which what can be more shameful and ridiculous Vulcan is a limping crazy God Apollo though he has liv'd so many Ages is still a beardless Boy whereas his Son Aesculapius has a fair and comely Beard Neptune's Eyes are blue Minerva's gray Juno has Ox-Eyes Pan's Feet are garnish'd with claws Saturn's are charg'd with fetters and Mercury's fledg'd with Wings Janus has two faces as if he would go backward and forward at once Diana the Huntress has her Garments tuck'd up to her thighs but She at Ephesus is in a manner made up all of paps As she is the Goddess of Hell they give her three Heads and good store of Arms and Hands Yea your Jupiter himself sometimes has a Beard of much gravity and at other times has a Chin as bare as my hand When he has the Sirname of Hammon he wears horns when that of Capitolinus he is arm'd with Thunder-bolts when that of Latiaris he is all besmear'd with blood and when that of Feretrius he is very still and quiet And not to go over the many several Jupiters there being as many Monsters of him as there are Names Erigone hangs her self and the Merit of Self-murther hath advanc'd her to shine a perpetual Virgin among the Stars Castor and Pollux dye and live by turns Aesculapius is struck down with a Thunderbolt that with the greater Ceremony he may rise up a God And Hercules must burn himself upon Mount Octa to get rid of his Humanity These are the fine Stories which we learn from our ignorant Fore-fathers and what is worse make them the subject of our Studies and a great piece of Learning In these the Poets excel all others and have by their Authority done vast prejudice to the Truth So that Plato was much in the right when he banish'd Homer that renown'd celebrated and crown'd Poet out of his Common-wealth For it is he chiefly who in his Poem of the Trojan Wars has made a mock of the Gods by mingling them so familiarly in the actions and affairs of Men. He brings them in fighting together He wounds Venus He fetters and binds Mars wounds him and puts him to flight He make Briareus to rescue Jupiter out of the hands of the rest of the Gods when they were conspiring to bind him to his good behaviour and represents him lamenting the death of his Son Sarpedon as not being able to prevent it He describes him embracing his Juno with more heat than he us'd to do his belov'd Mistresses being inflam'd with Venus's Girdle Hercules is made a Scavenger and cleanseth Stables Apollo turns Cow-herd to Admetus Neptune binds himself as a Day-labourer to Laomedon to build up the Walls of Troy and is so unhappy withal as not to be paid for his drudgery Aeneas's Armour and Jupiter's Thunder-bolt are both hammer'd out upon one and the same Anvil as if Heaven and its Thunders had not been long before Jupiter was born in Crete or as if the Cyclopses could have made those affrighting flashes which Jupiter himself could not choose but be afraid of What shall I say of Mars and Venus being caught in the very Fact of Adultery or of Jupiter's abominable filthiness with Ganymedes whom he translated into Heaven All which Fables were invented on purpose to authorize the faults and vices of Men. And it is with those and such like pleasing Fictions and Lyes that the Minds of Youth are corrupted and being instill'd into them in their tender years grow up with them to Manhood So that which is to be lamented in their very old Age their Minds continue tainted with these sottish Fancies And yet the truth of these Matters is most plain and evident to those who will take the pains to enquire into it All the Antient Writers whether Greek or Roman do unanimously assert that Saturn the first of the goodly Generation of Gods was but a Man This Nepos and Crassus do affirm in their History and Thallus and Diodorus relate the same thing viz. That this Saturn for fear of falling into his Son's hands fled out of Greece into Italy where Janus receiv'd him into his house and being a Grecian full of ingenuity and instructed in Arts and Sciences taught those barbarous people several things as the forming of the Letters of the Alphabet coining of Money and making diverse sorts of useful Instruments He call'd the Country Latium as if he had said an Hiding-place because he had found there a safe retreat to hide and conceal himself from the attempts of his Son and to the end he might have his Memory preserv'd he call'd the City from his own Name Saturnia as Janus call'd the City built upon the Hill Janniculus by that Name to rescue his own from oblivion You see then plainly that Saturn was a Man for he was fain to flee and hide himself and was the Father as well as the Son of a Man And whereas they call'd him the Son of Heaven and Earth it was only because his Original and Parentage were unknown to the Italians as we are wont to say of those that come unexpectedly upon us that they are dropt from the Skies and of such whose birth is mean and obscure that they are the Sons of the Earth As for Jupiter he Reign'd in Crete after he had banish'd his Father from that Island there he begot Children and there he was buried And at this very day they shew the Cave which bears his Name and point you to the Grave where he was interred yea and the very Ceremonies they use in his Worship declare him to have been a Man It would be to no purpose to insist on particulars and to recount his whole Genealogy It is enough that we have prov'd the Father was Mortal to convince that the same Quality was conveigh'd to all his Posterity except you suppose that they became Gods after their Death as by the Perjury of Proculus Romulus was rank'd among the Number of the Gods or as Juba by the unanimous consent and desire of the Africans was made a God and as other Kings were Deifi'd by their Subjects not because they really believ'd them to be Gods but to give them a more honourable discharge from their Soveraignty Besides this extravagant Honour is confer'd upon them against their Wills they desire to continue Men as they are and are afraid of being Deify'd and though old are not at all ambitious of that Glory Wherefore we are not to look for Gods among those that dye because the Gods are Immortal nor among those who are born because they are likewise obnoxious to Death That only deserves the Name of a Deity which hath neither Beginning nor End For if Gods were ever born why are they not so still except you will say that now Jupiter is too old and Juno past Child-bearing or that they are of the humour of Minerva who chose to be an old Maid rather than a Mother Or indeed have not those pretended Deities ceased to
Marcus Minucius Felix HIS OCTAVIVS OR A Vindication OF CHRISTIANITY AGAINST Paganism Translated by P. LORRAIN Gent. LONDON Printed by J. M. for R Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1682. TO THE REVEREND JOHN TILLOTSON D.D. DEAN of CANTERBURY and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY REVEREND SIR WHEREAS other Dedications are grounded merely upon Respect and Honour or upon the prospect of some Advantage to the Book or Author this is more immediately an Effect of Justice since it is by Your Encouragement that this Translation appears in Publick You having been pleased to peruse and approve it Yet this SIR is not all I have to alledge for this Dedication For whether I consider You as a Zealous Defender of our Christian Religion against Atheism or of our Reformed Religion against the Romish Superstion which is the old Paganism reviv'd and varnish'd over I cannot make a fitter Choice of a Patron either for MINVCIVS FELIX or myself who am REVEREND SIR Your most oblig'd and Most devoted Servant PAUL LORRAIN London July 10. 