A TREATISE CONCERNING Religions, In Refutation of the Opinion which accounts all INDIFFERENT.  
Wherein is also evinced the Necessity of a Particular REVELATION, And the Verity and preeminence of the Christian Religion above the Pagan, Mahometan, and Jewish rationally Demonstrated.  
Rendered into English out of the French Copy of MOSES AMYRALDUS Late Professor of Divinity at Saumur in France.  
London Printed by M. Simons for Will. Nealand Bookseller in Cambridge and are to be sold there and at the sign of the Crown in Duck-lane, 1660.   
Lactantius de Falsa Sapientia, lib. 3. cap. 15. Nulla itaque ratio vel scientia vel lex bene vivendi, nisi in hâc unica & vera & coelesti sapientia constituta est, quae Philosophis fuit ignota. Nam illa terrena, quoniam falfa est, fit varia & multiplex, sibique tota contraria est. Et sicut unus est hujus mundi constitutor & rector Deus, una veritas; ita unam esse ac simplicem sapientiam necesse est: quia quicquid est verum ac bonum, id perfectum esse non potest, nisi fuerit singulare.  

THE PREFACE.  
IN the beginning of the precedent Age, upon the liberty taken by s●me persons to discover and inveigh against Abuses crept into Christian Religion, & their importunate instances for extermination of the same, succeeded in a short space a division of all Europe into two Parties; either of them strangely addicted and ligued to the Cause their inclinations lead them to. For, as on the side, such to whom the novelty was acceptable, were transported with so incredible an ardour to change the whole face of the Church, that gibbets and flames and even the most horrid usages of exquisite cruelty were insufficient to deter them; so on the other, they who would admit no alteration in the Belief of their Forefathers, that they might restrain the former from effecting any, did not scruple the counsels and practices of greatest violence; esteeming the same necessary, where others were too short for rescuing and maintaining the Religion received from our Ancestors: Insomuch that no barbarism was left unacted, which could possibly be supplied by Zeal and Fury. Now it is beyond all doubt, that both the one and the other of these Parties were impelled to such extremities only by a strong persuasion, that the Doctrine which they respectively contended for, was the true and sole mean to arrive at that Happiness whereunto we all aspire. For there is no appearance, that men composed of flesh and blood, and framed (as may seem) by Nature to Gentleness, should either have exposed themselves to so many mischiefs, unless upon a confidence that the matter, for which they suffered them, was worthy to be maintained at the expense of all that is desirable in the world; or given themselves over to the execution of such severities against their fellow-creatures and compatriots, had they not conceived that the Zeal of Religion ought sometimes to extinguish all the sentiments of humanity itself. And in truth, the conscience being the most tightly sensible part of man, there is nothing more powerful than it to excite more vehement agitations, and even more turbulent passions in his mind.  
Since those days, there is risen a third sort of people, who imagine they have discovered a middle way between these two, secure (they say) to avoid falling both into the calamities, whereinto headiness and inconsiderate zeal precipitated the one side, and into those inhumanities' to which an immoderate affection towards an ancient Religion induced the other. The Expedient is this: That it is meet for a man to accommodate himself to that manner of serving God, which is received by custom or authorised by the Magistrate, every one in his respective Country, without much solicitousness and enquiry whether it be Christian or Jewish, Pagan or Mahometan; And moreover to fortify this new Doctrine, they have provided themelves of certain reasons, to the end that in a matter of such importance they might not be accused of departing rashly from the common judgements of other men. It is their opinion, that God is of his own nature so good, and the manner of rendering him exact and absolutely sincere service, without the least blemish of error, so dubious and unknown, that provided a man venerate him devoutly in his soul, and otherwise live honestly and virtuously, he does not so narrowly regard our other services, but of his clemency dispenses and bears with us if in so great a confusion of Religions we do not discern all their deficiencies, or even in case we come to understand them, we do nevertheless continue our conformity thereunto, out of tenderness to the public peace and tranquillity: this gentle compliance conjoined with the interior piety of the Heart, and upright comportments of Life, being a Service far more acceptable to the Deity, than that furious Zeal for certain particular. Opinions, which occasions so many troubles and miseries. This, they determine, is sufficient, and that we ought to be satisfied with the same, arresting our curiosity of more profound disquisitions; so far ought we to be from imbroiling of States, or putting Commonwealths in combustion, and fleshing ourselves with such animosity one upon another, only for the cause of Religion.  
Certainly, if this opinion were true, these men would have brought to light an Expedient so importunately beneficial to Mankind, that scarce any eulogiums could be excogitated equal to their praise. This would be the way to reduce the minds of men to that happy quiet and composedness which we so tedously wish they were brought to; it would conciliate mutual amity between such Nations as variance in Religion hath divided, and restore tranquillity to those States who have been harrassed by wars and commotions bred on that occasion; It would reunite Princes to their Subjects, and Subjects to their Princes, whom dissensions in matters of Conscience have alienated; and return to our Europe, which is more shattered with factions, and rend into Sects and different Professions than any Part of the World, the peace and concord which is so necessary unto it. And my particular suffrage, in case the verity of their Persuasion could be made out, should be one of the forwardest to erect even Temples and Altars to them, for being the authors of so inestimable a Good. But although there may possibly be some persons to whom this Indifference is chief acceptable out of the consideration of Peace, and the desire all good men ought to have of seeing those great wounds closed up which Discordance of Opinions hath made in the most flourishing Kingdoms; yet my judgement of the Contrivance is this, That how goodly pretext so ever it beareth, there was never a more pernicious opinion brought forth into the World, never any that more artificially stifles all true sentiments of piety, or was more destructive of true virtue; and consequently which ought to be more abhorred of every good Religious conscience: And should they which maintain it, have conspired to banish out of the Earth all mention of the Name of God, they could not have invented any other effective complot then to imprint this belief in our mind●.  
Now although this sort of people do not as yet make so numerous a Party as the two other, and hath not hitherto ventured abroad wholly unmasked; yet being it is growing every day, and the Opinion of Indifference gins to bear a great vogue, and particularly in France, insomuch that a considerable number of those Persons which are esteemed the most polished either by the education of Litterature or of the Court, are become imbued with it, and even some, it seems, amongst those which wear the title of Divines incline to favour it; I have judged it my duty, with the good leave of all true Christians, to engage against this Error in this Treatise; both to undeceive, if possible, such as are already misled into it, and to pre-arm others against its poison, that they be not inveigled by the bait: Hoping, that besides the bened ction of God, to whom my purpose cannot be unacceptable, I shall find as well those who style themselves Catholics as they who are termed the Reform (notwithstanding the r mutual Controversies) candid and favourable, the Error which I attaque being equally enemy to both.  
There are three kinds of men that esteem the exterior profession of all Religions indifferent. The first acknowledge no Providence, and do not admit God to be concerned with humane affairs, notwithstanding they believe him of a nature so excellent in itself, and transcendent above all other beings, that for this consideration alone be deserves our reverence and devotions: and this was sometimes th● Religion of Epicurus, to which these men have given new birth. The second order confess a Providence governing the World, but acknowledge no express revelation of the the Will of God in reference to his Service: an Opinion held by the greatest part of the Philosophers. And thirdly, another sort, who besides the instruction which may be collected from Providence ruling the Universe, and the study of Nature, do assent that God hath revealed something particularly concerning himself and the manner of service fitting to be rendered to him; yet esteem not themselves thereby obliged to follow a certain and determined Profession of Form of Religion: a Sect unknown to the Ancients, and born in our own times. Suitably hereunto, I have purposed to dispute against each Order apart, to the end the Discourse may be more amply satisfactory, and the series of the contexture more dependent and conspicuous: in which regard I have divided my Work into three Parts; of which the First shall serve as a step to the Second, and that to the Third; and so each of them distinctly treat the Question particularly assigned to it. But if in some places the Discourses seem to divert a little from the subject, which the Lemmas of the Chapters promise; besides that I do it not out of incogitancy, and have my reasons for it, which perhaps shall appear in their duo time; I hope to manage my Digressions which such moderation, that reducing the Reader speedily into his way it will not be offensive to him to have been drawn aside for a few moments to the consideration of things which I have deemed convenient to the Universal design of my Work, One advertisement there is I am to give him before hand, That I shall take the greater part of my reasons from the emanations and motions of our own nature, and from conscience, without dilating myself into those prolix discourses, in which the incomparable advantages of the Christian Religion above all others have been sufficiently demonstrated by arguguments drawn from other topics, and from the testimonies of the Ancients. For as those excellent persons that undertook it, have outdone all that I am able to attempt, so verily I do not believe that in treating with such as are endued with some sense of piety, there are any reasons preferable to those which are desumed from the motions of the same; or that towards such as have none at all, any other course of argumentation can be very powerful and effective. I am not ignorant some writers have conjoined this method with their other reasons; and so far is it from me to go about here to detract any thing from their commendation, that on the contrary I wish the labours of those great Men were as carefully perused, as their peculiar worth and the importance of the matter deserve. But seeing Books, how good soever they be, and in whatever language written, have their Time, at the end of which they remain neglected in the dust of Closets, and almost buried in oblivion; and that on the other side this profane humour is immortal, and gathers youth every day, sprouting and enlarging to the shame of our Age; It ought not to be accounted strange, if after others I bring my Endeavours to the rooting of it up, or at least to intercept its future fertility. And possibly my design of employing no other instrument than that of argument and reason will not be less profitable to the greater part, in regard all the world is able to use it, than the diligence others have had to enrich their Writings with Disquisitions of rare and profound erudition, of which the Learned only are capable judges. Besides, it many times happens, that what is produced upon the credit or testimonies of Antiquity, hath not much weight in this matter, with the Intelligent. Because if it be ascribed to God, these Indifferents accuse it to have been forged, by such as were infatuated by affection to Religion: and if the original of it be referred to men, they are ready with a return that in all age's men have deceived themselves: So that there remains scarce any other principle from which to dispute against these people then that of Nature and Reason, to which they would not be thought to renounce. The Eternal God, to whose glory I undertake this work, guide my Mind and my Hand in the conduct of the same.   

A TABLE OF The Chapters contained in this TREATISE.  

The first Part.  
CHAP. I. THat according to the Doctrine of the Epicureans there can be no assurance of the existence of a Deity. page 1  
CHAP. II. Wherein the Service of God consists; And what that is the Epicureans can tender him according to their Principles. p. 17  
CHAP. III. With what kind of adoration the Epicureans▪ according to their Principles can ●e●erate t●e D●ity. p. 29  
CHAP. IV. A more particular consideration of the Honour which the Epicureans pretend to render to God in respect of his Power, Goodness, Justice and Wisdom. p. 41  
CHAP. V The Continuation of the Arguments evincing that the Epicureans cannot adore the Deity in a due manner; with the solution of some Objections. p. 58.  
CHAP. VI Of the natural difference which is between Vice and Virtue; and of the Terrors of Conscience: Whether it can be deduced from them that there is a Providence. p. 80  
CHAP. VII. Of the Epicurean Opinion concerning the Immortality of the Humane Soul, and the Supreme Good, and what may redound from it.   

The second Part.  
CHAP. I. Of the Universal Consentment of all Nations in this Point, That there ought to be one Certain Religion; And that it is Necessary that God himself prescribe the model of the same. p. 137  
CHAP. II. How greatly it imports true Piety, That every man be throughly assured that his Religion is Good; And, that this cannot be, unless it be of Divine Revelation. p. 158  
CHAP. III. Of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Creation of the world: How greatly it imports true Piety to be fully assured of both; And that a man cannot be so without a particular Revelation. p. 183.  
CHAP. IU. How much true Godliness is concerned in the certain knowledge, That the whole world is governed by a special Providence; and That the same is no otherwise attainable but by Revelation. p. 207  
CHAP. V Of what great moment it is to know whether Death be a natural accident, or not; And that such knowledge cannot be attained without Special Revelation. p. 220  
CHAP. VI Of the corruption of mankind; How much it imports true piety to know the Original of it: which we cannot do without a particular Revelation. p. 223  
CHAP. VII. Of the Remission of sins; what knowledge men naturally have thereof; And how much it is the interest of true piety to be assured of the same. Also, of the Resurrection of the Body. p. 246  
CHAP. VIII. What understanding can be had of true virtue without a particular Revelation. p. 264  
CHAP. IX. What the principal tokens and evidences are by which this particular Revelation may be known and distinguished. p. 278   

The third Part.  
CHAP. I. THat such as acknowledge a particular Revelation cannot allow indifference improfession of Religion. p. 295  
CHAP. II. Which have been the principal Religions: That profession of any sort is indifferent, even by the verdict of the Pagan: In which the Divine Revelation is not found. p. 313  
CHAP. III. Whether the Profession of all Religions be Indifferent according to the Religion of Mahomet. And that this Religion is not of Divine Institution. p. 340  
CHAP. IV. Of the Religion of the Jews; whether it allows Indifference: And how it ought to be held of Divine Revelation. p. 367  
CHAP. V That the time of the duration of Moses' Law is expired: and consequently that some other must be come in its place. p. 389  
CHAP. VI That the Christian Religion, being more excellent, hath succeeded the Jewish. p. 404  
CHAP. VII. That according to right Reason and the Old Testament, the means of obtaining Salvation ought to be such as the Christian Religion holds forth. p. 437  
CHAP. VIII. That the promised Messiah ought to be both God and man; whence it follows that there are several persons in one simple Divine Essence: Also, of the Divinity of the Old Testament. p. 459  
CHAP. IX. That Jesus is the Messiah promised by the Old Testament. Also of the Divinity of the New. p. 492  
CHAP. X. That those who affirm Christ took upon him the appellation of God, though he was not so, only that he might thereby render his Doctrine more authentic, are apparently destitute of all reason. p. 511  
CHAP. XI. That Indifference in the professing of all Religions is not justifiable according to the Christian Religion, which darty soever be embraced. And for Conclusion, the Refutation of the pretext propounded in the Preface. p. 525    

A TREATISE Concerning RELIGIONS, Against those who esteem all Indifferent. The first Part.  

CHAP. I. That according to the Doctrine of the Epicureans there can be no assurance of the Existence of a Deity.  
ALthough the name of Epicurus was detestable to Antiquity, in regard that placing the supreme attainment of human felicity in Delight, he seemed to deprave and adulterate whatsoever is sublime and Generous in Philosophy; and moreover, though succeeding Ages▪ have had it in as much or g●●●ter abhorrence, 〈◊〉 reason Time confirmed them in this opinion, that 〈◊〉 End he aimed at, was to extinguish by his Maxims all the seeds of Honour, P●●●y, and Virtue; yet it is not my design, in terming those Epicureans, against whom this Dissertation is enterprised, to fasten that appellation upon them, as a piece of infamy, but only ●o ●●note and specificate them by the Conformity ●●y have with that Person in his most capital Opinions. My purpose is not to represent them in any other odious dress than that of the enormous and ill-beseeming appearance of their Persuasions in matter of Religion; and the sequel of this discourse shall manifestly enough discover, whether or no it hath been with Reason and Justice, that this Sect hath in all times been regarded with a sort of execration, not by popular judgement only, but also amongst the other Philosophers. Now whereas there is no Nation so projectedly Savage, as to be aliens to the belief of existence of some Deity, which mankind ought to adore; no people, who do not essay by some kind of performances to express the sentiments of Devotion and Honour they bear towards him; it is difficult to imagine there should be any persons found of minds so immensely distant from the common conceptions of reason, as to be able resolvedly to deny it. And the reason of the difficulty is this. That Notices which are so Universal, having a necessary foundation and firm root in Nature, it must needs be that such as stifle the same in themselves, have in the first place violated and defaced That. Hence it is that I would not formally accuse them who maintain that the Deity does not intermeddle in the affairs of this lower World, and conceive we ought to venerate the same only upon the account of its excellence, although there is not to be attended from it either Punishment for Wickedness or Compensation for Virtue; to have absolutely banished the knowledge of it from amongst them, and to make profession of believing there is a God only to escape the infamous title of Atheist. Cicero indeed reproaches Epicurus with this artifice, and raises the suspicion upon his Followers; which nevertheless shall not engage me to believe that the corruption of our Age could possibly afford birth to such monsters. But howsoever that particular be, certain it is beyond contradiction, that the Opinions of this Philosopher lead directly to Impiety; and that if they who have embraced them believe the existence of God, 'tis Nature which prevails in them, and which is never conquerable by all the attempts and outrages they employ to conquer and suppress her.  
Three things alone inform us there is a God; his Word, the World, and Man; and they teach us in truth, so evidently, and represent him so livety, that such eyes must be lostly obtenebrated, which do not perceive him therein. In his Word we meet with wonderful Revelations, and Predictions ratified by Events after divers Ages, and with such Histories as no man knew, or could know; which notwithstanding, after they came to be discovered, the World itself hath consented to, the mind of man acquiesces in them, and the shadows which have remained of them in the Fables of the Pagans do serve for even indubitable evidence and testimony unto them. On the other side it contains a doctrine of that excellency, that no men of howsoever transcendent accomplishments, could ever have invented the same; which is so conformable to our Reason, that although it be admirably sublime, there is nothing in it which subverts or encounters the soberness of our judgements; in a word, all the parts of it have such excellent proportion amongst themselves, that so many different spirits which have left it us in writing in several Ages, could not have carried on so unitedly and with such uniformity a design of like grandeur, without a guidance other then humane. Above all, there is remarkable in it a marvellous efficacy to comfort a man in his misery, after it hath first given him to understand it, and unvailed his mind from the ignorance of himself and his own calamity; which without doubt are effects, whereof our conscience instructs us we cannot be the cause. Lastly, this Divinity, wh●● men have sought after, as it were, gropingly in all Ages, is manifested to us therein with such clearness, that after so long experience which we have made of our natural blindness, it can be nothing but enormous stupidity not to see that God reveals himself therein, and that no other could have spoken so suitably of his nature and of his perfections. In the mean while the Epicureans do not receive this Revelation as proceeded from God, nor attribute so much to it by far as to the Writings of Plato, Cicero, and Aristotle. If they may be believed, all the Prophets were men of alienated understandings, and the Apostles vagabond circulators, who went about abusing the greatest part of the World. So that it is not from these men that they have learned this truth, That there is a God; for if they gave credit to them in this particular, and avouched to hold it from them, why should they disbelieve them in the rest? Or how is it credible that so great & frontless Impostors as they imagine the Prophets and Apostles were, should be the first discoverers of so excellent a truth? Or if they did not first discover it so as to merit the title of its Inventors, and that notwithstanding we hold it from them, whence can it be conjectured they should have drawn it? It remains of necessity, that if they had it not from Divine Revelation, they attained it by study and contemplation, either of the World or of themselves.  
As to the World, it is easy that it could not be made by itself, and consequently must have an Author. The construction of so vast a fabric speaks the power of its Architect; and its admirable motions, which have remained so re●●lar and constant after so many Ages, offer to our wonder his incomprehensible Wisdom. In the Harmony of such variety of things, and contrary qualities, linked one with another, and in the convenient disposure of all the creatures to a subserviency in mutual offices, without which the World could not subsist, his Goodness is presented visible, as it were to our eye, and palpable by our hand. In the shaping of every thing and the apt Symmetry of its parts, appears an Art not only inimitable by us, but even such as we are not capable perfectly to comprehend. The conservation of the Universe, and administration of all it contains, clearly evidences a Providence conducting natural causes to their effects, and animating them with powers to produce them, which disposes of all evenements of things agreeably to his will, wisely ordering the most casual and contingent. And although there are not wanting some to complain of his regiment, and to reproach to him oftentimes the prosperity of the Bad, and calamitous estate of the Good; yet it does visibly enough defend and recompense Virtue, and on the contrary avenges Wickedness frequently, sometimes even to the displaying of dreadful judgements upon eminent impieties. Insomuch that there is not a Star in the Heavens, nor a Flower upon the Earth, whether considered in the gross or in parcel; but declares aloud that there is a God, Crea●●●, Cons●rvator, and Governor of all things. Nevertheless the Epicureans do not acknowledge that the World ever had a Beginning▪ or if it had according to their opinion, yet they will not confess that it was framed otherwise then by the fortuitous concourse of infinite peteet Atoms; And for what concerns the regiment and conservation of it, they will not have the Deity employed in the Government of Nature and things here below; and do not behold, as they profess, in all the Universe any footstep of his Providence. For 'tis their general Apophthegm, that God hath no affairs of his own, and takes no part in those of another, lest he should interrupt his repose and the serene tranquillity of his eternal beatitude. So that if we believe them, all things come to pass in the World by a fatal necessity, or as it pleases Fortune, who being blind and wonderfully temerarious, hath neither counsel nor aim in her actions. There remains the consideration of Man.  
In ourselves we may in the first place observe the structure of our Bodies, which are composed after so fair a Symmetry, that the most excellent entendments are ravished and confounded in the speculation; and even the illterate and they which regard it more superficially, cannot but express their astonishment at the same. In effect, were there in them only the Masterpiece of our Eyes, and that Activity of our Hands which renders us so expedite to all sorts of services, there would be enough to raise amazement in us, and direct us to the knowledge of that infinite Wisdom whereunto we owe our Originals. Moreover, besides this Life which is the Energy of our Soul, and that imperceptible dispensation of spirits, which she manages with so much diligence for the motions of our Members, and the functions of our Senses; The light of our Intellect, its agitations so vivid, regular conduct, and great capacity to comprehend all things, The faculty which inables us to reason concerning the Deity and dispute of it one against another, sufficiently evidences that there is some Principle of Understanding without us, from which this ray we possess is derived into our Nature. For it must needs be that we have drawn it from without us; since by it we so far surpass ourselves that our Fathers confess themselves unable to have communicated it to their chr●●ten; as also, for their own particular, that they did not receive it from their fathers or Ancestors. More signally, the Fear which men naturally have, when they apprehend the Deity will revenge their misdoings; and the Hope to find support from it, with which they comfort themselves as often as straits and necessity afflicts them; two Passions which are almost the sole motives that ordinarily induce men to Religion; these discover indubitably that there is some Power, which makes itself universally perceptible to all, aswell in punishments as in benefits and recompenses. For how could it come to pass that all men should so conspire with an equal consentment in the knowledge of one and the same object, so remote as they are one from another, and separated by so many Mountains and Seas, but especially so divided and different in every thing else, in all manners, sentiments, rules of Life, garbs and customs; u●●ess Nature the common ●other had imbued them with the same instinct? Whence it comes to pass that as they vary even to admiration in the establishment of their Policies, either the diversity of the Climates of their habitation and the difference of their Temper and affairs obliging them thereunto, or being carried by the levity of their minds; and nevertheless all accord in this, That some form of Policy is necessary, since the society of men could not otherwise subsist: So we may remark an incredible variety in the Mysteries and Religious Ceremonies of divers Nations, accordingly as they have received them from the tradition of their Ancestors, or respectively followed the guidance of their own humours and imaginations in the invention and continuance of the same; but yet they are unanimous in this, That there ought necessarily to be some form of Religion, because the piety of man towards God could not otherwise subsist. Now as it is the evidence of the thing itself which obliges the Reason of men to judge that they ought to maintain some Societies amongst themselves; so that whoever acknowledges not the same, but denies to follow these natural inclinations, seems to have put off humanity; in like manner it is the evidence of the thing which constrains them to acknowledge it requisite to have some sort of Piety towards God; insomuch that he that rejects these suggestions of Reason, does no less than renounce the nature of man. But according to the Doctrine of Epicurus, we do not hold our Being from God, and have nothing either to hope or sear from his Providence. On the contrary, if their suffrage be creditable, that Philosopher, in having delivered men from the frights which conscience gives them in reflecting on impious actions, deserves incomparable glory, and such as might in some sort equal him and his disciples to God. The life of mortals (saith La●retius, Lib. 1.) lying before as it were oppressed and groaning under Religion, which appeared from the Heavens against it with a dreadful aspect, Epicurus was the first amongst men who dared to advance against it and encounter it.  
Quare Religio p●dibus subjecta vicissim  
Obteri●●●●os ena●●●t victoria coelo.  
Whereas therefore all these things have not been effectual to persuade them that God created the world, and that he preserves and rules it; whence have they taken those reasons which have any appearance of sufficiency to prove to them that there is such a Being? It were a strange thing, that they should not see a whit amongst so many marveils which are resplendent on all sides, and have ravished all Nations, however naturally enemies of the Deity, with beholding them, and enforced them to submit themselves to do homage to him ●●d render him some kind of veneration; ●●d y●● be so quicksighted in other reasons which no other persons besides themselves could ever comprehend.  
It is true, Epic●●us sometimes affirmed that this truth, There is a God; Also, It is meet that all men honour him▪ was of the number of those which are called Common Conceptions, or Proleptical Opinions, because without instruction of others, ev●● one is teacher of the same to himself. And peradventure these men will also aver that they have drawn the knowledge thereof from this fountain. But this will in no wise warrant them; For whence come those Common notions, and from what source have we anticipated them? Indeed we do not deny but there are certain Verities which are so evident that the Faculty whose office it is to contemplate them and discern the true from the false, cannot mistake in the judgement it makes of them; and we know also that the humane Intellect has a natural disposition to such acting; whence it proceeds that all Nations have consented thereunto, and always passed a uniform judgement of them. Upon this consideration, they have been termed Common Conceptions by the Ancient Philosophers, because they were not peculiar to the Athenians or Spartans', Peripatetics or Stoics; but were received by all that have the use of Reason. Such is for example, this Proposition, The whole is greater than its part: But others of deeper intelligence have believed that we do not bring them with us every man out of his mother's womb, but that they are produced from objects which have offered to us occasions of reasoning and collecting those general Maxims from several particular experiences. So that the first person that divided a thing into two parts, repeating the bipartition over and over, and always observing that the parts of it were less than the whole in its entireness; and then coming from these particular observations to consider the nature of the thing in itself, the discursive Faculty summed up that universal Theorem. The original knowledge of which is consequently deduced from the presence of objects, which furnished the matter to the ratiocination, from whence such conclusions do emerge. Now the Epirureans cannot aver that they attained the knowledge of the Deity by this means; since they maintain that nothing hath presented them with any shadow or footstep to raise their discourse to the Nature of God. For if the knowledge of him be deducible from the contemplation of sensible things, it must be in the way of mounting to knowledge of the cause by the mean of its effects: but according to the Epicureans, there is no such relation of affinity between God and the objects of our senses. How then? Would they assert a like correspondence between the understanding of man and this proposition, There is a God, to cause us acquiesce in it forth with without further ratiocination, as there is between the Eye and Corporeal Light, to acknowledge it assoon as it is seen? I conceive this is not their opinion, or at least it ought not. For Light carries its credential in its natural splendour, as all other sensible qualities of bodies have something in them to make themselves perceived, and which Characterises them; so that to know them there is no need of 〈◊〉 thing more than to apply them 〈◊〉 to the Organ of sense; Whereas this proposition of the existence of the Deity does not demonstrate itself, nor immediately prove its verity to the Understanding. Reason's must be fetched from elsewhere to demonstrate it, & other principles employed, which are naturally more known to us, and have greater proportion with our Faculties. Wherefore, he that receives not any of those proofs which are brought from with 〈◊〉 to support it, can be no more assured of it; then he that is not yet come forth of his Mother's Womb can be certain of the truth o● this Enunciation, There is light in the Sun, were he capable of understanding the words in which it is conceived.  
I know not but some of these Worthies may oppose, that we hold this verity from tradition of the Ancients, seeing they have left us very many others, of which we are not at all in doubt: For prudent persons have always ascribed much to the opinions of their Ancestors, especially if they were such as achieved any thing towards the establishment and conservation of Commonwealths, or made provision for containing men in the respect due to Religion. The reason of which is a persuasion that they were more illuminated than their Posterity, either because the world was not so invaded with corrupt manners in their time, or for that they were not yet much removed from the Beginning of things. But in case this should be urged by them, yet it will be perpetually necessary that those Ancients received this truth from without themselves, since they could not have it from themselves any more than we. Shall it therefore be likewise from tradition of their predecessors? If so, we shall run back to infinity; and whereas all other traditions have necessarily had some beginning, this will be found to be eternal. Now this is a thing which has not so much as the appearance of reason, especially in the mouths of them who are obliged to confess that the World itself had a beginning, being fabricated by the casual coalition of Atoms. For if the World began to be, there is no ascending by divers generations of men to eternity; but we must at length subsist in the first of all, who cannot have had this important truth from himself any more than we, but from the revelation of God, who must have discovered the same to him, to the end he might ascertain his Descendants thereof, and leave it to them in deposito to the end of the world. Now in what place was it that God made this revelation, if, as these people contend, there is not, nor ever was, either in man, the world, or any Oracle whatsoever, any trace or token of the existence of his Being and of his Divine Virtues? And if God had so much care at the beginning to reveal this Truth to the first of men, to the end they might not lead a life altogether semblable to that of Brutes; why do they deny his Providence, of which this is an effect supremely important? Again, If God was pleased his Providence should appear in this occasion, why should he instantly after arrest the actions of it; as if after having let scape either constrainedly or by inadvertency a beam of his Divinity he retired himself incontinently from before our eyes, and became enveloped in darkness eternally impenetrable? Lastly, what will be the certainty or incertainty of this tradition, I will use no other proof to show, than such as I shall draw from the confession of the Epicureans themselves. It is a tradition as ancient and as constant amongst men in general, That God takes care of the concernments of mankind, as is in the School of Epicurius the tradition That there is a God. Moreover, the world, and the occurrences that arrive in it every day, present the humane understanding with proofs incomparably more evident that there is a Providence which governs us, than this proposition, There is a God, furnishes us alone with assurances of its proper verity. For on what side soever it be regarded, wholly naked, as I have laid it open, it affords not any means to the mind to close with it for true, and settle itself upon it; whereas on all hands we meet with the materials of our reasonings upon which we ground the belief of a Providence. Nevertheless Epicurus and his Disciples have dared to reject flatly the conduct of Providence, without weighing either the tradition of their predecessors, or the evidences which support the same with such apparent firmness. What will hinder all the remainder of men from being as inclinable to deny the existence of God, if we have no other assurance of it then so wild and vagous' a tradition?  
Let us allow Epicurus a little more, and suppose the case that Nature alone hath imbued us with this truth from our birth, without any need of receiving the impression of it by the contemplation of objects we have before our eyes; Yet it is incomprehensible how certain Ideas of truths, purely intellectual, could be ingraved▪ & preserve their lineaments in the materials of which we are framed; besides that experience teaches all our fathers, that when they gave being to their children, it was at such time as they least of all thought of these Common Conceptions. But grant it possible; yet what is it which they understand by Nature? For if by that word they pretend to denote the concourse of those indivisible Particles, of which their fancy will have the the world composed; or rather that Order which is between causes purely natural and their effects (however other Philosophers describe it) seeing this kind of nature hath not itself any apprehension of these verities, how hath it communicated that to man which it hath not, and whereof it is incapable to receive the least lineaments or seeds? It must needs be therefore, that it was God who writ them in the Understanding of man, either in him that had them first, to transmit the same to his Descendants, which is absolutely unimaginable; or in every individual person, from the instant of their conception, which would be highly necessary. Now if God hath had so great care of mankind as not to suffer one single person to come into the world, in whose breast he hath not first imprinted this divine Conception, how irrational is it to esteem him negligent both of us and of that which concerns us? And seeing he hath taken this care of us at a time wherein we could not render him any honour; why should we not hope to obtain new benefits from his hand by our gratitude and by our prayers? I conclude therefore, that notwithstanding the pertinacious gainsaying of these people, and with whatever artifice they endeavour either to maintain or disguise their sentiments, they believe not at all the existence of a God; or if they do believe it, they have such persuasion from arguments which induce to the acknowledgement of his Especial Providence.   

CHAP. II. Wherein the Service of God consists; And what that is the Epicureans can render him according to their Principles.  
ALthough the precedent Discourse should not yield us this result, That the Epicureans being constant to their own Principles, cannot be assured of the existence of a Deity; and albeit we should have received this Common Notion from the faint impress of that which is called Nature in our Soul, without owing it to God: Yet this knowledge being so lose and incertain, it is impossible it should lead us in a due manner to render that honour and worship to God which our duty obliges us to; because it is natural to us to be but little solicitous of such things, of whose Being we are not indubitably assured, and especially if they be such as utterly inconcern us. We reverence our Kings out of regard to the eminence of their Dignity, but they govern and protect us, and the peace of the Commonwealth and safety of every particular person depends on the homage and obedience which is rendered to them. But how few are there, that in the whole course of their lives have so much as one reverential thought for Princes and Potentates, who are separated from them with only an arm of the Sea or a Mountain? and how much less do we  any thoughts of alliegiance and awfulness towards the Mogal, or Prester John, or the great Cham of the Tartars? Yet if there should be any one so sensibly respectful of Royal Dignity, as not to think of the Kings of Persia or China, but with some veneration; in such case nevertheless it is requisite that he be absolutely persuaded, that there are Kings in Persia and China, and give an entire belief to the relations that affirm it. But I imagine there is no man so unboundedly superstitious in this particular, as to bear honour in his breast towards those that rule in the Southern Continent, only upon inducement of having seen such a Part of Earth drawn in the foot of a Map, and that there is some likelihood they are inhabited. In like manner who can doubt that the worship which the Epicureans render to God is extremely cold and languid, and that they would not bear it patiently if the remembrance of him were exterminated out of the world? Nevertheless, being they seem desirous men should believe otherwise of them, let us undertake the inquiry, into the measure and rate of that honour they pretend to express towards him according to their Principles. For in regard Epicurus once writ a Tract concerning Piety towards the Gods (as Diogenes, Laertius and Cicero have recorded) he seems to have been willing it should be conceived that his intention was not to banish Religion from amongst mankind.  
To pass by at present the particular of outward Ceremonies, which occur in all Religions, whereof we shall treat hereafter; and to confine my self to that only which is most essential to, and as it were the soul of, Religion, I assert that all the service mortals are able to render to the supreme Being is reducible to these four principal Heads; First, Adoration of his excellent nature above all other Being's in the Universe; Next, Affiance in his goodness, with expectation of assistance from him in exigencies. Thirdly, The expressing of Thankfulness for benefits already received. And lastly, The embracing and practice of Virtue, in the conduct of life, out of regard and obedience to him. As to the trust and dependence upon his goodness, the most devout Nations have always with good Reason esteemed it a principal part of his honour and of his service. For if there be any thing that can challenge veneration in the World, it is the power to do good; if any thing love and commendation, it is the will to put that power in use. Wherefore, for that whatever is venerable and praiseworthy in the inclinations of men, must be in a degree infinitely more eminent in the Deity, as well because of the infinite perfection of his being, as in that he is the source from whence all other things derive the perfections they own; of necessity these two properties are to be found in him; One, that he takes pleasure to expand himself in acts of goodness towards his creatures, and particularly toward mankind, in whom his image is resplendent; The other, that his power to do Good is incapable of circumscription. Hence it was that the most Religious people, as I said above, have accounted that God became offended if men had less confidence in him then was suitable to the merit of that infinite power and eminent goodness; and in the Books we receive for sacred, such persons are expressly praised and commended, whose minds were reposed with greatest assurance upon his care, and which remained unshaken by the assault of great distresses and perplexities.  
Now as to performance of this sort of service towards God, it is absolutely renounced by the Epicureans, in as much as they recount it amongst the principal requisites of the Divine Beatitude, that as he is without all participation of our necessities, so he does not give himself the trouble of having any resentment or solicitousness concerning them. Whereby, under pretext of advancing the glory of his felicity, they blemish the splendour of his Goodness, in which consists the principal perfection of his Being. It is, most certainly, a happy condition to enjoy such an affluence of all sorts of good things, as not to stand in need of others, and to be sufficient to one's self. But it is also beyond denial incomparably more honourable to afford to another some participation of this happiness, especially when it is incapable of any diminution, saving by a perpetually reserved and solitary enjoyment, without communicating to any other person. They ought to have ascribed to so perfect a nature at least as much commendation of benignity as Ennius gives him that shows the way to deviating travellers, or bestows fire upon his neighbour, or lights his Candle. For so are his words recited by Cicero; 
Homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam,  
Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendit, facit,  
 nihilo minus ipsi lucea●t, cum illi accenderit.   
For the next particular, Prayer, they are so far from allowing it a part of the service of God, that on the contrary they look upon it as a thing rather meriting scorn or laughter, being either an evidence of poorness of spirit in the adverse accidents of fortune, or a token of abject slothfulness in such as refusing to take the pains for providing by industry and vigilance to their needs, recurre to God for support of their worthlesseness.  
Certainly if there be any good consolation to be had in the sufferance of calamities, it will as soon be found among those that follow a Religion, whatever it be, as among those by whom all sorts are universally rejected; and if examples of magnanimity are to be met with, they must not be sought for amongst such as place the supreme Good of mankind in corporeal Pleasure. This opinion is too soft and effeminate of itself, to inspire men with vigorous and masculine sentiments in the midst of adversities. This is not from the School that gave us Cato's and Regulus'; but a more likely Seminary of such as Aristippus and Heliogabalus. Whereas on the other side, the Doctrine that instructs men to address to the Deity in time of their afflictions, does not prescribe them to abandon the ship to the incertainty of the tempest, and to lay aside the practice of prudence, under colour that all is within the care of divine Providence. Not the Christians only, but likewise the Philosophers themselves have constantly believed, that the Providence of God and Prudence of man do very well consist together. But the Epicureans manifest that they are not at all indebted to themselves in point of good opinion, in that being no more than the dream of a shadow (as Pindar expresseth it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) they nevertheless esteem themselves sufficiently foresighted and intelligent to pourvey and take order for all their necessities, without the assistance of a sovereign power. Is it in them to prevent the Hail from frustrating the hopes of Harvest in the destruction of their Corn, or to hinder the Inundations of Rivers from ravaging their fields? Can they forecast against Pestilences and Mortality's, or secure themselves from the Gout and Stone? So far short is their ability in these particulars, that they know not how to warrant themselves from being strangled by the seed of a grape or a ●ly, if such a contingency should betid them. But this is not the only Virtue they vaunt of; for another part of their glory is in the invincible firmeness of their courage. What strength soever Virtue may have attained to amongst them, by serving as a handmaid to the pleasure of the Body, and pourveying all ways and means to foster the same, which it seems is the main employment they assign it; yet it can be hardly imagined, that an Epicurean should fall into the calamities of Priamus, or feel the pains of poor Philoctetes, without a sigh or exclamation. And that magnificent boast, that the Sage of Epicurus would cry out, even in the Bull of Phalaris, that he was at ease, was never accounted in the censure of the truly judicious but for a vain and extravagant Rodomontade. Religion, on the contrary, is purposed to show men their vanity, of which experience convinces them; it teaches them to depend absolutely on Heaven, and thereby frames them to humility, the Virtue best becoming mortality; affording them in the mean time a support in God incomparably more firm, and a refuge of greater assurance, than all they are ever able to fancy or invent of themselves.  
Of grateful acknowledgement for the benefits which we enjoy as Tenants from the divine Liberality, there is no mention at all among those who esteem themselves not obliged to it for the least hair of their heads. For whereas they affirm that the Universe was modelled in the excellent order we behold it, by the accidentary coagmentation of infinite little bodies; it must needs be consequent to their opinion, that the first men were framed by the tumultuous and turbulent concourse of those small particles, and that the Architecture of all our members, and the admirable vivacity of our Understandings, do also owe their Original unto the same. Verily, these men are much to be wondered at, whose gross belief determines the world and man, in the fabric of whom appears so great Art and Wisdom, to have been made by chance; notwithstanding they are convinced that of a million of letters huddled together and scattered upon the ground, they can never with a thousand experiments by the same chance compose the two first verses of the Aeneis. What reason therefore can they pretend to justify their perversity, in choosing rather to owe the wonderful Machine of their Eyes, and the Understanding which is the Eye of the Soul, to Fortune, which has none at all, then to God, whom themselves make profession to acknowledge for a wise and intelligent Nature.  
It remains then, to inquire, whether from the exercise of Virtue, which is practised amongst men, there may, according to the opinion of this Sect, any honour accrue to the Divine nature. We dispute not at present whether they can be virtuous, or not; although it be difficult to conceive they should hold Virtue in any esteem, who have none at all of Piety; and what charity they can have towards men, who are void of gratitude for the benefits they receive from God; and lastly, what discrimination they can make between Vice and Virtue, who believe not God ever distinguished them one from another by Laws, or that Justice and equity have any thing more to recommend them besides the authority of Legislators, and advantages of State. Our search only is, whether from the Virtue of the Epicureans, admitting them not destitute of all, there redounds any glory to the Divine Nature. If there do, it consists either in this that they devote themselves to render obedience to him; for it is glorious to great persons to have their inferiors obey them; or in regard it is he that produces whatsoever is good in them; as the commendation of the effect reflects upward to the cause; or because, in imitating him, they represent the image of his Virtue in their own; being we cannot praise a portrait for the excellency of its air and Beauty, without intimating as great applause of the fair countenance, it represents. Now in the first place, whereas God hath not manifested his will to men in this point, how can they obey it? For where there is neither law nor commandment, it is an easy truth there is no place either for transgression or obedience. And here it is fruitless to fly to the umbrage of those Proleptical Opinions, which are naturally imprinted in our spirits. For if Nature hath ingraved in the soul at their first conception, that God commands them to be Virtuous, how is this consistent with their denying that the Supreme Being is interessed in that which concerns us, seeing he hath taken order in the most important particular of our life, which is to give us rules for the conduct of the same agreeably to reason? And how could Nature, of herself destitute of all knowledge of Vice and Virtue, endue us with these Ideas and common Notices, without the instinct of the Deity? Moreover, how is it come to pass that Nature hath principled them to discriminate between Honest and Nesarious actions, without instructing them at the same time, that to these latter belongeth Vengeance, and to the other Recompense and Praise; and that there can be no other than God, from whose hands both the one and the other is to be expected. For true it is, the Difference between Vice and Virtue is not more naturally known, than it is naturally known that Virtue challengeth some Commendation, and that Vice ought to be attended with Blame for its retribution; Commendation and Blame, I say, which are but slight matters, and of small consideration, if they be hoped or feared only from the mouths of Men. Are the Censure or Estimate we make one of another of equivalency to what Nero and Sardanapalus have merited by their Villainies and Abominable turpitudes? How are they hurt now, in that their Memories are infamous and execrable? And the Applause which we give in these days to the Virtue of Regulus, is it a recompense proportionate to the miseries which he endured for love of his Country? But these Opinionists manifest that 'tis not in obedience to God that they live honestly and uprightly, if at least there be discernible any Tract of Honesty and Justice in their Lives.  
Nor do they more liberally ascribe to God the glory of their Virtue, as being the Author of the same; otherwise, they should of consequence acknowledge that they received some benefit from him, yea the greatest of all benefits, and without which all the rest together deserve not to be called such; a confession which they would not make even upon the Rack. So that it remains only, that the Image of God himself is relucent in their Virtue. But how will that hold good? Since according to the principles of this singular Discipline, the Nature of God, how luminous soever it be in itself, is so abstruse from mortals knowledge, that we cannot comprehend the least resemblance of the lineaments of Virtue with its Prototype. We may sooner come to understand what are the properties of the Loadstone, or the causes of the Reciprocation of the Sea, or the most unknown influences of the Stars: because it is possible at least to discover something of them in their effects, and the assiduous contemplation we spent upon them would perhaps clear up a little portion of the obscurities which enwrap them. But God being not revealed to us in any effect, on what rocks shall we climb up into the Heavens to behold him there, or with what instrument shall we sound his Abysses? Now there is no way to comprehend the resemblance which is between the Model and its Image, but by having either both before the eyes, or at least a lively Idea of both in the mind. Add hereunto, that whosoever should imitate the Deity according to the Maxims of these Teachers, should never do good to any man: he should never afford succour to the Miserable, because God does not suffer himself to be moved at their cries, and cannot admit his Beatitude to be disquieted by resentments of compassion in such cases: he should take no care of the Societies of men, since God leaves them at random: he should punish no malefactors, being God connives at their crimes and is not at all offended with their enormities; good men should never find relief and support from his hands, seeing God has no regard to the oppression that afflicts them; or if he behold the same 'tis with neglect and inflexibility: he should enjoy all his pleasures by himself, because God does not communicate his felicity to any other person. But in as much as God is eternally happy, and enjoys ineffable contentments, it is absolutely impossible they should resemble him. For who is he in the World that can boast himself to be happy? and in this brevity of our Life, who is there so foolish as not to despair of immortality. But in that wherein they can imitate him, if they undertake to do it, they render themselves the most unprofitable men of the Earth, and cannot so much as exempt themselves from the reproof of being vicious and wicked. The nearer they approach to that God whom they describe with such qualifications, the greater infamy will they draw upon their conversation; on the other side, the further they recede from him, the more recommendation will be due unto them. But I do not conceive, but such persons in whom is remaining any spark; I will not say of conscience and respect towards God, but of judgement and common sense, will account this Doctrine yet far more abominable than it is false, extravagant and inconsistent. Now all the Piety of the Epicureans amounts to this, that they adore the Deity out of respect to his Virtues, and the excellence of his Nature; which in what manner they can perform, is our next inquiry.   

