as a Vice and not a meer Error in Speculation And therefore he that denies Providence Natural Law or a Future State is as much an Atheist as he that denies God's Being For it 's all one with respect to Practice to say there is no God as to say there 's no Obedience due to him or no Punishment for Disobedience if there be it is likewise all one to deny divine Punishment directly and to deny the Immortality of the Soul or the Scriptures in the Sense of those who at present deny these things For they who say the Soul dies with the Body think hereby to prove that God cannot punish and they who deny the Scriptures do it in order to shew that he will not punish that is in another Life and as to the present they perceive that those who are stiled Wicked fare as well and have as large a Portion of the good things of this World as their Righteous Brethren The End and Design then of all these Opinions is the same namely to establish a Liberty for every Man to live as he pleases and to do whatsoever is right in his own Eyes and what is this but to say there is no God in Israel This is the Notion I have of an Atheist and accordingly I have applied the word indifferently as I had occasion to any Persons that denied any of the Principles of Religion I have endeavour'd to establish And I have used the word Deist in the same Sense with that of Atheist every where but where I am particularly concern'd in the Proof of God's Being as distinguished from the other Parts of Religion But here in opposition to the Character I have now given of an Atheist by a Deist is to be meant such a one who acknowledges all the Principles of Religion here maintained who thinks he is obliged to inform himself truly of his whole Duty to God and to live up to the highest and purest Rules of Morality he can form to himself by the Assistance of his own Reason and the united Lights of other Men who looks upon all the moral or practical Part of the Scriptures as very useful and instructive and consequently to be read and valued as Tully and Aristotle are upon the same Subject but does not believe any such thing as Revelation or assent to any of those peculiar matters of Fact or Doctrines which are wholly grounded upon that extraordinary way of Conveyance and are not level to his Reason or discoverable by it And if a Deist be such as I have described it would be as just a matter of Enquiry whether there be any Persons to whom this Title belongs as whether there be any real Atheists in the World For my part I will not positively say there is no such thing as a true Deist in that sense I have given of the word because I believe there hardly was any Opinion known among Men that some body was not of but this I think I may venture to affirm that it would be the difficultest thing imaginable to find a Man in a Christian Countrey who was acquainted with the Books of Holy Scripture and the common Proofs of Christianity who was fully persuaded of the Truth of all the Principles of Natural Religion here laid down and seriously endeavoured to conform his Life according to the Moral Rules and Precepts of the Gospel and yet denied Revelation and all those particular Truths which stand distinguished by the Name of Revealed Religion such a Man as this I believe is hard to be met with For it is not Prophesies or Miracles or Mysteries that puzzle the Faith of those that now go under the Name of Deists but a plain and full Discovery of a future State of Rewards and Punishments This is the shocking repugnant Doctrine in comparison of which the Trinity and Incarnation are easie Notions and very reconcileable to their Reason Upon this account it is that I have several times mentioned Deists as Enemies of Natural Religion and so properly coming within my Subject and not as meer Opposers of Revelation which belongs to another Argument And now having pointed out who they are that are particularly concerned in the foregoing Discourse it might be expected that I should address my self to them to embrace those Principles of Religion I have there proved and to bestow some serious Thoughts about the Danger of their Unbelief but I am too well acquainted with their Character to trouble them with any Advice of this nature If they are not convinced and bore down by Arguments I am sure they will never yield to Persuasion neither indeed is it proper to go about to persuade Men to believe they only are to be applied to in this manner who are satisfied of the Truth of what you would persuade them to but want sufficient Motives and Incitements to practise I shall therefore shut up this whole Discourse with my earnest Prayers to God that he would be pleased to incline and dispose those who are doubtful and wavering in the Concerning Points of Religion to weigh and consider well the Proofs it stands upon before they venture to withdraw themselves from under the Influence and Government of it that he would defend the Innocent and such as are unacquainted with the Ways of Irreligion from the false Suggestions and Insinuations of Unbelievers that he would convince the Careless and Indifferent of the absolute Necessity of having some Religion and that he would be further pleased to enable those that are already convinced of this Truth to stop the mouths of Gain-sayers by a steady and uniform Practice of their Duty every way