1682. THE PREFACE THOUGH a Preface to so small a Treatise as this is may by some be judged needless and superfluous yet having reason to believe that the READER will not be unwilling to understand something concerning the Book it self its Author and the End of publishing it in English I shall endeavour as briefly as may be to give him all the satisfaction I can AS for the Treatise it self which contains a Conference or Dispute between a Heathen and a Christian in defence of their respective Religions it has been always accounted one of the most Eloquent and Curious Pieces that Antiquity has transmitted to us and in which so many Excellencies shine forth as it is hard to determine whether it be more eloquent or pithy more florid or sound and convincing The Relations are succinct and clear the Arguments strong and perswasive the Allegations pertinent and delightful and the Whole deck'd with so comely a grace and such lively figures of Rhetorick as makes it truly admirable The Heathen enters the Lists first and alledges all that can be thought of in favour of Pagan Idolatry and all that the Hell-born Malice of those times had invented against the Christians pressing it home with all the advantages that Art and Learning can afford The Christian on the other side with a great deal of soundness and address overthrows all his Reasonings in defence of Heathen Superstition beats him with his own Weapon demonstrates to the eye the palpable falseness of those Scandals rais'd against the Christians and asserts their Religion with so much vigor and truth and represents it so lively as it was all beautiful in its primitive Purity and Simplicity that it can't but greatly affect and delight the Devout READER who must needs rejoyce to see the Natural amiableness and Charms of that Religion which alas the Superstitious inventions and the unsuitable lives of its Professors have so miserably disguis'd Besides all this the Discourse contains such an immense variety of Instances and Histories of great Antiquity suited to the Dispute in hand as makes the reading of it very pleasant and agreeable insomuch that I dare say that never more Matter was crouded into so small a Volume But I should be too tedious should I endeavour but to touch the Heads of those peculiar Excellencies it is adorned with wherefore I shall break off here and add a few words concerning the Author MINUCIUS FELIX whom we find to have been a Roman Knight and by Profession a Lawyer or Advocate who were commonly call'd Orators And as to the Reputation he was in St JEROME's Testimony may suffice for all who calls him a Great Roman Orator And indeed he who peruses the Book in Latin shall find that he was no less As touching the Parties introduc'd to maintain the Dispute we have no further account to give of them what they were besides what 's here express'd though some suppose that the CAECILIUS here mentioned was that Great CAECILIUS who was afterwards so Famous amongst the Christians and in remembrance of whom St CYPRIAN took the Name of CAECILIANUS THE End of my Translating this Great Orator was chiefly that this rare and useful Piece might no longer walk up and down as a Stranger amongst us but become of our familiar acquaintance by appearing in an English Garb though I can't but confess that the hopes I conceiv'd that my Name might exempt it self from common Oblivion by being seen in the Title-Page with the Famous MINUCIUS FELIX was no small inducement to me to undertake this Labour But besides all this I thought this Treatise would be of special use in this Atheistical and Apostatizing Age to represent to our unthinking Godless Crew the unreasonableness of what they would so fain make themselves and others believe viz. That this Universe is an Effect of Chance and not of Wisdom and that the Glorious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth had no Architect but was at all adventures jumbled together into this Excellent Order by a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms An Opinion so grosly contradictory to Sense and Reason that it cannot be admitted by any but those who have shaken hands with their own Nature and by their Vices and Debaucheries have degraded themselves beneath the Beasts that perish for they know and acknowledge their Masters and Benefactors But these more Brutish than the Beasts know neither their own nor the World's Great Lord and Maker Neither will it as I hope prove less seasonable in this dark night of Apostasie to hold forth to our nominal Christians but practical Heathens the genuine Lustre and Brightness of that Holy Profession which once shone so gloriously in the Countenances and Lives of its Primitive Embracers that it made all the World to be in love with or to admire it if by this means they might be brought to bethink themselves and at length to return into the Way of Truth and Holiness from whence they are gone astray AS to this Translation the READER may be pleas'd to take notice that I have all along made great use of the French of Monsieur D' ABLANCOURT so worthily esteem'd by Ingenious Men yet not without having an eye to and continual comparing of it with the Original Latin though I never thought it fitting to tye my self too superstitiously to the Authors Words but deem'd it sufficient to express his Sense which I have been very careful not to vary from in the least For I conceiv'd it my duty where I could not attain his Graces and Ornaments at least to speak his Mind and to give the Substance of his Arguments where my poor ability could not reach to clothe them in so rich a Dress For all which I challenge nothing but the READER's Acceptance and where it needs his Pardon which might perhaps be an Encouragement to me to attempt something further in the like kind hereafter FAREWEL Marcus Minucius Felix HIS OCTAVIVS OR A
it will be no hard task to demonstrate to you that all the things of this World are uncertain and doubtful and that the knowledge we have of 'em is rather Opinion than Certainty so that I cannot but wonder when I see some Men so lazy as rather inconsiderately to yield to the first Opinion that presents it self than to be at the pains to search things to the bottom It is indeed a thing to be lamented and which puts one into a passion to think on 't to see some ignorant men who have no manner of Learning and do scarce throughly understand any of the ordinary Mechanick Arts boldly to decide the highest and most important Matters in the World which have exercis'd the Wits of the Philosophers of all Ages and who after all have never been able to come to a final determination of them For Man's understanding is so little capable of such transcendent knowledge that we cannot apprehend even things that lye at our feet And it seems to me a kind of impiety to be so curious as to sound the secrets of Providence and in our inquiries to reach after the heights of Heaven above or to rifle the bowels of the Earth beneath Happy therefore and wise enough should we be if according to the ancient Oracle of Wisdom we could but know our selves and keep our mind from this vexatious and unprofitable labour and confine it within the bounds of Reason and its own mediocrity And if notwithstanding our creeping on the ground as we do we cannot hinder our selves from attempting to mount up to the Heavens and to soar above the Stars let us not at least add this second Error to the former and fill the World with vain Opinions and Fancies on purpose to affright men For whether the Principles of Things be certain Seeds which by a Natural propensity have joyn'd and united themselves together or that the Members of all this spacious Universe have meerly by Chance been fram'd and settled in the orderly manner in which they now are What reason is there why men should fancy a God Creator of the World What if we suppose the Fire to have kindled the Stars and the matter whereof the Heavens are made to have spread and sustain'd it self that the Earth was poised by its own weight and the Sea made out of the moisture which was drain'd from that heavy lump What ground is there in all this for this Religion for these Fears What means all this Superstition Pray what is Man and all other Creatures in the World but a mixture of Elements which in a short time dissolve themselves and return into their first Being without the help of an overseer workman or disposer of all these Changes Thus by a continual confluence of the fiery parts of matter of which the Celestial Lights are made we daily behold new Suns to shine And by a like cause the Vapours and Exhalations of the Earth produce Clouds which afterwards being condensed and by degrees carried upwards do at last dissolve themselves into Rain or else cause blustring Winds ratling Hail roaring Thunder and dazling Lightning Which is the reason also why these Meteors do casually and indifferently discharge themselves sometimes on the top of a Hill sometimes on a Tree sometimes upon Temples and Consecrated places sometimes upon Palaces sometimes on such as fear God and sometimes upon