CHAP. III. With what kind of Adoration the Epicureans, according to their Principles can venerate the Deity.  
WE do not gainsay to Epicurus, or those which follow his steps in our times, but that the Deity in respect of the excellency of his Nature is to be adored, although neither the punishment for wickedness, or the reward of Virtue lay in his hands: so far are we from pretending that, that by attributing to him perfections incomparably more excellent than they do, we represent him, in himself worthy of much greater veneration. Notwithstanding, we judge, that this consideration alone, if his care and government of humane affairs be renounced, is insufficient to induce men to render him such honour as is proportionable in any measure to what we owe him; for, as to the performance of such as correspendent to this natural excellence, 'tis a point too high for the utmost vigour of our Understanding to attain to, however exalted by culture and industry. There are three motives which use to be most prevalent with us, to conceive any esteem of things; namely, The profit we receive by them, The pleasure we find in them, and Their natural beauty. Now there is no person whom experience hath not taught, that this last consideration is the least powerful of all, and that there is rarely found any affected with it, where at least one of the other two, or both do not accompany it. Hence it comes to pass, that the number of those is small who devote themselves to the searches of things of no great use to humane Life; few that study those Sciences which lie in Contemplation in comparison of them which apply themselves to the Arts which afford some fruit or benefit; and even the greatest part of those speculative Inquirers make their Theories subservient to the exercise of the Sciences, wherewith they support themselves; as Natural Philosophy to Medicine, Geometry to Architecture and Peinture, Astrology to Agriculture and Navigation, and in like manner of the rest. The Metaphysicians themselves, do not willingly spend their pains in that Science, which is the chief and most eminent of all, and hath for its object the things which most deserve our knowledge, but to the end to teach the same, and that only for the further end of profit which accrues to them by it. Wherefore if it should once come to be imprinted in the sancies of men, that there is nothing to be expected from the Deity, all thoughts of him would soon be worn out of their minds; and there would not be found so much as the thousandth part of mankind, that would concern themselves with any greater care of him, than they do of the valour of Hector, or the exploits achieved by Hercules and Theseus. Concerning the second attractive, Pleasure which hath a very powerful influence over our affections, it is difficult to imagine that there is ever so little in the knowledge of God, such as Epicurus represents to us. For all the delectation which the knowledge of things affords, when there ariseth no other benefit from them, is in a manner derived from one of these two fountains; either in that they are worthy to be known because of their natural beauty, as the Heavens with their motions, and the constant courses and revolutions of the Planets; or for that we behold Truth most lively and clearly displayed in them, which in what subject soever it be found, is supremely agreeable to the Mind of man. As for example, One esteemed it so amiable in this proposition, That in a right angled Triangle, the side which subtends the right angle, makes a square equal to the squares made of the two sides containing the same, that in great ravishment, having been the first that found out the demonstration thereof, although he could hope no profit from it, it is recorded that he went home and sacrificed a whole Hecatomb. Now besides, that to be in a capacity of receiving Delectation from the knowledge of such things as these, it is requisite to be gifted with a quick, piercing, and comprehensive Wit, and that the number is not great, which Nature hath favourably framed hereunto, and of consequence only a few persons will be affected and drawn to the knowledge of Epicurus' Deity by that motive; the contentment even of them that employ themselves in the same cannot be considerable. For, as to the certainty, and assuredness of such knowledge, I would demand wherein it must consist; seeing according to their assertion, all that can be known of God is drawn from I know not what natural vagous' and indetermin'd notion, which hath not been of force enough to restrain all Nations from ascribing an innumerable variety of shapes to the Deity, this of one sort, and that of another, not seldom repugnant and contradictory. And whereon is the confidence of Epicurus grounded, when he boasts in particular of the clearness of his knowledge in this regard, whilst the God which he sometimes fancied to himself is rather a Chimaera, or the extravagance of a man in a Frenzy, than a conception suitable to a Philosopher or deducted from sober inference of reason. The Deity (saith he in Cicero) hath not a body, but as it were a body: nor blood; but something of near equivalence to blood. Notwithstanding, he teaches that this nature, consisting neither of body nor spirit, and consequently whereof it is impossible for him to frame any rational Idea in his imagination, is shaped after the resemblance of a humane body, because that is of all figures the most agreeable and commodious. But if all the Conceptions wherewith Epicurus and the other Philosophers have offered to represent the Deity be thus confused a●d incertain, it is incredible they should yield any solid▪ pleasure▪ and so the Adoration which will result from thence, cannot be but very sleight, flitting and defective.  
In effect, the first consideration which ought to be made of the nature of God, is to know whether he be finite or infinite in his essence; forasmuch as infinity of essence implies infinity of all properties and Virtues; and on the other side, if the essence be limited, it is necessary that all faculties or Virtues which are in God be reduced and proportioned to the measure of his extension. And this is absolutely important to be known, for the rendering unto God the honour which appertains to him. For if his essence be limited, & consequently, if the attributes which are in him worthy of adoration be likewise limited; although they should far surpass what ever can be venerable in our nature, yet it follows, there will be always a proportion between him and us. So that the Adoration of the Deity will be an honour but of the same species with that which we render to some Worthy Person, and there will be no difference between the one and the other saving of Greater and Lesser, that is, in regard of degrees only; suitably to what we observe in lights which proceed from luminous bodies, in which there is this difference, that some are more dusky, and others more glittering; which because they agree in this that they are emanations of principles of one and the same nature, such as the bodies are, we love them with the same sort of affection, and measure that affection by the degrees of clarity or obscurity we perceive in them. Did I say, there would be a proportion between God and us? There would undoubtedly; but we should scarce contain ourselves from believing the advantage to be on our part. For as we esteem the Light by the knowledge which we have of it, and the benefit which arrives to us by it; so that a man, to whom the Sun should be eternally absconded, would make more account of the Moon, or even of a candle that inlighten's him then of that: So they that love Virtue would have greater esteem for Socrates and Aristides, or some other grand personage, such as they were, upon the account of knowing them, and being able to advantage themselves in the imitation of them, by taking from them some prudent rule or custom for conduct of their Lives, than they would do of the God of Epicurus, who reserves himself invelop'd in obscure Clouds, and does not afford us so much as a glimpse of the least splendour of his Nature.  
On the contrary, If God be infinite in his essence, and, which necessarily follows, in all his Properties, he deserves an Honour, altogether of another kind from that which is competent to Men. For there being no proportion between a Being Finite and Infinite, there likewise can be none between whatever results from them. Certainly whosoever should value a man only so far as he is a Living Creature, without any regard to the Reason that infinitely differences him from Brutes, he would do him a greater affront and outrage than could admit of any reparation: and on the other side he that should esteem a beast almost at the same rate that we repute a man in as much as he is endued with reason, would attribute a worth to it, to which it is by no right entitled, and would brangle the rules of the Nature of things. Therefore he that shall ascribe honour to God after the same sort with that which is performed towards Men, unquestionably sins against him in case he be infinite, and abases him infinitely below the condition of his Being: whereas, contrarily, if he be of a nature finite and circumscribed with certain bounds, to adore him as an essence immense in himself and in his properties, would not be to adore the Deity but a phantasm of a man's own brain and a Chimaera. And in the imagination of the thing itself, besides the vitiosity attending the Adoration which is framed accordingly, there would be an error too gross and insupportable, whereby that which is finite should become transfigured into that which is not so, contrary to the Laws of nature herself, which knows not to allow any thing for Infinite, if God be not.  
Now forasmuch as the motions of the Body follow those of the soul, and represent the same; if there be, as is evident, a difference so great between those two sorts of adoration in reference to the inferior acts of the Understanding; of necessary consequence the Corporeal Gestures which proceed from the same, must be extremely different one from another. So that as the Adoration of an infinite thing is an ingulphing of the cogitation in ravishment and admiration of its object, conjoined with as profound humility as the soul of man is capable of, without limitation, restriction, or reserve; so the exterior comportments appendent to the same aught to be such as may most express the acknowledgement of ourselves to be nothing, and our deference of all honour and glory to that which we venerate. But since the honour which is rendered to a finite thing is exactly confined and determined by our mind, only to so much as it is judged worthy of the same, that is, according to the measure of its Virtues: humility also bounding itself where it deems the extent of those Virtues to be so; it must needs be that the Gestures of the Body likewise in representing our submission, will represent that we do not offer it without some limitation, and that we esteem not the thing beyond the value of its being. Hence it is evident that in so great an incertainty of the Nature of God, which we see according to the Doctrine of the Epicureans, a man cannot boast to know assuredly, it will be consequent that his Disciples be brought to render him such honour as is no more competent to him, then that which one should assign to a beast in respect to the excellence of its Understanding, and so mock him with impertinent service: Or rather, in stead of adoring him as God, we shall honour him as a man; like as if one should make the same account of a Grand Personage, and a Handsome Horse: which would be no Worship rendered to God, but an outrage done to him and a Sacrilege. Or lastly, in case a man should happen to be in the right, it would only be by hazard; And with what zeal can that service be accompanied, or how can it be acceptable to God, which is rendered inconsiderately and at a venture?  
The second consideration requisite to be prepended concerning the Nature of God, is, whether he be corporeal, or not; of which they can in no wise be assured, if they will hold themselves to their Principles. For if there be nothing in the world that declares him clearly to them, how come they to have so raised and sublime a spirit, as to be able to divine of what his substance is composed? But, because heretofore their predecessors in disputing this Point against the other Philosophers, found themselves wonderfully implicated, what side soever they took, they answered in a kind of illusion of the World, that it was not a corporeal, but in a manner a corporeal essence. And although they assever that to enjoy the Pleasures in which the Felicity of the Deity consists, it is necessary the same should be instructed with some kind of Organs correspondent to the senses of our Bodies; from whence it seems to result that they hold it to be really corporeal; yet when they are pressed to speak affirmatively, they have not the presumption to determine it so, but recur to those illusions of words, which place it between Bodies and Spirits, as it were in an Imaginary Predicament. Now this is of greater consequence, than they deem it to be. For if God be a substance that partakes nothing of the nature of Bodies, to possess our imaginations with an Idea of him of corporeal shape, how excellent soever it be, is, in stead of honouring him, to defame his glorious Majesty; in as much as a Nature absolutely simple and spiritual, far surpassing in dignity the condition of Bodies, whoever conceives the same under the Idea of a body, debases it many degrees beneath the worth of its being. Wherefore, if besides the image they so frame of it in their thought, they proceed further to represent the same in Marble or Copper by artifice of the hand, what is this less than doing the same wrong, which should be done to an Excellent Understanding in saying it resembled a Gourd. And if he be corporeal, and they do not conceive him so, they will fall into the same inconvenience I mentioned above, of worshipping, not the truth of the thing to which they pretend to render honour, but the dreams of their own fancy.  
To what I have already evinced I shall further adjoin, that it is natural to men, when they think upon any thing, to transmit their Minds to the place in which they imagine such thing to be; which is the reason, why, although we never were among the Moors and Toupinemboults, yet we cannot restrain our selus, when we sometimes call them to remembrance, from sending our thoughts to the places of the Geographical Charts, in which the Regions of their habitations are designed. And if a Peasant happily hear mention of those remote people, he presently fancies before his Fies the Sea that lies nearest his habitation, because he has understood it is necessary to pass over that to arrive at the place of the world where those Savages abide. It is, indeed, nothing at all Incongruous or strange, that Nature should have given us such inclinations, because they serve in some measure to recreate and arrest ou●●inds, whose thoughts being otherwise roving and without guidance would be lost and vanish of themselves; as the irradiations of our eyes are dissipated in the wide Acr, when there is nothing before us to arrest our view. And notwithstanding we are conscious it is thus in all occasions, yet it is more particularly remarkable when ever we find ourselves agitated with some vehement passion of Love and Desire, Fear or Hope. Now if the Epicureans represent to themselves a Deity of a finite Nature, whether Corporeal or Incorporeal it matters not; I would demand of them to what side of him is it that their thoughts guide them? Have they credible intelligence where God is? in the Heaven, or in the Air? in the Sea, or in the Centre of the Earth? For as for other men, they indeed are persuaded that he is in the Heavens, because they believe he hath there displayed at the beginning, and doth likewise still display more Effects of his eternal Power, and inexpressible Goodness. But the Epicureans are persons that acknowledge no tract or appearance of these Attributes, imagining that admirable and glorious Machine of the Celestial Fabric to have been composed of so many Spheres in the fair order we behold, only by the accidental meeting of Atoms. But if the Splendour of that Radiant Arch seems to them a more suitable residence for the Deity, than habitation on the earth or in the recesses of the other Elements, who hath informed them in which Hemisphere he is, whether in ours, or in that of the Antipodes. Then if by that chance, to which they ascribe all things, they should hit so luckily, or determine their sancies to think him on the side of our Hemisphere, will not the Epicureans that are on the other side of the world be very much mistaken, if they should likewise have this imagination on their part that God resides in that moiety of Heaven which covers them, and which they behold? Add hereunto that neither the one nor the other can have assurance that God sees them, or that he understands their hearts, and esteems their motions and thoughts acceptable unto himself. Now is it possible that a man that doubts whether God hears and sees him, should have any rational devotion towards him? In what fashion can that person serve God in the secret of his Thought, that is not assured whether God hath Eyes piercing enough to know the inclinations of his Heart? If they conceive God to be of an infinite nature, as in truth he is, so that he is present to all things, even to their most secret and profound meditation, (which without question they never learned from the discipline of their Master) there will surely remain no trouble to them to what part they should direct the thoughts of their minds; besides that I understand not how it is more unworthy of the Majesty of God, or more interruptive of his eternal quiet, to govern all things in the Universe, then to know them so nearly, and penetrate into them with his essence. As the infinite comprehension of his Wisdom gives him the understanding of all things exempt from solicitude and perplexity; and as the inviolable purity of his essence renders him their presence, and (if I may so say) their contact exempt from the contagion of their immundicity; so the infiniteness of his power frees the government and administration of them from being troublesome, and the invariable firmitude of his being secures him from receiving any alteration in his Eternal Felicity.   

CHAP. IU. A more particular consideration of the Honour which the Epicureans pretend to render to God in respect of his Power, Goodness, Justice, and Wisdom.  
BUt after these General reasons, let us proceed to Survey those which may be drawn from a more particular consideration of the Properties of the Divine Essence, and in the first place inquire what Honour the Epicurean Doctrine ascribes to him in reference to his Power. They who acknowledge God to have created All things of Nothing (a position indeed which we own to Revelation from Heaven, yet such as the right renson of Man subscribes to) have a very powerful inducement to become absolutely ravished, and swallowed up in admiration of his Omnipotence. For whereas there is a chasm of infinite extent between Entity and Nonentity, of necessity the Power that has produced some thing from Nothing to Being, must be likewise infinite. Wherefore in case they had no more before their Eyes but this one Proof that God hath given concerning what He is, they ought to be so far convinced as to separate him from Parity with all other things, and render him an honour of Adoration wholly different from that which they exhibit to Creatures. For seeing the power wherewith they are capable to be endued bears no proportion to that of the Creator, they cannot be entitled to the same sort of Honour with him, not so much as in the lowest degree; if it were possible to admit degrees in the honour due to an Infinite Being. They which conceive the Matter of sensible things to be eternal, but that God composed the World of the same, as a Potter frames his vessel of his Clay (which seems to have been the opinion of Plato) do not consider the Divine Power in so eminent a degree; albeit they do indeed attribute an effect to it, which to serious perpension seems only atchievable by an infinite cause. For any power below infinite could never have been capable to bestow so excellent a Form upon a Chaos devoid of all, nor to impart the like to all other things which the World contains, by distributing forms to them, so different as they are, according to the divers rank that each holds in the Universe, and the various functions to which they are designed. So that likewise those of this judgement have ample argument and occasion to proclaim the wonders of it. As for them, who assert the world, such at it presents itself to our eyes, had never any Beginning, but that it proceeded from God by emanation, as Light does from the Sun, and by a necessary and natural production, they do in truth very much detract from the glory of this Virtue, notwithstanding they always imply an acknowledgement that the Universe owes its Original unto him, although that great Effect were not produced by that Cause by the disposure of free Volition, but by the necessity of an inevitable dependence. Yet this Order also, were there nothing else but the Circumgyration of the Celestial Orbs, of which they repute God the first cause, hath cause to admire the force that is requisite thereunto. For whether God move the Heavens immediately and by himself, without the intervening assistance of any other thing (as one applies his hand to a wheel to turn it) notwithstanding any aptitude they may have to circular motion by reason of their natural figure, yet there needs a mighty strength to stir all that great Machine, and to govern so many different revolutions, to preserve them in harmony, and to hinder them from clashing or interferring for ever. Or whether he moves the same by the Mediation of Intelligences, according to the conceit of Aristotle who was father to this Opinion of the World's Eternity; nevertheless God will always be the first Efficient of their motion; and if the Intelligences, which are far inferior to him, can do that, He is without doubt able to do much more. Moreover we know that Philosopher speaks very advantageously of the dignity of the First Mover, & attributes to him the glory of being the primary Principle of all things. But in reference to the Epicureans, they want our charity to make up so much as a probability that they believe the Supreme Being is endued with any power at all. For what evidence have they for such a persuasion from his effects, if He hath not created the least Mushroom, nor given impulsion to so much as one of those small Bodies, by whose concurrence they hold the World had its contexture. Certainly, if they measure this power by the knowledge they have of it, and their knowledge by the effects they behold of it (and it is clear they cannot know it otherwise) it must needs be extremely inconsiderable, or rather none at all, in case they keep themselves to their Maxims.  
But peradventure some among them will answer, that being there is a God, it is necessary he should possess all Perfection required to the constitution of so excellent a nature, and that among those perfections there ought to be a power also proportionate to the excellence of that nature. We will not scruple to concede this to them, although we shall afterwards show where they learned to reason in this manner: for the discipline of their ancient Master is of a different strain. However, all this will not secure them from falling foul upon the difficulties , of determining the extent of estimation which ought to be had of this Attribute: because it will follow that there is some measure between It and the Essence of God. Now it remains absolutely unknown to us whether the essence of God be infinite or not, whence consequently the measure of Veneration which we owe him in regard of that Perfection is to us equally unknown. Besides, whereas the Faculties of all things are destinated to certain functions, it will be difficult to be resolved what portion of power is necessary to render the Divine nature accomplished, since it cannot be understood that God either hath, or ever will employ the same to the production of any effect. And though it were frankly granted them that right Reason informs us, either that there is no Deity, or that it owns a power without circumscription; Yet I dare maintain, Men would make but small account of that Perfection, which they knew no otherwise then by a simple ratiocination without having any actual testimony or proof of the same. Who is he amongst us that cares never so little for the Great Mogul, of whom it is related, that he keeps thirty thousand Elephants? or for any other mighty Potentate like him in those Oriental Countries, because perhaps he is able to bring two or three hundred thousand armed men into the field when he pleases? Does not every one more value the authority of the meanest Gentleman in the Country where he lives, if he be Lord of his village; because he sees it and feels it; and for that in case he offend him, it serves to punish him; and if he obey it, he finds support by it? These people assuredly have strange Imaginations, and are made of principles wonderfully discordant. Observe, I beseech you, the discourses of Epicurus, when he is treating the question of the Supreme Good; They are universally drawn from the sentiments of the Body, and from Pleasure, to which our appetites naturally incline us. He affirms that Nature does not only aspire but pine and groan after her Ease; such is the violence of her inclination towards it: He prescribes his Sage to refer all to his own utility, and the contentment of his Senses; as if he consisted only of Body, and were born for none but himself. Doth he speak of the Deity, and of the Honour which ought to be rendered to him? He abstracts the thoughts of men so far from their proper Good; he allows himself so little to be touched with the natural affection we bear towards ourselves; he alembics his wits in such manner in the speculation of things purely intellectual & fantastical, without having any regard to his particular profit, and his own satisfaction, that you would judge he were all Spirit, and had forgotten the care of himself and his Nature. But to Character him completely in one word; he perfectly resembles that God whom he describes so negligent of humane affairs, and such a lover of his own felicity. For as according to his dictates, God contents himself with the solitary enjoyment of his eternal repose in delectation, and profound vacancy from action, without concerning himself with any care either of us, or of our interests; so Epicurus gives himself not other trouble then to seek out means how to pass his days in delights, without anxious perplexing himself concerning God or things pertaining to him, and so allows himself the same kindness. Yet there is this difference; that Epicurus does not believe that he offends God in proclaiming openly that he takes no cognisance of things here below; but dare not plainly aver that he is unconcerned with the care of those in Heaven. And nevertheless it really turns as much to the reproach of the Deity, to leave all to go at random, as it is horrible to make open profession of Impiety towards him. But let us now proceed to the other Divine Proprieties.  
Although the greatest part of Mankind hath always been lead to serve God by Fear of Vengeance, which he inflicts on the contemners of his Majesty; yet there was never any Nation but did acknowledge some remarkable Appearances of his Goodness in the Government of the Universe. The whole world hath ever placed amongst his most resplendent Perfections this propensity which he hath naturally to do good, to secure the Distressed, to relieve the Oppressed, to defend such as are injuriously outraged, and even where no necessity impells or otherwise obliges him, to expand himself in Liberality, the Quality peculiar to benign and generous Natures. Hence have those glorious Titles been attributed to him by men upon this consideration, as particularly by Homer, who ordinarily styles his Jupiter, The Father of the Gods and Men; not only in as much as he is the Author of their Being (as another Poet expressly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.) but also for the care that he hath of them, and the paternal affections he beareth towards them. In effect, the lustre of his Majesty dazzles them when they list up their eyes towards the Heavens, to contemplate there the umbrage or reverse part of him that appears in their splendour. His Power astonishes them, when they feel the Earth tremble under their feet, or hear the tumultuous murmurs of Thunder in the clouds. The admiration of his Wisdom confounds them, when they come to consider that he beholds all things with one glance of his eyes, and one simple indivisible apprehension, the Heavens, the Elements, the Bodies that are composed of them, the innumerable variety of their faculties and operations, the cogitations of our minds, and of all Intellectual Being's, all things which are only in possibility, the Ideas of which are multipliable to infinity, their accordances and relations, their opposttions and Antipathies. His Justice strikes them with dread, when they Survey the strokes and examples of it in mankind by Pestilences and Wars, by Famines and Tempests, by overflows of Rivers and Inundations of the Sea, by lightnings discharged from Heaven, and other like demonstrations of his Vengeance. In a word, all his other Virtues excite either Fear or Wonder in the Spirits of men; but the reflection upon his Goodness, and the experience they have of it, is that which rejoices them, and makes their Lives sweet and desirable. As for Christians, they not only admire and venerate the other Attributes of God, more than ever any other people did, but likewise set a higher estimate on this then other Nations ever have done, and make it the prime basis on which their whole profession is supported. On the other side the Epicureans, if they have any knowledge of it, it can be only in an imaginary speculation, in the same manner as we above convinced their conjectures concerning the Power of the Deity to be; and if it fall out that they at any time praise and magnify it, it cannot be otherwise inferred but that their Devotion must be very cold and languid. For they will not allow any acknowledgements to God for giving them a body, or for that he hath gratified them with sense and corporeal appetites, in the satiating of which they place their Supreme Good; since according to their doctrine, they are not the work of his Hands, either in their Matter or Form, of which the one owes its being to the eternal seed of Atoms, the other to the contingency of the coalition that so fabricated them. Nor will they more extol the same Goodness for that soul that animates them; being they look not upon it as a present of his Liberality; they received it (they conceive) from their Fathers, as Colts do theirs from the Stallions that engender them.  
Then for the particular of Conservation of Life, which consists in the supply of Aliment, and Deliverance from such an innumerable variety of Accidents, which the tender Providence of God averts from our heads, they arrogate it partly to their own Circumspection, and partly impute it to Chance, deriding those that either return thanks, or make complaints to Heaven about it. In so much, that if we subscribe to them, we own all the obligation of our Being and of our Happiness to ourselves and to Fortune; and in the Miseries, wherewith this Life is plentifully encumbered, all the consolation left us is to vent our reproaches and exclamations against Her. Questionless, we shall be amply revenged when we have reviled her with the appellations of Turbulent and Furious, Blind and Inconsiderate, unreasonable & extravagant in all her actions. For as for that invincible Magnanimity, which causes the Epicureans to triumph gloriously in the most deplorable calamities and exquisite pains, 'tis a commendation to which they alone can attain, who are not only initiated in the mysteries of the Wisdom of Epicurus, but have been admitted to contemplate the most venerable of his Secrets, and have there beheld Pleasure in so high a degree of grandeur and generosity, that Virtue herself does homage to her, and reputes it honour to be received in the quality of her servant.  
Concerning Justice, to whom it pertains to inflict punishment for offences perpetrated against the laws of Nature and Reason, the Doctrine we meet with in this School is so far from ascribing due Veneration to God in respect of the same, that their main design hath been to eradicate and extinguish out of the minds of Men such scruples as they are possessed with concerning it, and to implant in their room most impious impressions reflecting to his dishonour. I am not so severe as to account them of so horrid profaneness as to deny that God detests Vice and Love's Virtue; and that being an excellent Intelligence and a perfect Nature, he cannot be destitute of the knowledge of the former's demerit, and the latter's worth, by reason and proportion whereof the love and aversion which he beareth to the one and the other of these objects is enhanced. Now if God be powerful, which they dare not deny, and if he hath an abhorrence and hatred of Vice, as is necessarily requisite to the sanctity of his Nature, what is it should hinder him from exercising Vengeance against it? Is it because mankind is not under his Jurisdiction, and so he hath nothing to do to superintend over their Lives? That very same eminent worthiness of his Nature, which obliges men to adore it, gives him a right over them, if he please to use it, at least as much as they take one over another. And indeed the eminence of the Nature of a Thing, and its perfection above the condition of other Being's, is one of the grounds of the authority that it challengeth over them. For this cause the Philosophers teach that according to the Laws of Nature such persons as are endued in a degree extraordinarily eminent both with Intellectual and Moral Virtues, and particularly with Prudence and Fortitude, which are the Qualities necessary for Government, aught to be the Princes of the World. Now Authority is a Right to rule as Superior, by administering the rewards of Virtue and penalties of Vice. So that if God be of a Nature so transcendently accomplished, that in regard thereunto men owe him honour and veneration, Obligation to honour and veneration being an indubitable testimony of the eminence of that which is honoured, it is also a firm argument of his Right and of his Authority. And truly, if men be exempted from subjection to the Deity, it will be no impiety to affirm that they are Gods themselves. For it is one of the Conditions peculiar to the Deity alone, to be independent of any other thing, and to be sovereign to itself, that is, to acknowledge none. Wherefore if God does not punish the crimes of Men, it must be because he will not. But not to will that a fact be punished which deserves it, especially in a person that is in authority and power to do it, is in some sort to consent unto it, or surely at least to connive at it; which is unworthy & incongruous to a nature perfectly eminent in Virtues, and almost itself deserving correction and vengeance. Moreover, what justice can there be in this, that all men serve God, some more, others less, and the Epicureans themselves confess that all universally aught to do it; and nevertheless he takes no consideration or cognisance of it, but loves those that blaspheme him as much as those that magnify and praise him, and ordinarily suffers the Good to be oppressed by the Wicked, and equally shuts his ear to the suits and cries of the one, and the blasphemies of the other? and this for the only respect of not troubling the serenity of his quiet, and that profound peace in which he continues after so many Ages? I am not ignorant that it is one of the ancient complaints of men, and one of the objections of Epicurus against Divine Providence, that the Good are here below insulted over by the Wicked, and that it is not at all seen how Heaven provides against such Inconvenience. But the other Philosophers have endeavoured to refute it, and some of them have even gone so far as to ass●rt that if God does not punish the Wicked in this World, he will assuredly do it in the other. Nor could any thing of fairer reason be expressed by the mouth of a Pagan or that more nearly approacheth to the sound judgements of Christians concerning this truth then that which Plutarch (Lib. de Sora Numinis vindicta.) hath delivered upon this subject. But the True Religion is that which alone discovers these Mysteries to the bottom, and represents them to our contemplation wholly naked, with unspeakable satisfaction to those which consider them. Only Epicurus cannot exempt God from this blame which is unworthy of his Goodness and Justice, if he hath any, of suffering, that which he hath power to redress, the Wicked here to devour and tyrannize over the Good, and the virtuous and religious to become in recompense of their piety, most frequently miserable. He might have ascribed to him at least as much care of Mankind in this particular, as every Magistrate hath of his Commonwealth, and every inferior Judge of his Precinct or Village. But under pretext that there happen divers things, whose causes and ends they are not able to comprehend; and that many crimes are committed, whose punishment is not inflicted before their eyes; and that sundry upright men are in miseries, whose deliverance they behold not when they esteem it timely to appear, they infer that therefore God sees nothing of all this, or that he regards it not. As if a King had abandoned the government of his State, because such a one is not taken out of prison so soon as in their opinion he ought, or that another escapes the Whip in the place where he deserved it, who perhaps two days after is broken on the Wheel for another crime in the neighbouring Province. So likewise it may be reasonably said that in these cases they imitate the rash and precipitous judgement of an ignorant and impatient spectator, that does not expect till the last act of the Tragedy.  
It may be further inquired whether the Epicureans do not yet in a greater measure blemish and obscure the Wisdom of God than they do his other Perfections. For when they deny that there is a Providence in God, seeing Providence is nothing but a foresighted and rational conduct of things to their end, and of every particular thing to the purpose consentaneous to it, it seems they consequently deny that there is a Wisdom in God. For it is the part of Wisdom to propose to itself such a convenient end in the administration of things, as it is of Providence to conduct them to that which they are designed: whence as Providence cannot be without wisdom, so is it likewise scarcely imaginable that Wisdom can consist without Providence. Unless perhaps they here turn about to their abstracted speculations, and attribute to God that Intellectual Virtue of which Aristotle speaks, and composes of Knowledge and Understanding joined together, and makes to consist in the perfect cognition of all things and their principles. But yet, I know not how according to the doctrine of Epicurus, this sort of Wisdom can find place in God. For considering that there is an infinite number of things which depend on the Will of Man, and that the inclinations of his will depend on the reasons and objects which persuade and move him; how shall God see those things, if himself hath nought to do to look into the Understanding of man to affect him with those reasons, if he has no regard to the objects presented to us to move us, if he does not manage them to such effect as to persuade and attract, if he neither incite nor restrain, neither bend nor correct the motions of the Will? If they say, that he beholds events, and by the events may divine of the causes from which they proceeded, we reply that that is no more than the atchieument of conjecture and humane divination, not of the Wisdom of a God who ought to behold effects in the womb of their causes, and not the causes in the aspect of the effects. In brief, according to them, God may perhaps know the things which exist, but he cannot know the things which are to come any more than We, and the next morning is to him in as much darkness as it is to us, who are naturally very ignorant Creatures. Lastly, to speak openly, he is a very wretched God, if he be not as wise as the Sage of the Philosophers, whose wisdom consists in governing himself reasonably, and the things which are in his disposure according to the same rule. I am not ignorant that Epicurius prohibits his Sage to intermeddle in the government of the World, and the administration of the Commonwealth; An Opinion so strange and pernicious to Humane Society, that verily in this appears a signal effect of the Providence of God, that he hath not permitted all other men to become as absolute fools as his pretended Sage. For what would the World be, in case wise men should forbear to meddle in it, but a most horrid and tumultuous confusion, without Laws, order, and Society, and no better than a crew of cutthroats and robbers. Plato without question had more Reason, when he wished that either those who seriously employ themselves in the study of Philosophy were Governors of States, or they which govern States would seriously employ themselves in the Study of Philosophy; and affirmed that in such times Empires would be happy. But (to proceed) I will admit the Sage to leave the Commonwealth to go at random; yet certainly he will take care of his Wife and Children, unless Epicurus represents us a Sage worse and more unnatural than Beasts. Shall not God therefore take care but only to provide himself new pleasures perpetually, and employ all his wisdom to effect that they never fail and be spent, unmindful of those in the mean time that aught in some sort to be to him in the quality of children, if not for being made by him, at least for the affection they have to imitate his Virtues, and become conformable unto him. To conclude, what kind of admiration can any one have of such Divine Wisdom? What other characters can be given of God then that he is a person wonderfully dextrous and industrious to invent means to produce his own contentment, and render his felicity abundant and permanent; that employs all the powers of his understanding, and directs all the sufficiencies of his Wisdom to that end: but for any thing else, he knows none of the transactions here below, or if he do, only slights and derides them? Are not these very fitting reasons to inducement to venerate the Deity in regard of his Wisdom? Is it not very suitable to Epicurus to have been the inventor of such noble Philosophy, to insult arrogantly over them that ascribe glory to God for having framed the World in the fair order wherein we behold it, and poised the Earth in the middle, extended the Sea about it, and given air for respiration to animals, for having modelled all the Spheres of Heaven, and infused into the Stars the Virtues of their influences, for presiding every day over the mixture of the Elements in the composition of bodies, and uniting Nations one to another by commerce; for maintaining States amidst the contrariety of so many different humours, and conducting the Universe like an Artificial Machine according to the genius of each of the parts that compose the same? Certainly it is very easy to judge which of these two Opinions best deserves that exclamation of Lucretius (Lib. 1.)  
— Deus ille fuit, Deus, inclute Memmi,  
Qui princeps vitae rationem invenit eam quae  
Nunc appellatur Sapientia; quique per artem  
Fluctibus e tantis vitam, tantisque tenebtis,  
In tam tranquillo, & tam clara luce locavit.   

CHAP. V The Continuation of the Arguments evincing that the Epicureans cannot adore the Deity in a due manner; with the solution of some Objections.  
SInce the Epicureans cannot render any suitable honour to the Deity, either in consideration of his Power and Goodness, or of his Justice and Wisdom, which they wholly exclude out of the World and our knowledge; it remains that they worship him only, either because he is Happy, or because he is Eternal, or because we behold him not, or merely because he exists, without having the least regard to the Perfections of his Nature. And it seems the Poet Lucretius refers all his excellence to these two points, that he is supremely Happy, and is of an Immortal Nature. For to this purpose he speaketh in these following verses (Lib. 1.) 
Omnis enim per se Divum natura necesse est  
Immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur,  
Semota ab nostris rebus, sejunctaque long:  
Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis,  
Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nihil indiga nostri,  
Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira.  But concerning that profound Quiet, and immortal felicity, it is difficult to comprehend of what nature it is. For to make up a Happiness, t is requisite not only to be exempt from the Evils of which we complain, otherwise Trunks of Trees and Rocks would be capable of the greatest; there must also be an enjoyment of such contentments as are consentaneous to nature. What therefore shall we apprehend those of the Deity to be? Are they such as consist in corporeal pleasures? Certainly to fancy to ourselves a God eternally rejoicing himself with drinking delicious Wines, and eating exquisite Viands, and sleeping as often as he becomes weary with doing so, must needs make us conclude him more brutish than Brutes themselves. What appearance is there that the supreme happiness of the Deity should consist in such things, in which a good man would account it shame to take any? If the disciples of this Divine Philosopher speak as they are taught, wherein are the conceptions wherewith he describes the beatitude of his God superior to the extravagancies of the ancient Poets, who seem expressly to have written of the Deities which they celebrated out of design to asperse them with infamy. If God place his contentments in the contemplation and admiration of his own Virtues, being he knows none in himself, or if he does, they must be such as are very small & inconsiderable, that beatitude consequently cannot be in any great degree, nor consequently the honour which the Epicureans perform towards him in regard of the same. In effect, if there be no more Virtues in God nor fairer perfections than those which their Maxims assign to him, so improbable is it that men should become ravished with admiration of his beatitude, that without doubt he cannot but turn away his eyes from beholding them, out of shame and regret to find them so defective; Like those persons that are imbued with some seeds of Virtue, who reflecting to consider a little attentively their defects, become displeased and blush at the same. Besides all this, admitting God to be indeed most happy; yet if so be we partake nothing at all of his felicity, it will rather be an incitement of our envy and hatred against him, then of our love and reverence. First, of envy; for who is there that does not resent some kind of maligning passion when he considers the happiness of another, and finds himself extremely miserable? Then like, wise of hatred; for what can he be accounted but a great Miser and holdfast, and unworthy the love of any one whatsoever, that is able to make others very happy without making himself less, and notwithstanding does it not; who refuses to direct wanderers into their way, and will not permit his neighbour to draw water out of his fountain? And although there were amongst men so much moderation of spirit, that the supreme felicity of God should not induce them either to envy or hatred against him, yet is it credible there should be so much piety in them as to be drawn to adore him because of it? If he be rich (we say proverbially of one from whom we expect no good) let him dine twice; and in such cases we do not apprehend we commit any offence, when we proceed so far as to contemn the person and his wealth.  
Now in truth, inasmuch as the God of Epicurus is immortal, and never suffers alteration in his nature, he far surpasses our condition: Nevertheless the Duration of things, if they have no qualities to recommend them besides, is below being the true object of honour and veneration. The World and the Elements have been esteemed eternal by many among the Philosophers, yet none ever adored them: and they which account the Matter of which all things consist, to exist from all eternity, do not yield us one example of any person into whose thought it ever came to prostrate himself and render Religious veneration to it. And yet there is no question but he hath greater obligation to the World then to the Deity of Epicurus; as being indebted to it for his body, which was framed out of it; Whereas Epicurus' God hath contributed nothing either to the constitution or subsistence of his being. Ought we therefore to adore him because we see him not? I beseech the Readers indulgence to me to bestow a few words in laying open to these people the vanity and impertinence of their imaginations. Certainly, if we do not at all behold him, it is either because he is of a nature spiritual and imperceptible by the senses of our bodies, or because though he hath a body, he withdraws it from our eyes, and hides himself far from our presence. Now whereas some Philosophical Sages have believed God to be of a nature not mingled with a body, they were induced to that persuasion by observing such admirable effects of his Wisdom and Power that they positively concluded a corporeal Being could not be a capable subject of so many transcendent Proprieties. And indeed being they judged by the productions of their Understanding, that it was necessary for the soul, in which the same is seated, to be of a nature infinitely elevated above that of the body, it was but reasonable they should have no less good opinion of the Deity, whose productions are infinitely more worthy admiration than those of the humane Intellect. But Epicurus not owning such Perfection and Virtues in God by their effects, he also cannot reason in the same sort. And if he could, though immaterial things have a great advantage above those which are corporeal here below, yet it principally consists in this that they are thereby exempted from corruption and mortality. Now besides that there are certain bodies accounted not less incorruptible than spirits, as the Heavens, and which might therefore deserve as much veneration as the Deity, we have already shown that the perpetual duration of things, without other qualities to recommend them, does not render them subjects requiring our adoration. On the contrary, if God hath a body, and never discover the same to our eyes, we should make but small account of it, although it were more luminous than the Sun. For whereas several Nations have adored the Sun, it hath been only in consideration of his light so radiant, quickening, beneficial and necessary to the World, and which makes itself known to us in so many manners, which he distributes into all the parts of the World, and is therefore named the Eye and Heart of the Universe. Had he never ascended above our Horizon, no Nation had ever made an Idol of him in our Hemisphere, for all the descriptions that could have been made of him. To conclude in a word, so far would men be from being drawn to the service of the Deity, because they do not see him, that there is even a natural propensity in our minds to contemn that which we do not see, and rather to form Gods of Wood and Stone to ourselves, then to have such as fall not under our sense: A vicious inclination indeed, and condemned by the Wise among the Pagans; but we are under the influence of an Institution that is powerful enough to correct this defect, and root this vitiosity out of our nature; Which the Epicurean can never attain to. For that which hath caused great and discerning persons, to penetrate so far into the knowledge of God, that they have been as it were enforced thereby to conclude that he ought to be honoured with the exactest purity of the Understanding (without framing any material Idea of him in the fancy, much less to carve him in gold or represent him in silver) has been only, as I said above, the contemplation of the mighty effects of his Virtues, of which Epicurus hath no apprehension. Moreover concerning his mere existence, forasmuch as that is common to him with all other things, good and bad, honourable and contemptible, high and low, corruptible and secure from mutation, reasonable & unreasonable, endued and destitute of sense, the Heavens (I say) the Elements, Brutes, Infects, and Plants, he can challenge no degree of eminence above us in that respect, nor by consequence can we own an obligation from thence, to render him our submissions and reverence. As for the expression of Plato, that the Being of God is the only true Being, and that ours is no other than a shadow of that, infinitely inferior to it in dignity, he did not consider it simply as a Being, but as an eternal Being, that wastes not away with duration, nor is obnoxious to any kind of change, that includes in its eternity all the several successions and revolutions of times, and all whose Proprieties and Virtues are as invariable as its essence. But this is not the subject of our present consideration, no more than it is the meaning of Epicurus. Hereafter, I shall no longer doubt that the piety of the Epicureans is worn only on the outside, and lies wholly in shows and countenances.  
Of which we can scarce have a more pregnant or evident argument than experience. In the Christian Religion all the inducements are found, that ever led men to the service of God among the Pagans, and an infinite number of others besides. For it presents us to contemplate in him an immense Power, an ineffable Wisdom, an exquisite Providence, an inexorable Justice, an incomprehensible Mercy; and in the conduct of all things agreeably to the design of his eternal constitutions there appears an administration transcendently admirable. One Religion proposes not so great recompenses for piety and Virtue, and another denounces less horrid punishments against Vice and irreligion. So that all that which the most devout Nations have ever believed of God, as we shall see in its due place, hath comparatively been nothing but darkness; and all the devotion which their measure of knowledge enkindled in their breasts, hath only been a dream of piety, and a very languid and faint zeal. And notwithstanding all this the number of people is very small whom Christianity hath incited seriously to fear that Great God who hath revealed himself unto us. What affection therefore can men have for the doctrine of Epicurus? If the fire itself cannot inflame piety in us, is it possible we should be warmed by his Ice? Certainly if the representation of those rich compassions, in that God hath sent his Son into the World to redeem us from our offences by an ignominious death, are not effective to incite men to his Love, there remains no hope any other thing should have power to do it. Wherefore how can we expect the same from this imagination, that God beholds from Heaven the calamities of men here below, without being at all affected therewith, unless it be with resentments of joy because they do not reach him: like as one should enwrap himself under the cover of a warm and close-curtained bed, while others are half dead with cold, or should stand on the Seashore beholding a Ship in inevitable danger of being wracked. Furthermore if Religion be not powerful enough to induce us to the love of God by sentiments of gratitude which we ought to have for his benefits, at least the fear of his justice impressed on our minds, serves as a boundary to check the overflowing of our Passions, and to retain them in some outward show of esteem of Virtue: should this Fear once be removed out of their breasts (although it is impossible wholly to root it out thence; what pains soever be taken to do it) there would be such disorder in the Lives of men, and so dreadful an irregularity in all our passions, that there would not be left so much as a shadow of Virtue and probity upon the face of the earth. For seeing there are in our Souls, as the Philosophers themselves have observed, such appetites as naturally war against reason, subjecting and captivating the same upon all occasions, as experience also demonstrates; and the Pleasure of the body meeting with so many baits and incentives, there is no vice to which we should not without all regret abandon ourselves upon hope of impunity. They which are subject to Laws, peradventure might abstain from those wickednesses which are punished by them, yet would permit themselves to act such as fall not within their cognizance; and if they used any kind of Prayer, it is likely it would be no other than that of some in Juvenal; 
— Pulchra Laverna,  
Da mihi fallere, da justum sanctumque videri,  
Noctem peccatis & fraudibus objice nubem.   
Besides that there are yet several persons, whose madness, being above the checks which the representation of punishments used amongst men suggests, is notwithstanding awed with the apprehension of Everlasting Pains. And then for such as do fear the punishments inflicted by the stroke of Magistracy, or even by the hand of nature, who recompenses debaucheries with the Gout and Stone and other such afflictions, at least they would not restrain themselves from being wicked in thought and will. Now what acceptable service can that person render to God whose mind is possessed with evil desires? Or how can any thought of the Deity find admittance in that soul in which reason is dethroned to yield the rule to heady and precipitous passions. Wherefore it appears, that whereas we are in search of a doctrine capable to subordinate the appetites of men to Reason, and Reason itself to true Piety, which is the only source of Virtue, that of these people perverts the right use of Reason in stifling and effacing Piety, and by that means gives up the reins to the insolence of our lusts and affections.  
It may perhaps be demanded by some, how it follows, that because the ancient doctrine of Epicurus is incapable of exciting men to piety, and repressing those violent inclinations which naturally hurry us to vice; that therefore in the present times, in which men have sublimer apprehensions of the Deity than he had, not to mention that they are more fully assured of this Truth, That there is a God, the doctrine of the modern Epicureans should be no more effectual thereunto? Is it reasonable to bond the effects of the knowledge men have now adays according to the measure of what they had in the Ages of old? Should any advocate of that sect make us this objection, we are not unprovided of many things to return him in answer. And first in reference to that truth which is the foundation of all others, That there is a God, supposing the Epicureans of our time to retain the discipline of their predecessors, That the world was not created by him, that he does not govern the same, nor ever revealed himself particularly to us by any oracle, how is it come to pass that we have a more certain knowledge of his Being? seeing we have no other reasons nor testimonies thereof, than those which men had heretofore. And for that Common notion to which they recur, how comes it to be more lively and deeply impressed in our minds at this day, than it was in the minds of those that lived a thousand years ago? Are not they always the same race of men? and is it not always the same Nature that brings them into the World? But concerning the knowledge of the nature itself of the Deity, I shall readily admit, that a man whose brain is better made then that of Epicurus was, would not be guilty of so many absurdities as he is. Aristotle or Plato would never have described God after that fashion which he hath imagined him. But so it is, that this knowledge hath never been so well displayed by those who have had no other guide besides the light of reason, as to yield a possibility of founding a more distinct belief thereof upon their imaginations at this day. For I am of opinion, they have gone as far as the mind of man, in the condition it is since the first Lapse, is capable to attain, without being extraordinarily assisted by God himself. And notwithstanding how great variety has there been among them in this particular? What absurdities and impertinences have they not asserted? The beginning of Cicero's Books De natura Deorum, supply us with abundant evidence hereof, where the opinions of the Philosophers concerning this matter are recited. Good God What dotages and extravagances do we meet with! Anaximander makes the Gods equally liable to being born & to death with us; and determine to them their intervals for the duration of their being. Pythagoras affirms that God is a spirit diffused through the Universe, from which our souls are clipped off like pieces severed from the whole, and so divides him into a thousand millions of fragments. Parmenides fancies him to be a crown of luminous fire wherewith the Heavens are environed. Empedocles distinguishes not the nature of the Gods from that of the Elements, which he conceives to be divine and immortal, although they undergo an infinite variety of Forms. Antisthenes' will have an infinite number of popular Deities, and one natural. Xenocrates is contented to assign us eight, of which he saith the Sun, Moon, and other Planets make seven, and the eighth is distributed amongst the fixed Stars. Chrysippus holds that there is an innumerable multitude of Gods, though he seems to establish one Principal, consisting in a certain power of Reason expanded through all the parts of Nature. Perseus acknowledges no other Deities than those which men have consecrated accordingly as they conceived some considerable benefit bestowed on them by any one. Cleanthes esteems the whole world to be God, which also was afterwards the opinion of Pliny. Diogenes Apolloniates imagined that God was made of Air. Protagoras knew not what he is, nor whether there were any at all. Democritus jumbles him and hurries him like his indivisible bodies, framing an infinite variety of images of him. In a word, 'tis deplorable to consider how ignorant, forlorn, and extravagant the mind of men is in its imaginations: and although Aristotle and Plato have had something more rational conceptions in this particular, yet there is discernible in them always abundance of weakness and inconstance. Nevertheless, those Philosophers, whose Fancies are rehearsed in that Treatise with so much derision, were men of as good entendments and sufficiencies as the Epicureans of our days; and the greatest part of them had moreover to assist them in this Meditation the belief of a Providence, which was a light to conduct them to a clearer knowledge of what they were in search after. Therefore what are they able to do at this day, who besides being not more intelligent than those of old, do renounce the assistance of that aid. For in so difficult a chase, the former have undoubtedly more advantages in traversing the thickets, by being acquainted with the footsteps of that they are in pursuit of, although but obscure, lightly impressed and passed over by bad searchers, than they who take no notice of any at all, and who if any presents themselves to their sight, shut their eyes that they might not see them, or on set purpose expunge and confound them. The knowledge of arts is indeed growing by degrees to greater politeness, accordingly as men improve them by other inventions and experiences. As it is probable Physic is more skilfully practised at this day than it has been heretofore, by reason of new observations made in Anatomy, and new trials of the Virtues of Drugs, Plants and Minerals. But in case no dissections had been made of humane bodies for this two thousand years, or no new proofs experienced of medicaments, it would be necessary to remain contented with the measure of knowledge which the Ancients had attained to in that art. Now being in the opinion of these people, God is not in any thing more particularly revealed to us then to our Predecessors, If the Epicureans will keep themselves to the Maxims of their Sect, they must either content themselves with what they have received from them; or if they will establish any thing of their own devices, they must frame out new models of the Deity, which will not be less exorbitant: and the Instance of Cicero will be found such as cannot at all be discredited. In his time the study of the Sciences flourished extraordinarily, and the wits of men were polished to as high a degree, as ever they were in any other Age. Besides their own Inventions, they had the benefit of their labours, who lived in the World before them at such time as Learning was in the greatest honour in Greece; and indeed it appears by their writings, they made use of them very happily. Cicero himself was, among those great personages, of most eminent and rare accomplishments; to whom as none was worthy to be rival for the Garland of Eloquence, so that there was scarce any that surpassed or so much as equalled him in all kinds of Literature. And notwithstanding all this, at what rate does he speak of the Deity? Having introduced three Philosophers of divers Sects discoursing of Providence, he concludes his Book with this determination, That he judged the Discourse of Balbus the Stoic who maintained it, more probable than that of Velleius the Epicurean, who opposed it with the greatest violence. Wherein it is observable, that Cicero keeping himself in this matter to that doubting manner of answering which was practised by the Academics who dared not be confident of the truth of any thing whatsoever, and had for their Device that saying of Pliny, That the only certain thing is, that there is nothing certain; nevertheless when he disputes concerning the nature of the Supreme Good of man against the Tenets of Epicurus, he speaks so determinately to the disparagement of Pleasure, that he seems to have forgotten the stile of the Academy.  
But let us a while consider how the truth of the matter stands. The Christian Religion teacheth two sorts of doctrines. Of the former of which men have some notions, but confused and dark, beforehand. Of the other they never had any apprehension or intelligence, nor was it possible they should. Now although the latter sort contain nothing that is absurd or repugnant to reason, but on the contrary corresponds and conspires admirably with the other, composing therewith a Body of doctrine of most rare and absolute harmony, yet notwithstanding they are rejected by the people against whom we dispute upon such grounds and pretences as shall be hereafter declared. Of the other, which being illustrated by Religion, seems so much the more consentaneous to reason for that there were before some seeds of them scattered in the humane Understanding, they admit those only that please them best, and then reproach the sacred discipline from which they learned them. And this is the reason by which it is come to pass that even amongst them that do not receive the Word of God, they speak in these days with more certainty and evidence concerning the Nature of God, his Infinite essence, Invisibility, Eternity, Omnipotence, highest Goodness and Wisdom; hence it is that they discourse more positively of the spiritual and immaterial being of the humane Soul, and of its immortality; and that they understand more exactly the natures of Vice and Virtue, and the natural difference that is between them. Nevertheless after all this they do not scruple to accuse them of Lying and Imposture, to whom they are engaged for the illustration of these important truths: whereas they ought rather to have collected two things from thence; First, that seeing the Writers of the Old and New Testament have clearly taught those truths whereof men spoke before so doubtfully afterall the endeavours that the acutest Wits of the World had used for their discovery, it must necessarily be that they received illumination from some other person; considering that they profess every one of himself and of one another, that as to the natural vivacity of their Understandings there was nothing extraordinary in them, and openly confess that there is no praise at all due to them for the same. For if we have regard to the good opinion which men naturally have of themselves, and how gloriously they vaunt of their inventions, what praise might not those Persons challenge to themselves for having taught us what God is; seeing we meet with One in the records of Story, that exalts himself to the skies for explaining a passage of Demosthenes, better than they had done who attempted it before his days, and for having explained an intricate verse of Pindar? Had they had the least part of the vanity which Epicurus had for himself, when in the midst of his Fits of the Stone, he found such cordial and sovereign consolation in the memory of his excellent inventions in Philosophy; or of the vanity which his Disciples had in his behalf, when for the same reason they placed him in the rank of the Gods, they might on better grounds have filled the Universe with their boastings. A second thing is, that since they were so happy in the bringing to light things of such excellence, and to which the Reason of man subscribes, we ought not to disparage their veracity in that which we are not able to comprehend; in regard they make procession themselves that they do not absolutely comprehend the same, and acknowledge their weakness thereunto. For it is hereby most apparent, that they have not sought the commendation of having a mind able to soar above the common flight of others, nor affected obscurity to the end to render their doctrine more venerable, or to reserv the understanding thereof for some of their familiar disciples, as we find related concerning some of the writings of Aristotle.  
It would therefore be an honest modesty to yield them as much at least as Socrates did to Heraclitus, when judging that which he understood of his Book excellent and admirable, he adventured to promise himself that what he did not understand was so also. There appears to be no doubt but that there is a proportion between the Circle & the Square, since none would have employed so much pains in the search of it, unless they had esteemed those two Figures to be commensurable. Nevertheless all the great Geometricians of our own and precedent Ages, have laboured unsuccessfully in finding it out; and by how much they have been more accurately learned, and their wits more subtle in this speculation, so much the more have their imaginations concerning it been attended with impertinence. Wherefore, if peradventure any person should be found at this day that were able to teach us the Quadrature of the Circle with such clearness, that the minds of all men should become enforced to acquiesce in the evidence of his Demonstrations (although it be but a thing of the nature of those that seem proportional to the strength of our minds) it were scarce reasonable to question, but that he was savored by some Understanding more than humane. And the inducement to believe that he was so, would be so much the greater, in case he were known to be otherwise one of mean capacity, little versed in the subtlety of such high speculations, and that he should disown the glory of having discovered that truth by his own endeavours. I add moreover, that if such person should offer to our approbation some other Geometrical Propositions, which we should not be able to understand, yet it would be unmeet to reject and condemn them, after having had such a singular proof of him in a matter so desperate. It would be necessary to wait till some other should rise up either in the present times or the future, to explicate them, as he had resolved a difficulty unprofitably attempted, and at last abandoned by all the great Mathematicians in all Ages. Certainly, therefore, it is greater justice to practise that modesty towards those, who in a matter of most divine sublimeness have revealed secrets to us which are incomparably more difficult to be found out by the mind of Man, than any Problems whatsoever of Geometry, & which since they have been discovered, give more abundant contentment than the most evident Mathematical Demonstrations. But these people manage the matter like those Plagiaries that pilfer the Manuscripts of learned men, of which they retain what they please, and publish the same under their own Names, to have the reputation thereof, and then in other things which they cannot relish, they endeavour to cast affronts upon them, whose glory they have fraudulently entitled to themselves.  
Lastly, what I beseech you, are the particulars of their accusation, whereby they arraign the Holy Writers of Ignorance, or Impertinence? First, that they avouch the Deity to be the Creator of all things; and next, that they attribute to him an especial care of humane affairs: two points which they cannot digest, because prejudicial to his Quiet, and inconsistent with the profound calm of his Beatitude. What bars (they demand) and Iron-crows did God make use of, to raise and adjust the pieces of this great Fabric? What anxiety and solicitude would continually possess him, if he should concern himself in the innumerable affairs of mankind? What regrets & perurbations would be caused to him by all the provocations of injuries and indignities that are committed amongst us? How greatly troublesome it would be to him, like criminal judges, to have always his hands in blood? How it would excite him to tenderness and compassion to behold the piteous condition of so many miserable wretches as are in the world? Poor people! that fancy such a God as resembles themselves, and that can do nothing but with labour, because themselves know not how to place a beam in an edifice without Levers and Cranes? If he be a God, he is infinite; and if he be infinite, his power is not at all confined. Now to an infinite power, what needs there more than a twinkle of the eye, one single motion of his will, to build not only one, but a thousand worlds? For why is it that men employ so many engines, but only to aid themselves with the same where there own power is too short? why do they make use of Pulleys, but to supply the weakness of their arms? and why of their arms and hands, but because things are not obedient to their wills, unless, they apply them thereunto? But to him that is infinitely powerful, there needs neither hands nor Engines, because his will is alone sufficient to produce the effect. And there is the same facility in government of the World, as in his Creation. Things require our industry and pains to know them, because we are not able to penetrate far into them, and remain ordinarily arrested on their surface, like the Dog that licks the outside of the glass wherein the Pulse is enclosed. Moreover, it is necessary for the Ideas of the things we comprehend to enter into our minds successively, because they are too narrow to admit the same all together; agreeably to what we observe in Looking-glasses, which receive but one image at a time; so that he that attempts to represent more, confounds all. In like manner we move about to dispose things in order; because we are but in one place, and thence it is requisite for us in referring several things to one and the same end to remove ourselves often from place to place; as also in case they be difficult to manage, we are necessitated to employ the hands of another, and so frequently create substitutes to our prejudice and loss. But he that beholds all things with one glance, that is present every where, that penetrates all things in the abstrusities of their nature and essence, and manages them all according to his Will, without any reluctation or resistance, what pains can we imagine it to be to him to govern the World? The Events of things fill us with anxiousness and perplexity, because they are not in our hands, and for the most part their issues are contrary to our hopes. But as for him that decrees them, and by consequence foresees them infallibly, what solicitous suspense can they create in him? They fear lest he should suffer interruption of his Rest, by being continually incensed against some, and affected with compassion towards others, Will they therefore have him to know the things that are done here below, or to be ignorant of them? If he be ignorant of them, it will follow that the God which they adore is scarce so knowing as we. For not beholding the transactions of the World, and there being nothing done out of it, he will have nothing for the object of that his supreme Understanding, except his own nature: his nature, I say, which we have demonstrated above cannot be but wholly contemptible according to their doctrines. And if he knows nothing of the honour we bear towards him, it is lost labour to render him any. But if the world's affairs be known to him, they do not give him less trouble by not reducing them to due order, then if he should stretch forth his hand to provide for the welfare of the World. There is no appearance of reason why his Passions should be more moved by being provident concerning it, then by leaving all to go in confusion. But these people are as Saint Paul saith, become fools by their pretended wisdom. For all these objections have no other grounds, but our clothing of God with our passions, and framing of him according to the model of our own Being. If he be made in the same manner we are, if he resents our perturbations in himself, he is not God, he is Man. Which is as if a Pismire should apprehend of a great King, that it were not compatible to him to trouble himself with the care of any thing, because she toils with drawing a grain of wheat to her little cave, or is forced to encounter with a worm that devours it from her. Verily God inflicts punishment on the wicked for their wickedness, without being thereby obnoxious to any emotion interruptive of his quiet, because his vengeance is not executed in choler as ours is, being carried thereunto by no other motive then for that he is Just. But Justice is a Virtue exempt from all passion and turbulent agitation. He hath a tender care over the Good, without feeling the agitations and heats in his bowels which we do. For he is not subject to our Evils. Wherefore having no communion of nature with us, he doth not behold or acknowledge the image of his natural condition in our calamities, and fears not lest the like should befall himself; which is the principal and usual cause of our compassions. He hath regard to them because he is Good. Now Goodness is a propensity to do Good, and not a perturbation excited in our affections and accompanied with regret or anguish. But these frivolus objections are professedly answered in whole Treatises, to which I refer the Readers, to avoid detaining them with fruitless repetitions. Let us therefore proceed to some other considerations which are more important to the matter in hand.   

