the jealous and suspicious humour of the generality of men who from the experience they have had of themselves and others are very apt to suspect that every body but especially their Superiours and Governours have a design to impose upon them for their own ends In short it is this that this noise about a God is a mere State-Engine and a Politick device invented at first by some great Prince or Minister of State to keep People in awe and order And if so from hence saith the Atheist we may easily apprehend how from such an original it might be generally propagated and become universally current having the stamp of publick authority upon it Besides that people have always been found easie to comply with the inclinations of their Prince And from hence likewise we may see the reason why this notion had continued so long For being found by experience to be so excellent an instrument of government we may be sure it would always be cherished and kept up And now he triumphs and thinks the business is very clear Thus it was some time or other most probably towards the beginning of the world if it had a beginning when all mankind was under one universal Monarch some great Nebuchadnezzar set up this Image of a Deity and commanded all people and Nations to fall down and worship it And this being found a successful device to awe people into obedience to government it hath been continued to this day and is like to last to the end of the world To this fine Conjecture I have these four things to say 1. That all this is mere conjecture and supposition he cannot bring the least shadow of proof or evidence for any one tittle of it 2. This supposition grants the opinion of a God to conduce very much to the support of government and order in the world and consequently to be very beneficial to mankind So that the Atheist cannot but acknowledge that it is great pity that it should not be true and that it is the common interest of mankind if there were but probable Arguments for it not to admit of any slight reasons against it and to punish all those who would seduce men to Atheism as the great disturbers of the world and pests of humane Society 3. This supposition can have nothing of certainty in it unless this be true that whoever makes a politick advantage of other mens principles ought to be presumed to contrive those principles into them Whereas it is much more common because more easie for men to serve their own ends of those principles or opinions which they do not put into men but find there So that if the question of a God were to be decided by the probability of this conjecture which the Atheist applauds himself most in it would be concluded in the affirmative It being much more likely since Politicians reap the advantages of obedience and a more ready submission to government from mens believing that there is a God that they found the minds of men prepossessed to their hands with the notion of a God than that they planted it there 4. We have as much evidence of the contrary to this supposition as such a thing is capable of viz. that it was not an arcanum imperii a secret of government to propagate the belief of a God among the people when the Governours themselves knew it to be a cheat For we find in the Histories of all Ages of which we have any records and of other Ages we cannot possibly judge that Princes have not been more secure from troubles of conscience and the fears of Religion and the terrors of another world nay many of them more subject to these than other men as I could give many instances and those no mean ones What made Caligula creep under the bed when it thunder'd What made Tiberius that great Master of the crafts of government complain so much of the grievous stings and lashes he felt in his Conscience What made Cardinal Woolsey that great Minister of State in our own Nation to pour forth his soul in those sad words Had I been as diligent to please my God as I have been to please my King he would not have forsaken me now in my gray hairs What reason for such actions and speeches if these great men had known that Religion was but a cheat But if they knew nothing of this secret I think we may safely conclude that the notion of a God did not come from the Court that it was not the invention of Politicians and a juggle of State to cozen the people into obedience And now from all this that hath been said it seems to be very evident that the general consent of mankind in this apprehension that there is a God must in all reason be ascribed to some more certain and universal cause than fear or tradition or State-policy viz. to this that God himself hath wrought this image of himself upon the mind of man and so woven it into the very frame of his being that like Phidias his Picture in Minerva's Shield it can never totally be defaced without the ruine of humane nature I know but one Objection that this discourse is liable to which is this That the universal consent of mankind in the apprehension of a God is no more an Argument that He really is than the general agreement of so many Nations for so many Ages in the worship of many Gods is an Argument that there are many To this I answer i. That the generality of the Philosophers and wise men of all Nations and Ages did dissent from the multitude in these things They believed but one Supreme Deity which with respect to the various benefits men received from