those that contemn him Shall I speak of the variety and uncertainty of Storms and tempestuous weather wherein it is easy to be observ'd that without any choice or exception all things here below are turn'd topsy-turvy Don't we see both good and bad involv'd in the self same shipwrack without any distinction of Vice and Virtue the guilty and innocent consum'd in one fire and almost all confusedly perish in time of Plague and in War the best many times are the first cut off Nay in time of Peace Wickedness is not only upon equal terms with Virtue but prefer'd and ador'd So that when a man considereth the prosperity of the Wicked he is at a loss what to think of them and does not know whether he has more reason to detest their Crimes or desire their happiness Now if the World were govern'd by a Divine Providence and the authority of a wise and powerful Being surely Phalaris and Dionysius the Tyrant had never mounted a Throne nor Rutilius and Camillus ever been banish'd nor Socrates forc'd to take down the deadly draught We see here Trees loaden with Fruits Fields well stor'd with Corn and Hills with Grapes ready for Vintage which promise a plentiful Harvest and all on a suddain this may be utterly spoil'd with rain or destroy'd by a tempest Surely it must be own'd that either Truth lyes deep buried and the secret springs and wheels of Providence are altogether unknown or which is the most probable that Chance only governs the World without any Law or Order And therefore since either the vicissitudes and motions of Nature are uncertain or we our selves certainly under the Dominion of Fortune how much more reasonable and just is it to retain the Doctrine of our Ancestors and adore the Gods which our Fathers have worshipp'd and in whose Service we have been brought up from our infancy than to go about to judge of Things so far above our reach as the Deity is And is it not better and safer to believe our first Fore-fathers who living in an Age of great simplicity and in the very infancy of the World deserv'd to have their Gods either easie and propitious or exercising a gentle government like that of Kings For indeed we see all the Towns Provinces and Kingdoms of the World have some Religion or other and peculiar Ceremonies each worshipping their own Country-Gods as the Eleusinians do Ceres the Phrygians Cybele the Epidaurians Aesculapius the Chaldeans Bell the Assyrians and Sydonians Astarte the Scythians Diana the Gauls Mercurius and the Romans all of them together which is the reason why their Power is so greatly encreas'd and themselves become Masters of the whole World having carried their Dominion almost beyond the course of the Sun and the bounds of the Ocean For by the Religion and Valour of their Arms by guarding their City with the Service of the Gods Nunneries of Vestals and other Chast Votaries with a vast number of Priests and Ceremonies by appeasing their angry Gods when other Nations would have Blasphemed them and even at that time when Rome was sackt and had nothing left her but the Capitol by adventuring in celebrating their Mysteries to pass unarm'd through the Camp of their Enemies whom they astonished and daunted with the bold daringness of their Zeal by continuing still to worship their vanquished Gods even at the very instant when their Enemies having taken their City made 'em feel the insolence which their Victory prompted them to by searching for Deities throughout the World to adore them and give them Temples at Rome nay besides all this
rashness upon the doubtfulness and uncertainty of all things and had rather condemn every thing and believe nothing at all than concern themselves in Matters that are so doubtful and lyable to mistake 'T is therefore our interest to have a care lest this should make us have an aversion for all manner of Discourse and Conferences or which is worse make us distast and hate the company of Men. For those who easily believe any thing finding themselves frequently deceiv'd by persons whom they before esteem'd homest and good Men fall into another extreme which is That they suspect all the World and mistrust even those in whom they have reason to repose the greatest confidence Wherefore since it is so natural for every one to employ all their might in the vindication of their own Opinions and since also in such Disputes as these the one has commonly more Truth on his side though obscure and unperceiv'd and the other more Wit and Eloquence even so far as sometimes to perswade things that are not it is our Duty to ponder and consider of the Whole with all the strictness and exactness imaginable that we may pick out approve and receive what 's good in it contenting our selves to commend what is wittily said without believing it YOU transgress the bounds and keep not the measures of an equal Judg reply'd Caecilius by interrupting our Dispute with a Discourse that endeavours to weaken the strength and take away the credit of what I have said especially seeing Octavius has all the Particulars of my Reasoning whole and entire before him and may answer and refute them if he can And for all your reflecting on my Discourse if I be not mistaken I have done nothing but what 's for the interest of us both having endeavour'd only to exhibite a Compendium of the Matters in Question between us to the end that what I have deliver'd might be examin'd rather by the force and soundness of Reason than by any high and pompous Eloquence And we ought not any more take off our attention from considering the Things themselves as you well observe since our Januarius is now preparing and raising himself to take his turn if we can but have the patience to hear him with silence I SHALL speak said Octavius as much to the purpose as I can But we must first endeavour to wipe off all injuries calumnies and reflections and to dispel those clouds with the light of Truth To begin therefore I must first of all tell you plainly That you have express'd so great an uncertainty about the things you spoke of that I doubted whether you fail'd in point of Learning or Knowledge or were blinded by Error For sometimes you said that you believ'd there were Gods and sometimes again that you did not know what to believe of 'em as if you had a design by your ambiguous Expressions to avoid the dint of my Answer But I can't think this of Caecilius These crafty tricks are beneath the greatness of his Wit and the simplicity of his temper But he does like those who knowing not the way stop when it divides into many and are at a loss which to take because they cannot believe them all right and dare not chuse any one In like manner he who hath no firm judgment of Truth is doubtful and divided in his Opinion about it according as the reasons on either side do incline and sway him by turns Therefore it is no wonder if Caecilius also be toss'd to and fro by contrary Opinions Which that he may no longer be I will convince him of the Variety of his Errors by representing Truth to him which is but one and so settle and establish him for ever And because he takes it so heinously that unlearned and poor ignorant people as he calls us should maintain any Dispute about Divine Matters he must understand that all Men are born reasonable Creatures without any distinction of Age Quality or Sex and owe not their Wisdom to Fortune but to Nature Besides that Philosophers and other renowned Inventors of Arts and Sciences were accounted but mean people illiterate and poor till their wisdom made them Famous So true it is that the Rich who idolize their Treasures make more account of their Gold than of Heaven whereas such poor Fellows as we have always been the Searchers-out of Wisdom and Teachers of it to others Whereby we may plainly see that Wit and Wealth do not always go together neither is it so much the Effect of great Study and Industry as an advantage of Nature Men ought not therefore to quarrel or be angry when they see others make it their business to inquire into the truth of Divine Mysteries and declare the understanding they have of them seeing we ought not to regard so much the Authority or Quality of the Disputer as the Weight and Truth of what is said The strength of Reason appears most clearly when the Discourse is stript of all external Ornaments and Flourishes not painted and set off with an artificial Grace and Eloquence