answerable to their Knowledge and Profession FINIS ERRATA In the Preface p. v. l. 2. for corruptions r. conceptions IN the Book Pag. 26. l. 9. for probable read possible p. 47. l. 21. the r. our p. 74. l. 24. extension-modification r. modification-extension l. 26. motion-matter r. matter-motion p. 89. l. 2â— than any r. than in any p. 95. l. ult del have p. 113. absolutely r. absolute p. 127. l. 22. d. him p. 132. latter end r. observations proportioned efficacy p. 142. l. 19. that r. their l. 27. defining r. desiring p. 151. l. ult r. p. 162. l. 15. to hap r. to his happiness p. 165. l. antepenult r. p. 169. l. antepenult when d. p. 174. l. 13. d. to p. 175. l. 16. and there r. and then there p. 187. l. 20. d. 4. p. 188. l. 1. r. advance or profess p. 189. l. 6. d. the. p. 194. l. 16. may make r. may be able to make p. 201. l. 8. r. variety p 208. l. antepenult r. are any such 209. l. ult one r. an p. 210. l. 10. these Considerations p. 238. l. 16. selve r. selves
Reach and Comprehension to conceive at all And that he who has so wisely order'd and disposed every thing he has made to such proper Ends has exercised his Power so far and no farther because it was most agreeable to his Wisdom so to do There 's nothing I think in all this but what is easie and natural and what may very well be imagin'd to be found out without the help of much Learning or an extraordinary Talent of Reflexion and yet this is what has constantly in all Ages satisfied both the Learned and the Thoughtful and stood the Test of Time and Sophistry and Malice But suppose some extravagant Thinkers entirely under the Government of their Senses and Lusts because they were not by when the World was made and do not see the Hand which supports the Frame and moves all the several Wheels of it should therefore distrust all their Reasonings of this kind and doubt the Being of a God notwithstanding the Testimony of Nature is there no certain Proof to be given that They are not mistaken who believe a God upon these Grounds Several have already shewn there is and this is what I shall at present endeavour to make good in the clearest and most unexceptionable manner I can But before I enter upon this Argument I think it necessary to enquire what Certainty is that we may know what kind or degree of Proof may be properly and truly called Certain and what not Now Certainty or Evidence which I shall all along take in the same Sense considered in the Things or Ideas which are the Objects of our Understanding is a necessary Agreement or Disagreement of one part of our Knowledge with another as applied to the Mind 't is the Perception of such Agreement or Disagreement or such a firm well-grounded Assent as excludes not only all manner of doubt but all conceivable possibility of a Mistake And thus I suppose and take it for granted that we are certain of all our own Perceptions and Sensations whatever we feel or are conscious to our selves of and that we are fully and undeceivably assured of a great many of our Judgments founded upon the just and well-regulated Reports of our external Senses to the same degree as we are of the Agreement and Disagreement of any pure intellectual Ideas Except this be allowed we have no Principles to reason from nor indeed any Knowledge at all not so much as Scepticism but universal Darkness and Confusion cover humane Nature But he that grants thus much and is true to his own Reason must acknowledge there is a God as will appear from the following Considerations Being then as I suppose by an infallible Consciousness satisfied of our own Operations and Existence and by a passive Perception of various kinds and sorts of Impressions by the help of certain Organs of the Body fully convinced of the reality of things without us of different Natures or Manners of Existence upon a farther Exercise of our active Powers and Application of our Senses to external Objects and then reviewing and reasoning over the Observations that result from thence we come to these certain Conclusions That there are a great many Changes in the World That a great many new Appearances present themselves which before were no where to be found some of which are observed to disappear again as others likewise are the rise and original of which we never knew That under all these Changes and Varieties of Appearance there is something which is constantly the same which we call Matter or solid extended Substance That the different Appearances our Senses inform us of in Matter proceed immediately from the Differences of Bulk or Number Figure Motion and Rest That we are conscious of several things in our selves which we perceive as different from all these That we were not always thus conscious but that there was a time when this Consciousness and all that we perceive in our selves as distinct from Matter which we call Mind or Spirit was joined and united to a certain portion of Matter or Collection of material Particles called humane Body That when this humane Body changes its Appearance and such a particular Union of the parts of it is dissolved then that Consciousness and all those internal Operations which are now the Object of it cease to be joined with that Matter they were just before united to Being well assured of the Truth of all these Conclusions we are from thence immediately led to these