we be ready to do all good offices toward them; to oblige them by kind|ne&s;s; and to conquer and over-power them by real in&s;tances of good Will and indearing Carriage. This (as I take it) is the Summ of the Chri&s;tian Law, and the peculiar Character of that
<PB N="145" REF="77">Religion, at lea&s;t &s;o far as concerns the rule of living.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You have thus far, I confe&s;s, de|&s;cribed a very brave in&s;titution, but &s;ure all this is only matter of &s;peculation, or at mo&s;t a draught of &s;ome Mona&s;tick Order; it is po&s;&s;ible perhaps in their retired way of living (where they are free from the temptations and provocations that are in|cident to other men) &s;omething at this rate may be pretended to, or at lea&s;t dream|ed of, but &s;ure the&s;e Laws are too &s;trict to be practicable, or indeed po&s;&s;ible to the generality of mankind, and then accord|ing to your own rule they cannot come from God, who mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed &s;o wi&s;e as to know what men are capable of performing, and to be too ju&s;t to require impo&s;&s;ibilities.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You will better judge of that matter by and by, when you have con|&s;idered the Motives and A&s;&s;i&s;tances this Religion affords, as well as the Rules it pre&s;cribes: for you know that things of this nature are difficult or ea&s;ie in pro|portion to the incouragements to under|take and conflict with them. Great re|wards rai&s;e great Spirits, and you can never tell what any man will come to, till you under&s;tand what Inducements and Motives he &s;hall be acted by: now by that time you have heard what re|mains to be &s;aid concerning the Chri|&s;tian Religion, I do not doubt but you will pronounce it to be every whit as
<PB N="146" REF="78">fecible in practice as noble in &s;peculation.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;ay right:<NOTE PLACE="marg">The peculi|ar Motives or Incou|ragements of the Go|&s;pel.</NOTE> for God's &s;ake therefore go on, and in the next place repre&s;ent to me the Inducements the Go&s;pel affords a man to live at &s;uch a rate as you have &s;poken of.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why then, the &s;econd thing re|markable in the Go&s;pel is the powerful Motives it makes u&s;e of to provoke men to an uniform compliance with its Laws, and they are e&s;pecially the&s;e three.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It charms men by a lively draught of the Divine Goodne&s;s.</P>
<P>Secondly, It provokes them by the example of our Saviour.</P>
<P>Thirdly, It inflames them by the pro|mi&s;e of Eternal Life.</P>
<P N="1">1.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The fir&s;t Motive is the divine Goodne&s;s lively and powerfully &s;et forth in the Go&s;pel.</NOTE> The Go&s;pel makes &s;o lively a Re|pre&s;entation of the Divine Goodne&s;s and Clemency, e&s;pecially in the free pardon and total abolition of all &s;in pa&s;t (upon condition of a generous Pie|ty and Virtue for the time to come) that it powerfully works upon mens ingenuity, and melts them into a compliance with the mo&s;t difficult terms that &s;uch Goodne&s;s can be capable of propounding to them and requiring of them. Do but think with your &s;elf, if you had &s;o far offend|ed your Prince and violated the Laws of your Country, that Maje&s;ty was exa&s;pe|rated, and Ju&s;tice armed with &s;everity again&s;t you, &s;o that you was under a terrible Sentence, and expected a &s;peedy Execution; now in this ca&s;e if notwith|&s;tanding
<PB N="147" REF="78">your Prince &s;hould conde&s;cend to make you an offer of Pardon and full Re&s;titution to your former capacity, upon certain terms; Would not you (I &s;ay) be willing to enter upon a very difficult Service, and undertake the mo&s;t hazardous Enterpri&s;e? Would you then be nice and captious, or &s;tand carping and capitulating? Nay, would you not be inflamed with Re&s;olution, &s;pirited by Gratitude, and find your &s;elf to become more than your &s;elf, in &s;uch an under|taking?</P>
<P>Now this is the ca&s;e, <HI>Biophilus:</HI> we have infinitely offended Almighty God in the whole cour&s;e of our lives, and &s;o are ju&s;tly fallen under his di&s;plea&s;ure, in&s;o|much that a Sentence of Eternal Death is pa&s;s'd again&s;t us; notwith&s;tanding in the Go&s;pel an Overture of Reconcilia|tion is made, and upon tho&s;e terms I mentioned even now, he offers to re|ceive us into favour, that all our &s;ins, how many and great &s;oever, &s;hall be blotted out, and never come in re|membrance again; the Sentence &s;hall be revoked; we &s;hall never be upbraided with our follies; no cloud &s;hall hang over us; no ill character be upon us; but our Con&s;ciences &s;hall be quiet, and God Almighty will everla&s;tingly &s;hine upon us. Now can any man in this ca&s;e expo&s;tulate the terms with God Al|mighty? Can he find in his heart to complain of the trouble of his Service,
<PB N="148" REF="79">the difficulty of Self-denial, or think it hard to be obliged to forgive other men upon condition of God's forgiving him? No &s;urely: he will heartily em|brace the Propo&s;itions; he will love and thank God with all his Soul, and rejoice in difficuity it &s;elf, that he may give proof of his gratitude, and be only &s;orry that he can give no better evidence of it: in a word, he will be inflamed in his Re&s;olutions, and winged in his endeavours of &s;erving and plea&s;ing &s;uch a God: <HI>a God of Mercy, rich in Mercy and Goodne&s;s, pardoning I|niquity, Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion and Sin;</HI> forgiving old and great and the mo&s;t di&s;ingenu|ous Sinners.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Oh! <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you break my heart: enough, enough; I cannot for|bear&mdash;</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The &s;econd Motive of the Go&s;pel is the Example of our Saviour him&s;elf:<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Exam|ple of our Saviour a|nother Go|&s;pel-motive.</NOTE> this it &s;ets before us, and by this it provokes us to compliance with the Laws afore&s;aid. That he was the very Son of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>the Brightne&s;s of his Glory, and the expre&s;s Character of his Maje&s;ty,</HI> I have intimated before, and all the miraculous Glories of his Birth, Life, Re&s;urrection and A&s;cen&s;ion to Heaven have abundantly demon&s;trated it; now that <HI>He</HI> &s;hould come down from Hea|ven to Earth, and there frame him&s;elf to an exact conformity to the afore&s;aid Laws of the Go&s;pel, is not a greater
<PB N="149" REF="79">in&s;tance of his admirable Self-humiliati|on, than of the incomparable Excellen|cy, Wi&s;dom and Goodne&s;s of tho&s;e Laws, in that they are &s;uch as God him&s;elf thought fit to be &s;ubject to them him&s;elf, as well as to recommend them to us.</P>
<P>For now certainly no man can be &s;o prodigiou&s;ly ab&s;urd, as to account it a mean drudgery to be conver&s;ant in that way of wor&s;hipping God which the Go|&s;pel teaches, &s;eeing Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elf made it not only his bu&s;ine&s;s but his de|light.</P>
<P>No man &s;ure can think him&s;elf hard|ly u&s;ed, if he be a little re&s;trained in the u&s;e of bodily plea&s;ures, &s;ince the Son of God, when he was in humane fle&s;h, di&s;dained them.</P>
<P>No man can be &s;o fond as to admire Riches, and Honours, and the Preferments of this World, which our Saviour could have had in the greate&s;t mea&s;ure that is imaginable, if he had not de&s;pi&s;ed them: no man can be &s;o madly pa&s;&s;ionate, as to think that to revenge him&s;elf is a great point of Glory, and that it is un|manly to omit it, when he ob&s;erves the Son of God, who could have done it effectually, in&s;tead thereof only praying for his Enemies: nor can any man be &s;o mean &s;pirited as either to be vainly pufft up with Pro&s;perity, or &s;ink un|der Adver&s;ity, Reproach, or the deep|e&s;t Contempt imaginable, that &s;ees the
<PB N="150" REF="80">Son of God to be the poore&s;t, meane&s;t, and mo&s;t ignominiou&s;ly treated of all men.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, It is further con&s;iderable that there is no colour for any man to pre|tend an impo&s;&s;ibility of the thing, or impotency in him&s;elf to perform any of the forementioned, or any other duty of Chri&s;tianity, &s;ince our Saviour per|formed them all in humane nature, wherein he was &s;ubject to the &s;ame in|firmities, a&s;&s;aulted with the &s;ame tem|ptations, and pre&s;s'd with the &s;ame ne|ce&s;&s;ities that we are; he had the &s;ame fle&s;h and blood, felt the &s;ame pains, was hungry, thir&s;ty and weary, as we are, and &s;o there is no excu&s;e to be made in our ca&s;e that would not have been as rea&s;onable in his.</P>
<P>Now all this con&s;idered (together with the mighty power of example in general, as that it takes away the pre|tence of Ignorance, baffles the Plea of Impotency, &s;hames Cowardi&s;e, and kin|dles Emulation) cannot but have the force of a mighty Motive, and prevail upon all ingenuous per&s;ons <HI>to ca&s;t away every weight and the &s;in that be&s;ets them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>and to run with Patience</HI> and Courage <HI>the Race &s;et before them.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The promi&s;e of eternal life the principal motive of the Go&s;pel.</NOTE> But the third and mo&s;t powerful Motive of the Go&s;pel is yet behind, and that is the promi&s;e of Eternal Life to all tho&s;e that frame them&s;elves by the Rules afore&s;aid. And that whereas
<PB N="151" REF="80">the be&s;t that other men can hope for is to rot in their Graves, and ever|la&s;tingly to be forgotten (but that will not &s;erve their turn, for they &s;hall certainly &s;uffer the vengeance of Eternal Fire); The&s;e, on the contrary, that live by the Laws of the Go&s;pel, &s;hall be rai&s;ed again out of the du&s;t, and out-live the very Heavens in un|&s;peakable and endle&s;s Felicity.</P>
<P>That this is not a Dream but a real Truth you may be thus a&s;&s;ured. Fir&s;t, For the po&s;&s;ibility of it, becau&s;e I have &s;hewed you already that God is a ne|ce&s;&s;ary Being, and mu&s;t live for ever; and therefore he that had it in his pow|er to make things out of nothing, can|not want ability to pre&s;erve &s;uch things in being as it plea&s;eth him. And then, Secondly, That he will do &s;o, is the great promi&s;e of the Go&s;pel, which he delivered by his own Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.31.</NOTE> and <HI>whereof he hath given a&s;&s;urance in that he rai|&s;ed him from the Dead.</HI></P>