but supported by Truth which is the Rule of Right and Wrong Not that I deny for all that what Caecilius has given himself so much trouble to prove viz. That Man ought to know himself what he is from whence and for what end Whether he be compounded of the Elements or made up of Atoms or rather fram'd fashion'd and animated by GOD himself But this we cannot resolve without inquiring into the nature of the Universe seeing both these things have so near a relation and are so straitly linked to one another that we cannot rightly apprehend what Man is without a diligent enquiry into the nature of the Deity nor be able to manage the civil Affairs of this World without being acquainted with the constitution of this great City of the Universe And indeed it being this especially that makes us differ from Brutes that whereas they are continually stooping downwards to the ground looking no higher than their Food we on the contrary who have our Faces rais'd upwards to behold Heaven and are endued with the use of Speech and Reason which teaches us to acknowledge GOD to perceive and imitate Him we cannot without guilt shut our Eyes against this clear Light which continually glares upon our Senses it being the highest kind of Sacriledge to seek that on Earth which is not to be found but in Heaven And to speak the truth one must be blind and senseless to fancy all this great and admirable Fabrick of the World to have been form'd by a fortuitous concourse of blind senseless and unthinking Atoms rather than by the unsearchable Wisdom and immense Power of a God For what can be more plain evident or conspicuous whether we lift up our Eyes to Heaven or cast them down to the Earth than that there is an inconceivably-powerful and wise Spirit which does inspire influence move cherish and conduct whole Nature and every part of it
Do but behold the Heavens Let your thoughts out into the vastness of their Extension consider the swiftness of their course view them by night when they sparkle and are all bespangl'd with Stars or by day when they are all bright and resplendent from the Sun and you will easily discern the wonderful and Divine skill of the Supream Governour in the ordering and poizing of all these Again consider how the Sun by his course through the Zodiack measures out the Year and distinguishes its Seasons as the Moon does the Months by her increase and decrease What shall I say of this continual vicissitude of Light and Darkness which affords us the agreeable and necessary enterchange of Labour and Rest But I must leave the further discourse of the Stars to the Astrologers whose proper business it is to inquire into their Virtues and influences and who teach us which of them rule the Winds and inform the wary Mariner in the Art of Navigation and which of them determine the time for Plowing and Reaping and are the perpetual Almanack of the laborious Husbandman From all which it is undeniably evident that these Wonders could never have been created fram'd and dispos'd in that excellent Order without the perfect Wisdom of the Supream Artist seeing we cannot so much as know or understand them without a great sagacity of mind and reason What shall we say of that exact Disposal of Time and Seasons wherein we do not know which we are to admire most their Constancy or their Variety How loudly do they proclaim their Divine Author and Wise Director The Spring is not more pleasant by its fair Days and Flowers than the heat of Summer is useful and advantagious to ripen the Fruits of the Earth and the liberal Plenty of Autumn is not more joyful than the wet and frost of Winter is needful Which Order might easily be disturbed if it were not dispensed by the steady Hand of Power and Wisdom Oh! the Wonders of Providence which has allay'd the nipping frosts of Winter and scorching heats of Summer with the intervening temperature of the Spring and Autumn and that with such exactness that the change of these extreams of heat and cold is so far from being intolerable that it is even easie and delightful giving us the pleasure of variety and yet sliding gently and insensibly from one extremity to another Cast your eye upon the Sea and to your amazement you shall see how the loose Banks of Sand give a check to its proud and raging Waves Consider the wonderful ebbings and flowings of the Ocean Behold the Springs whose waters flow continually View the Rivers which pursue their uninterrupted course without ceasing and ever returning to that vast Deep which is the Center of their Emanation Take a prospect of those vast Woods and Forrests which deck and grace the face of the Earth they are all fed from its bowels and yet the Earth is never the less What shall I say of that pleasant and useful disposal of the steepness of Mountains the risings of Hills the vast extension of Plains Or what shall I say of such numberless numbers of Creatures who are each of them severally furnish'd with their peculiar Weapons of defence some are armed with horns others fenced with teeth some strength'ned with hoofs others sharp'ned and edged with claws some appointed with stings and spurs others defended with a prickly and unaccessible skin whilst others again secure themselves by the lightness of their heels or swiftness of their wings Nature having bestow'd on every one of them either strength or cunning for their own defence But above all the perfection and beauty of the Shape of Man proclaims and owns GOD to have been the Artist that fram'd it His upright Stature his rais'd Countenance in the upper part whereof the eyes are posted as on a Watch-tower and where all the other Senses have their several Stations and Quarters allotted them as in a Castle or Citadel We should never have done in going about to treat in particular of all these Wonders There is not one part in Man which is not ornamental and graceful as well as necessary And what is yet more admirable is That the same Figure which is common to us all is diversified by such an infinite variety of Features in each of us that as there is a likeness in all so there is in every one something that makes him unlike to another Besides how wonderful is the manner of our Birth How strong and prevalent the desire of begetting our Like Upon whom can you father these Wonders but upon GOD alone who swells the breasts with milk against the time the Infant breaks his Prison and comes to breath the free and open Air suiting their nice tenderness with a proportionate delicate nourishment Nor do's this bountiful GOD content himself to take a general care of the Universe but provides also for each part of it What Great Britain wants of the heat of the Sun is made up by the warm Vapours which arise from the Sea that surrounds it The overflowing of the River Nilus serves Egypt instead of Rain Euphrates makes Mesopotamia fruitful and the River Indus is said both to sow and water those Eastern Parts If perchance you should come into a house and there find all the Rooms richly furnished beautified and adorned would you not without the least hesitancy conclude That there is some Lord and Owner of it who is far better than all this rich and glorious Furniture so likewise in this stately Palace of the World when you take a view of Heaven and Earth and that Providence Order and Law which dispenseth and directs all things in them doubt if you can that there is a Lord and Father of this great Family whose Glory far transcends that of the Sun Moon and Stars and who is more beautiful than the most lovely part of it But perhaps since there is no doubt whether there be a Providence or not you may think it a Question whether there be but one or many that have a hand in the administration of this Celestial Government it will not be a hard matter to fix this your incertainty if you will but attentively consider the Kingdoms of the Earth which are but so many Copies of the One Heavenly Original Empire When did ever a Monarch either admit of a Partner in his Soveraignty in full trust and confidence or lay him aside without blood I omit speaking of the Persians who refer'd the choice of their Prince to the neighing of an Horse and purposely pass-by that old Story of the Theban Brothers All the World knows what dissension there arose between two Twins which of them should be King over a Company of Shepherds and their poor Cottages The Wars of Caesar and Pompey have spread themselves over the whole World and the Fortune of so vast an Empire was not big enough to satisfie theambition of two so nearly ally'd as Father