CHAP. VI Of the Natural difference which is between Vice and Virtue; and of the Terrors of Conscience: Whether it can be deduced from them that there is a Providence.  
IT is not my intention to be prolix in deduction of the reasons which are employed against the Epicureans in behalf of Providence. It hath been done so often, and by so many excellent personages, aswell Pagans as Christians, ancient and modern, Poets and Orators, Divines and Philosophers, that to begin the same over again, would be a work unprofitably undertaken, And I cannot but wonder that especially in our times there should be people that yet call it into question, and who have not been able to learn neither from Earth, nor Heaven, nor Men, nor Angels, nor from the mouth of God, a thing that publisheth itself so loudly and clearly. I shall only make some reflections concerning the natural motions of our Hearts, which may afford us some understanding thereof. I would therefore willingly demand of these people, whether they judge that there is any natural difference between Vice and Virtue, so that Vice is naturally blamable and evil, Virtue, on the contrary, honest and commendable in itself: or, whether they conceive this distinction to have been introduced only to keep men in order, and to discipline Commonwealths, although otherwise they are things in their own nature indifferent. For if they be of the Opinion that Archelaus was of (from whom Epicurus, Aristippus, Carneades, and many others learned it) that there is nothing in the naked essence of things that discriminates them, and that the difference we find in them is proceeded only from custom, and as they speak, from Positive Law; whence comes that desire we are all possessed with, of being, if not really, at least seemingly honest persons; in so much that the most wicked are offended when they are taken for such as they are, and endeavour as much as possible they can to  their wickednesses with the appearances of uprightness and probity. Certainly, that desire could never be so universal, were it not also natural; and it could not be natural, unless there be an essential difference between that from which we are desirous to attain honour, and that for which we fear to meet with blame. For why should Nature have inspired and principled us to prise the one more than the other, or rather to love and affect the one, and have a kind of abhorrence of the other, if she herself had not placed more value and esteem on the one, and blasted the other with some marks of her improbation and hatred? And seeing there is oftentimes difficulty in the exercise of Virtue, by reason of the conflict of our sensual appetites, which resist the influences of that upon our minds; and that on the other side, it seems there are so many delights and pleasures in Vice which give it an easy victory and dominion over our appetites, how comes it to pass that that which we call Virtue hath notwithstanding so much power over our minds, as to oblige us to render it this advantageous testimony? Indeed, as there is, perhaps, no vice of so universal extent as that of hypocrisy, so neither is there any that more clearly attests the excellence of Uprightness and Honesty. For if Justice and Honesty is not able to obtain the rule of our affections, which are in subjection to its enemy, it appears at least that its Idea cannot be driven out of the understanding, and that it enforces the Vicious to give sentence of condemnation against themselves. Epicurus instructs his Sage to be careful of his reputation so far, as not to suffer himself to be contemned; because, say his followers, Contempt brings along with it very many inconveniences, which cannot consist with Pleasure, but are destructive to it; so that if he owns no other motive to maintain a good esteem of himself but that, than provided he be able to secure himself from contempt by any other means, he will not be solicitous of having a good reputation. Now he that sets no value at all upon a good repute, is as careless of the actions that produce it. For Renown stands in relation to the actions and habits of Virtue, as the images that are emanent from the qualities of sensible things are to them and the bodies clothed with them. And the minds of men that judge of us and our actions are as the Mirrors that receive those images. Therefore, as, if it were indifferent to Epicurus in what manner a Looking-glass did represent him, and what images proceeded from his body, fair or foul, of a pleasant or horrid colour, well proportioned in their parts and lineaments or deformed and extravagant, he would give us to to judge that he did not trouble himself about the qualifications and structure of his Body; so likewise the contempt that he should make of his reputation would sufficiently discover the little care he had of the constitution of his Soul. But to be thus qualified a man must be both wicked and impudent in the highest degree; which would be a wonderful quality for the perfection of a Wise man. However, as it is extremely suitable for an honest person to Love Virtue for itself, and to endeavour to imitate him of whom the Athenians gave this Character, He desires not to seem Just, but to be so; So that the perverse judgement that is made of him and his actions, do not drive him to desert it and discourage him from continuing such: so it is natural to men, and principally to the most Virtuous, to desire that their Virtue be acknowledged, and esteemed according to its due value; because, as Aristotle saith, this is its natural recompense.  
But to come nearer to the matter in hand, If it be indifferent of itself to be Vicious or Virtuous, I demand, whether it be also an indifferent thing to render honour to the Deity, or not. For if it be indifferent, the Epicureans are in the wrong when they enjoin it as meet to venerate the Deity, in regard of the eminence of his Being and his natural perfection. Because that excellence of his Being is not from Positive Law, but natural; otherwise men might make and unmake Gods at their pleasures, as they do their Statues. Either, therefore, the Epicureans are absolutely without Religion, and as much aliens to it as Beasts; or the honour which they make profession of rendering to the Deity, they do not ascribe to him out of obedience to the Laws of Commonwealths, every one in his own Country, but because they find themselves naturally obliged thereunto. For in case it befell them to be in some place, where it were forbidden to serve God, would they comply with such prohibition? And if it were also commanded there to blaspheme him, or preach that there is none at all, could they obey those Laws without doing violence to their consciences? Wherefore if there be of necessity some natural difference between piety and impiety towards God, there must in like manner be some between Vice and Virtue in comportments amongst men. For as the excellence of the Nature of God obliges us to certain duties towards him, so also consanguinity conciliates and contracts certain obligations amongst us one towards another. And when I mention consanguinity, I do not only understand that of Brethren and near kindred amongst themselves, but also that of Fellow-Citizens and Countrymen, and even of men in general; because there is an universal consanguinity between them all, which hath its root in the communion of one and the same nature, and in the dependence and derivation from one common stock. And as the eminence of the Divine nature is the foundation of the honour which we render to it, so the equality of ours should be the foundation of the justice which we use one towards another.  
This the Pagan's themselves well observed, when they affirmed the World was a great City, and the several Nation as divers Quarters of the same Town; so that though there be certain duties that oblige us more strictly to our next neighbours, yet there cease not to be other general ones, which are incumbent upon us towards all men. Add hereunto, that if piety towards God be a natural and immutable obligation, & yet Vice and Virtue indifferent in themselves, and only good or evil by the authority of a Constitution which is subject to alteration; If the law which sets a value upon Virtue happen to suffer a change, and the Vice which is contrary to it become recommended by a new constitution, there will result a consequence absolutely insupportable. For so it may come to pass that a man may be at the same time desperately vicious, a thief, adulterer, false-witness, murderer & parricide, and notwithstanding very Religious toward the Deity, who will love and favour him in consideration of his piety, if he hath any knowledge of the same. Which is a prodigious conceit, and such as without further debate the common sense of men abhors. Moreover there is no person so devoid of eyes and understanding, who acknowledges not some natural difference between the Beauty and Deformity of our Bodies, and that the advantage of the one above the other doth not consist merely in the opinion of men and custom, as the comeliness or ill-beseemingness of the greatest part of habits and fashions does, I am not ignorant that Opinion bears a great stroke in some singularities, and that we may account that for Beauty at this day, of which in Ages past they did not make the same esteem: as black eyes, such as those of Venus were, are more pleasing to some, to others, those that have something of blue, as those of Minerva are described. But that is in things, wherein the natural difference is not so evident, and where every one may have his particular sentiment, without digressing very much from reason. For otherwise, I do not think any man would deny that Achilles or Nereus was handsomer than Thersites, as Homer paints him out to us; and that a straight man, and of a proportionable stature is better made then a crooked Dwarf, whose arms reach down to his heels, and his legs are distorted. Is it then likely, that there should be according to Nature, a Beauty and an Ugliness of Bodies, and none of the Soul? so that to estimate things agreeably to reason and not after common opinion, the chastity of Lucretia should not be more to be prised then the lightness of Lais, nor the Virtue of Cato then the dissoluteness of Sardanapalus? If it be so, imagine a Commonwealth among the Antipodes, in which it were as indifferent for a man to kill his Father as his neighbour's Dog, to rob in the corners of Woods as to hunt Hares or Deer, to lie with his Sister as with a Wise espoused out of the degrees of consanguinity which circumscribe Marriages, and to be as honest a thing to Lie and perjure, as we account it here to be sincere in words and proceed; it will follow that that Republic is regulated with as good constitutions and laws as the best policied that is in Europe. For such is the nature of things indifferent, that they take their tincture from the most received opinions, and weigh only according to the standard of policy and Positive Law. But these are not barely extravagances, they are distempers and frenzies, which the consent of all people gives the Lie to, and that relic of shame, which Nature hath left amongst the most corrupted Nations, utterly disowns and flies from. In sincerity, is there something in Truth that advantages it naturally above a Lie? or is it preferred merely by reason of custom? As much, without doubt, as there is of difference between Being and not Being, so is there of distance between Truth that results from the Being of things and is the representation of them; and Falsity, which is as the image of not-Being. Hence it is, that the perfection of the Understanding of Man consisting in the knowledge of things which Are, conformably to their Being, and consequently in Truth: there must of necessity be an inviolable relation between the Verity of things and our Understandings, which are improved and perfectionated thereby; whereas they reject a Lie by a natural aversion, as soon as they know it to be such. And this Love of Truth hath ever appeared uniformly in all generous souls. Even little children do not readily take pleasure in stories that are told them, unless so far as they fancy them to be true.  
Now is there a Thing naturally determined to ennoble our Understandings, which cannot be changed by Customs or Laws, Opinions or Fancies, and which remains always equal to itself and unvariable, and is there not also something naturally determined to render our other faculties perfect? I mean our Appetites and our Wills over which our Understandings preside. Certainly, it would be a very extravagant thing, if Reason, whereby a Man is a Man, should find its perfection in the sole knowledge of Truth, and that in this we excel the condition of Beasts who are not capable of comprehending it; and in the mean time, for our Affections, which ought to follow reason, there should be no difference between us and Creatures that are destitute of it, by reason of which their appetites are wiled and undetermined, without subjection to any Laws of Vice or Virtue. But it would be a thing yet more absurd and extravagant, if Living Creatures unfurnished of Reason, having every one their proper and natural goodness, which consists in a certain perfection of their actions (as we give the Title of Good to a Horse & a Dog, for the strength of their Limbs, agility of their motions, vivacity of their scent and swiftness) and yet a man should not be styled Good, in regard of a constant and immutable perfection of his operations, measuring them by the eternal rules of Truth and Reason. Hesiod understood this better than these pretended Philosophers. For he delivers this excellent Lesson (Operum & Dierum, Lib. 1.) 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Et tu Justitiae quidem animum adjice, violentia vero obliviscere prorsus:  
Namque hanc hominibus posuit legem Saturnius.  
Piscibus quidem & feris & avibus volucribus  
Se mutuo ut devorent, quandoquidem justitia carent.   
But if there have been sound Nations heretofore, or be any such this day, amongst whom that brutish Custom of devouring one another is in use; or if some other such brutality, of the number of those that the right Reason of Man abhors, be practised any where without scruple or punishment; yet it cannot be inferred from thence, that their custom of doing so changes the nature of the thing in itself; or that the thing being indifferent in its essence is diversely authorised according to the various fancies of Men. For there are People in whom Barbarism hath subjected Nature, and imbued them with such monstrous sentiments, which ought no more to be drawn into consequence against the consentment of all other Nations, than the Prodigies which emerge besides the course of Nature, and violate the Laws which she ordinarily observes in the production of her Works. To these people may be applied that sentence of Petrarch; 
Hanno dal mondo ogni virtu sbandita;  
And e dal corso suo quasi smarrita  
Nostra Natura.  
Since Virtue from the World they have exiled,  
Our Nature's grown unsettled, savage, wild.  Whereas the Epicureans desire to pass for Philosophers they ought to have remarked that Nature hath distinguished our faculties, to the end they might never be confounded; that she hath assigned them their operations in such manner, that one cannot produce those of another; and that to those operations she hath determined certain rules, in the observation or Violation whereof, consists the Good and Evil, which invests them with the reputation of Goodness or Improbity, The Faculty of vision which we have in our Eyes, is clean another thing from that of Hearing, which is in our Ears; and the difference which distinguishes them, is so essential to their Nature, that it cannot be separated from the same without their entire destruction. The action of seeing is so proper to the Eye, and that of Hearing to the Ear, that whoso should employ the former to receive and discern Sounds, and the latter to distinguish the Colours and Figures of sensible things, would demonstrate that himself had his Understanding perverted, in going about so to pervert the established order of Nature. That action of seeing, to which the Eye is destinated, is performed in such manner, that he that should attempt to see with his eyes shut, or applying the thing to be seen immediately upon the Organ of the eye opened, or removing it from the eye to too great a distance, or lastly putting some body not diaphanous nor illuminated between the eye and it, should find it were to no purpose, because Nature hath so ordered that to the act of seeing all the conditions opposite to these should be exactly observed. Now what she hath done in the faculties of our Bodies, the same she hath also practised in those of our Minds. There is in us one faculty of the Intellect, and another of our Appetites. And as our Understandings are designed for the knowledge of objects, so are our Appetites conferred on us in order to our desiring or eschewing them. The operation of the Understanding is neither good nor rational, unless it be accommodated to the condition of the object, to judge of the truth or falsity thereof according as the nature of the thing requires; Neither is that of the Appetite good or commendable, further than it is conformed to the condition of the subject towards which it is carried forth, to desire or avoid the same, according as it is naturally  or worthy our aversion. And lastly, as the rules of which we make use to frame our Understandings to legitimate ratiocination, and by that means to acquire the habitude of Sciences, are drawn from the nature of the things themselves, so that even Epicurus, although he were no excellent Logician, composed a certain number of Canons by which to regulate his reasonings; So the Maxims whereof we serve ourselves to steer our Appetites, to desire or reject the objects presented to us as is fitting and requisite, and to contract the habitude of Virtues, are in like manner drawn from the natures of the things, whence we have a certain systeem of Morality by which to conduct our actions.  
And this is of so much greater necessity, in relation to the things which concern Virtue, in as much as the operations of our other faculties are compatible to us as we are Living creatures; which state is not the principal of our condition: whereas moral actions belong to us as we are Men; which is, as I may say the apex or highest atchieument of our being, and makes the most excellent piece of our Definition. For it would be an excessive irregularity in Nature, if the most excellent Being amongst all corporeal things, should be able to attain a certain term of his perfection in the operations which are common to him with Animals destitute of Reason, and yet he should have no certain and determinate perfection in reference to those faculties which advance him so far above Brutes, that he thereby approaches in some sort to the image of the Deity. In which consideration Plato affirmed that the Supreme Good of Man consisted in his conformity with God; which was excellently well declared, and is supremely advantageous, if whereas God is of invariable Holiness, Man would give himself to imitate him by the constant exercise of an eminent Virtue. But if there be nothing fixed and certain in the Nature of our Moral operations, so that it is indifferent to be Vicious or Virtuous, what advantage can there be in our conformity with God? For it will be consequent, that the Nature of God is likewise indifferent to Vice and Virtue, and that he is as an Unwritten Tablet, or Wax, susceptible of all impressions whatsoever, without being either more or less worthy of Veneration or contempt, dishonour or Praise, for being either pure or polluted with Crimes, just or Tyrannical, Good or Evil.  
If the Epicureans acknowledge, what all sorts of arguments constrain them to do, that there are certain Laws established by Nature, according to which things are accounted Good or Bad, and actions likewise Vicious or Virtuous, in as much as they disagree from or correspond to the same, they must also of necessity confess that there ought to be a Providence, which after the last Act is concluded will repay the rewards of Goodness to them that have merited them, and heap Vengeance upon such as have stored up the same for themselves by their evil actions. Semblably, as he that offends his Father or Mother, deserves chastisement; so in sinning against Nature, in whose Laws is comprehended that of Fathers over their Children, and who is the common Mother to us all, without doubt we shall be obnoxious to correction. For every deviation from the right way requires a correction or reducement: wherefore the correction of a Person that departs from the precepts of Nature is his amendment; but the correction of a vicious action is the punishment of him that committed the same. Truly, the Political Laws by which penalties are appointed for Crimes, are not only just in as much as they are necessary for the conservation of Commonwealths which their violation would ruin; they are also so, because that wickednesses, though they brought no damage to the State, are of themselves punishable, and that Nature teaches us that aswell in moral matters as in others, monsters, which so far transgress its rules, aught to be exterminated, to the end their enormity do not turn to her dishonour. But whereas Political Laws establish penalties only to corrupt actions, and do not punish intentions and thoughts; 'tis not for that bad thoughts and intentions are not as deserving of punishment as actions; but because the will and intention is not apparent either to the Magistrates or Witnesses; besides, if all evil aims and purposes, and such crimes as are committed in the mind only, were liable to penal animadversion, the number of criminals would be so great, that the frequency of executions would beget too much horror, and the world would soon become depopulated and desert. Now it is not reasonable to punish any offences but such as are proved by good evidence; and it were better the world should be peopled with tolerable inhabitants, then to be reduced to so ghastly a desolation by punishments and deaths. Yet there are a sort of intentions, which coming to the knowledge of Judges are capitally punished; as those which lead to attempts against persons in Sovereignty. In which there is not only a bare regard so far, as if such forethought design had grown to effect, the Commonwealth, which is under the Magistrates care, might have suffered considerable prejudice: but it is considered in as much as, the prejudice set aside, the design it of itself is too abominable to be passed over with impunity; such horridnesses requiring to be expiated with proportional punishments. Therefore seeing the counsels of which wicked actions are produced, are naturally as vicious as the actions themselves; & which is more, the actions are not vicious, unless as far as they proceed from bad counsels; Whereas actions are punished because of their enormity, there would be too notorious a Defect, and too great a Disorder in the nature of Things, if there were not some power superior to that of Sovereign Magistrates, which may give laws to thoughts and deliberations. Now if there be any such Power, it is necessary that the same have a clear cognisance of thoughts and deliberations, that it call those to account that are culpable therein, making their Conscience intervene as a witness against which there lies no exception, and at length begin to punish them by such remorse as the apprehension of judgement begets in their breasts, till afterwards it take a severer vengeance on them. Now this is that which we call the Providence of God, which punishes a part of those things which are done in this Life, to take away all misapprehension that he endures others without exemplary punishment out of connivance; and to give every one grounds of belief that he refers them to another time, in which the Vengeance he will execute on them shall compensate its deferring by a greater measure of severity.  
Of what I have now represented, every man hath ten thousand witnesses in himself. For the terrors which all men experience, when they have committed some wickedness, and whereof they do not cease to feel the effects though they be assured of exemption from penalties constituted by public laws, do sufficiently declare that there is some thing that frightens us within, with the denunciation it there makes of another sort of vengeance. Certainly, if there were nothing to be dreaded besides the punishment which every Magistrate inflicts in his Territory; what reason is there that sovereign Magistrates themselves should be terrified with the same? It is true, these people object to us in this particular that those terrors are not natural, but are bred of the false opinion which hath possessed the minds of all men that the Deity is incensed by reason of our offences; to which they add, that the profound ignorance of people hath augmented those affrightments to them, as little children sear bugbears in the Dark; so that if we had not been prepossessed with such a perverse opinion by our Ancestors, we should have always lived free from that fear in a perfect security. They adjoin moreover, that if there be any such natural Apprehensions wherewith men are discruciated, they are those of the Accidents of Fortune, which may arrive to all, the dispensation of which is erroneously ascribed to Providence Divine. For so speaks their Poet; 
Nec miser impendens magnum timet aere saxum  
Tantalus (ut fama'st) cassa formidine torpens;  
Sed magis in vita Divum metus urget inanis  
Mortales, casumque timent quem cuique serat sors.   
But in case this were no better grounded then on a false opinion men have been continued in, whence comes it to pass that the same should have so universally possessed the minds of all Nations? For who is he amongst all the people of the World that can avouch himself an exemption from these Fears? In every Nation what person has not at some time or other had more or less experience of them? Certainly that which is universal, hath some foundation in Nature; and that which persists constantly, and maintains itself always in the same sort, cannot but be very deeply rooted therein; on the other side, vain and panic fears are incontinently dissipated, and are of very short duration. Time (saith Cicero) wears out the Errors of Opinion; but it confirms the judgements and sentiments of Nature. But there is something more in the matter; which is that although some have more apprehensions of them, and others less, yet all are desirous to be delivered from them, and to find out some remedy against them. For there is nothing that so harrasses the mind or gives it such anguish as Fear does; and there is no man finds any pleasure in being tormented in that manner. How therefore is it come about that men have been so susceptible of these vain terrors, seeing we naturally repel those things that are enemies unto us? And is it not so much the more considerable, that there have been always found some people, although they have been very rare among others, that have endeavoured, as Epicurus, to deliver men from such affrightments, by openly preaching Impiety either by words or example. For David complains that there were some even amongst the Jews, that were so devoid of sense as to deny that there is a God; or if there be, that he takes any consideration of humane actions by his Providence. A strange thing, that they which would imprint such vain Fears in the mind of Men, should have succeeded so happily and so universally therein, notwithstanding all the natural repugnances in us against them; and they which would deliver us from them could never effect their purpose, although they had the assistance of natural profaneness to favour them thereunto? Does not this surpass all astonishment, that the Fear of Divine Justice naturally disquiets the souls of men, and causes such painful agitations therein; and yet notwithstanding, if Epicurus should have mounted upon the Theatre at Athens, and the Poet Lucretius gone into the Pulpit for Orations, and there preached to the people the contempt of God and his Thunders, that instead of recompensing them for attempting to free men from such a tyrannical opinion, the greatest wretches would have been ready to beat out their brains with stones? And that those Nations being so inflamed with love of their Liberty, and an ardent hatred against Tyrants which affected the Domination over their Goods and Persons, that they erected statues in their streets in honour of them that killed them, should have so great an abhorrence against those which went about to disabuse them from a fancy which oppressed and tyrannised over their souls? Surely it must rather be acknowledged that Nature prevailed, and the wrath of God, which is in a high degree revealed to men from Heaven, and Quae caput a coeli regionibus ostendebat. And it helps not to allege that it hath not been possible for us to be delivered from these Terrors, because we have not been instructed in the Doctrine of Epicurus. For whosoever looks narrowly thereinto will, not without admiration, remark two things. First, that there are very few men, but have a propensity to Profaneness; and consequently every one is an Instructor to himself in the Epicurean discipline. Yet nevertheless the number is so small that has delivered themselves from the inquietudes of conscience, that perhaps there never was so much as one person that became absolutely freed from them, not even Lucretius or Epicurus himself. In some men, the more resistance they employ against those assaults, the greater is their importunateness; and they are reinforced by the endeavours that are used to repel them; so that from Impiety, to which they would resign up themselves to sin more at ease, without being molested by such alarms in the midst of their pleasures, they fall into Superstition; like a fugitive slave, that is drawn back by the throat into his Master's house, where he is enforced to obey whether he will or no, for fear of the Scourge and the Torture. Others, indeed, go so far, that the pleasures wherein they swim, and wherewith they almost totally subvert their reason, remove in a manner such sentiments out of their minds, so as sometimes to make a mockery thereof. But 'tis as when Criminals give themselves to debaucheries in the Prison. For when the fumes of wine are a little exhaled, and they begin to think of their crimes with a settled consideration, they fret and are excruciated with the horror of Gibbets and Wheels which are preparing for them. But if it happen to them to be always drunk (which yet is rarely so) yet they are in their sleep tormented with horrible visions and affrighting dreams. The second thing observable is, that the honester part of mankind are they which feel those Terrors least; by reason that a good conscience which hath knowledge of the Goodness of God and his inclination to Mercy, assures and reposes itself in the same: and notwithstanding such good men abhor that doctrine from the bottom of their hearts, that removes all fear of the Deity out of the Mind of Man. In so much that they which are least disquieted with these Troubles, are the men that esteem them to have their foundations in Nature, and to be grounded upon Truth. On the contrary they which believe them vain and groundless, are the most severely assaulted with them, without being able to be released from them. In which on the one side shines the Goodness of God towards them that love him sincerely, and fear him awfully; and on the other side, his Justice upon them that disesteem him. What man was ever more outrageous against God then Caligula, or who ever so audaciously contemned his Vengeance? And for all that, when so ever it thundered, as if the Deity had spoke to him from Heaven, he hide himself under his Bed, as if he intended to make a Buckler of it against the Tempest. Whereas in the midst of the Darkness in which the Pagans lived, Socrates maintained his mind in that same tranquillity at his Death, wherein he had passed the whole course of his days.  
But there is one thing highly worthy consideration, which is, that the stings of Conscience are never so sensible and so quick as when men approach near Death, or behold themselves in some eminent danger that menaces them. And whence should it be so, but only that by the instinct of Nature they presage and anticipate with their fear the misery that attends the Wicked after this Life; Misery, I say, which is so much the more horrible in the apprehensions they have of it, by reason that they know not what it is, and because all men have a persuasion that their souls are immortal. For if Death did extinguish the Soul with the Body, and so rescued both the one and the other from the Divine Vengeance and the jurisdiction of Fortune at the same time, there would be nothing at all to justify those fears in reason. In case, I say, those terrors were not natural in us, there would be no person but would free himself from them with this consideration, There was a time when we were not in Being, and one day we shall exist no more: which was the consolation of Epicurus. But on the contrary, then is the time that those Alarms are redoubled, and the tempests increase their violence. Insomuch that where there is lest one sparkle of piety and hope of pardon, men would not have this opinion true, That God hath no care of men, and that he prepares neither Good nor Evil for them in the other world. And where there is not so much as the least seed of piety, although they are very desirous that Opinion were true, yet they are not able to persuade themselves that it is so. And hereof the Epicureans themselves supply us with an evident Instance: For what else intends their Poet in these lines?  
Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam  
Obterit, & pulchros fasces, saevasque secures  
Proculcare, & ludibrio sibi habere videtur.  
What is it, I beseech you that he denotes by that hidden Power? Is it Nature? No surely: for Nature takes pleasure in the production and conservation of things, not in their ruin: besides that these Accidents which he mentions are not dependant on the ordinary laws of Nature. Is it Fortune then? No, much less: For wherefore should he say that she takes pleasure to shatter the grandeurs of the World disdainfully at her Feet, seeing she hath no knowledge either of little or great, nor whether those be the bagdes of Power or not, which she tears in pieces, and dashes to powder? It remains therefore, that it is that which we call the Providence of God, which indeed sometimes takes pleasure in convincing men of their vanity, and overturning the highnesses and excellencies of the Earth. And this is that which extorts from Horace (a disciple of the same School) that handsome confession, that having been formerly a contemner of the Gods, the dreadful violences of thunder made him renounce that foolish wisdom wherewith he had been imbued, and pronounce this memorable sentence; 
— Valet ima summis  
Mutare, & insignem attenuat Deus.  So great is the power of truth, that even from the mouth of its adversaries it draws testimonies to its advantage.   

