having but little time to tarry if he would grant me the liberty of asking him two or three short Questions which after his Concession I put to him in these words 1. Whether he conceived his Mind to be now as clear as active and as vigorous as it had been some few days before his Ilness 2. Whether he found therein any Perswasives to Repentance or did believe any Necessity by such kind of Atonement to endeavour an Expiation of his past Failings and Offences 3. If he had or had not a full Conviction of the Soul's Immortality 4. What he thought of the Christian Religion To all which when he had sorrowfully sighed out a Heu Quam Mutatus He made answer to this Effect 1. That his Reason had as yet suffer'd nothing of an Eclipse and that he found his Understanding bating the Effect of his present Consternation as firm as ever 2. As for sorrowing for past Errors and Irregularities he thought it was no more than natural and to cry to Heaven for Mercy at the last Moment either in Sighs or Words what the wildest Pagan put in practise but that the Contrition of so great a Libertine as himself had been however fervent or sincere yet considering the same proceeded from one unable to sin longer to think this available to reconcile such a throughly poluted Soul to the Divine Favour he lookt upon absurd 3. As to the Substance and Condition of the Rational Soul that great Principle and Source of all his Intellectual Faculties when he formerly consider'd the Ignorance and more than brutish Stupidity of his Infancy his gradual increase of Knowledge and the manner of his collecting Idea's with their being plac'd tho' he knew not how in his Memory together with his first Attempts to speak by an imitation of those about him these put him upon thinking that the whole Progress had so entire a Dependance upon the Conformation or Mechanick Structure of the Brain as to make him doubtful whether there was any thing more in his Composition than Matter under various Modifications and to believe that which hath obtain'd the Denomination of Mind or Soul was only the Result or Completion of the Animal Organs or did consist in some subtil Particles of the Blood after divers unaccountable ways exerting their several Functions But since he had more warily consider'd the strength of his own Mind under a violent and very sensible Alteration and Decay of the Parts of his Body that it grew more clear still as his end approached and wou'd not let him rest without confessing to its independency on the Body since he reflected farther upon its Essence and that it was certain its Faults or Imperfections might not be such in it self but seem so as it stands related to the Body in which whilst it is an Inhabitant and ty'd to Corporeal Organs it must act accordingly since he had weighed that pertinent and well adapted Simile That the Soul is no more blameable for acting disagreeably in a disorder'd or distemper'd Brain than the Artist who has mist his end only on the account of faulty or improper Instruments Lastly and above all when he consider'd the Nature of Good and Evil the Justice of the Divine Being in rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked these Rewards not being distributed here he was perswaded must undoubtedly ensue hereafter and that his Soul was truly and really a Substantial Form infus'd by a Divine Power and no Accident of Matter neither capable of perishing by the destruction of the Body Farther That whatever Vehicle it might assume in its state of separate Existence he saw nothing in the Notion incongruous or absurd but that without its forsaken Companion it might very well be capable of an Intuitive Knowledge and of exercising those reflex Acts which have no dependance upon gross Material Images or Coporeal Idea's 4. The business of Reveal'd Religion he said had very often startled him he gave the less regard to it because it had never reach'd to all Parts of the World and he did think it too smart a Reflection upon Providence to be consistent with the Divine Attributes that Mankind should not have equal Advantages or the same Laws or Rules to govern themselves by But as for his own Judgment he thought it the less valuable for notwithstanding he did always believe there was such a Thing as Natural Religion or a Light set up in the Soul by which every Man might steer his Course and that Morality was more then an empty Sound yet he had govern'd himself very little or nothing by the same To the Credit of Christianity he offer'd this That by how much the less Reason he had to believe it false the more he thought himself oblig'd to think it true and indeed when at sometimes he consider'd what mighty Gain its first Founders might make of its Promulgation or what should be the Motive to induce any Man to carry on such a Design these Doubts he said he was never able to resolve for when as it was but seldom he search'd the Sacred Writings and found they contain'd nothing but such Laws and Precepts as wou'd if carefully observ'd make us truly and compleatly happy since they had had the Suffrage of the most Learned and all the Sober and consequently more Considerate part of the World he was willing to think for his part they were manumitted to us by a more than Humane Power and that their Divinity was as well conspicuous in their Subject as their Stile He lamented his short Acquaintance with them and the small Progress he had made in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers and all other Ecclesiastic History were he to live the latter years of his Life over again he said they should be devoted to an Enquiry after the great Founder of the Christian Religion for he did believe it a Concern of the highest moment and that every Man ought to satisfie himself so far as he is able of the Authority of those Writings which being once establisht on a well-grounded Faith they are and will be certainly the surest Guide we have to an happy Eternity As for himself he told me he had many perplexing Thoughts attending him so that he must put all upon a mighty Risque but that he hop'd to continue to his last Breath an unfeign'd humble Supplicant for Mercy to the Majesty of Heaven and that if he had no right to any Claim by the Death of Christ the Saviour of the World which tho' on slight Assurance he earnestly hop'd that he had he must then take what was allotted for him by the Divine Justice Thus I took a vary dismal Vale after he had closed all with some short and pithy Expressions relating to my self I have purposely in this place omitted the several Interruptions happening in Discourse since the Contents of the Replies I made in conference with this my deceased Friend are some of them already intersperst in this and my former
even by their own Weapons of Humane Reason I speak not this to shew my own good liking of such for the most part vain and unprofitable Argumentations but yet I think it no disserviceable Office to Religion neither yet to the Cause of our great Creator that some Men have left both the Atheist and his Friend the Deist without Excuse and that they may see their Condemnation heighten'd by their obstinate disbelief of the Christian Religion contrary to the natural unprejudic'd Light of Reason as well as the Extraordinary of Divine Faith Your Character of Mr. B l I think no whit too large nor do I dislike your Thought of his being design'd by Providence as a demonstrative and clear Evidence to satisfie the doubting World that the larger portion of right Reason or solid Knowledge a Man is endow'd with the clearer prospect he enjoys of the Truth and Certainty of Divine Revelation and that it is not only unlikely but impossible to philosophise as becomes reasonable Men without thinking venerably of Almighty God and his Son Christ Jesus The true Christian Vertuoso is indeed not often met with and whether the Character of a practically Religious Man and at the same time a very great Philosopher suits any Man so well as it did the deceased B l may very well be made a Question For my own part I the less value the Attempts or Endeavours of Men philosophising about Religion being perswaded that there are not many sincerely pious Converts made thereby Religion wants not the Rhetorical Flourish of fine Language Aiery Notions and School Distinctions render her but confus'd and are really Blemishes to her Purity and Simplicity Her Paths are plain and easie in her Natural Dress she is all over amiable and wants not the imbellishment of Philosophic Lustre There are Arguments enough already from the Store-house of Humane Reason to silence the Complaints of Atheism it is not Reason that will satisfie the unreasonable Infidel and I am perswaded were there no Mortification or Self-denial in the Case no Restraint to be laid upon the brutish Appetite the Truths we plead for would be clear enough to the Unbeliever The depth of their Philosophy lyes here they will not believe in God because he has not made them irrational or brute Creatures which since they came not such out of the hands of their Maker they resolve to make themselves so and then foolishly please themselves with the Childish Expectation of escaping Divine Judgment because they have so long suffer'd themselves to be acted by what they call the irresistible impulse of their sensitive Appetites and wilfully indulged Passions What every good Man glories in viz. that he is endow'd with Reason and a Capacity to shun the Evil and to choose the Good is the greatest Misery of these Men who finding themselves able to dishonour their Creator to turn their backs upon Religion and to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace since there is a possibility for them left to blaspheme their God to trample upon all things Sacred and that they are not hereupon immediately destroy'd by the Divine Anger and Indignation they grow harden'd in their Vices their continued Habits are at length woven into their Constitutions and they act indeed but little differently from Irrational Agents Right Reason or Philosophy will do but little good with such the Reformation if at all is owing to the hand of God it is beyond the skill of Man to inlighten our Understandings in such a manner as to give us a taste of the Divine Goodness We may frame to our selves some speculative Notions we may confess with our Mouths as finding our selves unable to resist or to hold out any longer but it is the Grace of Jesus Christ that must compleat our Conviction and cooperate with our Souls in a perseverance to the end This is a Truth so clear to me that I am firmly perswaded you will find no sincerely pious or true practical Christian of a differing Opinion the worldly wise Man may despise and contemn us the Libertine may scoff at us and impute all to our want of Knowledge to Phansie or Prepossession let them mock on and mark the end it is sufficient for us and will recompence