and Son-in-Law You may from these instances easily judge of the rest The Bees can suffer no more than one King Flocks follow one Leader and every Herd has its own Ruler And can you imagine the Supreme Power of Heaven to be divided and that the Soveraignty of that only true and Divine Monarchy is shared amongst many Especially when you consider that GOD the Father of all things has neither Beginning nor End and as he gives Beginning to all other things so an Eternity and perpetuity of Being to himself Who before this World was made was a World to Himself who by his Word commanded all things into Being governs them by his Wisdom and perfects them by his Power He cannot be seen because he is more bright and glorious than our sight can endure to behold Neither can He be comprehended being greater than our minds infinite immense and only known to Himself what He is indeed our breasts are too narrow to conceive and we can never form a worthy notion of Him but when we own Him Inestimable and Incomprehensible May I speak what I think Whosoever fancies he knows the Greatness of GOD has already lessen'd it and therefore he who would not lessen it must not pretend to know it Neither do thou enquire after his Name His Name is GOD. 'T is then we stand in need of Names when we are to divide a multitude into particulars by their distinguishing Titles and proper appellations But GOD being alone and by himself the Name of GOD must wholly belong to Him and to none else For if I call Him Father you 'l be apt to think Him an Earthly One if I call Him King you 'l fancy Him a Worldly Prince if I call Him Lord you 'l apprehend Him Mortal Abstract but these additions of Names from our gross imagination and you 'l see Him in his own Brightness and Glory Besides in this I have the general assent of all Men concurring with me Mind the Common-people When they lift up their hands to Heaven whom have they in their mouths but GOD Their ordinary Saying is GOD is great GOD is true and ever and anon If it pleases GOD Which Words though they contain the Confession of a Christian yet are as well the Voice of Nature in the Common People Yea those who will have Jupiter to be the Soveraign of the Universe do only mistake in the Name but agree with us in the Thing it self That there is but One only Power The Poets also in their Verses celebrate One Father both of the Gods and Men and say That the Minds and Thoughts of Men are such as GOD every day puts into them And what shall we say of Virgil Does not he speak yet more clearly and more near to Truth when he saith That in the beginning there was a Spirit which inwardly cherished and foster'd both Heaven and Earth and that all the Parts of them were actuated by a Mind infused throughout the Whole and that from thence Men and all other Creatures derive their Original The same Prince of Poets calls in another place this Mind and Spirit GOD as where he saith that GOD is diffused throughout the vast Extent of the Earth and Seas and of the high Heaven and that from Him Men and Beasts Rain and Lightning do proceed And what do we say else but that GOD is an Eternal Mind Reason and Spirit Let us take a view if you please of the Opinions of Philosophers and you will find that though they seem diverse yet they all agree in this Matter And omitting those rude and primitive Men who by their Sayings purchased the Name of Sages Thales the Milesian who was before them all and who first maintain'd any Dispute concerning Celestial Things held that Water was the Original Matter of all things and that GOD was that Mind or Understanding Spirit who fram'd them out of it Which is certainly a more profound and sublime Account concerning the Water and its actuating Spirit than could proceed from the understanding of Man without the assistance of Divine Revelation Thus you plainly see that the Opinion of the first of Philosophers does entirely concur with ours After him Anaximenes and Diogenes Apolloniates make God to be Air but Immense and Infinite and in ascribing these perfections to the Divinity they also consent with us Anaxagoras was of opinion that GOD was an Infinite Spirit containing and moving all things Pythagoras calls Him a Mind penetrating all things and diffus'd through the Universe taking care of and giving Life to all the Creatures therein Zenophanes affirms That GOD is an Animated Infinity or a Spirit joyn'd with Infinite Matter Antisthenes declar'd That there were several Gods belonging to several Countries but that there was but One Principal and Soveraign amongst them all who was GOD by Nature Speusippus was of opinion that GOD was nothing else but a Natural Power quick'ning and governing all things Yea and does not Democritus himself though he was the first Inventor of Atoms often call Nature which is the Former of all Ideas and Understanding GOD Strato calls Him Nature And even Epicurus who either believed that there were no Gods or if there were that they were idle and without any concern about the things of this World yet sets Nature above them As for Aristotle though he seem sometimes divided in his thoughts about this Matter yet he positively asserts One Soveraign Power For sometimes he saith That an Understanding Spirit is GOD sometimes that the World is GOD and then again he will have GOD to govern the World Heraclides of Pontus asserts GOD to be a Divine Spirit but with some incertainty For sometimes he attributes the Supremacy to the Divine Spirit and sometimes to the World it self Theophrastus Zeno Chrysippus and Cleanthes do likewise vary in their Opinions Yet all of them at last agree in One Providence which superintends the Whole For Cleanthes sometimes affirms GOD to be a Spirit sometimes that He is an Aethereal Fire but most frequently calls Him Reason His Master Zeno holds a Natural and Eternal Law and sometimes Fire and sometimes Reason to be the first Cause of all things He also evidently reproves and convinceth the common Error about the Gods by shewing that Juno is nothing but the Air Jupiter Heaven Neptune the Sea and Vulcan the Fire And that many of their other Gods are but the Elements dress'd up in other Names Chrysippus is much of the same Opinion for with him sometimes a Divine Power and a Rational Nature is GOD and at other times the World and a fatal Necessity and imitates Zeno in his interpreting the Fables of the Gods which are found in Homer Hesiod and Orpheus In like manner Diogenes the Babylonian was us'd in his Discourses to declare That Jupiter's Brain being with child and deliver'd of Minerva and other like Stories were not an account of the true Original of their Gods but of some other things couch'd under those
Fables Xenophon the Disciple of Socrates holds That the shape of the true GOD cannot be seen and consequently is not to be searcht after Aristo of the Isle of Chios says That he is altogether incomprehensible Both which Philosophers had doubtless a right sense of the Divine Majesty in that they despair'd of ever fully understanding Him As for Plato he does more openly and clearly speak of GOD and does less mistake both as to the Name and the Thing it self and his Discourses might have been accounted altogether Heavenly but that they are here and there blemish'd and tainted with his Politicks In his Timaeus he calls GOD by his Own Name and declares Him to be the Father of this Universe the Creator of the Soul and the Architect of Heaven and Earth who by reason of his superlative and incomprehensible Power and Majesty is hard to be found and when found cannot possibly be express'd and declar'd Which are in a manner the very same things which we say for we also know GOD and own Him to be the Parent of the World but unless we be demanded we do not speak publickly of Him THUS I have rehears'd the Opinions of almost all the Philosophers whose glory it is that they have all pointed at One and the same GOD though under various Names insomuch as it would make a Man think either that our Christians now are Philosophers or that the ancient Philosophers were Christians Now if it be granted that Providence rules the World and is govern'd by the Will and Counsel of the One only GOD