CHAP. VII. Of the Epicurean Opinion concerning the Immortality of the Humane Soul, and the Supreme Good; and what may redound from it.  
HItherto I have touched but transiently upon the Questions of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Supreme Good of Man; and I now come to examine what they judge of the one, and wherein they place the other. Which, though they both require to be treated of distinctly, I shall dispatch with brevity, according to the universal design of this Work. And forasmuch as they of former times thought that the Soul survives not the Body, and the opinion of the modern Sectators is doubtful thereof, some affirming, others denying the same; it is necessary for me to show, that if they grant that the Humane Soul is immortal, they are also obliged to confess that there is a Providence. I shall not scruple in the first place to allege here for proof of the incorruptibility of our minds, The consent of all Nations, although I have already made use of that Argument in another matter. For it seems such to me, as aught in no wise to be rejected, unless by contentious spirits, who when they have contradicted a truth, of how great evidence soever, think they have achieved an exploit of great applause. For I beseech you, if the soul of man be not immortal, if there be no firm reasons to induce us to believe that it is so, how hath such a fancy been able to become so rooted in our Minds, that there is not any opinion that has a greater vogue in the World? Not only the Greeks and the Romans, who seem to have been better refined then other Nations, have been imbued with it; but the Barbarians, and least civilised people have equally had this persuasion of the perpetual duration of their Minds; although the quality of their estate after death was almost equally unknown to them all. What therefore are those reasons that persuaded them of it, and rendered that persuasion so firm and unalterable? Should I say, that all Nations have received it from hand to hand from their Ancestors, perhaps it would stir the Epicureans spleen to mockery; yet I should not affirm either an absurdity or an impertinence. For all Mankind being derived from one single person, and he having been endued with a more clean and particular understanding of his Being than others have had since; (because the race of men has been gradually depraved and degenerate according to the distance at which they have been removed from their originals;) he imparted the principles and knowledge to his descendants, which are engrafted in them and entertained from Age to Age. And although it were no more than a tradition from hand to hand, which has been altered in divers manners by Lapse of time, yet the principal part thereof, which consists in the belief itself of the Immortality of the Soul, hath such a foundation in Truth and in Nature, that it hath been impossible, even for many Ages of time, which ordinarily decays all things, to prevail against it, or at least to deface it out of the minds of Men. Now no Relation ought to be discredited, which is accompanied with these evidences. First, that no solid and indubitable reasons can be brought against the same to convince it of falsity; as I am well assured there is none to be found against this of any reasonable probability: And Secondly, which is equally spread through out the whole Universe, and hath been with extreme forwardness received by all Nations; and Lastly, which hath born up against the encounters of time, and constantly maintained itself in the midst of so ●any revolutions of humane affairs; so that it hath passed into the remotest Islands, and the territories separated from us by so great seas, that they have lain undiscovered to us till within these last two hundred years. Is it not a thing worthy our marvel that in such places where men had lost all knowledge of their Original, and of the straits over which the people passed from whom they are descended, and where they have in a manner forgotten humanity itself; they should notwithstanding have preserved this belief, that there is some other thing in them besides the Body, of greater excellence, and which subsists beyond their fate and ashes. But if there be people sound in some other part of the New World, which are fallen to so low a degree beneath themselves and to such a measure of brutality, as not to have retained amongst them any shadow of this Sentiment (though I much doubt, whether there be any such) their testimony ought not to be of any consideration, not only because they are very few in number in comparison of the rest of the World, but also because that it would not be strange if they whom barbarism has unmanned in all other things, even so far as to have no inclination to society, should likewise have extinguished in their Minds that impression of Nature and the tradition of their Ancestors. But, praised be God, there are other reasons, which induce an entire belief of this important verity, and which hinder that this tradition is not worn out, as so many others have been, which had less firm rooting in our Minds.  
All men have been alike persuaded that there is a God; and very few have doubted that he is a Rewarder of Virtue, and Punisher of Vice. Now neither the compensation of the one, nor the Penalty of the other, is always fully administered in this World, even in the judgement of those who have had no great knowledge of the Nature of Sin, nor what punishment is competent thereunto. And this is the observation from whence they inferred that there must be some other time then that of our sojourning in the Body, in which that retributive justice should be executed.  
Whence the Opinion of the Souls immortality engrafted on the stock of the persuasion of such a Deity, hath fixed its roots so deep, that it hath been impossible ever to be eradicated. And we have above demonstrated, that it must either be acknowledged that those two Properties, must be in God, or that he is necessarily ignorant that they are in him. But there is hardly sound any one yet, that has suppressed Nature in himself to such a degree. Wherefore there must be an other time then that of our abiding in the Body, which is appointed to render recompenses and punishments to Souls, since they are here dispensed so disproportionately to Vice and Virtue. I know well that Pomponatius, who under the pretence of defending the Immortality of the Soul, hath fought against it, and making profession to be a Peripatetic, hath embraced the sentiments of Epicurus in this particular, answers, that although the soul of man should be mortal, yet it would have recompense enough for the exercise of Virtue, in the possession of Virtue itself. Since it is a thing so excellent in its own Nature, that it is contented with itself (as the Stoics speak) and that all remuneration which it receives besides, is either superfluous or not necessary unto it. But supposing this to be true of Virtue, that they which practice it, are sufficiently recompensed by enjoying it; yet it would not be equally true of Vice, that they which addict themselves thereunto, are punished enough by doing so. For the Impious possessing very frequently so great contentments of Life, that the most part of Good men which have lived in all Ages, have been scandalised thereat, can it reasonably be thought that there is satisfaction enough in this Philosophical speculation, that in as much as Vice is the greatest of all Evils, it is therefore a sufficient penalty to their Crimes? Nature teaches us, and the practice of all Nations confirms it, that Vice being a Moral Evil, that is, such as consists in a thing which is of itself dishonest and meriting blame, the punishment thereof aught to be in suffering a Physical Evil, that is, such as consists in the feeling of something which is contrary to nature, and painful to it. And there was never yet such a Lawgiver heard of, that established a constitution to punish a man for Robbery by causing him to commit adultery. It is so natural to men to esteem not only that the Punition of Vice consists in Pain, but that it is congruous to the natural order of things, that whosoever commits Evil in the First manner should be repaid Evil in the Second, that they number Nemesis amongst the Virtues, which denotes the indignation that we are inflamed with in beholding Good arrive to those that are Evil, and on the other side Evil betid them that have otherwise deserved. Whence, because they believed it proper to the Deity to maintain the orders of nature, and to correct the irregularities and deviations that happen therein, they have sometimes been carried so far as to doubt that there was a God, in as much as they observed according to their apprehension the Just and Pious evilly entreated, and the Wicked passing their days in ease and delectation as ample as their wishes. Every one knows the verses of Claudian in reference hereunto touching the life and death of Ruffinus; and Antiquity furnishes us with store of other the like testimonies. Yea it hath befallen even the Prophets themselves to exclaim upon this occasion; 
Does God in Heaven see what's done here below?  
Does he observe events, and govern Fate?  
For, lo,  men like Palm-trees grow.  
And Righteous languish in forlorn estate.  Either, therefore, there is a strange Irregularity in Nature; or, being crimes escape with impunity in this world, contrary to what they deserve, there must of necessity be vengeance reserved for them in that which is to come.  
Now concerning Virtue, although it be natively embellished with many beauties incentive of our Love, yet so it is that it cannot be itself the price and recompense which appertains to it. For what is Virtue, but the fair habits of our minds, and particularly the good actions which proceed from them? And what is a recompense, but that which is given in consideration of such good actions, and which consequently ought to come other where then from themselves? In truth, there is not less natural correspondence between Virtue (in which Moral Goodness consists) and Physical Goodness, which is placed in the enjoyment and preception of what we naturally desire, than there is between there contraries. And the discontentment which we conceive in beholding them which take pleasure in Virtue, to suffer remarkable calamities in their Lives, does not appear less reasonable to us, than the displeasure which we apprehend at the Prosperity of the wicked. Which disorder, when it happens in the nature of things that good men become miserable, does not less perplex the belief we have of Providence, nor less incite us then the other, to doubt of the existence of the Deity. Witness that complaint of Ovid upon the death of Tibullus; 
Cum rapiant mala sata Bonos, ignoscite fasso,  
Solicitor nullos esse putare Deos.  And although the Inclinations which induce Providence to compensate Virtue, are not of the same nature with those that oblige it to the punishment of Vice, because the inducements to this Latter are sounded on his Justice, the rectitude of which ought to be exact and rigorous; whereas the former arise from pure Goodness or Mercy; yet the notions which we have of the Deity not permitting us to have a less good opinion of his goodness and Mercy then of his Justice, the scandal is equal to us in both the one and the other defect. Thus, you see, the same Prophet, after his hesitancy at the belief of Providence by reason of the Prosperity of the Wicked, immediately after complains that his integrity and his innocence were unprofitable unto him, seeing they did not repreive him from the Evils which he continually endured. And he professes, that this thought gave him so much inquietude and trouble, and the inequality of things seemed to him so preposterous and scandalous, that he could not well reassure himself till he was entered into the Sanctuary of the Lord of Hosts, and had considered the End that is reserved for such people. And Claudian likewise declared his dissatisfaction, till afterwards. 
Abstulit hunc tandem Ruffini poena tumultum,  
Absolvitque Deos.  But seeing Death arrives equal to all, and that that of the Wicked (as the Prophet saith) is very frequently without regrets; and although it should be accompanied with some thing particularly terrible or painful, yet that punishment does not by much equal the atrocity of the crimes which they have committed; if there be not some other chastisement reserved for the Wicked to come, and some other recompense prepared for good men, the Conduct of the Deity does not remain fully enough justified therein.  
This consideration ought to suffice rational men, to evince that our Souls subsist after our Bodies: but we have other evidences besides of such firmeness that they could never be defaced by Barbarism itself. For he that pleases to consider never so little attentively the capacity our Understandings have to comprehend so many and so different things, their agitations so sudden as to fly from East to West, and from North to South in a moment; their inconceiveable swiftness in climbing up in an instant even to the highest Heavens, there contemplating their motions, and the Earth which they environ as a point; the power which they have to remember past things, to connect them with the present, and thence to frame conjectures of the future, which are sometimes so certain that they seem to be Prophecies; to embrace when they please in one gross all the mass of the Universe, and also when they please to single out of it the most minute parts only; the faculty which they employ to discover the beginning of the World, and its annihilation; to keep a register of times passed not by Ages and years only, but by Months and Weeks, and Days and Hours and Minutes, to almost an infinite division; the exactness they attain to in calculating so perfectly the courses of the Heavens, that they divine and point out the Eclipses even for several Ages to come; and their dexterous vivacity in inventing so many excellent Arts and industrious Mysteries; in polishing, illustrating and piercing into so many, occult Sciences, and difficult and intricate questions: what can be said upon consideration of all these perfections, but that there is something in us of greater excellence than our Bodies, yea a spirit issued from the breath of God himself? And herein I dare appeal to the testimony of the Epicureans themselves. They do not stick to publish that their Philosopher is worthy of immortality, and even to be acknowledged for a God, in respect of his rare inventions in Philosophy; although the rest hold him for a person absolutely ignorant of the things which he undertook to meddle with, and impertinent in those which he treated of and imagined he understood. Do they think then that that Divine personage (as they call him) who first dared to display the mighty power of his ardent spirit, to break and wrest open the gates of Nature, to dive into secrets formerly unknown, to pass beyond the flaming Walls of the World, and post over that immense space of things with his understanding to bring from thence the victorious knowledge of the Causes of the universe; that he I say, had no other Soul but a little Breath of Air that is dissipated in dying, and I know not what kind of vital heat, which is extinguished with this corporeal Mass? And were it not a strange disorder in the Nature of things, that Epicurus should have merited the immortality of the Gods, and nevertheless could not arrive to the third part of the Age of a Raven? For what advantage is it to him now, while he is mingled with the dust of so many men dead before and after him, that others speak of his singular devices in Philosophy? And if the cause of his Life differed in nothing from that of a Horse, whence came those faculties, for which they pretend men are obliged to consecrate Temples and Statues to him? Truly, as an immortal faculty is requisite to serve and honour the Deity, so for certain, in case he had had no other principle of his Life but a pitiful mortal puff of Air, he would not have dared so audaciously to encounter the sentiments of other men, and taught Irreligion with so mad an impudence as could not be repressed by any terrors or respects whatsoever. 
Quem nec fuma Deum, nec fulmina, nec minitanti  
Murmur compressit coelum; sed eo magis acrem  
Virtutem inritat animi, confringere ut arcta  
Naturae primus portarum claustra cupiret.  For there needs almost an equal strength of wit to do so well and so ill.  
Moreover if our Souls be corruptible, they result undoubtedly from the temperature of the Elements in our Bodies, and by that means are (howsoever subtle they be) corporeal themselves. If so, how can they have any conception of spiritual substances, which are absolutely separated from matter? For there is required some proportion berween the thing understood and that which understands; for which reason Philosophers affirm that by means of the conception of things the Understanding becomes in a manner of the same nature with them. How then, if we be nothing but Bodies, do we comprehend that there are things which are not such? and how do we enter into discourse of the Deity itself? Must not he be a very Brute, that imagines that the Faculty whereby we comprehend that there is a Deity, and dispute of a spiritual and eternal Essence, and its Properties, differs not but in a degree of heat and refining of our humours, from the Faculties of Beasts? Aristotle taught that an Understanding was either an act of the Fancy, or at least was not performed without the intervention of those Images which are formed in the Fancy upon occasion of objects that strike our Senses. And like a cautious person as he was, made use of that Dis-junction, to the end he might not shake the doctrine of the immateriality of the Intellect, of which in truth he seems sometimes to speak dubiously, but in other places renders such advantageous testimonies thereunto, that there appears no ground of doubting but that he had very rational sentiments concerning it. Pompanatius, as great a Peritatetick as he is, hath liked better to determine that the act of Understanding is nothing but the formation of such Images. What picture then does the Fancy delineate in itself, whereby to represent the Deity, and principally in them who are so clearly persuaded of the spirituality of his Nature, that if it ever happens to them to conceive any Idea of him according to the similitude of Bodies, they presently condemn their conceptions, and endeavour as much as possible to abstract their Mjnds and raise them above all corporeal Being's, to the end they may have no other thoughts thereof, but such as are purely intellectual? It is true, they are sensible objects which furnish us either the matter or the occasion of all our speculations. But there is no man but knows that from those sensible things of which our Fancy receives the forms and representations, our minds elevate themselves to considerations infinitely more purified, and which retaining nothing of the Nature and condition of Bodies, sufficiently confirm, that there are faculties in us, which, though they make use of corporeal organs for some few of their operations, are nevertheless immaterial themselves.  
To proceed yet further; There is no person in the World, but is desirous of Immortality, and every one is convinced in his conscience of such an inclination. Whence therefore comes that desire to be so Universal amongst us, if there be nothing that is able to satisfy it? For the same Aristotle hath written, that the natural appetites are not given us to no purpose, but that there are certain things naturally designed for their satisfaction; and that Philosopher is provided with irrefragable reasons to justify his opinion. Therefore, where is that Immortality which we all seek after? Not in our bodies; Since all men yield to the stroke of fate. Nor yet in Statues or Books, nor in the Memory of men, nor in triumphal Arches, nor the Inscriptions of Monuments. For the number of those is very inconsiderable who have provided themselves Memorials, that they have been; and of those which have been erected to this day, there are not above two or three in a manner whose durable materials have secured them from the silent depredation of consuming Time. At the utmost, although the ancient Monuments should have still survived, as the Arches of triumph, Pyramids, and Mausolaeum's, yet they could not give the Immortality we seek; they are no more but testimonies that we are not to expect the same in this world; as they which want issue, take pleasure to keep little Dogs, and to behold their Breed. It remains then, that we have a complaint to make against nature, who hath given us a desire, without hope of being able to content it; which is unworthy and disagreeable to the care which she hath had of us in so many other things. For as for what some may possibly allege that Brutes have almost alike inclinations, and that even insensible things are lead by a natural instinct to their own conservation; 'tis a frivolous objection: Shall we say, that because a Stone naturally tends downwards, it desires to be there perpetually? being ignorant of the impulsive cause that moves it, or the place whence it comes and whether it goes, and even of its own being, it cannot, to speak properly desire its own conversation. The cause is, for that every thing which is heavy, falls naturally downward; if a Stone should not do so, it would have no gravity, & were not a Stone. In a word, heavy things have as little desire to descend down, and light to mount upwards, either from the regions of Heaven or the centure of the Earth, as the number of Two being doubled has to make Four. 'Tis the nature and order of things, which knows not itself who would have it to be so. As for Animals destitute of Reason, all the care they have of their Preservation lies in that which we term the estimation of things present, which accordingly as they are hurtful or profitable are desired or avoided by them, without all knowledge of the future, or any thought that reaches so far: much less are they able to do as men, who anticipate not only entire Ages, but thousands and millions of Years to come. And who so compares that blind instinct of Pismires, which seem to provide in Summer against the necessities of Winter, with the thought of immortality, must either be an Idiot or a mad man. For, can any man of common sense imagine that those little Animals have an apprehension that the Sun being returned to the Tropic of Capricorn, will have no more power to make the Earth produce what is necessary to their subsistence? Surely not: But that small insect being naturally thievish, as long as she finds food in the fields, steals it from thence, and carries it to her little Cell, without dreaming that there will be a Morrow, and far from foreseeing the Rain and Frosts of Winter; being notwithstanding all Eulogies of her, — Ignara atque incauta Futuri. But that Providence which governs all things and takes care of their conservation, because it created them, giveth these creatures those blind instincts and inclinations to theft, to cause them to lay up a store of necessary sustenance; as a Falconer makes use of the swiftness and rapaciousness of Hawks, to cover the table of their Masters with excellent fowl, without their understanding of the design. But for us, our desires are ardent, and our thoughts extend themselves wonderfully forward to the Future: and forasmuch as the inquietude of ardent desires, when we see no hopes of contenting them, is extremely importunate; in case we have no part in Immortality, Nature will not only have put the desire of it in us to no purpose (which she hath done in nothing besides) but also to deject and torment us, which were a cruelty beyond the spleen of Stepdame's.  
Moreover, experience itself teaches us that there is such a difference between the Body and Mind, that they seem oftentimes to have no communion one with another; so different are their functions, and so little mutation doth a great and universal change in the one work in the other. You may see a man blasted or lamed in all his Members by some accident, who yet hath the motions of his mind as strong, pliant and nimble as when he was in perfect health. You may see another upon the borders of the grave, emaciated like a skeleton, without vigour and pulse; whose understanding nevertheless is more sublime than before, and his thoughts more refined, who will judiciously discourse of every thing that is propounded to him, and that which is the greatest wonder will do it with so little astonishment at death, as if to divest himself of his body were of no more value to him then to stripoff his ; although he apprehend full well on the one side what death is, and do not contemn it out of stupidity, and is on the other absolutely persuaded of the immortality of the Soul. But it's true, this is not universal; and great mutations of the body sometimes produce remarkable changes in the Mind. Nor do I deny but that the Body is so constituted in its particular temper, and so nearly ligued with the Mind, that the disposition of the one contributes very much to the functions and operations of the other. As when a Lute is untuned, how skilful soever the Musician be, he can never make any tolerable harmony; so in the total dyscrasy of the Body and its principal instruments, the Soul sometimes remains stupefied and astonished. But seeing this happens not equally in all men, and that there are as many experiences of people who amidst aches and mutilations and losses of their limbs have preserved the whole strength of their Minds entire, till death, it must needs be that this Tabernacle lodgeth something else that is of a more durable temper. Whence it is easy to conclude, that since it is not a Body, it must be an immaterial substance, and consequently incorruptible. For being of a spiritual nature it cannot be assailed by external things which offend us, nor suffer from any accident that befalls it from without; and holding nothing of the matter of the Elements, or their contrary qualities, which naturally encounter one another to their mutual destruction, it involves not in itself any seed of corruption which seems to attend every thing that is composed of them.  
I shall add moreover, what has been above demonstrated, that there is so great a difference between Vice and Virtue, that he that does not acknowledge the same, is unworthy the name of a man. Which how is it possible for us to acknowledge, if the Faculties of our Minds be not different from those of Brutes, since they have no understanding at all of it? For it is certain, that we argue from the disproportion of effects to the difference of causes, and from the diversity of actions to that of the Faculties which produce them; and lastly from the difference of Faculties to that of the essence itself of the things in which those faculties reside. If therefore Brutes have no knowledge of Good and Evil, as every one sees they have not; and if we perceive an infinite distance between them, as reason informs us, and our conscience acquiesces therein, and the consentment of Nations hath declared in all the World; it follows that there is an infinite disproportion between our Faculties and theirs, and consequently that the like distance is found between the essence of their Souls and that of ours. And I appeal to reason whether, being the perfection of a Man consists in the knowledge of the most excellent objects, and in the exercise of Virtue, and the perfection of a good Horse lies in the strength of his Limbs, and in the agility of his motions; whether, I say, it be not abundantly evident that the excellence of the one lies in his Body, and the excellence of the other in some thing, wherewith the body hath scarce any communication or commerce. Whence it necessarily follows, that their natures differ wholly and absolutely in regard of reason, which alone is capable of conferring that perfection on man; as weighty things differ from light by the massive solidity of their matter, in which gravity is seated; and as the circular Figure is discriminated from the rest by the roundness of its circumference equally distant from the centre. Of which the luctation and combat of reason against the corporeal appetites (which even Aristotle and other Philosophers have plainly acknowledged) affords a testimony satisfactorily manifest. For since there is no shadow of such reluctance in Brutes, who follow their sensuality without any rule, or check, and that the same is sound in the most dissolute men, in whom conscience cannot be absolutely extinguished; it follows that it must have its original from something which is naturally destitute of that sensuality, and consequently which is also not corporeal. Because it is manifest, that those appetites which are called sensitive, and are common to us with Brutes, have their seat and root in the Body, and depend on that Soul by which we have resemblance with them, in as much as we are Animals. Wherefore, whether there be in man two distinct Souls, one Sensitive (as it is called) by which we are Animals, and the other Reasonable, by which we are men; or whether there be but one only, which is endued with different faculties, whereby we are provided to perform all the Functions appertaining to those two respects; it is clear that that sensitive faculty is not displayed but in the Body, being so linked to it as never to be separable from it; and that on the contrary the other is not seated in the body, since it is designed to check our appetites, which it performs oftentimes with very great violence and power. And this is so true, and so universally received, saving by the Epicureans (who think they have won the Palm for noble inventions in Philosophy, because they have degraded themselves to the rank of Brutes) that the most excellent persons have been so far from believing the Soul to perish with the Body, that on the contrary (not being able to conjecture how after the dissipation of the Body, they could ever be reunited and render the whole man immortal) they have affirmed that the Soul in which the Understanding resides is really the man, and that the Body is not, but as the receptacle and prison. But by the grace of God we shall see hereafter that man was created for immortality as well in reference to his body as to his Soul; and that being fallen from this prerogative by sin, he hath been restored thereunto by the Divine clemency and mercy.  
Seeing it is so therefore, that the Soul of man subsists after separation from the Body, and consequently is of an incorruptible substance, it follows of necessity that there is something to be hoped and feared from the Deity; and that though his Providence were not so clearly intelligible in the world here, yet at least his justice is to be dreaded in that which is to come. For what will become of the soul after Death? Will she act, or will she be buried in eternal sleep? Certainly she is of a nature so active, vigilant and averse from idleness, that it is with regret that she allows the body its necessary intervals of refreshment. Even as plunged and immured as she is in it, when that is at rest, she is not surprised with sleep, but is ever employed on some kind of speculations how unprofitable and extravagant soever they be. Like as a Musician, that is affected to the exercise of his Art, chooses rather to play on his Lute, though half untuned, and at the inconvenience of making false Music and committing dissonances, then to suffer his fingers to become torpid by continued disuse. And the more excellent she is, that is, the more exercised in generous contemplations, the more she hates repose, even to the abandoning all care of her habitation, though she otherwise loves and is a good companion unto it. So that she would be clean diverted from the end to which Nature has designed her, if she were condemned to a perpetual sleep in eternal night. What then will her occupations be at that time? Will she frequent in Towns, or will she resort to habited placs? Neither of which is worthy of her, nor suitable to her inclinations. Whilst she is here by reason of the body confined to sensible things, yet she quits herself from them oftentimes, to busy her vivacity in the contemplation of those which are intellectual. For whatsoever beauty the World hath, it all refers to the body, and so it feeds and satisfies the corporeal eyes only. If there be any contentment for the Mind, it is in the consideration of that Wisdom, from which all the excellent order we behold, proceeds: Which is an object destinated to the Understanding and not to the corporeal sight. Much more therefore, when she is no longer in this lodging of Earth, will she contemn sensible things, to give herself to such as are conformable unto her. And indeed the most excellent faculty of the Soul is the Understanding, and the perfection of that consists in contemplation of noble and excellent objects. Now there is in the perfection of every thing its supreme end and contentment; by reason of which, either the Soul must be extinguished, which we have shown is impossible; or she must be employed in the contemplation of things worthy so sublime an intelligence. And what can there be, even in the opinion of the Epicureans, more worthy to be considered, loved, and adored then God, or consequently which so much perfectionates the soul of man and his understanding, or which gives him so much satisfaction and joy? Therefore his supreme Pleasure will be to approach unto God, to behold and know him, to dive into his wonderful nature, as much as is possible to be founded in so great an Abyss. And this cannot be done, unless God communicate himself to the Soul, and suffer himself to be (as I may so speak) touched and tasted by it. But what? If that be the perfection of the Soul, and consequently its aim, is it consentaneous to Reason, that those which are polluted with all sorts of wickedness should likewise have free access to the Deity, and receive as high contentment from his communication, as he will admit the Good unto? Or shall Fortune have then also a Sovereign power over spirits, to bring some of them fortuitously to their supreme Good, and as rashly debar others from it? Certainly altogether otherwise. As they which have most revered the Deity and his image (which resplends in Virtue, and not in sensible things) or who (to speak better) have not esteemed sensible things further than as they are necessary to the body to render their Minds more free to its functions, and dextrous to the exercise of Virtue, shall in reward of their affections, obtain the enjoyment of that which they loved here below (which is a thing agreeable to the Goodness of God:) so those shall by his justice be deprived of the same, who have slighted it in comparison of things visible and transitory. Now to be deprived of the contemplation of the Deity and of that delectation which it affords in communicating itself to the creature, is that which we account the punishment of sin committed in the body; which also cannot be without transcendent sorrow, and unspeakable distress. We refer these things as much as we can, to the experience of all men.  
It is not questioned by any, but that we are designed to a supreme Good, and that such supreme Good is of itself so great, that all our desires ought to concentre in tendency thereunto. The debates of Philosophers concerning its Nature, are infinite, and their dissenting opinions about it can never be composed by the help of Philosophy. Not to amuse myself in rehearsing the Fancies of others, which are almost without number, in the first place the Epicureans place it in the Pleasure of the Body. The Stoics determine it in Virtue. And the Peripatetics define it in the exercise of Virtue; yet account it not complete, unless it be attended with the Pleasure that accrues from enjoyment of corporeal and external things; such as Beauty, Health, Riches, Peace, the love of ones Fellow-Citizens, and Prosperity in Enterprises. As for Bodily Pleasure, the Philosophers have long since driven that out of the School, as too soft and effeminate, wherein to place the sovereign happiness of good men. For is it equitable to attribute the same to Lais with Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchis? or to Marcus Brutus with Heliogabalus? And what a strange supreme Good is that which renders men of near resemblance with beasts? Yet supposing it were so, experience shows that 'tis impossible to be obtained. For who ever tasted a Pleasure in the world, so pure, that had not in it a touch of bitterness? If any one has tasted such, yet who has been able to continue and relish it for a long time? Whether soever Pleasure be placed in a sensible jollity for the enjoyment of some desired thing; or established in the Absence of all Evils, which they call Indolence; those Pleasures which tickle us are but of a moment's duration, and no man ever yet passed an entire day, without complaining of something. Now the supreme Good is a thing firm and constant, and which not only aught to be difficultly shaken (as Aristotle observed) but absolutely immutable. They who have confined it to Virtue, were without doubt more generous and worthy the prerogative of men. But there never yet lived any person, that attained to such a degree of Virtue, as it ought to be had in, to make up a happiness: for it is requisite that it be accomplished in all its degrees and parts. The Stoics indeed were arrogant enough, to imagine themselves to have attained thereunto; but we have too much experience both of their imbecility and our own, to believe them. And although some one should have reached to that high pitch of Virtue, yet cannot he be called a happy man, who is subject to fall into the misfortunes of Priamus, and who really falls into them. If there have been any Sages amongst the Stoics, Cato Vticensis and Brutus were the men. And notwithstanding Cato in despair of ever beholding the affairs of the Commonwealth restored, disputes in the first place against the Providence of God, and accuses its conduct of a strange instability and prevarication, as if it had favoured the tyrannical attempts of Caesar; and then kills himself, to go seek his happiness in another place, since his Virtue could not give him it in this world. And for the other, being transported with the same despair, he slew himself with his own hand, after he had reviled Virtue, calling her weak and wretched, as if she were no more than a mere name or shadow. Which deportments of theirs sufficiently detect and convince the vanity of those magnificent words of the Masters of their School; That a Wise man is invulnerable by all the Accidents of Fortune, and that he can never lose the support of Virtue, so unmoveable is she in him, and always like to herself. Aristotle ordered the matter better, when to the enjoyment and practice of Virtue he adjoined the felicity which accrues from things external. Which opinion is no doubt more conformable to our desires and natural inclinations. But though he had a capacity quick enough to discern that where one of those two things is wanting, the supreme happiness is defective, yet had he no more power than other men to conjoin them actually and really together. In which impossibility of amassing a supreme Good in the World of so many pieces, and consolidating them so well together, that their Union be never discomposed, who sees not the necessary despair there is of all humane power to obtain the same? Which despair of obtaining cannot of consequence, but cause the pursuit to be abandoned. So that as Nature hath given us the Desire to be happy, Necessity will have bound us down to a perpetual despair of being so. And the most excellent of all things in the world, and for which all the rest seem to have been made, shall never arrive to its end, but shall appear as if it were purposely framed to be tormented continually with the despair of never being able to reach its enjoyment. In which respect that of Horace to a Miser, will be as applicable to every man; 
Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat  
Flumina: quid rides? mutato nomine de te  
Fabula narratur.   
I shall proceed yet something further. The desires which men have are of two sorts; Of which the first are conformable to Nature, and do nothing at all encounter reason. The second are extravagant and repugnant thereunto; As if a man should desire to be all spirit, and to have no Body at all: this were an extravagance, to which right reason cannot assent. For 'tis to desire not only a thing which will not, but likewise which cannot be, being involved in a manifest contradiction, in as much as a man cannot be a man without having a body, nor have a body and be all spirit together. And if he should desire to be metamorphized into the nature of those simple Intelligences, which we commonly called Angels and are not destinated to be conjoined to Bodies, his wish would not be less absurd. Because in case he should become such a simple and immaterial Intelligence, he were no longer the same person, but should in effect desire the abolition of his own being: for that in transmutations wherein the form itself of the thing (as they speak) perishes, the thing perishes also: Whence it would concern him as little to be an Angel as to be a Dog, and to desire one as the other. It is not from such desires as these that we are to deduce arguments to show what is the nature of man and of his Soul; because they which make them, deviate from the rules of Nature. The other sort of wishes, which are suggested by her, and are not thwarted or checked by reason, which, I say, do not destroy the form of our being, but ennoble and advance it, are they which ought to be taken for manifest indices either of what we naturally are, or at least of what we ought to be. For whence should those desires happen to us, if they be not inspired by Nature? And to what end should they have been placed in us, if that of which we received of them, never intended to give us the satisfaction and enjoyment they aim at. Admitting it were possible for us to compass all those things which are necessary to make up the supreme Good of Aristotle; and that we were in full possession thereof; besides that natural desire of the supreme Good which might seem to be contented in the enjoyment, there would be left another not less vehement or less inrooted in us, which is that of the perpetuity of such felicity without any alteration or interruption whatsoever. Now when we should with all imaginable care have cemented the parts together that compose it, when we should have nailed, linked and invested them so that there would be nothing but death able to dissolve the junctures, yet it would last but for our Life, & our Life could not last to the end of an Age. And then what would become of those desires of enjoying the same for millions of years even to perpetuity?  
But some may here arrest my course, and demand whether experience shows not that it is impossible to obtain a beatitude durable for ever? For who is he that is exempted from Death? Wherefore since wise persons do not only not consult about things absolutely impossible, but do not so much as desire them; or if they happen to let a wish escape from them by some sudden impetus of nature, they presently bring the discourse of reason to repress it; it follows necessarily, that such desire of a perpetual felicity is out of the limits of reason, and by consequence ought to be checked by it, rather than cherished and encouraged. For death which happens universally, without privilege to any, renders not the enjoyment of a perpetual Good more impossible to all men, than the weakness of our minds, the inclination which we have naturally to vice, and the infinite multitude of inevitable miseries attending humane condition, renders impossible the possession of the Happiness which Aristotle describes and terminates within the duration of our Lives. And nevertheless none ever condemned that desire in man of his felicity, none ever accounted it but both natural and reasonable. Moreover, it is manifest that all the World desires Immortality, and the things which we have already deduced, demonstrate the same. Yet there never was any person that attained it. Must it therefore be concluded that the desire of it is absurd, and besides the rules of reason and Nature? Epicurus himself did not account it so, who amidst the gripe of the Stone, and upon the very confines of death, comforts himself with the immortal glory which his Philosophical contemplations had acquired and should preserve for him to perpetuity. Cicero professeth Death is terrible to them who leave nothing of themselves after departure out of this life, but not to those whose praises cannot die. Alexander esteemed Achilles happy in that he had Homer to celebrate his Virtues and high achievements of Arms, being his memory would remain consecrated to eternity in the Poem of the Iliads. And himself made profession, that he did not at all fear death, because he believed his victories would render him immortal. And not so much but Ennius the Poet, presaged he should live for ever in the mouths and memories of men by means of his Verses. Ovid and Horace promise themselves nothing less from their Works, then that they shall continue their names throughout all successions of time, speaking of them as trophies erected to exempt them from the Power of the Fatal Sisters. Such as cannot hope the same from their works or great exploits, expect at least to survive in their children; and would be very effectually comforted against death, if they could be assured that by help of their Pictures or Front of their Houses, their posterity should retain the remembrance of their countenances from age to age. Therefore as the impossibility of obtaining from this Life, the supreme Good described by Aristotle, does not hinder but that man was framed by nature to possess it; and as the impossibility of obtaining immortality does as little evince that man was not destinated by nature herself to an incorruptible condition; so this impossibility of obtaining, as we desire, the perpetuity of the Supreme Good, does not argue that we were not made to enjoy it, by him to whose power and goodness we are indebted for our Original. It must follow then, that either those natural desires which are not at all thwarted by reason, were given us to no purpose at all (which is a conclusion that true Philosophy disdains to own) or that there is a supreme Felicity which is of perpetual duration. Now the enjoyment of that immutable Happiness is the compensation allotted to Virtue by the Divine Goodness; as the privation thereof is the retribution and penalty constituted by Divine Justice to Vice. The cause of the whole mistake, is the ignorance of what we were in beginning, and what we are become since by our own fault: for at our first creation we were constituted in full enjoyment of that Felicity, of which Aristotle fancied some kind of Idea; but Sin hath dispossessed us of it. The Soul and the Body were both created to Immortality; but the Body is become mortal by our revolt; Both of them were destinated to durable Happiness without diminution or interruption throughout all Ages; but disobedience hath separated both the one and the other from it. The Privation of that blissful Estate is an effect of the Justice of God; but the Hope that God hath by his Truth given us to recover it, is an effect of his Mercy; and both indubitable testimonies of his Providence, in as much as they are the most remarable instances and parts of it. For although God takes upon himself the care of Governing the motions of the Heavens, though he order all the mutations of the Elements, and their mixtures for production of all things in Nature; and though he afford daily supply of sustenance necessary to the Fish of the Sea, the Beasts of the Field and this Fowls of the Air; and all this most manifestly bespeaks his Wisdom, Power and Goodness; yet there is not in all this conduct any thing so worthy of himself as the exercise of his Justice in punishing, and the works of his clemency in rescuing those from condemnation which deserve it. In as much as in the former instance he uses goodness towards creatures which have not offended him, he follows his natural inclinations, and the inviolable relation which is between Him and Them. But in punishing, he is enforced to commit a kind of violence (as I may so speak) to retain the effects of his Benignity, and to inflict those of his indignation out of the only consideration of his Justice. And when he comes to pardon, his Goodness, as it were overflows of itself to swallow up his Justice in Mercy. Now although I have been somewhat more prolix in this dispute, and principally in the deduction of these last particulars, being lead to it by regard of their importance; yet I conceive I have not been tedious to the Reader, who understands how fruitful and thriving that Doctrine of Epicurus is, and with how much obstinacy and opiniastry his successors of the present time labour to defend it. I omit to meddle with those sentiments of theirs that purely relate to Natural Philosophy: wherein the Glory of God, and Piety, and Virture are not so nearly and particularly concerned. Though I must not dissemble, that it is to be feared that some of those which so much recommend the Physics of that Sect, do it chief to prepare some good impression for their Theology and Morality. I shall only add in reference to such as openly declare themselves for Epicurus in that which belongs to Religion, that they have a very high opinion of the strength and subtlety of their wits, and bring a great obstinacy to the defence of their Tenets. For which reasons it was necessary to discuss their subterfuges exactly, either to reduce them to a better mind, which I confess cannot be done but by the sole grace of God, or to make them hold their peace, if they have not altogether with piety abandoned all shame. And this I believe, I have performed in such a manner, that no man ought hereafter to be scandalised if they esteem the profession of all Religions indifferent. For since, to speak plainly they have no Religion at all in their Heart, it is no great matter to them what it is which they carry in their Lips. I shall therefore orderly pass over to examination of the Opinion designed to the second Part of my Work.    

A TREATISE Concerning RELIGIONS, Against those who esteem them all Indifferent. The second Part.  

CHAP. I. Of the Universal Consentment of all Nations in this Point, That there ought to be One Certain Religion; And that it is Necessary that God himself prescribe the Model of the same.  
AS all the World consents in this fundamental Truth, That there is a God (which the Epicureans themselves dare not deny) and likewise that God governs all the transactions upon Earth; (since the number of those that deny it is inconsiderable in comparison of its assertors; and they which profess to indubitate the same, are constrained, as we have formerly shown, to confess that they have no other knowledge of God but by the traces and instances of his Providence) So we may observe an universal Instinct of Nature in this that all Nations have accounted it necessary to the rendering to God the honour belonging to him, that there be one certain determinate form of Constitution called Religion, containing the rules according to which men ought to guide and comport themselves therein. For never was there any Nation that thought it enough to serve God in thought only, without making demonstration of their devotion by gestures, & external actions, and observation of certain ceremonies; unless, perhaps, some one among those where Barbarism rules all, and which in that respect we usually term Savages. But the actions of such people are not to be drawn into consequence, except we account it also an indifferent matter to live on humane flesh as they do, and to be ignorant of all things that are honest and worthy recommendation. And yet there will be sound very few people but have at least some shadow of Religion, even amongst the Cannibals. Now that such Instinct of Nature is not brutish, but is either accompanied with or proceeded from reason, is no hard matter to make appear with irrefragable evidence. Man is naturally a Lover of Society, and was not created to live in solitude: they which so affections to renounce converse with other men, must be (as One said long since) either some thing more or some thing less than Men. Now we have for the principal objects of our affections, God, and Men like ourselves; which are also the two chief, and perhaps only things to which we own any Duties. Concerning those duties, in which we stand obliged one towards another, it hath been requisite to establish certain Societies upon good constitutions as upon firm bases, to the end there might be certain Laws to regulate those duties, to correct our excesses, amend our defaults, restrain the licentiousness of some, and excite the supinity and negligence of others; that by such means all things might be preserved in good order. And nature herself first gave the model thereof in families, where Parents and Children are held in reciprocal obligations, and so brethren one towards another, and likewise servants themselves. For from that Pattern were Cities first form, which are as great Families, and Kingdoms which are as great Cities; in like manner as a Family is like a small City, or a narrow Kingdom. And he that sequesters himself from humane Society to live by himself, is looked upon as an Enemy of Mankind, as Timon the Athenian was; a sort of Monster wonderfully rare in the World. As for the Duties incumbent upon us towards the Deity, men have likewise appeared sociable therein, and have not chosen to serve God a part by themselves; but have constituted an other kind of Society, in which they might serve him all in common, and in some sort partake in the devotions one of another; and this according to certain sacred constitutions, serving to regulate the mind of man, and to bind every one in conscience. So that in this Society, yet much more than in the other, whosoever separated himself from it, has been by common judgement of all the rest held for an enemy of the Deity, and as a beast unworthy to live upon the face of the Earth. And that this is so, experience and evidence of Truth attests beyond all contradiction.  
But behold the pretention to justify their dissent; Namely, that men are so obliged to follow one determined and settled constitution, that it is not free for them to discede to others, when occasions are presented to do so. For there are some that grant it natural to men to have some communion in Religion; but they judge that such communion depends on the Pleasure of each respective Nation, being an indifferent thing in itself. They conceive likewise that the invention of Religions hath for the most part been a contrivance of cunning persons, whose diffidence of power to keep m●n in sufficient subjection by the consideration of civil Society, occasioned them to invent another of Religion, by means of which because of the opinion of the Deity, to which men ascribe a sovereign authority and without reservation, they might hold the minds of their fellow-Citizens in greater awe, and govern them better according to their fancy. Thus you see why they are not so pervicacious as to separate themselves wholly from such a Society, but communicate willingly in the Religious ceremonies of their own Country, for fear of imbroiling the World, and to avoid singularity, which hath been always declined by rational and intelligent persons: but otherwise they account it lawful for a man to comply with the places where he happens to be, according to the Adage, Si fueris Roms, Romano vivito more. Which they back with this reason, that Nature indeed inclines men to such a Society, but that God himself having not determined the form thereof, hath left the same to the will of them which govern Commonwealths. Now were not this Opinion professed and owned by men which are otherwise very intelligent, it needed not to be looked upon but with contempt. For the slight esteem which might be had of its authors, together with the invincible opposition all Nations bring against it, would secure it from making impression on the mind of any one, and so it would die and bury itself. But being that for many years there have been persons esteemed highly for their profound knowledge, or their great prudence in management of the affairs of the world, or some other commendable qualities of the mind, who have maintained or favoured it; and that in these days in which Profaneness is overflown, there are many lead by the authority of men of great reputation; I find myself obliged to encounter it vigorously, as far as the design of this work will permit me.  
In the first place, it seems to me exceeding strange, that these men should be more indifferent in that which concerns the Laws of Religious Society, in which we perform our duties to the Deity, than they are in Civil Life, where they make no question concerning the offices which men own mutually to one another. For putting the case that God hath made no particular declaration of his will thereupon (although we shall see in the sequel of this discourse that it is not so) yet as in Civil Society there are certain natural Laws which are equally and perpetually inviolable, so there are likewise some in Religion. For example; Whosoever should come into a Commonwealth framed according to the Idea of that of Plato, that is, wherein a community of women were enacted; or in which thest were publicly established, as in the Island De los Ladrones; it would not be fitting for that man to frequent the beds of all sorts of women, and abandon his own wife upon his first coming; the Laws of reason and natural honesty being repugnant thereunto; nor to rob his neighbour of his purse when he found him abroad from his house. It would become him to say to the Magistrate as Antigonus did to Creon in Sophocles; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  No more lawful would it be for a person pious towards the Deity to participate in a Religion wherein there were impious and blasphemous ceremonies, although they which established them did not think them such. If a man should happen to come into a place where they portrayed the Deity with the belly of a Swine and eyes of a Dog, were it meet to adore him under that figure? Or is it free for those which travel to the East Indies to mingle themselves in the impieties of the Pagans towards their Pagods, and to bear a part in the adorations and services which they render to Devils? Certainly, I do not conceive an honest man can consent so much as with one twinkle of his eye to such abominable customs. And truly it was with good reason that Tacitus held the Jews in that detestation which he discovers in his writings, being persuaded that they worshipped the Head of an Ass. But in this he was very much blamable, that being otherwise a grand personage, and who by his profession of being an Historian was obliged to impart to others the knowledge of the truth of things, he was so ill informed in this particular, that he ought not to have grounded so important a censure upon so slight a rumour. But that there have been Religions in former times, wherein such abominations were committed, is too manifest from History: and the Relations brought us from the East and West parts of the World, give us present testimonies of the like. Wherefore they against whom I now dispute aught at least to allow as much strictness in reference to the service of God, as to the Duties which they render to men. That is, they should readily conform themselves to such ceremonies as are consentaneous to right reason, or at least not manifestly dissonant and repugnant to it; but where they violate the Laws of Nature so rudely, it is not free for any one whatsoever to condescend to them.  
But the matter is something further considerable. For it also seems not to be more natural to men to conspire together uniformly in matter of Religion, than it is natural to them to think that it is the part of God to found and give the model of such a Society. All Nations have referred the invention of things to the Deity, which although they concern not God at all, yet seem hard and admirable; so as to esteem the first authors of them not only inspired by God, but worthy to be Gods themselves. The Art of waging War, those of Physic, and Poetry, and even of Embroidery had their inventors and patrons amongst the Gods. And as for things necessary to Life, the tilling of the Earth for the advantage of Corn, and the means of pruning the superfluities of vines to procure wine from them, were not found by men without the same help. It is true that if only the meaner and ignorant sort of people had been imbued with this belief, it might have been said that their ignorance occasioned the admiration which they had of all excellent inventions; because perceiving that they surpassed the power of their own wits, and measuring others by themselves, they might have imagined that men could not have invented them of themselves. And hence it also came to pass that the Epicureans have within a small degree placed their Master amongst the Gods; because being for the most part but little instructed in commendable Sciences, when they beheld him far above them, they conceited that he had somewhat of Divinity in him; although, without regard to the truth or falsity of his sentiments, he seems to have been but meanly qualified with gifts of the mind or acquisitions of knowledge. But whereas we observe the wise and learned to have likewise held that opinion, that the first Inventors were illuminated by some ray of Divinity, it must be confessed that it is a natural propensity in all men, and I know not what kind of constraint by the evidence of truth. Socrates being condemned to die, professeth that it was God that raised him up to teach Philosophy, and to reform the manners of his fellow Citizens by his precepts; and pronounces resolutely, that though they should open the Prison doors to him with injunction never to Philosophise more, he would not go forth, but would rather obey God then men. And Pythagoras when he had found out an excellent demonstration in Geometry, went and sacrificed a hundred Oxen: for what reason, saving that he acknowledged that God had favoured him with his assistance therein? And truly they had reason on their side. I would not so much derogate from the dignity of the humane Mind, as to take from it all power of inventing excellent things, and of profound disquisition. But there appeared such a Providence of God in what I have alleged, that he that bears not a great measure of obstinacy in his breast will suffer himself to be persuaded that God presided therein. Sometimes one Nation bears away the glory of Sciences and Arts, sometimes another; and divers Ages give birth to divers Inventions.  
Egypt of old for skill in Arts,  
Greece after had the fame.  
Rome gloried in their height a while,  
Now Paris bears the Name.  
Archimedes performed such wonders in the Mechanics, as none in the world ever effected since. And of late days the singular Inventions of Typography, and that terrifying one of Artillery, declare that God did not exhaust all his treasures in the Ages of old, but reserves some or other particularity to every Generation. It is true, when things are once found out, there's no body almost but observes a great obviousness and facility in their discovery; which yet is not so much, even in such things as are now 〈◊〉 days accounted the most easy, but that th● would never have come into any man's though without the influence of Heaven; or if they had, yet the atchieument and execution of the design would have seemed impossible without assistance from thence. Who observes not such an orderly concatenation in the Propositions of Euclid one with another, that they correspond together, and propagate in a continual series with infallible truth; and that consequently the power of humane wit may seem capable to have found out such a contexture of itself; since the only thing considerable is to perceive what follows indubitably from certain principles by the means of ratiocination? And nevertheless I cannot persuade myself (upon estimate of the great difficulty there was in the first discovery of those things, and of the admirable vivacity of imagination and vigour of judgement, requisite to the concinnation of their first compages) that that Person could possibly have drawn so many subtle and solid consequences from the first Principles laid down by him, and erect so firm a structure of a noble Science upon the same, without some especial favour of the Deity, who was pleased to provide by such means for the advantage of humane affairs, and for the adorning of our Minds with the Understanding of Sciences. What a marvellous thing was it to find out the Polar inclination of the Loadstone, and to make that discovery the foundation of the great Art of Navigation, by help of which these latter Ages have discovered so many unknown Lands and brought so many eminent advantages to our times above those of ●ld? But moreover Homer, who perhaps was the most clear sighted among the Pagans, notwithstanding his decried blindness, not only ascribes to God the invention of abstruse matters; but refers even our ordinary cogitations to him in these verses; 
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Talis nempe mens est terram-incolentium hominum,  
Qualem in dies indit pater hominumque Deumque.  And his Poem is throughout beset with advertisments directed to men from the Gods, as so many pourtraicts of the Divine Providence, suitably as the obscurity of the times and the ignorance of the true God could permit him. And hereunto likewise all intelligent men agree, especially the Poets, who seem to have been the Divines of the Pagans, and the Priests of their Mysteries. Now whereas they believed that humane Arts and Sciences, could not be invented without God, what would they have said of the Sciences of knowing and serving God himself? But although there may have been some dissonance of opinion among the Ancients concerning this Production or Birth of things; yet the foundation of these two kinds of Societies, Civil and Religious, has been considered by them as a thing altogether divine. Whence it is, that there never was any celebrated Legislator, but made mention of the Deity in the beginning of his Laws, as having received them in some sort by his inspiration, and so conciliated reverence to them from that suprem authority. And we find that all of them were generally believed by their subjects therein; although Political Laws are drawn from principles of Honesty and Equity derived from those wherewith nature hath imbued the minds of men: So universal and deep has the persuasion been, that such things as are commendable only for speculation or are beneficially practised, or difficultly found out and digested in beseeming order, are derived from Heaven, as their primary source. And concerning Religion, it is likely never any Nation would have reverenced each their own respective ceremonies of Religion, unless they had esteemed them to have proceeded from Divine Revelation. For not to mention the Jewish people at present, who boasted thereof heretofore, nor the Christians who glory therein now with a just title, and prove it by irrefutable demonstrations; can it be imagined Mahomet would ever have found so many Followers, unless he had pretended to a Prophetical Commission from God, and that the Deity had given him instructions of such things as he ought to do by the information of a Pigeon? Are not we told that to that purpose he published his Alcoran which he persuaded his Disciples was delivered to him from Heaven? It is not credible that so ridiculous a Law should be harboured in the minds of men so obstinately against all the attempts to suppress it by the Truth, were it not fixed by these kind of roots. As for the Pagans, Numbs Pompilius, who established the ceremonies of the Romans, pretended to have been taught them by the Goddess Aegeria; and in general, all Nations have respectively attributed the origine of their Mysteries to their Gods. They were in truth, all of them mistaken; but yet their belief was founded on this reason, that none can either speak or think aright of God, much less serve him as is meet, unless he be taught by God himself; as it is impossible for creatures destitute of Reason to pay him what is due to him, and contrive the ways of honouring him, like men. But as although Horses are incapable of inventing the rules of their management, and yet are reduced to a regular observance of them by exercise; so Men not being able to attain so high as to find out the means of forming their souls to Piety, nevertheless they can comprehend the same when they are revealed to them. But here I meet with an objection laid in our way; Does it not appear, say they against whom we dispute, that Religions have been invented by subtle and politic persons, to obtain a more absolute empire over the minds of others? For who can believe that Mahomet was really inspired by God, unless he be as great an Ignorant as that Impostor was? or that Numa had communication with a Goddess? And truly I do not gainsay, but there have been many Rulers that have made advantage of this pretext to abuse the credulity of their people. Nor will I say that all those which boasted of revelation have had correspondence with God, & instructions from him in reference to the ordaining and establishing matters pertaining to his service. Only I avouch men have been lead to believe it by the natural instinct of judging that Religion could not be given saving by the hand of God himself. And it is not difficult to render the reason on which it is grounded. Every Religion, whether good or bad, consists of two parts; In one of which are contained the laws of the Honour which is due to God; In the other, the means whereby the needs of men's souls are provided for, and how to infuse consolation and hope into them. But if one ceremony include both these particulars together, so that both the Deity is honoured and consolation procured to the soul of man; such ceremony, although it be but one, yet it ceaseth not to comprehend both those respects, and appears (as I may so speak) with both those two countenances. Now in reference to that which concerns the Deity, it hath been already declared that we live beset with too thick darkness to be able to know him of ourselves; and we shall make it more amply manifest hereafter. Touching the Wants of man, being every one's heart dictates to him that he hath deserved punishment for his offences, his consolation can consist only in the assurance of remission: but we are as much or more ignorant of the true means to obtain it, than we are in the knowledge of God himself. Whence it hath proceeded that all Nations have been so obnoxious to the frauds of Deceivers, who could never have found any credit amongst them, had they not been favoured by those inclinations and sentiments which naturally possess us. For there is in all souls not absolutely degenerated unto brutishness an extreme avidity of knowing the Deity, and especially a natural consciousness of their sins, with a lively apprehension of punishment and vengeance, and a despair of ever being able of themselves either to find out the means of comforting the conscience or of sounding the bottom of that infinite abyss. Whence the first of those that declared any thing concerning the Deity, and the means of making propitiation for sins, if men had never so little an opinion that those teachers were excited thereunto by God, and they were able to stamp the least impression thereof in their minds, they soon gathered a great stock of credit in the world. As they who are sick of some desperate disease, and which is inexpugnable by ordinary remedies, easily yield themselves up to the cozenage of Empirics, who make boast of great secrets unknown to all men besides. Or as they who are possessed with a violent passion for the Philosopher's Stone although otherwise perhaps intelligent enough, leave themselves open to the first impostor that promises them kingdoms and worlds.  
Hereunto our Adversaries usually object two things: First they say, if men cannot of themselves found a good Religion without particular revelation from Heaven, it is impossible for them to serve God aright, if he have not made such a declaration of his will: which if he hath done, 'tis a wonder how there come to be so few people that inquire after it or receive it. Secondly, whereas nature hath provided a supply of all things that are necessary to other creatures, it is not probable that she hath neglected man, and left him in utter privation of the principal thing he has need of, and without the knowledge and use of which he cannot but be miserable; in which regard she would have been a mother only to other Animals, and to man, the most excellent of all, a cruel malevolent Stepdame. But it is no great business to satisfy these complaints, and we shall begin with the last. Did we in the other things of Nature behold such order as is competent to their perfection, there would be a just occasion of complaint that she had strangely forgot herself in the particular we have in hand. For she would have produced man endued with an excellent faculty of understanding, without giving him any knowledge of the End or of the means destinated to lead him thereunto; and consequently, whereas all other things seem prudently designed to a certain end, man alone should have been brought into the world inconsiderately to discharge all his actions at random, and permit his natural appetites to run unguidedly at a venture. Which were unworthy of that Wisdom which we all acknowledge extremely admirable in divers things in the world of much less importance. But who is there that does not observe a lamentable irregularity in Nature? Sometimes the seasons fall out preposterously and intricately: Sometimes vermin devours the buds of the Trees of the field: sometimes the air is vitiated in such manner that it begets fatal pestilences; sometimes the Sea breaks in upon a Country and swallows it up with its inhabitants; and sometimes in another place the inundation of a River drowns great and flourishing Cities. What wonder is it therefore, that disorder, being diffused throughout the whole world, should also be found in the condition of one of its principal pieces. 'Tis true, will some of them reply, but have not these things their natural causes? Surely, yes; but 'tis as diseases have theirs. For a Fever is not without inflammation of the spirits and humours, and the humours are not inflamed except they have had some propensity to be so, either by reason of their corruption, or their abundance, or from the impression of some violent external cause. Now these causes which are here called natural, had never been, if there had not been a disorder in the nature of the bodies themselves. But those irregularities in particular things are proceeded from the disorder of their nature in general. As therefore, if the nature of humane bodies had continued in its integrity, a perfect and immutable healthfulness would have had its natural cause in an exquisite temperature of pure humours; so in the disorder which hath befallen it, diseases have their natural cause in the abundance or deficiency, corruption or distemperature of the humours also. Now all the world is like one Body, of which all the parts, had no change befallen it, would have been disposed in so excellent an harmony, that the accidents we mentioned could never have happened, which are like diseases surprising one or other of its members. And therefore as in Nature well regulated, fertility, an uniform succession of the seasons, and a good constitution of the aer would have had their natural causes in the perfect harmony of the Whole; So the disturbances which have succeeded, have theirs also in its discord and discomposure. But above all things whatsoever, that disorder is apparent in man, not only in the calamities which befall him more frequent and great then to any of the rest of the Creatures; from which it may seem Providence ought to have secured him: but chief in himself, in his affections, in the perturbations of his mind, in the reluctancy and contest of his Appetites against his Understanding, and in the darkness and perversity of his Understanding itself. And this has been the subject of high complaints in all Generations. Insomuch, that whoso beholds the Nature of things in the estate she is in at present, perceives her like a broken or unorderly Watch, of which the springs are some too stiff, and others too lax, and all its Wheels displaced; Or like a Great City, formerly full of magnificent dalaces and stately buildings disposed in a perfectly handsome order, which time or the fury of some provoked Prince ●ha's by fire and sword turned into rubbage and desolation.  
The Traveller for Rome in Rome inquires;  
And not to find her in herself, admires.  
Therefore to expect that Nature should now produce the same effects in man, which she would have done in her integrity, is as if one should require of a blind man to walk as directly as when he had good eyes; or of a mad man to have settled thoughts and agreeable to reason. Indeed, that which we affirm, that a particular revelation for ordaining the means of serving God, and for providing for the needs of man's soul, is absolutely necessary, is not to be referred to nature in its integrity, who perhaps would have furnished us sufficiently wherewith to have performed our duty and comforted ourselves. Like as a man that is both healthful, discreet and intelligent, is capable enough to preserve himself from things which may be hurtful to him; but when he is surprised with a disease, and the vapours of a Fever perturb his Fancy, he wants the assistance of another to prescribe him Physic, and rules for his recovery.  
And the second difficulty is resolved with the same facility. The greatest part of men imagine that the Religion of which they make profession is true; and are so far from taking pains to seek out any other, that on the contrary, when novelties are presented to them, they reject the same without further examination; being possessed with this prejudice against them, that since they have for a long while been owners of the truth, any other novelty cannot be but an Imposture. And this is usually strengthened by the natural affection which we have towards the fashions and uses of our own country, and the constitutions under which we have been educated from our infancy. For not only the mountains & rivers & fields of our own Country have a kind of pleasingness & attraction which allures our minds, but also the manners of the inhabitants and the customs practised amongst them. And it is no great wonder if we easily deceive ourselves in such things. For the same imbecility of our Understandings which hinders us from finding out the true Religion of ourselves, does likewise hinder us from judging so sincerely and distinctly as we ought, of such things as are propounded to us. Besides that the opinions wherewith We are already imbued, are a greater hindrance to us in this matter, then if we were ignorant of all Religions; because it is requisite that we first unlearn what we conceive we already know for certain; which is a very difficult thing: as Wool which has received some tincture beforehand, is less fit to be died into pure and native colours, then that which is altogether crude. As for those whose happier Understandings have enabled them to perceive the vanity of false Religions, and yet have not been instituted in the true, 'twas the despair of being able to discover it, which made them give over the inquiry; as if a man that had experienced the weakness and improfitableness of the Balm of Empirics, should utterly despair of Physic, and abandon the care of dressing his ulcer together with the hope of healing it. And if Diagoras & Euemerus, two persons branded by the Ancients with the title of Atheists suffered themselves to be carried to a total & absolute contempt of the Deity, there is great probability, that it was occasioned by the ill opinion which they had of their false Gods, and there being at a loss in finding out the means to substitute the true one in their room. But certainly I do not conceive that any other reason induced Socrates to reclaim men from the contemplation of divine and celestial things, which had been the principal employment of the Philosophers which lived before him, to the study of a Civil Life, and of the Laws of Policy and Virtue, after the vain attempts of his predecessors and his own. Whence it came to pass that he was condemned as a despiser of the Religion of his Country, because he saw that all their doctrine of the Gods was erroneous, and their ceremonies, superstition and vanity; and so finding no other Religion which satisfied him, he addicted himself to things in which the mind of man sees somewhat more clearly, such as is the doctrine of Virtue, and of the Laws upon which Governments are founded. As it is natural to us to take pleasure in things which are easy, and which we understand, and to disesteem those which are high and which we perceive are too remote for us to attain. But all this is not sufficient, unless we show by evident reasons that the particular declaration of the will of God in this point is absolutely necessary. Which shall be my undertaking in the ensuing Chapters.   