following Enquiries How comes all this about How came there to be such a thing as Matter When and by what means did it exist What is the Cause of all those Changes that are continually making in it And why does it exist after so many different manners Whence are we our selves What was it that gave us such conscious Beings How are they united to Matter What limits the Continuance and afterward dissolves the Bond of this wonderful Union Now in pursuance of these Enquiries we find it utterly inconceivable and impossible that any thing should make it self that a Being which once did not exist should begin to be of it self by the force of its own Nature or Power without the Assistance of some other Being which existed before it From whence we are irresistibly convinc'd that something must be eternal otherwise nothing could ever have been for if any Time can be supposed in which nothing did exist nothing would ever have existed at all unless a Being that once was not could put it self into Being but that is impossible and 't is certain something now really is therefore something must be eternal And as from hence 't is evident that something must be eternal so 't is plain from the several Changes we observe in the World the Succession of new conscious Beings and different Dispositions of Matter that every thing is not so now if something be eternal and a great many things are not eternal then it plainly follows that every thing that is not eternal was made by that which is i. e. originally received its Being and whatever belongs to it from an eternal Author or Cause otherwise either something must be supposed to have made it self which before is proved to be impossible or one temporary Being must make another which it cannot do but by the Force and Efficacy of such Powers which together with its Existence it received from some other Being and so on till we come to the eternal Fountain of all Power and Being The only Question then is What is eternal for upon this depends the Resolution of all our other Doubts and Enquiries For the better and more certain Satisfaction in which I shall First Consider all the Claims and Pretensions made to this glorious Prerogative of eternal Existence Afterwards I shall examine what those Attributes are that must necessarily belong to an eternal Being And then shew that that Being to which all these Attributes agree is what we call God and there is
of which State we are farther convinced of by the general Wants Miseries and Imperfections of our present Nature which proceed from some Principle or Disposition within us contrary to that of Religion which Principle or Disposition is the Reason of that universal Wickedness which reigns in the World Did Mankind enjoy all the Happiness they were otherwise capable of in this mortal Condition yet so long as they found in themselves Capacities and Desires of greater unknown degrees of Pleasure which from the present Frame and Constitution of things they had no Hope or Prospect of and felt an Uneasiness at the Thoughts of parting with those Enjoyments they were possess'd of by the unalterable Decree of Death which they knew themselves subject to were they I say in such a Condition they would have great Reason from hence to conclude that God did design them for some other more perfect State where their whole Capacities would be filled all their Desires satisfyed and no kind of Pain or Uneasiness check or allay the Fullness of that joy not that they had then any cause of Complaint as if God had not dealt kindly by them in granting them lesser degrees of Happiness than what they were capable of but because in such a case as is supposed their Capacities and Desires would be given them in vain which does not seem consistent with the Wisdom of God and moreover the Uneasiness of Defining what was impossible and the painful Fears and Apprehensions of what was certain which they would then experience would appear inconsistent with God's Design of making Man for Happiness and therefore t' would be more agreeable to all the Notions we have of God and all the Observations we have made upon his other Works to suppose that had this Life been the Extent of Mans Being and Happiness God would not have given him a sense or prospect of any other upon such a Supposition as this 't is highly rational to think that constant even Contentment would have bounded all his Thoughts that his Soul would always have remained at the same equal Poize and that he would have lived without desiring more than he enjoyed and died without any previous Fears of loosing that And if there is good ground to believe that there would be a State of future Happiness tho' Men enjoyed all they were capable of here according to the present Circumstances of their Nature and Condition because their Happiness here was not compleat by reason of some Pain and Uneasiness mixt with it and because their Capacities and Desires exceeded all their actual Enjoyments how much more reasonable is it to make the same Conclusion now when we every way fall so short of the Happiness the condition of this Life would allow us as will plainly appear if we compare the present State of the World with that Draught and Representation we have before given of Humane Life under a regular Practice of the Duties of Religion We are now not only conscious in