nothing in him but what his own Reason perfectly approves no Inclination in his Will or Nature but what is exactly agreeable to the fairest Ideas of his own Mind And since it is for his own Goodness-sake that he loves himself as he doth we may be sure that there is nothing without him can be so dear to him as that in us which is the Image of his Goodness Every like we say loves its like and the righteous Lord saith the Psalmist loveth Righteousness Psal. 11.7 i. e. being righteous himself he loves Righteousness in others by an invincible sympathy of Nature His greatest Heaven and Delight is in his own most righteous Nature and next to that in righteous Souls that imitate and resemble him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath not a more grateful Habitation upon Earth than in a pure and vertuous Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Apollo that Mimick of God by his Pythian Oracle i. e. I rejoyce as much in pious Souls as in my own Heaven Which is much what the same with that gracious Declaration that God himself makes by the Prophet Isaiah 57.15 thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Since therefore moral Duties are all but so many Copies and Exemplifications of Gods Nature this is a sufficient Reason why he should prefer them before all the Positives of Religion III. GOD principally requires moral Goodness because 't is by the Practice of this that we advance to our own natural Happiness For the natural Happiness of reasonable Creatures consists in being entirely governed by right Reason i. e. in having our Minds perfectly informed what it is that right Reason requires of us and our Wills and Affections reduced to an entire Conformity thereunto And this is the Perfection of moral Goodness which consists in behaving our selves towards God and our selves and all the World as right Reason advises or as it becomes rational Creatures placed in our Circumstances and Relations And when by practising all that true Piety and Vertue which moral Goodness implies we are perfectly accomplished in our Behaviour towards God our selves and all the World so as to render to each without any Reserve or Reluctancy what is fit and due in the Judgment of right Reason we are arrived to the most happy State that a reasonable Nature can aspire to 'T is true in this Life we cannot be perfectly happy and that not only because we live in wretched Bodies that are continually liable to Pain and Sickness but also because we are imperfect our selves and have none to converse with but imperfect Creatures But were we once stript of these natural and moral Imperfections wheresoever we lived we should necessarily be happy Were I to live all alone without this painful Body I should necessarily be in a great measure happy while I followed right Reason tho I lived in the darkest Nook of the Creation For there I should still contemplate God and while I did so my mind would be always ravish'd with his Beauty and Perfections there I should most ardently love him and while I did so I should sympathise and share with him in his Happiness there I should still adore and praise him and while I did so I should feel my self continually drawn up to him and wrapt into a real Injoyment of him there I should be imitating his Perfections and while I did so I should enjoy an unspeakable Self-satisfaction perceiving how every Moment I grew a more Divine and Godlike Creature there I should intirely resign up my self to his heavenly Will and Disposal and while I did so I should be perpetually exulting under a joyous Assurance of his Love and Favour in a word there I should firmly depend upon his Truth and Goodness and while I did so I should be always triumphing in a sure and certain Hope of a happy Being for ever Thus were I shut up all alone in an unbodied State and had none but God to converse with by behaving my self towards him as right Reason directs me I should always enjoy him and in that Injoyment should be always Happy And if while I thus behaved my self towards God I took care at the same time to demean my self towards my self with that exact Prudence and Temperance and Fortitude and Humility which right Reason requires I should hereby create another Heaven within me a Heaven of calm Thoughts quiet and uniform Desires serene and placid Affections which would be so many everflowing Springs of Pleasure Tranquillity and Contentment within me But if while I thus enjoyed God and my self by behaving my self as right Reason directs I might be admitted to live and converse among perfect Spirits and to demean my self towards them with that exact Charity and Justice and Peaceableness and Modesty which right Reason requires the Wit of man could not conceive a true Pleasure beyond what I should now enjoy For now I should be possest of every thing my utmost Wishes could propose of a good God a Godlike joyful and contented Soul a peaceable kind and righteous Neighbourhood and so all above within and without me would be a pure and perfect Heaven And indeed when I have thrown off this Body and am stript into a naked Ghost the only or at least the greatest goods my Nature will be capable of enjoying are God my self and blessed Spirits and these are no otherwise injoyable but only by Acts of Piety and Vertue without which there is no good thing beyond the Grave that a Soul can tast or relish So that if when I go to seek my Fortune in the World of Spirits God should thus bespeak me O man now thou art leaving all these Injoyments of Sence consult with thy self what will do thee good and thou shalt have whatsoever thou wilt ask to carry with thee into that spiritual State I am sure the utmost I should crave would be this Lord give me a heart inflamed with Love and winged with Duty to thee that thereby I may but enjoy thee give me a sober and a temperate mind that thereby I may but enjoy my self give me a kind a peaceable and a righteous Temper that thereby I may but enjoy the sweet Society of blessed Spirits O give me but these blessed things and thou hast crowned all my wishes and to Eternity I will never crave any other Favour for my self but only this that I may continue a pious and a vertuous Soul for ever for while I continue so I am sure I shall enjoy all spiritual Good and be as happy as Heaven can make me So that the main Happiness you see of Humane Nature consists in the Perfection of moral Goodness and it being so it is no wonder that the good God who above all things desires the