CHAP. II. How greatly it imports true piety, That every man be throughly assured that his Religion is Good; And, that that cannot be, unless it be of Divine Revelation.  
ALthough there be certain verities in Religion so evident, that the greatest part of mankind assents to them unanimously; as, that there is a God; &, That he ought to be honoured; That men are obliged to live agreeably to Reason and Nature; and, That the Deity which commands it so, rewards the observation of that commandment, and punishes those severely which transgress it: yet as to the manner of serving God aright, and also of living consentaneously to Nature and Reason, there has been always a thousand differences amongst those who of their own motion have gone about to teach it to others. For scarce can there be found any Commonwealth among those which have been esteemed the best policied, in which some grand and signal vice has not been excused or permitted, or even sometimes recommended by public Laws. But though they had accorded much better in the description of the duties incumbent on men one towards another; as it cannot be denied but that they have less disagreed therein then in that which pertains to Religion; there is no person so meanly versed in the history of the Pagan's ceremonies in matter of Religion, but observes a wonderful strange dissension about them. For under the name of Pagans, I comprehend not only the Greeks and Romans, although there was a great medley in their mysteries; but I also understand all other Nations, which either have been heretofore or are still destitute of the knowledgè of the true God, in several parts of the World. And this is not to be marvelled at. For since they have differed so much concerning the Nature of the Elements, and the principles of the composition of things; and have disputed so hotly touching fire, air, and water, things which fall under the notice of Sense; how was it possible they should agree in that, which with common consent surpasses all the power and acuteness of the mind of man? And in so great and almost unimaginable confusion of opinions, what wit had been capable to discover and sift out the truth, if there had been any in them, and to assure himself certainly that he had found it? In which regard the most prudent and moderate amongst them affirmed, that it was the safest way not to penetrate too far into things, and that God is a Being improportionably transcending humane comprehension. And the story of Simónides is too well known to need relating. How then could they know the means of serving God as they ought, seeing the reverence which we bear towards any thing is naturally measured according to the knowledge which we have of its nature? So that in the incertainty in which the mind of man fluctuates perpetually without any stay or guide, what could the devotion of those be, who could not be solidly instructed in that knowledge; or what could the zeal of those be towards any Religion who hold all to be of humane institution and indifferent? For there are but two guides in us, under whose conduct we are able to compass any thing; namely, Reason, and Appetite. Reason is moved by knowledge of the becommingness and profitableness of that which is offered to it, when it apprehends them in one object conjointly: for right reason will never account that profitable which is not honest too: but where it perceives honesty conjoined with apparent utility, it is carried forth towards the same without scruple. Passion is excited to motion by an infinite variety of incentives, of which none can be commendable when they are repugnant to reason, as hath been very well observed by the Philosophers themselves. If therefore a man be uncertain whether the Religion he professeth be good and profitable, that is, commendable in itself and congruous to reason, and that it teacheth the means of obtaining the favour of the Deity; which is the aim all Religions drive at: one of these two things will necessarily happen; either he will be very coldly affected towards it, or in case he be carried to it with zeal, it will be but a vehemence of Passion in his mind destitute of the guidance of reason, without which a man can do nothing worthy of commendation. For if Passion principally move him to it, the incertainty of the Nature of his Religion being considered with reason will keep his affection in suspense: and if he be lead on only by the bent of Passion, it will neither be a legitimate affection, nor a just and rational zeal. Now on the one side, I do not conceive these people make any account of a Devotion which is not but only in appearance, without the heart being affected therewith; since they would scarce allow their slaves to owe them such a kind of service; and on the other, that there is no appearance that they think the Deity accepts the worship which is performed by a blind passion and destitute of all rule and knowledge.  
It is indeed true that I meet with some, even among them which we are the name of Christians, who are of opinion that God looked with a  eye upon the devotion in which all Nations pretended heretofore to serve him in so many different forms; and that even their piety, although blind and dark, in that profound ignorance wherein they lived, was oftentimes followed with the benedictions of Heaven. But herein they do not concur with the principal Ministers of the Author of Christian Religion, who tell us that all devotion of the Pagans was a service performed to Devils. And as for the number of benefits which the Pagans received from Heaven, they were not conferred on them upon the account of their ceremonies, which were rather impieties and detestable abominations than Devotions; but proceeded merely from the consideration of God's being God, namely as he is good, and does not cease, notwithstanding any ingratitude of men towards him, to do good to them, as being naturally inclinable so to do, and a lover of the race of mankind. But whereas his purpose was to invite them to him by his benedictions, as soon as they had received them, they went to return thanks to Devils or certain Chimeras of Deities which themselves had invested with Divinity. But if he seems to have gratified some few more particularly, among whom there appeared a greater measure of devotion, as he favoured the Romans with numerous victories and other great advantages, which raised their Empire to so renowned a grandeur; they were ordinarily rather judgements executed upon other Nations, than testimonies of the favour of God towards the Republic of Rome. For it is certain, and the Prophets themselves foretold the same, that God expressly purposed to render that State potent and terrible, as if he would give a fierce and voracious beast teeth of Iron to destroy all that came in its way, to the end that by devouring other Nations as it did, it might execute the divine vengeance upon them, yet without understanding the secret end such actions tended to. And truly I know not how the Roman Arms could be acceptable to him by reason of their devotions, which were all abominations, since there is no appearance they could be so for their justice; For as the Pirate of old said to Alexander the Great, that himself was called a Pirate because he robbed on the sea with a Shallop, but Alexander was styled a Great King, though he practised the same trade, because he had a Fleet of five hundred sail; the same reproach may with good reason be applied to the Romans. What difference was there between them and Thiefs or Ravishers, saving that these cannot pillage but some few persons they meet with travelling in Woods, or some remote houses in Forests, and they plundered Kings and Kingdoms? Who sold that vagabond Romulus the jurisdictions of the Potentates of all the world, to transmit the same to his Descendants? There is then less reason to think that God took pleasure in their superstitions, which were inept and ridiculous, though they had had no reference to Devils. Can it be believed (for example) that God punished a Roman Consul with an overthrow of his Army, because he had despised the Augury they used to take from young chickens, who did not devour the food cast to them greedily enough? Or that Marcus Crassus was defeated and slain by the Parthians, because he had made light account of I know not what imprecations or curse, which had been made for him by Caius Atteius? Certainly there was never in the world a greater contemner of Auguries and Presages, and other such fopperies, than Julius Caesar; nor yet any Warrior that ever succeeded so fortunately and gloriously in so many Battles? For he seemed to have took up a resolution of trampling upon those superstitions, and braving his own Gods; and nevertheless all this hindered him not from achieving his Enterprises. It were to have an ill opinion of the Wisdom of God, to imagine he was pleased with the devotions and ceremonies, which the Roman Priests themselves despised in so high a degree, that One saith in Cicero, they had much ado to contain from smiling when they met one another in the streets. But if God sometimes heaped some particular favours upon Nations, whose Justice and Virtue were more commendable than their devotions, it was to show how grateful true Virtue is to him, since he regarded so graciously that which was no more than a shadow of it. Which tended to the incitement of other people, to the imitation of those whom he favoured so, because, as I said above, he loves the Society of mankind, and such Society cannot subsist without men bear at least some kind of affection to that which hath the appearance of Virtue and Justice. But as for their pretended Religions, he was ever so far from having any esteem of them, that he always had an implacable aversion against them. It is not my intention here to judge of the favour which he may have shown towards some in his great mercies. For it is in truth most certain, that upon judgement of things not according to appearance only, but by the Rules we have in the Word of God and by the Oeconomy he hath followed toward all Nations, besides the people of Israel, all the Gentiles were subject to a dreadful Curse. But it suffices that it is not my design at present to insist further upon this point; besides that it would be a great temerity to limit God in the dispensation either of his Wisdom or his other Perfections, or to pronounce determinately of things which are not revealed to us. I shall only say, that it is a thing directly repugnant to truth, reason, and Nature, that the Religions of the Ethnics should have been grateful to him. For it cannot be concluded that for that many amongst them were lead with a good zeal to such devotions (by a good zeal I mean the desire of being wellpleasing to the Deity therein) they therefore performed an acceptable or so much as excusable service to him. The aim and design of an action does not render the same good or praiseworthy, unless it be so in effect of itself, otherwise all things considered apart by themselves would be in a manner of the same value, and it would be only the End that made the difference between them. And because that opinion, That the intention alone is capable to denominate and put a price upon actions, is a Rock on which I observe many fall foul upon, I esteem it not impertinent to spend a few pages in explication of the matter.  
There are generally two sorts of things in which men are deficient either toward God or towards one another. The first are those in which men offend when they are transported by the violence of their Passions, although reason either by its own natural instinct, or advertisement by some express command of God, makes them hold out for a while. For where Vice has not wholly clouded and subverted reason (which happens only to such as God abandons in an extraordinary manner) men do not commit many considerable crimes without reluctancy of conscience; but at length, after some contest and encounter, Reason becomes captived by the violence of Passion. Now no person can on any grounds account these kind of actions excusable. For since the private conscience of those which perpetrate the same, does not acquit them, how can they be excused thereof by others? No question, every one is the most favourable judge of his own actions. But where we are condemned in our own censure of any fault, it would be great folly to expect our absolution from that of others. And nothing is more absolutely conformable to the Principles of Nature and Light of Reason, than Saint Paul's justifying the righteousness of the judgement which God will pronounce upon the Gentiles at the last day, by the condemnation which their own thoughts pronounce against them in their breasts. I am not ignorant that Passion is sometimes so vehement, and obscures the Understanding so far, that after the commission of an evil action, attempts are made to defend it, and reasons sought out to colour it with the dress & appearance of Good and Fit. But this proceeds from the affection which we bear toward ourselves, and from the obstinacy of our passions; which yet are of no moment to justify the deed. Otherwise the more wicked any one were, the more excusable would his wickedness be; for they are the most wicked, who have most given themselves up to the precipitous swing of their unreasonable appetites. Besides it often falls out that an action is notwithstanding condemned in the heart, though it be in show defended and excused; but men are unwilling to appear to others what they know themselves to be. If Passion troubles the judgement of reason in any one so, as to take from him the knowledge of the viciousness of his action, there needs only to give him leisure till the same be somewhat appeased and to bring him if possible to consult his thoughts with composedness and serenity of mind. For when once the Passion hath remited its violence, and gives room for reason, there is scarce any man in whom conscience does not perform the office of a judge which cannot be corrupted. If this be not effectual, but particular interests keep reason absolutely in subjection, it is requisite to separate the man and his fact, and represent to him the same action which he hath committed, under the name of strange persons disguising the story a little with some slight circumstances, which do not at all concern the groundwork. Thus the Prophet Nathan made use of an Apologue to David, after his adultery with Barsheba, and the murder of her Husband, to the end he might draw the King wholly from his own interests and prejudices which he might have in favour of himself. The consequence of which was, that he brought him to pronounce without hesitation a most equitable judgement, which immediately after he observed was applicable to his own crime. In effect, if a man does not in such case pronounce his own condemnation, it must be confidently affirmed that Vice is so much rooted and incorporated into his mind, that it hath extinguished all the seeds of Honesty which Nature had sown in it, and triumphs completely over his conscience and his reason.  
The second sort is of those things in which we fail by some error of judgement, without being transported by our Passions, and consequently without any repugnance of conscience. In faults of this nature we are sometimes excusable, and sometimes not. As for instance; If a man thinking to rid himself of his enemy kills his Father in the darkness of the night; the fact considered strictly is Parricide; but the ignorance of him that committed the same renders it a degree less, and excusable. Yea it may so fall out that his intention may make it commendable; as in case he understood himself to be with an enemy of his Prince or Country in an alarm, and that he could not possibly distinguish by any token, or suspect by any occasion or conjecture, that it were his Father. The true character which can manifest his purpose in the action, is, as Aristotle saith, if upon beholding his Father dead, he is displeased with his misfortune, and affected with a sensible regret and sorrow, and plead nothing in his own favour beside his total ignorance of the thing, and the false appearances which tempted him to the mistake. So it may be judged that Oedipus was extremely unfortunate, but neither a parricide nor incestuous: and that Thyestes eat the flesh and drank the blood of his children, and yet it ought not to be concluded that he was therefore any thing the more unnatural or barbarous. The piteous lamentations wherewith they both deplored their unhappiness, sufficiently bespeak their innocence of those crimes, and that the same were befallen them by a pardonable ignorance. One of them cries out to Jupiter, in Seneca, 
Me pete; trisulco flammeam telo facom  
Per pectus hoc transmitte—  And the other, as soon as he came to know whence he was, broke forth into these words, in Sophocles, 
— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  And thereupon in a furious despair tore his eyes out of his Head. But all ignorances' are not alike, For there are some things we are ignorant of, because though we do know them, yet we take pleasure to delude ourselves by vain reasons on purpose to obliterate their knowledge out of our minds; like bad servants who construe their Master's orders to a contrary sense, because they are not according to their humour, and indevor to persuade their misinterpretation to others, till at length they are drawn to believe for true what they so strongly desire should be so. Thus some man that in the commencement of a Lawsuit, understood at first that he had the wrong side, is by the eagerness, slights and subtleness of Barratry so perverted from the knowledge of justice, that at last he takes up an assurance that his cause is Good. Now is the injustice which he commits afterwards in pursuit of such a persuasion, any wise excusable by his ignorance? If it be, there is no command but may be securely infringed, when it is free for servants to gloss upon the words of their Masters: no sort of in justice, which does not become right and equitable; nor fraud but may be converted into sincere and commendable proceeding, if it be lawful for a man to blind himself with his passion, and to perplex the knowledge he hath of Truth in affected difficulties. Where there is an absolute commandment and which proceeds from a sovereign authority, such as God's is, we ought to be so humble and obedient, as though we should not comprehend all the reason of such command, yet the authority of the person that gives it supplies what is defective in the understanding of the same. And Verity and Justice ought to be of such esteem as where they appear clearly to us, though it be not easy to untie all the difficulties which may arise, we ought to hold them always notwithstanding for sacred and venerable. As on the contrary, that perversion of Reason which is effected by the subtlety of cavillations and Sophistry invented to abuse men, aught to be esteemed an intoxication of the Understanding. But do we hold him excusable who being disturbed with excess of wine commits a wrong or an indignity? No, certainly; for since he is the cause of his own error, his ignorance ought to be imputed to him together with the rest of the mischiefs consequent to it, what intention soever he had during the perturbation of his debauchery.  
Lastly, There are some things which we are ignorant of, because we have been too supine in searching to know them. But if through such ignorance a man commit something against Nature and Reason, is there any just cause to acquit him of the fact? No more surely then in the other. For the documents of Nature and Reason are sufficiently clear, if diligence be employed to comprehend them; and in such cases the negligence itself is a crime, every man being obliged to be attentive and circumspect in that which is duty. Now it is not at all reasonable to excuse one fault with another, or to judge the duty not incumbent on a man, because he is ignorant of it at such times as he might have known it. So the Pagans were ignorant that the Statues which they erected to the Deity, were a disparagement to his glory, and thought they well discharged the duties of Piety, when they burnt incense to him before those Images. It is not doubted but they had a good zeal therein, that is to say, a desire of performing somewhat wellpleasing to the Deity. But yet their Worship was no other than detestable Idolatry, seeing it was possible for them to have learned by contemplation of the Universe and the Providence which governs it, that God is of an infinite and spiritual nature, and which hath no resemblance with ours. For to speak plainly, they did him as little honour as they would have done to Augustus, if after they had heard wonders related of his Wisdom, Valour, and other rare qualities, they should have represented that great Emperor under the figure of a Beast. For if their good intent justified them, the Egyptians might have as much to plead for themselves when they adored God under the likeness of irrational, yea even of dead and insensible creatures. Because the duty of the Conscience toward the Deity is like that of a Wife towards her Husband, namely, as precise and incommunicable to any other; and to defend the Idolatry of the Pagans with the pretext of a good meaning is as if a man should go about to excuse a Wife who had amorously entertained some other person in her Husband's absence, under colour that she fancied some resemblance between them, and should not dissallow that being she could not enjoy her Husband, she was for his sake much affected towards his image. In a word, in the ignorances' of which we are not ourselves the cause, the Action takes its tincture from the good intention, and is judged accordingly: but in ignorances' proceeding either from a manifest affectation, or apparent negligence to obtain the truths which offer themselves to the Understanding, the intention, how good soever it he, follows the nature of the Action; so that if the Action be bad, the intention cannot possibly be good.  
But to return to our purpose; Certainly God is not only the principal, but the only object of Religion; so that the knowledge of Him is the foundation of all Piety: which if it be solid, the structure built upon it will be firm; if bad and faulty, all that is raised upon it will fall to ruin. He that pleases may read in Cicero, the relation which Velleius there makes of the opinions of the Philosophers concerning this matter. I have recited some of them already, but there are more remaining; for we may find there about four or five and twenty, ready counted; besides several which he forgot. Diogenes Laertius also affords better store; but they all agree in this particular, that they are in a manner equally false, extravagant and unworthy the name of their Authors, who were generally commendable persons and of great reputation; Otherwise, they are strangely discordant in all circumstances. Yet every one of them conceived he had reason on his side, and that his fancy was dressed up with rational and handsome probabilities and appearances. In which horrible jarring what means is there to distinguish the voice of truth, if it were amongst them? Who is he of mankind whose intellectuals are subtle and versed enough in this matter, to be able to discern her in the midst of such confusion, and to assure himself that he hath observed her by her peculiar characters? But surely there is none that bethinks himself to find truth in that medley of sentiments and opinions although his Understanding were quicker-sighted in these matters then naturally it is: for most certainly it is not to be found there; and I dare readily give those against whom I dispute their choice to maintain without blushing the most tolerable of them all: Except perhaps that of Anaxagoras, who (according to the relation of Cicero) affirms that the order and excellent disposition of all things owes its original to an infinite Understanding, but Diogenes Laertius does not express that he determined whether that Understanding were of a finite or infinite essence. And Anaximenes, whose disciple he had been, contented himself with saying that the Principle and Element of all things is infinite; leaving it to be conjectured whether he meant the Matter thereby, as the Air, or Water (which was the opinion of Thales) or some other like thing; or rather that which endued the same with Form and Order, which Anaxagoras termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But if the opinions of these two be put together, it may be Anaximenes attributed infinity to the Matter, and Anaxagoras added to the sa●e an infinite Understanding, not only to frame and dispose it, but also to serve for its Form. From whence it results that the World is an infinite God and yet composed too, such as Pliny fancies it in the beginning of his Natural History, and Virgil describes in the verses which I here subjoin; 
Principio coelum ac terram camposque liquentes  
Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra  
Spiritus intus agit, totamque infusa per artus  
Mens agitat molem, & magno se corpore miscet.  Now this conceit is implicated with a thousaud absurdities & impertinences. And yet Philosophers of the present Age have no cause to boast that they are naturally more knowing in this particular then their predecessors were. All that the strength of the mind of man is able to reach to in reference to the knowledge of the Deity, was attempted in that interval of time which interceded between that wherein Philosophy began to flourish in Greece and the declination of the Roman Empire. It was in that period that we experienced all our power, and found at the upshot of our knowledge that we understood nothing at all of it.  
How then (will some say) Are there not instances enough in Heaven and Earth & the Government of the world, from whence to extract at least some good and solid knowledge of God? If there be not, why then are arguments drawn from thence against the Epicureans, to prove providence to them, and to refute their opinions concerning the nature of God? If there be, why cannot a man make use of them, to guide him at least in some measure to the knowledge of those secrets? God forbidden that we should so much forget ourselves, as to forget how clearly God has revealed himself in the World. The manifestation which he hath made therein of his Perfections is one thing, and the faculty which we naturally have to understand them, an other. Reason indeed, but that which is right and in its integrity, not such as we now possess, might have thence collected the means of serving God in a due manner. But as it is depraved, blind, and maimed in its powers and apprehensions, it is utterly incapable of discerning the truth therein, or forming certain rules of piety from thence. There is light enough in the Sun to make it be seen; but it is by those who have eyes: to these who never had any, or have lost them, it is as dark as the Earth on which they tread. In like manner an infinite number of bright and excellent truths are held forth in the World and its Government, to him that has the eye of his Understanding sufficiently clear and serene. But the Eye of the Understanding, which we call Reason, in the conditition we enjoy it at present, is so distempered, clouded and perturbed, that it beholds the truths which are there, notwithstanding all their clearness, but very obscurely; and though they are most certain and steadfast in themselves, yet when it contemplates them, it perceives them only as if they were inconstant and wavering. Nor are men in this Age more free from these natural impediments than they were two thousand years ago, and consequently can be no better assured of their knowledge. For to say that 'tis a Science which may aswell have been improved as others, they which lived since having taken from the Opinions of the Ancients what was pure and rejected the unsound and bad, is a thing of no moment to our discourse, because it is untrue. Perhaps Aristotle built his Philosophy up with the opinions of Elder Philosophers, by refining them from that which he found faulty, and serving himself with the truths before discovered by them, aswell to employ the same as materials to his structure, as to find out others which were yet abstruse and unknown. And indeed it hath been observed that Hypocrates furnished him with the grounds of his Physiology, so that he had no more to do but to build upon them; and some have moreover believed that in divers places of his Writings and particularly in his Epistles he supplied him with many singular advantages to the composing of his Ethics. And although he refutes Plato in several of his Opinions, yet it is certain that he took many excellent instructions both from the discourses which he heard him make in his Academy, and from the reading of his Works. But, I pray, observe how this came to pass. Aristotle was endued with an understanding capable to discern distinctly enough in matters of Philosophy, the truths which his predecessors had brought to light, and distinguish the same from falsities; he was able to cull out and to place some apart from others, and so to compose out of his own inventions and those of others, a Body of Science better contrived then any had been before, and whose parts were more correspondent amongst themselves. But here the Question is concerning truths, which the mind of man, in its present estate, is not capable to perceive clearly; so that if he were put to make his choice of those different Opinions, it would betid him, that instead of happening right, he would rather choose the worst; and thus it hath fallen out to all them which took imperfect humane reason for their guide therein; If this reason be not satisfactory to my Adversaries, let them pay themselves with experience. Why did not Cicero garble all those different Opinions of Philosophers touching the Nature of the Gods, to frame a good one if possible, and leave posterity a rational doctrine in so important a matter? But in stead of doing so, the consciousness of his weakness makes him content himself with reciting them: and after all his stories, he knows as little of it as he did at first; as if they had been nothing but clouds and darkness cast before his eyes. Or why do not they show us the writings of some Philosopher either ancient or modern, who being no otherwise assisted then by the mere light Reason, has had more sound and sober opinions concerning it then his predecessors? On the other side, it will be found that some Philosophers, who heretofore impugned Christian Religion, and the Books of the Old and New Testament, and who ought to have purified that doctrine from the old absurdities it abounds with, to the end their adversaries might have less advantage against it, have been guilty of as many impertinences as they of preceding times, and afforded as much cause to be insulted over in regard of the stupidity and ridiculousness of their conceits. The unhappiness is, that being naturally blind in these things, we nevertheless conceive we see clearly; and are so possessed with a good opinion of ourselves, that we will not admit any one to teach us; or if we have been taught by some bodyelse, we are so ungrateful that we will not acknowledge it, but reproach and execrate those persons from whom we have received all the purest of our knowledge. For 'tis the same case with these people and the Epicureans: who having been enlightened by Christian Religion in many truths, in the ignorance or incertitude of which they had otherwise eternally staggered or fluctuated, they arrogate the glory of having of themselves drawn them out of the bottom of Democritus' Well, or established the belief of the same amongst men by the strength of their reason. For, why are they not (say they) as capable to invent them, as they are to apprehend and receive them since they are revealed? A wonderful Question truly, and worthy of such subtle persons! As if there were not a capacity in children of a dozen years old to apprehend the most difficult Geometrical Demonstrations, when they are taught the same by some skilful Master; who notwithstanding could never of themselves have invented the least Theorem in that Science; Or as if we did not see them every day learn the Arabic Tongue readily by help of a knowing Instructor, although they were as well able to pull the Stars out of Heaven (as we say) as to have disentangled the confusion of that Language and reduced it into Grammatical Rules. It is indeed by the same faculty of Understanding that discovered truths are comprehended, and those found out which are unknown; but there is required a far greater strength and vivacity of Intellect to make new discoveries then to comprehend things which are offered ready framed to our hand. Semblably as the difference is which uses to be put between the Intellectus agens and patience; of which the latter is capable only to receive the Ideas of things arriving to it by the representation of objects; whereas the former refines and illuminates them, and purifies them from what they have of terrestrial or material, that so they may become absolutely worthy of our contemplation. Since therefore it is demonstrated that without a supernatural revelation, the mind of man can have no certain understanding of the nature of God, it is necessarily consequent that without such revelation he is not able to render any acceptable service to him. For if he frame Ideas of God which are unsuitable to him, he will not adore God when he designs to do so according to those Ideas, but only a vain Phantasm of his Imagination. And it cannot be thought, but that in the natural darkness of our minds we are unable to frame other conceptions of him then what are infinitely below his excellence, and which attribute nothing to him but such as disparage his dignity. But upon a stricter inquiry, we shall find yet something further. For supposing a man were so happy as casually to light upon the knowledge of the true God, yet the incertainty which accompanies such a knowledge of chance, hinders all good and lawful exercise of the Religion which he so found out of himself. For either the probabilities which adjudge it good, and the appearances which on the other side indubitate it, will be equal in our judgement; or we shall esteem those which induce to believe it bad of greatest moment; or those most rational which incline us to judge favourably thereof. Whence if in the first place the mind of man remain in suspense, when any religious action is to be performed, whether he ought to do it or not, he will become poised between contrary probabilities, and indetermin'd (as they speak) not knowing on which side to propend. If he makes any resolution, it will be wholly to abstain from the same, upon this consideration, that as in a doubtful case whether Wine would be hurtful to a sick person or not, it is better to give him none at all, since it cannot be so profitable but it may be as noxious; so it is better to abstain from a dubious action in matter of Religion, because being done at a venture, it cannot so much please God in case it should be good in itself, but it may equally offend him if it should be bad. And his conscience will readily flatter him with this thought, that God will take it better from him that he has abstained from doing a thing wellpleasing to him, out of fear to offend him, then if he should offend him by putting it to the chance of performing a thing wellpleasing to him. For the omission of that which is good, is criminal indeed; but the perpetration of evil is a double guilt, first in the commission itself, and next in abstaining from doing the contrary good. But if he judge the reasons which dissuade the thing as bad, to be preponderant, than he will either abstain from doing it, according as reason enjoins him; or if he commit it, yet, how excellent otherwise soever it be, it will not be a good action in regard of him, but a crime. For he will have committed a thing with deliberate purpose which he judged offensive to the Deity; which would be no less then to trample on all respect which we ought to have towards God. And this Cicero hath well observed in things simply moral. For he teaches expressly, that a good man ought to do nothing contrary to the dictate of his conscience or judgement, and accounts that to offend Jupiter and to go against the motion of a man's own conscience in any thing whatsoever is one and the same thing. Lastly, when the appearances which induce to believe the thing good, seem somewhat more plausible and reasonable than the others, if he be not a profane person (whose religious actions the Deity cannot behold with a  eye) he will scarce be able to guide himself therein without being driven by the natural timerousness of his conscience into irremediable perplexities. For like as when a man hath eaten something which he suspected was poisonous, if afterwards he happen to feel the least alteration in his body, he is troubled for so doing, because the danger wherein he conceives himself disturbs his Understanding, and augments his suspicions, quite dispelling those reasons which overweighed the same at first: so our conscience being of itself very easily terrified with apprehension of the judgements of God, at the least cross accident which befalls it, reputes of its action with incredible anguish & regret. In which condition a man is very prone to take up a persuasion that the most safe Religion is to have none at all, and so follow the maxim of those who account it better to miss of gain then to put themselves in so great a hazard of loss. Now if any one should demand how then it came to pass that all Pagan Nations have each of them had their particular Religion, & that these considerations have not been available to divert them from embracing some or other; the reason is not difficultly given thereof. Amongst the Pagans some were contemners of the Gods; and if they did addict themselves to Religion, it was but by a manner of caution, lest they should incur the universal hatred of the world; and so never entered at all into so profound a disquisition concerning these matters. Others had not indeed a Religion revealed from Heaven; but yet they thought so at least: and this false opinion obliged them to the exercise of their devotions, almost as strongly as if they had assuredly known them to be true and good. For whether the reasons that persuade us any thing be good or bad, yet the same motions in a manner are excited by such an opinion which the clear and solid knowledge of the truth would raise in us. There is no considerable difference, saving in the vehemence, and principally in the constancy of those motions, no more than there is between the joy of one that has ●ound a true Diamond, and another that has found a false one, so long as he believes it to be a precious Stone. But it is time to pass on to other more particular considerations.   

CHAP. III. Of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Creation of the World: How greatly it imports true Piety to be fully assured of both; And that a man cannot be so without a particular Revelation.  
IN this contention against the Epicureans, I ought to have questioned whether they believed the Humane Soul to be Immortal, because they which anciently were of this sect accounted it mortal as that of Brutes is; so that if they of the present Generation will follow the traces of their predecessors, they must also consent with them in this opinion. And nevertheless I can scarce be persuaded that our Times could bring forth men so unnatural against themselves; unless perhaps some wild dissolute young persons, whose minds are wholly taken up with Wine and Women. But being now to dispute against those that acknowledge a Providence in God by which he governs the Universe, I must presuppose that they esteem their Souls survive their bodies, and that death hath no power over them. So we find that all such as believed a Providence, have likewise taught the Immortality of our Souls, as things inseparably conjoined; excepting the Saducees, who having the Books of Moses to instruct them, aught to be judged the blindest people of the World, that could not discern this truth therein. For all Religion being founded on this Hypothesis that our Souls are incorruptible, seeing they acknowledge God to have been the Author of the Religion taught and commanded in those Books, why should they not likewise acknowledge that God did by the same means establish and confirm this Common Hypothesis. Truly all Religion aims at a double End, The illustrating the glory of God's Providence and Perfections, and The comforting good men in their afflictions. Now whereas good men fall into so many calamities in the World, but Wicked oftentimes prosper, and that even the Good are oppressed by the wicked, what glory would redound to that Providence from a Religion, which should constitute no time at all after this Life, in which the Good might receive comfort for their sufferings, & the Bad vengeance for their crimes. What great commendation were it to preside over the mixture of Elements in the composition of Things, and to cause every one to follow its nature regularly, and in the mean time to take no care of those which reverence the Deity, but connive at the lewdnesses of such as contemn him? Not to conduct the course of Nature in a due manner, might speak some defect of Wisdom; But not to compensate the Virtue of the Good, nor punish the crimes of the Vicious, besides the defect of Wisdom in not adjusting things aright suitably to their qualifications, and crossly coupling prosperity with Vice, and Misery with Virtue, there would be a too notorious defect of goodness and justice. And perhaps it would not be less expedient to follow the doctrine of Epicurus (which notwithstanding we have convinced of infinite absurdities and impieties) then to ascribe a Providence to the Deity, and not to believe the immortality of the Soul: it being less unworthy the Divine Nature to neglect the Universe altogether, then to administer humane affairs with so much negligence, injustice and irregularity. But if there redounds little glory to the wise, good and just Providence of God from such a Religion, there accrues no more consolation to men; there being so small grounds to expect the remuneration of Virtue in this Life, that the greatest admirers of it, perceiving themselves fall short of their attempt, at the end of their account, term her a mere vain shadow; and most deserving persons complain, that all things fall out preposterously to their hopes, while they observe unjust men flourishing in the midst of Pomp and Pleasure, and themselves insulted over and oppressed by arrogant and haughty Wickedness. For as for what is alleged, that all the Blessings which God promises in the Books of Moses to those whom he prescribes a Religion to upon his Covenant, are of Temporal things, which have no further relation then only to the durance of this Life, and therefore there can be no certain proof of the Souls immortality drawn from thence; if it were so, the Covenant would be frustraneous and to no purpose. For I dare boldly affirm that of all those which are therein recorded with praise for religiously observing it, not one did attain, I do not say a perfect felicity of the present life so long as it lasted, for recompense of his Piety, but not so much as might countervale the afflictions which he suffered. In so much that God himself in attesting their constant observance of his Covenant, should accuse and condemn himself of being deficient towards them; since they lived miserably for the greatest part of their Days. And those words of Jacob, My days have been few and evil, would be an eternal reproach to his promises and his Providence. Wherefore it must either be denied that there was any Religion constituted by the command of God in the Books of Moses, or the Saducees must confess that the immortality of the Soul is presupposed therein and confirmed by the testimony of God himself; since the belief of the corruptibility of our minds subverts the foundation of all Religion in the World.  
Nevertheless, although the Doctrines of Providence and the Souls immortality are inseparably allied, and the latter is also demonstrated by invincible reasons which we deduced briefly a little above, yet it has happened to it, as to divers other fundamental verities in Religion, namely that men remained in suspense concerning the same, till they were acertained of it by a divine revelation. So that the most knowing Grecians (from whom Learning descended to the Romans) spoke so doubtfully of it, that it is not plainly known what they conceived about it: and they which most inclined to believe their Minds immortal, never declared themselves very positively that they thought so. Some have related that Thales was the first among the Philosophers that believed the Immortality of our Souls, and indeed he is the first of whom Greece boasted for Philosophy. Before he and the rest which were termed Wisemen in his time set themselves to refine and regulate it, all that had attempted any thing, left it but in a rude dress and unseemly equipage. And it is a great evidence of the truth of this Doctrine, and a fair instance of the Providence of God in favour of it, that that School of Wisdom among the Pagans began to be polished and perfected by it, and was as it were built upon this foundation. But into how many sects did Philosophy soon after degenerate, of which there were some that expressly denied it, and others which made a doubt of it as of all other things? With what ambiguity and incertainty have even they spoke of it, who seemed desirous to teach it? Aristotle is extremely intricate about it, and seems sometimes to affirm one thing and sometimes another. Nor can it be conjectured why he so dubiously explicated himself in this point, being otherwise wonderfully eloquent and happy in his expressions, unless either because he knew not well what to hold, as he declares freely in one place, That it is not yet evident what the Understanding of men may be; or because he believed that the Soul is extinguished with the Body, and yet would not pronounce it openly, for fear of giving scandal; as there are found many brave spirits, who living amongst men of condition are content to dissemble their opinions in matters of this nature. So likewise he seems to have dissembled what he thought of the best Form of Government, for fear of offending Aristotle. I am willing to ascribe myself into the number of them who believe that there is greater appearance that Aristotle was of the Opinion that affirms the Soul's immortality, and I know many excellent passages may be produced out of his Writings which favour it. But yet so it is, that in other places he seems to lay down principles which are incompatible with the same, and some of his most famous disciples have believed that he held the contrary. Socrates, as we find in Plato, knows not how to be confident of it, and persuades himself by reasons which for the most part are but of slender moment; and always speaks of it, as of other things, with doubting, and not determining any thing: although through the desire he had that his Soul were immortal, he inclined more willingly to this opinion, and accounted it of most probability: which is Cicero's judgement in his Tusculan Questions. And, truly, I conceive that in all things of this Nature the vulgar had better apprehensions than the Philosophers; yea, that the Philosophers corrupted the sentiments of Nature, which remained more lively and genuine in the breasts of the people. For they had wit and knowledge enough, to frame objections against the common conceptions of men, but yet they had not sufficient to resolve them; whence their minds became unsettled and wavering. Whereas the people, who understood not so much subtlety, held themselves more firmly to that which was taught them by nature itself, and they had received from her, though doubtingly, in regard of the weakness and ignorance of humane reason. As it often falls out, that a man that knows nothing in Civil Law, and yet hath some natural faculty of understanding, better discerns the right of a certain Case, then knowing Professors who have their heads full of Statutes and Paragraphs; great skill rather perplexing and confounding then resolving them in the knowledge of things. But Philosophical disputes being spread from the Schools into Towns among the people have obscured and disordered such natural notions, much more than the people by their own ignorance and negligence could have depraved and embroiled the same of themselves. However, were they much better assured than they are that their Souls do not perish with their bodies, yet they must necessarily be extremely ignorant of the estate of them after their separation. For how blind so ever the reason of man be in that which concerns the Deity, his Nature, Perfections and Providence, yet the arguments which satisfy us of them are so clear and resplendent in the World that in spite of all the darkness of the humane Intellect, there is always some beam that breaks through, affording that dubious and confused knowledge we mentioned was found amongst the Nations of the World. And how entangled soever the disputes of Philosophers were, the rational soul of Man gives always so many proofs of its incorruptibility, that the knowledge thereof cannot be totally extinguished. But as to its estate after this Life, it is not only impossible for men to divine of themselves what it will be, by reason of the corruption and irregularity which is befallen their faculties, but though the eye of their reason were as clear and luminous as could be desired, yet they were hardly able to make the least probable conjecture concerning it, because God hath written nothing of it in the book of Nature, from which we draw all our knowledge. But they which are instructed by Religion in the History of the World's Original, can very easily give account thereof. For God having produced Man in the Nature of things, in such an estate that if he had persisted in it, he should not have feared death, the revelation of that estate which must follow this Life would have been unprofitable to him, who was made, in case that the design of his creation had been pursued, to live perpetually in the World, and never to undergo the separation of his Soul from his Body. For that Truth teaches us (and likewise reason being informed in this particular either consents to, or is convinced of it) that it was the Offence which the First Man committed, which introduced death into the World. To what purpose therefore should God have imprinted in Nature any evidence or token of the estate of man after death, since in that first integrity of nature, there was no suspicion nor shadow of Death itself? It is true, indeed, that God denounced to man, that if he degenerated from his integrity, he should die; which might have occasioned some thought in him of the pains which follow death, being he knew that his Soul was immortal. But the apprehension of punishment after sin, and also of that which follows death, does not infer any other of remuneration, unless God reveal mercy and hope of pardon after the transgression. Which God had not as yet done in the integrity of Nature. So that man having from God neither hope of pardon in case he should sin, nor any cause to think of death in case he should not sin, he had no occasion to raise his mind higher towards a better life. But if any one conceives some scruple touching the perpetuity of the life of man upon the Earth, if he had not fallen into sin, and imagines rather that God, after he had lest him for some Ages in the World to practise obedience and virtue, would have at last taken him to himself, and given a greater recompense than that which he could have enjoyed in a terrestrial felicity, he must also confess that to instate man in the enjoyment of such remuneration, there would have been no need of Death, and so that it was not necessarily for him to know what the estate of his Soul after separation from his body should be. Moreover, whatsoever that compensation would have been which man should have received for his Obedience and Virtue, insomuch as it would have been a condition and a glory supernatural, some revelation of it must necessarily have been made by another way, than nature; namely, then by the evidences which may be had from consideration of the Works of God, and the Government of the World. And in truth, to hear the Poets and Philosophers speak of it, sufficiently evinces that such as have had no other light to guide them in search of these things, but that of Nature and Reason, have only groped in the dark. For how ridiculous is the description which they make of the Infernal Regions and Elysian Fields? Is it not pleasant to behold the Landscape which Virgil hath drawn of them in the sixth Book of his Aeneids? where he speaks of Rhadamanthus, and the severity of his sentences; and forgets not to paint out Tisiphone with her scourges and serpents, together with the Furies. He also places there hideous Hydra's, and I know not what kind of other vile beasts at the gates of Hell; and in that horrible prison which he represents twice as deep as heaven is high above us, he lodges the Titans, the Aliodes, and Salmoneus. There is also Tityus, who covers nine Acres of Ground with his body, and whose growing entrails are perpetually devoured by a Vulture. And not far from him the Lapith● with Ixion and Pirithous, over whose heads hang great rocks ready to fall upon them. He assigns there to some for their punishment, to roll a great stone eternally; and fastens others to the Spokes of a Wheel that turns about incessantly, and tortures as it turns. He fixes the poor Theseus upon his seat, and condemns him never to stir from it, being a torment fitted to a man that loved to travel; and at last concludes that if he had a hundred tongues and as many mouths, he could not recount all the sorts of punishments wherewith sinners are tortured in that place. As for good men, he allots them more liberty of air, and a more spacious habitation, where the sky is displayed with a fair purple light, and they behold their Sun and their Stars as we do ours: there some exercise themselves in various sorts of combats, as leaping, running on the grass, and wrestling on the Sand: others dance to the Music of Orpheus' Violin; and so others divert themselves with other sports and recreations. Are not these whimsies very capable of giving satisfaction to those which read them? Nor can it be said these extravagances are peculiar only to the Poets, but that other men and especially Philosophers held more rational opinions. For, as I formerly said, the Poets were the Divines of the Pagans, chief in these matters, so that the Philosophers themselves admitted their fancies into their doctrines. Indeed Plutarch in the Treatise which he writ upon this Motto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seems to offer at some more reasonable interpretation of those follies, than what they present to the understanding at the first view: but nevertheless all the explication which he gives of them, amounts only to this that the wicked Souls are plunged and overwhelmed in the perpetual oblivion of all things. And in his Consolation directed to Apollonius, he adheres to the opinion of Pindar concerning the place and state of the Happy, which Pindar in the place which he alleges, describes almost after the same manner that Virgil doth, who seems to have imitated him. If an Author so grave and judicious as Plutarch was, suffered himself to be deluded with these fine imaginations, what shall we think of all other people, who were of meaner capacities than he, not of the vulgar pitch only, but even among Philosophers? But truly, their blindness in this matter must be favourably censured; since in other things they could discourse and argue against Fables, and observe perhaps that the combats of the Gods one against another, their Loves, Hatreds and Jealousies, their employments of the Forge and Spinstry, their Nectar and Ambrosia, were but pleasant fictions, or Romantic fancies of Homer and his posterity of Poets. The light of Reason ennabled them wherewith to encounter these stories, so that they were not only convinced of their vanity, but invented somewhat of greater solidity: but in this particular, if they beheld absurdities which they were not able to maintain, they were not able to substitute any truths in their place. So that it was necessary for them either to admit such Trifles, as some did, or to live in a most profound ignorance of the estate of their Souls after the dissolution of the body, which was indeed most ordinary. And Epicurus knew no better way to interpret the Allegory of those ●ables, then to bring Hell up into the Earth, and to affirm that all which the Poets relate of the things below, as of the rock which hangs over the head of Tantalus, and the Rowling-stone of Sisyphus, and Tityus' Liver which is continually devoured by birds of prey, and the Tun of the Danaides, which could not be filled wtth all their pains in lading water into it, is felt only in this life by covetous, ambitious and fearful minds exagitated with their own exorbitant passions. In a word, the soul of man being extinguished when the body dies, all that is reported of Hell and things done there is frivolous; and Cerberus and the Furies, 
— Et lucis egenus  
Tartarus horriferos eructans faucibus astus,  are nothing at all in his opinion; but 
Metus in vita paenarum pro malefactis  
Est insignibus insignis, scelerisque luela,  
Carcer & horribilis vesano jactu deorsum;  
Verbera, carnifices, robus, pioe, lumina, taedae:  
Quae tamen etsi absunt, at mens sibi conscia facti  
Prametuens, adhibet stimulos, torretque flagellis.  Now it cannot be expressed of how great importance this ignorance is to the life of men. For as the hope of recompense is a quick spur to Virtue, so is the fear of punishment a most efficacious bridle to restrain from Vice; so that the study of that and the hatred of this increases or diminishes according to the proportion of knowledge which we have of the reward prepared for us. And the more men are corrupt, as experience shows they are infinitely, the less do they prise Virtue for itself, and on the contrary their inclinations are more violently carried forth to vice. Which is an argument, that 'tis only the fear of punishment and the hope of compensation which moves them, not the native beauty of Virtue or deformity of Vice. Whence in so gross an ignorance of their condition after this life, it was impossible that they should be effectually reclaimed from the one or duly excited to the other. So that the conclusion clearly results that God must reveal himself from Heaven to be the rewarder of Virtue, and the severe avenger of Vice, not only in this Life, but also in that which is to come, by giving a sufficient information of the quality of the reward. And because so long as we are clothed with this body and accustomed to sensible and corporeal things, we can scarce comprehend any thing but by the Ministry of the Senses or under the image of sensible things; if such revelation be expressed in Allegorical speeches, taken from what is most ardently desired or feared in the world, it is requisite First that such description be grave, and savouring nothing of the weakness of the mind of man, which is evident in those of the Poets. In the next place, there must be in such a revelation in which the penalties and recompenses to come are veiled under the shadow of corporeal and sensible things, other simple descriptions, to explain such as are typified, and give us to understand that both what it promises, and what it threatens shall be in a manner proportionable to the nature of humane Souls, and not extravagant or incompatible therewith.  
And lastly, it is necessary that such revelation be accompanied with so clear evidence of its celestial and divine original, that the assurance which it gives that those promises and threaten come from God himself, as if he had pronounced them with his own mouth, may beget an immutable certainty that although the expressions be Allegorical, yet the reality equals or surpasses them; which unquestionably produces wonderful effects. Whereas the opinion, that other descriptions found in the Books of Poets are humane inventions, disparages their authority, and so renders them wholly ineffectual. Let us proceed now to the other point of this Chapter.  
Because, as it hath been shown, all knowledge which we have of God comes either from a particular revelation, or from contemplation of his Works; and that all our piety is derived from, and regulated according to the measure of such knowledge: it is of high importance especially to those who acknowledge no particular revelation, to the end they may become truly pious towards God, to have an exact knowledge of his Works; namely of the World, and the things contained therein. I demand therefore whether they believe that God is the author of the World. For if they do not, but deny that he created the matter out of nothing of which it is composed, or introduced the form into the matter which we behold in it, they are as much at a loss, as Epicurus, to make out whence they learned that God is powerful, or what is the measure of his power; so far are they from being able to assure themselves that it is infinite. There is indeed a great Virtue requisite for the administering of Providence, and which being duly considered by right reason, is found to be infinite. But if there hath ever been one person among the Philosophers that reasoned in this manner, God governs the world, Therefore his power is unlimited (which I do not meet with any that has done) there are found a thousand who conceived that God employed his utmost skill and ability in the government of the World, and that his object was proportionable to his power; so that being but sufficient to all the World, he was not able to remove so much as one straw besides, unless he should during that little space surcease his action by which he moves all this great mass of the Universe. Whereas they which believe that God created the World, and that he created it of nothing, do necessarily imply in that belief this other, that his power is immense, since there is an infinite distance between Being and Not-being, and those two terms (as they speak) cannot be conjoined, nor the one be passed from to the other, but by a power of infinite extent. Wherefore these people cannot adore God with assurance in reference to the infiniteness of his power. For that right reason which is necessary to frame reasonings from the conduct of Providence which may infer the immensity of the power of God is not to be found in any of mankind since the corruption which befell it. Moreover they deprive themselves of the fairest inducement to praise and thanksgiving which can be imagined. For if God did not create the World, he has not manifested any proof of his goodness in giving Being to the Creatures, which is infinitely better than Not-being, and consequently deserves an infinite gratitude, if man were capable of performing it. If particularly he did not create the World for man, nor gave him that dominion which he challenges over all things by imagining himself the King of the Universe, he does not owe him one word of thanks, and has no reason to say as a great King once did; 
Lord, how illustrious is thy Name!  
Whose power both Heaven and Earth proclaim!  
When I the Heavens, thy Fabric, see,  
The Moon and Stars disposed by Thee:  
Oh, what is Man, or his frail Race,  
That thou shouldst such a shadow grace?  
Next to thy Angels most renowned,  
With Majesty and Glory crowned;  
The King of all thy Creatures made;  
That all beneath his Feet hast laid;  
All that on Dales or Mountains feed,  
That shady Woods or Deserts breed;  
What in the Airy Region glide,  
Or through the rolling Ocean slide.  
Lord, how illustrious is thy Name!  
Whose power both Heaven and Earth proclaim!  Which is reasonably a hymn more agreeable and wellpleasing to the Deity than the sum of all the Incense of Arabia. But in the next place, what duty will man think he owes to God even for his Being, if he believes not that he received it from him? And will he not rather be ready to place himself equal with him, being not dependant of him for his Being, since there is nothing more renders things equal one to another than Independance.  
It is true, it may perhaps be said, that men are obliged to the Deity in as much as they depend of his Providence, because if that did not preside over natural causes and cause them to produce things necessary to the support of Life, we could not subsist, and therefore he which gives the conservation of a being obliges as much or more than he which gives the being itself, and he that feeds and defends than he that begets.  
But this is a gross mistake of theirs, and their pretended reason deludes them. For if God be not the Author of the World, how is he the Preserver of it? Does it not belong to him that made the Work to take the care of it? Whence hath he authority to intermeddle in the Works of another; or the World the necessity of being guided and preserved by the hand of God, if it was not framed by the same? And indeed God must either be the author of the World; or Chance, as Epicurus affirmed; or as others, Nature; or it had never any beginning, but hath existed from all eternity. If it was Chance that made the world, then consequently it is also preserved and governed by the same hazard. And truly Epicurus was consistent with his own Principles when he denied Providence. For if the World was thus framed by the fortuitous concourse of Atoms, there is no need for Providence to put its hand to support it; since it might be preserved in its Being by the same means by which it was produced; the conservation of things being not more difficult than their first production. If it was made by Nature, I demand, what that is? For if by Nature they mean the order which is in the things of the World, according to which causes produce effects suitable to themselves, certainly and determinately, namely, both universal causes, as the Heavens, and particular, as Animals and Plants; they are not greatly mistaken. We desire to know who is the Author of that order; seeing order cannot be the author of itself. For besides that nothing is able to produce itself into Being, order is an effect of a Cause endowed with Understanding, but hath no understanding itself; in as much as Order is a disposition and relation according to which things are both conveniently marshaled among themselves and rationally subordinated to some certain end. Now who will say that this relation and disposition of things among themselves is itself endued with understanding. And if the order of things did not produce, neither is it able to preserve itself. It belongs to the same faculty to preserve and make it. If by the Word Nature, they understand the world itself, composed and contrived with all the things in the order we behold it, or as the Author of the Book De Mundo speaks, the well ordered compages of all the parts of the Universe, How could that make itself? For the thing which makes, exists already, and that which is making is not yet existent. The Carver is before the Statue, and the Watchmaker before his Springs that point out the hour, yea even before he gins to make them. But the Statue or the Watch, though begun, are neither of them such; nor yet when they are in making; till the whole work be completed, and all the parts adjusted and united in due order. In like manner, if the world made itself, it was before its own being, namely the world producing before the world produced, though but one and the same World. Which is a like folly as if a man should say that he begat himself, without a father. Whence also it follows, that it is not able to govern or support and maintain itself; no more than a Watch is if there be no body to fit and guide its Wheels and Springs, and to wind it up, and duly order it. If they say that the World is eternal, is it so without dependence on God, or is it eternal by emanation from him; as the Light of the Sun is of as great duration as the Sun itself? If it be eternal with dependence on the Deity, than God having produced the World as naturally as the fire burns or the Sun shines, must also preserve it in the same manner: and because it will be a natural action, there will be no obligation to him for it, in as much as he can do no otherwise, as the Sun cannot restrain its beams nor withhold its light from illuminating the Universe.  
And moreover such conservation of the World will be no longer an act of Providence. For that can never be termed Providence, which is an inevitable necessity of things depending on their indissoluble natural connexion. So that I wonder with what reason the Stoics called their Fatal destiny Providence, or thought those two things compatible together. For whereas Providence administers things with a freedom of Will, what Liberty can there be in the conduct of that which depends on a fatal and Determinate necessity; which is precedent to any act of Providence? If it be eternal without dependence on the Deity, it is itself God, as some heretofore accounted it. And because that which is eternal is also immutable, and maintains itself always uniformly, neither shall God have any right to meddle in the government of the World, which does not depend on him, nor the World any necessity of being governed or preserved by him; since there would be no change to be feared in it, it's own eternity exempting it from all subjection to alteration. Wherefore it must either be confessed that the World had God for its Author, or denied that God is any thing at all concerned in the government and preservation of the World.  
Now there is one thing considerable above others. Which is, that though these reasons be so evident that nothing can be brought against them to refel them, yet there was never any man that perceived them clearly, unless he were first instructed of the creation of the World in the Books of Moses. Aristotle believed it eternal; Plato attributed eternity only to the Matter; and in his Dialogue of the Creation he commits so many impertinences unworthy so great a Philosopher, that he that has the patience to read, will partly laugh at his conceits and partly pity his extravagances; and esteem it as easy to combine the Atoms of Democritus together, as to conjoin the minute subtleties of those Platonical speculations. Besides, I am not satisfied (and the opinion of those which affirm it hath very great probability of truth) but Plato might have learned all he knew of this matter from tradition of the Egyptians and Syrians, who had received it from Moses; for he had travelled into those Countries, and was there imbued with truths formerly unknown in Greece; but afterwards endeavoured to  the same in the dress of Philosophy, to the end they might be more readily entertained by his Countrymen. And being passionately devoted to Geometry, & observing, what is most true, that all things were framed with a wonderful wisdom, as it were by weight, rule and measure, he interweaved his Discourse with splendid conceptions of Lines, Proportions & Numbers. Whence it came to pass, that Aristotle, who did not attribute much to the tradition of others, but examined all things by his own reason, and otherwise observed an insufferable confusion in all these Numbers of Plato, and moreover, perhaps took too much pleasure in opposing his Opinions, designing to get all the reputation to himself, which he detracted from his Master (as Plato himself complains in Diog. Laertius, that he had used him as rudely as young Colts that kick their Dams) and so disceded from his opinion, and introduced that of the eternity of the World, with dependence on the Deity, although such a dependence as infers a necessary and natural production. And upon this consideration, as God willing we shall show more amply hereafter, he seems to have had so cold a respect for the Deity.  
Nor is there any ground to imagine that the Philosophers of latter times are more intelligent in these matters than those of old were; since the World furnishes them with no new arguments, nor Nature with new faculties or otherwise disposed to comprehend the same. They know, indeed, that the World was created, and have a clearer understanding of the truth of arguments which confirm it, than the ancients, and even then right reason itself could supply them with: but it is since the thing was acertained by revelation. And if they would be ingenuous to confess it, they learned it from the Books of Moses. But, what (will some say) could not Moses perhaps have a greater reach of wit than Plato or Aristotle, and so invent arguments of himself, and sound the truth to the bottom, and then communicate it to others; and that without any especial revelation, although he boasted thereof, to gain greater authority amongst his people? Truly a very vain objection, and a pitiful subterfuge. For what should have hindered him from declaring his reasons, as well as Aristotle hath done his? And nevertheless he makes a very plain Narration of it, as Galen reproaches to him. And if his design were to enhance his authority, and so render those over whom he commanded more pliable and flexible out of respect to the Deity, why did he refuse that charge of exercising authority over that people and to conduct them? And how does he boast of so many miracles, which might have been contradicted by men then living, if the relation of them had not been true? Why did he refer all to the glory of God and nothing to his own? Or if his project were to credit himself only by misprising and debasing his own worth, why did he not at least leave that authority to his children, rather than to his domestic servant? But he was so far from that, that contrarily to what natural affections dictate to men, he made one of his attendants heir of his grandeur, and left his own issue to fall into a low and contemptible condition in comparison of his own. Certainly, it must either be said that Moses was an impostor in forging both the history of the creation and others which he relates; or, if any credit be given to him in the narration of that History so remote from his own times, than much rather ought he to be believed in his recital of things which befell himself, of which there were so many witnesses either to confirm, or convince them of falsity. And surely they are abundantly confirmed in that they were never so much as accused or suspected. Besides that their Posterity has received them from hand to hand as divine irrefragable truths, and religiously maintained them for the space of many Ages. Which they would never have done, if the tradition of those ancient miracles had not from time to time been rendered authentic and worthy of perfect belief, by extraordinary actions, predictions, judgements and deliverances in which appeared the singer of God. I shall say something more, since the matter leads me to it: Namely; that if the Philosophers, against whom I dispute at present, have vivacity and quickness enough of understanding, to be certainly perperswaded of the Creation of the World by reasons which their Wit is able to suggest to them, and the Ancients did not observe, I dare aver that would they take pains in reading the Books of Moses with as much attention as they use in their own ratiocinations, they would there more certainly remark that they are proceeded from divine inspiration, than they could know of themselves that God has created and governs the World. For there are not more lively and evident arguments in the World, that God is the Author of it, than there are in the Books of Moses alone, to induce a belief that they are not of humane invention. As I conceive, if a man should have from the hand of Archimedes himself the description of those admirable Engines which he made, and that he had replenished the same with as many tokens of his incomparable skill in the Mathematics, as there are traces of the Deity in the five books of Moses, he would find therein as much or more cause to admire the extraordinary grandeur of that Personages Wit, as in attentively considering his Machine's and his Engines.   