to us these Indignities if we are happy in the Grace of our Lord Jesus I commit you to his protection and remain Your faithful Friend to serve you A. H. POSTSCRIPT I Can by no means think well of those you have taken notice of neither do I think it becomes any Man to dogmatize concerning the Creation or to ridicule the Mosaic History if we can't content our selves with what is there deliver'd it is true we may please our selves with new Theories of our own erecting but must not expect to find out any such as Mankind will comply with or perhaps such as will please our selves much better than that of the Historian in Sacred Writ which we find fault with because in some things disagreeable to Modern Discoveries In these things every Man may think as he pleases provided he think not to the dishonour of Almighty God but let no Man publish to the World for truth the uncertain even very uncertain Conjectures of his own Mind I had not been long acquainted with this Reverend Divine before his fatal Distemper depriv'd me with many others of the advantage of his Conversation and it is the least respect I can pay his Memory in publick to acknowledge my own belief that he was a Man of undissembled Piety strictly holy and devout in his Life and Converse laborious and painful in his Ministry of very easie access and ready to succour all Men to the utmost of his Capacity He was a Man universally respected by Persons of different Perswasions and I have reason to surmise that he died as generally lamented He always exprest himself with a more than common earnestness and had something in his Air and Mein so soberly grave and modest yet withal so pleasant that I never met with in any other Person He had nothing of Affectation of a precise or reserved Temper and so little regarded a Courtly Demeanour or Ceremonial Deportment that I have heard it objected as the greatest of his Faults that he was ungenteel and too negligent in his manner of Address but least this should be taken for his full Character which makes so small and even so inconsiderable a part thereof I shall for the present leave it whilst I pursue my Argument of the Nature and Necessity of the Divine Assistance to the Completion of Man's Eternal Happiness something more particularly relating to which Theam I find so pertinently handled by the Author of Reasons Interest in Religion that I care not to pass it by without taking notice and considering upon the same As nothing saith this Author but charming Lusts false Delusions carnal Interests foolish Prejudices indulging the Appetites of the Animal Life and attending to the titillations of the
the Laws of Motion that there is nothing less than a Miracle could prevent it and indeed supposing the Particles of Matter from whatever Cause posited in the manner we are now speaking it would be much more monstrous if they should convene into any other Shape which we account more regular handsom or compleat But then when we survey this unusual Figure as the Workmanship of the Deity especially where we suppose the same was design'd a Mansion for the Rational Soul we expect that the Supreme Architect should have interpos'd and either alterd the Laws of Motion or have given a new Modification to the Particles of Matter whereby they might be disposed to have better answer'd his Design and to be rendred more pliable to what Philosophers pronounce the Plastic Power Our Reflections of this Nature upon the particular Providence or God's Government of the World do put us very often upon the most impious Conclusions and almost perswade us to question if we are not very cautious and sensible that it is impossible for us to fathom his Designs whether there be any Divine Intelligence at all or other Superintendent Being who sits at the Helm and takes notice of us Mortals all this being in our Opinions more easily resolvable into Time and Chance Matter and Motion These if I mistak not are the unhappy Doubts of the Inconsiderate and altho' they appear not so bare fac'd in the modester sort of Infidels yet are they so far as we are able to apprehend the genuine Thoughts of every irreligious or profane Person We are too apt to set up our own perverted shallow and corrupt Reason for the Universal Standard to which Test must be brought not only each others Actions but those of God himself and which is somewhat strange notwithstanding scarce any one of our Lives is regulated by this Exemplar yet if we cannot immediately reconcile the unsearchable and inscrutable Designs of the Supreme Power to our own finite Understandings if we discover not the most secret Mysteries or Arcana Deitatis and are unable to account for each several Dispensation we blaspemously cry out with Epicurus Aut Deâ—â— vult toltere Mala non potest aut potest non vult aut utque vult neque potest aut vult potest Si vult non potest imbecillis est idioque non Deus Si potest non vult invidâ—â— est quod aeque alienum à Deo Si neque vult neque potest invidâ—â— imbecillis est idebque utque Deus Si vult potest quod solum Deo convenit unde ergo Mala aut cur illa non tollit Believe me Sir I have been often apt to think that we need not seek much farther for the Causes of Irreligion than our mistaken Notions concerning Providence nor indeed can I perswade my self of a greater stumbling Block or more considerable Difficulty to be encountred in the Christian Warfare It is this which hath sometimes stagger'd the Faith of some of the wisest Men and made others pure Sceptics in Matters of Religion It was this which put the Divine Psalmist if I may use his words upon crying out But as for me my Feet were almost goâ—e my stepâ— had well â—igh slipt For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked for they are not in trouble as other Men neither are they â—lâ—gâ—ed like other Men. Their Eyes stand out with fatness they â—â—â—e more then heart could wish They are corrupt and speak wickedly They set their Mouth against the Heavens and they say how doth God knâ—w Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the World Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in Innocence for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every Morning When I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary of God then understood I their end We have surely the less Reason to admire that the regardless and foolish Libertine shou'd be startled at the seemingly unequal distribution of the Divine Favours when we find the devout Psalmist himself almost confounded and openly confessing that these things were too painful for his knowledge till he went into the Sanctuary and there inform'd himself To the same purpose says one of the ancient Fathers Videbat Epicurus Bonis adversa semper accidere Paupertatem Labores Curae Amissiones Malos contrà Beatos esse augeri Potentia Honoribus affici Videbat Innocentiam minus tutam Scelera impune committi Videbat sine delectu Morum sine ordine discrimine annorum saevire Mortem sed alios ad Senectutem pervenire alios Infantes rapi alios jam robustos interire alios in primo adolescentiae flore immaturis funeribus extingui In Belliâ— potius meliores vinci perire maxime autem commovebat Homines imprimis religiosos malis affici iis autem qui aut Deos omnino negligerent aut minus pie colerent vel minora incommodâ— evenire vel nulla It was the like Consideration which extorted that Confession of Ovid Cum rapiant Mala Fata Bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitâ—r nullâ—s esse putare Deos. It was the seeming Felicity of the Impious and Unjust with the smart Afflictions of the Pious and Devout that amazed the sober Claudian as he is called by Dr. Ch and more than inclined him to Apostatize from Religion and declare himself on the side of Epicurus in these words Sepe mihi dubiam traxit Sententia Mentem Curarent Superi Terras au nullus inesset Rector incerto fluerent Mortalia Casu Sed cum Res Hominum taâ—ta Caligine volvi Adspicerem laetósque diu florere Nocentes Vexariquâ— Pios rursuâ— labefacta Cadebat Religio causaeque viam non sponte sequebar Alterius vacuo quae currere semina motu Adfirmat magnúmque novas per Inane figuras Fortuna non Arte regi quae Numina Sensu Ambiguo vel nulla putat vel nescia nostri Men look into the World and perceive a showre of Good and Evil over their Heads which falls down as they imagine without Choice or Direction They acknowledge indeed an establisht Law of Motion but by what Power they heed not nor will they be perswaded of the Author's Justice since the same Event at sometimes happens to all and if the Wicked have not the Precedence they are at least equally happy in this Life with the Good and Pious These Men saith that great Master of Antiquity the Learned B of W have found out an expurgatory Index for those Impressions of a Deity which are in the hearts of Men and use their utmost Art to obscure since they cannot extinguish those lively Characters of his Power which are every where to be seen in the large Volume of the Creation Religion is no more to them but an unaccountable Fear and the very Notion of a Spiritual Substance even
our Duty to our God and to each other If Humane Reason or the Light of Nature is insufficient to direct us to such a uniform and steddy Rule or System of Laws or if it cou'd since the greater part of Men wou'd think themselves unconcern'd or under no necessity to observe them on the account of a Deficiency in Authority or a want of a Divine Sanction or Manumission it is reasonable as well as natural for us to wish and expect upon these accounts that our Maker wou'd in some manner reveal Himself unto us that He wou'd prescribe our Laws and stamp the same with some Divine Impression whereby we might be enabled to discover their Authority and read in them the Characters of a more than Humane Contrivance or Composition Whether or no this Almighty Being has made any such Discovery of his Will to the World or revealed to them such Laws or Rules of Worship as will be most acceptable to Him is the Business of our present Enquiry for let me tell you whatever Noise our Deists have made in the World about the Sufficiency of Natural Religion we have very little reason to think them in good earnest If their Natural Religion does oblige them to believe in God and to confess the Truth of the Souls Immortality how comes it to pass that the Result of such a Faith is so little conspicuous in their Lives and Conversations and why I pray is it that the Precepts of Christianity which aim at nothing more than the Happiness of Mankind and contain the compleatest System both of Moral and Divine Laws to direct us in our Duty shou'd be no more regarded 'T is plain enough to every sober and judicious Man that there is nothing in reveal'd Religion that can seem harsh even to a real Deist He that is a Deist in good earnest will find it his highest Interest and Concern to do