may God who contrived and produced all things by his own independent Wisdom and Power For our Wisdom and Power being Gods he hath a Sovereign Right to all the Effects of them but his Wisdom and Power are absolutely his own without Dependence on any superior Cause and therefore whatsoever are the Effects of them must necessarily be his by a most absolute and independent Propriety And accordingly he is stiled the possessor of Heaven and Earth Gen. 14.19 and Moses tells his People behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords the Earth also and all that is therein Deut. 10.14 and the Earth saith the Psalmist is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the Sea and prepared it upon the Floods Psal. 24.1 and 50.12 and the Heavens saith he again are thine the Earth also is thine as for the World and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them Psal. 89.11 GOD therefore being the Supreme Proprietor of the World there is nothing can be justly ours but by his Will and Grant and nothing can be ours by his Will but what is honestly and justly ours So that for us to seise upon any Part of the World by Fraud or Violence or Oppression is to trespass upon God and invade his Property and to tear his World from him against his Will Thus whatsoever we possess by Wrong we possess as Robbers and Invaders of God and whatsoever we enjoy by Right we enjoy as Tenants to the great Landlord of the World and without owning and acknowledging this we cannot be truly Religious For if the World be not his why should we pray to him for what we want of it or praise him for what we enjoy Why should we patiently submit to his Disposal when he deprives us of what we have Or thankfully acknowledg his Goodness when he supplies us with what we need Why should we employ our Possessions in his Service or think our selves obliged to return him any Part of them in pious or charitable Works In a word why should we be contented with a small share and abide by that unequal Division of things that is made in the World and not endeavour to increase our own poor Heap by pilfering from other Mens that are ten times bigger than ours Whence are these Obligations but from this Supposal that God is the supreme Proprietor and Possessor of all things which being denied there remains no solid Foundation of Reason for any of these great and necessary Duties of Religion III. To oblige us to be truly religious it is also necessary we should believe that God is present with and inspects all things that his divine Substance is diffused through and circumfused about all things so as to penetrate them within as an universal Soul and contain them without as an universal Place For so the Jewish Doctors are wont to call God Hamakom that is to say the Place or Continent of all things because all things are incompassed by him and do live and move within his infinite Bosom For so in Scripture the divine Substance is described as spreading it self through and a round the World even to the utmost possibility of Extension Whither saith the Psalmist shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there if I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me Psal. 139.7 8 9 10. And Behold saith Solomon the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee 1 Kings 8.27 yea do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord himself Jer. 23.24 NOW tho Gods Omnipresence be strictly an Attribute of his Essence and not a part of his Providence yet 't is such an Attribute as includes his universal Providence and without supposing of which an universal Providence can hardly be conceived For if he co-exists and be present with all things he must be supposed to operate upon them because where ever he is his infinite Wisdom and Power and Goodness are which in their own Nature are such active Perfections as cannot be present where such a world of things are to be done and sit still and do nothing For how can we conceive that infinite Wisdom should be present where a world of things are to be ordered and yet order nothing That infinite Power should be present where a world of things are to be done and yet do nothing Or that infinite Goodness should be present where a world of good is to be done and do no good at all Such an idle restive Presence as this is utterly inconsistent with such active Perfections So that the Omnipresence of an infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness necessarily supposes an universal Providence and without such an Omnipresence an universal Providence can hardly be conceived For how can God be present by any Power or Virtue or Efficacy of his Nature in any Place from whence the real Substance of his Divinity is excluded How can he operate by his own immediate Efficiency where he is not Or extend his divine Power and Wisdom and Goodness over all things except his divine Substance in which these Attributes are be co-extended with them Every Agent must be where it acts because it acts from its