<P>Now, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> this is &s;uch a thing, this Living for ever, I &s;ay, is &s;uch a Motive, that it is able to make a man to defie all difficulty &s;o far as even to be inflamed the more by the apprehen|&s;ion of it, and to &s;tick at nothing but flat impo&s;&s;ibility; but never any man yet had the folly to object that in the ca&s;e: it may be &s;aid to be difficult to maintain a con&s;tant attendance upon God's Wor&s;hip, a little unea&s;ie to deny
<PB N="152" REF="81">our pre&s;ent delight and plea&s;ure, &s;ome|thing again&s;t the Grain to &s;tifle our pa&s;&s;ions, and to lay a&s;ide revenge; but never any body &s;aid or thought any of them to be ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>For it is plain in experience that many men have undergone greater hard&s;hips than any are required in the Go&s;pel, either to demon&s;trate their Love, or to pur&s;ue their Pa&s;&s;ion; in compliance with their Fears, or for the &s;ake of their Intere&s;ts; &s;ometimes out of flat|tery, and &s;ometime out of mere reve|rence of &s;ome per&s;on; but at any time for &s;elf-&s;ecurity and pre&s;ervation: Now what&s;oever may be done upon tho&s;e in|con&s;iderable grounds, mo&s;t certainly can|not be impo&s;&s;ible to be done when E|ternal life is at &s;take: and this being, as I have &s;aid, plainly propounded in the Go&s;pel as the great wager to him that runs that race, and withall being impo&s;&s;ible to be obtained upon any o|ther terms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 11.30.</NOTE> mu&s;t needs make <HI>the Yoke of Chri&s;t</HI> &s;eem (at lea&s;t comparatively) <HI>ea|&s;ie, and his Burthen light.</HI> And &s;o much for the &s;econd principal point of Chri|&s;tianity.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Now, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you have in|crea&s;ed my wonder more than ever, though, I mu&s;t confe&s;s, you have tran&s;la|ted it to another &s;ubject; fora&s;much as whereas I &s;u&s;pected before the po&s;&s;ibili|ty of complying with tho&s;e &s;trict Laws of the Go&s;pel, now I am as much a|mazed
<PB N="153" REF="81">that any body &s;hould complain of difficulty in them, tho&s;e things con|&s;idered which you have la&s;t repre&s;ented.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>God be thanked for that change, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> but your wonder of the &s;econd &s;ort will be yet heightened, when you con&s;ider al&s;o the a&s;&s;i&s;tances that the Go&s;pel affords us towards the performance of what it requires, which is the third and la&s;t of tho&s;e things whereby I de&s;igned to repre&s;ent the &s;umm of it to you; and (to be &s;hort) that con&s;i&s;ts principally in the&s;e two things.</P>
<P N="1">1.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The A&s;&s;i|&s;tances and Helps which the Go&s;pel af|fords to|wards the performing of its Laws.</NOTE> The inward a&s;&s;i&s;tance and co-opera|tion of Gods Holy Spirit.</P>
<P N="2">2. The outward advantages of the &s;ociety of his Church.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, He that by his Son hath requi|red &s;uch things of us as the afore&s;aid, namely Spiritual Wor&s;hip, Purity of Heart, and univer&s;al Charity, hath al&s;o promi&s;ed by his Divine Power to co-o|perate with us in the di&s;charge of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fir&s;t, the co operation of the Holy Spirit.</NOTE> and then there can be no &s;uch thing as im|po&s;&s;ibility, nor &s;carcely &s;o much as diffi|culty in the ca&s;e: for what is impo&s;&s;ible to Almighty Power? Or what burthen can there be to complain of, when we have &s;uch an helper?</P>
<P>But the meaning of this is not, that God will do all for us without us, &s;o as that we &s;hall be only pa&s;&s;ive, and re|cipients of his impre&s;&s;ions, as &s;ome have very ab&s;urdly fan&s;ied: for then all
<PB N="154" REF="82">the acts of Piety and Virtue would be more properly God's acts than ours, and could be capable of no prai&s;e or reward as proceeding from us: and be|&s;ides, this could not be called Divine A&s;&s;i&s;tance, but his Creation rather, &s;ince in &s;uch an exertion of his own Omni|potency, he did wholly over-bear or &s;uper&s;ede our endeavours.</P>
<P>But the meaning is this, that when|&s;oever any man (in contemplation of the Motives and Incouragements afore|&s;aid) &s;ets him&s;elf in earne&s;t to comply with that which God by the Laws of the Go&s;pel hath made to be his duty, from thenceforth he &s;hall not only have the benefit of a common Provi|dence in upholding and &s;trengthning the Powers of his Mind, nor only find the effects of a more e&s;pecial Providence in removing Ob&s;tacles, and making his way ea&s;ie to him, but by the vital Power and Efficacy of the Divine Spi|rit his Mind &s;hall be more enlightned to &s;ee the excellency of the thing he goes about; his Will &s;hall be confirmed and &s;trengthned in its choice and re&s;o|lution; his Affections quickned in the pur&s;uit and execution of that choice; and above all, his heart &s;hall be cheared in the whole enterpri&s;e with un&s;peaka|ble Joy, and many times with an admi|rable and ravi&s;hing pro&s;pect of the Glo|ry that &s;hall attend and crown his per|formance.</P>
<PB N="155" REF="82">
<P>This our Saviour promi&s;ed to the Chri&s;tian Church before he left the World and a&s;cended to Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 28.20.</NOTE> <HI>viz.</HI> that he would this way be <HI>pre&s;ent with them to the end of the world,</HI> and hereof he gave a great earne&s;t, when on the famous day of <HI>Penteco&s;t</HI> the Holy Spirit came in a very prodigious manner up|on all the Apo&s;tles and Chri&s;tians that were a&s;&s;embled together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.1.</NOTE> as the Repre|&s;entative and Seminary of his future Church; and it was done (among&s;t other rea&s;ons) to give a&s;&s;urance that he was mindful of his promi&s;e, and that all Ages after might ju&s;tly expect the pre&s;ence of his Spirit with them (though not &s;o vi&s;ibly as in that extra|ordinary in&s;tance) which accordingly good men at all times find true by comfortable experience.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>This which you now tell me is the &s;trange&s;t thing that ever I heard of in my life; if this be true it will be ridiculous to object difficulty again&s;t the Chri&s;tian In&s;titution, for upon this &s;up|po&s;ition it is plain there can be no|thing but &s;otti&s;hne&s;s or ob&s;tinacy, cowar|di&s;e and incredulity, to hinder a man in ob&s;erving the Laws of it. But I pray however proceed in your method, and &s;hew me al&s;o, in the next place, what are tho&s;e external helps and ad|vantages which you intimated?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>The external advantage of this Religion which I e&s;pecially intended,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;econd or external a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Go&s;pel, is the ad|vantage of the Society of a Church.</NOTE> is
<PB N="156" REF="83">the in&s;titution of a Chri&s;tian Church, that is, the Son of God the Author of this Religion, ordered that all tho&s;e who imbraced it, and became his Di&s;ciples, &s;hould not content them&s;elves to live &s;ingly and &s;eparately as if they were un|concerned one in another, but unite them|&s;elves into a Body or Spiritual Polity; and that although they were to be re&s;pe|ctively &s;ubject to the Civil Governments under which they lived (at lea&s;t &s;o far as the Laws of men intrenched not up|on tho&s;e of this Religion) yet they were to be under a &s;tricter tye of unity among&s;t them&s;elves, and to become a di&s;tinct Cor|poration under peculiar Officers, as well as for peculiar ends and purpo&s;es. Nor was this a mere arbitrary or po&s;itive Law of his, and to be ob&s;erved only be|cau&s;e he commanded it, but as it was injoyned with admirable Wi&s;dom on his part, &s;o it was no le&s;s of &s;ingular advan|tage to all his Di&s;ciples in innumerable re&s;pects, &s;ome of which I am ingaged to repre&s;ent to you in particular.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The great advanta|ges of Church-So|ciety.</NOTE> The con&s;titution of this So|ciety of a Church, was an excellent Ex|pedient for the pre&s;erving and holding up of the Doctrine of Chri&s;tianity in the World, and for the prevention both of corruptions and errors in the Laws, and of mi&s;takes in the great motives and in|couragements of this Religion. Hence the Church is called by the Apo&s;tle St. <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>The pillar and ground of truth;</HI>
<PB N="157" REF="83">not that the Church properly gives au|thority to the Doctrine of our Religion, for that it hath immediately from our Saviour him&s;elf, and from the Miracles wrought by God to atte&s;t it (as I &s;hew'd before;) but becau&s;e the Church was the con&s;ervatory of the Books wherein the Doctrine was written, and a witne&s;s of the afore&s;aid proofs made of the Divini|ty of it, and competent to &s;ecure us from impo&s;ture, and to pre&s;erve and hold forth tho&s;e &s;acred Books that contained it as the &s;umm and code of the Religion. Ac|cordingly it is ob&s;ervable, that in the rage of Pagan Per&s;ecution in the time of <HI>Diocle&s;ian,</HI> and when the Enemies of this Religion grew to that height of pride and confidence, as to promi&s;e to them|&s;elves to root out all memory and re|mains of Chri&s;tianity, the care and zeal of this Society pre&s;erved this &s;acred <HI>depo&s;itum</HI> of Holy Scripture intire to after Ages, when otherwi&s;e private per&s;ons would or might out of fear and weakne&s;s have delivered them up to be de&s;troyed.</P>
<P>Again &s;econdly, This way of incorpo|rating Chri&s;tians in the Society of a Church, was a more ea&s;ie and ready way for the in&s;truction of the &s;everal Per&s;ons of which that Society con&s;i&s;ted, and ne|ce&s;&s;ary for the publi&s;hing, explaining, and inculcating the Doctrine and Laws of their Religion to them. For if our Saviour had appointed Pa&s;tors and not a Flock (unle&s;s he had made the former