every thing which Christianity has enjoyn'd upon which score since we find it otherwise we have abundant cause to think with a Learned Man That Revelation in it self is not the stumbling Block it is not the Fundamentals of the Christian Doctrine nor yet the Articles of her Creed it is the Duty to God and our Neighbour that is such an inconsistent incredible Legend He who is more than a Nominal Deist must heartily subscribe this following Confession which that you may be the better opinion'd of I shall give you in their own words We do believe that there is an infinitely powerful wise and good God who superintends the Actions of Mankind in order to retribute to every one according to their Deserts Neither are we to boggle at this Creed for if we do not stick to it we ruine the Foundation of all Humane Happiness and are in effect no better than meer Atheists Whatsoever is adorable saith another of them aimiable and imitable by Mankind is in one supream infinite and perfect Being which we call God who is to be worshipped by an inviolable adherence in our Lives to all the things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an imitation of all his infinite Perfections especially his Goodness and believing magnificently of it Again in their new Scheme of Natural Religion I find acknowledg'd the following Particulars 1. That there is one Infinite Eternal God Creator of all things 2. That he governs the World by Providence 3. That 't is our Duty to worship and obey Him as our Creator and Governour 4. That our worship consists in Prayer to Him and Praise of Him 5. That our Obedience consists in the Rules of Right Reason the Practice whereof is Moral Vertue 6. That we are to expect Rewards and Punishments hereafter according to our Actions in this Life 7. And lastly When we err from the Rules of our Duty that we repent us and trust in God's Mercy for our Pardon Now show me the Man who acts according to this Faith and let him be never so well opinion'd of Natural Religion I make it no question but he will readily acknowledge as the most considerate and judicious of them have always done that Christianity however mysterious is indisputably the best method of cultivating Mens Minds and manuring their Consciences I must confess with Mr. Norris were we to consult the perverse Glosses and Comments of some Christian Rabbins and to take our Measures of this Religion from those ill-favour'd Draughts of it we may sometimes meet with we shou'd be induc'd to think that as some Christians are the worst of Men so will their Religion appear to be the worst of Religions an Institution unworthy the Contrivance even of a wise Politician much less of Him who is the Father of Wisdom And indeed whatever Declamations are made against Judaism and Paganism the worst Enemies of the Christian Religion are some of those who profess and teach it for if it be in reality as some of those who call themselves Orthodox describe it we may boldly say that it is neither for the Reputation of God to be the Author of such a Religion nor for the Interest of Men to be guided by it Those of whom this Author more particularly takes notice as the Misrepresenters of Christianity are first of all the Antinomians who are impudent and ignorant enough in express terms to assert that the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ does wholly excuse us from all manner of Duty and Obedience Secondly the Solifidians who under pretence of Advancing the Merits of the Cross and â—he Freeness of the Divine Grace require nothing of a Christian in order to his Justification and Acceptance before God but firmly to rely on the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ and without any more to do to apply all to himself And thirdly Those who have a share in the foremention'd Charge are such who make Christianity a Matter of bare Speculation rending and dividing themselves from one another by those unhappy and dangerous Disputations which instead of making Proselytes to the Truth of Christianity have drawn Men first of all to Deism afterwards to Scepticism and thence by a very easie step to Infidelity and Atheism These are they who think all Religion absolved in Orthodoxy of Opinion that care not how men live but only how they teach and are so over-intent upon the Creed that they neglect the Commandments little considering that Opinion is purely in order to Practise and that Orthodoxy of Judgment is necessary only in such Matters where a Mistake wou'd be of dangerous influence to our Actions that is in Fundamentals so that the necessity of thinking rightly is derived from the necessity of doing rightly and consequently the latter is the most necessary of the two Having touched on some few of those particular Opinions which have brought a Scandal upon Revealed Religion and very much obscur'd its glorious Lustre it behoves me to say something to Revelation it self which I shall do in the words of a late Author As
a profane Witticism or an impious Scoff The folly of such Derision that I may give you the Sentiments of a Reverend and Devout Person is very conspicuous in considering to whom the Injury redounds by Mens making themselves so pleasant with their Sins Do they think by their rude Attempts to dethrone the Majesty of Heaven or by standing at the greatest Defiance to make Him willing to come to Terms of Composition with them Do they hope to slip beyond the Bounds of his Power by falling into Nothing when they dye or to sue out Prohibitions in the Court of Heaven to hinder the Effects of Justice there Do they design to out-wit infinite Wisdom or to find such Flaws in God's Government of the World that he shall be content to let them go unpunish'd All which Imaginations are alike vain and foolish and only shew how easily Mens Wickedness baffles their Reason and makes them rather hope and wish for the most impossible things than believe they shall ever be punisht for their Impieties It is well says the same Judicious Man in the Age we live that we have the Judgment of former Ages to appeal to and of those Persons in them whose Reputation for Wisdom is yet unquestionable otherwise we might be born down by that Spiteful Enemy to all Vertue and Goodness the Impudence of such who it is hard to say whether they shew it more in committing Sin or in defending it Men whose Manners are so bad that scarce any thing can be imagined worse unless it be the Wit with which they use to excuse them Such who take the Measure of Man's Perfections downwards and the nearer they approach to Beasts the more they think themselves to act like Men. No wonder that among such as these the Differences of Good and Evil be laughed at and no Sin thought so unpardonable as thinking there is any at all the utmost these Men will allow in the Description of Sin is That it is a thing that some live by declaiming against and others cannot live without the practise of But is the Chair of Scorners at last prov'd the only Chair of Infallibility Must those be the Standard of Mankind who seem to have little lest of Humane Nature but laughter and the shape of Men Do they think that we are all become such Fools to take Scoffs for Arguments and Railery for Demonstration He knows nothing at all of Goodness that knows not that it is much easier to laugh at than to practise it and it were worth the while to make a mock at Sin if the doing so wou'd make nothing of it but the Nature of things does not vary with the Humours of Men Sin becomes not at all the less dangerous because some Men have so little Wit to think it so nor Religion the less excellent and advantageous to the World because the greatest Enemies of that are so much to themselves too that they have learnt to despise it but altho' that scorns to be defended by such Weapons whereby her Enemies assault her nothing more unbecoming the Majesty of Religion than to make it self cheap by making others laugh yet if they can but obtain so much of themselves as to attend with patience to what is serious there may be yet a possibility of perswading them that no Fools are so great as those who laugh themselves into Misery and none so certainly do so as those who make a mock at Sin It may be not unlikely thought by some the Interest of Mankind that there shou'd be no Heaven at all because the Labour to acquire it is more worth than the Purchase God Almighty if there be one having much over-valued the Blessings of his Presence so that upon a fair Estimation 't is a greater Advantage to take ones Swinge in Sensuality and have a glut of Voluptuousness in this Life freely resigning all Pretences to Future Happiness which when a Man is once extinguished by Death he cannot be supposed either to want or desire than to be ty'd up by Commandments and Rules so thwart and contrary to Flesh and Blood and refuse the Satisfaction of Natural Desires This indeed is the true Language of Atheism and the Cause of it too were not this at the bottom no Man in his Wits cou'd contemn and ridicule the Expectation of Immortality and yet I may be bold to say it is a plain Instance of the Foily of those Men who whilst they repudiate all Title to the Kingdom of Heaven meerly for the present pleasure of Body and their boasted Tranquility of Mind besides the extream Madness in running such a desperate hazard after Death they unwittingly deprive themselves here of that very Pleasure and Tranquility they seek for there being nothing more certain than this that Religion it self gives us the greatest Delights and Advantages even in this Life also tho' there shou'd prove in the Event to be no Resurrection to another Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace But the truth of our future Existence has had the Attestation of the Learned and Judicious in all Parts of the World I have elsewhere taken notice of it and must again inculcate to you That Religion is somewhat more than a childish unaccountable Fear of any pretended invisible Power and that the Terrors it strikes us with are vastly different from those Tales about Specters which do at some times frighten pusillanimous Minds those that do arise from our knowledge of having offended the Divine Being or from the just fear of his Anger and Indignation are such as do not only disturb some small Pretenders and puny Novices but do approach even the profoundest Rabbi's or Masters of Atheism it being well known both from Ancient and Modern Experience that the very boldest of them out of their Debauches and Company when they chance to be surprized with Solitude or Sickness are the most suspicious timerous and despondent Wretches in the World and the boasted happy Atheist in the indolence of the Body and an undisturbed Calm and Serenity of Mind is altogether as rare a Creature as the Vir Sapiens was amongst the Stoicks whom they often met with in Idea and Description in Harangues and in Books but freely own'd that he never had or was likely to Exist actually in Nature Believe me my good Friend here is more in this than Prepossession of Phancy or Disease of Imagination and if you object that had we not been told of these things by designing Men we shou'd never have thought on them our selves the Answer is ready who told these designing Men if they thought of these things without being told why may not others do so too It is manifest enough to every Man that his Soul whilst in the Body is capable to retire it self from Corporeal Images and to be busie with Idea's of another Nature which no Corporeal Impression cou'd possibly make and hence also it is as clear that