then ought not we to suffer our selves to be impos'd upon with the silly Fables of Antiquity which are both repugnant to Reason and condemn'd by the Philosophers of ancient Times Our Fathers indeed were so credulous as to believe things altogether monstrous and inconsistant as a Scylla with several Bodies a Chimaera with many shapes an Hydra that receiv'd a new life from his happy Wounds and Centaures which were Horse and Man united and growing together In short they very readily believ'd whatever any one was pleas'd to feign or fancy as Men's being metamorphos'd into Birds Beasts into Men and again Men into Flowers and Trees with so many other fabulous things which had they ever been would happen still but because they cannot be are hereby sufficiently demonstrated never to have been Their Opinions concerning the Gods were likewise full of inconsiderate credulity and ignorant simplicity for by giving Religious Worship to their Kings and desiring by Pictures and Statues to preseve their memory after their Death they at last made a Religious Ceremony of that which at first was only intended to comfort themselves for the loss of them For before the World was open'd by Commerce and Trade and that Nations had mixt their Customs and Ceremonies together every one of them ador'd their first Founder or Famous Leader or some Queen Chast and valiant above her Sex or an Inventor of some useful and necessary Art or Calling as considering that the Memory of such Renowned Persons well-deserved to be preserv'd by them since by this means they at once gave a reward to the Virtue of the Deceased and an example to Posterity Read the Writings of Wise-men and particularly of the Stoicks and you will acknowledge with me that Men have been worship'd as Gods either for their good Deeds or their Dignity Euhemerus gives us an exact account of their Birth Countries and Names as also the several Places where they were buryed particularly he instanceth in Jupiter call'd Dictaeus from the Mountain Dictae in Candia where he was nurs'd and Apollo nam'd Delphicus from the City Delphos in Phocis a Province of Greece and Isis who had the Sirname of Pharia from the Island Pharos in Egypt and Ceres who was styl'd Eleusina from the City Eleusis in Achaia where she was more particularly worship'd Prodicus tells us that they were reckon'd among the Gods who by rambling through the World were the first Inventors of Husbandry and by this means became useful to Mankind And Perseus discourseth much at the same rate adding that it was from this ground that the Names of the Inventors were bestow'd upon the things invented by them as appears by that Comical Expression Without Ceres and Bacchus Venus is a cold Which in other terms is no more than this That without good Meat and Drink Lust languisheth Alexander the Great in a famous Treatise which he writes to his Mother tells her That the dread of his Power had so far wrought upon a Priest as to make him discover to him this great Secret and Mystery that the Gods were but Men. In which Discourse he makes Vulcan the first of all the Gods and after him the Race of Jupiter Consider the Story of Isis and the scatter'd members and empty Tomb of thy Serapis or Osiris and lastly their Religious Rites and Mysteries and you 'l find them made up of the dismal Events Deaths Funerals Mourning and Wailings of these caitive Gods Isis in company of the Dog's-Head-Idol and her bald Priests mourns for laments and seeks her lost Son and her miserable Worshippers beat their breasts to express and imitate the sorrow of this unhappy Mother and soon after you see Isis by and by overjoy'd for having found her Little-One her Priests are merry and the Dog's snout triumphs for the feat he has done in finding him Thus they fail not punctually every year to lose what they have found and then to find again what they have lost Now I pray you what can be more ridiculous than to bewail that which we worship or to worship that which we bewail And yet such fopperies as these which formerly were the Religion of the Egyptians are now forsooth become the Devotions of the Romans Ceres with lighted torches in her hands and Serpents twisting about them seeks her Daughter Proserpina full of languishing care and trouble who having stray'd too far was stoln away and ravish'd by Pluto This is the sum and substance of the Eleusinian Mysteries And the Rites used in the Worship of Jupiter are no less ridiculous He is suckled by a She goat for want of a better Nurse and the poor Infant is stoln away from his Father for fear he should devour him the Corybantes in the mean while soundly plying their Cymbals to drown the cryes of the Bantling from coming to the ears of his more than inhumane Father I am asham'd to relate the Account they give of Cybele how she gelded Atys and made him an Eunuch-God because she could not tempt him to commit Adultery with her who was old and ugly having been the Mother of so many Gods And therefore answerably to this Story her Priests voluntarily geld themselves to the end they might be capable of that Dignity I leave you to judge whether these be not real miseries rather than Religious Mysteries Come we now to speak of the goodly form meen and accoutrements of your Gods than
procreate because Men have ceased to believe such Stories Moreover if the Gods could beget Children and those Children must needs be Immortal we should already have had more Gods than Men So that by this time the Heavens would not contain them nor the Air hold them nor the Earth bear the vast increase of them Let us therefore make no difficulty to affirm them to have been Men of whose Birth and Death we are so fully assur'd Neither need any be far to seek for a reason why the common people notwithstanding all this do adore and worship these Consecrated Images their foolish Minds being decoy'd and allur'd by the Curiosity of those Master-pieces of Art their Eyes dazled with the lustre of the Gold and the brightness of the Silver and polish'd whiteness of the Ivory But if any body will take time to consider how these Figures are made and with what Instruments they are carv'd and fram'd he will blush at his standing in awe of a Material that has been so abus'd cut and mangled by the Work-man before he could make a God of it For if this God be of Wood it may be it is the remnant of a funeral Pile or Gallows which they under-prop cut plane and make smooth If it be of Silver or Brass it may possibly be made of an old Kettle or something worse as it hath often happen'd to one of the Kings of Egypt and then it is molten beaten hammer'd and fashion'd on an Anvil and if of Stone hew'd wrought and polish'd it may be by some debauch'd and wicked Fellow Yet is not the God in the least sensible of all these tortures and indignities offer'd to him at his Birth no more than he is afterwards of the Honour which accrues to him by your Consecration and Worship except you will say that this Stone Wood or Silver is not yet a God But pray when is it that the Divinity of it commences Behold it is melted fashion'd and grav'd but it is not a God yet It is solder'd put together and set up yet still it is no God At last it is adorn'd consecrated and worship'd and then at last with much adoe it is a God when it hath pleas'd vain Man thus to dedicate it But how much more truly do the most contemptible of Animals and Infects judge your Gods The Mice Swallows and Kites know very well that they have no sense at all they tread and pearch upon them and were they not driven away by you they would build their Nests in their very Mouths the Spiders cover their faces with their Cobwebs and make use of their heads to fasten their threads at You wipe cleanse and brush them and protect the Gods which your selves have made and yet pretend to fear them And all this while you don't consider that GOD must be known by you before you can worship Him and inconsiderately comply with your Fathers Opinions and choose rather to follow others in their Errors than credit your own Judgments and in a word know not what that is for which you have such an awe and reverence Thus by hallowing of Gold and Silver you have consecrated Avarice thus your vain Images come to be stamp'd with the imaginary shape of a Deity thus the Roman Superstition had its rise and that vast number of Rites and Ceremonies wherein