to say That the greatest part of the World have been all along so many stark Fools a Character which we think more peculiarly belongs to those who say in their hearts There is no God Considering what a difficult and hazardous Office the first Preachers of Christianity had to discharge How think ye was it possible for them to undertake it with such readiness to perform it with such vigour and to go through it with such constancy and chearfulness notwithstanding so much opposition had they not been abundantly convinced of the truth of their Religion by Miracles which they saw with their own eyes And considering what vast importance the Christian Religion is declared to be of and how directly opposite it is to the natural Inclinations of corrupt Mankind and how it was discountenanc'd and hated by Jews and Heathens in the beginning How can we think it possible for it to have been received so generally and unexpectedly in the World had not inquisitive Men who had the fairest advantages of knowing matters of Fact been fully satisfied That the mighty Miracles reported to have been done by Jesus were true Men cannot think these things possible but either they must believe that people in those days had lost all their Senses or make us now believe that they themselves have utterly lost their own The design of all this is to shew That there is as convincing and strong Evidence that True Divine Miracles have been wrought as can rationally be expected of any thing which hath been done in former times because no matter of Fact whatsoever can possibly be capable of stronger proof In cases of this nature the utmost that can be expected is Moral Certainty when the Evidence is so fair that no reasonable man can have just cause to doubt of the truth of the matter and that Evidence must be from Testimony because it is impossible for us to know any thing which is gone and past but by information from others and when that Information is so full that to unprejudiced Understandings the thing seems unquestionable it is as much as any reasonable man can desire Since therefore it appears by indubitable Testimony that those persons who are said to have done Miracles were once actually living in the World since it appears that the History of those Miracles is sufficiently credible and is confirmed by the collateral Testimony of those who were both capable of knowing and deeply concern'd to know the Truth of that Account And lastly since such publick Settlements and Constitutions followed upon the Credit of those Miracles as plainly argued a firm and general Belief or rather Knowledge of them and could never have been brought about without them Since I say all these grounds of Credibility do appear to give evidence to the truth of Miracles formerly done it seems unconceivable how stronger or clearer evidence can be given of any matter of Fact or of any History that is now in the World 2. Let us consider next the second Evasion That supposing some wonderful things to have been done in former Ages yet this is no more an Argument of the truth of a God's Existence than it is of the truth of Idolatry because Idolaters themselves have pretended to Miracles to vouch for their Religion And considering how inconsistent and impossible it would be for a Deity to act for and against it self too therefore Men of Atheistical minds conclude That those wonderful Works which have gone under the name of Divine Miracles have been really nothing but Art and Imposture Now for the solving of this seeming difficulty I shall consider two Things 1. First Matter of Fact 2. Secondly The Weakness of these Mens reasoning from it 1. First then that I may carry a fair and impartial Hand it is granted that many strange and extraordinary things are said to have been done by Men of a false Religion For Moses himself tells us what the Magicians did in Egypt beâ—ore his own face Jesus Christ told his Disciples that many false Teachers would come in a little time with Signs and Wonders to deceive if it had been possible the very Elect. To verify that Prediction divers Ecclesiastical Writers tell us of the Wonders done by Simon Magus and his Followers soon after the Lord ' s Ascension into Heaven Others tell us of the Blind and the Lame being cured by the Heathen Emperor Vespasian and of a Whetstone being divided into two by a Razor at the Command of Accius Navius and of several Prodigious things done by Apollmius Tyanaeus whom the Pagans matched with Jesus Christ for doing Miracles And every body knows what Accounts of Miracles have been given by the Church of Rome in deâ—ence of that part of their Religion wherein they have most scandalously departed from True Primitive Christianity Considering therefore what an heap of Stories there is whereof some are related by Sacred Writers and some others by Men of Probity and Temper though abundance of Fictions hath been vended among them it must be allowed that many Wonderful Works have been done by Idolaters But then Secondly This can be no Plea for the truth of Idolatry because how wonderful soever those Works have seemed they were not in themselves Divine Miracles We must distinguish between Miracles in Appearance and Miracles in Reality By Miracles in Appearance which should rather be called Wonders and Signs I understand not mere Impostures or Delusions of mens outwards Senses but such Real Effects as may seem to be done by the extraordinary and immediate Power of God when indeed they are not That such things are possible to be done is clear from Deut. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. where God himself gave the Jews this Caution If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereeof he spake to thee saving Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave unto him and that prophet or dreamer of dreams shall be put to death We cannot conceive that when God hath any where established his true Worship he will lift up his own hand to draw People away from it to Idolatry and therefore when Signs or Wonders are shewed to that end we may be sure they are not Divine Miracles or Effects that are altogether Supernatural And yet 't is manifest that such things may be done as are counterfeitings of God's hand and seem to carry the signatures of his Power for otherwise there would have been no reason for that charge given to the Jews that