him had several titles bestowed upon him And although they did servilely comply with the people in worshipping God by sensible images and representations yet it appears by their writings that they despised this way of worship as superstitious and unsuitable to the nature of God So that Polytheism and Idolatry are far from being able to pretend to universal consent from their having had the vote of the multitude in most Nations for several Ages together Because the opinion of the vulgar separated from the consent and approbation of the wise signifies no more than a great many Cyphers would do without figures 2. The gross ignorance and mistakes of the Heathen about God and his worship are a good argument that there is a God because they shew that men sunk into the most degenerate condition into the greatest blindness and darkness imaginable do yet retain some sense and awe of a Deity that Religion is a property of our natures and that the notion of a Deity is intimate to our understandings and sticks close to them seeing men will rather have any God than none and rather than want a Deity they will worship any thing 3. That there have been so many false Gods devis'd is rather
thus to use the Authour of our Beings and the Patron of our Lives to make a scorn of him that made us and to live in an open defiance of him in whom we live move and have our beings But this is not all As it is a most heinous so it is a most dangerous impiety to despise him that can destroy us and to oppose him who is infinitely more powerful than we are Will ye says the Apostle provoke the Lord to jealousie are ye stronger than he What Gamaliel said to the Jews in another case may with a little change be applied to this sort of men If there be a God and the principles of Religion be true ye cannot overthrow them therefore refrain from speaking against these things lest ye be found fighters against God I will but add one thing more to shew the folly of this prophane temper And that is this that as it is the greatest of all other sins so there is in truth the least temptation to it When the Devil tempts men with riches or honour to ruin themselves he offers them some kind of consideration but the prophane person serves the Devil for nought and sins only for sin's sake suffers himself to be tempted to the greatest sins and into the greatest dangers for no other reward but the slender reputation of seeming to say that wittily which no wise man would say And what a folly is this for a man to offend his conscience to please his humour and onely for his jest to lose two of the best Friends he hath in the world God and his own soul I have done with the three things I propounded to speak to upon this Argument And now I beg your patience to apply what I have said to these three purposes 1. To take men off from this impious and dangerous folly of prophaneness which by some is miscalled wit 2. To caution men not to think the worse of Religion because some are so bold as to despise and deride it 3. To perswade men to employ that reason and wit which God hath given them to better and nobler purposes in the service and to the glory of that God who hath bestowed these gifts on men 1. To take men off from this impious and dangerous folly I know not how it comes to pass that some men have the fortune to be esteemed Wits onely for jesting out of the common road and for making bold to scoff at those things which the greatest part of mankind reverence As if a man should be accounted a Wit for reviling those in Authority which is no more an argument of any man's wit than it is of his discretion A wise man would not speak contemptuously of a great Prince though he were out of his Dominions because he remembers that Kings have long hands and that their power and influence does many times reach a great way farther than their direct Authority But God is a great King and in his hand are all the corners of the earth we can go no whither from his Spirit nor can we flee from his presence where-ever we are his eye sees us and his right hand can reach us If men did truly consult the interest either of their safety or reputation they would never exercise their wit in dangerous matters Wit is a very commendable quality but then a wise man should always have the keeping of it It is a sharp weapon as apt for mischief as for good purposes if it be not well manag'd The proper use of it is to season conversation to represent what is praise-worthy to the greatest advantage and to expose the vices and follies of men such things as are in themselves truly ridiculous But if it be applied to the abuse of the gravest and most serious matters it then loses its commendation If any man think he abounds in this quality and hath wit to spare there is scope enough for it within the bounds of Religion and decency and when it transgresseth these it degenerates into insolence and impiety All wit which borders upon prophaneness and makes bold with those things to which the greatest reverence is due deserves to be branded for folly And if we would preserve our selves from the infection of this vice we must take heed how we scoff at Religion under any form lest insensibly we derive some contempt upon Religion it self And we must likewise take heed how we accustom our selves to a slight and irreverent use of the Name of God and of the phrases and expressions of the Holy Bible which ought