Being and it is as possible for that which is not to operate as for that which is to operate where it is not and hence Socrates being asked how it was possible for one God to order all the Affairs of the World returns this Answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. God is so great and vast a Being as that he hears and sees all things together and is present every where and takes care of all things at the same time Thus Gods Omnipresence you see doth so include his universal Providence that with it 't is necessary and without it inconceivable AND then from his Presence with all things necessarily follows his Inspection of all things because where ever he is his infinite Knowledg is which is inseparable from his Being and were ever his infinite Knowledge is it must necessarily have a through Prospect of all things round about him so that nothing can be concealed from its Inspection For so the Scripture assures us that the Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth 2 Chron. 16.9 and that the Eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and good Prov. 15.3 and in a word that all things are open and naked to the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 BOTH which are Truths of vast Importance to Religion For while Men look upon God as a Being that dwells at a great Distance from them they will be ready enough to conclude Procul à Jove procul à Fulmine
that being far off from him they are out of his reach and beyond the Danger of his Thunderbolts and that he is too far removed from them either to succour them when they want his Aid or to punish them when they deserve his Displeasure which must needs extinguish both their Hope and Fear which are the Master-Springs of their Religion And tho we should believe him to be present with us yet unless we also believe that he hath a full Inspection into all our Actions and Affairs we shall have no Regard to him For if he sees not into our Affairs how can he succour and relieve us And if he cannot relieve us to what end should we hope in him depend upon him or pray to him And unless he hath a perfect Insight into all our Actions how should he reward or punish us and if he cannot reward us what should encourage if he cannot punish us what should terrifie us to our Duty to him But if we look upon him as a Being that is always with us and where ever we are surrounds us wirh his boundless Presence that includes and penetrates every part of our Substance sees into our inmost Thoughts and Purposes and ransacks every Corner of our Souls with his allseeing Eye and hath a through and perfect Prospect of all our Affairs and Concerns we cannot without infinite Force to our Reason forbear fearing and reverencing serving and adoring him IV. To fasten the Obligations of Religion upon us it is also necessary that we believe that God continually orders and disposes of all things that he is the Spring of all the Motions of this great Machine of the World that sets every Wheel and Cause agoing and by his all-commanding Influence maintains directs and over-rules their Motions and that there is nothing happens in the World whether by Nature or Chance or Design but by his Ordination and Disposal that even those natural Causes which are necessarily determined to such particular Courses and Effects are influenced and conducted by him and that whensoever they stray from their Courses suspend or precipitate their Motions or move counter to their natural Tendencies it is by his Order and Direction that 't is he who drives and guides the heavenly Bodies impresses the Degrees and chalks out the Paths of their Motions and by his own Almighty Hand turns round those stupendous Wheels in a perpetual Revolution For so the Scripture tells us that he makes his Sun to shine upon the good and bad Mat. 5.45 that it is at his Beck and Command that those vast Bodies of Light exhale the Vapours of the Earth and Sea and dissolve them down again in Hail and Rain and Snow For so we are told that 't is he who covers the Heavens with Clouds and prepares the Rain for the Earth that sends forth his Commandment unto the Earth and giveth Snow like Wool and scattereth the hoar Frost like Ashes and casteth forth his Ice like Morsels and sendeth forth his Word and melteth them and causes the Wind to blow and the Waters flow Psalm 147.8 15 16 17 18. that the Fire and Hail and Snow and Vapours and stormy Winds do fulfil his Word Psalm 148.8 And in a word that 't is by his Order and Influence that the Earth sends up its Sap into the Seeds and Roots of Herbs and Corn and Plants and causes them to spring and grow and that all Animals do propagate their Kind and still replenish the Store-houses of Nature for so we are told that he cloaths the Grass of the Field and arrays the Lillies in all their glory Mat. 2.28 29 30. and that he causes the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Herb for the use of Man that he may bring forth Food out of the Earth Psal. 104.14 AND then as for fortuitous and casual Events which depend upon Accidental and irregular Causes as a Mans being hit with an Arrow let fly at random or brained with a Stone falling from the Top of an House we must believe that they are all ordered directed and over-ruled by God so as that to him there is nothing casual or contingent and tho there are many things happen of which there was no Necessity in their immediate Causes yet do they as necessarily depend upon the Will and Power of the first Cause of all as the Rising and Setting of the Sun and Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea So that how fortuitous soever these things may be in respect of the Design and natural Tendency of second Causes yet none of them ever happen besides