the Gnosticks and especially Appollonius Tyanaeus that they might draw People off from the Profession of Christianity upon the same Motives which had induced them to embrace it Those times abounded with Magicians and Sorceres who though they could not deny the Works which Jesus Christ had done yet used all their Arts to lessen and disparage them by pretending to do the like Our Saviour had foretold his Disciples That false Christs and false Prophets would arise and would shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. Accordingly St. Paul speaking of that set of Seducers in the Singular Number as the Man of Sin saith That his coming was after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders that is with wonders that served to confirm and give testimony to false Doctrines 2 Thess 2. 9. All these Appearances were so many Imitations of the Works of Jesus intended by those men to deceive who try'd to counterfeit things which they durst not contradict for fear of being contradicted themselves by all the World Nor did those bitter Adversaries to Christianity in after-times Celsus and Julian presume to disown the Miracles of Christ for they acknowledg'd as other Heathens did that he cured the Blind and the Lame but to keep the force of this Argument from working upon mens minds they reviled his Actions as though they were done not by any Divine Power but by Arts of Magick after his return out of Egypt where they pretended he had learned his Skill Briefly Orig. cont Cels lib. 1. p. 30. In the Ages which were nearest to our Saviour's all sorts of knowing Men acknowledg'd the Miraculous things that had been wrought by Him and his Followers And had some Scepticks of our days lived then even Jews and Pagans would in that point have accused their Infidelity from notoriety of fact which was unquestionable 4. And yet there is one Consideration more that gives further Evidence of the truth of those Miracles which Moses and Jesus Christ did viz. That things of great and publick concernment were the consequents of them than which no stronger evidence can be given or desired of any matter of fact that ever was done in the world There cannot possibly be a better proof that there were formerly Wise and Good Men in England than the Government they established and the Laws they have left us Our whole Constitution is founded upon their Actions and the Polity we are under shews what Kings and Parliaments they were and what they have done though the Men are long ago dead So doth the state of Judaism and the frame of Christianity shew what Moses and what Christ did All on each hand is built upon the Miracles which were done by the one and the other and to say at last there were no such things is to accuse all their Disciples of the highest madness for following their Institutions without Grounds or Reason a censure that is too hard to be given of so great a part of Mankind who think they have the greatest Reason in the world for their Profession Moses his business was to form the whole Nation of the Jews into a Commonwealth distinct from all other Societies of Men to give them peculiar Laws to prescribe them a peculiar Form of Religion to bring their Necks under an heavy yoke under a sort of discipline that was the most strict the most cumbersome and laborious And how can we think that a froward People just delivered out of one Bondage would presently have submitted to another nay a Bondage which they thought was to last for ever had they not seen such signs and wonders done before their eyes as plainly argued that their Lawgiver came to them by immediate Commission from God Or how can we conceive that their Posterity who groan'd so often under the Curses which Moses had left them would have endured the severities of such a Taskmaster had they not well known that his Authority over them was attested from Heaven Nay How is it imaginable that the Jews at this day should not yet depart from Moses but stick to him to death and will undergo any sufferings rather than leave him though their Religion as distinct from Christianity hath no inward natural Goodness to commend it no human Power without to support it and though they themselves be the most ignominious hated People in the world The Reasons of all this must be drawn from those strong assurances the Jews have always had That to erect their Polity and to establish their Religion Moses did such Works as wore out of the Power of all Art and Nature and plain tokens that he acted in the Name of God and by the Authority of God And then as for the Christian Institution it hath been long ago Received and Professed up and down in the world though it met with and indeed carried in its nature such vast and manifest discouragements as could never have been conquer'd had not Christ shewed the Necessity and Divinity thereof by Miracles A Religion whose Author died a most reproachful Death A Religion that layeth hard Restraints upon mens natural Desires and binds them to acts of Self-denial and Mortification A Religion that makes People prefer future Expectations before all present Enjoyments and wait till the day of Judgment for their full Reward A Religion that is attended with Sorrows and Sufferings and exposeth its Professors to Death it self for the sake of a good Conscience In short a Religion that brings with it all the seeming disadvantages and discouragements that can be offered to Flesh and Blood And yet notwithstanding all inconveniences this Religion where-ever it hath been Preach'd hath continually prevailed over the hearts of all Teachable Men in the world of which no other rational account can be given but this That the Author and Finisher of our Faith proved his Authority and confirmed all his Laws and Doctrines by working Miracles by the finger of God The works that he did in his Father's name they bore witness of him Joh. 10. 25. For all people knew that he was a Teacher come from God because no man could have done those Miracles that he did except God had been with him Joh. 2. 3. So that Miracles were the foundation of every man's Faith and Obedience the great Reasons which Congregated all people into that Body which we call the Church and which still holds them firm together against all the Hardships and Storms that can be brought upon them The Christian Church is a standing visible Monument of our Saviour's Miracles as the Jewish State was of the Miracles wrought by Moses and both of them are Monuments of such vast and publick consequence as could never have been erected without them much less could they have stood against all Winds and Weather And after all to imagine as some do that no such Divine Supernatural Effects were ever done is