not to be applied upon every light occasion Men will easily slide into the highest degree of prophaneness who are not careful to preserve a due reverence of the great and glorious Name of God and an awfull regard to the Holy Scriptures None so nearly disposed to scoffing at Religion as those who have accustomed themselves to swear upon trifling occasions For it is just with God to permit those who allow themselves in one degree of prophaneness to proceed to another till at last they come to that height of impiety as to contemn all Religion 2. Let no man think the worse of Religion because some are so bold as to despise and deride it For 't is no disparagement to any person or thing to be laught at but to deserve to be so The most grave and serious matters in the whole world are liable to be abus'd It is a known saying of Epictetus that every thing hath two handles By which he means that there is nothing so bad but a man may lay hold of something or other about it that will afford matter of excuse and extenuation nor nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it A sharp wit may find something in the wisest man whereby to expose him to the contempt of injudicious people The gravest book that ever was written may be made ridiculous by applying the sayings of it to a foolish purpose For a jest may be obtruded upon any thing And therefore no man ought to have the less reverence for the principles of Religion or for the holy Scriptures because idle and prophane Wits can break jests upon them Nothing is so easie as to take particular phrases and expressions out of the best Book in the world and to abuse them by forcing an odd and ridiculous sense upon them But no wise man will think a good Book foolish for this reason but the man that abuses it nor will he esteem that to which every thing is liable to be a just exception against any thing At this rate we must despise all things but surely the better and the shorter way is to contemn those who would bring any thing that is worthy into contempt 3. And lastly to perswade men to employ that reason and wit which God hath given them to better and nobler purposes in the service and to the glory of that God who hath
to the good order and more easie government of humane Society because they have a good influence both upon Magistrates and Subjects 1. Upon Magistrates Religion teacheth them to rule over men in the fear of God because though they be Gods on earth yet they are subjects of Heaven and accountable to Him who is higher than the highest in this world Religion in a Magistrate strengthens his authority because it procures veneration and gains a reputation to it And in all the affairs of this world so much reputation is really so much power We see that piety and Vertue where they are found among men of lower degree will command some reverence and respect But in persons of eminent place and dignity they are seated to a great advantage so as to cast a lustre upon their very Place and by a strong reflexion to double the beams of Majesty Whereas impiety and vice do strangely lessen greatness and do secretly and unavoidably derive some weakness upon authority it self Of this the Scripture gives us a remarkable instance in David For among other things which made the Sons of Zurviah too hard for him this probably was none of the least that they were particularly conscious to his crimes 2. Religion hath a good influence upon the People to make them obedient to Government and peaceable one towards another 1. To make them obedient to Government and conformable to Laws and that not onely for wrath and out of fear of the Magistrates power which is but a weak and loofe principle of obedience and will cease when ever men can rebel with safety and to advantage but out of Conscience which is a firm and constant and lasting principle and will hold a man fast when all other obligations will break He that hath entertain'd the true principles of Christianity is not to be tempted from his obedience and subjection by any worldly considerations because he believes that whatsoever resisteth authority resisteth the ordinance of God and that they who resist shall receive to themselves damnation 2. Religion tends to make men peaceable one towards another For it endeavours to plant all those qualities and dispositions in men which tend to peace and unity and to fill men with a spirit of universal love and good will It endeavours likewise to secure every man's interest by commanding the observation of that great rule of equity Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them by enjoyning that truth and fidelity be inviolably observed in all our words promises and contracts And in order hereunto it requires the extirpation of all those passions and vices which render men unsociable and troublesome to one another as pride covetousness and injustice hatred and revenge and cruelty and those likewise which are not so commonly reputed vices as self-conceit and peremptoriness in a man 's own opinion and all peevishness and incompliance of humour in things lawful and indifferent And that these are the proper effects of true piety the doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles every where teacheth us Now if this be the design of Religion to bring us to this temper thus to heal the natures of men and to sweeten their spirits to correct their passions and to