the Purpose and Intention of God who foresees and designs them before they come to pass and directs and levels them to his own most wise and holy Ends and Purposes For so the Arrow which the Soldier let fly at Random was levelled by God at Ahabs Breast so that his Death was Chance in respect of the Soldier who shot the Arrow but Design in God who directed it and accordingly Prov. 16.33 we are told that the Lot is cast into the Lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And so in the Case of Chance-Medley when a Man accidentally kills another without any Design or Intention tho it be mere Accident in him 't is Council and Design in God who as the Scripture expresses it delivers the Man he slays into his Hand Exod. 21.13 And then Lastly As for those Events which happen by the Design of free and rational Agents it is necessary we should believe that they are all over-ruled by God too that whatever befalls us in this World whether it be by the good or ill Design of Men or Angels is for good and just and holy Ends either permitted or determined by the sovereign Disposer of all Events so that without his wise Permission or Determination neither Angels nor Men nor Devils can do us either good or hurt that every good thing we receive from them only passes to us through their Hands from God and that they are only the Channels and Conveyances of the overflowing Streams of his infinite Bounty and that when ever we suffer any ill from them they are but the Rods in Gods Hand wherewith he chastens and corrects us that he hath the over-ruling Disposal of all the Ills which they inflict upon us and can render their Stings a Sovereign Balm and their ranckest Poyson Medicinal to us so that their Malice being in Gods Disposal can effect nothing but what he will have it and if it doth us hurt 't is his Executioner but if he pleases it shall do us good and like Leaches applied by a skilfull Physician shall draw away our Disease while it is sucking our Blood For so God made the Malice of Joseph's Brethren the means of his Advancement in Egypt and by the Covetousness of Judas and Cruelty of the Jews advanced the holy Jesus to his own right Hand and executed his Purpose to redeem Mankind Thus God over-rules the Actions of Men
Actions and out of an high Complacency in the one and Abhorrence of the other treasures up both in everlasting Remembrance we cannot but discern our selves obliged by all the Reason in the World to choose what is good and eschew what is evil For what an infinite Encouragement is it to do good to consider that while we are doing it Gods Eye is upon us regarding us with high Applause and Approbation and entering it with all its acceptable Circumstances into the eternal Record of his own Mind from whence it shall be produced in the last Day and proclaimed before Men and Angels to our everlasting Honour and Glory So that when our Memory is lost upon Earth and all that we did is swallowed up in the deep Abyss of Oblivion all our Pieties and Virtues shall be famed in the Records of Heaven and have everlasting Memorials in the Mind of God As on the contrary what an infinite Discouragement is it from sinning to consider that the Eye of that God to whom Vengeance belongs is intent upon us following us through all our Retreats and Concealments and Recording every ill Deed with all its foul Aggravations in the eternal Volumes of his own Remembrance which he will one Day most certainly open and read out before all the World to our everlasting Shame and Confusion So that when the pleasure of our Sin is gone and all that rendred it tempting or desirable for ever vanisht and forgotten the Shame and Infamy of it shall stand upon Record and be transmitted down to eternal Ages VII and Lastly To oblige us to be truly religious it is also necessary we should believe that God will reward and punish us according to our doings that he is neither an idle nor an impotent Spectator of our Actions that merely pleases and vexes himself with the Contemplation of them but that all the Notice he takes of them is in order to his rewarding and punishing them which he will one day most certainly do to our everlasting Joy or Confusion But because this Argument will be the Subject of the ensuing Chapter I shall insist no farther on it here SECT II. Of the Proofs and Evidences which there are to create in us a Belief of the divine Providence HAVING in the foregoing Section given an account of those Parts or Branches of the Divine Providence which are necessary to be believed in order to the founding the Obligations of Religion I shall proceed in the next place to shew what Evidences there are to create this Belief in us and because this is the great Fundamental of all Religion upon the Belief of which it all immediately depends I shall endeavour to demonstrate the Truth of it 1. A priori by Arguments drawn from God himself 2. A posteriori by Arguments drawn from sensible Effects of God in the World I. I shall endeavour to assert the Truth of a divine Providence by Arguments drawn from God himself For supposing that there is a God that is to say an infinitely wise and good and powerful Cause of all things which I doubt not to make appear when I come to discourse of the sensible Effects of God in the World it will from thence necessarily follow that he upholds disposes and governs all things by an over-ruling Providence For 1. If there be such a God he must necessarily be and exist of himself without any dependence upon any superior Cause 2. He must necessarily be the Cause of all other things that are and do exist 3. He must necessarily be present with all things 4. Where ever he is so active are his Perfections that he cannot but operate wheresoever he finds Objects