Substance that the Rays which cause the visible Species are either certain Particles or Effluvia's darted from a lucid Body repercussed in their going forth and reflected variously here and there according to Gassendus or that these Particles beaming forth from the same lucid Body move other Particles of a Nitro-sulphureous Quality implanted in the Air and as it were by inkindling them render them luminous and these at length others and that so a diffusion on every side of Light or Images is propagated by a certain Undulation which is the more probable Opinion if we may credit Dr. Willis Farther Admitting in the Case of Hearing that the audible Species or Sonorisick Particles are a kind of Saline little Bodies after the manner described or some other way stirred up into act for the production of Sound in a word admitting the rest of the Senses the Touch the Smell and Taste and all other Phaenomena relating to the Humane Body might after some such manmer be explor'd by the Corpuscular Philosophy yet all this will not direct us to a knowledge of the Substance and Condition of our own Souls the Speculations of this Nature may indeed inform us that the Being which exerts such admirable Powers and judges so exquisitely of each of these Sensations must it self be independent both of Matter and Mechanism How then is it possible for any Man without a wilful blindness or debauch of his Understanding when he has made this Enquiry and satisfy'd himself in the wonderful and divine Contrivance of Structure in the several Organs destinated for so many Functions how is it I say that this shou'd incline a Man to Atheism unless contrary to the Dictates of his own Conscience he were resolv'd that way or how can we conceive a reasonable Creature so strangely degenerate from the rest of Mankind as to imagine where there can be nothing more conspicuous than the Workmanship of a most powerful and most intelligent Being that the same at first proceeded either from no Cause at all or one no better viz. Chance or Fortune So that to deal freely I can do no less than believe with a Modern Philosopher That whoever does profess Philosophy and thinks not rightly of God may be judg'd not only to have shaken hands with Religion but with his Reason also and that he hath at once put off Philosophy as well as Christianity The sum of this Argument lyes here That no Man can indeed scarce Reason at all or to be sure cannot Reason rightly and be Irreligious On the other hand to be truly and indeed Religious is to be truly Reasonable So that to put the Cause upon this Issue let us examine what it is that Right Reason teaches us whether it be to do Good or Evil Let us consider whether it point out unto us a direct and sure way to future Happiness or engage us in the Paths that lead to Destruction For if in effect it be Reason that imprints upon our Minds any Notion of Irreligion or that in any manner inclines us to Vice we ought undoubtedly to reject it without the least Hesitation but if on the contrary it appear that true Reason be the only Foundation both of true Piety and real Vertue and that any Pretence either to the one or to the other not built on Rational Principles may in truth be no other than the Effect of Superstition or Hypocrisie thâ—n certainly 't is our Duty to use our Reason as well in Matters of Religion as in any thing else It is this which must direct us in our Search of Holy Scriptures 't is this must guide us in our Enquiry after the Founder of the Christian Religion and when by our Reason we are perswaded of the Authority of the Sacred Writings and that the Penmen thereof were Supernaturally Inspired which as is intimated before we have abundant Reason to believe we must then let our Faith take place and not only assent unto those things which we can account for but even of those also which tho' not contrary to are above our Reason and must be acknowledg'd to surmount our Apprehension The Belief of a God of his Providence and of future Rewards and Punishments is that Faith which is the true and only Foundation of all Religion but the Foundation of that Faith lyes in the Perception we have of the Truth of those Things by that general Light or Capacity of discerning which is imparted to all Mankind All the Certainty saith the pious Father Malebranch which we can have in Matters of Faith depends upon that Knowledge which we have by reason of the Existence of a God and thus we see one inestimable Advantage derived to us by the right use of our Reason and a powerful Argument in favour of this Opinion That it is by Reason only we are made capable to lay the first Foundation of all Religion which is the certain Knowledge of the Existence of the Divine Being If you expect any Definition or Explication of this word Reason I may answer with a very Ingenious Man That by Reason is to be understood that steddy uniform Light that shines in the Minds of all Men that Divine Touchstone or Test by which all Men are enabled so far I mean as they are able to discern the Congruity and Incongruity of Propositions and thereupon to pronounce them true or false There are indeed different degrees of Clearness in the Intellectual Perception of different Men occasion'd by the different Degrees of Attention in themselves and the different Representation of Things from without but the Light by which all things are discerned is universally one and the same The Uniformity of this Light is the ground of all Intellectual Communication between Man and Man for if different Men saw always the same things in different Lights it wou'd be impossible for one Man by any Representation whatsoever to raise the same Conceptions in another Man's Mind that he has in his own and therefore it is that whatever extraordinary Illumination some Men may injoy it can only be of authority and useful to themselves or at most it can be only so far useful and of authority to others as those that enjoy it are able to give extraordinary proof of it All Matters of Religion even as all other Affairs of Humane Life are to be handled by Men in reference to one another in methods conformable to the Universal and Uniform Light of all Mankind By Religion I understand the Belief of the Existence of a God and the sense and practise of those Duties that result from the Knowledge we have of Him of our Selves and of the Relation we stand in to Him and to our fellow Creatures The Existence of a God is demonstrable from the Necessity of admitting some first Cause of all Things whatsoever that Cause be I call it God and the Idea that we have of this powerful â—â—cing arises from the Contemplation of those innumerable Perfections that
characterise the Rational Soul of Man it is by no means to be allowed Whether the Master of its Composition retain'd the same Sentiments at his Death concerning the Reasoning Principle within him I have not inform'd my self but it is easie enough to conceive the Thought more readily indulged that the looser Scheme of Religion might serve turn and that the Sensitive Appetite might not admit of any Restraint by the fears of a Post Mortem aliquid How the Learned S m came in among this Gang is somewhat strange That he was acquainted with them we are given to understand by a Letter of Mr. B t s in which was enclosed an Epitome of Deism I must confess I have been inform'd that excellent Physician was tainted with these Principles but yet I could never understand but that he dy'd far from an irreconcileable Enemy to Christianity and firmly perswaded of a future Retribution I shall not mention such of them as are now living although they seem to pride themselves in having been the Parents of those Monstrous Births which they have boldly set their Names to and deliver'd to the giddy World for the Standards of Truth and Reason it may please Almighty God to enlighten their Understandings and to bring about so happy a Reformation that they may be satisfy'd in the certainty of those Divine Truths which will shine still with the greater Lustre the more powerfully they are assaulted and flourish under the Scandal and Contempt of their malicious Adversaries I must confess I had a great desire to see the Arguments of these Men and when I had procur'd them I look'd them over without any such anticipated Prejudice as could sway me to a Partiality Pro or Contra I rather premise this as believing it no easie matter for any Man who would be thought to have a Respect or Veneration either for God or true Religion to peruse such Treatises without so great an Abhorrence and Detestation of the Authors as will hinder him from giving either a due attention to what they write or to consider throughly the proper weight of their Expressions Now upon a mature and deliberate consideration of what I find they have deliver'd I have ventur'd to pass this Censure that the Authors have plainly discover'd themselves to be Men very far short of sound or right Reasoning of very little Piety and Men of no certain or steddy Principles And this Sentence I have adventur'd to pass upon them on these Accounts that whereas in one place I find them highly pleading for a Natural Religion ridiculing Revelation and mustering up all the Arguments that themselves and their Friends the Libertines can furnish out in another they change their Aspect and submissively condescend that the Scriptures should have some little Authority they speak modestly of the two Testaments calling them Sacred Records and ingeniously confess that since Humane Reason is like a Pitcher with two Ears which may be taken on either side in our Travels to the other World we should choose the Common Road as the safest for tho' Deism may serve to manure our Consciences yet certainly if sowed with Christianity it will produce the most plentiful Crop There is nothing says the same Person in another place where he had been just before using Arguments to the discredit of our Immortality more unaccountable and contradictory than to suppose a hum drum Deity chewing his own Nature a Droaning God sit hugging of himself and hoarding up his Providence from his Creatures This is an Atheism no less irrational than to deny the very Essence of a Divine Being It is the same