<PB N="158" REF="84">as numerous almo&s;t as the latter) it had been impo&s;&s;ible that they &s;hould have in|&s;tructed all his Di&s;ciples; but now he having appointed and obliged them to joyn together in a Body, the &s;ame Pa|&s;tor and the &s;ame Labour that in&s;tructs one may in&s;truct many. It is in this ca&s;e as it is with tho&s;e Creatures that need the a&s;&s;i&s;tance, and are fed by the hand of man, God hath ordered them by nature to joyn in Flocks and Herds, that they might be the more capable of Hu|mane Culture, and an&s;wer the labour and care men be&s;tow upon them; whereas wild Bea&s;ts, they live &s;ingly, and therefore are left to &s;hift for them&s;elves. Now this is a great advantage to all the Di&s;ciples of this Religion, that tho&s;e that cannot read nor &s;tudy, nor are capable of feeding them&s;elves, by this Society of a Church God hath provided a way for their con|&s;tant and ea&s;ie in&s;truction by the publick Mini&s;try of his Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>Moreover, thirdly, By means of &s;uch a Society and Officers appointed over it, there is provi&s;ion made for the re&s;olution of all doubts, and for the ea&s;e and &s;atis|faction of melancholy and perplexed Con&s;ciences, which is a &s;ingular advan|tage of this in&s;titution of a Church. For it is not to be &s;uppo&s;ed but that there will be a great number of well-meaning men who may either want parts and ability to judge of &s;everal things that may concern them, or may
<PB N="159" REF="84">want lei&s;ure to con&s;ider &s;o maturely as a difficulty may require, or may not be impartial enough in their own ca&s;e to guide their own Con&s;ciences; now for the relief of &s;uch as the&s;e, it is of great u&s;e to be in the Society of a Church where God hath appointed &s;uch to be Officers in it <HI>who have the Spirit of the Lord upon them to preach good tidings to the meek,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 61.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>to bind up the broken hearted, and to comfort tho&s;e that mourn;</HI> &s;uch as have made it their bu&s;ine&s;s to &s;tudy the more difficult points of Religion, that they may be able <HI>to &s;peak a word in &s;ea|&s;on to him that fainteth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 50.4.</NOTE> and who&s;e duty and province it is not &s;o much to make publick Harangues to the Flock, as by particular application to remove Scru|ples, to &s;olve Difficulties, and provide for Emergences; and all this they may well be &s;uppo&s;ed to be able to do with great &s;incerity and impartiality, as al&s;o with great authority, as being hereunto appointed by God him&s;elf, and a&s;&s;i&s;ted herein by the Holy Spirit.</P>
<P>Fourthly, There is this further advan|tage of this in&s;titution of a Church, that the Members of this Society are not on|ly more likely to animate and inflame one another in the ways of Virtue and Piety by mutual example, but al&s;o being concern|ed in one another, as of the &s;ame body, and for the Honour of their common Faith and Religion, are authorized to watch over one another, to correct the erro|neous,
<PB N="160" REF="85">to admoni&s;h the carele&s;s, to re|prove the vicious, to &s;trengthen the weak, to incourage the good, and, in a word, are obliged in an extraordinary manner to all offices of Charity and Pi|ty towards one another.</P>
<P>All which together mu&s;t needs be a mighty means of &s;ecuring both the Do|ctrine and Practice of Religion and of promoting all the ends of it.</P>
<P>When a man hath not only the com|fort of his private Con&s;cience when&s;oever he doth bravely, but the publick Accla|mations of the whole Church; and contra|riwi&s;e, when he doth any thing ba&s;ely and viciou&s;ly, he is not only under the &s;e|cret la&s;hes of his own guilty Mind, but expo&s;ed to &s;hame and reproach, and in|currs the Cen&s;ure of the whole Society. When a man cannot be fanta&s;tical and affect Novelty, but &s;uch an honourable Body is concerned for his danger, and obliged to u&s;e their endeavours to re|claim him, and if that be in&s;ucce&s;sful, are put to make a publick lamentation for him: nor, on the other &s;ide, can any man acquit him&s;elf as a worthy Champion for the truth, and mi&s;s of a Laurel in this World, &s;ince he &s;hall be &s;ure to have the Gratulations and honourable E&s;teem of &s;uch a Society. Now if there were no &s;uch thing as a Church con&s;tituted, there would be ve|ry few men found that would take care of tho&s;e things, and e&s;pecially few that
<PB N="161" REF="85">would venture upon the ingrateful Of|fice of Reproving: or if perhaps &s;ome per&s;ons might be found who had zeal enough to undertake it, yet as in that ca&s;e it would not ea&s;ily appear to be their duty; &s;o neither could it be per|formed with that authority and &s;ucce&s;s as now it may.</P>
<P>But then for the more ordinary Offi|ces of Charity, &s;uch as pitying and comforting the weak, &s;uccouring the op|pre&s;&s;ed, and relieving the nece&s;&s;itous; the&s;e would not only be coldly performed, but indeed would be thought to be no duties at all, if there was no &s;uch thing as a Church whereby men are incorporated together. For be&s;ides that we find very little of this thought of or practi&s;ed among&s;t tho&s;e that are not of this Society; we may al&s;o generally take an E&s;timate of mens affection to the Church of Chri&s;t, by their Charity to the Members of it. But if men believe there is &s;uch a Socie|ty as a Church in&s;tituted, and they con|&s;ider them&s;elves as members of it, then even &s;elf-love (which makes others un|charitable) renders the&s;e highly charita|ble, becau&s;e they then look upon others as members of the &s;ame Body with them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Fifthly and la&s;tly, The E&s;tabli&s;hment of the Society of a Church and thereby of publick Wor&s;hip, is an Expedient of un&s;peakable comfort and incouragement to all humble and mode&s;t per&s;ons, and
<PB N="162" REF="86">e&s;pecially to &s;uch as are truly contrite and broken-hearted, in the addre&s;&s;ing their Prayers to Almighty God, animating them again&s;t their Sen&s;e of the Guilt of their Sins, the unworthine&s;s of their per&s;ons, the imperfection of their pray|ers, and affording them many arguments of hope for &s;ucce&s;s beyond what they could expect from their private Devoti|ons.</P>
<P>Whil&s;t they con&s;ider, in the fir&s;t place, that they are now in God's hou&s;e, or <HI>Court of Reque&s;ts,</HI> where he u&s;es to give audience to poor Suppliants.</P>
<P>Again, Secondly, That their de&s;ires are put up by the hands of God's own Mini&s;ter whom he hath appointed to pre&s;ent Petitions to him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Thirdly, That their Prayers are not offered up &s;ingly and alone, but in con|junction with the Devotions of &s;o many other more holy per&s;ons as the whole Church con&s;i&s;ts of, &s;o that they may hope to &s;peed the better for &s;uch com|pany, and e&s;pecially by the united Effi|cacy of &s;o many ardent Affections.</P>
<P>And La&s;tly, The Faith and Hope of &s;uch men is wonderfully &s;trengthned by the contemplation of the great Propiti|ation for Sin, made by our Saviour, and repre&s;ented to their eyes on the Lord's Table in the Holy Communion. All the&s;e things were mightily e&s;teemed by the Chri&s;tians of old, and certainly are great advantages.</P>
<PB N="163" REF="86">
<P>And thus I have now laid before you the peculiar Laws of the Go&s;pel, and &s;hewed you al&s;o the admirable encou|ragements, and the &s;ingular Helps and A&s;&s;i|&s;tances God hath afforded us towards the ob&s;ervance of tho&s;e Laws, and the pro|&s;ecution of that Religion. Is there any thing more I can &s;erve you in?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes, I plainly &s;ee there is a great deal more I may learn of you: but God be thanked, and I heartily thank you for what I have learned hitherto.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>You remember I have opened to you the grounds and rea&s;on of Re|ligion in general, and thence led you to the Chri&s;tian Religion in particular, and by the line of that I have now brought you to the Church, and there I leave you in good hands, and I pray God be with you.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You have brought me to &s;ee the folly of my own prejudices, which I a|gain thank God and you for: I am con|vinced of the Reality and Nece&s;&s;ity of &s;ome Religion or other, and of the Ex|cellency of the Chri&s;tian Religion above all that ever I heard of, or what I could have imagined; and now I intend in ear|ne&s;t to bethink my &s;elf how to live ac|cordingly.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Remember withall to keep clo&s;e to the Church, and be con&s;tant and diligent in attendance upon the publick Wor&s;hip of God there, that
<PB N="164" REF="87">will be a means both to keep up that good zeal which you are now under, and to pre&s;erve it from running out in|to wild Extravagancies.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>I will, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> by God's Grace, I will, and in that cour&s;e hope to come to Heaven at la&s;t.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>What, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> will you turn Knight-Errant now?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Bioph.</SPEAKER>
<P>You neither can nor will, I know, <HI>Philander,</HI> &s;o much upbraid me with my former folly, as my own heart will do it for me; but I will endeavour to make amends for that by my future diligence.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Ah! God forbid, <HI>Biophilus,</HI> that I who am &s;en&s;ible of my own many Sins, &s;hould upbraid your Errours. I embrace you with all my heart, I hear|tily welcome you into the way of Hea|ven; there I am &s;ure the Angels rejoyce at this ble&s;&s;ed change, and nothing le&s;s than Devils can repine at it, and they mu&s;t be a &s;ort of de&s;perate Wretches among&s;t men that can upbraid you for what is pa&s;t.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Well, good night to you both, Gentlemen, I doubt it grows late.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I hope, good <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> you are not weary of well doing; I was unwil|ling to interrupt you and <HI>Biophilus</HI> in your di&s;cour&s;e hitherto, both becau&s;e it exceedingly confirmed and improved me in what (I thank God) I did be|lieve already, and e&s;pecially becau&s;e I
<PB N="165" REF="87">did not doubt of a good I&s;&s;ue of it up|on my Neighbour; but I have all this while waited for an opportunity to ask your advice in a ca&s;e or two of very great concernment, and now I intreat you allow me the liberty to do it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pray God my power be an|&s;werable to my will to &s;erve you; What is the matter, <HI>Philander?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>There are the&s;e two things I would crave your direction in:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, By what means a man may maintain his ground, and keep &s;table and &s;tedfa&s;t in Religion in di&s;tracted times?</P>