to work upon From all which I shall make appear it will necessarily follow that he continually exercises an over-ruling Providence over the World I. IF there be a God he must necessalily exist or be of himself without Dependence on any superiour Cause For when we speak of God we mean by him a Being that is as perfect as it is possible that hath nothing before him nothing superior to him nothing greater than himself which cannot be meant of any derived Being because all Effects are after their Causes and in some respect inferiour to them as deriving their Beings and all their Excellencies and Perfections from them But to say of God that he is after or any way inferiour to any Cause is a palpable Contradiction to the very Notion of him 't is to say that there is something before the eternal Something superior to the Supreme Something more perfect than infinite Perfection So that either there can be no such Being as a God in the World or he must be of himself or from his own Essence in which there must be such an infinite Fulness of Being as that from all Eternity past to all Eternity to come it is infinitely removed from not Being and so by a Necessity of Nature must from ever have been and for ever be And such a Being we must admit of whether we will admit of a God or no for either we must allow that this World or at least the Matter of it exists of it self by its own never failing Fulness of Being without ever needing any Cause to produce it which as I shall shew you by and by is impossible or that all things in it derive their Being from some first Cause who having no Cause in being before him must necessarily be uncaused and unproduced and if God exists of himself as he must do supposing he is he must be superiour to all things for that which is of it self cannot but be and that which cannot but be can have no Power above it because if it hath that Power might have either hindered or extinguished its Being and so it might not have been So that Gods Self-existence necessarily supposes him exalted above all Power and Superiority and consequently to be the supreme and sovereign Power over all things but to suppose him to be supreme and Sovereign without exercising Rule and Domion is ridiculous for without the Exercise of Dominion supreme Power is but a useless and insignificant Cypher-flourish with a glorious Name Rule and Dominion being the only proper Sphere for supreme Power as such to move and act in So that unless God rules and governs he is supreme to no Purpose and his sovereign Power is useless and in vain for if he exert his sovereign Power at all it must be in Rule and Dominion which is its only natural Province but if he doth not his Sovereignty is only a Majestick Sloth that sits sleeping in an awful Throne with its Hands in its Bosom without ever doing any thing that is Sovereign and of what Use is that sovereign Power that never exercises any act of Sovereignty Since therefore Gods Self-Existence necessarily supposes his sovereign Power over all things we must either grant that he continually exercises this Power in ruling and governing the World or assert that it is
its place and fixes and determins it thereunto Again How came the Sun for whether it be the Earth that moves about the Sun or the Sun about the Earth is all one to our Enquiry how came this Sun I say which hath no Reason to govern it self by to be determined to such a useful Course of Motion what makes this vast and mighty Body move round the Earth in twenty four hours in finishing which spacious Circle of Motion it must fly far swifter than a Bullet from a Canons Mouth and yet through so many Ages each twenty four hours it hath constantly performed it without being so much as one Minute faster or slower whereby it makes those just and regular Returns of Day and Night to both the Hemispheres so that neither the one nor the other is either too much heated by his Presence or too long benighted by his Absence because as soon as the one hath been sufficiently warmed and cherished with his Rays he immediately retires from it into the other and by so doing he gives the active Animals leave to rest the over-heated Air to cool and the Gasping Earth to repair its fainting Vertues which a continued Heat would soon exhaust and extinguish Thus by returning Day and Night to both Parts of the Earth once in twenty four Hours he preserves both their Heat and Moisture upon which all Generation depends in a due and regular Temper so that neither their radical Moisture is consumed by the parching Droughts of the Day nor their vital Heat extinguished by the cool Moistures of the Night but the one still allays and tempers the other by their quick and alternate Revolutions How then came the Sun that understands no utility and designs no End to be determined to this Course of Motion which above all others is so admirably useful and advantageous to this World we live in Again What is the Reason that since he thus equally moves round the Earth he doth not always move in the same Circle but runs out every Day into a different Circle almost a whole Degree farther northward or southward and this so constantly and so precisely that in six thousand succeeding Revolutions he hath never varied so much as one Minute from his Course either one way or the other and by these his stated Ex-currencies towards the North and South he makes the Seasons of the Year gives a Summer and a Winter a Spring and a Fall to all Parts of the Earth without which the Earth would long ere this have been utterly useless and all its Fruits and for want of them its Animals too would have for ever perished For some Parts of it would have been scorched with everlasting Heat other bound up with everlasting Frost here it would