also to believe the Soul to be Mortal as to believe an Immortality without Rewards and Punishments Thus it is very common with this sort of Men to dogmatize even in the most important Points of Religion strenuously affirming for Truth what their Reason dictates and presently after when they have said all they can they are forced to grant that what they have said is only such twilight Conjecture as Humane Reason of which we yet so vainly boast can furnish them withal 't is now an Aliquid Divinum which does all things and our Capacities being unable to discern the same make us fasten either upon the Elementary Qualities of Hippocrates or Galen or the Cartesian Rule of Geometrical Proportions The Conclusion of all is this that since we are not qualify'd to understand the real Essence or intime Nature of things we can know nothing certainly all our Philosophy excepting Scepticism is little more than Dotage These are their own words which I think may give us a very justifiable occasion to look upon these Men very improper Standards for our Reason or Religion to be directed by and as unfit Oracles for us to consult As for their Divinity if a parcel of fine words will satisfie we may think very devoutly of them but indeed I cannot for my own part perswade my self when I consider the tendency of their common Discourse and their Converse in the World but that their Religion may be fairly resolv'd into 〈◊〉 Deâ—sâ—â— or the single Belief of a first Cause and that our Immortality was tack't to it that the Bait might be swallowed with the less suspition and the extravagant Absurdity of their Novel Opinions less strictly examin'd or inquir'd into For when we find Men devoted to the study of â—â—religion to frame and invent Arguments to disturb and perplex our Faith we have surely but little Reason to think well of their Persons or to regard their Speeches And that this has been the design of those I am speaking of even the whole bent of their Minds in manifest enough in the manner of their paraphrasing the Mosaick History in their endeavours to establish the Sufficiency of Natural Religion to future Happiness and opposing the same to the Revelation of Christ Jesus in their collecting Arguments out of Ethnic Authors for the Mortality of the Soul and the Eternity of the World in their inâ—â—â—â—â—ting a Possibility for a free and reasoning Principle to be compatible to Matter and all this with the same Assurance as if they had receiv'd Intelligence from the Court of Heaven I am inform'd one of their late Treatises which contains the Heads of their Opinions will be e're long taken to pieces and judiciously examined however difficult the Task may appear I see nothing in them to discourage any ingenious Man in the Undertaking for if we deprive them of their Varnish and set them in a clear Light we shall find but little in them more than empty Sound and insignificant Harangue They have been either feignedly or really ignorant of Antiquity which is clear from their gross mis-representation of some Passages and their falsifying downright in others They have rack't their Brains for their beloved Cause of Natural Religion but have not offer'd which they ought first of all to have done one Syllable to disprove the Founder of the Christian Religion or the
no Reason assign'd why iâ— shou'd be otherwise but because there is more of the sensible Nature in one part than there is in another but how can there be more or less when the whole feâ—ls both wherefore if there are degrees of Pain in the Sentient Parts if we câ—n feel pain in this part and none in the other and can at once feel several distinct Pains in several distinct parts then the Soul must either feel by parts which an Indivisible cannâ—t or Sensation must belong to another Principle whose Properties are Extension and Divisibility and if those Properties do not belong to Body or can belong to Spirit we have no Notion either of Body or Spirit Whoever throughly considers this Argument will find that the Judgment of most Learned Physician concur with this Opinion of the Corporiety of the Souls of Brutes and that the same is plainly hinted in those places of Scripture which relate to the Jewish Prohibition of Eating Blood because the same contained the Life or Soul For as our Animal Spirits 〈◊〉 off by what we call the insensible Transpiration we are sensibly enfeebled and grow unactive till there are new ones maâ—e out of the Arterial Blood which Blood must be again sâ—pâ—ly'd by Corporeal Nourishment Thus we see Bodies unâ—â—â—ustom'd to hot Countries in those places their Poâ—es are so much open'd as to cause the Spirits flying away in such quantities that the Life would soon expire without the assistance of spiâ—â—tuous Liquors which give a speedy supply of Spirits On the other hand we find Dormice will sleep whole Months without the help of Food but if you observe those Creatures in their sleep they are stiff and cold their Pores are so contracted that the Life cannot fly off and therefore they want no Recruit but when warmth awakens them whereby their Pores are opened they can fast no longer than other Creatures therefore if the Animal Life flies off by parts which are again renew'd by Corporeal Nourishment it is a clear Evidence that the Soul of Brutes or Animal Life is Corporeal and by this we come to a plain and true Notion of Death that it is not as usually defin'd a Separation of the Soul and Body which is but a Consequence of Death but an absolute Extinguishment of the Animal Life or Vital Flame For to suppose that meer Animals are a Compound of Matter and Spirit and that Death is only a Separation of them is to ridicule all the Natural Arguments for Man's Immortality by making them hold as strong for the Immortality of Brutes which is both against Divinity and Common Sense And indeed the reason why some Physicians who of all Men should admire most the wonderful Works of Creating Wisdom have been Atheistically inclin'd is because they are able to demonstrate that Sense is made by Matter and Motion and therefore have carelesly concluded Reason to spring from the same Principle and all our Actions to be accounted for by Mechanism and those Men help much to the Confirmation of this Opinion who assign the Office of Sensation to the Rational Soul and allow Reason to other Animals there is no Adversary to Religion but will readily grant the Animal Life and Rational Soul to be the same thing and that all Animals are Rational but then he subjoyns that the Animal Life is Corporeal and therefore concludes that Rationality is no Argument either of Immateriality or Immortality My Lord Bacon upon this Subject delivers his Opinion in the following words The sensible Soul or the Soul of Beasts must needs be granted to be a Corporeal Substance attenuated by Heat and made invisible let there be therefore made a more diligent Enquiry touching this Knowledge and the rather for that this Point not well understood bath brought forth superstitious and very contagious Opinions and most vilely abasing the dignity of the Soul of Man of Transmigration of Souls out of one Body into another and lustration of Souls by Periods of Years and finally of the too near affinity in evey point of the Soul of Man with the Soul of Beasts This Soul in Beasts is a principal Soul whereof the Body of the Beast is the Organ but in Man thâ—s Soul is it self an Organ of the Soul Rational Having made this Enquiry into the Soul of Brutes and given I hope sufficient proof that the same is Corporeal we shall next inform our selves what Knowledge they are endow'd with and enquire whether or no there is a Principle of Reason in the most subtil of their Actions Our common Observation may assure us That all the Actions of meer Animals are either the Effects of a bare Sensitive Nature which in various degrees is common to all or of Sensitive Creatures as they are fram'd of this or that peculiar Species or Kind for what those Creatures act according to the Nature common to all is plainly the Effect of bare Sensation We see Ideots do as much who have no use of Reason they distinguish who feeds them and fear who beats them Outward Objects must affect the Animal Spirits the Animal Spirits must make Traces in the Brain and lodge those Idea's and so far Will and Reason have nothing to do And altho' the Actions of meer Animals as they are of this or that peculiar Species or Kind seem somewhat agreeable to Reason yet they prove only a wise Author of their Beings and that the more strongly because 't is visible that those Actions are not the Effects of a reasoning Principle in those Creatures for Actions that are constantly agreeable to Reason must be somewhere directed by Reason but they are not the Effect of Reâ—son in those Creatures In earthly created Beings we find Reason is improv'd by degrees from a Series of Observations or from Information Men cannot conclude or reason about any thing but a Posteriori from the operation and effects of things but meer Animals act according to their Nature immediately and without observation which are so many Demonstrations that they are instructed by a secret Instinct and not by Reason or a Knowledge of what they do for they ever act according to their Natures when by plain and visible Accident they act against the most apparent Reason One wou'd think a little very little Reason wou'd instruct Creatures that they cou'd not eat when their Mouths are sewed up at least a trial might learn them that knowledge yet stitch up the Mouth of a Ferret day after day and for all that he 'l as warmly pursue the Rabbits for his food as if his Jaws were at liberty Farthermore Meer Animals must act according to their kind when so acting is visibly their certain ruin Take a Bull-dog and muzzle him throw him Bones that he may find he cannot open his Mouth â—â—t after that shew him a Bull and he shall as boldly attack the Bull as if he had no Muzzle on Again It is certain that young Birds bred in Trees will