A DISCOURSE Concerning the EXISTENCE OF GOD. BY EDWARD PELLING D. D. Rector of Petworth in Sussex and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet street MDCXCVI THE CONTENTS THE Introduction Page 1 CHAP. 1. Concerning the Notion of God in general viz. A Being that is Eminently and Absolutely Perfect What such Perfection meaneth A more particular Notion of God drawn out by Necessary Consequences That he is a Being Independent Eternal Spiritual Intelligent Omnipotent perfectly Good and Righteous This Idea of God is Intelligible and Rational 7 CHAP. II. The Existence of this most Perfect Being proved by Four great Arguments First The Necessity of a First Independent Cause The Origine of all Motion and Life The World not Eternal but made by a Deity 37 CHAP. III. Secondly The general Consent of Mankind even the Ancient Heathens and Modern Idolaters touching One Supreme Numon The Singularity of a few Atheists of old not to be valued This Consent proceeded not from meer Tradition nor Fear nor State-Polity nor Common Compact but from a Principle in Humane Nature derived from the Great Author of it No Argument of the truth of Idolatry 54 CHAP. IV. Thirdly Extraordinary Occurrences As first Miracles Three sorts of True Miracles These Arguments of a God True Miracles have been realy done The Credibility of those done by Moses and Jesus Christ Of Strange Works done by Idolaters A distinction between Miracles in Appearance and Miracles Divine 107 CHAP. V. Then Predictions of future contingent Events Such Predictions there have been some relating to the Ancient Empires others to Jesus Christ others to some memorable Events after Christ's Ascension 161 CHAP. VI. A Fourth Argument of the Existence of God is taken from the Admirable State of the Universe And First Of the Excellent Order into which the several parts of the world are digested Their Commodious Situation Their mutual Relation And the Permanency of them in their Natures and Operations All this could not come to pass by Chance but is a Proof of the Existence of a God The Senseless Conceits of Scepticks with a Confutation of them 191 CHAP. VII A Second thing observable in the State of the Universe is the Beauty of its Parts their Multitudes Splendor Variety together with the Comeliness of their Frame The Pretences of Scepticks answer'd concerning the Operations of Plastick Nature 257 CHAP. VIII The Third is The Usefulness of the several Parts of this Visible Word First as to their Ends and Tendencies The Usefulness of the Heavenly Bodies in their Nature and Motions Of the Air of the Seas and their Saltness of Springs and Mountains and of all the Furniture of the Earth The useful Structure of things in order to their Ends particularly of Trees and Animals of Natrition and Sensation in Animals and of the Fabrication of their Parts in order thereunto The Evasion of Scepticks concerning the Uses of things answered 285 CHAP. IX The Fourth is The resemblance of Knowledge and Wisdom which appears even in Irrational Creatures The constant Regularity of them in the manner of their Operations and the seeming Sagacity of them as to their Ends. This a clear Argument of a Deity because of themselves they design no End nor do they understand the Reason or Tendency of Means nor do they deliberate about the choice of Means This too is a demonstration of the Existence of God The Shifts of Atheists as to this consider'd also 352 CHAP. X. The Fifth is The Ample Provision which is made for the good of all Needy Creatures For their Formation and Production and for their Preservation afterwards from outward Assaults and untimely Deaths Proper Food provided in all Climates and suitable to all Conditions and Tempers Proper Remedies for all Endemial Diseases 385 CHAP. XI The Sixth is The Admirable Frame of Human Nature The Excellence of the Rational Soul in its Nature and Faculties which is proved at large to be a manifestation of the Existence of a God The Evasions of Scepticks consider'd The Conclusion 419 A DISCOURSE Concerning the Existence of GOD. THE Nature of Mankind consider'd as Rational Beings is made up of such Faculties that they are not only capable of Religion that is sitted and qualified to believe that there is a Being vastly Superior to them and to know and worship that High Being in some agreeable sort and measure but they are moreover generally inclin'd to Religion prone to it and pleas'd with it as a thing which is suitable and correspondent to their Faculties so that in all Ages and in all Nations people have profest some kind of Religion or other Nay even Barbarous People rather than they would be wanting in Religious Performances have abounded in great variety of Supersitions and before they would be Atheists have been downright Idolaters adoring a plurality of Gods rather than they would own no Deity at all which shews that Religion is in some sense natural to the Soul of man and that the Corruption which is in mens Practises proceeds from a defect of Light in their Understandings from those many Ignorances and Errors wherewith they are possest Were it not for this True Religion would be the great Profession of the whole World There are especially Three Great Errors which have strangely misguided and corrupted the minds of some men and consequently have taken off that power and influence which otherwise Religion would have had over them even from natural Conscience And these relate either to the Being of God or to his Nature or to his Government of the World and Judiciary power over it 1. First Some reject all belief of God's Being or at least question very much the truth of such a Belief and so of course conceive Religion to be not of Divine but Humane Institution a piece of State-Policy devised and set up by cunning men for the better keeping of Human Societies in order and peace To such men Religion must needs seem an indifferent matter not worth their time or pains to concern themselves much about nor to care whether this or that mode of Religion be professed because they look upon all Religion as an Artifice an Invention that is alterable at pleasure as the Reasons of State and Civil Policy require 2. Secondly Some acknowledge the Being of God together with the inward Necessity Reasonableness and Excellency of Religion in general but yet are much mistaken as to the particular manner of their Religion and in their way of worshipping God because they are greatly mistaken in their notions of his Nature For they apprehend him to be not such as he really is but such a one as they would have him be either a very tame and gentle Being that is easily pleas'd with formal Professions of Respect or a very Partial Being that is kind only to one Sect of People or an Arbitrary Austere and Rigid Being that seeketh to hurt and delighteth in