<P>And Secondly, What cour&s;e he &s;hould take to maintain an even temper and con&s;tant cheerfulne&s;s of Spirit under all the accidents of the pre&s;ent Life?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>Oh! <HI>Philander,</HI> there you have tied me by the Leg; I cannot &s;tir a foot from you: tho&s;e two inquiries are both &s;o nece&s;&s;ary at all times, and &s;o peculiarly &s;ea&s;onable at this time, that I &s;hould neglect my &s;elf as well as you, if I &s;hould not be willing to con&s;ider of them with you; and it's pity we have not time more fully to treat of them.</P>
<P>But I pray, in the fir&s;t place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Of Stabili|ty in Reli|gion.</NOTE> let me know what you mean by Stability in Religion? Would you have a man be peremptory in his judgment, and unmo|vable from his fir&s;t per&s;wa&s;ions what|ever they were? Do you think it un|lawful or di&s;honourable for a man ever
<PB N="166" REF="88">to change his opinion in Religion, this methinks is no better than a Re&s;oluti|on, never to be wi&s;er than a man is at pre&s;ent;<NOTE PLACE="marg">What is meant by Stability and Con|&s;tancy in Religion.</NOTE> nay to be always a Child and never to out-grow his youthful prejudi|dices and follies: you know it is the hard fortune of &s;ome men to have been ill educated, and to have bad Principles in&s;tilled into them in their injudicious years, and it cannot be imputed to &s;uch men as a vicious Levity or Incon&s;tancy, but a very virtuous and commendable thing upon maturer judgment to di&s;card &s;uch Old Wives Fables or juvenile Fan|cies.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> I do not think the minds of men &s;hould be after the manner of uninhabited Lands, and become <HI>primi occupantis;</HI> nor do I call Per&s;everance in an Errour Stability, but Stubbornne&s;s and Ob&s;tinacy. The meaning of my fir&s;t que&s;tion therefore is only how a man &s;hall be inabled to &s;tand firm and tight to the Truth of Chri&s;tian Religi|on, that whereof his Judgment is con|vinced by good rea&s;on, and whereof he hath had good proof and experience; &s;o that he &s;hall neither be always try|ing and &s;eeking, and di&s;puting and doubting on the one hand, nor on the other in danger to be hector'd out of his Con&s;cience by any terrour, nor wheedled and com lemented out of it by flattery and in&s;inuation, that no Ex|ample of great men, or of the multi|tude
<PB N="167" REF="88">may bia&s;s him, nor Sophi&s;try of cunning men cheat him of his Religion, no Athei&s;tical per&s;on droll or raillie him out of it, nor Scurrility make him a&s;ha|med of it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>I did not doubt but that was your meaning; and (as I &s;aid before) that is a very weighty and important que&s;tion, both in re&s;pect of the many temptations that may at &s;ome times e|&s;pecially put a man's Con&s;tancy hard to it; and in re&s;pect al&s;o of the mi&s;chief of yielding or being baffled in that par|ticular.</P>
<P>The temptations and dangers of this kind (as you have well intimated) are many: for a man may be either under|mined by Policy, or battered by plain force; he may he wheedled by Comple|ments, or born down by Authority; im|po&s;ed upon by Rhetorical flouri&s;hes, or circumvented by Sophi&s;try; or &s;ome man may indulge his curio&s;ity to try all things, who hath neither the judgment to di&s;cern, nor the courage to hold fa&s;t that which is be&s;t.</P>
<P>And on the other &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The mi&s;|chiefs of Le|vity and Incon&s;tancy in Religi|on.</NOTE> the mi&s;chief of yielding in this ca&s;e, or of fore-go|ing the truth (by what means &s;oever it be) is very great. For doubtle&s;s Di|vine Truth, e&s;pecially that of the Go|&s;pel, is a very great <HI>depo&s;itum,</HI> a mighty tru&s;t which God hath repo&s;ed in us, and he that is fal&s;e to it, and either &s;oftly or &s;illily delivers it up, is a traitor
<PB N="168" REF="89">both again&s;t God, and his own Soul.</P>
<P>He &s;ins again&s;t God, ingratefully un|dervaluing &s;o great a ble&s;&s;ing as the know|ledge of true Religion, and playing fa&s;t and loo&s;e with it, as if the Go&s;pel was fit only to &s;erve a turn.</P>
<P>And he intolerably wrongs and cheats him&s;elf, abandoning the only effectual Principles of true Piety, and the means of improving him&s;elf to a capacity of e|ternal Happine&s;s. For it is a mighty mi|&s;take (as I have noted before) for a man to think that all Religions are alike, or that &s;o a man be true to any Principles, the pur&s;uit of them will bring him to Heaven.</P>
<P>It is true &s;ometimes men are better than their opinions, as we &s;ee among&s;t the &s;everal &s;orts of deluded Sectaries: there are &s;ome which we cannot but in charity judge to be good men, but then it mu&s;t be when the mi&s;take is only in &s;ome Notion or incon&s;iderable Tenets, and when otherwi&s;e they are right for the main; but where the error is funda|mental, or in the &s;ub&s;tantial part of Re|ligion, then the very &s;inews of Piety are cut, and a mans zeal in &s;uch a ca&s;e will be wild and fruitle&s;s. For as in nature, it is impo&s;&s;ible for Water to ri&s;e higher than its &s;ource or Fountain; &s;o it &s;eems to be (at lea&s;t next to) impo&s;&s;ible in morality, that a man &s;hould be better than his Principles. Therefore, &s;aith our Sa|viour, <HI>either make the tree good and his
<PB N="169" REF="89">fruit good,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 12.33.</NOTE> <HI>or the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt; for a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,</HI> &amp;c. And again, <HI>if the light that is in thee be darkne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 6.23.</NOTE> <HI>how great is that darkne&s;s?</HI> As if he had &s;aid, <Q>It is true a man may <HI>with-hold the truth in unrighteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> and be wor&s;e in his life than the principles of his mind and con&s;cience did require; but if a mans principles them&s;elves be naught, and if he have imbraced a bad Religion, what good can be expected from him?</Q> Therefore, I &s;ay, a man horribly cheats his own Soul, who upon any pretence, or under any temptation what&s;oever, for|&s;akes or blanches the true Principles of Religion.</P>
<P>Nay farther, I think it worth the ob|&s;erving, that the very un&s;etledne&s;s of a mans mind, if it be but in mere opini|on, and although he &s;hould all the while keep clo&s;e to the great Principles of Religion, is a great impediment to the growth of Piety and Virtue. For as we &s;ee a Tree, by being often removed (al|though it &s;hould be &s;till to a better Soil) is hindred both in its growth and fruit|fulne&s;s; &s;o we find by &s;ad experience, that tho&s;e who are the mo&s;t bu&s;y Di&s;pu|ters, and who mo&s;t affect Novelty and change of Opinions, do little more than make a noi&s;e or a &s;hew in the World, but are &s;o far from improvement in their lives and tempers, that contrariwi&s;e they grow apparently more pa&s;&s;ionate,
<PB N="170" REF="90">proud, ambitious, cen&s;orious and Schi&s;|matical.</P>
<P>But to be &s;ure he that is facil, and unre&s;olved in his Principles, and of a ductile Con&s;cience, &s;hall never be able to do any honour to his Religion or to him&s;elf.</P>
<P>As for his Religion: Who &s;hall per|&s;wade me to be of his Principles, whom I perceive to be unre&s;olved of them him&s;elf?</P>
<P>And for the e&s;teem of his per&s;on that is mutable, this will be his fate, That he &s;hall be &s;corned as a Renegado by tho&s;e very men that at the &s;ame time glory in having made him a Pro|&s;elyte. All which things (and a great many more, which I need not mention to you) do effectually recommend Stability and Con&s;tancy in Religion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I am well aware of the truth of what you &s;ay, and thereupon I do the more earne&s;tly intreat you to give me your advice in the ca&s;e, that I may continue &s;tanch and &s;table again&s;t all the A&s;&s;ailants of my Religion, and &s;o avoid all the mi&s;chiefs you have given me warning of, as con&s;equent of Levity and Changing.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is not &s;o difficult to give advice in this ca&s;e (and that &s;uch as would effectually do the bu&s;ine&s;s too) as it is hard to find men that ask for it in earne&s;t and with intention to fol|low it: for &s;ome, as I told you before,
<PB N="171" REF="90">think it a very indifferent thing what Religion they are of, &s;o they have any thing that is called by that name, at lea&s;t if it be Chri&s;tian, and they can &s;ee the Appearance of a Church, and the Ceremonies and Appendages of Religi|on among&s;t them.</P>
<P>And &s;ome are &s;o &s;illy as to think there is no change made if they have but the old Names of things left them; like the <HI>Romans</HI> in their degene|rate times, that &s;uffered them&s;elves to be tamely wheedled out of their antient Liberty, &s;o long as the name of a Com|monwealth, and a few other terms of Art were retained. Such men will take Bra&s;s money for good pay, if they &s;ee but the u&s;ual Face and In&s;cription upon it, and you may &s;afely &s;teal away their Goo&s;e if you &s;tick but down a Feather in the room of it. Some are &s;o child|i&s;hly fond of Pomp and Ceremony, that if there appear more of that than ordi|nary, they will believe Religion to be only improved and not changed.</P>
<P>Some again have &s;uch a &s;ickly longing after Novelty, that they will be always making experiments though it be at the hazard of their own Souls: and &s;ome love their Religion well enough if it co&s;t them nothing: but they will run no hazards for it. And in fine there are others that think it a wi&s;e thing to &s;acrifice a Con&s;cience to gain a potent Friend, and a goodly purchace to buy the
<PB N="172" REF="91">pre&s;ent World with the lo&s;s of that which is to come.</P>
<P>But I am &s;atisfied of the &s;incerity of your temper, and therefore in an&s;wer to your Demand, I recommend to you the&s;e three or four things.</P>
<P N="1">1.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Directions for the keeping men &s;table in the true Religion.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t place you know that your Religion, I mean that which you have been trained up in by the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and which you have always profe&s;&s;ed, is a Scriptural Religion, <HI>i. e.</HI> &s;uch an one as hath not merely pre&s;cri|bed for it &s;elf by cu&s;tome (though it be cer|tainly elder than tho&s;e that do &s;o) nor de|rived it &s;elf from that headle&s;s mon&s;ter, unaccountable Tradition, no nor yet from the &s;ubtilty of Humane Philo&s;ophy (though it have more rea&s;on to plead for it &s;elf than any other) but hath taken its ri&s;e from Holy Scripture and Divine Revelation, and con&s;equently as it is to be proved, &s;o it is to be di&s;proved thence, or nothing can be &s;aid to the purpo&s;e again&s;t it.</P>