have been all a Sandy there all an Icy Desert and so both Vegetation and Generation would every where have utterly ceast either for want of Moisture or for want of Heat How came the Sun then which hath neithr Sense nor Reason of his own to guide him to be directed into such a commodious Course of annual Motion whenas in that vast Space he moves in he might as well have run ten thousand other Courses of Motion He might have moved all the Year round the Earths Equator but if he had done so all the middle Tracts of Earth both Northward and Southward would soon have been scorched up with his continual Presence and all the remoter Parts both ways would quickly have died with Cold through his perpetual Absence or he might have run his annual Course on one side only of the Earths Equator and made his circular Excursions to or beyond the Pole but if he had done so he must have left a great Part of the opposite Hemisphere exposed to everlasting Night and Cold whereas in the annual Course of Motion he now performs he sheds forth his Light and Heat and Influence over all the World and by turns gives every Part its yearly Seasons which is a plain Evidence that all his Motions are conducted by a wise and over-ruling Mind which among so many Courses of Motion that lie before him in the boundless Space he moves in hath determined him to that which for Perpetuity is much the best and most commodious AND the same is to be said of the Motions of the Moon which Nature hath designed for a vicarious Light to the Sun to supply his Absence and perform his Office in this lower World For what makes this senseless and irrational Planet that moves without any Intention of its own wander by turns Northward and Southward some Degrees beyond the Sun And what makes it move Northward when the Sun is Southward and again South-ward when the Sun is North-ward whereas in that immense Space wherein it swims it hath room enough to run a thousand other Courses of Motion none of which could have been so advantageous to us as this For by moving North-ward when the Sun is South-ward and so è contra it moderates the Cold and Darkness of the winter Nights and by passing beyond the Tropicks which are the Boundaries of the Sun it in some measure supplies his Absence by enlightning those long and tedious Nights in which the Regions towards the Poles are buried which is a plain Instance of the singular Care of Providence that no Parts of the Earth should be left altogether destitute of the necessary Comforts of the heavenly Light and Warmth Again How came the Air which hath no Design in it self to place it self so commodiously as it hath done between the Earth and the Heavens Why is there not a wide vacuity between Or if some Body must needs intervene why was it not Fire or Water as well as Air which of all other Bodies is the most commodious For had it been a void Space there could have been no Intercourse between Heaven and Earth or had it been filled with Fire or Water it would have consumed or drowned the Earth and all things belonging to it but as for the Air which is a thin soft fluid and transparent Body it is of all others the most proper Vehicle of the Celestial Influences For what other Body is there that through such a stupendous Distance could have conveyed down to us the Light and Heat of the Sun with such an ineffable Swiftness or what other Element could have been so proper for Animals to move and breath in Since therefore this Space between the Earth and Heavens might have been supplied with other Bodies but with none so fit as Air which yet is no way conscious of its own Fitness and so cannot be supposed to choose this Space for it self it is a plain Evidence that there was a wise Mind without it that chose this Habitation for it AND now we are come down to this terrestrial Globe which consists of Earth and Water let us briefly consider the admirable Use of both and of all things appertaining to them How came the senseless Water
grounds or reasons of it how much more may an allwise and Almighty mind And therefore since de facto we behold a world of curious art among brute animals that far exceeds all the little feats we can teach them why may we not as reasonably believe that any one of these dancing animals learnt all his artificial motions the reasons of which he understands not without any arts-master to teach him as that Ants and Bees acquir'd all the art and Providence they practice without either discovering the reasons of it by any understanding of their own or being ever instructed in it by any other provident mind for art and providence cannot be supposed without reason and therefore since the reason of their art is not in themselves it must necessarily be in some mind without them that hath the conduct and direction of all their motions III. ANOTHER sensible evidence of a divine Providence is the mutual agreement and correspondency of things that have no understanding of themselves or of one another For if we look abroad into the World we cannot but observe an admirable harmony among things which yet have no kind of knowledg of one another and therefore cannot be supposed to have framed and adapted themselves to one another nor yet to be so fram'd and adapted but by the Art and contrivance of some very wise and intelligent Mind For how can any cause fit any two things to one another without having some Idea in his mind of the natures of them both If therefore in the nature of things we can discover a world of mutual suitabilities of this to that and of one thing to another it will be a sufficient argument that they all procced from some wise Cause that had an universal Idea of their natures in his mind and saw how such a thing would suit such a thing before