force of this Argument the Infidels of our Age have these Two things to say 1. First That no True Miracles or Supernatural Works have been ever wrought 2. And Secondly That the Wonders we read of are no more an Argument of the truth of God's Existence than they are of the truth of Idolatry because Idolaters themselves have pretended to Miracles These two Subterfuges and Shifts must be now considered in their order 1. First They will allow of no higher Miracles than what have been found here in Nature when some unusual things have hapned the natural cause whereof could not be well assigned As for Supernatural Effects they are Fables in the account of these men because they cannot admit of such Effects without admitting of a Supernatural Power to produce them that is the Existence of a Deity which of all things in the world they are most afraid to own Now for the clearing of this weighty matter I would first ask these great Pretenders to Reason this General Question Whether it be rational to deny matter of Fact which hath as good Evidence as can possibly be given of any matter of Fact which we have not seen with our own eyes If this be rational then there is an end of Faith amongst Mankind and we must believe nothing but what our own Senses bear witness to and so no Credit is to be given to any History or Relation in the world If it be not rational then have we as good grounds to believe the truth of Supernatural Effects or Miracles as can in reason be expected for the truth of any thing that is gone and past And this shall be my next business to shew That the Account we have of such and such Miracles done carries with it as strong Evidence at least as any matters of Fact we find in any History of former Ages so that with as much reason men may reject the belief of any nay of all Accounts as the belief of this I do not here in the least pretend to support the Credit of all those Appearances which have gone under the name of Miracles especially in latter Ages We read of multitudes which have been either downwright Forgeries and Fictions purposely invented to carry on Lucrative and Superstitious Designs or else have been no better than Illusions of mens Senses whereby the Credulity of weak people hath been impos'd upon and abus'd Nay many of them are of such a ridiculous Nature that some have been ashamed of the Stories though they have made Money by the Invention To talk of such Miracles is a great disadvantage and prejudice to Christ's Religion however it may serve mens private Interest The Miracles I urge as clear Demonstrations of the Existence of a God are those recorded in the Scriptures in the Old Testament by Moses chiefly and in the New by the Evangelists And how slight soever Scepticks make of them there is as great evidence of the truth of them as there can be of any matter of fact if we will be so just to those Writers as to allow them the Common Reputation of having been fair Historians though at present we set aside the consideration of their having been divinely Inspired Now the greatest evidence that can possibly be given of any thing that was formerly done depends upon these four Grounds 1. That the Person said to have done it did really exist or that there was indeed such a Person 2. That the Relators of the Action were sufficiently Credible 3. That others who had Reason to know and were able to know the truth of the matter were sufficiently satisfied of the certainty of it 4. That things of great and publick Concernment were the consequents of it Where there are all these grounds of evidence no reasonable Men can question any matter of fact though it was done at a great distance of time from them and from all these it appears that such true Miracles have been done as argue the Existence of an Omnipotent Agent 1. For first That there was in the World such a Man as Moses and such a Person as Jesus Christ is as evident even from Humane Testimony as that there were such Men as Alexander Caesar and Cato Josephus shews out of those Ancient Writers Manetho and Cont. Appion l. 1. Chaeremon what a great esteem the old Egyptians had of Moses and what an Admirable Divine Person he was in the Account of that Nation Clemens Alexandrinus tells us out of the Greek Writers what an Honour the old Philosophers Stromat l. 1. among them had for Moses's Memory and that they look'd upon him as the only wise Man in his time and gave him the Character of a Prince a Law-giver a General a Just and Holy Person beloved of God The same Author tells us That the Egyptian Mystae believed that Moses was taken up into Heaven and that Eupolenius gave him the Character of the first wise Man and that the Mystae relating the Story of his killing the Egyptian said That he did it by the word of his Mouth and that Artapanus own'd the Story of his Imprisonment adding some fabulous Stuff concerning his Deliverance Numenius the Pythagorean said â—irom 5. that Moses was a Divine and a Prophet and that his Writings are worthy of belief Id. 28. and that he was a most powerful Man with God by his Prayers Trogus Pompeius mentions Abraham Euseb de prepar l. 9. c. 8. Moses and Israel as Kings of the Jews He takes notice of the many Sons of Israel though he mistakes the number He speaks particularly and by Name of those two Sons of Israel Juda and Joseph and then he goes on relating the story of Moses and of his leading the Jews out of Egypt though he sophisticates the Story with a great deal of falshood as also Cornelius Tacitus Justin l. 36. Tac. l. 5. Hist. doth in his Account of Moses and his Conduct Both which Ancient Historians follow the Narration which was given of this matter by the Egyptians themselves who mortally hated the Jewish Nation and told a great many Lies touching the Reasons and Manner of their Departure from them as Josephus shews in his first Book against Appion Justin Martyr upbraiding the Greeks in his time for being Enemies to the Christian Religion proved to them out of their own Authors that Moses who laid the Foundations Exhortat ad Graec. of Christianity was acknowledg'd much more Ancient than any of their Poets ' Historians Philosophers or Legislators ' And out of that noble Historian Diodorus he told them That Moses was reckoned a God by reason of his Divine and Excellent Wisdom and for teaching People to use good Laws and to live according to them which Account Diodorus who had spent thirty Years in Travels said he had from the Priests in Egypt To these Observations divers more might be added out of Grotius and other Modern Writers were it needful But the Learned know That