all true Religion and put the most contemptible Brute in competition with him we destroy the very Nature of Rewards and Punishments founded upon his Actions and take every thing from him commendable or praise-worthy But saith the Atheist we would have had him placed in such a Condition that he should only have had a power or freedom to do everything he ought but never to have had the liberty of forfeiting his Future Happiness The Absurdity of this Desire or Expectation is so palpably conspicuous that there is no Man can consider it without perceiving it For if Mankind had been compell'd to the Duties of Religion whether they wou'd or no or had there been a perfect Impossibility that any Man shou'd fall into Infidelity in what I pray had layn the Advantage of a Religious Faith if Men tho' never so desirous could not be vicious where had been the Benefit or the just Reward of Vertue if they had never the power of degrading their Natures and falling into Luxury Epicurism and Sensuality who had ever heard of Temperance and Sobriety Where wou'd be our Christian Fortitude and Magnanimity if there were no Difficulties to be encountred or Dangers to be overcome or in a word what reason have we to value our selves for our Honesty Justice Charity Patience Resignation if all these stood but for so many Cyphers or empty insignificant Sounds as they must be did we suppose our selves in such a state as this where we are hurried on by some unseen Impulse or Coaction independent on the Powers or Faculties of our own Minds I must confess there are some Places or Texts in the Sacred Writings which seem at first sight to countenance this Opinion That Man is not a free Agent or invested with this Power which we contend for But whoever will take the trouble of collecting the several Expositions not only of Divines but Philosophers will find them all satisfactorily explain'd their Scruples fairly remov'd and the more natural and genuine Sense of them demonstratively asserted There is no Person that I know of hath made so much Noise in the World about Liberty and Necessity or about our acting necessarily as Mr. Hobbs That Man saith he is free to do a thing that may do it if he have the will to do it and may forbear if he have the will to forbear and yet if there be a necessity that he shall have the will to do it the Action is necessarily to follow and if there be a necessity that he shall have the will to forbear the forbearing also will be necessary The Question therefore is not Whether a Man be not a free Agent that is to say whether he can write or forbear speak or be silent according to his will But whether the will to write or the will to forbear come upon him according to his will or according to any thing else in his own power I acknowledge this Liberty that I can do if I will but to say I can will if I will I take to be an absurd Speech Again saith Mr. Hobbs Every Effect must have a Cause to produce it that Cause must be sufficient to produce it otherwise it had never been produced if that Cause be sufficient it must likewise be necessary to produce it for if any thing were wanting that was necessary to the Production of the Effect it could not be effected and thus the Effect comes to be produced necessarily or of pure necessity The Comparison stands thus The Will of Man must have some Cause that Cause must be sufficient if sufficient likewise necessary Ergo Man's Will is necessitated Whoever will trouble himself with a little Reflection may easily unriddle this Mystery and prove the Argument to be a meer Sophism however strenuous it appear at the first view The judicious Mr. E d hath done it already to my Hand and therefore I shall refer you to his Dialogues for a Solution In the interim I shall be plain with you in this particular That whatever Applause this Author may have gain'd in the World and how much soever extoll'd for a Man of profound Thought or a deep Judgment I see nothing in him more taking than his manner of Expression in which he was indeed so peculiar and singularly fortunate that many Men have been hereby so sooth'd and tickled into an Opinion of his Judgment as to take all he says for granted and to believe every thing new till a farther Consideration discovers to them that there is nothing more so than his stile and the order of his Thoughts I have some reason to believe you tainted with this Man's Principles on which account as an Antidote against the Rest of his Heretical Opinions I wou'd recommend you to the Writings of Bishop Lucy my Lord C n Mr. W and particularly to the lately mention'd E d. When Men have degraded themselves into Beasts by practice they wou'd have it thought by any means that 't is unavoidable for them to act otherwise than they do From hence they take the Measures of their Opinions and will allow of no Difference betwixt themselves and the pittifulâ—st Brute but that Matter in them is fall'n into a more lucky Texture and Modification And indeed the Brutish Soul will very well serve all the ends of some Men who to justifie their Sensuality earnestly contend that they have nothing more to indulge or gratifie besides their Animal Inclinations But notwithstanding whatever these Men think this is a most undoubted Verity That next to the Belief of the Being of God the Perswasion of the Soul 's being Immortal is the great Basis of all true Happiness the Hinge upon which all Religion turns 'T is this that leads us both to contemn the Gratifications of the Flesh and to be solicitous about a Happiness hereafter tho' it be with undergoing some present Inconveniences nor is there any Truth whatever that hath a more powerful Influence upon the whole Course of our present Lives Men may study to palliate and ease the Disquiet of their troubled Souls after what manner they please yet still there will be some lucid Intervals which will discover to them the possibility of a Life to come and put them upon questioning the Certainty of their Souls perpetual Sleep which shou'd it happen to be a mistake will prove one of the most dangerous and pernicious Consequence Sic mihi saith the Eloquent Cicero persuasi sic sentio Cum tanta celeritas sit Animorum tanta memoria praeteritorum futurorumque prudentia tot Artes tot Scientiae tot Inventa non posse eam Naturam quae eas res contineat esse Mortalem cumque Animus semper Agitetur nec principium motus habeat quia ipse se moveat nec finem quidem habiturum esse motus quia nunquam se ipse sit relicturus cum simplex Animi sit Natura neque habeat in se quidquam admistum dispar sui atque dissimile non posse
our selves unspotted from the World And it is in consequence of this Principle saith the Author that the whole Tenure of the Scripture declares unto us that we shall be judged not according to our Belief but according to our Works witness abundance of Passages both in the Old and New Testament particularly that of St. Paul where he says that we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may recive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Religion lyes not in the barely embracing this or that Opinion however Orthodox neither yet in associating our selves with this or that Sect of Professors in admiring or following this or that Doctor tho' even he were a Paul an Apollos or a Cephas but its important Work is to draw us from that which is Evil and to engage us in the practise of that which is good It is a wonderful thing to consider the Heats and Animosities which are sprung up in the World from difference in Opinion in what we call Articles of Faith Every Man will have his own to be the only true ones nay some alas too many are so barbarous that they not only condemn others to Death but deliver them also by their Anathema ' s as much as in them lyes to the Devil and Damnation for difference of Opinion in some Metaphisical Speculations It is nevertheless certain that neither Christ nor his Apostles have tied the Salvation of Mankind so indispensably to the particular Belief of any incomprehensible Mystery as some of the present Doctors of his Church now do We read that our Lord himself pronounced St. Peter blessed upon the bare declaration that he believed him to be the Christ the Son of the living God St. Philip in like manner baptized the Eunuch upon no other Profession of his Faith than in the terms of this short Symbol I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God St. John teaches us plainly that to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is a certain Characteristical Mark of the Spirit of God and St. Paul explains himself in this point yet more particularly telling us That if we confess with our Mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in our Hearts that God hath raised him from the dead we shall be saved This simplicity of the Scriptures in those Articles of Belief which they propose to us as necessary to Salvation may justly raise our Astonishment at the imprudence of those Men who have perplexed all Matters of Faith with so many inexplicable Difficulties not content with what the Scripture teacheth of Christianity they have had recourse to a wordy Philosophy thereby to refine their Notions and adorn them with the Lustre of seemingly mysterious Expressions insomuch that a great Cardinal has not stuck to acknowledge That without the help of Aristotle we should have wanted many Articles of Faith and that which aggravates yet more the Extravagance of these Dogmatisers is that they themselves acknowlenge the Incomprehensibility of those very things which they undertake to explain with such Critical Exactness as if they had enter'd into the very Councils and fathom'd the Depths both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God we may therefore without Danger shake off the tyranny of those Prejudices that have possest us the Names of Orthodox and Heretick are too partial and illusory any longer to deceive us they have these many Ages been made use of with so much Irregularity Interest and Passion that the ordinary Application of them cannot at this day be any just ground either of Assurance or Fear We may undoubtedly be assur'd that the Righteous Judge of all Men will not impute unto us the Guilt of any Criminal Heresie so long as we sincerely believe what he has expresly revealed to us and if peradventure we understand not clearly the whole sence of every Expression in which those things have been declared we ought certainly for that very reason so much the less presume to alter them or affect new forms of explaining our selves and least of all to impose upon others any doubtful Inferences drawn from such dark and intricate Premises But with Submission to this great Master of Humane Reason I shall take the Liberty to reply this That as I cannot think every thing a Fundamental in Religion which some Men would perswade us so on the other side I am satisfy'd that there is more requir'd to Salvation than some others seem to intimate I can well enough comply with that Opinion which supposes there is no more than one Essential in Christianity to wit the Belief that Jesus is the Messiah provided they take in the Genuine Consequences and the Natural Results of such a Faith such as his Divinity his miraculous Incarnation his Ascension into Heaven and his coming to Judge the World at the last Day Without these Attendants upon this one Fundamental the System of Christianity will be lame and incoherent and it cannot indeed be known what is meant by saying Jesus is the Messiah A Man may say so much and have no other Notion of him than the Jews had who expected him a Temporal Prince but we must believe that he will raise our Bodies and judge us at the last Day not to instance in all the other Fundamentals which the Apostle mentions Hebr. 6.1 2. If we believe him such a Messiah as the Scripture represents him such parts of our Belief will have besides the Explaining of our Faith a great Influence on the End of it viz. the making us good Men for he that believes Jesus only a Temporal Prince to govern him in this World will never think himself so much obliged to conform his very Thoughts and Desires to his Laws as he that is perswaded that he will one day judge him in another Again we ought above all things to be satisfy'd in his Divinity for if we do not acknowledge him to be one God with the Father and worship him accordingly we neglect a Gospel Duty and if we do worship any thing but the one God we are Idolaters As for his Satisfaction a right Notion of it is of that importance that without it he that believes Jesus to be the Messiah has no Notion for what he was anointed and sent or of what he has done for us These I say must all go along with that one Fundamental and to our Belief of this there is nothing more requir'd than our Belief of the Authority of Holy Writ where these things are plainly reveal'd to us If we do believe the Scriptures to be Authentic we must believe it our Duty not to dispute the Mysteries of Christian Religion it is sufficient for us that we consent in our Hearts to what is there plainly deliver'd as to these Points altho' we are altogether unskil'd in the Metaphysicks and unable by the Principles of Philosophy to account for the manner of Hypostatic Union the