mortifie all those lusts which are the causes of enmity and division then it is evident that in its own nature it tends to the peace and happiness of humane society and that if men would but live as Religion requires they should do the world would be a quiet habitation a most lovely and desirable place in comparison of what now it is And indeed the true reason why the societies of men are so full of tumult and disorder so troublesome and tempestuous is because there is so little of true Religion among men so that were it not for some small remainders of piety and vertue which are yet left scatter'd among mankind humane society would in a short space disband and run into confusion the earth would grow wild and become a great forest and mankind would become beasts of prey one towards another And if this discourse hold true surely then one would think that vertue should find it self a seat where-ever humane societies are and that Religion should be owned and encouraged in the world until men cease to be governed by reason II. I come to vindicate this truth from the insinuations and pretences of atheistical persons I shall mention two 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God and a state of rewards and punishments after this life 2. That as for vertue and vice they are arbitrary things 1. That Government may subsist well enough without the belief of a God or a state of rewards and punishments after this life And this the Atheist does and must assert otherwise he is by his own confession a declared enemy to Government and unfit to live in humane society For answer to this I will not deny but that though the generality of men did not believe any superior Being nor any rewards and punishments after this life yet notwithstanding this there might be some kind of Government kept up in the world For supposing men to have reason the necessities of humane nature and the mischiefs of confusion would probably compel them into some kind of order But then I say withall that if these principles were banished out of the world Government would be far more difficult than now it is because it would want its firmest Basis and foundation there would be infinitely more disorders in the world if men were restrained from injustice and violence onely by humane laws and not by principles of conscience and the dread of another world Therefore Magistrates have always thought themselves concerned to cherish Religion and to maintain in the minds of men the belief of a God and another life Nay that common suggestion of atheistical persons that Religion was at first a politick device and is still kept up in the world as a State-engine to awe men into obedience is a clear acknowledgment of the usefulness of it to the ends of Government and does as fully contradict that pretence of theirs which I am now confuting as any thing that can be said 2. That vertue and vice are arbitrary things founded onely in the imaginations of men and in the constitutions and customs of the world but not in the nature of the things themselves and that that is vertue or vice good or evil which the Supream Authority of a Nation declares to be so And this is frequently and confidently asserted by the ingenious Author of a very bad Book I mean the Leviathan Now the proper way of answering any thing that is confidently asserted is to shew the contrary namely That there are some things that have a natural evil and deformity in them as perjury perfidiousness unrighteousness and ingratitude which are things not onely condemned by the positive laws and constitutions of
out-cry of all is p. 57 77. that I abuse his first Demonstration by vertue of a direct falsification both of his words and sense by cogging in the word all making his principle run thus that the greatest hopes and fears are applied to the minds of all Christians This indeed I make to be his Principle grounded upon his words which I had cited a little before and they are these First That Christian Doctrine was at first unanimously settled by the Apostles in the hearts of the faithfull dispers'd in great multitudes over several parts of the world 2ly That this Doctrine was firmly believed by all those faithfull to be the way to Heaven and the contradicting or deserting of it to be the way to damnation so that the greatest hopes and fears imaginable were by engaging the divine Authority strongly apply'd to the minds of the first Believers c. Now if these first believers to whom he says these hopes and fears were strongly apply'd be all those faithfull he spoke of before which were dispers'd over several parts of the world as the tenor of his words plainly shews what are these less than all the Christians of that Age and he himself a little after tells us there is the same reason of the following Ages So that I made his Principle run no otherwise than he himself had laid it And if it contradict what he says elsewhere it is no new or strange thing I wonder more at his confidence in charging such falsifications upon me as every man's eyes will presently confute him in Methinks though a man had all Science and all Principles yet it might not be amiss to have some Conscience I shall only speak a few words to the two solid Points as I may call them of his Letter and I have done I had charg'd him that he makes Traditions certainty a first and self-evident Principle and yet that he goes about to