People from whom alone those advantages were to be expected if any advantage at all had been sought for Nay when he let those advantages go which he had already in his hands Whereas Men in Power endeavour to keep their Authority up and to transmit it to their Posterity Moses was content to let all that Power dye with him wherewith he was vested when he govern'd the whole Jewish Nation He appointed Joshua to succeed him in his Civil Authority The great Dignity and Advantages of the Priesthood he disposed of to his Brother Aaron and his Sons As for his own Children he left them in Subjection to the Priests to officiate under them in the ordinary and mean Ministrations of the Tabernacle not alloting them one foot of Land amongst all their Kindred All which shews that from the beginning to the end Moses designed nothing but the Honour of God and the Common good of his People And that no Honour or Interest of his own could possibly sway or tempt him to violate his Integrity And what could the four Evangelists propose to themselves that should move them to deceive the world and make their Relations incredible or suspected Honours they could not aim at unless men think it an Honour to be Dishonest Nor could Interest tempt them to impose fictions on mens Belief when they were sure beforehand to receive nothing in this world but Hardship Persecutions and Death for their Reward Very poor encouragements for men to invent and spread abroad idle Stories Or if it be said that 't was for the Credit and Propagation of their Religion they must be thought the oddest men in Nature that would coin Fictions for the sake of a Religion they believed to be false and yet they could not have believed otherwise of it if they had not known it to have been confirmed by Miracles for they were the only things that could give Evidence of its Truth beyond all Contradiction 3. This I have said to shew that however some Irreligious Men have the confidence to despise the Scripture-account of Divine Miracles to common human Reason it appears sufficiently credible from the certain Knowledge and manifest Probity of the Writers and consequently that we have as fair Evidence of the Reality of Miracles in that respect as can be had of any other matter of Fact that has been done in former Ages To which let us add in the next place this third ground of Credibility viz. that others who had reason to know and were able to know the truth of the matter were sufficiently satisfied of the certainty of it Here again we must return to Moses and First it is observable that the account he gives of Miracles done by him has continually past through a long succession of Ages uncontradicted which is an Argument that the Inquisitive and Knowing men in most Nations were well satisfied of the Reality of the matter For as the Mosaick Writings contain the most Ancient Records that are extant in the world so they seem to have been perused by the most Ancient Philosophers and Historians because the things related in them were spoken of and own'd generally by the whole Heathen world though sometimes not without a mixture of Poetical Fables as the Creation of the Universe the Sanctity of the Sabbaths the Story of the Deluge and of the Ark the Right of circumcision and the like as the Learned Grotius hath particularly shew'd in his First Book of the Truth of Christianity It is very probable that the general belief of these things sprang from the general persuasion which prevailed in the world of those Signs and Wonders that Moses had shew'd that made him so great a Person in the Esteem of Mankind There were thousands ready to have disproved the Relation if the Works had not been done nor is it in the least likely that of so many Neighbouring Nations round about the Jews which mortally hated the Jews and their Religion none would have discovered the Imposture had they not been satisfied that what Moses had written was true The Honour of having such great things done for them in the eyes of the world would have been thought too much for a despised hated People to have gone away with 2. But Secondly instead of Contradicting Moses's History the most Ancient Writers among the Egyptians and Greeks did own his Greatness Insomuch that the old Egyptians would have appropriated him to themselves pretending that he was of Egyptian Parentage and a Priest of Heliopolis by name Ozarsiph changing his name afterwards to Moses Some indeed of the other Heathens as Apuleius and Numenius the Pythagorean reckon him among the old Magicians and in particular among Jannes and Jambres the famous Magicians of Pharaoh but all lookt upon him as a very wonderful Person by reason of the Plagues he brought upon Egypt 3. And then Thirdly as for the Jews nothing can be more clear than that their whole Nation have all along acknowledg'd the truth of the Miracles done by Moses For their whole Constitution was founded upon the Credit of his Divine Authority and that depended upon the Credit of his Miracles And had any of them been unsatisfied in that point those Rebels who rose up against Moses and Aaron alledging that they took too much upon them would have alledged that they pretended too much also a great deal more than what was true Nor could those People who time after time Revolted from Moses's Law have had such another Plea for their Apostacies as this would have been that the Authority of the Law giver was not confirmed by Miracles as 't was believed I have said thus much of Moses to confront some in our days who have taken the confidence to deride the Writings which go under Moses's Name and the Miracles said to have been wrought by him that thereby they may with the greater boldness deny the Existence of God though if Men will take the evidence given of any matters of Fact done at a great distance of time from them it is impossible to find better evidence of any matters than there is of these of the certainty whereof those who had Reason to know and were able to know were fully satisfied I go on now in the next place from the same Consideration to prove the Reality of those Miracles which the Evangelists ascribe to Jesus Christ And who could think themselves more concern'd to enquire into the truth of them than those great Men who made it their business to oppose his Religion And yet that many notable Miracles had been done by him and by his Apostles after him was manifest to all that dwelt at Jerusalem and they could not deny it All that they had to say for their Infidelity was that Christ did those wonderful Works by the help of the Devil but matter of Fact they own'd Hence it was that soon after the Lord went out of the World divers pretended to a power of Miracles such as Simon Magus