Divine Light we have as little Reason to credit them as in their pretended Revelations The Holy Spirit can neither be the Author of Absurdity or Incoherency in Discourse neither yet of Repugnancy in Opinion Difference between each other and palpable Confusion amongst them all Those who have the Grace of the Holy Spirit or the Advantage of the Divine Light will see a necessity not only to be acted by but to think more reverently of the true Revelation of Christ Jesus of his Incarnation and outward Sufferings as well as of his second Coming to Judge the Quick and Dead Now whatever these People may insinuate to the World under the Notion of their Belief there are notwithstanding several dangerous Heresies got in amongst them They do most of them at the bottom set up their own Light and private Inspirations to the written word which their calling a Dead Letter Food for Children of little use to the Regenerate or such as are grown in Grace do plainly intimate there are many of them speak slightingly of the Mosaick History ridicule the Notion of Original Sin and disparage or discredit the manner of its Translation They have none of them any other infallible Criterion or standing Rule of Faith than a mistaken Conscience which they Nick-name the Divine Light This is plainly evident by their wild Enthusiams the gross Immoralities among some of them and the intestine Janglings amongst them all They do consult the Scriptures in order to an imitation of the Apostolical Writings but alas their high Pretences and Conceits are foil'd and quaâ—ht so soon as ever we compare them and notwithstanding their strenuous Pleas with their seeming assurance that they have the same Prophetic Spirit and are equally inspir'd with the Divine Pen-men I defie the whole Body of Qu sm to produce me one single Instance of any one of their Prophets that cou'd ever give the Proof and Attestation of their Inspiration with the Founders of Christianity when they come to this they most wretchedly prevaricate and cry out with Mahomet There is no need of Signs and Wonders Believe me Sir adds he this late Pretence to Inspiration is both the most egregious Cheat that was ever put upon the Christian World and the most dangerous and destructive Fallacy that ever the grand Deceiver cou'd have invented or contriv'd Weigh all things fairly and without prejudice consider all impartially and give the greatest scope you can to the best of their Arguments you will find all as pure deception and as certainly false as the Divine Illumination of the first Christians was most conspicuous and demonstratively true If we consider the tendency of this Notion we shall find that shou'd the World but once comply with or countenance the same the Fundamentals of Government both Civil and Ecclesiastic wou'd presently be unhing'd we shou'd have one Revelation in opposition to another the Gospel of our Saviour that Divine System of true Religion wou'd be trampled under soot we shou'd be expos'd in our Fortunes to the State of Levellers in our Minds to Diabolical Illusions or Phansiful Suggestions Our Religion wou'd soon grow volatile and fly away into Air and Spirit a profound Sign oâ— lamentable Expiration wou'd be all we shou'd have to do whilst clothed with the Flesh and all our Religious Duties for want of the Support of an establisht Form wou'd quickly leave us Our helps to Devotion such as Watchings Fastings and servent Prayers wou'd be quickly laid aside and in a little timâ— we shou'd find our selves in the midst of a destructive Ignorance and barbarous Confusion I can the more readily presage this having been much pester'd with these People in some of the Towns of New-Eng tho' not altogether in such a manner as Germany has been with the frantick Anabaptists I shall only take notice to you in one word more that when ever you may happen to discourse these People upon almost any single Article of the Christian Faith you will find that there are scarce two of them of the same Opinion Their Ignoâ—ance in the Explanatory part of Religion is so great that for want of a settled Creed or generally establisht System they will unavoidably clash and jar with one another indeed so far as I perceive they are capable of arguing nothing solidly but the Principles of Deism and even their grand Notion of the Light is as yet unprincipled and as Mr. Norris says unphilosophic notwithstanding the two learnedest Props of their Cause have set it out to the best advantage their Learning cou'd â—nable them 'T is true there are some of the most Judicious who will talk to the purpose for some little time but there is no keeping them close to their Argument The want of Catechistical Exercise to instil their Principles into those under their Care has rendred their Religion rude and ill-shapen and to me this seems none of the least Causes that the greater part of them are so very unknowing in Divinity that they can say nothing for themselves but this that they have a feeling Sense of an inward Light which is sufficient to direct them Thus ended my Friend's Discourse which I shall leave with this short Remark That for the most part his Idea's seem to be clear and Rational his Judgment sound and setting aside a little Heat his Discourse in the main to consist with Truth or Matter of Fact and Common Observation Whoever consults Antiquity or the Chronicles of the Times may find many Histories of this wild Enthusiasm and the Extravagancies that have attended this Whimsical Pretence to Inspiration In the Reign of Henry the Sixth one La Pucel a French Maid was burnt at Roan she declared that she was sent from God for the good of her Country to expel the English In the Year 1591. and the 34 th of Queen Elizabeth 's Reign was memorable the prodigious carriage of one Hackett born at Oundle in Northamptonshire a mean Fellow of no Learning whose first Prank was this That when in shew of Reconciliation to one with whom he had veen at variance he embraced him he bit off his Nose and the Man desiring to have it again that it might be sewed on whilst the Wound was fresh he most villainously eat it up and swallowed it before his Face After this on a sudden he took upon him a shew of wonderful Holiness did nothing almost but hear Sermons got Scriptures by heart counterfeited Revelations from God and an extraordinary Calling Thus he grew to be magnify'd by certain zealous Ministers especially of one Edward Coppinger a Gentleman of a good House and one Arthington a great Admirer of the Geneva Discipline insomuch that they accounted him as sent from Heaven and a greater Prophet than Moses and John Baptist and finally that he was Christ himself come with a Fan in his hand to judge the World This they proclaimed in Cheapside giving out that Hackett participated of Christ's glorified Body by his especial
be defined otherwise than as a kind of two legg'd Animals without Feathers Theiâ— last Assault is against Heaven it self or the Divine Being whom they first seek to discredit by the multitude of anomalous Accidents which they say cou'd never come to pass if an Intelligent Being were the Director their Conclusion tho' perhaps not so plain is this that we need believe nothing but what we our selves are able to account for which in other words is to believe our own Understandings to be infinite and that is to believe we are so many Gods our selves Whoever looks upon our Modern Deism any otherwise than disguised Atheism will find himself deceiv'd for my own part I never yet heard of any one of them that cou'd forbear at one time or other giving us to understand that he was the modester sort of Infidel and whatever advantage it may be to their Principles this is certain that there is scarce a Profane Irreligious Person or Libertine about the Town who pretends not to be a very devout Deist As to their wild Ravings against the Christian Religion we have no occasion to reply other ways than this That had Christianity been all transacted behind the Curtain or in the Clouds had its Founder been as invisible as the King of the Pharies or were the History of Christ no better attested than those of the Mythologists who talk of once upon a time and the Land of Utopia we shou'd then I say have no small grounds for our Hesitation but since we find it otherwise and that all was acted openly at Noon-day before the Face of the Multitude since not only the Names of Christ and his Apostles but their Lives and stupendious Actions together with a Narrative of their Sufferings and Deaths are deliver'd to us by as undoubted Testimony as it is possible for any other Matters of Fact to be and stand upon perpetual Record their Adversaries will be lookt upon as a brain-sick People and no Man in his Wits will think this Religion soil'd till it is unquestionably proved that there never were such Persons on the Earth as our Saviour and his Disciples or that they never performed those works of which it is reported they were the Authors till they can do this it signifies nothing at all that they cannot reconcile the want of a Mediator or the Mystery of Man's Redemption by the Sufferings of Christ to their own crack-brain'd Fancies or to their own Notions of the Divine Attributes 'T is generally observed that by an immoderate Curiosity in searching after the Divine Arcana instead of inlightening others Men do but stagger and confound themselves which if they righâ—ly consider'd the certain