<P>Therefore my fir&s;t advice is,<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">Keep clo&s;e to the Holy Scri|ptures.</NOTE> that you &s;tudy the Holy Scripture diligently, and &s;tick clo&s;e to that, that as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> hath a&s;&s;ured us <HI>is given by in&s;piration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> <HI>for reproof, for in&s;truction in righteou&s;ne&s;s, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furni&s;hed for all good works,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.15.</NOTE> and from thence a man <HI>may be able to give a rea&s;on of the hope that is in him,</HI> i. e. make a &s;ufficient Apo|logy for, and Defence of his Religion.</P>
<PB N="173" REF="91">
<P>I do not mean hereby, either altoge|ther to evacuate the authority of laud|able Cu&s;tome in &s;ome certain ca&s;es, or much le&s;s that either Tradition or hu|mane Learning was to be &s;lighted, nor lea&s;t of all that the Scripture was &s;o far a mea&s;ure of our practice, as that every thing became unlawful and not to be ad|mitted in practice, which is not to be proved by expre&s;s Scripture.</P>
<P>For God &s;uppo&s;ed us to be men of under&s;tanding when he gave us Divine Revelation, and thought fit to leave &s;ome Circum&s;tances of things to be de|fined by humane Prudence.</P>
<P>But this I think is certain that if we pretend our Religion to be derived from Scripture, we mu&s;t then admit nothing which is contrary to that Rule, no nor account any thing to be e&s;&s;ential to it which that hath not provided for.</P>
<P>For as it could not &s;tand with the Di|vine Wi&s;dom to abound in &s;uperfluities, or to give expre&s;s directions for what was &s;ufficiently provided for before; &s;o neither could it con&s;i&s;t with his Good|ne&s;s to provide a Rule which was de|fective in Nece&s;&s;aries.</P>
<P>And this I think (by the way) was the prime excellency of the Reformati|on, that (although &s;omethings perhaps might be erroneous, and many things imperfect in it) yet it revived the true Canon of Chri&s;tian Religion, the Ho|ly Scripture, and &s;o put into mens hands
<PB N="174" REF="92">an ea&s;ie and certain Rule to go by; for be&s;ides other advantages of this Rule, it &s;ets us upon even ground with the mo&s;t cunning Adver&s;aries, and forces them to play upon the &s;quare with us. Fora&s;much as this (as to the main lines of it) is fitted for all Capacities, that every man may &s;ee the Grounds of his Religion.</P>
<P>As for example, If any man &s;hould per&s;wade me to wor&s;hip an Idol, or to wor&s;hip the true God by and under an Image; let &s;uch a man u&s;e all the Art and Sophi&s;try he can, he will never be able to impo&s;e upon him that &s;tudies and &s;ticks to the Holy Scripture.</P>
<P>Or if another &s;hould go about to per|&s;wade me there was an ea&s;ier and &s;hort|er way to Heaven than by an Holy Life, and that there might be either di&s;tinctions or di&s;pen&s;ations, or &s;ome way or other of commutation found out which would excu&s;e me that trouble and do my bu&s;ine&s;s as well: I can ne|ver be cheated into &s;uch a per&s;wa&s;ion whil&s;t I con&s;ult the Holy Scripture, which is as plain and full as can be de|&s;ired in both tho&s;e ca&s;es: Therefore as I &s;aid &s;tick clo&s;e to the Holy Scripture, as you de&s;ire to hold your Religi|on.</P>
<P N="2">2.<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Make u&s;e of our Spiritual Guides.</NOTE> But if it &s;hall happen that either a|ny thing in the Scripture &s;hould &s;eem &s;o ob&s;cure, or that the Sophi&s;try of cun|ning men &s;hould ca&s;t &s;uch a Mi&s;t before
<PB N="175" REF="92">us that we are not able to determine our&s;elves what to do. Then in the &s;e|cond place, we are to re&s;ort to our Spi|ritual Guides, which God hath &s;et o|ver us, who have baptized us into, and trained us up in our Religion to help us out.</P>
<P>This is al&s;o a means of Stability of God's own appointing; for the Apo|&s;tle hath told us that God hath erected tho&s;e Orders of men in his Church that we &s;hould <HI>not be as Children to&s;t to and fro by every wind of Doctrine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.14.</NOTE> <HI>and by the cunning Craftine&s;s of men who lie in wait to deceive.</HI> And the&s;e having made it their whole bu&s;ine&s;s and &s;tudy to be fit for their office, and to be acquainted with the <HI>Depths of Sathan,</HI> as well as the My&s;tery of Chri&s;tianity; I mean, to be able to detect the Frauds and Sophi&s;try of Deceivers, as well as to under&s;tand and explicate the Holy Scripture, and the Deep points of Religion; and being al&s;o ordinarily to be pre&s;umed, men of Prudence and Experience: It mu&s;t needs be very fit that the&s;e &s;hould be con&s;ult|ed and hearkened to with reverence, e|&s;pecially by tho&s;e that have been de&s;ti|tute of the afore&s;aid Advantages, and it is very unrea&s;onable that any man &s;hould make &s;o great a Change as that of his Religion is, without the be&s;t Ad|vice and mo&s;t mature Deliberation of this kind.</P>
<P>And this is e&s;pecially to be heeded in
<PB N="176" REF="93">this pre&s;ent Age when &s;uch crafty Game|&s;ters are abroad that u&s;e &s;uch Legerde|main, and to cogg the Die (as the Apo|&s;tle's Phra&s;e imports in the fore-menti|oned place) when, I &s;ay, there is <HI>&s;uch Fox-like Craft,</HI> and <HI>&s;uch Methods of De|ceit</HI> to gain Pro&s;elytes, That the neg|lect of this Caution &s;eems to be the principal defect and danger of the Mem|bers of this Church. The men of o|ther per&s;wa&s;ions, follow their Guides with an implicite Faith, and a blind O|bedience, and are &s;carce permitted the u&s;e of their Rea&s;on, or to choo&s;e for them&s;elves even in the mo&s;t indifferent things. And if we will not u&s;e &s;o much Deference to our Pa&s;tors as to think they may &s;ee further than we in con|troverted Ca&s;es, we &s;hall be in danger to hold our Religion no longer than till we &s;hall be briskly a&s;&s;aulted.</P>
<P N="3">3.<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">Contempt of the World is ne|ce&s;&s;ary to Stability in Religion.</NOTE> He that would be &s;table in his Re|ligion, mu&s;t learn to contemn the pre|&s;ent World, without which both the former advices will be utterly in&s;ignifi|cant for his &s;ecurity again&s;t Apo&s;ta&s;ie. If a man have the pre&s;ent World in admiration, it will dazle his Eyes, blind his Judgment, prejudice his Mind, bribe his Affections, and debauch his Con&s;ci|ence; for it cannot be but Religion, and the things of another World mu&s;t be cheap with him that overvalues the pre|&s;ent.</P>
<P><HI>Judas,</HI> we know, &s;old our Saviour at
<PB N="177" REF="93">the vile rate of thirty pieces of &s;ilver; but Preferment and Honour, Wealth and Glory, are &s;o great motives, that the Devil had the confidence to hope to prevail upon our Saviour him&s;elf to fall down and wor&s;hip him, when he <HI>&s;hewed him the Kingdoms of the World, and the Glory of them,</HI> and offered them to him at that price.</P>
<P>To &s;wim in Plea&s;ure, flow with Wealth, and be at the top of the World with Glory, what will not this do with unmortified hearts? Such men in &s;uch a ca&s;e will (it may be) at fir&s;t &s;train courte|&s;y with Con&s;cience, and find out a thou|&s;and &s;hifts and di&s;tinctions to excu&s;e them&s;elves; but rather than fail (and if that will not do) they will cut the knot they cannot untie, and rudely break with Con&s;cience, rather than with&s;tand &s;o great allurements.</P>
<P>Therefore, <HI>Philander,</HI> if you and I would &s;tick fa&s;t to our Principles, we mu&s;t &s;it &s;omewhat loo&s;e to the World, we mu&s;t entertain no great opinion con|cerning Wealth and Honour, but be content with little things for the pre|&s;ent, and comfort our &s;elves with the expectation of great in another World. We mu&s;t con&s;ider with our &s;elves how vain and empty tho&s;e things are, even in this life and whil&s;t they are enjoyed, and e&s;pecially how perfectly they vani&s;h, and are of no avail at all at the day of Judgment: <HI>We mu&s;t look at the things
<PB N="178" REF="94">which are not &s;een,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4. <HI>ult.</HI> Rev. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>and are eternal, the crown of life</HI> (I mean) which God hath prepared for all <HI>tho&s;e that are faithful to the death.</HI> Then &s;hall we be &s;table as the center of the Earth, unchangeable as the Heavens, brave and couragious &s;o as to &s;corn allurements, contemn dan|ger, and be true to our real Intere&s;t, our Con&s;cience, our God, and our Re|ligion.</P>
<P N="4">4.<NOTE N="4" PLACE="marg">Fervent and con|&s;tant Pray|er to God.</NOTE> If e&s;pecially to all the&s;e in the la&s;t place, we joyn fervent and con&s;tant Pray|er to God: for we are not to tru&s;t to our &s;elves, but commend to him the fix|ing our minds and e&s;tabli&s;hing our hearts; he made them and knows them, and he only can confirm and &s;trengthen them again&s;t all our own folly and levity, and again&s;t all the temptations of the Devil; he can provide that we &s;hall not <HI>be led into temptation,</HI> or however, <HI>that no tem|ptation &s;hall overtake its but what we &s;hall be able to bear;</HI> he can deliver us from all the &s;nares that &s;hall be laid for us, and help us to elude all &s;ophi&s;try; and in a word, can upon emergency, and in the very nick of time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21.15.</NOTE> be&s;tow <HI>upon us &s;uch a &s;pirit and wi&s;dom as none of our adver|&s;aries &s;hall be able to with&s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e, <HI>Philander,</HI> are the mo&s;t effe|ctual things I can think of for the pre|&s;ent, in an&s;wer to your fir&s;t que&s;tion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>I thank you heartily, <HI>Seba&s;tian,</HI> for the great &s;atisfaction you have gi|ven me, and I &s;hall make it both my
<PB N="179" REF="94">own care, and the matter of my Prayer to God, that neither the levity of my own mind, nor the importunity of o|thers, &s;hall tempt me from the good old way of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> and that neither any effort of wit or power, the blandi&s;hments of pro&s;perity, nor the &s;torms of adver&s;ity, &s;hall &s;tagger my re&s;olution.</P>