there are so many which are silly and ridiculous and so many which deserve pity and compassion Some run about the Streets stark naked in the sharpest cold of Winter others wear fools-caps and carry about antick shields in their hands others lance their own skins and lead their blind Gods a begging about the streets They have some Temples which they may not visit but once a year and others which none may ever enter but the Priests alone Again they have some that are shut up from Women and others prohibited to Men. They have some Ceremonies at which a Slave is not permitted to assist without a great crime Some of your Statues may not be crown'd but by the hands of a Woman who hath known but one Man others again only by such as have had to do with many and with great devotion you search for the most lewd and common Harlot that is to be found to officiate at your Holy-things What shall we say of those who shed their own blood for a Drink-Offering and by wounding themselves think to procure the favour of the Gods Were it not better for them to be Prophane than to be thus Religious And do not they also offend GOD instead of appeasing Him who from a strange Superstition geld themselves since if GOD delighted in Eunuchs he could have made them so without the assistance of Man's cruelty But indeed who does not see that they are poor distracted and crack-brain'd men who act these follies which have nothing to plead for them but the multitude of those who are engag'd in the same Error as if because this madness is Epidemical it were therefore lawful and just too But you object that this which I call Superstition has given the Romans so vast an Empire founded it at first and afterwards rais'd it to that high pitch they having been always rather more famous for their Religion and Piety than for Prowess and Valour Well may they boast of the remarkable instances of their Virtue and Justice from the very Cradle and first beginnings of their Empire Was it not their Crimes that associated them at first and their Cruelty afterwards that made them dreadful to their Neighbours and laid the first Foundation of their Government For their Country being a Sanctuary and Place of Refuge for all sorts of Criminals a great number of Thieves Traitors Murtherers Sacrilegious and Incestuous persons were soon gather'd together and to the end that he who was their great Captain-General might excel them all in Villany as he did in Dignity he kill'd his own Brother These were the auspicious beginnings of this Holy City Soon after contrary to the Law of Nature they steal away Maids already promised yea betrothed and Married Women too from their own Husbands and force and abuse them and defend their Crime by warring against their Fathers-in-law and shedding the blood of their nearest Allies Than which what can be thought of more prodigious more barbarous and as they presum'd safe in the confidence of their wickedness Their next work is to drive their Neighbours out of their own Countries to destroy their Cities rob their Churches and defile their Altars carry them into Captivity and enrich themselves by Crimes and the spoils and ruine of others These were the Maxims and Practice both of Romulus and his Successors So that whatever they have possess and worship is all the purchase of bold Robbery Their Temples are built and adorn'd with the spoils they have taken in War that is with the ruine of Cities pillage of Gods and Temples and slaughter of their Priests What an insolent piece of mockery is this
are of a Middle substance between Mortal and Immortal that is between a Body and Spirit being made of a mixture of Terrestrial grosness and Celestial purity By which means they have an easie access to us to stir up our desires and by conveighing themselves into our hearts to affect our Senses raise our Passions and kindle in our Souls the flames of Lust These Daemons then who are mix'd and impure Spirits as we have plainly demonstrated by the Authority of Wisemen Philosophers and Plato himself lurk privately in those Statues and Images which are consecrated unto them and by their Enthusiasms get so great an Authority over the minds of men as of present Deities and this by inspiring their Prophets dwelling in their Temples by animating and acting the Entrails of Beasts by directing the flying of Birds determining of Lots and uttering Oracles which are generally obscure and mixt with abundance of lyes for they both deceive others and are deceiv'd themselves who as they do not know the Truth fully so they oft conceal and will not confess that which they do know because it tends to their own shame and confusion Thus they make it their business to depress and sink us downwards from Heaven to Earth and to estrange us from GOD by immersing us into Matter They trouble and disquiet our life molest us with Dreams and this by the advantage they have as Spirits to convey themselves into our Bodies where they counterfeit Diseases terrifie our Minds distort our Members thereby to oblige us to adore them and that after they are glutted with the reaking steam of Altars and the blood of slain Beasts by undoing their own Charms the honour of Healing might be attributed to them They are these very Spirits which act those raging mad folks whom you see running along the streets and who are every whit as much Prophets as those who give answers in your Temples for they both foame rage and are whirl'd about alike Indeed they are Daemons which possess the one as well as the other with this only difference that the object of their madness does vary From the same also proceed all those delusions you even now rehears'd as that of Jupiter's commanding in a Dream that his Games should be restor'd the appearance of Castor and Pollux on Horseback and that of a Ship being tow'd along by the girdle of a Roman Matron The most now adays and among them many of your own Party know very well that the Devils themselves do oft confess all these things when by the torture of our Words and the Fire of our Prayers they are driven out and dispossess'd Then it is that Saturn Serapis and Jupiter with all the Crew of Gods you worship being overcome with anguish do declare plainly what they are nor have they the power by lying to conceal their own shame as you may be sure they fain would though some of their deluded Adorers be present Sure you will credit the testimony of your own Gods when they witness the Truth against themselves and confess they are Devils For when those Wretches are conjur'd to come forth by the Name of the True and Only GOD they tremble and quake within the Bodies they have possess'd and either leap forth presently or vanish by degrees according as the Faith of the Patient and Grace of the Ghostly Physician are stronger or weaker So that they dread the nearness of those Christians whom at a distance by your means they trouble and disturb in their Assemblies and to that end insinuate themselves into the hearts of the simple and ignorant and there sow the seeds of hatred against our Religion For nothing is more natural than to hate those whom we dread and give all the trouble we can to those of whom we stand in awe So they prepossess and prejudice the hearts of men against us that they begin to hate us before they know us lest knowing us without this prejudice they might desire to imitate or at least not be able to condemn us Now how unjust it is to pass a Judgment upon things which one knows not as you do in condemning us you may take warning from us who do so heartily repent for having committed the same fault for we were once as you are and had the same Sentiments being involv'd in the same blindness and stupidity of Error when we believ'd that the Christans worship'd Monsters devour'd Children defil'd their Feasts with Incests without considering that though such things were commonly reported yet they never were prov'd and that none all this while has ever confess'd the least tittle of any one of these Crimes though besides the assurance of Pardon the â—eward of such a discovery might have been a great temptation thereunto â—ndeed to be a Christian is so far from â—mplying any thing that is evil or criminal that they who are convict neâ—â—her blush at it nor fear the punishment which attends it No you see them â—lory in it and troubled at nothing but â—hat they