Limits of their own Capacities they might with less difficulty be dehorted from this dangerous Extravagance and calmly acquiesce in the revealed Will of God But to return to the present Corruption of our Natures and the Necessity of Divine Assistance to concur with our own Natural Power we have an intelligible account of the former in one of the Articles of the Church of England where it is said that Sin viz. Original is the Fault and Corruption of the Nature of every Man that naturally is engender'd of the Off-spring of Adam whereby Man is far removed from his first Righteousness and is of his own Nature inclin'd to evil so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and in every Person born into this world deserveth the Divine Indignation and this Natural Infection doth remain even in them that are Regenerate whereby the Lust of the Flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some expound the Wisdom some the Affection some Sensuality others the desire of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God The Learned Orator Dr. Allestry speaks to this purpose upon this Argument Our Saviour saith he suffer'd on the Tree that we might be renew'd into that Constitution which the Tree of Knowledge did disorder Before Man eat of that his lower Soul was in perfect Subordination to his Mind and every Motion of his Appetite did attend the Dictates of his Reason and obey them with that resignation or ready willingness with which our outward Faculties do execute the Will 's Commands then any thing however grateful to the Senses was no otherwise desir'd than aâ— it serv'd to the regular and proper ends and uses of his making there was a rational harmony in the tendencies of all his parts and that directed and modulated by the Rules and Hand of God that made them in fine thâ—â— Grace was Nature and Vertue Constitution Now to reduce us to this state as near as possible is the Business of Religion but this it can in no degree effect but as it does again establish the Subordination of the Sensual to the reasonable part within us that is till by denying Satisfaction to the Appetite which is now irregular and disorderly in its desires we have taught it how to want them and to be content without them and by that means have subdued its Inclinations According to this great Man the Corruption of our Nature does not lye in the Mind but only in the lower Soul and Regeneration is no more than the reducing that lower Soul to obedience to its superior the Mind but because this plain Point has been made a mighty Mystery by some People I shall yet farther explain it When Man by his Fall had incurr'd the Penalty of Death and became a Mortal Creature he thereby usher'd in Diseases and Infirmities the Fore-runners of Death and Dissolution and therefore propagated unequal Mixtures and Constitutions which naturally according to the prevailing part of the Mixture raises powerful and pressing Lusts and Passions which not only make violent and repeated storms upon Reason but they also interrupt her Operations in other Duties by the frequent touches of the Animal Spirits upon that Image in the Brain of the Beloved Action and intrudes it among our Thoughts whether we will or no and for this cause tho' in other things we are reasoning Men when the Tender is toucht we can scarce understand a plain Conclusion from plain Premises till the gratifying of the prevailing Lusts has wasted many of our sensible Spirits and then Reason freed from Violence puts on Shame and Remorse for her Defeat but no sooner is Nature recruited than Reason is prest to forget her Repentance And this is the best of our degenerate Condition for in most Men either through the want or the abundance or irregular Motions of the Animal Spirits the reasoning Faculty is generally obstructed and they reason weakly in every thing nay sometimes this power is quite blockt up and some Men become distracted others meer Changlings But besides that in the best of us the Reasoning Power is often obstructed and has forcible Inclinations to deal with the work of Reason in general is by the first Apostacy abundantly increased She must maintain Patience and Submission under Diseases Pains
Humane Understanding I desire to know in what you dissent herefrom as likewise your Explication of the word Conscience it seems to me but little short of an Absurdity that there should be any other Sence presiding in the Soul over all her Actions than what is communicated from the Supream Being Moreover I wou'd gladly be inform'd whether any Man has the power as of himself heartily to believe that which at sometimes he confesseth with his Mouth The Rehearsal of a Creed is no difficult matter but a solid Conviction that what we do rehearse is apparently clear to us as Mathematical Demonstration is very rarely to be met with It is surely impossible for any Man who limits his Faith within the narrow bounds of his Reason to submit an entire assent to those Propositions which tho' perhaps necessary to be credited he himself cannot account for I have often thought this the Infirmity of the Supplicant in Holy Writ when he cry'd out Lord I believe Lord help my unbelief for it is otherways very difficult to conceive how a vicious Life can consist with a full Conviction of the Divine Existence and our own Separate Beings 6thly What you think of Enquiries into Nature whether they prove not to some the Causes of Modern Deism and to others of pure Scepticism I have been often apt to imagine that there are no Natural Phaenomena which may not admit a Solution from those two grand Principles of Matter and Motion or by Axioms deduc'd from the Corpuscular Philosophy and I doubt not but 't is our resting in an ability to discuss the same by this kind of Disquisition has been the occasion that the prime or supream Cause of all has been veiled from our Eyes Curiosity is so natural to the Soul of Man and the seeming Satisfaction that does at sometimes attend a Philosophick Enquiry is so great as to render the same to some sort of People a dangerous Temptation it is not that I think the Enquiry of it self such but the resting in the simple knowledge that such or such Productions must be the Result of such and such Causes without reflecting upon the first and chiefest which puts these upon concurring must certainly be so and truly 't is very seldom that the generality of Men make any farther Appeal unless it be to Fate Fortune Chance Destiny or some such like unaccountable Chimaera which they substitute in the room of an all-powerful infinite and intelligent Being Lastly I desire you wou'd send me your Thoughts of the especial Providence of God and your Opinion of Mr. B late Draught of the Q rs Principles In some few Days after the receipt of my Letter the good Doctor was pleased to return his Answer in these words SIR I Do charitably believe c. but waving the Introduction he proceeds A pious Life and holy Conversation are without peradventure the principal things aimed at in the Gospel of Jesus Christ but since we are there told that there are such things as dangerous and damnable Heresies the Fundamental Doctrines which all Christian Churches have believed it is our duty sincerely and conscienciously to receive and whoever does so will find them very excellent Motives to the practise of Religion I deny not the possibility of a Man's being devâ—ut and holy by himself i.e. without attending upon the Publick Offices of Religious Worship yet since such Assemblies are not only commanded but of great use and even necessity in the Christian Church it behoves us to joyn with some one or other of them and among these I see not how any Man can reasonably or justly quit a National Church on any other account than that of its obliging him to a breach of the Divine Commands or injoyning him to any thing which is manifestly sinful Grace and Divine-Light and the Spirit of God c. are the same in effect It is the Holy Spirit which both gives us Grace and inlightens our Minds by a Divine Manifestation to our Souls Every true Christian is in some â—egree a partaker hereof for without it we can neither believe nor obey nor as we ought rely upon the Promises of our God It is this which we receive upon our earnest and fervent Prayer and it is thâ—â— which doth excite both our Attention and pious Resolution which as the same produces in us lesser or greater Effects or different degrees of Love Obedience Self-denial c. so these are called the Degrees of the Divine Grace as our endeavours are either weaker or stronger uneven or steddy inconstant or more constant and as our Self-denial rises to a higher or a lower pitch Now to secure us from the danger of a mad Enthusiasm from the disorder of Imagination the deception of Phancy or the delusion of Evil Spirits in the business of private Inspiration and pretended Revelations we are most certainly to bear in mind that the Holy Spirit and the revealed Will of God do exactly at all times correspond so that whatever Light we pretend to which contradicts or is not justifiable by the written Word the same is most certainly either Design or Delusion and always false and counterfeit For my own part I am not against the Notions either of Father Malebranch or Mr. Norris provided their Hypotheses do not dishonour God by supposing Him in any manner the Author of our Sins however there were very good Christians in the World before either of them spun Philosophy to so fine a Thred To believe in God and that he inspects the most secret of our Actions to be truly sensible of the Love of the blessed Jesus and to expect a Life hereafter to believe what the Gospel delivers to us so as to be acted by those Principles to become truly penitent meek and humble patient and charitable and ready unto every good word and work in a word to be sincere and constant and faithful unto death this is to be a Religious Man and a true Christian an Heir to Heaven and a much happier Man than all the Masters of Philosophy can make you In order to this Attainment we are to quit anticipated Prejudices instill'd either by Education or our own false Reasonings and we may much shorten the trouble by seriously resolving to our selves this single Query viz. Whether the Matters related in our Saviour's Gospel are certainly true if they be there is nothing in this World must hinder us from a serious and consciencious Practise and from living up to those holy Rules and Precepts as far as we are able For the Promises and Threatnings if true are things of that consequence that all is to be laid aside for to gain the promis'd Blessings and to avoid the threatned Misery I doubt not but a Person of c. must have had a liberal Education and altho' a superficial or slight knowledge in Physicks may dispose to Scepticism yet you have doubtless by your Profession a very great advantage for however it may be abus'd