<P>And now becau&s;e I would not be trouble&s;ome to you too long, be plea&s;ed as briefly as the ca&s;e will bear to re|&s;olve me al&s;o in my &s;econd inquiry, namely, by what means I may maintain a con&s;tant cheerfulne&s;s of &s;pirit in the cour&s;e of Chri&s;tianity. You made it evi|dent at the beginning of this pre&s;ent Conference, that there is &s;uch a thing attainable, and you will not wonder that I am inqui&s;itive after &s;o ine&s;timable a good: And the rather becau&s;e (it is in vain to be a&s;hamed to tell you what you cannot but have ob&s;erved your &s;elf in me) for my own part, though I am &s;ometimes very comfortable, and now and then as full of joy as my heart can hold, yet at other times (whether it be occa&s;ioned by any error of my life, or be the effect of my con&s;titution of body, or the weakne&s;s of my mind,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inquiry by what means a man may maintain an even temper of &s;piritual comfort,</NOTE> I can|not tell) it is quite otherwi&s;e with me, and my &s;pirits &s;ink as low as they were high before. Now therefore give me your advice how I may maintain an even temper of cheerfulne&s;s, &s;o that I may
<PB N="180" REF="95">neither &s;eem to be Infidel nor Enthu&s;ia&s;t, neither di&s;parage the power of Religion by meanne&s;s of Spirit, nor render it &s;u&s;|pected to be meerly the acting of a part by my overdoing and pretending to too high flights of Joy.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Seba&s;t.</SPEAKER>
<P>This &s;econd inquiry of yours, <HI>Phil.</HI> is no le&s;s u&s;eful than the former, for (as you have well intimated) not only the happine&s;s of a man's own life depends upon it, but the Reputation of Religion it &s;elf is very much concerned in the temper of Spirit, which he expre&s;&s;es under it. For what &s;tranger to Religi|on would not be afraid of it, that ob|&s;erves the melancholy Complaints, the perpetual Scruples, the doleful Sighs and di&s;mal Countenances of &s;ome that pre|tend to it? And on the other hand; What &s;ober man would not take it to be an Enthu&s;ia&s;tick Frenzy, when he ob&s;erves men to be rapt up into the third Heaven (at lea&s;t in their own con|ceit) but can give no rational account of it? And again; What wi&s;e man &s;hall ob&s;erve the uncertainty of mens temper in this re&s;pect, and not &s;u&s;pect whether that can have any &s;olid Foundation it &s;elf who&s;e Effects are &s;o volatile and in|con&s;tant?</P>
<P>This being the con&s;equence of the ca&s;e, it is very fit it &s;hould be provided for accordingly. Now though what I have &s;aid already whil&s;t I was an&s;wer|ing <HI>Biophilus</HI>'s Objections again&s;t the
<PB N="181" REF="95">comfortablene&s;s of Religion, will in a good mea&s;ure come up to this point, e&s;peci|ally if you lay all tho&s;e things together which were occa&s;ionally &s;cattered through that di&s;pute; yet for your &s;atisfaction as well as for the importance of the mat|ter, I will not grudge the pains to re|&s;ume that &s;ubject, and give you my thoughts more fully and directly now, which before I did only briefly and by the bye.</P>
<P>Now in order to the determining of the method and means of &s;ettled peace and an even temper of Spiritual Com|fort, it is nece&s;&s;ary that we di&s;cover the &s;everal cau&s;es of the interruption there|of, and when we have found them, if we can apply proper and peculiar Re|medies to each of them, then we &s;hall do your bu&s;ine&s;s.</P>
<P>As for the former, <HI>viz.</HI> the cau&s;es of the Unevenne&s;s of a Chri&s;tians Spirit, or the interruptions of his Spiritual Com|fort, they are ea&s;ily found out, and I do not doubt but they may be reckoned to be the&s;e five following.</P>
<P>Namely, either, 1. Unevenne&s;s and Irregularity of Life. Or,</P>
<P N="2">2. Undue Apprehen&s;ions of God. Or,</P>
<P N="3">3. Mi&s;take of the terms of the Go|&s;pel. Or,</P>
<P N="4">4. Sad Accidents externally. Or,</P>
<P N="5">5. Melancholy of Body.</P>
<P N="1">1. In the fir&s;t place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A con&s;tant and even cour&s;e of Piety is the fir&s;t and principal means of a con&s;tant and even temper of heart.</NOTE> I account the Irre|gularity of mens lives to be a very com|mon
<PB N="182" REF="96">and the mo&s;t ordinary cau&s;e of the Unevenne&s;s of their Comfort.</P>
<P>All virtuous Actions have naturally Peace and Tranquillity belonging to them; for be&s;ides the plea&s;ant Air of good Reputation that attends them, and that a man who hath the lea&s;t value for applau&s;e that can be, is, notwith&s;tand|ing, in&s;en&s;ibly made more cheerful by it, it is a great deal more to have a man's own Con&s;cience approve him, and e&s;pecially when he con&s;iders that he doth what God is well plea&s;ed with, and that which he will not fail one way or other to give Te&s;timony to, and &s;hew his Approbation of.</P>
<P>On the contrary, all vicious Actions are naturally uncomfortable; for be&s;ides the infamy that attends them, they have guilt in&s;eparably adheres to them, and God's di&s;plea&s;ure intailed upon them. For as he can never either hate Virtue or love Vice without a flat contradicti|on to his own Nature, &s;o neither can he, or will he frown upon the one, or &s;hine upon the other.</P>
<P>Now therefore if a man be habitual|ly vicious, he mu&s;t needs be habitually &s;ad and mi&s;erable (without that more mi&s;erable and &s;ordid Refuge, Drunken|ne&s;s, that filthy Do&s;e for the Gripes of Con&s;cience.) And if a man be habi|tually Good and Holy, and maintains a con&s;tant cour&s;e of Piety and Virtuous Actions, he will be habitually comforta|ble,
<PB N="183" REF="96">and under a con&s;tant ray of light and glory. But if a man be up and down in his life, &s;ometimes good, and &s;ometimes bad, or at lea&s;t &s;ometimes brave and generous, and at other times flat and carele&s;s, he cannot expect that his comforts &s;hould be more con&s;tant than he him&s;elf is: for the effects mu&s;t follow the condition of their cau&s;es.</P>
<P>In this ca&s;e therefore the Di&s;ea&s;e leads to the Remedy, he that would maintain an even temper of peace in his Con&s;ci|ence, mu&s;t be &s;ure to maintain an even cour&s;e of Virtue and Piety in his life. For it is not only impo&s;&s;ible to &s;ecure the former without the latter, but it is ridiculous to pretend to it; nay farther, if it &s;hould happen that any man found his heart cheerful extraordinarily upon other terms, he would have ju&s;t cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect a delu&s;ion of the Devil.</P>
<P>God is con&s;tantly of the &s;ame mind, Religion and the terms of Happine&s;s are con&s;tant and &s;etled, therefore there can be no way to con&s;tant comfort in the one, or hopes in the other, but by be|ing con&s;tant to our &s;elves and to our duty; nor can there be any cau&s;e of un|certainty, but the un&s;etledne&s;s of our own hearts. But if a man live &s;o, as that it become matter of difficult di&s;pute, whether he be a good man or no, it mu&s;t needs be much more &s;o, whether he &s;hall go to Heaven or no, and then I think it is out of di&s;pute, whether &s;uch
<PB N="184" REF="97">a man can be comfortable or not. Let the man therefore that aims at a &s;etled peace, be &s;ure to be con&s;tant and tho|rough-pac'd in his duty, that it become not only a bia&s;s upon him, but the very method and habit of his life; and let fooli&s;h People, if they will, call this for|mality and a road of Religion, for if it be a road, it is certainly the narrow one that leads to life; for never is Religion as it &s;hould be, till it become thus natu|ral and habitual. Yet le&s;t any man &s;hould by rea&s;on of the ea&s;ine&s;s of this &s;tate, when it is arrived at, interpret it to be but formality, let him withal im|brace all opportunities of doing not on|ly &s;trictly nece&s;&s;ary duties, but brave and generous actions, that &s;o he may demon|&s;trate zeal as well as con&s;tancy, and an ardency of affection to God and Good|ne&s;s; and he that takes this cour&s;e, &s;hall effectually &s;ecure him&s;elf again&s;t the fir&s;t cau&s;e of uncomfortablene&s;s.</P>
<P N="2">2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Right No|tions of God is the next &s;tep to &s;etled Peace.</NOTE> The &s;econd cau&s;e of &s;piritual de|jection I reckoned to be undue apprehen|&s;ions of God, and this generally goes a great way in the di&s;quiets and di&s;orders of mo&s;t well meaning but weak People; for whereas, if things be rightly con&s;i|dered, the very fir&s;t Notion of a God is an everla&s;ting &s;pring of hope, and the right under&s;tanding of his goodne&s;s is the great &s;weetner of a man's &s;pirits, and that which principally di&s;po&s;es him to cheerfulne&s;s; it is common with weak or
<PB N="185" REF="97">deluded people either to receive &s;uch impre&s;&s;ions from others, or ignorantly to frame &s;uch an image of God in their own minds as they mu&s;t eternally hate, but cannot po&s;&s;ibly love. And if the thoughts of God be unplea&s;ant to them, it mu&s;t needs follow that all the duties of Religion mu&s;t go on heavily, and when they have done, their hopes mu&s;t be flat, and all about them looks melan|choly.</P>
<P>The principal thing I aim at in this place, is when men have &s;uch a Notion of God as renders his actions as nece&s;&s;a|ry as his nature; and becau&s;e (as I have &s;hewed to <HI>Biophilus</HI>) he was from eter|nity, and could not but be, therefore they conceit he cannot but do what&s;o|ever is done as nece&s;&s;arily as he ex|i&s;ts, and &s;o unawares they &s;et a &s;urly and rigid Fate over them&s;elves in&s;tead of a wi&s;e and good God. For in pur&s;uance of this Notion they conclude he mu&s;t be ju&s;t to extremity, and that he is bound to vindicate him&s;elf rigorou&s;ly, &s;o that he cannot abate or remit of his own right, but mu&s;t exact the utmo&s;t far|thing; and on the other &s;ide, they fancy that he cannot but do all the good he doth, and mu&s;t upon nece&s;&s;ity of nature make all the expre&s;&s;ions of kindne&s;s that are po&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>The former of the&s;e is very horrible; for (though in one re&s;pect it renders God le&s;s than a man, for we both can
<PB N="186" REF="98">(and ought in many ca&s;es to) recede from our own right, yet upon the whole) it mu&s;t needs be an hard Chapter, nay, a mo&s;t killing Con&s;ideration to &s;uch im|perfect and guilty Creatures as we are, to think our &s;elves under a God that cannot pardon properly, that can pa&s;s no Act of Grace, but mu&s;t rigidly ex|act his Right one way or other: for then what can my Prayers, and Tears, and Repentance, and even Reformation it &s;elf &s;ignifie? And though there be a Mediatour and a Satisfaction &s;poken of in the Go&s;pel, yet the Apprehen&s;ion of &s;uch a &s;upream Being is able to render even that Remedy &s;u&s;picious, or however to make a mans heart ake and tremble all the days of his life; but to be &s;ure he can take no delight in God, whatever hopes he may have in a Saviour.</P>