CHAP. IU. How much true Godliness is concerned in the certain knowledge, That the whole World is governed by a special Providence; and That the same is no otherwise attainable but by Revelation.  
HItherto we have discoursed largely of the Providence which governs the World, and treated with the Philosophers of our Times as with persons that acknowledge it; and yet we are not fully assured what their judgement is really concerning it, although it be a thing highly important to our dispute. For the Opinions of the Ancients have been very different about it, and the Moderns hid themselves, and do not willingly appear in public, in regard that the Christian Religion being universally received in Europe, such as do not believe the same, are looked upon as Monsters; so that it is very difficult to know distinctly what opinion they have of it. If therefore they be of that persuasion which is attributed to Aristotle (though some undertake to excuse him from it) their piety towards the Deity must consequently be wholly cold and languid. For Aristotle is accounted to have believed that the world being from eternity by emanation from God, as the light proceeds from the Sun, things are so necessarily disposed, that God being the first Mover of the Heavens, whether immediately or by the intervention of what he calls Intelligences, he is also by consequence the Author of all things. Because the other less universal motions depend on the Heavens, and from those other less universal motions proceed all things which are produced in the World; every cause acting suitable to its own Nature; as the Water moves the wheel of a Mill, and the wheel the Axletree, and that another less wheel, and this also another, till at length the motion arrives at the stone which bruises the corn and reduces the same into flower. So that God is indeed author of all things, but as a universal cause, which hath under it an infinite number of other subalternate and subordinate, which are the proximate causes of effects which come into Being, and which receive their power of acting from the influence of the first and most universal of all by the means of motion. And forasmuch as things which are termed fortuitous and contingent, do not depend on certain determined causes which are ligned by a sort of train to that superior & universal one, and consequently if they be administered by God they are administered by an Especial Providence; they which discourse at that rate take no notice at all of them, no more then of a thing which does not agree with their Principles. Nor can it be denied but that grand Philosopher seems very frequently to lay down the grounds of this Divinity, although sometimes excellent sentences escape from him to the honour of a Particular Providence, which is extended even to casual things or such as depend not on the concatenation of natural causes. But it is to be feared that they are words spoken out of design to avoid the reproach which would have lain upon him of being too little religious, or at most the eruptions and flashes of Nature, which oftentimes surmounts the most deeply imprinted perverse opinions, and causes a man to forget his own Maxims when they are contrary unto it, how constant and resolved soever he be to maintain the same. The Author of the Book De Mundo, dedicated to Alexander, seems to go a little higher, and speaks of God and his Providence in more magnificent terms. But in the first place the stile evidently shows, that Aristotle never writ it, and I should readily incline to their opinion who father it on Philo Judaeus, whom the Books of Moses had imbued with many better and sounder opinions in relation to piety, than all that ever was met with in Greece: but he disguised himself on purpose, and accommodated that elegant Treatise after the Greek mode. Secondly, in case it had proceeded from the hand of Aristotle, yet it always terminates in this, that God keeps himself in the Heavens only, and that it is not suitable to his glorious nature to be amongst frail and visible things, and that he governs the World by means of subordinate causes in nature, as the great King of Persia does his Providences by his Lieutenants and Satrapae. Lastly, so little does he think that a special Providence takes care of all particular events of things which are called contingent, that he excludes God as much as he can from their administration, and from all little inconsiderable accidents, as esteeming them unworthy of his excellence: so far is he from admitting God to preside absolutely over the Understandings and Wills of men, and that he governs all their most inward and abstruse thoughts. All the Rhetoric which he employs to deduce this most elegantly, and adorn it with the choicest flowers of Oratory and Poetry, amounts only to this, without carrying it further. Now this doctrine can by no means be judged capable of begetting true piety in the hearts of men. For since they describe that action of God in the government of the World, as a natural thing, and by consequence necessarily determined, so that nothing can be attributed to the Goodness or free will of God, what obligation can men think they have to him, any more than they have to the Primum mobile which hurrieth all the Celestial Spheres along with it with a natural violence, which they are not able to resist. For though he be the supreme cause of all, and involves all others; yet if a man be once persuaded that God is bound to that action by a natural necessity, he will not conceive himself more beholden to him for it, then to the Fire because it burns, or to the Air in regard it fills all the extent of Nature. Yea, it is questionable whether in stead of being incited to venerate him, men would not rather esteem his condition miserable, to be perpetually confined to the Heavens to move them, without being able to slacken one moment, any more than Ixion to stay his wheel. But putting the case that men notwithstanding account that action to proceed from the free will of God (which yet is not consistent with their principles) and let us see on what inducements they will render praise and thanksgiving to God. Namely, for that he moves the Heavens, and the Heavens transmit their influences to the Earth, and impart their virtues to the Elements, that so herbs may grow and fruits ripen, for the supply of nourishment to its inhabitants, and lastly for that by the same ways he gives animals the power to bring forth young ones, for the propagation and perpetuity of every Species. Now in an unexpected danger of which there are so many and various sorts which threaten men continually, and oftentimes overtake them, how will they turn their eyes and minds towards the Heavens to implore the assistance of God, seeing he has no care but of what he does naturally, and abandons contingent things to fortune? And when a man shall be delivered from the danger of the fall of a house, or the assault of an Assassin, or the enterprise of a Poisoner, with what zeal will he thank the Deity, who has no regard thereof? Now our whole Life is full of such misfortunes; and that which befalls us according to the ordinary ways of Nature, is that which is most rare in all her course. Moreover experience is to every man the mistress of this truth, that things, which are common to us with all other men, how excellent soever they be, yet they do not much affect us: only particular accidents make a lively impression in our minds. So that a man will look upon himself as more obliged to a Physician, that secured him from loss of one of his Eyes, which a defluction threatened him with, then to God that gave him both, with the enjoyment of the light of the Sun at his birth. But above all the rest, the ignorance of that Singular Providence which presides in the minds of men themselves, and over their thoughts, will cause a signal prejudice to true piety therein. For Wisdom and Virtue being the most excellent of all Presents that can come from the hand of God to humane creatures, if we do not conceive that we hold them from him, we shall never return him the praise of them; we shall pride up ourselves and become presumptuous, even so far as to rank ourselves equal with him, yea above him, accordingly as we find in Cicero and Seneca such brave sentences as these; That a Wiseman owes his Being indeed to the Deity; but as for his Wellbeing, which consists in Wisdom, he owes the same absolutely to himself. And moreover, that in this the Sage does in some manner go beyond Jupiter; in as much as Jupiter is good by the necessity of his Nature, and cannot be otherwise; but the other acquired his own Virtue by combating with discourse of reason against his corporeal appetites. A Soul tainted with this Philosophy, and puft up with so rank an arrogance, how can it ever perform any thing considerable in relation to piety? And yet thither it is that ignorance of this Providence carries us. But if they have a better opinion of Divine Providence, and subject not only natural, but also contingent things, and our very thoughts to his conduct, we shall always return to demand of them, how they know it so throughly: the World and the administration of it presents us with arguments enough, if we were capable to comprehend them; But how do they know it? Indeed the Philosophers and Poets sometimes utter in their writings excellent eulogiums of God: as among others, Plutark in his incomparable Discourse De Sera Numinis Vindicta; and Socrates in an ancient Dialogue, attributed to Plato (whether it be his or not) says that Virtue is a thing that is not learned as Arts and Sciences, but is given by Inspiration, as some divine and celestial beneficence. And Homer, as we have intimated elsewhere, ascribes to the Deity the greatest part of the extraordinary Motions of the Heart, especially such as are Heroical, as likewise does Virgil following his example.  
— Pauci quos aequus amavit  
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus.  
And in another place he introduces Alethes, a personage of high merit, thus speaking upon occasion of the generosity of Euryalus and Nisus; 
Dii patrii, quorum semper sub numine Troja est;  
Non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis,  
Cum tales animos juvenum, & tam certa tulistis  
Pectora—  And Juvenal showing that the best and perhaps only wish which men ought to make, is that the Deity would give them Mentem sanam in corpore sano, seems to acknowledge that we hold both the one and the other from his liberality; which is a very authentic advowing of Providence. And it were easy to produce plenty of the like instances. But how little firm were all those people in this belief? And of what inconsiderable efficacy were those excellent sentences amongst the vulgar, yea amongst Philosophers and the Authors themselves? Plutark one of the most religious of all, relates very exactly how Timoleon was miraculously delivered from the conspiracy of two murderers, by the meeting of a certain person who to revenge the death of his father killed one of them as they were upon the point to give him the fatal blow, though he knew nothing of the business. But in stead of acknowledging the Providence of God therein, he contents himself with saying that the spectators wondered greatly at the artifice and contrivance which fortune uses, how she carries on one design by help of another, and unites things so remote by liguing and chaining the same together, how different soever they be, for producing the effect she resolves on. And without inserting any judgement of his own concerning God or his Providence, he only says, that the Corinthians, understanding the deed, conceived good hopes thereby of success in the war of Sicily, because the General that managed it, was a sacred person and favoured of the Gods. Leaving his Reader to divine what his own sentiment was of the matter. So in like manner when he speaks of the different apprehensions which the Fall of Dionysius caused in the minds of them that lived in those days, he declares that some were glad of his misfortunes, as if they would have trampled him under their feet whom Fortune had cast down; others beheld him with some compassion, considering the great power secret and divine causes have over the weakness of Men, which appeared so remarkably in this Masterpiece of Fortune. What other words does he use to represent the wise Providence of God, then that by which blind and temerarious chance is signified? And lastly that no man may think that by the term of Fortune he understood the provident Wisdom of God, I shall here rehearse his own words in his first book of the Opinions of Philosophers, which I believe will cause astonishment in them who have any knowledge of that person. After having said that Anaxagoras held that before God put his hand to the fabric of the World, the bodies which we behold in motion were at rest, but the Mind of God contrived and ordered the same; and that Plato on the other side, maintained that the particles of matter had a confused motion, till God ranked and marshaled them, knowing that order is much better than confusion, he adds, That, Herein they are both guilty of the same mistake in esteeming that God concerns himself with humane affairs, and that he made the World on purpose to govern it. For a nature so happy and incorruptible, and replenished with all sorts of goods without any participation of evil, wholly addicted to preserve its own beatitude and immortality, cannot be engaged in the care of things belonging to men; otherwise it would be unhappy, by being employed like a Labourer to carry great burdens, and to take pains in fabricating and governing the world. You would think he had forsaken the Academy, and passed into the School of Epicurus. How could a man that is susceptible of these rare opinions, have any thing certain in the knowledge of Providence, however some excellent passages sometimes fall from him in its commendation? Moreover, let us call to mind what Cato himself said and we touched above. This person, whom Nature had endued with incredible gravity, as Cicero reports, which was augmented and confirmed by the doctrine of the Stoics, the most severe of all others, and who extolled Providence to the highest, when he perceived the affairs of the Commonwealth to decline under the conduct of Pompey, and those of Caesar, who aspired to Tyranny, to thrive and gather strength, he complains that he beheld as he said, a fallacious instability in the government of the Gods, in that Pompey was always prosperous while he did no good, and all things were unsuccesseful when he took up arms for the conservation of his Country and defence of the public liberty. If therefore that great personage could be so scandalised at the Providence of God, what must we judge of them to whom nature had not given so great a capacity, nor so high a courage, or deep knowledge in Philosophy & even of that sect which would be accounted the most religious? Can it otherwise be, but that the least accident of Fortune (as they spoke) falling out contrary to what humane Understanding judged fit and reasonable, should unsettle and transport their minds with amazement? And indeed, what were the opinions of the Philosophers in those days? Some maintained a fatal Necessity, such as it were impossible to avoid; inferior causes being so connected by Destiny with the superior, that not only men could not resist it, but the Gods themselves were tied up by it: in like manner as Sarpedon died in the War at Troy by the decree of Destiny, though his Father Jupiter had a vehement and ardent desire of the contrary. And this because they had sometimes endeavoured to prevent certain accidents by their industry and prudence, which Divine Providence that penetrates all obstacles, did not suffer them to bring to their desired end. Whence it came to pass that the weakness and ignorance of man, and the invincible power of the Deity in executing its purposes, brought a contempt upon Providence. For nothing can be imagined that renders the Deity more subject to be contemned, or that more deadens the hopes of men upon all occasions, than this fatal destiny, nor yet that renders them more impudent in excusing their enormities; witness that Varlet in the Comedian, who after a sly trick which he had done, said, It was the will of the Gods; and had they not decreed it, I could never have done it. Others observing that there fell out an infinite number of things in the world, of which no account could be given, nor the causes assigned of such effects, esteemed that all went at random, and that God took no care of any thing. Yea sometimes they expostulated the cause of their calamities with the Deity, and complained that he took pleasure in beating them down and bandying them to and fro. And the Writings of the Ancients are frequently strewed with such complaints, as so many blasphemies and tokens of impiety, which their ignorance of Providence caused them to utter. Besides what I have recited above out of Claudian, Ovid, and others, Jason in Seneca the Tragedian beholding Medea fly away in the Air after she had murdered his children, says to her, Testare nullos esse, qua veheris, Deos. In Virgil, a mother that had lost her Son by an immature death, reviles the Deity, Atque Deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater. And of this enough of other examples may be found, which have been collected by learned men. But if there have been some among the Pagans, who in these scandals have contained from blaspheming (which were very rare in comparison of others) at least it cannot be denied but that in that ignorance of the cause that governs the Universe, they were deprived of a great consolation, being dubious and wavering in a perpetual perplexity, whether God took care or not of their Life and affairs. Now as much as the opinion of God's good will and vigilant care for the good and conservation of men is rebated, so much without question is defaulked from their piety towards him. And, whereas (as we shall see in its due place) man is by nature alienated from God, and extremely averse and reluctant to be reduced to him how clear knowledge soever he has by his word of this wise Providence, how could those doubts and darkeness ever introduce him to an ingenious and free devotion? I conclude therefore that all the Religion of the Ancients, who lived without a particular Revelation, had there been no other particulars to make it so but this, was either languid or forced; and that consequently to beget in the hearts of men a true and since respect towards God it is needful that himself instruct us in the knowledge of his Providence. But that which follows shall show the same more evidently.   

CHAP. V Of what great moment it is to know whether Death be a Natural Accident, or Not; And that such knowledge cannot be attained without special Revelation.  
DEath is the most ordinary thing in the World; For all that are born must necessarily die. Yet there is nothing of whose Cause and End Philosophers have been more ignorant. All of them looked upon it as a thing purely Natural, which befalls us as inevitably as naturally; because our bodies being composed of the Elements which include discordant qualities, hot and cold, dry and moist, so long as these continue in good harmony, and are mixed in a perfect temperature, they are maintained in vigour; but when one comes to prevail against another, or one of them fails through absumption of the moisture in which it consists, or any other way, there necessarily follows a dissipation of the compages. Which happens in like manner to all other bodies which have the same principles of their generation; the union after a certain time being dissolved and the bodies corrupted. Indeed if the Soul of Man were mortal as his body is, they would have reason for this opinion, and Death would be natural to us as it is to other creatures: but it befits only Epicurus, who believes the humane Soul corruptible, to hold Death for a thing simply natural, if every one will speak agreeably to his principles, and not run into absurdities and extravagances. For Man is not the Soul only, he is the body to; that is to say, the body is not only the case of his Soul wherein she is included for a time, but a part of man, which enters into his composition, and without which he cannot be called man. Now what a disorder is it in the Nature of man, that half of his essence should be extinguished at the end of forty or fifty years, and the other half, his Soul, remain for ever after despoiled of it? Unless the wild Metempsychosis of Pythagoras be admitted, and that our Souls do not cease to go out of some bodies, and re-enter into others, sometimes into a horse, and sometimes a bird, and sometimes a man; or if it be confined only to humane bodies, that he who was a great Philosopher two thousand years ago, is now a Cowherd, and that great Prince who discomfited Darius near the City of Arbela, at this present a Porter in the Market. An Opinion, I conceive, they against whom I dispute will not own. Shall the Soul then, remain eternally a Widow? She, that cherishes the body so much, that she forgets her own interest to be complacent to it? She that is not separated from it but with so great regret, that the best marriage in the world is not dissolved with so much reluctancy and tears? In which respect, since these people acknowledge a Providence, how come they not to observe that if death be a thing purely natural, a good part of that Providence is lost, death taking the body from its jurisdiction, so that it cannot repay it the rewards of Virtue, nor make it feel any penalty for its Vices? Or if it be a punishment to the Body to exist no more, why do those die who in consideration of their Virtue and Piety ought to obtain some recompense for their bodies? For the course of the World is such, as we noted above, that in this life neither the greatest part of crimes are suitably punished, nor the least part of compensations distributed; and the Colicks, Migraines, Catarrhs, Palsies, Gouts, and Stone hinder us from boasting of having found our corporeal beatitude here. Yea if death be a thing natural, as they conceive, it cannot be a punishment to the body for the Vices to which it is addicted. For that which is natural may indeed be an infirmity or misery, but not a punishment; which has no place but in retribution for sin; and because things which are purely natural arrive to us, whether we sin or not. And besides the Vicious would be no otherwise treated than he which is not so, and he that is not Vicious would have no better a condition than he that is culpable. Which perverts all order of Justice and all Wisdom of Providence.  
But there daily falls out a certain accident in Life, of which, in case death be natural, noman can give a pertinent reason nor acquit the Providence which governs the world of blame. Namely that Infants die at their birth, and even some are extinguished in the Womb. To what purpose were it to have lodged a Soul so little a time in a body, that it had not so much leisure as to know its habitation? And since, as they teach, 'tis the Soul itself that fashions and disposes and contrives its mansion, why is it ruin'd before she can enjoy it, without hope of ever seeing it re-edified. And as to the poor wretched body which is not yet sensible of its condition, what is it the better for having been so little a while, or what hath it committed that it must be no longer? I know well that it is taught that it is better to Be then Not to be, and I do not gainsay it: but yet a Being of so little duration is of no great comfort: and he would seem not to satisfy right reason, who being asked why he breaks an excellent piece of workmanship incontinently after he had made it, without having reaped any use of it either to himself or any other, should answer that it was sufficient that he had given it a being of half an hour. For it was not to experiment his art that God framed little Infants; there are Proofs enough of that in so many millions of men; he knows it without trial; and is so expert therein, that every work of his being perfect, he has no cause to repent of or be displeased with it. If it be answered that 'tis for the exercise of Parents to train them to patience; were there no more in it but this, the action indeed would have for its end to frame men to Virtue, in which their resemblance with the Deity consists; but the means that God used to bring them to it, would seem to carry something of inhumanity, of which it is incongruous that he should propose himself an example. God, who is so good, & hath so many other means in his hand to lead men to Virtue, would never willingly employ any thereunto, for which he might be accused of barbarousness and cruelty; especially seeing it is an accident so frequent, that in a Town of a thousand families, there does not pass one day in the year in which it does not happen. 'Tis true, for certain great and important considerations Kings are excused if they sometimes commit some act of injustice or violence. But this must be very rarely done, and only when the safety of the State is concerned. Yet Lucretia could not contain from crying out, upon the death of Iphigenia, who was sacrificed for the safety of all Greece, Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum! But that there should die five or six times as many Children in the Cradle, as attain to man's estate, seems an irregularity which not only an Epicurean, but the most devout and pious amongst the Philosophers cannot but judge unsupportable.  
Above all other considerations, the Fear which the thought of death begets naturally in all men deserves our animadversion. For how courageous so ever any may endeavour to appear, 'tis as Aristotle calls it, the most terrible of all terrors. And as one hath observed, if Julius C●sar, who was magnanimity itself, said that the most unexpected death was the sweetest and most desirable, which testifies that he resented some dread when he thought of it, what may we think of the horrors, which other men have of it. And this Fear does not arise only from the apprehension, that a man shall exist no more, but it hath something of I know not what other violence and bitterness. For otherwise, nature and reason being two things which accord very well together, if death were purely natural, reason would find something in that consideration wherewith to be comforted, and gently drink off that Cup. But experience shows that the consolations taken from the necessity of Nature, and the example of so many other deaths, are too weak, and of too little efficacy, when the business is to strengthen a soul that trembles at the presence of death. Which if there have been some that were generously resolved to undergo, they have been very few in number, and almost none in comparison of so many men, yea Nations, to whom the alarms of death have been terrible and hideous. For I do not put in the rank of such as resolve generously against it those Caitiffs that tie the rope to their own necks, and drink to their companions upon the Ladder. For this is so far from true generosity conjoined with the discourse of reason, that it is mere stupidness and more than bestial brutality. And it is diligently to be observed, that they who believe not that their Soul is immortal, comfort themselves more easily than others do with the consideration of the necessity of death, and say that as the Generations which preceded their Birth belonged nothing at all to them, because they were not yet in being, so they ought not to care for those which follow after their death, in regard they shall be no longer; and that Agamemnon is dead, and Romulus, and Patroclus, and the Scipio's.  Qui multis quam tu meliores, improbe, rebus. 
And I believe the greatest part of those that have shown so high a courage in contemning death among the Pagans, had not much consideration of their future condition. As it is clear by Socrates, who says, in Plato, that he knew not which was best to live or to die, and that it were a folly to redoubt a thing of which there is no certain knowledge whether it be desirable or to be feared. Whereas they that think seriously of immortality, find nothing in nature that encourages or comforts them. A sure evidance that death hath something of terror in it which does not proceed from nature, but from something else: for they would at least have more ground of consolation than the others, in the subsistence of the better part of their essence. Now whence can that horror be, but only that death is the forerunner of divine vengeance, and makes up a part of it already?  
If hereupon they agree that it is a punishment for sin; certainly, since all other Philosophers have held it to be simply natural, they cannot know it to be so by any other way then that divine revelation, that hath informed us by what gate it entered into the World. For none of the Ancients ever found out or could so much as divine in a dream what was the cause of it. And so far were they from having it come into their minds, that on the contrary some have believed that Death was rather a gift and gratification to us from the Deity, than a punishment inflicted by his Justice. Which opinion the innumerable miseries of humane life greatly concurred to render authentic: the undergoing whereof being looked upon as so dolorous, that sometime the deliverance from them has been accounted the greatest good that could arrive. Or if some few have not dared to affirm absolutely that death was a Good, yet they maintained at least that it was no Evil, since it rescues men from all calamities which they suffer. To fear death, said Socrates to his Judges, is nothing else but to seem to be wise, and not to be so. For it is to pretend to know that which we do not know; because none knows what death is, nor whether it be not the greatest good that can befall a man. To which Plutark refers that exhortation of an ancient Greek Poet, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
Metuenda non est mors arumnarum exitus.   
So also the greatest part of the reflections of Cicero upon this matter in the first of the Tusculane Questions fall into the Dilemma of Socrates; To wit, that if the soul be extinguished with the body, and so the sense of all things be absolutely abolished, death cannot really be an Evil; because a man being thereby wholly deprived of existence, and exempted from among the nature of things, that which is not, is equally incapable both of Evil and Good. But if the soul survive the Body, death is so far from being an evil, that it ought rather to be accounted in the number of the greatest goods; seeing it delivers from the evils of this present life, and puts a man in possession of the contentments of a better: upon which he does not omit to mention the converse with the Heroes, wherein Socrates placed the greatest part of the hopes of his joy. But the business is of higher importance. For though the Light of Nature should have taught men that death is an effect of the justice of God, yet is it impossible (as we shall see in due place) for the same to discover to them the remedy thereof. And I conceive, that though the reason of man should have been able certainly to conjecture what the cause of death is, God himself would have purposely hid it from them, lest, not being able to discover the remedy of it, despair should sink and ruin all the World. All other ignorances' have been prejudicial, and very often pernicious to men; to this alone we own the conservation of humane Society. So that we may pertinently apply to this in particular, that which Horace speaks generally of the ignorance in which it hath pleased God we should live, touching events to come; 
Prudens, futuri temporis exitum  
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus.  The sole Word of God (which is the special revelation we are in quest of) is that which accords all these differences, and clears up all the difficulties and confusions. We shall not dispute at present, whether in his first creation the body of man was naturally so well constituted, that through prudence whereby he was able to avoid all hurtful things, and the use of aliments (which the blessing of God rendered as efficacious for the conservation of life by the good and pure qualities which he at first endued them with, as now they are often full of noxious juices, since the curse of God blasted them for our offence) he might without other assistance from the Deity, avoid all alteration and corruption either by disease or Age. God hath in the composure of Gold and Diamonds and other like things, given sufficient proof of his power; and hath so exactly tempered the contrary qualities of the Elements in the constitution of certain bodies, that they seem not subject to any corruption whatsoever. And the long life which the first Men lived, even after sin, and the examples of the like we meet with in several profane Histories, and some also, though few, which may be found in the Histories of these latter times, give us enough to judge how firm and durable the life of man would be, were he as exactly and perfectly framed, and the aliments that support him as good, as the estate of Nature in its integrity could have promised. We only affirm, that though, as the Philosopher's thought, the body of man being composed of the Elements, and consequently including contrary and repugnant qualities, would have carried in its self the seeds of death; yet this revelation teaches us that the Wisdom of God would have so provided therein, that if no disorder had happened in the World through sin, the propensity which our bodies have to their own dissipation, would have been restrained and hindered by his Providence. For he would have repelled all sorts of eternal accidents; he would have hindered the intemperature of the humours, both by preserving them in right harmony, and supplying man with aliments endued with excellent faculties and void of all noxiousness; and by infusing new vigour of life in time of necessity, to hinder the approach of Old-age, would have maintained man in a vigorous and flourishing consistence, and so given him the immortality, of which we have now nothing left but the desire. Whence likewise the union of the Soul and Body would have continued to eternity, not subject to any important change or evil accident. So that admitting death to be an accident that suits with the natural principles of the composition of their bodies, yet the cause that they do die is, because it having been covenanted that the consequences of a mortal condition should be hindered upon condition that man continued in obedience, sin supervening hath changed the dispensation of all that, and effected that death is become in quality of a punishment and vengeance. And this ought nor to be deemed strange; For there are things which considered in themselves have nothing so shameful in them, but that they may well endure either the presence of another, or the public daylight, which yet through the disorder befallen in nature are become ignominious. Nakedness, which of itself is not dishonest, is become unseemly through sin, which hath caused rebellion in the corporeal appetites against reason. So that they who affirm it indifferent to go naked or clothed, show that extreme profaneness hath worn out of their foreheads that shame which causes others to express their consciousness of sin and the unseemliness of the irregularity of our sensual faculties, so as to be ashamed of their impudence who are not so themselves. Wherefore though death were a natural accident, which yet it is not, the horror of it is too great, to acknowledge no more in it but pure nature and its motions. For why then do Infants die? We learn from the same revelation that that so sudden separation of the soul from the Body is not for ever: but that the being which is given them, though at first it seems to have been allotted for a moment only, and by consequence little better than not-being, shall endure eternally, when the considerations shall cease for which it suffered the Eclipse of the time that it was to appear in this Life. For the being of man, when it hath once had a beginning, is of perpetual duration; and the time of Death is but as an Eclipse of his course. But this is not the place for this discourse, and therefore we shall add but a word more and pass forward. Whether we consider the justice or the goodness of God, this revelation amply furnishes us what to answer in defence of both. He takes away little children at their birth, and notwithstanding does not incur thereby any blame of cruelty; because before they were born they deserved that punishment by reason of the natural infection of sin which they drew from those that begat them. And indeed as we crush the Eggs of Scorpions before they are hatched, not because they have as yet deserved to be destroyed for any wound which we have received by them, but because in growing up, the seeds of venom which that brood hath by nature will infallibly be exerted to our mischief; so is it sometimes expedient for God to stifle from the womb such children as have so many seeds of vice in them, that coming to years would do much more mischief than any Scorpion in the World. This the Philosophers never understood, and therefore could not return in answer: But if there opinion were admitted, it would be requisite to defer judging of the merit of Infants till they come to the age that ennables them to manifest and display their Vice. Moreover God resumes some of them back to himself, whom he pleases to render happy by his goodness. Nor is it necessary that he should permit them a longer abode in this life, that so they might be capable of happiness for their practices of Virtue: because he does not give it as a Salary deserved from his justice by our Virtues, but as a beneficence purely out of his liberality: which likewise the Philosophers never thought of; for according to them, if there remains any beatitude to be hoped after this Life, it cannot be aspired unto but by Virtue. How then can Infants obtain the same which die in the cradle, and so are prevented of ever exercising themselves in Virtue? So great are the advantages of them which have this particular revelation above those which reject it; to wit, that we know for what reason we dread death so much, and why it is indeed to be feared; what the sources are from whence we are to draw our consolations against its agonies; and lastly what is the way to ascribe glory always to the Deity, whatsoever accident happens in the World.   