a distinct People there being no Instance like this in any Story as if they were intended for a standing Memorial and Example to the world of the Divine Power and Vengeance To me it seemeth among Rational Arguments one of the plainest not only for the Proof of a Deity and a Just Providence in pursuing that Nation with such Exemplary Vengeance but likewise for the Authority of Scripture and the Truth of the Christian Religion CHAP. VI. HItherto I have shewed the Existence of a Supreme Being that is Eternal Independent Self-existing the Author of our common Nature Omnipotent Omniscient all which Characters are included in the general Notion of a Deity or a Being that is Eminently and Absolutely Perfect I proceed next to some other Considerations which argue a Being that is infinite in Wisdom Goodness Benignity as well as Power In order thereunto let us now begin to take a view of that which was proposed as the Fourth great Head of this Discourse I mean the Admirable Frame and State of the Universe For whoever will seriously reflect upon those various appearances which are in this visible world must be the most sensless and stupid thing in it if after all the bright manifestations of a Deity that are every where discoverable he can at last permit himself to say in his heart There is no God God hath not left himself without witness saith St. Paul Acts 14. 17. No that which may be known of God is manifest to us for God hath shewed it unto us For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1. 19. 20. Here then we meet with Eight Observable which are very fit in their turns to fall under our contemplation 1. The excellent Order into which the several parts of the Universe are digested 2. The great Beauty that appears throughout the world 3. The wonderful Usefulness that is in all the branches of the Creation 4. The curious and exquisite Structure of them for the Uses and Ends to which they serve 5. The constant Regularity of them in their respective Operations 6. The ample Provision that is made for the good of Creatures especially Mankind 7. The Resemblances of Knowledge and Wisdom in the Operations of things Irrational 8. The Divine Frame of our own Rational Nature O Lord how glorious are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth and heavens are full of thy riches the various testimonies of thy greatness and inexhaustible benignity 1. First We may observe the excellent Order into which the several parts of the Universe are digested This Order is seen 1. In the commodious Situation and Position to which they are determined 2. In the near Relation of them to each other and Dependance on each other 3. In the Permanency of them in that State and condition wherein they have been placed 1. As there are several Ranks and Classes of Creatures so is every Rank determined to its due and proper place That part of the world we stand in immediate need of is the Earth and that is placed in the middle of the world that it may receive influence from all the ambient parts of the Universe to help its Fertility and the distance of it from the Coelestial Bodies is so commodious that its Productions are not apt to be destroyed by excesses of Heat or Cold which otherwise would unavoidably follow were the distance nearer or more remote It is the proper place for man in this life For 't is the Theatre we are to Act on and the Magazine that yields us the Stores we live by and therefore 't is near at hand hard by all our Necessities and richly furnish'd with Plants Fruits Meats Entertainments of all sorts so that 't is but going out of doors and industrious People may gather their Provision and whatever they can modestly desire either to supply their Wants or to afford them Pleasures And lest we should drop down suddenly for want of Breath with our Meats between our Teeth the Air which serves for Digestion and Respiration is I cannot so well say in our Neighbourhood as in our Nostrils An Atmosphere so appositely plac'd and so adapted to the gross contexture of our outward Senses that it is infinitely more proper for sensitive Creatures than the Fine Unmixt Aether that is at such a distance from us Those fluid Bodies the Waters are in their proper place too treasured up in concave Receptacles and Chanels and there ready at hand to quench the Thirst of every Animal and if Men will be wanton to serve their Sensualities also without endangering their safety by inordinate sweeping Inundations The Heavens are to give light and warmth to all Sublunary Creatures and therefore the provident Hand which formed them hath set them very remote that those great and glorious Luminaries may cast their Influences over all the World and withal secure all things living from those Scorchings and Deaths to which their Vicinity would otherwise have unavoidably exposed them In short all things are situate where they should be nor could the wisest Counsel have placed them better supposing the wisest Being to have had the disposal and ordering of them 2. The excellent Order of Creatures is seen in the near Relation of them to each other and Dependance on each other Where I shall speak only of that general and common Reference which the several kinds of Creatures thus situated and disposed do bear to one another As for the usefulness of particular Branches of the Creation it will fall under our eye in its due place At present I am to take notice of that Relation and Connection that Respect and Cognation which is between the Species and Sorts of things which make up this great Frame and System of Nature For in the great Volume of the Creation there is a noble Design carried on this Creature having a respect to that and that hanging upon the other like Premises and Consequents in a well-compos'd Book so that if one part be taken away not only the Beauty but the Purpose of the whole is lost Were all Sensitive Creatures destroyed what would the Light of the Sun be to a blind World Were the Earth annihilated what would the sweet Influences of the Pleiades signify Or were but the Fowls the Cattel the Fruits of the Earth removed what would become of Man that pretends to be the little Lord of all and yet is fain to be a Dependant upon these poor Creatures to afford him Provision daily and to furnish out his Table Some conceive that the only great Design of Nature is to support Man which though I think is too great a Vanity to imagine yet supposing it were so how many Creatures are there to be served before it can come to his turn I will hear the heavens saith the Divine Being and the heavens shall hear the earth