<P>And then, on the other &s;ide, the ap|prehen&s;ion of the nece&s;&s;ity of the Acts of Divine Goodne&s;s renders him as con|temptible as the former made him ter|rible. For who can think him&s;elf bound to love and thank him for that which he could not choo&s;e but do? And be|&s;ides, this renders all Prayers and Ad|dre&s;&s;es to &s;uch a God as fruitle&s;s as the other. For what need I pray to him that cannot do otherwi&s;e than he doth?</P>
<P>But the mi&s;take all this while lies here; neither of the&s;e &s;orts of men con|&s;ider that God is a free Agent, and con|&s;equently
<PB N="187" REF="98">(though he cannot choo&s;e but be ju&s;t and righteous in all his Dealings, yet) he is bound by nothing but his own good Plea&s;ure to exerci&s;e &s;uch, or &s;uch in&s;tances of Ju&s;tice. He may puni&s;h, or he may pardon upon what terms he plea&s;es, and &s;o far as he plea&s;es, <HI>He hath Mercy becau&s;e he will have Mercy, and becau&s;e Mercy plea&s;es him:</HI> And &s;o for his Goodne&s;s, though he is infinite|ly full and perfect, and con&s;equently de|lights to communicate him&s;elf to his Creatures, yet all the In&s;tances and Ex|pre&s;&s;ions of it are free and voluntary; he is not bound to do &s;uch things mere|ly becau&s;e they are good in the gene|ral, but accordingly as his own Wi&s;dom directs him, and as they &s;hall &s;erve the Ends of that in particular. And then every good man that lives under the&s;e Apprehen&s;ions may be generou&s;ly com|fortable, and neither be tempted to de|&s;pi&s;e God as a &s;oft and good-natured Being, on the one &s;ide, nor to be hor|ribly afraid of him, and hate him on the other.</P>
<P N="3">3.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Right ap|prehen&s;ion of the tem|per and de|mand of the Go&s;pel is another means of &s;etled peace.</NOTE> Another cau&s;e of Uncomfortable|ne&s;s is when men do not rightly under|&s;tand the terms of the Go&s;pel, but ei|ther mi&s;take the Opinions and Tradi|tions of men for the definitions of God, or at lea&s;t confound what God de&s;igns to bring us up to by the Go&s;pel as a State of Perfection, with what he &s;trictly requires and in&s;i&s;ts upon as the conditi|ons
<PB N="188" REF="99">of Salvation. Hence it comes to pa&s;s that they are not able to make any good Judgment of their own E&s;tate, but are either apt to comply with the flat|teries of their own hearts, and pro|nounce comfort to them&s;elves upon too loo&s;e terms; or on the other &s;ide, to yield to their own Melancholy by too &s;evere and rigid a Cen&s;ure of them&s;elves; or la&s;tly, will waver between both, ac|cording as they meet with a New Book, a New Saying, or any unu&s;ual Accident, and &s;o be by fits &s;ad or cheerful, as it happens.</P>
<P>Now for this, it is to be con&s;idered, that though the Go&s;pel &s;ometimes &s;eems to be very &s;trict and &s;evere, or at lea&s;t very accurate in its Pre&s;cripti|ons, which it doth, partly for the Ho|nour and Perfection of that Religion, partly by that means to &s;crew us up to as high a Pitch as po&s;&s;ible: For it is certain if our Copy or Rule &s;hould be low and mean, our endeavours would be &s;lackned, and our performances would fall &s;o very &s;hort that we &s;hould not be tolerable Chri&s;tians: Again, on the o|ther &s;ide, though the &s;ame Go&s;pel at o|ther times &s;peaks very conde&s;cendingly and &s;eems to make &s;o great allowances to humane Infirmity, as if it was a very ea&s;ie matter to be &s;aved; and this it doth to incourage e&s;pecially men of melan|choly and dejected Tempers, and to bear them up again&s;t the &s;ad Reflections
<PB N="189" REF="99">they are apt to make either upon their former Sins, or their daily Infirmi|ties:</P>
<P>Yet all this while God is of one mind, and the New Te&s;tament hath a determinate &s;en&s;e:</P>
<P>Namely, that what&s;oever &s;hall give evi|dence of a man's Sincerity, <HI>i. e.</HI> that he hath a Principle of Divine Life in him, and a true Love of God and Goodne&s;s, this &s;hall be &s;ufficient to his Salvation; and as nothing le&s;s than this &s;hall be accept|ed, &s;o nothing more is indi&s;pen&s;ably re|quired.</P>
<P>For the Salvation or Damnation of men depends not upon Punctilio's or nice points of Di&s;pute, as if God had a mind by the means of a &s;ubtil Interpretation, to &s;ave and damn men arbitrarily, there|fore he lays no &s;tre&s;s upon their being, or not being of &s;uch an Opinion, nor takes the advantage of a Ceremony un|der or over;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.17.</NOTE> for the Apo&s;tle hath told us, <HI>That the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink, but Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Peace and Joy in the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> and again,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.15.</NOTE> <HI>that neither Circumci&s;ion availeth any thing nor &V;ncircumci&s;ion, but a New Creature.</HI></P>
<P>Nay, it is true al&s;o that God decides not mens final E&s;tate (one way or other) meerly upon the account of &s;uch Duties performed, or &s;uch &s;ins committed: but that which he principally looks at in this ca&s;e is an ingenuous or di&s;ingenuous temper towards him&s;elf, and a capacity
<PB N="190" REF="100">or fitne&s;s for the &s;tate of Heaven on the one &s;ide, and a temper and di&s;po&s;ition fit for Hell and the Devil on the o|ther.</P>
<P>That (I &s;ay) which God expre&s;ly re|quires as the condition of &s;alvation, is an habit and temper of obedience, and an ingenuous frame of heart towards him|&s;elf and his Laws. And that this is not to be e&s;timated Arithmetically, or by tale of &s;uch a number of perform|ances, but rather Geometrically in pro|portion to the heartine&s;s and &s;incerity of the man, and with re&s;pect to the cir|cum&s;tances he &s;tands in; that is, as well making allowance for his temptations, afflictions, ignorances, infirmities, and &s;urpri&s;als, as rai&s;ing the reckoning in con&s;ideration of extraordinary light, knowledge, opportunities, incourage|ments, and advantages what&s;oever. Ac|cordingly we find the Apo&s;tle to make a &s;uppo&s;ition,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.3.</NOTE> that a man <HI>may give all his goods to feed the poor, and his body to be burned al&s;o, and yet want charity</HI> and the love of God; and yet our Saviour on the other hand tells us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 10.42.</NOTE> that <HI>who&s;oever &s;hall give a cup of cold water only to a Di|&s;ciple, &s;hall not lo&s;e his reward.</HI></P>
<P>So that (as I &s;aid) &s;incerity is the on|ly thing in que&s;tion, e&s;pecially as to the bu&s;ine&s;s of a con&s;tant and even temper of &s;piritual peace. Now that is ea&s;ie to be decided, and a man needs not to run him&s;elf into nice di&s;putes, endle&s;s &s;cru|ples
<PB N="191" REF="100">and perplexities about it; for who|&s;oever indeavours to live well according to the Go&s;pel, will ea&s;ily be &s;en&s;ible of his own &s;incerity. For as it is no hard matter for a man to know concerning him&s;elf, whether he hath carried him|&s;elf faithfully towards his Friend, or with a filial reverence towards his Father, and he may as ea&s;ily tell whether he hath dealt treacherou&s;ly with the one, or been &s;tubborn, and carele&s;s of offending the other; and accordingly (if they be wi&s;e and worthy per&s;ons he hath to deal with) he may a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf of the love of the former, and of the paternal affection of the latter, notwith&s;tanding that po&s;|&s;ibly he may be con&s;cious to him&s;elf to have done &s;ome things unadvi&s;edly, and to have failed in circum&s;tances towards them both: So I &s;ee no rea&s;on to doubt but that upon the &s;ame terms a man may be able to witne&s;s to him&s;elf his own integrity and &s;implicity towards God his true&s;t Friend and mo&s;t affecti|onate Father, and thereupon look cheer|fully up to him as &s;uch, and walk com|fortably before him, e&s;pecially having &s;o good a&s;&s;urance (as I &s;hew'd before) that he is far from being a captious Deity.</P>
<P N="4">4. Again,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Faith in God again&s;t all acci|dents and outward Afflictions</NOTE> there is a fourth very com|mon occa&s;ion of uncomfortablene&s;s, name|ly, the grievance of external accidents and calamities, which may and do fre|quently befal the be&s;t men, and which
<PB N="192" REF="101">either by their &s;harpne&s;s di&s;compo&s;e a Chri&s;tian,<NOTE PLACE="marg">another means of con&s;tant Peace and Comfort.</NOTE> or by the multitude and &s;e|verity of them may tempt him to que&s;tion how he &s;tands in the favour of God who permits &s;uch things to befall him, or at lea&s;t by their often and yet uncer|tain Returns may make the Pul&s;e of his heart beat very unequally:</P>
<P>Again&s;t this there is no more pro|per Remedy than to rouze up our &s;elves, and to act a generous faith in God.</P>
<P>Con&s;idering, in the fir&s;t place, that this is his u&s;ual method with tho&s;e he loves be&s;t, to exerci&s;e them with Affliction, and that Affliction is &s;o far from being a Token of His Hatred, that on the con|trary, there is no more dangerous &s;ign of God's having quite de&s;erted and a|bandoned a man, than for him to u&s;e no Cha&s;ti&s;ement towards him. <HI>If ye re|ceive not cha&s;ti&s;ement,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>ye are Ba&s;tards and not Sons.</HI> And there|fore we &s;ee the very Eternal Son of God when he came upon Earth and was in our nature, was the mo&s;t remarkable In&s;tance of a <HI>man of Sorrows</HI> that ever was in the World, in&s;omuch that it is not ea&s;ie to imagine what calamity can befall any man which is not to be pa|rallelled, if not exceeded in the Suffer|ings of our Saviour, and as if God had ordered it &s;o on purpo&s;e to this End, that no man might complain of his &s;hare, or e&s;pecially de&s;pair and think him&s;elf for&s;aken of God becau&s;e of his Adver&s;i|ties.</P>
<PB N="193" REF="101">
<P>And then in the &s;econd place, a&s;&s;uring our &s;elves that as all afflictions come from God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.28.</NOTE> &s;o they &s;hall <HI>certainly be made to work for good to all tho&s;e that love him.</HI> For unle&s;s we humour our &s;elves, and in|dulge our pa&s;&s;ion too much, we may di&s;|cover that there is hardly any affliction befalls, but what we may be bettered by, even for the pre&s;ent if we will; but there can be no doubt but God both can and will turn it to our advantage in the i&s;&s;ue and up&s;hot of things: and therefore we have no rea&s;on to be too much de|jected upon &s;uch an occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>But that which is to be the principal exerci&s;e of our Faith in &s;uch a ca&s;e, and of mo&s;t effectual con&s;ideration, is, that God hath provided another World, and a &s;tate of unmixed and uninterrupted joy there, when this &s;hort and trouble&s;ome life is ended. And if we fix our thoughts there (which we have great rea&s;on to do, con&s;idering the happine&s;s is &s;o un|&s;peakably great, the certainty of it &s;o full, and the time &s;o &s;hort for the ac|compli&s;hment of it) we &s;hall then count <HI>all the &s;ufferings of the pre&s;ent not worthy to be compared with the glory that &s;hall then be revealed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18.</NOTE> and be far from fainting under the &s;harpe&s;t of adver&s;ities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>whil&s;t thus we look not at the things which are &s;een, and are but temporal, but at the things which are not &s;een, and are eternal.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Advice in the ca&s;e of bodily me|lancholy.</NOTE></P>