CHAP. VI Of the Corruption of Mankind; How much it imports true piety to know the Original of it: which we cannot do without a particular Revelation.  
THe excellence of the Nature of man is such, that he cannot be considered either in his body or his mind, or in the dominion which he claims over all things, but there are presented very eminent testimonies and tokens of it. The Stature of his body is comely and graceful; not despicable for its smallness, nor unsightly and incommodious by too great bulk: the Symmetry of his members, his delicate skin, and tender flesh, have an air so transcendently pleasing that all other Animals may seem coursely composed, and made for laborious services, but man alone form and designed for empire. Especially in his countenance shines a majesty, that speaks him made to contemplate the heavens, no less then to command on earth. And whereas Brutes have their heads inclined downwards, 
Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri  
Jussit, & erectos ad Sydera tollere vultus.  As for his Mind, the Sciences and Arts of which he is Author, the capacity to govern Societies and conduct Armies; the Dexterity of forming a design with understanding, and carrying on the same with prudence; of contriving the means industriously to their end, and guiding them thereunto by courses that seem oftentimes contrary; the faculty of conceiving the Ideas of things which are not as if they were, although compounded of parts absolutely discrepant; the sagacity of knowing how to make use of expedients for long Navigations, and tracing ways in the Sea by direction of the Stars, are sufficient proofs and evidences to evince its excellence. So that they are without comparison more to be excused, who conceived that the Spirit of Man was a small particle derived from the Deity, than they which reduced it to the condition of Beasts. Phocylides had indeed some reason when he said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. As if God in creating man, and indowing him with so divine an understanding, had lent him a little portion of his essence. In like manner, the Empire which he hath over all other creatures shows sufficiently, that it is not for nothing that his mind and body have been endued with so many eminent qualifications above all other things. The Earth produces for him the necessities and pleasures of life to his contentment, and like a sovereign he employs its stones, marbles & metals to build his palaces, and gild the roofs which he makes of its Cedars. He covers himself with the wool of animals, and infects spin silk for his service. Notwithstanding his own weakness he ranks Elephants in battle, and makes them subservient to his passions without their knowing that they are so. He hath put the bridle in the mouth of Horses, and tamed that proud and fierce animal for his convenience. Even the life of poor beasts is nothing to him for his sustenance; and how terrible soever the Sea be, yet he hath found out means to fail upon it securely, and to conjoin nations by commerce, whom vast distances of Oceans have divided.  
But notwithstanding all this, his corruption appears so manifestly, that there is none but has observed it. For one comely and perfectly well composed person, there will ever be found a hundred that have somewhat of difformity. There are always some impotent and less-favoured by nature, some one-eyed and lame, and even some persons born to Kingdoms, whose structure and conformation of members is pitiful or ridiculous. We are subject to so many diseases, that sometimes one single person suffers more of them in his life then all other animals together of a whole province.  
The corruption of his Mind is extremely great. Not to speak at present of that ignorance which is common to all, and the most knowing complain of with good reason; although it may seem that man having been made to serve himself with all things, he ought at least to know them: The Evil which he commits both against others and himself, hath given occasion to One heretofore to say, That as it were better to give no wine to sick persons, because if it profits one, it hurts more; so it would have been better not to have allowed man the use of reason, since for one good that it does, it causes ten thousand evils in the World. There are nothing but Wars of Nation against Nation, yea of the same Nation in its own bowels. In Cities there are seditious, in families tumults; The Husband and Wise do not accord in the same bed, whose souls notwithstanding aught to be cemented together. And that which is more strange: every one is not at agreement with himself, our natural instability disquiets us, our passions turmoil us, our desires and jealousies fret and devour us; and which is a lively token of our corruption, in what condition soever we be, I do not say tolerable only, but even honourable and desirable by others, we are never contented with it. That which a while since we ardently desired, we soon after despise; and what we made no account of when we enjoyed, we resent its loss with sorrow; thus condemning our own judgement of error, frequently with remorse for suffering ourselves to be transported with passion and appetite. Witness that excellent Satire of Horace, in which he introduces old soldiers complaining that they are not Merchants, and Merchants envying the happiness of the military life. The Lawyer there extols the tranquillity and peace of the Husbandman, who also esteems himself miserable in comparison of those that dwell in Cities. So that whether it be chance, or the wish and choice of reason, that puts men upon their course of life, yet there is not one but finds something to dislike in his own, and repines that he is not well at ease, nor so favourably treated as his Neighbour. And notwithstanding, were a proffer tendered to exchange conditions: and the Merchant sent to the Camp, and the Soldier to traffic at Sea; as also were the Husbandman become a Lawyer, and engaged in the toilsome affairs of Law-Courts, and the Lawyer obliged to drive the Wain, there is none of them but would as much disapprove the change. Lastly we need not much exalt ourselves for the Dominion which we have over other things; for the Earth produces nothing but with the labour of our arms and sweat of our brows, and besides recompenses us ofttimes with briars and thistles. The Frost and mildew blast our Vines and Corn, the Caterpillar and Locust devour our hopes; and the rebellion of animals against us is such, that we are put to defend ourselves even against vermin, not only against Serpents, Dragons, Lions and Tigers. Whence it is come to pass that the Ancients were so inconstant in the judgement which they made of man and his nature. For after having spoken so much to his advantage that the title of King and God sometimes was not sufficient for him, who can but wonder at Jupiter's repenting in Homer for having given Peleus' horses to become partakers of humane misery, where he says that man is subject to more miseries than any other animal upon the face of the Earth.  
So some wept upon the birth of their children through compassion that they come into this Scene of troubles, and laughed upon the death of their Parents, out of joy that they go out of it; and Euripides says that we ought to do so. In a word, the most usual comfort which they took in death, is that it puts an end to our miseries; and their histories, or fables, affirm that it was sent as a present from the Gods to the greatest and most excellent persons in recompense of their Virtues: as to Cleobis and Biton, for their piety towards Juno; to Agamedes and Trophonius, for their pains in building the Temple of Apollo at Delphos; and likewise to Pindar. What therefore can we say that man is? In truth, considering mankind in general, it cannot be better resembled then to the present estate of Rome, which is but as the carcase of what it was of old. There are remaining indeed some ruins, and some old inscriptions not-intelligible, some fragements of ancient Statues, and defaced monuments and ponderous tombs since the time she was Empress of the World. But in the whole all this is of so little proportion, that had we no other knowledge of her grandeur by histories, it were as impossible to conjecture thereby what she was fifteen hundred years ago; as it is to guests at the integrity that flourished in the first ages by the manners of the present times.  
Now of the cause and origine this so deplorable ruin all the ancients both Poets and Philosophers have been ignorant; all their conjectures thereof are dubious and unresolved, and all their assertors false. Nor is it difficult to judge how much this ignorance hath hindered them from rendering to God what belongs to him upon this account, and tasting any true and solid consolations in their miseries. For how could they acknowledge his justice in the punishment of mankind, whilst they knew not that this disorder happened by their own fault? How could they admire his goodness in conservation of the Universe, when they were ignorant that man deserved to be reduced to nothing from his birth? How could they have recourse to God for obtaining of him a remedy against such misery, seeing they knew him not; or how could they beseech him to repair their ruins? How could they learn not to murmur against him, if they knew not that the evils they suffered were worthily inflicted on them, and as due to their crimes? Lastly, how could they restrain themselves from suspecting the wisdom or power of him that governs the World, while they were ignorant of any pertinent reason of all this disorder. For as when we observe in a Commonwealth good and bad laws, and commendable and unseemly customs mixed together, we conclude that either the first Legislators failed in some particular things, though they happened right in others, or that later Magistrates degenerated from the Wisdom and Virtue of their Ancestors: so beholding order and confusion jumbled together in the World, it remains only to conjecture that either the wisdom of him that contrived it at the beginning was defective, or that he could not support and maintain his ancient laws through want of power. I mention not at present the natural avidity of knowledge in us, which can be little satisfied without a particular revelation, as in other abstruse things, so in this which is of such moment, and continually presented to our minds, namely, what should be the cause of so many evils that reign in the World.  
In the next place the consolations which they employ against them are very strange. Some comfort themselves with the consideration of necessity; against which it is unprofitable to struggle. And indeed I deny not, but it is good counsel to give to such as are miserable, that when there is no means of deliverance from calamity, to indevor at least to support it with the least impatience that may be, because necessity is invincible. It is good, I say, if it could be put in practice. But as he that should exhort a man that is in the paroxysm of a violent Colic, to be cheerful, would show himself ridiculous and void of understanding; so he that should counsel a man fallen into some great and irrecoverable distress, to comfort himself because it cannot be otherwise, would deservedly be accounted troublesome and almost barbarous. Can any imagine that it would have been any great heartening to the poor Philoctetes, when he made the Sea and rocks resound his lamentable ejulations, and wished that some body would cast him down from the precipice of a rock into the waves beneath, for one to have said to him, Friend, there is no remedy, Destiny will have it so; and to wrestle against her decree is to swim against the stream? For this is the cause of his despair, that there is no remedy: were there any hope of it, he would not cry out so loud, but sustain himself with those excellent words of Epicurus, If pain be great, it will be but of short durance. And it would be to no purpose in such a case for a man to boast of the invincible strength of his courage. Hercules himself groaned ●nd cried out in the midst of the flames. In effect, there is no constancy, which the assiduous perseverance of pain does not at length overcome. Nature has not made us of Iron or Steel; but hath given us a tender and delicate flesh, and quick and lively sentiments. In a word, the consideration of Necessity may indeed cause a man to resolve to travel through a bad and dirty way, or to swallow a bitter potion that is soon down; but there is no constancy which is not undermined and worn out by a continual suffering. Others have solaced themselves with the commonness & generality of the misery conceiving it both injustice and folly, for any particular person to complain of his own case, where all are equally involved: As the Proverb hath it, 'Tis the comfort of sufferers to have companions. Thus the Poet Antimachus composed an Elegy, wherein he reckoned up all the disasters befallen to any people that ever he knew, to comfort himself upon the loss of his wife. But as the Sun, though he shines in common to all that have eyes, yet his light ought not to be accounted less grateful and sweet; and as the use of respiration is not less necessary, because all animals equally breathe the air: So the condition of unhappy persons is not less painful and grievous, by being common to all, nor the sentiment of great calamities more light by seeing others groan under the same misfortunes. Besides, this kind of consolation seems to me to have something of barbarism and inhumanity in it. If it happen to any one to be condemned to the Gibbet, either justly or unjustly, is it meet for him to desire to behold other of his compatriots executed with him for the diminishing of his unhappiness? It was a thing which discomforted Photion at his condemnation to death, that he had fellow-sufferers; his great humanity inducing him to wish, that if possible that heavy sentence might have fallen only upon his own person.  
But they may seem to have had more reason who comforted themselves with the hope of death, that would put an end to all things. Yet who sees not that this was but the consolation of desperate people? For what difference is there between a man that desires death through impatience of his pain, and him that kills himself; saving that one has more courage, or is transported with greater despair than the other? Death is naturally accounted an Evil, and even by most men the greatest of all Evils; nor is there any shame or pain but they will undergo for preserving their Lives, even so far as to suffer the mutilation of their arms and legs. Cut off my feet, and after that my legs (said Maecenas) and my thighs also, if you please. Provided I do but live, 'tis enough. What kind of consolation than can that be which is naturally so much abhorred? And how great must their misery be, who place all their comfort in that which is naturally abhorred? Must not nature have reduced us to a deplorable extremity, when there remains no other comfort for us, but such as theirs is, who being stretched forth on the Wheel on a Scaffold, are told that their sentence is mitigated only to be hanged? But yet they which think of the immortality of their Souls, cannot comfort themselves by all these means, unless they be well persuaded of the pardon of their sins which have drawn all these miseries upon them. For if they endure so great evils in this life for their offences, what can they expect in the other? Certainly we see for the most part, such a person that desired death through impatience of his pain, timerously slinks from it when he sees it approaching, and would bargain with any body that could make his Gouts last for fifty years.  
Lastly, there have been some that would draw matter of glory from humane miseries, and who held that they were the trials of Virtue, esteeming it best for a man to endure evil, because otherwise he can have no knowledge of Patience, which is the most excellent virtue of all. One suffered himself to be brayed in pieces without groaning, and another in the violent fits of the Stone, said, Do thy worst, Pain, yet I shall never confess that thou art evil. But in truth this is a foolish wisdom; this Indolence, as Plutark says, is not bought but at the price of brutality. To be a Philosopher of this fashion, a man must put off all humane passions, and be converted into a Stone. As if it were not natural to man to sigh and complain, and when he is wrestling with an extreme pain, to wish his deliverance. But yet those are greater fools, who find cause of pride and vanity in their suffering. Is it such a cordial cheering to a man who has the Colic, Gout, Megrim, or ; who is afflicted with poverty, shame and contempt of the World; who hath lewd children that threaten the Gallows; that is oppressed and tyrannised by great adversaries; hated, tormented, persecuted and reviled by inferiors; for one to come and tell him that his patiented suffering of all this will acquire great glory to him in the world? Certainly if the glory and the sorrow were weighed one against another, I conceive there is no man of sense and that is subject to all these evils, but would give all the glory which Caesar and Alexander had both together, to be delivered from them.  
The most ordinary consolation (as we touched above) hath been to reproach and accuse God and Nature, which they affirmed was a good mother to other Creatures, but to man an incompassionate Stepdame; thus adding impiety to misery. And they have been even so foolish, as to conceit that the greatest part of our mischiefs proceed from I know not what malevolence in the Deity, as if he bore a hatred or envy either to the condition or to the prosperity of men. One faith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Another, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  And a third, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  And indeed I see not, how in the natural impatience of our minds, men in so many miseries as they are beset with in the world, could contain from accusing the goodness of God, unless they had been instructed by the Word of God, of the source whence they flow upon us. 'Tis that alone teaches us, that 'tis a beginning of vengeance upon the Wicked, and a fatherly exercising of chastisement upon the Good; Who therefore receive the same with humility in reverence to the will of God, bear it with patience as a thing which they have deserved and far worse, and rejoice themselves in hope that his wise Providence will so proportion their afflictions and their strength, that they be not overwhelmed with the burden. And that which surpasses all humane imagination, It reveals such a glory to them, for the enjoyment of which they are prepared by these sufferings, that in comparison of its weight and its eternity, all that they endure here is light and scarce of a moment's duration. There it is that this encouraging exhortation becomes effectual, Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentiorito.   

CHAP. VII. Of the Remission of Sins; What knowledge men naturally have thereof; And how much it is the interest of true Piety to he assured of the same. Also, Of the Resurrection of the Body.  
WE have proved above against the Epicureans, that there is such a difference between Vice and Virtue, that it is not Places, or Times, or Laws of Magistrates, or Customs of Nations that renders the one commendable, and the other worthy of blame; but their proper nature and essence, which abides eternally equal and uniform. We also shown consequently, that as the recompense of goodness is congruous to virtue, so vice has a due right to punishment. For otherwise, what is the meaning of all those terrors of conscience, which we showed above to be natural to men? And to what end were the Providence of God himself? Who should have taken the rewards of Virtue out of one of his hands, and the arms of vengeance against Vice out of the other? Wherefore I take it now for granted; besides that though I had not proved it, yet they with whom I treat at present, do without longer dispute yield it. So that I shall pass directly to speak of the Remission of Offences which merit that punishment, and of what great concernment it is in order to being truly Religious towards God, to know by what means to obtain it, and get full assurance thereof.  
Now there are only four motives which induce men to piety and Virtue. The first is that of which alone the Epicureans boast they make any account, namely, the knowledge of the excellence of the Deity; to which must be conjoined (though it agrees not with the principles of Epicurus, who places the Supreme Good of man in Pleasure) the knowledge of the natural honesty which is in things, and which is lovely and worthy to be followed for its own sake. The second is the sense of benefit we receive and profit that accrues from both the one and the other. For when we are favoured by the Deity with some great beneficence, we ought earnestly to be incited to honour him in acknowledging the same. The third is the hope of obtaining some compensation for being Virtuous and exercising piety. And the fourth is the fear of incurring his indignation, by failing in the respective duties of Piety and Virtue. As for the first of these motives, we have already shown, that unless God reveal himself in an especial manner, men live in a profound ignorance of his nature and his excellence; in which respect it cannot be of much force to excite men to piety. And the case of the second is the same. For although the goodness of God be in infinite manners extended towards men, in their creation, and the conservation of their being, and in such an admirable variety of things which he hath created for their use; yet so it is that none of mankind has ever acknowledged the same as is meet, nor indeed could they, as shall more amply appear. Concerning the hope of recompense (not in this life surely, unless very scantly and after a fashion that does not correspond to the infinite goodness which is in God, but in another) all that men can have of it by the light of nature is unquestionably drawn from the consideration of the benefits which good men receive in this Life, from whence to argue, that he will enlarge his bounty in that which is to come. But divers things hinder a man from being able of himself to take from thence a certain argument for the future. For besides that those benefits consist only in temporal and frail things, and that it is hard for a carnal man to conjecture by them of eternal and spiritual benedictions, they are blended with so many calamities, with which our Life is continually persecuted, that a man can scarce clearly behold the goodness of God through the instances of his justice, unless he bring a very great attention thereunto; and we on the contrary consider them very negligently. As therefore when a Prince checks and strikes as much or oftener than he caresses, it is hard to be assured of his good will, or to hope great favours from him, unless one hath a most intimate knowledge of his nature and his counsels, and diligently weigh his actions and their circumstances, his words and gestures, thereby to see to the bottom of his thoughts: so man being naturally so negligent in considering the ways of the Deity, in the medley of effects of his justice and his goodness which appears in the whole conduct of the Universe, cannot without doubt but have all his cogitations and reflections thereupon confused & unsteady. Is there so much as one to be found in an Age, that sets himself to contemplate the benefits which God hath conferred on him, from thence to conceive an assurance for the future, and behold the light of his favour through the darkness and death. His Understanding is naturally too weaksighted; there are too many things in the world which divert it, too many affections in it that fasten it to the Earth. But principally because there is nothing so suspicious as a bad conscience, man well knowing his own great inclination to things displeasing to the Deity, and even to the slighting of his honour and service; his conscience hinders him from hoping any thing from the goodness of God, and objects to itself only his vengeance. So that the knowledge of God's benefits towards men being so obscure and dubious in them, and on the other side the sense of their own demerit so quick and lively, they cannot but be possessed with a great measure of fear, without almost any hope at all. Now if the hope of obtaining recompense by serving God be none at all, or as good as none at all, the piety also will be none which uses to be produced by such hope. But there remains fear enough; which is that alone which, to speak clearly, has induced men that have had no other guide in his service but reason, to address to him devotion after their own fashion (as Statius intimated in this sentence, Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor) which we will undertake to examine. By fear in the present discourse, I do not understand a reverence arising from consideration of the Majesty of him before whom a man presents himself, which when he does not find himself guilty of any offence committed against him, may be conjoined with a cordial love. For a thing that is excellent, great, and adorable of itself, naturally causes fear, & fa tremar altrui di Maraviglia, as the Poet petrarch speaks, makes the spectators tremble with astonishment. But this is no impediment to a violent love and a calm assurance in the conscience. But I understand that sort of fear which springs from the sense of a man's own viciousness, and from the knowledge of a vengeance which he foresees will follow. Now the Nature of this fear is such, to speak generally, that the greater it is, the less there is of hope to escape punishment, and likewise less love than ought to be had for him whose indignation and choler we dread. For as the old Poet says in Cicero, Quem odimus, periisse cupimus. And this is peculiarly verified when things stand in such terms as they do between God and mankind; namely when he that fears, takes supreme pleasure in the things by which he deserved the punishments he is afraid of: So that instead of renouncing his vice by repentance, he would not have so much as the least desire of amendment enter into his soul, so troublesome is it to him to be deprived of the contentment which he receives in the satlating of his lusts. As a dissolute youth hates his Master to the death that scourges him for his debaucheries; or as a Thief that hates the Magistrate far more, for causing a Gibbet to be prepared for him to punish his robberies. Wherefore man being corrupt and a sinner, as every one is convinced in his own conscience, and not doubting (however otherwise ignorant) but that God is severe and just; it must necessarily be (things being judged according to the motions of Nature) that instead of being attracted to piety by Fear, he will rather be induced thereby to disclaim it wholly; and instead of being inflamed with the love of God, his fear will give him strong aversions against him, and possess him with hatred. But which is more, the less hope there is of obtaining his pardon, the less also is the care to reform his wickednesses. For Vice being full of baits and pleasure, who is he that will deprive himself of a present good and that is in his hand, without hoping that his so doing will turn to some benefit or advantage to him? Every one without question chooses rather to solace the fear of evil to come, by present pleasures; which lessen the bitterness of fear according to the rate that they produce delight. So that if a man hopes to drown his fear absolutely in the pleasures of sin, he takes no care but to indulge his lust, and take his swinge without all restraint. And on this manner are form the most part of those Atheists so disorderly in all their comportments; who having felt the terror of God's wrath, have on purpose plunged themselves into drunkennese, uncleanness, and all other sorts of horrible dissoluteness, to divert the same out of their minds. So that by the custom of sinning they have so worn out the sentiment of the Deity in them, and are by degrees become so hardened, that they have scarce lest the least spark of fear in their conscience. It is true that sometimes (as a drunkard will start up out of his sleep at the sounding of an alarm) when God reveals his justice in an extraordinary manner, these monsters of men apprehend some sentiment of terror. But as when the Cry is over the drunkard falls down again on his pillow, and betakes himself to his former snoring; so the peril is no sooner passed in which these people found themselves, but they return to their accustomed insensibility.  
Wherefore the means to withdraw men from sin, when they are once awaked with the fear of vengeance, is the hope of pardon; which beginning to appear, excites repentance, and with that the love of him from whom favour is hoped. But what can that hope be in this calamitous estate of our nature, if God himself do not present the occasion of it? Can a man find it in the Heaven, or in the Earth, or in himself? What argument is there to be had of any from all these things on which he may build a certain assurance? Perhaps it will be objected, that by the same ways whereby we know the Justice of God, to wit, by the consideration of his judgements, we may come to the knowledge of his goodness, namely, by the experience he affords of his benefits which he pours down so liberally upon men. Which I readily concede, and shall add this further, that since men have sinned from the beginning and beyond the memory of all time, and notwithstanding their continual offences God does not cease to do good to them, there may an argument be drawn from thence, that God invites men to repentance; Now he would not invite them to repentance, unless there were hope of pardon for them; for he does not mock or illude us: but all his actions are serious. Therefore God presents us in the government of the World with grounds to believe that he is just, in exercising judgement upon the wicked; and good also, in extending his beneficencies towards the good; and merciful, in doing good even to such as are wicked: and right reason is able to discern him such in following him by these traces. But there are motions in the corrupt nature of man which frustrate the effect, if God did not provide for it after another manner. For man flies from the presence of God through fear of punishment, and cannot hinder the prevalence thereof in his Soul; so that as a man affrighted beholds nothing steadfastly, but always imagines new occasions of terror, and represents hideous phantasms to himself; so we are not able to allow ourselves leisure to consider attentively this dispensation of the goodness of God towards the Wicked, nor thereby to assure ourselves of obtaining mercy and pardon. As a lewd wretch, whose conscience bears him witness of many heinous crimes, though he should perceive some connivance in the Magistrate for a time, and his judge show him some good countenance, cannot but be distrustful of him, and suspect that he does but differr his punishment till another time, and assuredly reserve it for him; Especially, if he hath an opinion that the Magistrate is not such a one as himself, but abhors the wickednesses committed by him. Now we are universally thus principled, that as we hate those whom we feat, so we never bear good will towards them of whom we have some diffidence. And the distrusting the goodwill of anyone being a step to fear, is likewise by the same reason a degree to hatred; unless the distrust proceed to such a measure as to be an absolute fear, for then the coldness of affection is turned into perfect hatred. Wherefore Man thus distrusting the good will of God towards him, consequently can have but a very slight affection to him; yea he will even become his enemy, inasmuch as the distrust in this case cannot but be extremely great.  
But perhaps it will here be demanded, Whence then came it to pass that all Nations have each of them had its Religion? And why are not all men dissociated instead of liguing together in a religious Society? To which I answer, that the mind of man is not ever agitated with the same emotions, nor constant in the same thoughts; the same passion not always possessing him, nor the same vice. They take their turns, and succeed or mingle one with another. Two things therefore have hindered that men though possessed with fear, have not abandoned all service of the Deity; Profaneness, and Pride: God permitting the profaneness of some and the presumption of others to temper the terror of conscience. First profaneness; because not weighing sufficiently how much God abominates Vice, and how inexorable his justice is, they often have flattered themselves with this thought, that he scarce takes any notice of small offences, and such as are in the intention and purpose only, that is, in the affections of the will and not in actions really executed. Moreover they thought that he was not much incensed but with crimes that turn to some notable detriment to the Commonwealth, or carry some blot of infamous improbity; although masculine lust was either justified, or excused or tolerated by the most civilised people of Greece. And they were sometimes so besotted in their devotions, that they thought not but crimes of the greatest turpitude might with no great difficulty be expiated by their sacrifices, lustrations, religious processions, mysteries, and Bacchanal solemnities. On the other side Presumption; because not sufficiently acknowledging how much they ought to the Deity, they imagined that their good works, their offerings, and the exercise of that shadow of Virtue which they pursued, might countervale the offences they committed: so that if they were balanced together, there might be hope not only to avoid punishment, but moreover to obtain recompense. Upon which ground it was that Socrates being near his end, and discoursing of the immortality of the Soul, speaks largely of his hope (in case the Soul be not extinguished with the body) to go and live with Hercules and Palamedes and the other persons of high account. But as to ask God pardon of the offences, he had committed, he makes no mention at all of it; because though he spoke always dissemblingly of himself, he had in the bottom of his Soul a great opinion of his own Virtue, and made no great reckoning of his vices, from which notwithstanding he was no more exempt than others. And had his life been of such purity, that the eyes of men could not discern a blot in it (although some have written infamous matters of him) yet when the account is to be made up with God, there needs an other perfection of Virtue then that of his, to satisfy so exact a justice. But yet further. Oftentimes these two Vices of Profaneness and Presumption have met together in the same subject, and lulled men with vain hopes into absolute supinity. Whence the excess of Fear hath been retrenched, which would otherwise have at last turned into despair, and consequently not only dissipated all communion in Religion, but likewise ruined all humane Society. For Fear restraining man on the one side from absolute contemning the Deity by profaneness, on the other side profaneness and presumption hindered it from precipitating men into that furious despair which would have overthrown all, and caused more horrible agitations in the mind of man, than ever the most outrageous Bacchides were sensible of. So that by the mixture, vicissitude & variation of these divers humours has Religion been maintained in the World. But it is easy to judge how sincere that devotion was, which was bred of Fear (a passion that is naturally terminated in hatred) Self-presumption, and Misapprehension of the justice of God. Whereas the certain knowledge of the remission of Sins, of which the especial revelation from Heaven can only give us assured hope, is a marveilous powerful attractive to piety, out of gratitude towards so inestimable a goodness.  
But if the Ancients, both Poets and Philosophers were so much at a loss concerning the preceding particulars, that they extremely needed some other light than that of nature, to direct them to a firm knowledge of them, they have been much more uncertain in the point of the Resurrection of the dead; of which they have been so far from determining any thing, that scarce so much as a slight shadow of it has been discerned by some few in so many Ages. The Stoics, indeed, were of opinion that there would come a day that should turn the Universe into flames, which should be incontinently followed with a restauration of all things into their ancient estate. And others thought, that after a certain revolution of time, the Stars being returned precisely to the point in which they were when all things began to be, all should be renewed, every thing returning again in its order, time, and nature. And one Theopompus, according to the relation of Diog. Laertius, affirmed that by the doctrine of the Magis, who were Philosophers amongst the Chaldeans, all men must revive again one day, and become immortal. That Passage of Phocylides, an ancient Poet and Philosopher is singularly excellent; 
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Non honestum est hominis compagem resolvere;  
Et mox e terra speramus in lucem prodituras  
Reliquias defunctorum; postea vero dii erunt.  And I deny not but this is sufficient to show those that accuse the Christian Religion of teaching absurd and impossible things, that those famous persons amongst the Pagans would not have accounted them such, if they had understood them; since having only a dubious and obscure tradition of this transmitted from the hands of their ancestors, yet they published and maintained it with some confidence. For if they attribute that power to the Stars, how would they have impaired the credit of Religion which refers the Resurrection to the power of him that made the Stars themselves? But notwithstanding, these glimpses of light have been so rare, and so suddenly disappeared, that scarce any perceived them, not even they from whose mind and hand they proceeded; for I do not conceive Phocylides distinctly understood himself. Besides that there was a great deal of extravagancy in their opinion. For did Seneca think that after that great combustion he should come again into the world and write anew to his friend Lucilius, and once more be under the Tyranny of that monster Nero? Or Lucan, that C●sar and Pompey should act over their wars again, and himself compose the Pharsalia again in verse? After which first there must also be another burning of the world, and another Palingenesie or renovation of things. And so to all eternity, the world should after certain revolutions be consumed by fire, and like the Phoenix arise again out of its own ashes. But if this must be done perpetually for the future, I see not why it should not have been done from all eternity heretofore; so that there have been already infinite worlds, and infinite more are yet to come: which beside the contradictions that a knowing Philosopher finds in so many infinite things existing actually and so successively some after others, is strangely extravagant and absurd to be conceived. Moreover, what piety is that which this opinion begat in the minds of them that held it, that thought it thus determined by an inevitable necessity of Destiny? For according to them God shall have no hand in the matter; but the same destiny that shall carry all things to their period when they are consumed by that universal conflagration, shall likewise give new being to all things. Now there is no obligation to return thanks to God nor to acknowledge his goodness for being restored into being by the might of destiny, over which God hath no power. Nevertheless men are so wedded to their own opinions (howsoever extravagant) that there being Stoics at Athens at the time of Saint Paul's preaching there (for as for the Epicureans, it was no wonder if they called him a Babbler) and the Stoics being a Sect to whom the doctrine of the resurrection and universal judgement ought to be agreeable, as bringing much light to their own Tenets, yet there were few or none that received it. Some (saith the Historian) derided it and others desired more satisfactory information of the thing. And yet of how great importance is it to true piety to be fully assured of this truth? For otherwise how shall the goodness of God, which we have abundantly shown is the liberal rewarder of Virtue, render to the body the free recompense of the service it hath done the Soul in the practice thereof, and of the obedience which its natural appetites have yielded to reason, unless it be raised again from the dust? Certainly, as we said above, man is not only the Soul, he is the body also; both which contribute respectively to Virtue, of which man is capable. Wherefore they ought both to be interested in the reward. And that justice, which is the avenger of sin, and without which the Providence of God would be too narrow and defective, how will that acquit its charge unless it equally punish the body with the soul?  they are usually the affections of the body that debauch the mind, and 'tis the pleasure of the senses that prevents and misguids our reason. But the punishment would not be equally proportioned and distributed to the Soul and Body, if the soul were miserable to eternity, and the body wholly exempted from it to exist no more. And the condition of the body would be happy in comparison of that of the mind, although the defect of both were equal. Moreover the penalty increasing proportionably to the dignity of him against whom the offence is committed (for an outrage done to an inferior person is punished otherwise then that which is committed against a Sovereign Magistrate) the justice of God being an infinite power, an immense and unlimited dignity and authority, how could the punishment of the body, by being no more, be proportional to the justice of God? Or if the justice of God can be satisfied for the offence committed against it, with the extinguishment of the body without revival to perpetuity, why is not the soul also extinguished with the body without remaining exposed to a continual and perpetual punishment? Certainly it must either be that the body suffers with the soul eternally for satisfaction of the justice of God suitably to his infinite dignity, or the soul must be extinguished together with the body. But neither the justice of the God, nor the nature of the soul suffers the same to perish or be abolished, and therefore the body must be raised from death to partake of the same compensation with it. Moreover of how great importance is it for consolation of our minds against the fear of death? For death being naturally terrible to all men, and the separation of the soul from the body full of bitterness and anguish, what more effectual comfort can be received, then to expect after a peaceable repose in the grave to be raised by the hand of God from it, not to restore us the enjoyment of this life, that so we might die over again, but to live an eternal life in unexpressible contentment? Besides, what sweeter consolation in the loss of our friends, which is oftentimes more grievous to us then death itself, than the hope that they and we shall one day arise from the earth to dwell together in celestial glory? Certainly, he that represents to himself what joy friends receive here, upon an unexpected meeting after divers years' absence, may in a manner conjecture with what gladness we shall resent the day of that happy resurrection. Whence I conceive that, excepting the assurance of pardon of sins, which delivers the soul itself from the apprehensions of death eternal, there is nothing so capable of inflaming the mind of man with love towards God, as the hope of resurrection. For next to deliverance from the death of the soul, which consists in the sense of a remorse and eternal distress, what can be more sweet than the deliverance from the death of the body, which is to have no more sense, nor motion, nor life, nor being? And from the doctrine of the Resurrection (however profane men gainsay it) results an admiration of the Wisdom of God, in reuniting things which nature had so straight conjoined together. For since death (as we have shown) is not a natural thing but an accident superven'd contrary to the purpose of nature, and the design of the first formation of man, who in regard of the excellence of his soul ought to be an immortal creature, though in reference to his body he was composed of the matter of the Elements; what is there more suitable to Divine Wisdom, then to reunite without injury either to his justice or his goodness, what death had separated by a kind of violence? For, to repeat those words of of Phocylides, it is not meet to dissolve the fair harmony of man. And lastly, though the power of God may be well understood other ways, yet herein is one of the greatest and most admirable testimonies of it; to wit, that from the earth, and the Sea, and the entrails of birds and beasts shall be required the bodies of men; and that their ashes which are dispersed and confused amongst the Elements, shall be recovered and recollected with so much art that every one shall resume his own body without confusion or mixture. Whence is it therefore, that this doctrine gives offence and scandal to some? Is it repugnant to the Wisdom of God? We have proved it agreeable thereunto. And it would argue defect of wisdom in God, if he knew not to distinguish in this confusion of the Elements the places from whence to retake one day the relics of our members. Is it impossible to his power? Surely no, if we account the same infinite; and it is verily infinite, if it be divine. To conclude, doth it encounter reason? There is none of us but would naturally desire the resurrection of his body, if he esteemed it a thing possible. Wherefore seeing God reveals to us both that he will and can do it, what is to be doubted more, but that reason consents in this desire with nature.   

CHAP. VIII. What understanding can be had of true Virtue without a particular Revelation,  
HItherto we have shown that in the things which relate directly to God and his service, and the motives of true and sincere piety, men have either been without a particular revelation, or absolutely blind, or so unresolved and wavering in what they knew thereof, that they could not from thence render any true devotion to God, nor receive any solid consolation to themselves. Our next task should be to show that they likewise needed a particular revelation for the knowledge of true Virtue, which ought to be followed amongst men: but my design will not permit me to deduce that point at length; only I am to desire the Reader to take notice of two things. Indeed I will not question but that they have had far more knowledge of true virtue by the light of nature alone, than they had of the requisites and concernments of true piety. The excellent instructions of Philosophers, commendable Laws of Republics, virtuous deeds of great personages, and the universal consent of all Nations any thing civilised, show by the account they made of Virtue and its excellence, that they were clearer sighted therein then in other particulars. Yea there have been found men amongst them, who being considered only on the outside and by their actions of valour, justice, honesty, moderation, reverence towards parents and love to their country, might seem in a manner worthy to be paralleled with those that have been illuminated by a clearer light of truth; I mean comparatively, as to things of that nature. And the reason of this is not difficult to be rendered. For besides that the knowledge of the duties of men one towards another is somewhat more proportionate to their understanding, then of those which regard the Deity (whence it is, that Cicero is much more certain and positive in the description of our mutual obligations in his Books de Officiis, than he is in the doctrine of the Nature of the Gods) there has been herein an influence of the divine Providence. For God having purposed that the world should subsist till a certain time which he has prefixed to exercise judgement, and that amongst all sorts of Nations the seed of them should be preserved whom he would elect for his people, for which cause he yet maintains the earth in its secundity; has presided in an especial manner over the minds of Legislators and Philosophers, to guide them to teach things suitable for the conservation of humane society, and over the minds of the people in general to cause them to comprehend and conform to the same. For if men had been as ignorant of right and honesty, as of God and what directly relates to him, instead of assemblies of men, Cities and Commonwealths, there would not have been seen in the world but troops of savage beasts and great parties of robbers; whence all had been reduced into an horrible chaos. Nevertheless as well in this as in other things the particular revelation of the will of God, would have been not only profitable for the better civilising of them, but also of absolute necessity in order to giving them a saving knowledge of him.  
For in the first place, since God is the author and Lord of all the world, and its sovereign Legislator and governor, was not man made to glorify him and to direct all his actions and cogitations to that end? And as his supreme good lies in his communion & conjunction with God, ought not also his glory be his highest aim? And notwithstanding, where is there any amongst the Pagans, even of those who were the greatest admirers of Virtue, that proposed as the end of his actions the glory of the Creator of the World? that so much as thought that was the end to which they ought to tend? Some have aimed at their own glory, and to gain a reputation among their fellow-Citizens, and to draw them to admire their Virtues, in stead of ascribing them to God. Others have made Virtute subservient to avarice and pleasure (as Epicurus) and believed her lovely only in that regard. And others, though extreme few, held virtue in esteem indeed because of its natural dignity; but virtue being as it were the image and resplendency of God, it was not half reflected by being esteemed, since it was not thereby referred to the honour of its model, and the source from whence it was derived into the world. Further, what miserable valuers were they of its dignity? The greatest part condemned only Vices that appear in exterior actions: as if virtue ought not to be aswel the rule of purposes and intentions, as of the works of the hand or corporeal deportment; or as if external actions were not good or had only so far as they represent the internal disposition of the heart, and take their tincture from it. But if some have not only regulated the actions of men by virtue, but also their wills and counsels; yet all have generally erred in this point, that they have not retrenched the corruption of vice near enough to the quick, but have excused the first motions that swerve from reason, as not being in our own power; and could not understand that there ought to be in man such a harmony of all his faculties amongst themselves, that not the least rebellion might arise in his appetites against right reason. Of which too if some have spoken; it has been one of a thousand, and as it were by chance. Besides, how shameful are the enormities which the greatest personages amongst them have committed in that which nature teaches most clearly? What was in Plato's mind to introduce a community of women into his Republic? who can but blush at the reading what Plutark hath written concerning love? yea who is not rather astonished then ashamed at it? What were the Lupercalia of the Romans, and the Bacchanalia of the Greeks? How laudable was the custom amongst both those people of lending forth their Wives, if not received and practised commonly, yet at least not condemned, but authorised by the example of Cato himself? Was it not needful therefore for God to reveal himself from heaven, for the reducing marriage to its primitive honesty, and teaching men by his own voice what they could not learn from nature, how loud soever she speaks therein. And I do not now mean the vulgar people, whose virtue was very scarce, and only a little in show, but the most eminent, and who by the opinion of their virtue drew the eyes and admiration of others.  
It is not impertinent here to insist upon what we touched briefly and transiently above, to wit, that they knew not what true patience was. For it consists not, as they conceived, in the not feeling of evil, no more than a stock or stone, nor in the yielding to necessity because it were to no purpose to resist it; but it consists in a most humble acquiescence in the will of God, who disposes of all by his Providence; and in bearing such a reverence to his Majesty, as not only not to murmur against him because it would not profit any thing to do so, but not to be at all impatient, because it is not fitting or lawful. The Creature being bound to obey his Creator even to that point, that if God should purpose to acquire glory to himself from undeserved afflictions laid upon it (though he never does so) yet the creature ought not to repine, but rather venerate his wisdom, so as not to inquire why he does it, and to have such an humble sense of itself in comparison of his Majesty, that God might without doing any wrong, even make use of its ruin for the illustration of his glory. For who does not find this true upon a due perpension? who comparing the nothingness (as I may so speak) of man with the infinite Majesty of God, can think we ought to complain of him in case it should please him to treat us so? Us, I say, who use so absolute a right over other animals, who have neither made nor supported them, and have none but a borrowed authority to do it. Although there is this proportion between them and us, that we are equally creatures; whereas between God and us there is no commensurability in any thing whatsoever. Even Kings and Monarches claim such a right over their subjects, and very many generous Nations concede the same to them without reservation.  
But besides all this there are two most excellent virtues taught by divine revelation, which the Pagans were so far from ever reckoning such that they accounted the vices contrary to them for laudable virtues. The first is Humility, of whose recommendation there is no footstep nor shadow to be found in their writings. For it has been as an epidemical disease of their minds, to consider themselves in their own plumes & to esteem not less gloriously of them and of our nature then if we were as little Gods upon earth; in which respect they sometimes dared (as we have seen) to compare, yea to prefer themselves before the Gods themselves. Whereunto the ignorance of the true God has contributed more than can be imagined, and likewise the fictions of the Poets concerning all those Romantic Divinities which were adored by the vulgar. And in truth I see not why any honest woman ought not prefer herself before Venus, according as she is described to us; since Immortality by which alone she surpassed humane condition, gave her no other advantage saving to practise her infamous dulteries to eternity: as Aristides and Photion had grounds to prize themselves much above a thievish Mercury, or a cruel and bloody Mars, whose Deity had no other excellence but to be a shelter of impunity from their crimes. It was fit therefore to make men know in the first place, that though they should have continued in the state of perfection in which they were placed at their first creation, yet in comparison of God they are but inconsiderable worms upon the earth. Next, that they are fallen so far below themselves, that there is no proportion between them and their first being; and so to teach them to despise themselves in comparison of God, yea to think low of themselves in comparison of themselves; and, which is an infallible sequel of the little esteem we make of ourselves, not to contemn any person whatsoever; but to prevent and go beyond all the world in respect, and to reverence all such in whom God hath put any mark of his eminence, whether in rare qualities of the mind, or in authority and power.  
The other Virtue consists in the obedience which we render to Kings and Magistrates and all superior Powers. For because the Pagans did not perceive any particular Providence of God in the establishment of politic or civil order in the world, but thought that it was an institution either purely humane, every people having transferred into the hands of one or more of their fellow-Citizens the administration of their common laws, and the avengement of their violation; or at most but natural; in as much as those to whom nature had been more bountiful in respect of understanding or prudence, to conduct others, undertook the management of Republics as the best experienced pilots take upon them the steering of the ship; whence they made no scruple where they conceived the persons entrusted with power abused the same, or that the case were irregular and preposterous in nature, the less worthy possessing themselves of the government, to rebel against their authority, and even to lay violent hands upon those whom they called tyrants, and unjust invaders of the liberty of the people. And there is scarce any thing found more ordinary among their writings then Eulogiums of Assassins' that had slain Tyrants, nothing more honoured in the public places of their Cities then their Statues, nothing that they proclaim so loud as the defence of their liberty, nor any thing that has been more advantageously mentioned then the kill of the Tyrants of Thebes, and the murder of Julius Caesar for the deliverance of the Commonwealth of Rome. But divine Revelation has carried our knowledges much higher, and corrected the deficiency of their sentiments who were not guided by its light. It hath taught us first, that there ought to be two kinds of societies in the world; The one Religious, which respects the service of God; The other only Civil, in reference to the affairs of this life; and that God hath so dispensed things that he has impower'd each with its authority, and established over each its governors and rulers. So that as the Civil Power hath nothing to do to superintend in the Religious Society, to give laws to the consciences of men; but aught to submit itself to those which God hath established therein: So the Spiritual Power hath no right to partake with the Secular, which is ordained for the conduct of the world; but aught likewise to be subject thereunto, without pretending to any prerogative over Kings and Magistrates. Moreover, it hath taught us, that although it be not forbidden to people truly free, that is, which have no sovereign power above them, but have themselves the authority of their affairs in their hands, to defend their liberty against such as would oppress it; yet when once they have been subjected, and themselves owned those that subdued them for their soverains, they are obliged to render faithful obedience to them. And in reference to the other Society, which concerns Religion, when once it hath gained some reasonable form in a place, and order is established therein, it is the duty of particular persons to obey willingly the constitutions which are made therein by those who have the power so to do. So that neither the one of these Societies may attempt any thing against the other, because their rights are separate, and their administration distinct; nor any one whatsoever in either of them disturb the public order by rebellion, because every man in his station is obliged to own it for superior to which he owes obedience. And this obligation ought to be esteemed inviolable, not only in reference to conservation of order thereby in either of these two Societies, of which every good man should be desirous; but moreover because they have God for their Author, and therefore they ought to be honoured with reverence, by reason of the authority of him from whom they derive their Original. So that as piety towards God is as it were the Pillar of the Religious Society, and Justice of the Civil, so there are only these two cases in which it is lawful for particular persons to disobey these two Powers: First, when in the Religious Society something is commanded contrary to piety: for at such times as the superior abuses his authority directly against God, and imposes upon the conscience impious, idolatrous and superstitious laws, the inviolable commandments of God ought without contradiction to overweigh the decrees of men. Secondly, when Magistrates ordain something contrary to Justice and Virtue; for in such cases using their authority directly contrary to the end for which it was given them (to wit, to induce men to things honest and commendable, and to contain them in the observation of the same) none are bound to yield obedience to them. Thus in the One the will of God is the rule, and in the Other that honesty and equity which nature itself teacheth. In other things, wherein piety does not suffer, nor honesty and the natural right of things is violated, there is nothing so wellpleasing to God as a ready and willing subjection, though it were even painful and laborious: So far is God from permitting attempts against the one or the other, of those whom he has constituted in the government, either to diminish their authority or deprive them of Life. In effect, though Brutus and his companions thought they had done an heroic action in the assassinate of C●esar, and Cicero extolled it as highly as if it had been commanded by some Oracle of God himself; yet it is certain that it was an evil and culpable attempt, with which their memories will for ever be stained. I shall not here speak of the ingratitude of which they that executed it may be justly impeached, there being none of them but had received some remarkable benefit from Caesar, or had their lives preserved by him. Nor shall I insist upon the success that came of it, that instead of freeing the people of Rome, they were the cause that they fell under the hands of three or four masters more rigorous than Caesar was, and who reigned after a more absolute and bloody manner. I shall also omit to press what was so carefully observed by the ancients, that there was not one of the Murderers of that Prince but perished by a violent death, and some by their own hands, and with the same sword wherewith they had slain him: although the vengeance of God be manifest enough therein. I shall only say, that when Caesar was after his victory created perpetual Dictator, the people themselves all together had no power in them to take his authority from him; much less had fourteen or fifteen particular persons any just cause to conspire against his life. For the perpetual Dictatorship being a Sovereign Dignity and independent on any other but God, the people of Rome had indeed a power to confer the same, by voluntarily surrendering up their liberty to him; but after they had conferred it, it was not in their power to revoke or annul it, so long as the person they had invested with it was living. Wherefore it ought not to be doubted but that the death of Caesar was a horrible parricide.  
Hereunto aught to be conjoined the precept we have not to exercise our own revenge ourselves. For since Revenge, if good and lawful, is an administration of justice, and not a satiating of our passions; there being none but God that administers justice in the World, as being the sole governor of it, either immediately and by himself, or by the intervention of Magistrates (whom he hath appointed guardians of Laws and conservators of humane Society) he that receives an injury, ought not to do himself reason for it, in as much as thereby he would indulge and content his own passion, and not execute a just and lawful vengeance; but it is fit that reparation be done him for it by their means to whom the care of right and preservation of laws is committed. And if these fail him, he must attend that God himself do it for him, having a persuasion that he is the preserver of the rights of all, and that when men sail in their duty he does not forget to correct their faults.  
For a man to attempt satisfaction of his wrong himself, would be to invade the government of God; and to slight or implead the Magistrates, would be an express overturning of things established by God himself. To him it belongs to revenge the injuries of private, and the injustices committed by public persons. Nevertheless it is evident that if they have little understood the moderation which ought to be held in point of revenge, and the means of pursuing satisfaction of an injury; they have been yet more ignorant of that precept which Wisdom itself gives us (and right reason too, if we would hearken to it) Of loving our very enemies, and procuring good to those that offend us. And yet if the excellence of Man's nature consists in resemblance with God; since God is so good and so patiented towards the Wicked, and notwithstanding their offences, their crimes and blasphemies, awaits their amendment with so great indulgence, and invites them thereunto with perpetual clemency and goodness, how can man ever attain his perfection, if he do not imitate God in this example? Moreover since the public good is without scruple to be preferred before that of any single person, and that if there be any good in the hatred which we bear to our enemies, it lies only in some particular contentment, which we receive by following the motions of our nature (if the pleasure of letting lose the bridle to one's passions may be called good, which ought rather to be restrained by right reason) and since on the contrary the good of the Commonwealth and humane society receives advancement by the virtue and prosperity of our enemies; how much more prevalent reason is there to love then to hate them, that is, to desire that they may become good and happy for themselves and ornaments of the Commonwealth in general, rather than to wish their shame and calamity for the gratifying a particular passion? Lastly, since Hatred is a desire of seeing evil befall the person we hate, and no man ought to undergo evil but he that deserves the same by his wickedness; how can we be virtuous ourselves, if we desire that others should become vicious; seeing a good man should wish that if possible all the world might become like himself, and virtue is a good that naturally desires to be communicated and expanded? Or how can we desire that they were virtuous and yet calamitous together? Nevertheless the Philosophers have scarce seen so much as a shadow of this doctrine? Wherefore we conclude in brief, that even in the knowledge of true virtue as well as in what concerns the nature of God and his legitimate service, humane reason is so defective, that without the aid of a supernatural light, it can neither constitute nor practise any thing consideable and of worth.   