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believed the Existence of God even in their Idolatrous Gentile Condition The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard Their sound is gone out into all lands and their words unto the ends of the world Psalm 19. 1 3 4. Where David represents those glorious Creatures as proclaiming and all Nations as hearing them proclaim the Transcendent Wisdom Power Goodness and Majesty of their Maker and Conserver All People how ignorant soever they have been of other Languages have understood this However they have differed from one another in their Polity Laws Customs or Manner of Life have unanimously consented in this That there is a God And though many have lived as if they were without God in the World yet none have been without him in their Consciences Here falls in an Account which hath been given us by a most Inquisitive and Learned Writer of our Church and which both for the Usefulness and Curiosity of it well deserves to be taken notice of in this place That Great Man Bishop Stillingfleet's Defence of his Discourse concerning Idolatry undertaking to prove That men may be guilty of Idolatry though they believe and worship the True God shews particularly That the grossest Idolaters of later times both in the East and West Parts of the World have acknowledged one Sovereign Being over all those inferior Deities they worshipp'd that they gave him the highest Honours and that that they called him in their respective Languages by some peculiar Name which signified the greatest Excellency First he shews of the Idolaters of the East-Indies That they all believed there was but One God who made the World and reigns in Heaven and that they worshipp'd this One God as well as Christians and referred all the Honour to him which they gave to other things that some called the Supreme God Parabrama which in their Language signifies absolutely Perfect being the Fountain of all things existing from himself and free from all Composition that others call'd that Sovereign Being Achar that is Immutable others Tento believing him to be the Governor of the World others Sciaxeti or Scianti which signifies the Supreme Monarch and Tienciu which is as much as to say The Lord of Heaven Then the Learned Author gives this Account of the Idolatrous Tartars That they believed and worshipp'd One God owning him to be the Maker of all things visible and invisible and to be the Author of all worldly Good and Punishment Of the Inhavitants of Madagascar he shews That they believed One God who made Heaven and Earth and will one day punish the bad and reward the good Actions of men Of the People of Monomotapa That they acknowledge One God whom they call Mozimo and are said to worship nothing else besides him Of the Idolatrous Muscovites That they worshipp'd only the Creator of the Universe to whom they offer'd the first Fruits of all things even their Meat and Drink Of the Idolaters of Cranganor That they worshipp'd the God of Heaven calling him Tambram and believing him to have made the World Of the Northern Idolaters especially the Goths he shews That the most ancient of their gods was called by them Alfader that is the Father of all they believ'd that this God lives for ever that he governs all things that he made the Heavens and Earth and Air and all Things in them and which is the greatest of all that he made Man and gave him a Soul that should live for ever although the Body be destroyed and that those who are good shall be with him Touching the Idolaters in Asrick that Excellent Writer shews That they worshipped God under the Name of Guighimo that is The Lord of Heaven and that though the Negroes adored many gods yet they acknowledged One Supreme whom they called Ferisso and believed him to be the Author of the Good and Evil they received As for the account he gives out of Josephus Acosta and Garcilasso de la Vega touching the Idolaters in America before their Conversion to Christianity I have reserved it to the last because it seems so clear and full that it is the fittest Observation to conclude this Point The surn of it is That those Idolatrous Indians acknowledged a Supreme Lord and Author of all things whom they of Peru called Pachacamac that is the Soul of the World the true Sovereign Creator of the Sovereign Creator of the World and Usapu which is Admirable and such like and though they had a great Veneration for the Sun and Moon and other things yet they held and adored Pachamac as the chiefest of all and whenever they mentioned his Name did it with all the Reverence and Devotion imaginable in Honour to the unexpressible Majesty of God And hence was that Observation of the Spanish Jesuit Acosta That those who at that time did Preach the Gospel to the Indians found no great difficulty to perswade them that there is a High God and Lord over all and that this was the Christians God and the True God This saith he is a truth conformable to Reason That there is a Sovereign Lord and King of Heaven and him the Gentiles with all their Infidelities and Idolatries have not denied so that the Preachers of the Gospel had no great difficulty to plant and perswade this Truth of the Supreme God though the Nations to whom they preached were never so Barbarous and Brutish The hard thing was to root out of their minds this Perswasion That there is no other God nor any other Deity than one and that all other things of themselves have no Power Being nor working proper to themselves but what the Great and only Lord doth give and impart to them However People have been mistaken in their belief of a multiplicity of Deitics this hath been a common Notion in all barbarous Countries that there is One Supreme God infinitely Good I think no more need be said to shew the universal Perswasion of Mankind concerning God's Existence However before I proceed to Argue and Reason from it and to prove the Truth of God's Existence from this universal Perswasion it will be necessary to take notice of two Pretences which are commonly used to evade the force of this Argument 1. The first is That some whole Nations have been found which have been without all Sense of God as was reported particularly of some People in America after the discovery of them by Christians To this there are three things in answer First That the matter alledged is not evident or certain because the Men who first related it were Strangers to the Language and Customs of those People and therefore could not be competent Judges of their Principles Nay they were abhorred as Enemies and consequently were uncapable of understanding the Mysteries of those Peoples Religion a thing which Men are generally very shy of discovering especially to those who use them hardly