ever he actually adapted them one to another NOW not to insist any further upon the admirable fitness of the Sun and Earth the Water and Earth the Air and Heaven and Earth one to another which I have largely discoursed already how exactly is every animal fitted for its element and every element for its animals Thus the Birds for instance are fitted with wings to fly aloft in the air and the air is fitted to bear them up and to yield to the vibration of their wings the Fishes are fitted to swim in the water having finns which serve instead of oars to cut through and divide the streams and the waters are fitted for the fish to swim in being a soft and fluid substance that is easily cut and divided and as for the earth and those earthy animals that inhabit it there is an admirable congruity between them for they being all fram'd to walk or creep must have an hard and solid matter to move on and the earth being an hard and solid matter requires such animals as can walk or creep on it and as every element is fitted for the motion of its animals and every animal to move in its element so every element hath a food that is proper to the appetites of its animals and every animal an appetite that is proper to the food of its element So that as every animal is fitted within with all those faculties and organs that are requisite to its procuring and enjoying what is good for it and its shunning and repelling what is hurtful so it is also furnish'd without with all that is necessary or convenient for its support and satisfaction Thus every faculty within hath an object without prepar'd for it that is exactly correspondent therewith without which as hath been excellently observ'd the faculty would become vain and useless yea and sometimes harmful and destructive as reciprocally the object would import little or nothing if such a faculty were not provided for and suited to it For thus the Eye would be perfectly useless if it were not for the light and the light would be much less considerable if it were not for the Eye for if all light were extinguish'd all those curious colours into which the light is refracted would be utterly insignificant and if all those colours were extinguished the Eye would be utterly depriv'd of one of its most pleasant entertainments And what use would there be of all that infinite variety of melodious sounds fragrant odours and delicious savours which this frame of nature affords were there no hearing smelling or tasting faculties and what would these faculties signifie were there no such sounds or odours or savours So that these objects and faculties are all as perfectly fitted one to another as it was possible for art to fit them nothing could be better sitted for seeing than the eye nothing better fram'd to render things visible than the light and light can be refracted into no colour so grateful unto the eye as green which is the great colour of Nature and the same may be said of the ear and sounds the smell and odours the tast and savours and if the eye were made to see and the ear to hear as there is no doubt but they were being so exquisitely fram'd for that purpose to be sure light was made for seeing and sounds for hearing and so for all the rest and how is it possible that so many things should be made so exactly harmonious and agreeable with one another without the powerful art and direction of some very skilful mind that knew before-hand that this thing would perfectly fit that and consequently had a perfect Idea of them both When therefore we behold such exact correspondencies between the motive faculties of Animals and the elements they move in between the fruits and products of those Elements and the faculties of tast digestion and nutrition in those animals that inhabit them and in a word between all sensible objects without and sensitive objects within how is it possible we should be so senseless as not to trace out an all-directing wisdom by footsteps that are so exprest and remarkable For suppose you heard a musical Instrument move its own strings into an exquisite harmony and run long divisions of curious and well-proportion'd notes without the impulse of any visible Artist would you not conclude either that some invisible hand did immediately touch and play upon its strings or that they were mov'd by some internal spring and contrivance of a musical mind how then can we attend to the admirable harmonies of Nature to the natural references and due proportions and exact correspondencies of all its innumerable parts to one another without believing that there is some great harmonical mind which tun'd it at first and still plays upon it by the immediate touch and impulse of its own invisible hand AND as all things are thus fitted and adapted together so are they also most regularly subordinated to one another according to their rank and worth the sensless elements with all their fruit and product being subject to the use of animals to