general of larger Capacities of Happiness than what we enjoy but there are several kinds and degrees of it within our Knowledge and seemingly within our Reach and Power which with all the Endeavours we can use we are not able to attain and the more Wants we are sensible of and the better and more particularly we know what they are the stronger are our Desires and the greater the Uneasiness of Defeats and Disappointments which Experience assuras us are very frequent The Satisfactions we meet with are commonly very short and mixed with Pain and we have a great many other things to fear besides death But the Troubles and Calamities of Humane Life are too well known to need being insisted upon and too large a subject to be particularly treated of in this place 'T is sufficient to my purpose to remark in general what I think may very safely be affirmed that if what falls to every Man's share was fairly computed the Misery of the greatest part of Mankind would out-weigh their Happiness If therefore Man was design'd by God for Happiness and was so framed that he cannot enjoy compleat Happiness in this Life without a mixture of Uneasiness and yet has Capacities and Desires of greater than he can conceive belonging to his Nature and the necessary Circumstances of it here and farther if Mankind be now involv'd in such a State or Condition of Life in which they all actually enjoy much less Happiness than they find themselves by Nature capable of here and the greatest part of them have a larger Share of the Troubles than the Advantages of Life from hence I think it may be truly and certainly inferr'd that there will be another State of pure compleat Happiness answerable at least to the highest Notions and Conceptions we are able to frame of it But since as has before been proved God has not absolutely and unconditionally determined all Men to be happy but has made Happiness and Misery to depend upon our Actions and consequently has annex'd Happiness to a particular way of acting we have all the Reason in the World to believe that the Happiness of another State will be the Portion of those and those only who live according to the Rules of Religion here and this I believe no body is disposed to doubt of that owns a future State and therefore I shall spend no time in an unnecessary Proof of it And if there are none to be found that exactly discharge all the Obligations of Religion yet 't is more agreeable to our Reason to conclude that those who sincerely endeavour to do it shall by the especial Grace and Favour of God in some such way or manner as to his Wisdom shall seem fit be rendred capable of future Happiness than to believe that all Mankind shall be miserable and none obtain Happiness contrary to all the Marks and Indications of the Desâ—gn of God in making Man Granting therefore what I think has been sufficiently proved under this Head that there will be a future State in which all Men will be happy or miserable according as they have behaved themselves here with regard to what we call Religion this I say being allowed it manifestly follows from hence that it is more for our Happiness to act up to the Rules and Directions of Religion than to pursue any other Measures whatever we should happen to suffer in this Life for so doing because the Happiness of a future State will so far outweigh all the sufferings of this that when we come to enjoy it we shall be forced to acknowledge that the end and reward of our Labours was very well worth all the Troubles and Difficulties we found in the way to it and if it be absolutely with regard to the whole extent and duration of our Being more for our Happiness to live Religiously than otherwise then are we in the highest and strictest sense obliged to live so which was the thing I undertook to prove Nay further
or resistible to contradict the general Belief of the World without making any new Discoveries or Observations to lay aside a whole Scheme and System of things which has been proved and established in all the principal Branches and Connexions of it because we are not able to comprehend or account for some little remote Consequence and to venture eternal Misery upon a seeming Possibility of an Escape which very few perceive or allow These are all egregious Instances of the absurd Faith and foolish Conduct of the Enemies of Religion and consequently good Proofs of the Judgment and Wisdom of those who believe and act upon contrary Grounds and Measures There 's another thing also which the Atheist commonly discovers his Folly in and that is the publishing and propagating his Opinions For 't is more the Atheist's Interest that other People should have Religion than 't is the Religious Man's For his whole Happiness being in this Life the more other People are restrain'd and the better they are persuaded he acts by the same Rules they do the larger will his Liberty and Advantages be and the less he will suffer from their Designs and Pursuits whereas the Religious Man's Reversion is not endanger'd but confirm'd by what he loses or suffers here Other Proofs likewise of the Unreasonableness and Absurdity of Irreligion might be brought from the Inconsistency both of the Faith and Practice of such as are profess'd Favourers of it such as their Credulity and readiness of Belief in common indifferent Matters and