demonstrate it which I said was impossible to be done and if it could be done was needless To avoid this inconvenience which he found himself sorely press'd with all he distinguishes between Speculative and Practical self-evidence and says that things which are practically self-evident may be demonstrated but those that are speculatively so cannot But he must not think to shelter himself from so palpable an absurdity by this impertinent distinction For let things be evident how they will speculatively or practically 't is plain that if they be Principles evident of themselves they need nothing to evidence them and if they be first Principles there can be nothing to make them more evident because there is nothing before them to demonstrate them by Now if Mr. S. had in truth believed that the certainty of Tradition was a first and self-evident Principle he should by all means have let it alone for it was in a very good condition to shift for it self but his blind way of Demonstration is enough to cast a mist about the clearest Truth in the world But perhaps by the self-evident certainty of Tradition Mr. S. onely means that it is evident to himself for I dare say it is so to no body else And if that be his meaning he did well enough to endeavour to demonstrate it it was no more than needed The other Point is about his First Principles such as these a Rule is a Rule Faith is Faith c. which he says †P. 11. must principle all that can be solidly concluded either about Rule or Faith Of these he hath mighty store and blesseth himself in it as the Rich man in the Gospel did in his full Barns Soul take thine ease thou hast Principles laid up for many years and out of an excess of good nature pities my case who did undertake to write a Discourse about the Ground of Faith P. 74. without so much as one Principle to bless my self with But the mischief is that after all this stir about them they are good for nothing and of the very same stamp with that frivolous one Aristotle speaks of if a thing be it is Analyt Poster l. 1 which he rejects as a vain and ridiculous Proposition Such are Mr. S's first Principles surfeited of too much truth as an ingenious Writer of his own Church says of them and ready to burst with self-evidence and yet by ten thousand of them a man shall not be able to advance one step in knowledge because they produce no conclusion but themselves whereas it is of the nature of Principles to yeild a Conclusion different from themselves And to convince Mr. S. fully of the foolery of these Principles I will try what can be done with them either in a Categorical or Hypothetical Syllogism e. g. A Rule is a Rule Tradition is a Rule Ergo Tradition is a Rule Again If a Rule be a Rule then a Rule is a Rule But a Rule is a Rule Ergo. How is any man the wiser for all this But it may be Mr. S. can make better work with them and manage them more dextrously so as to principle any thing that can be solidly concluded in any Controversie And now I hope at last to have given Mr. S. full satisfaction since he has brought me to the very point he desir'd to acknowledge that I have no Principles And indeed if there be no other to be had but such as these I do declare to all the world that I neither have any Principles nor will have any The Texts of each Sermon JOB 28.28 And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisedom and to depart from evil is understanding page 1 2 Pet. 3.3 Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own lusts p. 101 Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is the reproach of any people p. 129 Psalm 19.11 And in keeping of them there is great reward p. 151 Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. p. 179 1 Joh. 5.3 And his Commandments are not grievous p. 213 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity p. 243 Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven p. 273 JOB XXVIII 28. And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding IN this Chapter Job discourseth of the secrets of nature and the unsearchable perfections of the works of God And the result of his discourse is this That a perfect knowledge of Nature is no where to be found but in the Author of it no less wisdom and understanding than that which made the world and contrived this vast and regular frame of Nature can throughly understand the Philosophy of it and comprehend so vast a design But yet there is a knowledge which is very proper to man and lies level to humane understanding and that is
perfectos Philosophos turpiter vivere that some great Philosophers led very filthy lives Celsus and Porphyry Hierocles and Julian among all their witty invectives against Christian Religion have nothing against it that reflects so much upon it as do the wicked lives of so many Christians The greatest enmity to Religion is to profess it and to live unanswerably to it This consideration ought greatly to affect us I am sure the Apostle speaks of it with great passion and vehemency For many walk of whom I have told you often Phil. 3.18 and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things A Jew or a Turk is not so great an enemy to Christianity as a lewd and vitious Christian Therefore let me beseech Christians as they tender the honour of their Saviour and the credit of their Religion that they would conform their lives to the holy precepts of Christianity And if there be