Secondly It is so far from being certain that in probability 't is not true For though upon the first discovery of those Nations some of them were suspected of Atheism yet a different Account was given afterwards upon further enquiries nay the most Ignorant and Savage People among them did worship some things after a Religious sort however they were mistaken in their Notions of God's Nature and as to the manner of his Worship a plain Sign that they thought that there was a Superior Being to be worshipped and that it was better to Worship almost any thing for a Deity than not to own any Deity at all Thirdly Were the Report true and unquestionable all that can be gathered hence is that 't is possible for some Men to be so besotted and govern'd by outward Sense as to lose in a manner that which is proper to Humane Nature Reason and Religion and to fall into a Belluine kind of Life But this is no Argument against the common Principles of all the rest of Mankind who have hearkned to the Voice of Nature and to their own Consciences nor is it reasonable that one particular Exception should prevail against a general Rule If in the Universe there be now and then a little Irregularity it cannot argue that Nature is not steddy and uniform And so if among Mankind there chance to be here or there some brutish People it cannot argue that the generality of Men have no Reason or that what is agreeable to common Reason is false That there is a God is a Principle agreed upon by the generality of Mankind and if some odd Folks of lost understanding have no such Notion Of what weight is this that it should bear down the common Sentiment of Mankind After this rate it may be said That there is no right Reason in the World nor any Credit or Authority to be given to Reason because there are in the World Beasts and Naturals 2. But to take off this Answer it is pretended Secondly That Philosophers and Men of Reason have been against the belief of God's Existence as Theodorus Bion Leucippus Democritus Protagorus Diagoras Epicurus and the like Now as to this these four things are to be said First That we scarcely find the Names of twelve Atheists expresly mention'd in History since the Creation setting aside some in these later Ages who would have been thought wiser than all the World besides In all the Scripture we read not of one by Name and though the Psalmist speaks indefinitely of a Fool in his time That said in his heart There is no God Psalm 14. 1. yet by his Character you see what he was counted and as great a Fool as he was he would not speak out nor affirm it positively but said it in his heart so that it was rather his Wish than Opinion Secondly Of those we read of in Humane Writers some were called Atheists merely because they despised the Rabble of Deities and the unreasonable Superstitions which the generality of Gentiles had in great admiration Such was the humour of people in those times that they stigmatiz'd all who oppos'd their follies with that infamous Character An humour which held on to the times of the Gospel when the most Religious Disciples of Christ were charged with Atheism for the same reason because they were Enemies too though upon far better grounds to the Faith and Worship of the Pagan Deities So that upon a strict computation I think the notorious Atheists in those dark Ages were not in all above Seven And of those it is observable Thirdly That not so much as one could be a tolerable Judge of matters relating to Religion For some of them were infamous for Vice and Immoralities and therefore in favour to their Lusts did think themselves concern'd to destroy the belief of God's Existence Others were men of so little Sense that every Modern Insidel has just reason to be alham'd of them For Protagoras was a Porter and Diagoras a Slave both of them were angry at Providence for not having dispos'd of them better in the World and so were easily bribed and hired by Democritus to make up a small paltry Litter And of all of them it is remark'd that they were bloated up with Pride Arrogance and Ambition whereby they affected to be singular and to signalize themselves as the most knowing Sages in the World by rejecting Notions which were the common received Principles among all Mankind And yet Fourthly What those few Upstarts did they did by straining and forcing their own Consciences There is a Power in Conscience which cannot be utterly fubdued especially when not only the Honour but the very Being of God is concern'd whose Deputy it is Then Conscience will throb and possess the most Irreligious men with such Fears as argue the Existence of God whatever Arguments they endeavour to raise against him They lye saith Seneca who profess an unbelief of God For though they maintain it before you in the Day-time yet at Night they themselves call their Infidelity in question Company Business or Diversion may banish their Fears for a while but those Fears return in the dark from under the Pillow when Conscience comes to have private Audience And to this purpose Colla in Cicero tells us of Epicurus himself whose Doctrines De Nat. Dcor lib 1. were designed to destroy the apprehensions of a Deity That he never saw any man more afraid than that Philosopher was of those things which he said were not to be dreaded that is Death and God A clear Argument That whatever he pretended and taught to the contrary his Conscience told him there was a Righteous Judge of all the Earth The sum is The belief of God's Existence hath been the general belief of all Ages and Countries and for that very reason Epicurus himself was willing Ibid. it should pass on still 'T was observed before of that Conceited Man That though in fact and in the natural consequence of his Principles he denied God yet for fear of the severe Laws and People of Athens in words he own'd a Deity and that for this consideration because Nature it self had imprinted on all mens minds a notion of God as his Disciple Villeius in Cicero said of him For said he what Nation or sort of men is there which have not without Learning some anticipation of a Deity which Epicurus called a Prolepsis or Pre-notion And since that Opinion is not grounded upon any Institution Custom or Law and yet continues the firm unshaken belief of all men therefore people ought to profess the belief of a Deity And now what is the singular Imagination of a few vain wanton Wretches to the settled Persuasion of all the World besides Must all men be deceived in their notions of God because Democritus and Epicurus would not seem to own them There are sometimes Monstrosities in Nature and so there are too often in Opinion nor is any thing so