sometimes embracing absurd Opinions exploded by all the World when at the same time they are distrustful of every thing upon the Subject of Religion their believing Matters that concern their present Happiness upon less Grounds their exposing themselves to greater Troubles and Inconveniences and running greater Hazards upon a fainter Prospect of future Happiness in this Life and sometimes on the contrary fearing and avoiding things upon a less Appearance or Likelyhood of Danger than what Religion affords and lastly their acting contrary to their own Principles and denying themselves what they esteem substantial Happiness out of a regard to imaginary Notions which have no Foundation but in the Opinion of Men. But these being Matters of common Observation and too long to be fully insisted upon here I shall think it sufficient to have hinted at them and so pass on to the VI. Sixth and last general Branch of my Discourse proposed in the beginning of it and that is To give some Account of the Causes of all Atheism and Irreligion or the Reasons that induce Men to take up such Opinions There 's nothing People are better satisfied of than the Power nnd Influence of Prejudices and false Motives of Judging every body being apt to resolve the Cause of another Mans differing in opinion from him into some particular Byass upon his Understanding But this we do commonly without examining whether the Person that differs from us has not better Reasons for his Dissent than we have for our Persuasion whether the Opinion he is of be not in the Reality of things true tho he believes upon false Grounds or whether we our selves are not disposed to judg as we do upon some of the like Motives we suppose him to be directed by By which means we are often not only guilty of the same Partiality we charge upon others but either confirm'd in our Errors or else prevented from making just Enquiries into the Truth of things so that if we are in the right it is by chance and more than we are able to prove to our selves or others Upon which account I think it a very preposterous and deceitful Method of proving a thing false to assign some peculiar Prejudices and wrong Motives of judging which may possibly induce Men to be of such an Opinion tho the Truth should be of the other side and which have often had the like Influence upon Men's Understandings in other Matters and from thence immediately without any further Proof to infer that such and such Persons have no other Reasons for their Belief of the point in question and consequently that they are in the wrong this I say is not a fair way of arguing But after plain and manifest Proofs of the Truth of an Opinion according to the standing Rules and Principles of Reasoning it is not only proper to enquire how any People came to be of a contrary Persuasion but the Strangeness and seeming Unaccountableness of the thing make it expected and in some respect necessary in order to a fuller Satisfaction of those who notwithstanding all the appearance of Evidence to themselves may be apt to have such favourable Notions of Mankind as not to imagine that Persons who have the same Faculties and all other Advantages of Knowledge as they have should deny what appears so plain to them without some rational Grounds for their Denial Having therefore as I persuade my self fully and evidently proved the Truth of Religion I think I may now be allow'd to say That all Atheism and Irreligion must be the sole Effect of Prejudice and Prepossession if any such Cause of it is assignable And if we search the Heart of Man and look into the hidden Mysteries of Iniquity lodg'd there if we consider all the false and corrupt Reasonings and the several Arts and Methods of Deceit which are used by Men to delude themselves we shall soon discover the secret Spring and Original of all Atheism and Unbelief Now the Causes from whence it proceeds are these two The Fear of an After-reckoning for a wicked Life and The Pride and Vanity of appearing greater or wiser than other Men. The first of which is the principal and most powerful Cause and is only assisted and strenghened afterwards by the Accession of the latter And what other Reason can be assigned It cannot be the Force and Evidence of Truth as plainly appears not only from the foregoing Proofs of Religion but from the Confession and Conduct of the Atheists themselves It is not because the Notions of God Immortality and a Future State shock the Understanding and contradict the plain Principles of Reason that they deny these Foundations of all Religion Was the Being of God consider'd only as an Hypothesis to solve the Difficulties of Nature by without those troublesome Consequences of Duty Sin and Punishment the Atheist would not scruple this Philosophy and Lucretius himself would easily grant the Soul to be immortal to be separated from the Body and reunited again would you allow him that Conclusion that neither separate nor reunited it hath any Sense or Remembrance of what was done before the Separation God should also enjoy the Fulness of Perfection he should be clothed with all the magnificent Attributes that Man could conceive so his whole Employment was the Comprehension of himself and the Contemplation of his own Glory and he was not unnecessarily troubled to take account of our Actions This is the dreadful