grounded upon satisfactory evidence do as much influence our minds as the Objects of sense they who never saw the Indies unless it were in a Map and so can only believe that there are such Countries are yet as much affected with the rich Merchandize they abound with as those who have been there and as ready to venture their Estates and Persons thither through the danger of the Sea in hope of a prosperous return If therefore we believe that there is such a state as Heaven with as full satisfaction of mind as we do that there is such a place as the Indies doubtless our Faith would affect us as much as our Eyes and we should be as forward to go to Heaven and venture through all dangers and difficulties thither as if we had been there already and had seen with our own Eyes all the Glories and Delights it flows and abounds with So that the evidence of our Faith if it be clear and satisfactory will as much affect our minds as the evidence of our sense and Heaven and Hell will as vigorously influence our hope and fear if with a full satisfaction of mind we believe 'em as if we had seen and felt ' em Conceive then that you had spent but one hour in Heaven surveying with your own Eyes the glories of that Place the Triumphs and Exultations of its blessed Inhabitants and the rapturous Joys and delights wherewith it entertains 'em conceive that after this you had been sent for another hour into Hell and had there been spectators of the horrors and agonies of the damned of their torture and rage and dire convulsions of Soul caused by a desperate and remediless misery in a word conceive that after all you had been dismiss'd into this World again to choose your own fate and determine your selves to that happy or this miserable portion for ever think now what your mind and resolution would be whether you would not be willing to lose any thing rather than Heaven or to endure any thing rather than Hell whether any good or evil sin can tempt you withal would be able to out-tempt the Rewards and Punishments of Eternity Doubtless no the remembrance you would have of the infinite Joys and intolerable Miseries you saw in that other World would prove an invincible Antidote against all temptation Now what your sense of the other World would be if you had seen it that will your belief of it be when 't is founded upon clear and satisfactory evidence 't will be an infallible Counter-charm against the most bewitching temptations 't will render the greatest goods dreadful to us that becken us to Hell and the greatest evils desireable that drive us towards Heaven For Faith saith the Apostle is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 that is it renders its invisible Objects as real and evident to us as our sense doth visible ones and when Heaven and Hell are become as evident to our faith as sensible things are to our senses what good or evil is there in all the World that can out-tempt ' em For what good is there so good as Heaven or what evil so bad as Hell So that if our belief of the future Rewards and Punishments be but founded on such evidence as gives a full satisfaction to our minds 't will draw our Souls to God like an invincible Loadstone in despight of all the oppositions of temptations from without and of all the counter-strivings of a corrupt nature from within and there is nothing in the World will be able to withstand it no good or evil that sin can promise or threaten that will have the power to resist its Almighty persuasions but 't will force its own way through all oppositions and like an overflowing Torrent bear down all our carnal considerations before it WHEREFORE if ever we mean to disingage our selves from the slavery of sin and entirely to devote our selves to God and his Service let us in the use of the above-named Means endeavour to establish our minds in a firm and well-grounded belief of the other World that so our faith being built upon a sure foundation of Reason may be able to outstand all the waves of temptation and to chase all those goods and evils before it that stand in the way of our return to God and when by our faith we have so far overcome the World as to submit and resign our selves to God in despight of all its temptations we shall find our belief of the other World every day grow and improve upon our hands 'till at last it commences into a certain assurance For 't is not so much mens reason as their lusts that do object against the reality of the future World they are loth to believe it because it disturbs 'em in their sinful enjoyments and so their will employs their reason to argue against it and when once their wills are engaged in the controversie a very slender probability will weigh more on that side than a clear Demonstration on the other When therefore our wills are taken off by a free resignation of 'em to God all that sinful prejudice which renders us now so averse to believe will vanish from our minds and then we shall see things as they are and the arguments of another World will appear to our minds with such a convincing evidence as will quickly dispel all our doubts and uncertainties and render our Faith equivalent to a clear Vision So that we shall pass through all the temptations of the World with the same constancy and resolution of Soul as if we walked in open view of Heaven and Hell and these mighty Objects which do so infinitely transcend all the Goods and Evils which sin can tempt us withal will have as victorious an influence on our lives as if they were present and did strike immediately on our senses And then how is it possible that any temptation whatsoever should be able to cope with or prevail against ' em For he who is fully persuaded of the reality of Heaven and Hell must be utterly abandoned of all his reason if he sin for any Goods sake that is less than Heaven or for any Evils sake that is less than Hell When therefore we are drawn to God by such invincible hopes and fears as the firm belief of the other World will suggest to us how is it possible that any temptation of sin should either dissuade us from coming to him or persuade us to forsake him Wherefore it concerns us to take all possible care to ground our faith well and improve and strengthen it that so in despight of all temptations it may influence our wills and govern our practice and safely conduct us through all the snares of this Life and at length bring us home to everlasting Happiness CHAP. VI. Of the necessity of having right Apprehensions of God in order to our being truly Religious IT is a Noble