<P N="5">5. But fifthly and la&s;tly, the mo&s;t ge|neral cau&s;e of the uncomfortablene&s;s of
<PB N="194" REF="102">the &s;pirits of pious men, and of the un|evenne&s;s of their temper, is bodily me|lancholy; that black humour is apt to diffu&s;e it &s;elf all over, &s;o as to cloud the judgment, and taint the eye of the mind, that every thing &s;hall look of its own colour, black and di&s;mal, when this pre|dominates, and at lea&s;t while the Fit la&s;ts, God is dreadful, his Laws are impo&s;&s;ible, the guilt of &s;in is unpardonable, and even the mo&s;t pittiable infirmities of mankind (e&s;pecially tho&s;e which &s;uch a man can ob&s;erve in him&s;elf) are aggravated &s;o as to bear the &s;ymptoms of reprobation, and every affliction is looked upon as a fore|runner of the Vengeance of Hell Fire.</P>
<P>Melancholy in the body becomes Jea|lou&s;ie in the mind, and renders a man always &s;u&s;picious and unea&s;ie, and to be continually &s;earching for what he would be loth to find; he is always trying and examining his own ca&s;e to God-ward with that &s;everity, as if he was de&s;irous to di&s;cover flaws in his hopes and evi|dences of &s;alvation; one while he is a little revived, and &s;ees no rea&s;on to doubt his own e&s;tate, but by and by he revokes the mo&s;t deliberate conclu&s;ions of his own Con&s;cience, and then again falls into the other extream, and is altogether in the altitudes, but always uneven and un&s;etled.</P>
<P>Now for remedy of this, it is more than half way of the cure to under&s;tand the Di&s;ea&s;e, and yet that is no more than
<PB N="195" REF="102">to be aware that melancholy is both cau&s;e and effect, and that that alone is able to act all this tragedy without any other cau&s;e of &s;adne&s;s and di&s;quiet, than merely the diffidence and mi&s;tru&s;t of a mans own temper. And that betrays it &s;elf notoriou&s;ly in this, that &s;uch a man can a&s;&s;ign no rea&s;on of his trouble, but only he is troubled, and he is again troubled that he is &s;o. Now if a man could give any &s;uch account of his uncomfortable fears as were &s;ufficient to &s;atisfie any man be&s;ides him&s;elf, then it would be rea&s;onable not to charge them upon me|lancholy, but upon tho&s;e ju&s;t cau&s;es; but if no &s;uch cau&s;es be a&s;&s;ignable, then it is manife&s;tly temper that is in fault without guilt or danger; and this one thing con|&s;idered is able to relieve a man out of his perplexity, and his mind may arrive at &s;ome tolerable mea&s;ure of cheerfulne&s;s, even in the mid&s;t of this bodily infirmity.</P>
<P>But if the under&s;tanding of &s;uch a man be too weak, or the Di&s;ea&s;e of melan|choly be too &s;trong upon him to be cu|red this way; then the next thing to be done (after the u&s;e of Phy&s;ick for the bo|dy) is to re&s;ort to &s;ome able and experi|enced Phy&s;ician of Souls, and &s;incerely to lay open the &s;tate of his Con&s;cience to him: and having &s;o done, to re&s;t upon the judgment of that other per&s;on, &s;ee|ing he is not able to judge for him&s;elf, or not willing to rely upon his own judgment. And this is not only a way
<PB N="196" REF="103">of pre&s;ent relief, but very &s;afe and rea|&s;onable, and can have no &s;uch thing as an implicite faith imputed to it. For &s;o long as the perplexed per&s;on can give any rea&s;on of his doubts and fears, &s;o long the &s;piritual Guide is bound to give &s;atisfaction to his rea&s;on, and to an&s;wer the ju&s;t cau&s;es of his trouble; but when that is done, and the poor man is per|plexed without cau&s;e, it is apparent there is nothing but melancholy in the ca&s;e, and then nothing can be more fit and proper than that the weak &s;hould lean upon the &s;trong, and this poor di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Creature &s;hould &s;upport him&s;elf by the authority of Gods Mini&s;ter, who mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed to be able to judge in &s;uch a ca&s;e, and cannot be &s;u&s;pected to be partial becau&s;e he hath no intere&s;t to &s;erve by &s;o doing.</P>
<P>And further, the more effectually to relieve &s;uch a pittiable per&s;on, it &s;eems very nece&s;&s;ary that after due prepara|tion thereunto, and all fit &s;olemnity, the man of God &s;hould proceed to a parti|cular ab&s;olution of his Patient, not only to a&s;&s;ure him of the good grounds he went upon in the judgment he gave of his e&s;tate before, but to rai&s;e his &s;pirits by the &s;acredne&s;s of the action, and the hopes that God will ratifie in Heaven what is thus done on earth by his Mini|&s;ter. This cour&s;e is recommended by our Church as a <HI>&s;pecifick</HI> in &s;uch ca&s;es, and was of con&s;tant practice in the Primitive Church in &s;uch extremities, in&s;tead of
<PB N="197" REF="103">that cu&s;tomary, general, and formal Au|ricular Confe&s;&s;ion, which (in ignorant and corrupt ages) came in the room of it.</P>
<P>After all, I would earne&s;tly advi&s;e &s;uch a man (as we &s;peak of) not to &s;mother his thoughts in his own bo&s;ome, but by all means to let his heart take air: for there is hardly any &s;erious per&s;on &s;o weak and injudicious, that a melancholy man had not better con&s;ult with than him|&s;elf; nay, many times the putting a que|&s;tion to a po&s;t or pillar, will help him to an an&s;wer better than revolving of it altogether in his own Brea&s;t; but e&s;pe|cially it is to be recommended to him, that he give not him&s;elf up to &s;olitude and retirement, which thickens the Blood, and feeds the Di&s;ea&s;e, but that he frequent the company and conver&s;ati|on of good men; their &s;ociety will not only divert him, but their cheerfulne&s;s will refre&s;h him, and the very ob&s;erving of their infirmities will tend to his com|fort, as giving him cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect his own au&s;terity, and &s;o inclining him to pa&s;s a more mild cen&s;ure upon him&s;elf.</P>
<P>And thus, I think, <HI>Philander,</HI> I have &s;atisfied your &s;econd inquiry, and have done it more largely than I intended, or than you expected. And now once again, good night.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<P>Good night heartily, good <HI>Se|ba&s;tian.</HI></P>
</SP>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="104">
<LIST>
<HEAD>Books written by the Reverend Doctor <HI>Goodman,</HI> and &s;old by <HI>R. Roy&s;ton,</HI> at the <HI>Angel</HI> in <HI>Amen-Corner.</HI></HEAD>
<ITEM>THE <HI>Penitent Pardoned;</HI> Or, A Di&s;cour&s;e of the Nature of Sin, and the Efficacy of Repentance, under the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Second Edition Corrected and En|larged.</ITEM>
<ITEM>A Sermon Preached at <HI>Bi&s;hops-Stort|ford, Augu&s;t</HI> 29. 1677. before the Right Reverend Father in God <HI>Henry</HI> Lord Bi|&s;hop of <HI>London,</HI> at his Lord&s;hips Primary Vi&s;itation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>A Serious and Compa&s;&s;ionate Enquiry into the <HI>Cau&s;es</HI> of the <HI>pre&s;ent Neglect</HI> and <HI>Contempt</HI> of the Prote&s;tant Religion and Church of <HI>England.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable Sir <HI>Robert Clayton</HI> Lord May|or, and the Aldermen of the City of <HI>London,</HI> at the <HI>Guild-Hall</HI> Chappel, <HI>Jan.</HI> xxv. 1679.</ITEM>
<ITEM>A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable Sir <HI>John Moore</HI> Lord May|or, and the Aldermen of the City of <HI>London,</HI> at the <HI>Guild-Hall</HI> Chappel, <HI>De|cemb.</HI> 18. 1681.</ITEM>
<PB REF="104">
<ITEM><HI>The Intere&s;t of Divine Providence in the Government of the World.</HI> A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable Sir <HI>William Pritchard</HI> Lord Mayor, and the Aldermen of the City of <HI>London,</HI> at the <HI>Guild-Hall</HI> Chappel, <HI>February</HI> the 11th. 1682.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Winter-Evening Conference between Neighbours. In three Parts.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Old Religion</HI> demon&s;trated in its Principles, and de&s;cribed in the Life and Practice thereof.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Catholick Doctrine of the <HI>Eucha|ri&s;t</HI> in all Ages, in an&s;wer to what Mr. <HI>Ar|naud,</HI> Doctor of the <HI>Sorbon,</HI> alledges touch|ing the Belief of the <HI>Greek, Mo&s;covite, Armenian, Jacobite, Ne&s;torian, Coptick, Maronite,</HI> and other Ea&s;tern Churches. In Six Books. Fol.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Twenty two Sermons Preached before King <HI>Charles</HI> the Second at <HI>White-hall;</HI> by <HI>Henry Killigrew</HI> D. D. Ma&s;ter of the <HI>Savoy.</HI> Quarto.</ITEM>
<ITEM>&Egr;&Igr;&Kgr;&OHgr;&Ngr; &Bgr;&Agr;&Sgr;&Igr;&Lgr;&Igr;&Kgr;&EEgr;, The Pour|traicture of his Sacred Maje&s;ty King <HI>Charles</HI> the Fir&s;t in his Solitudes and Sufferings. In Octavo.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Royal Martyr,</HI> or the Life and Death of King <HI>Charles</HI> the Fir&s;t of ever Ble&s;&s;ed Memory. In Octavo. Written by Dr. <HI>Perinchief.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Dr. <HI>Patrick</HI>'s Treati&s;e of <HI>Repentance</HI> and of <HI>Fa&s;ting,</HI> e&s;pecially of the <HI>Lent</HI> Fa&s;t. In three Parts. Twelves.</ITEM>
<PB REF="105">
<ITEM>&mdash; 's Treati&s;e of the <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity</HI> and <HI>Frequency</HI> of Receiving the <HI>Holy Commu|nion,</HI> with Re&s;olution of <HI>Doubts.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>&mdash; 's <HI>Search the Scriptures.</HI> A Trea|ti&s;e &s;hewing that all Chri&s;tians ouhgt to read the Holy Books, with Directions to them therein.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Animadver&s;ions upon a Book In|tituled, <HI>Fanatici&s;m Fanatically Imputed to the Catholick Church,</HI> by D^r <HI>Stil|lingfleet,</HI> and the Imputation Refu|ted and Retorted by <HI>S. C.</HI> Written in Defence of the Church of <HI>Eng|land.</HI> By a Per&s;on of Honour. The Third Edition.</ITEM>
<PB REF="105">
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