any who are resolved to continue in a vitious course to the injury and disparagement of Christianity I could almost entreat of them that they would quit their profession and renounce their Baptism that they would lay aside their title of Christians and initiate themselves in Heathenish rites and superstitions or be circumcised for Jews or Turks For it were really better upon some accounts that such men should abandon their Profession than keep on a vizard which serves to no other purpose but to scare others from Religion 3. And Lastly let us consider the danger we expose our selves to by not living answerably to our Religion And this I hope may prevail upon such as are not moved by the former considerations Hypocrites are instanc'd in Scripture as a sort of sinners that shall have the sharpest torments and the fiercest damnation When our Saviour would set forth the great severity of the Lord towards the evil servant he expresseth it thus Mat. 24.51 he shall cut him in sudden and appoint him his portion with Hypocrites So that the punishment of Hypocrites seems to be made in the measure and standard of the highest punishment Thou professest to believe in Christ and to hope in him for salvation but in the mean time thou livest a wicked and unholy life thou dost not believe but presume on him and wilt find at the great day that this thy confidence will be thy confusion and he whom thou hopest will be thy Advocate and Saviour will prove thy Accuser and thy Judge What our Saviour says to the Jews There is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust may very well be applied to false Christians Joh. 5.45 there is one that accuseth you and will condemn you even Jesus in whom ye trust The profession of Christianity and mens having the name of Christ named upon them will be so far from securing them from Hell that it will sink them the deeper into it Many are apt to pity the poor Heathens who never heard of the name of Christ and sadly to condole their case but as our Saviour said upon another occasion Weep not for them weep for your selves There 's no such miserable person in the world as a degenerate Christian because he falls into the greatest misery from the greatest advantages and opportunities of being happy Dost thou lament the condition of Socrates and Cato and Aristides and doubt what shall become of them at the day of Judgment and canst thou who art an impious and prophane Christian think that thou shalt escape the damnation of Hell Dost thou believe that the moral Heathen shall be cast out and canst thou who hast led a wicked life under the profession of Christianity have the impudence to hope that thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God No those sins which are committed by Christians under the enjoyment of the Gospel are of deeper dye and clothed with blacker aggravations than the sins of Heathens are capable of A Pagan may live without God in the world and be unjust towards men at a cheaper rate and upon easier terms than thou who art a Christian Better had it been thou hadst never known one syllable of the Gospel never heard of the name of Christ than that having taken it upon thee thou shouldst not depart from iniquity Happy had it been for thee that thou hadst been born a Jew or a Turk or a poor Indian rather than that being bred among Christians and professing thy self of that number thou shouldst lead a vitious and unholy life I have insisted the longer upon these arguments that I might if possible awaken men to a serious consideration of their lives and perswade them to a real reformation of them that I may oblige all those who call themselves Christians to live up to the essential and fundamental Laws of our Religion to love God and to love our neighbour to do to every man as we would have him to do to us to mortifie our lusts and subdue our passions and sincerely to endeavour to grow in every grace and vertue and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God This indeed would become our profession and be honourable to our Religion and would remove one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of the Gospel For how can we expect that the doctrine of God our Saviour should gain any considerable ground in the world so long as by the unworthy lives of so many Christians 't is represented to the world at so great disadvantage If ever we would have Christian Religion effectually recommended it must be by the holy and unblameable lives of those who make profession of it Then indeed it would look with so amiable a countenance as to invite many to it and carry so much majesty and authority in it as to command reverence from its greatest enemies and make men to acknowledge that God is in us of a truth and to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven The good God grant that as we have taken upon us the profession of Christianity so we may be carefull so to live that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things that the grace of God which bringeth salvation may teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost c. PHIL. III. 20. For our Conversation is in Heaven FOR the understanding of which words we need to look back no further than the 18th verse of this Chapter where the Apostle with great vehemency and passion speaks of some among the Philippians who indeed profess'd Christianity but yet would do any thing to