were so no sooner Neverâ—heless we our selves at the same time when we undertook the Defence of Parricides and persons guilty of Sacriledges and Incest would not so much as hear the Plea that Christians were ready to make for themselves whom we sometimes made endure a cruel corture not out of hatred but pity forsooth that by constraining them through the greatness of torments to renounce their Religion we might save their lives Oh! perverse Inquisition to make use of the Rack not to force the sufferer to declare the Truth but to deny it Now if it so happened that any one less constant being overcome with the pains of those tortures did renounce his Religion he was received into favour as if by such an abjuration he had made atonement for all the Crimes which are commonly charg'd upon them By which you may plainly see that we formerly were of the same mind and persuasion with you doing the very same things as you do now But indeed had you been govern'd by Reason and not by the instigation of Evil Spirits your business would have been to have urg'd the Christians not to renounce their Religion but to confess their Incests Whoredoms impious Ceremonies and their Sacrificing of Infants which are the fabulous Stories wherewith the same Daemons have fill'd the silly people's Minds to make them detest and abhor us But no wonder if all these horrid lyes and Fictions do vanish away before the appearance of Truth which those Monsters so much oppose making it their business to spread and foment false reports From these also that Fable had its rise That we worship an Asse's Head But I pray you who can be conceiv'd so much a fool to worship such a thing or rather who is so much a fool as to believe we do it except those who are guilty of as extravagant and impious Devotions themselves For indeed it is you make both Asses and Stables Holy by having consecrated your Goddess
who have committed Incest with their own Mothers Daughters and Sisters 'T is therefore no wonder that that Vice is so frequent and fashionable amongst you since your very Gods are your encouraging Examples and Complices And indeed it is no strange thing if oft at unawares you commit Incest by your whoring indifferently every where and by exposing your Children to the mercy of others so that it cannot well be supposed but that you sometimes light upon them Thus you see that whilst you accuse us of feign'd Incests you are guilty of real ones your selves But Christians are not wont to make an outward shew of their Chastity but enshrine it in their Minds and do not study so much to seem chast as to be really so All of us have either one only wedded Wife or no Woman at all As for our Feasts they are not only Chast but Sober for we do not spend our time in over-charging our stomachs with Meat and Drink but we temper the joys of our Feasts with the gravity and seriousness of our Conversation And as we are thus Chast in our Assemblies so are we no less such every where else There are many amongst us who keep themselves undefil'd and holy in an unmarried state without boasting of it and we are so far from being incestuous persons that some of us are even asham'd of lawful pleasures As for what concerns Honors it doth not follow that because we decline your Purple and Dignities that therefore we are of the dregs of the people nor are we to be accounted Factious if we all aspiring after the same felicity keep company with one another and all meet together as peaceably as we behave our selves singly and alone Nor ought we to be accus'd for prating in corners if you be either asham'd or afraid to hear us in publick And if our Number daily increases it is not our Crime but our Commendation an excellent course of life is not only apt to engage those who are enter'd into it to persevere and continue in it but to invite and allure others to it We do not know one another by any marks we have on our bodies as you fancy but by our modesty and innocency That we love one another so entirely as you are troubled to see it is because we know not how to hate And that we call one another Brethren which you envy us for is because we have all One and the same Father one and the same Faith and one and the same Hope But for your part you do not owne one another you rage with envy and hatred against one another and the only sign of your Brotherhood is Parricide and your frequent imbruing your hands in the blood of your nearest Relations But you suppose that we conceal That which we worship because we have neither Temples nor Altars To what purpose should we make any form or representation of GOD whose living Image Man himself is Or what Temple should we raise to Him since this whole World which was made by Him is not able to contain Him Or shall we Mortals who live in great Palaces confine the Incomprehensible Glory of HIS MAJESTY to the narrow compass of some Temple or Chappel Were it not much better to dedicate our Mind for the place of his Abode and consecrate our Heart for his Altar Shall we offer to GOD Sacrifices and Oblations of such Creatures as he has made for our use Would not this look indeed as if we had a mind to reject his Bounty and to throw back his Gifts into his own Hands which speaks the greatest ingratitude especially since the only acceptable Offering to him is a good Mind and a pure Heart with a sincere Conscience So that he that lives innocently prays to GOD acceptably he that deals justly presents Him with an Offering of a sweet savour he who abstains from fraud doth most effectually propitiate and atone the Deity and he that rescues a Man that is in danger of his life does kill the fattest Sacrifice These are our Sacrifices these are our Mysteries and with us he is most Devout and Religious who is most Just But you wonder that we neither can shew to others the GOD whom we Worship nor see him our selves Does this seem strange to you Why for this very reason we do most assuredly believe Him to be GOD because we can perceive Him but cannot see Him For his omnipotent Virtue and Power is always present before our eyes in the Works which he has made and in the whole course of Nature when it thunders when it lightens when it is fair all his works proclaim Him Let it not therefore seem strange to you that you do not see GOD. All things are mov'd and driven by the Wind and yet you see it not And the Sun it self that makes all things to be seen is in a manner invisible by reason of its superlative and dazling brightness insomuch as should we gaze long and stedfastly fix our eyes on it it would blind them and put them out And canst thou think thy self able to bear the sight of his Glory who made the Sun and is the Fountain of all Light when thou art afraid of his Lightnings and hidest thy self from his Thunder Besides wouldst thou see GOD with thy Eyes of flesh when thou canst neither see nor take hold of thine own Soul by which thou dost live and speak But perhaps you will say GOD is ignorant of what we do and He being in Heaven can neither consider all nor take knowledge of every particular person and his concernments How greatly are you mistaken For how can He be far from any of us when all things in Heaven and Earth and in the immense space beyond them are full of Him and known to Him He is not only with us but within us And as the Sun though fixed in the Heavens yet diffuses it self through the whole Vniverse is present every where and mingles its light with every thing without staining its brightness so with much more reason can nothing be hid from or secret to GOD the Author and Beholder of all things the Darkness hides not from Him for He is there also nor the thoughts of Men which are the truer Darkness of the two We live not only under His Governance but as I may say with Him Neither ought we to presume upon our great Numbers as supposing that one may easily escape unseen among so vast a Multitude For though we may seem to our selves a great many yet are we but a few with respect to GOD. We indeed divide and distinguish the Earth into Countries and Nations but to GOD this whole World is but one House Kings cannot acquaint themselves with the State and Concerns of their own Kingdoms without the Eyes of many Ministers but the MONARCH of the whole World needs none to inform Him we being not only under his Eye but even in his Bosom You say it avail'd nothing to