CHAP. IX. What the principal tokens and evidences are by which this particular Revelation may be known and distinguished.  
BUt admitting (will some say) That the reasons above alleged induce to confess that a particular and celestial revelation is either highly important, or absolutely necessary; yet where shall we find it? For all sorts of Nations have boasted of the same; and the mind of man is so incertain in its judgements, that in this variety and confusion of voices, wherewith every one pretends to it, it is difficult if not impossible to be resolved. We are sufficiently sensible of our need, but we are at a loss in finding wherewith to satisfy it; and in case we should have found it, yet we can scarce be assured that that were the true remedy of our evil. For as some person may swallow poison while he conceives he uses a good medicament, so another when he uses a safe remedy, may yet think that he takes some noxious poison. To this difficulty we must give an answer before we pass further to the examination of their opinion, who acknowledging an especial declaration of the will of God in reference to his service, do nevertheless esteem the external professions of all Religions indifferent.  
It is most certain that if it were so, that some person had the true revelation of the will of God in all these things and in the declaration of all these truths, and yet did not believe that it was proceeded from God, it would be in no wise profitable unto him. No, not if he were but in suspense concerning it. For it is not with this as it is with drugs. A good medicine may be given to a man of distempered fancy, which will not fail to do him good, though he believe it an envenomed potion. Because the Physic needs not the intervention of opinion or understanding to produce its effect, but directly acts upon the humours of the body and the parts affected. But here the medicine is taken and digested only in the mind, and works not but by the mediation of belief, and that a certain, clear, and settled one, which excites the passions and affections; for this is the property of all persuasions that are impressed of a thing that must be reduced to practice, such as the doctrine of piety and virtue is. But if on the other side, we receive and embrace with a firm belief that doctrine of truth revealed from Heaven, it is absolutely impossible for it not to display its power, and make us feel its efficacy. So that all the difficulty lies in being persuaded, and finding certain tokens or evidences which may make it be indubitably owned. All Nations indeed boast of having it; neither ought it seem strange that they do so. For though the Understanding be to the soul as the Eye is to the Body; yet there is this difference in the resemblance, that when a man is born blind, though by the many slips and stumbles that befall him at every step, he observes well that there is something necessary for his guidance wanting to him, yet cannot one impose so far upon him, how desirous so ever he be of sight, as to make him believe that he does really see: His own sentiment & experience invalidating the credit of those that should go about to abuse him with such an imagination. And if there wasever found a blind person that imagined that he saw, he had not only darkness in the eyes of his body, but also distemper and disorder in his mind. In the understanding the case is not the same; Because it is not become extinguished by sin in us, but we discourse and reason upon the appearances of things, and endeavour to discern the true from the false; and there being many things absolutely false, which are partly coloured with false shows, and partly find a faculty in us easily to be deceived; hence, I say, it happens to us, that receiving the false for the true, we nevertheless imagine we have embraced the pure verity itself. And there are principally two things which here render us liable to imposture: The first is, that not being able of ourselves to invent or discover the truth in the point of the knowledge of God and of his service, and having not in our corrupted and obscured minds any certain rules to examine what is proposed to us concerning the same, all that seems to surpass our capacity, and has any thing of strange and extraordinary, if it be presented to us as divine, is readily admitted, and our ignorance conciliates authority and reverence to it; as Lucretius says, 
Omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque  
Inversis quia sub verbis latitantia cernunt.   
As a man that should have never seen true Diamonds, but only heard some body perhaps as ignorant in Jewels as himself, speak of them, might be easily gulled by the first counterfeits that were presented to him, and would take that to be brought from the bottom of the Indian Seas which was but gathered from the rocks of his own country. The second thing is the sense of our necessity, which causes that as famished people eat and make good cheer with Garlic and Husks, so men receive all sorts of Religions as divine, by reason of the sense that the conscience hath of its natural want, though they scarce ought to be counted amongst Sciences purely humane. Which though it be so, yet the truth of God is but one, uniform, and like to itself, and is not found but in one certain place. For would God who is one and immutable, reveal the manner of serving him in one place, after one fashion, and after another in another? It is not in this case, as it is with Princes who have divers Kingdoms, whereby it is perhaps necessary for them to comply with the customs of Nations, their laws and languages, because it would be incommodious and difficult to rank them under the same constitutions, every people having their peculiar inclinations, and every climate its manners of acting, which is impossible to be altered without danger of involving all in great disorder. And though the general maxims of Policy, and the foundations it has in the natural justice and honesty of things be ever immutable and uniform, yet this does not hinder but that several Commonwealths may be constituted after different forms, and the particular laws upon which they are founded be accommodated and varied sometimes in one case and sometimes in another according to the diversity of circumstances. But the nature of God being always like to itself in all Ages, and the nature of man always one in all Nations, there must be always one and the same service to God, and to men one and the same rule of piety and virtue. If there be a difference found therein at any time, it is (as we shall see God willing in due place) in things which are not essential to Religion, but in some external show of things of a mid quality and indifferent in themselves. So that either God has declared this his will but to one Nation alone, or if he has declared it to more, it has been by an equal and uniform revelation. And whereas Religions are extremely confused, this must have some tokens to distinguish it from all others, whereby it may be infallibly known: which are now the business of our enquiry.  
Without question the best knowledge that can be had of the nature of a medicament is from the good, ready and certain relief received by it in a disease; After which experience there is no need of searching further into its qualities, unless to gather occasions of admiring it more. In like manner, the best knowledge that can be had of the revelation of heavenly truth in this point, is by proof of the comfort that it affords to the souls of men, and by its efficacy of cleansing them from the corruption of sin; of which if we do not complain, we are more than stupid and insensible. But on the one side they that know the truth by this evidence, scarce require any other; and on the other side we have now to do with them that cannot know this truth by the experience of its virtue, till they have first had some taste of it by an other way. Wherefore it is necessary for us to speak of it in another sort, and to show briefly, that provided a man brings the like docility to attain it that he does to the study of humane Sciences, that is to say, a mind clear of all prejudice, affected to truth, and free from importunate and contentious quarrelling, the search is not laborious, nor the attainment difficult; so far are the pains employed therein likely to be unprofitable.  
Indeed, I conceive, there is none will deny but that if there be a Religion in which all the truths we have above considered, are found, either wholly revealed, or illustrated sufficiently to determine the irresolution of the mind of man, and to fix his agitations, by contenting the insatiable desire of knowledge which is in us, that this Religion is divine. For since there never was not only any Nation, but not so much as one single person in any Nation that comprehended all these truths together; What God is in his own nature, How he hath created the World, In what manner he governs it, What is the cause and origine of Death, Whence all the disorder we behold in man and in the world came to pass, where we are to seek the knowledge of the means to obtain remission of our sins, What hope there is of the Resurrection of the body, yea What certainty there is of the doctrine of the immortality of our souls; nor any of them solidly and distinctly: does it not follow that the doctrine which has so cleared up all these truths, that for the future there remains nothing to be doubted concerning them, or known, for the satisfaction of our minds therewith, must necessarily proceed from some other than the mind of man? For there is no more to be expected after trial of the utmost power of our understanding in the discovery of these points. New Countries have in our times been found in the East and West Indies, which were unknown to the Ancients. But the Sea and the Wind carried the discoverers thither; there needed but a little more daring, to sail forth from the coasts of one's country into the main Sea, and a something exacter observation of the Needle and the Stars to direct the course: and the arrival upon, and beholding of those regions was an indubitable manifestation of their existence. But should the World be turned about from East to West, and from North to South, there would be seen but one and the same Sun and the same Heavens, Lands, Seas, Rivers and Men, and the same order in the nature of things, which the Philosophers contemplated in Greece and Italy, the Druids in Gallia, the brahmin's and Gymnosophists in India, the Magis and Astrologers in Chaldea, and Priests and mysterious divines in Egypt. The very Scythians had their Sages who addicted themselves to the search of things humane and divine. Therefore there must either spring up an other new kind of men, or it must not be hoped that any should see clear in this wherein all others have been blind. Now if this revelation be not proceeded from the mind of man, it must be come from God; no other could have given it us. For Demons cannot here reasonably be brought into the Scene. If they be, I demand whether they were good or bad. If good, they did it by the instinct and command of God; and so we have what we drive at. If bad, how could they which are the authors and lovers of lying teach us truths which oppose and condemn them, and ruin the dominion which they bear over the minds of men by means of ignorance? And since all such truth tends to the glory of God, and the welfare of mankind, these especially, how could wicked Demons be induced to communicate the knowledge of them to men, being equally enemies to Heaven and Earth? And in as much as every Religion professes either to teach things or to contain mysteries surpassing the apprehension of humane understanding (for there never was any but pretended to deep secrets not to be sounded by the Reason of man, that so it might be more venerable) if there be sound one in which there are certain doctrines raised above our reach, so interwoven with truths which we comprehend, and whereof it has given us an absolute certainty, that they illustrate and confirm one another; so that what we understand assures us of the truth of that which we do not fully comprehend, and what we do not perfectly comprehend connects truths together already understood, as a necessary cement to hinder the dissipation of the whole work: who can doubt but that it is God that connected those truths together by an indissoluble concatenation? For without doubt they are truths, though we do not comprehend them; seeing they support others, of whose evidence reason is convinced, which would otherwise be ungrounded and infirm; their verity, I say, appears from this consideration; and it must needs be some other than the mind of man that has employed them to this purpose, since that is not capable to comprehend their nature.  
Furthermore, whereas it was well said by One, That things of greatest antiquity are best, and the Philosophers themselves, when they treat concerning God and Religion, extremely cry up Antiquity, and attribute much to the dictates of their Ancestors; as if nature itself had suggested to them, that there was a source of all these things, from which they that were nearest it drew the purest and sincerest waters, whereas accordingly as they are derived through several minds as so many several conduit-pipes, they become corrupted and tincted with extraneous qualities and contract impurity; If there be found a doctrine that has all the marks of Antiquity, and there appears nothing in the world that equals it, it ought not to be doubted but that the same is proceeded from him that is more ancient than all, as being author of all things. If the language in which it was revealed be as the mother and stock from which others, though very ancient, are sprung; if it describes the history of the world and of men, and their propagation upon the earth; if it affords the demonstration of times, and that without it the knowledge of Chronology would be more intricate than a Labyrinth; if it deduces its history from point to point with an exact correspondence, if it clearly and certainly relates histories that are as the body of the fabulous shadows that we see in the writings of the most ancient authors in the World, who will doubt but all which they have is taken from thence, and that we ought to refer what is therein depraved and corrupted thereunto as to its principle, and have recourse thither to learn what we are ignorant of?  
Moreover, as the minds of men are so various, that we scarce see a son follow the design of his father's building, when the foundations of it are laid, and the walls already erected; much less do they willingly conform throughout to their predecessors in Sciences and disciplines, every one being ambitious of the glory of having augmented, corrected or invented some thing (which occasioned so many sects of Philosophers and Lawyers) If there be found a Religion, all whose parts accord together with an excellent harmony (although it has been propounded at several times and by several persons in several places) and are so far from difformity, that they consist & unite together with a perfect proportion, though several workmen have laboured therein; can it be denied but that it was one and the same Architect that always presided over the work, seeing it is managed with so equal and uniform a conduct? Whereas even the Palaces of Kings are composed of parts oftimes so disagreeing that they dispaparage the edifice, according as successors have had different fancies from their ancestors: yea even such as have been built by one alone, always represent something in their contrivance which argues the inconstance and imbecility of man. But especially if there be found a Doctrine, whose revelations or supernatural truths having been very little and obscure at the beginning, so that it was impossible for the mind of man to explain them, have yet many hundred years after been multiplied in so suitable a manner, that it is dubious which to admire most, either the consentaneousness between the principles and their sequels, or the faculty that was requisite to deduce the same from them and to unfold them after a manner perfectly admirable; There is no question but he was the same that cast the seed into the earth and made it grow, that first presented those invelop'd sparkles of light and afterwards illustrated and unveiled them. Moreover, inasmuch as God is the author of all things, his glory ought to be their natural end; but as none of the most knowing Philosophers ever proposed the same to himself, or endeavoured to show the tendency of things thereunto, yea on the contrary the most part speak nor of God, or if they do 'tis with some notorious disadvantage to his glory; If there be a Doctrine that aims wholly and all whose parts conspire unanimously thereunto, must it not be said that God intended the same as a means to redress the distraction and wandering of humane minds, and to reduce them into the right way? For how could it be that men should so prodigiously neglect the glory of God, unless they were estrayed from their end, since they were made for it? And how were they able, when once lost in a strange Country, so well to recover the direct path again of themselves? Every Religion ought to contain the testimonies of Gods good will to mankind, and the duties of men towards him. If therefore, there be a discipline, a doctrine, a book, a society in which God himself speaks to men in a style and manner agreeable to the eminence of his Majesty, displays his justice to them most terrible in its appearance, discovers his power in its highest magnificence, and gives them to sound the breadth and length, depth and height of his infinite mercies, after a manner which cannot but ravish the thought of man with admiration, who can imagine that ever any man durst speak so? And lastly if examples of an incomparable virtue be found therein, with incitations and instructions to piety, such as are not to be paralleled any other where in the world, 'tis an indubitable argument that they are proceeded from some other than the humane mind or the School of man.  
It is natural to men to aspire after a supreme good; it is inseparably rooted and fixed in our minds. Yet never any man attained it, or could so much as certainly tell wherein it consists: and 'tis lamentable to observe how different, inconstant and incongruous the opinions of Philosophers have been in a matter of so great importance. Therefore if there be any Doctrine that discovers the variety and folly of those that so grossly deceived themselves about it, and which brings to light and exposes to the eyes of all the earth a Beatitude that comprehends all the excellencies the Philosophers were able to express in this point, and infinitely more, who can doubt but that it was God himself that hath lighted this torch to dissipate all the darknesses of our minds? Lastly, Man being fallen from so high a degree of perfection into so great a corruption, of which Heaven and Earth and his own conscience bears him witness, and there being by that means so large an abyss between God and him, a war so irreconcilable between his justice and our offences; If there be a Doctrine that teaches an expedient to fill up this gulf, and, as I may so speak, to build a bridge over it, to renew the commerce and correspondence between God and us, procuring satisfaction to his justice, and raising us up from our ruins, is it not necessarily consequent that it was God himself that revealed it? For what edifice ever erected itself when it was fallen, and emerged anew out of its rubbish? To him that is fallen from the favour of God into his indignation, who can show the hope and means of his reconciliation but God himself? And I shall not fear confidently to assert that such a Religion ought besides the preceding evidences be authorised from Heaven, maintained against its enemies, and be effectual to be persuaded after an extraordinary manner. Wherefore if there be one to which God hath born witness by great and signal miracles, which surpass both the power of humane nature and the illusions of Magic, and even the faculties of any malignant spirit and the highest intelligences, seeing they could not be performed but by the power of God, and that it professes to be proceeded from him, who can be so bold as to gainsay it? For without dispute God could never have afforded his power to the confirmation of a lie, or revealed himself from Heaven expressly in such miraculous works to favour an imposture, that pretends to his name with a false title. Moreover, if being conversant in the world as a stranger, contradicted by all Nations, ardently persecuted by malignant spirits, and by such as they had seduced by their illusions, and drawn to their service, it has been as it were visibly defended by dreadful judgements discharged both upon the persons and Nations that opposed it, by pestilence and mortalities, by famines and wars, by subversions of Cities and dissipations of Kingdoms; it must needs be particularly loved by the Deity, since he so terribly revenges the injuries that are done to it. Lastly, being wholly designed for reclaiming men off from Idolatry and superstition to the service of the true God, and conforming their irregular appetities to reason; a thing impossible to be done, because men naturally love Idols as debauched men do courtesans, and are yet addicted to their own concupiscences as much or more than they are to idols: nevertheless if it has surmounted all resistance, overcome the most obstinate hearts, and triumphed gloriously over the humane understanding, leading their thoughts as prisoners by the force and clearness of its truth, so that it has subjugated even the greatest Empires, and all other Religions, doctrines, and sects have fallen and been scattered before it; Who can doubt for the future but that it is a divine truth and accompanied with divine assistance? Especially since for the propagating of it into all quarters of the world there was employed neither arms nor factions and conspiracies, nor the favour of great men, nor commotions of people nor the subtlety of Philosophers, nor the eloquence of Orators, nor any thing else that bears a splendour and lustre in the eyes of men, but only the naked proposal of a simple truth, and a firm and invincible resolution to endure all things for it. Certainly, where the means which men ordinarily serve themselves of are rejected, and such as are contrary to them used, the design cannot but be some other then humane. And if it prosper in spite of the world's and men's opposition it must needs be through a divine and celestial virtue. Now we shall see (by the help of God's grace) in the sequel that there is a Religion in the world to which all these tokens or evidences do suit and agree, and that they cannot be found but in that alone: and this in order to evince (as my first purpose obliges me) that they who acknowledge a particular or special revelation from Heaven in matter of Religion ought not to account all kinds indifferent as to external profession: which must be the subject of the third part of my Work.   
The end of the Second Part.   

A TREATISE Concerning RELIGIONS, Against those who esteem all Indifferent. The third Part.  

CHAP. I. That such as acknowledge a Particular Revelation cannot allow indifference in Profession of Religion.  
HAving shown by manifest and necessary reasons that in order to performing a service agreeable to God, and beneficial to the salvation of men, there needs an other light than that of Nature, and that they ought to be enlightened by a special revelation; and having declared the most evident tokens by which the same may be known, it should be our next business to inquire where they are found, in as much as Religion will infallibly be there found also. And this aught without longer dispute to be sufficient against those, who acknowledging the necessity of this particular revelation, & likewise confessing that there is such in the world, do notwithstanding account the external profession of all Religions indifferent. For where God hath revealed his truth, and declared his will in things that concern him and his service, what humane imaginations are to be preferred before him, or what excuses can be pleaded for disobedience unto him? But the obstinacy of men, and the importance of the matter requires further discussing and illustration.  
In man there are three distinct faculties, of which each has its respective influence in the profession and exercise of Religion: The understanding, wherewith we apprehend the truth of things: The Will, in which are the motions of piety and habits of virtue: And the Senses, which are subservient to both. For it is by the Senses that objects arrive to the Understanding, and by the Understanding they excite suitable motions in the Will. Upon which account there must be three sorts of things in Religion that correspond thereunto. First, such as are propounded as truths to be believed, that so man, who is otherwise buried in ignorance, may attain a wisdom worthy the excellence of his nature. For how can Religion subsist without a true understanding of the nature of God and his Attributes, and other truths dependent thereon, so far at least as humane understanding is capable of the same? And since the supreme perfection of man consists in the legitimate practice of the true Religion, how can man be rendered perfect, if his intellect remain notwithstanding clouded with darkness and ignorant of the most excellent of all natures, and from which alone all other things derive their perfection? The second sort of things include such as are proposed not only to be believed but to be done, and which lie in practice; as the precepts of piety towards God and charity amongst men, the duties of which are diffused through all the parts of humane life. Lastly, the third comprehends all external things, as the actions and ceremonies designed to give instruction of that which must be believed, and to beget affection towards that which is to be done, with that regularity according to which the Religious Society is administered. Now all these particulars ought to have such an accord among them, that the truths proposed to be believed be of a nature proper to beget piety and virtue in the minds of men; n as much as there is so straight an alliance between the Understanding and the Will, that the Will follows the steerage & government of reason, which is the guide and conductor of it: Whence that the motions of piety may be sincere, and worthy of the person in whom they are and to whom they are directed, it is requisite that the wisdom of the understanding be very pure, and its light very serene & clear. In like manner it is requisite that the precepts which contain the duties of piety and virtue have no repugnance with the truths in knowledge of which consists the wisdom of the understanding, but as they mutually depend on one another, so there may be a perfect correspondence between them. And lastly, it is meet that the ceremonies and external government of this society have such a congruity with all other things of Religion that first they be in nothing repugnant to the truths in which wisdom consists, and next that they be peculiarly instrumental to the begetting and exciting of piety and virtue. For as the internal part of man is much more excellent than his external, and Religion is destinated to perfectionate his soul; so is it fit that the exterior and sensible things employed as instruments thereunto be proper to the end to which they are addressed. And it would be a great absurdity to employ means to attain to such an end which were not only uncongruous therewith but opposite and contrary.  
These things being thus premised, I demand whether they that believe a celestial revelation necessary and think there is one in the world, and nevertheless account the external profession of all Religions indifferent, place this indifference in the belief of truths proposed to the understanding, to give credit thereunto more or less as seems good to us; or whether they place it in the practice of that piety and virtue which is principally seated in the Will, to perform which of those precepts we please and no more; or lastly, whether it be in external communion of those ceremonies, and visible government by which the Religious Society is administered, to dispose of the same according to our humour, to omit such as are enjoined by this revelation, and embrace such as are opposite to them when we think sit, retaining in the mean while both the belief of those truths inviolable and the internal practice of piety, honesty, and virtue in our deportments amongst men. Certainly, it is not probable that they account the belief of those truths indifferent which are offered to the understanding to be believed by a divine revelation. For even in things not relating to Religion, and in themselves of little importance, the knowledge of truth is without comparison better than the belief of falsehood. And I do not conceive there is any person so brutish and unworthy the name of man, as to think it indifferent what sort of Philosophy to embrace, in case it were absolutely known in which sect the truth and certain intelligence of things were to be had. Truth is so beautiful and admirable that she ravishes the minds of men into her love; and the more purified and sublime they are the more violent is the love they be●r naturally to her. What did not those persons of old do, whose names are so celebrated in the world, to find her out where they believed the discovery possible? What transports of joy did they resent when they happened on any footstep or trace of her? What vows and wishes did they make to find her? And what an expression was that of Plato, when he protested that if he could have found a man that knew how to Define aright, he would have cast himself at his feet to adore him? And nevertheless the business was perhaps only concerning the knowledge of a Goat or Caterpillar. But if God himself had declared in which sect of Philosophy the truth were, who would afterwards have esteemed the profession thereof indifferent? And who would have had so little regard not only to the dignity of truth, but to the authority of God and to his testimony? If, I say, he had commanded that the Tenets of Aristotle should be believed rather than those of Plato, as being of more truth, who would afterwards be a Platonist, with an absolute contempt of truth, whose value is inestimable, and the testimony that God had given it, the weight whereof is of sovereign authority, and his express commandment whose majesty is inviolable? Now if this be true, in reference to Philosophy, with which humane life might easily dispense, how much more does it hold good in Religion, whose truths revealed from God are so important not only to the present time but to all eternity? Truths, I say, to which he hath rendered such testimonies? Whereof he hath given such express commandment, with terrible threaten against incredulity, and abundant and gracious promises to those that embrace the same with a steadfast belief? But much less will they place their indifference in the practice of internal piety, which is seated in the affections of the heart. For as for piety itself, Epicurus durst not question whether it ought to be exercised towards the Deity, or no; how therefore do they that acknowledge both a Providence of God in the government of the world, and a particular revelation of his will in matter of his service, presume to dispute it, or place it in indifference? And as for the manner of performing it, if God himself has declared what fiducary recumbence we ought to have on his goodness, what reverence of his glorious majesty, what dread of his justice, what gratitude for his benefits, or what ardour and assurance in calling upon him in necessity, and what obedience to his commandments, who will be so bold or stupid as to use or oppose humane imaginations against the declaration that it hath pleased him to make thereof. 'Tis a thing we would not tolerate in our children or servants, to comment upon or dispute our commandments even in small matters when we have once signified our intentions; much less can we endure that they slight the same to follow their own fancies.  
It remains therefore that they place this liberty in the communion of external ceremonies; which yet they have no better grounds for then in the two preceding particulars. For first, the communion in external ceremonies in matter of Religion hath always been esteemed an open declaration of the consent that is yielded by the heart to things proposed therein to be believed as truths, and to be practised as good and honest. And as naturally, in point of conscience, the mind refuses to communicate in the ceremonies of a Religion, whose maxims are contrary to its sentiments, and the precepts which refer to manners contrary to what he esteems just and honest; so it has ever been a universal sanction in all societies that have born the name of Religion, not to admit any to the ceremonies relating to it, but only such as profess to receive both the precepts and doctrines of the same. What a strange opinion therefore is this? That it is lawful for a man to abstain from things to which God hath enjoined testimonies to be expressed of the internal consent that is yielded to the truths revealed by him and to the commandments which he hath given, and contrarily to communicate in such which are the types or sequels of lies and errors abhorred in the inward sense of the soul? It is the custom, when the external profession of a Religion, which consists in the practice and communion of its exercises, is deserted, and a different taken up, to renounce solemnly such things as were believed before, and to protest engagement into new beliefs. Dare they say it is lawful for a man to do so against his conscience? That is to attest both his conscience and God that sees it, that he condemns that for a Lie which he believes in his heart to be truth, and to embrace as a truth that which he knows in the sense of his soul to be a Lie? If they think thus, I do not dispute against them. For I declared from the beginning that I would take my reasons from the motions of nature and conscience; which these people have quite extinguished, with all remains of natural generosity and ingenuity. I refer them to him that will deservedly revenge perjury, and before whom that plea will do them no service, Juravi lingua, mentem injuratam gero. But supposing this were not so exactly observed, yet the participation alone in the ceremonies of a Religion is a declaration of approving its maxims. Therefore perhaps they account it lawful to allow by external profession the doctrines which we condemn in our minds, and on the contrary to condemn by outward behaviour that which we tacitly and inwardly approve. If it be so, sincerity and candour, the qualifications so worthy all honest persons, are perished from the earth. For if this be lawful in that which belongs to the truth of God and things that concern him, why is it not as lawful in the conduct of humane life? It must be lawful to wear the liver of an enemy to one's King, to lie at every turn, to betray and deceive; and instead of the countenances of men free and fair in their conversation we shall see nothing but visards and disguises. Moreover, since the ceremonies of Religion ought to be of a nature apt to excite piety and virtue in the minds of men, to which the doctrines and precepts of Religion tend, how can it be lawful to abstain from partaking in those which God has appointed for that end, to communicate with such as are remote and averse from it? Is it not to disclaim the exercise of virtue and piety itself, and to be addicted to vice and Idolatry or irreligion whereunto the contrary lead? For the ceremonies of a false Religion as well as of the true correspond with that which is taught for truth, and conspire to the same end. Those which are conjoined with the truth revealed by God aim at sincere piety, and the perfection of the mind of man. On the contrary, those which accompany falsehood, lead to the corruption and perversion of the soul: And 'tis like as if a man should purpose to sail from the South with a Northern Wind, or rid much ground forward by drawing his feet backward. Furthermore, the communion in ceremonies is a part of service performed to God in a Religion; for man as composed of body and soul, owes homage to God with both. But he can render no religious homage with the body but by participating in some sacred ceremonies. Wherefore if God has not approved by his command nor any other manner whatsoever, the ceremonies to which we conform, who has secured us that they will be acceptable devotions unto him? And if we abstain from such as he hath commanded, who gave us this authority of dispensing with his commandments and to order the rules of his service at our pleasure both without him and against him? And lastly, since Religion is a society which ought to be the more strict, sacred, and inviolable, in as much as it confederates men with God and between themselves, whereas civil governments are contrived only for the society of men together; and being the ties that ligue us to God do equally concern the soul and the body (the soul by the belief of truths and communion of pious and moral precepts, the body by external ceremonies) whereas civil polities bind men only in relation to the body and bodily concernments: what reason can there be thus to separate the things which God has conjoined, and to dissipate that society which he would have be permanent?  
But behold their main reason, with which they think themselves impregnable; namely, That all external things are neither good nor evil of their own nature; and therefore being indetermined in themselves as to those respects, it depends of our intention, and the end to which we design them, to give them, in a manner, their specifical being: So that they which make them subservient to Superstition and Idolatry, corrupt them; but such as destinate them to another end, use them well, and render them good. Now it is the part of the mind to destinate them to certain ends, and therefore they ought to be judged of by the thoughts of the heart: As when a thing is equally counterpoised on both sides, it depends on him that manages it, to incline it either this way or the other, and to determine the dubious propendency he observes in it. But this is easy to be refelled by any that considers well the nature of indifferent things; for there are some things, in which whether considered in themselves, or as they have respect to a certain end, there is nothing that can warrant them the title of good or evil, according to that kind of goodness or badness from whence men are denominated vicious or virtuous. I demand therefore, Whether in the revelation which God hath made concerning his service, he hath commanded or prohibited any things of this nature? or whether he hath mentioned none such? If he hath commanded any, than the usage thereof is not free for the future; his Law ought to be obeyed, not disputed or dispensed with; nor is the exception allowable, that the thing of its own nature obliges neither to performance nor abstinence; for the Commandment of God hath changed its nature, and though it obliges not considered in itself, yet it does so upon account of his Authority that commanded it: If there be any forbidden, the case is the same, the doing thereof is no longer indifferent; Indeed the nature of the thing, setting aside the prohibition, allows us liberty to use it, but that liberty is annulled by the prohibition: And it is an equal sin not to do the indifferent things which God hath commanded, and to do the indifferent which he hath forbidden; namely, the violation of his Command; Otherwise there would be left no pre-eminence to God above man, not so much as men claim over one another. But if God hath made not mention of such things in this Declaration of his will, the exercise thereof is partly free, and partly not; It is free, if the same be not referred to Religion, but ranked amongst things purely humane: For then every man's prudence is a Law to him to use them or not; if he does not trust his own judgement, the prudence of those whose advice he may consult, aught to serve him for a rule in such a case; For it is the will of God and Nature, that they which are not able to conduct their lives in a due manner, should suffer themselves to be directed by others. And hence arose the Institution of Magistrates, to whom the Government of humane life is committed; so that where the Magistrate interposes his injunction concerning such things, his Law ought to be obeyed, as the counsel of a public & superior Prudence, whom God and Nature have entrusted with the dispensation of such things with suitable Authority: But the practice of them is no longer indifferent, when they are referred to Religion, and made a part of the service of God; because it belongs to God alone to make Laws in reference to his service, and therefore to place his service in things which he hath left as indifferent, would be to usurp his place, and to invade his Authority. But this requires a more particular consideration.  
Things wherein the service of God consists have a double respect; one, as they are acceptable to God to whom they are performed, and obtain his favour; the other, as they oblige the Consciences of men, upon the account of being Divine and Religious: Wherefore whosoever takes upon him the Authority of enjoining such things for Religious, and requisite to the service of God, which are in their own nature free, and lest by God in their indifference, he commits several high crimes in one single attempt: For he offers to make a thing, not at all ordained by God, a means to obtain his favour, and to be wellpleasing to him. Now God is not delighted with things according to the fancy of man, but according to his own will. In the next place, he arrogates a dominion over the Conscience, and encroaches upon the Authority of God; for he places himself between him and that, though between God and the Conscience of man there is no intermedium, no more than there is between husband and wife; and God communicates to men the power of disposing that which concerns this life only, whereby some are bound to yield obedience to others: But as for what relates to the Conscience, he hath reserved the Empire over it wholly to himself. In fine, he usurps what is proper to none but the Deity, by claiming the right of giving the Nature and Essence to things, and making them of free and indifferent, as they were, to become good or bad: For it may be truly affirmed, that it is as much in the power of men to create things of nothing, as it is to render such good or evil which were not so before. In the one there is requisite an infinite power, in the other an infinite authority; and consequently, as it is not permitted to any to usurp this right, so it is not lawful for any to obey him that usurps it; that is, to account those things for good by virtue of his Prescription, which were before indifferent: Because this would be to allow and favour a tyranny in prejudice of the glory of God; to enthral his Conscience, which God would have free in this regard; to pretend such things are acceptable to him, which he hath not commanded, and to measure him according to our own will: In a word, to own for Divine and Religious by humane command such things as the wisdom of God would have be esteemed purely humane and indifferent.  
What then (will some say) is it not lawful for the Religious Society to establish certain Laws and Ceremonies, which private persons are bound to observe, when they are constituted by public suffrage of the Society? or if God hath appointed certain persons to be Governors of this Society, as he hath placed the conduct of Justice in the hands of the Magistrate, hath he not given them Authority to make Constitutions, concerning things in their own nature indifferent, which oblige those that are subject to their rule? Yes certainly, and we have touched above upon the manner how; but it will be here convenient to explain the same somewhat further. Magistrates in a Civil Society make two sorts of Laws; in some they expound the very Laws of Nature only, and do not constitute; as when they forbidden Theft, Adultery, Murder, and Blasphemy; for they are not the Authors of these Laws, they are only the Proclaimers and Interpreters: So that when we obey them in this case, we do not so much obey them as Nature itself. Others are such as they judge profitable for consetvation of that Society, over which they superintend, although they be not expressly grounded upon the Dictates of Nature; such are the Edicts concerning Commerce, Tributes, Taxes and Gabels; which when they ordain, they only advance, and have respect to the public good, and do not pretend the same to be the Law of God or Nature: Whence when we obey them in this case, we have regard to them, and not to the nature itself of the things; we do the same out of consideration of their Authority, and the benefit arising thereby, namely, the conservation of Society, and not as if these things were of themselves sufficient to be authentic and inviolable grounds of Laws. In like manner, they that are entrusted with the Government of the other Society, have the care of two sorts of Constitutions committed to them. In the first of which, they only expound the Laws of God, whereof they are not Legislators, but mere Guardians and Depositaries; and when they promulgate the same, they do not pretend that they are their own Decrees, but the Ordinances of God himself: So that when we yield obedience thereunto, it is not properly in respect to them, but because of the express command of God, and the very essence of the thing. The second sort is, of those which they esteem profitable only in reference to order and seemliness, or the conservation of the Society which they govern, and do not recommend the same but under that title, and not as founded on the command of God; So that in submitting to them, we have regard to the Authority which God hath given them concerning the ordering these affairs, and to the benefit arising thereby, as peace and concord, by which the Society is preserved: And so far ought they to be obeyed, when they attribute nothing more to themselves. But when in either of these Societies, their Superintendents go about either to command and forbidden, that which God and Nature have forbidden and commanded, or to change the very nature of things, or to impose their own Laws as Divine and Natural, we are not only not bound to submit unto, but commanded to resist them, inasmuch as they set themselves in the place of God, and instead of preserving the Society, ruin and overthrow it. And from all this it evidently follows, that it is not lawful in these kind of things, to have Communion in a Religion which thus tramples on the bounds wherewith God and Nature have circumscribed it.  
Moreover, there are some things, which considered in themselves, are free, and of a middle nature, which yet are not so, as they are referred to a certain end, but are determined by the very nature of the thing to which they are designed. For example, the knowledge of those truths in which consists the Wisdom of Religion, is without doubt a thing good in itself, and which God commands by the same Revelation whereby he hath declared them: To attain thereunto, certain means must be employed, and there is no other than to expound them in common, in the most fitting and convenient manner that may be, as to be present in some places to hear such as discourse of them, to communicate thereof with them, in order to be resolved of any difficulties that arise. Whence, though to resort to a certain place at a time prefixed, be a thing purely free and indifferent, if considered precisely and separately in itself, yet in case God had not expressly commanded the same, the commandment of that which is ordained, as the scope and end, encludes also tacitly and necessarily that of the means which conduce thereunto. By the same reason therefore things, which though free in themselves, yet naturally refer to a bad end, and which is forbidden by God or Nature, aught to be accounted bad: For which cause, all Ceremonies which are in a false Religion, being destinated to an end bad of its own nature, and expressly forbidden by God; whosoever esteems them indifferent, overthrows all the order and natural relation, which is between the end, and the means that lead unto it. For example, they with whom I treat at present, will not deny, but that amongst all those Nations which have been destitute of the particular Revelation which they confess necessary, there were divers that adored false gods, and so committed Idolatry; but their Sacrifices, Mysteries, and Solemn Processions, were things destinated to that service rendered to false gods, as the means are destinated to their end; Therefore although the murdering of Beasts, and the various grimaces and external gestures of the body, and marching to Temples in great crowds, are indifferent, considered in themselves; yet regard being had to the devotions to which they appertained; they were as severely forbidden as Idolatry itself; for it is the same case with this spiritual uncleanness, and that of the body, the accesses & approaches of Stews, visits, & wanton aspects, because they are the inveglements to incontinence, are forbidden by the same Laws of honesty which forbidden impudicity itself. But though this general discourse might perhaps be sufficient, yet I shall not decline to bring into the lists more particular reasons that encounter this irreligious Indifference, examining one after another, all Religions that are at present, or ever were in the world.   

CHAP. II. Which have been the principal Religions That Profession of any sort is not indifferent, even by the verdict of the Pagan: In which the Divine Revelation is not found.  
ALthough the different Sects of Religion have been almost infinite, every Nation by practising some particular Ceremonies, distinguishing their own from that of others; yea, the same Nation sometimes dividing into factions upon this occasion; Yet generally all that ever bore any vogue in the world, may be reduced to four principal (each of which was respectively the stem from which all the rest sprung) namely, the Pagan, the Mahometan, the Jewish, and the Christian: For under the Pagan, I comprise all the Religions of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, of the Druids, brahmin's, Gymnosophists, and the rest, that had neither Moses, nor Mahomet, nor Christ, for Author of their Religious Ceremonies: For, though as the minds of men are different, they have varied in this respect by some light circumstances, yet they all agree in what is essential, and make no scruple of communicating together in their mysteries. Under the Mahometan must be comprehended not only that which is the National Religion of the Turkish Empire, but also that which is professed by the Persians, whom the Turks account Heretics of their Law, and what other Sects soever there be of the same, As for the Jewish, we must make distinction of it rather according to times than Sects, inasmuch as though there was some times among the Jews some diversity of profession, between certain persons addicted to devotion after a special manner, as the Esseans, the Pharisees, and Saducees, yet this did not happen, till toward the declination of their Religion, which for many ages after its first institution, had continued uniform throughout the whole Nation. Moreover, their differences were not in the fundamental and principal points of Religion (excepting the Saducees, who denied the Resurrection of the body, and the immortality of the Soul) but in certain inconsiderable matters, which chief concerned their rule of ordinary life; as Monks among the Christians differ not in Religion from the people, but only in a more austere and restrained manner of life. And though there were the Saducees that differed in principal points of Religion, nevertheless, as to external polity or government, they were all of one accord, and had neither Temples nor Synagogues apart by themselves. But indeed there hath been a great diversity amongst them, if we have regard to several times; for the Christians not only confess, that the ancient Jewish Religion was of Divine Institution, and that God revealed his Laws to that Nation alone, but prove the same against the Pagans by irrefragable Arguments. Nevertheless they say, that this Religion, in reference to what concerns the external service of God, and the Law upon which it was founded, was but for a time, in expectation till the Christian were fully revealed, whereof the Jewish contained only the types and shadows; And that the Christian having been established by the Messiah really and the facto manifested in the fullness of time, from thenceforth all that ancient Worship is abolished, and hath given place to that which was to come in its room. The Jews on the contrary maintain, that that Jesus whom the Christians adore, is not the Messiah, but expect him still to come, retaining and preserving as much as they are able in their dispersion, that ancient Law, although they have very much altered the Doctrine of their Ancestors: Therefore I call that the Jewish Religion, which the Jews profess at this day. Lastly, by the Christian, though it also be divided into several parties (from which it hath been as little able to warrant itself as the rest, nor to avoid the rent of Sectaries) I understand here only these two, under which all others may be ranked; namely, Those who acknowledge no other Revelation of the will of God, but that which is found written in the Book called the Bible; and those, who besides that Book, receive as Divine Revelation, certain Doctrines which they affirm to have been left by tradition from the first birth of Christianity, and continued along unto the present times; which they call, The unwritten Word. For as for certain Heretics equally detested by both parties, who deny the Divinity of Christ, the Author of Religion, they are justly accounted undeserving of the name of Christians, because they take away the Basis upon which all the Christian Doctrine is founded. Let us now examine, whether the Doctrine of Indifference, be compatible with any of these Religions, and to which of them the commendation of being Divine of right belongs.  
As for the Pagan, it is true indeed, the Greeks might well partake in the mysteries of the Egyptians, and the Romans in those of the Greeks, because they all served almost the same gods, however they gave them different names, and sometimes followed distinct forms of Ceremonies. And in truth, we see not that they made any scruple of conscience in so doing: For though the Philosophers should have been more scrupulous herein then the vulgar, inasmuch as they ought to have had more knowledge of the nature of the Deity; yet we do not read that Plato in his travels into Egypt and Sicily, separated from the Communion which the Inhabitants of the places had in the Ceremonies of the Country, how different soever they were from those of Greece. And in all those great Peregrinations which Philestratus relates Apollonius Thyanaus to have made, both into India, Ethiopia, Italy, Spain, Egypt, and Africa, we do not find that he refuses the honour to the gods of every Nation which they performed to them, but generally conforms thereunto, reforming and amending after his own fancy the defects which he found in some slight circumstances only, changing none throughout either in Doctrine, or the body of their Mysteries. And if he abstains from communicating in the Sacrifices of beasts and living things, it was only by reason of the whimsy of the Metempsychosis, which he had closely embraced from the Sect of Pythagoras, to whom it was peculiar. For the rest, he lest to Jupiter, Venus, Bacchus, and the other gods, their Temples, Statues, and Altars, and all their Mysteries, and would have us account him a more Religious Observer of them then any other person in the world. But however, none of them all would ever believe it lawful for them to communicate in the Jewish Religion, or have any participation in the Ceremonies of the Christians, since they all accuse them of Idolatry, and their gods of vanity, and this with strange reproaches, calling them people without God, and those whom they adored, gods of dung and filth. For either the Jews and Christian say true in this point, or not: If they do not say true, but the Pagan Religion is of Divine Institution, than the Christians themselves are Idolaters. Now there is no likelihood, that a Religion of Divine Institution, should permit communion in the service of false gods; for, as I said above, Religion is as the marriage of God with the soul, If therefore God himself permits commerce with false gods, it is as if a man should permit his wise to prostitute her  to others; whereby he would show himself both too gross and stupid a contemner of his own right, a too sordid prizer of the honesty of marriage, and too unworthy of the faith of a true and loyal Spouse. If they say true, the testimony of the Pagan Religion ought not to be valued, whatever it be. But besides, it would not be reason for the Pagans, who do not believe it, to condescend the least in the world to the Christian Religion, since it does so much mischief and outrage to the gods they adore. For what man is there that hath never so little natural affection, or if natural affections be possibly dried up in him, so little shame lest in his face, as to dare pronounce it lawful for him to entertain a friendship either true or feigned, with such persons as have a sworn irreconcilable enmity against his father: yea, who would not resent it in point of honour, to hear his friend defamed in his presence? Imagine then what good devotion a Gentile could have, at the prayers which we make to God for the destruction and confusion of all those false Deities whom the Gentiles worship: For if he believes neither in our God, nor his own, he is no longer a Gentile, but an Atheist; if he believe in his own, can he have the heart to bow his knee and pronounce Amen to such Prayers of ours?  
Indeed we find it in some place or other, where Socrates counsels every man to serve God according to the mode of his own Country. But this counsel proceeded partly from ignorance of the true God, and despair of ever being able to comprehend his nature; because it being naturally imprinted in the mind of man, that he ought to honour him, and the manner of doing it agreeably being unknown to Socrates, he had no further to advise, then to serve him at a venture of happening right or not: Like as a man that had cast his net a hundred and a hundred times in places noted for fishing without catching any thing, should at length in choler and despair, cast it into the next place he came to, though it were upon the sand or rocks. So the Painter in rage threw his sponge against his Picture, because he could not please himself in representing to the life the foam of a horses mouth that he was painting. Partly also, because all the Devotions of the Greeks had such a resemblance between them, that as the Dialects of their Language, and the fashions of their attire, how various soever, always retained the Greek air and mode; so likewise, though in the manner of serving God they varied in some things of less importance, yet in the judgement of this Person it was at the bottom indifferent to which of them to conform. And whereas he had never traveled, he conceived the opinion concerning the Deity and his service was alike almost in all Nations. But had he heard the Jews speak, without question he would have either despised the gods of the Pagans, or abhorred the Jews, who utterred such heinous reproaches against them. Truly, the constancy which this Person showed at his death, and that admirable protestation he made, (That he would not cease to teach Philosophy among the Athenians, not even for the hope of life, inasmuch as he conceived himself raised up by God to reform the manners of his fellow-citizens by Philosophy) clearly evinces, that if he had had any certainty in Religion, and particular revelation of the will of God concerning his service, he would not have deviated from it in the least, much less would he have mingled himself indifferently in all sorts of ceremonies. Wherefore in that he advised every man to comply with the Religion of his Country, it appears that he did not believe the form of Religion received amongst the Greeks to have been of Divine Institution; but being otherwise a man of peace, and politic, he would not have received customs infringed, for fears of commotions in the Commonwealth. Certainly, if the Pagans had believed the profession of all Religions indifferent, the Romans would never have persecuted the Christians and Jews with such extremity, nor endeavoured to constrain them by such rigorous torments, to sacrifice to their gods, and communicate in their mysteries; they would not have shown themselves so violent for the extinguishment of Christianity in their Empire, nor made such diligent inquisition after the Books which we hold for sacred, to abolish the memory thereof. And if Julian surnamed the Apostate, famous amongst the Pagans for his knowledge in Philosophy, had been of this opinion, he would not have renounced the name of Christian, for the service of Jupiter and other Pagan Deities; nor after he had revolted, would he have shown himself so irreconcilable an enemy thereunto: And the same may be likewise said of the other Philosophers, who in his time and before, oppugned the Religion of the Christians with so great asperity and violence. They would without question have been more gentle and tractable, had they had any intelligence of this complacential Indifference.  
Now whether the Pagan Religion favoured this Indifference, or not (which yet experience and reason decides in the negative) it was so vain and false, that no account ought to be made of its suffrage. And I cannot imagine that there is any at this day, that bears the name of Christian, who esteems it to have been of Divine revelation. Wherefore the little I shall say to prove it, is not so much for necessity of the thing in itself, as because the design of this work does not permit me to pass it over absolutely in silence. To judge therefore what it was, we must not conceive it such as it is amongst barbarous and savage Nations, such as the Toupinamboults are at present, and the people of Suevia and Sarmatia were of old. For who will believe that any extraordinary Celestial light in matter of Religion ever illuminated those Nations, amongst whom there is scarce seen any traces of so much as humanity? It is true, there have been some people in our times, that have written so highly in commendation of the contentment there is in their opinion, in living under the simple Laws of nature, as they speak, that they seem inclinable to favour the manners and condions of Savages, and prefer it before ours; so as to have no shame at all of their nakedness, and to boast that they do not cover it, but only in respect to custom. But as for these persons, it is not my present purpose to dispute against them. If they would speak the genuine sentiments of their hearts, they would not only not acknowledge any particular revelation of the will of God in Religion, but would moreover make profession of not believing the immortality of their souls, nor any Religion in the world; and after having rendered themselves like to those miserable Savages in all brutalities, they would surpass them in this point, that they would cast under their feet all remembrance of God, of whom in their Deserts and forlorn Barbarism, the Margajats and Patagons have yet some fear and reverence. I speak now to such as make some esteem of the improving elegancy of Learning, and who have some portion of honesty lest in their conversation amongst men. The Greeks and Romans therefore have without question carried the pre-eminence in all kinds of politeness and excellence amongst the Pagan Nations. So that it is amongst them that we must seek for this particular revelation, whether it may be found in the Religion of either of those people. It is true, the Egyptians were much celebrated for their mysteries and rare wisdom, and divers have thought that all the wisdom of Greece was transported from the treasuries of Egypt, by those that travelled thither for it. But if there were any thing of good among them, they had it from communication with the Jews, who besides that they sojourned a long time in Egypt before the Greek name arose in the world, they were their near neighbours in Palestine, and had frequent and free commerce with them: yet have they so vitiated, corrupted and obscured in their superstitions and idolatries, what they had learned from them, that there is none of it to be known and distinguished, & almost all the books in which they had expounded their mysteries are lost. But he that is desirous to know what excellent opinions they had, what divine wisdom it was that made them so cried up, he may please only to read the Treatise written by Plutark of Isis and Osiris, and he will see in the first place that the veils and allegories under which he says they hid their knowledge, are shameful and putrid fables, such idle and dull extravagancies and impertinences in themselves, that it is impossible they could serve for a coverture to any conceptions, I do not say heavenly and divine, but worthy of men and ordinary sober sense. In the next place he will find, that all that Plutark with singular acuteness of wit could uncypher of them, is so dubious, and the text on which he comments so pliable to all sorts of fancies, that he that would set himself about it, might invent several other interpretations as probable as his. They are as the divers impressions of clouds, to which the fancy of every man ascribes what image or lineaments seems best to him. And lastly, he will discover, that though the expositions which that Philosopher presents us there, were as certain as if they had been delivered by an Oracle, yet they all terminate in two caitive and dismal Demons, unknown even to them that adored them; in uncouch speculations concerning the motions of the Moon and the Inundations of Nilus; in Platonic Ideas, and the Riddles of Pythagoras, and in that ancient foppery of Oromasdes and Arimanius, two opposite principles of all things, with some cold mystical interpretations of reasons why the Egyptians religiously worshipped the Ox, the Sheep, the Ichneumon, Larks, Storks, Serpents, Dogs, Beetles and Weasels. Is not here great cause to boast of having drawn from the fountain of Divine Wisdom itself? So little ground is there to think so, that on the contrary, there is no person of indifferent understanding, but in the reading of that Treatise would pity Plutark, that bestowed so much knowledge and labour in commenting upon such absurdities, and could not discover them to be such. What shall we then say of the Greeks, who held from the Egyptians whatever they had not altogether bad? and what shall we think of the Romans, who had nothing but from imitation of the Greeks, both in humane Sciences and Religious Polity?  
But put the case they had borrowed nothing from the Egyptians, but that this Divine Revelation had been peculiarly imparted to them, I would be told from what books that were in reputation amongst them, we ought now to take it. For we have heard say indeed, that they had Sibyls, by whose means they were made acquainted with divine secrets, and who also writ books of the same, but the wind and time have carried them away. If there be any thing lest of their Oracles (as there are divers excellent Greek verses that bear their name at this day, yet are with very just reason suspected by the learned) the Christian Religion is clearly described in them, and the Pagan so strongly and directly confuted, that the Christians could scarce find more express proofs for themselves, then in those books of theirs. And there is no likelihood that these were the same whom the Roman Priests went to consult, as oft as there was occasion to avert some raging mortality. For they taught not to render to Apollo, Latona, Diana, Hercules, Mercury or Neptune, those honours which they used to perform to them, to make them propitious in such occurrences. If therefore this revelation was contained in the Books of the Sibyls, it is perished long since, and we have no more knowledge of them, then of those of Numa Pompilius, which were burned at Rome by authority of the Senate, because they tended to the subversion and annulling of all their Religious Ceremonies. They had moreover memorials of the rights of the Pontifices, Augurs, and Aruspices. Of all which there is nothing left but the name. Miserable are we, if the truth was there; of which we are in despair ever to have any intelligence. Shall we then have recourse to find it in the books of the Poets? Truly it would be an excellent design to go about to build a Religion upon the model afforded us in the Theology of Hesiod, the Hymns of Orpheus, the Poems of Homer, the Odes of Pindar, the Metamorphoses of Ovid, and the divine Theology of the great Virgil, who is so hard put to it to save the gods of the poor Aeneas from the sack of Troy, and who trusses them up in the same fardel with the little Ascanius as companions of the same fortune. It were more rationally credible that the beasts and trees held that rare converse together which Aesop reports of them in his Fables, then to give belief to the adventures and exploits which those Poets ascribe to their Deities. For in the first there would be nothing but childishness or at most but brutishness, in the latter impiety and blasphemy. And if, as some would have it believed of them (though perhaps themselves never thought of any such matter) their intent was to cover under the veil of those fables several true mysteries pertaining to the knowledge of the Deity and understanding of the secrets of nature, so far was the teaching the same after such a manner from being a divine intention, that on the contrary the honour of the Deity hath thereby been unworthily impaired and the truth smothered under most horrible lies. It follows therefore that we go to the writings of Philosophers, to which we cannot without great injury to truth ascribe the commendation of being proceeded from celestial inspiration, since the authors themselves, though sufficiently presumptuous, do not pretend they were so. And indeed we have shown above that they were either wholly ignorant of the requisites to a true piety towards God, or if they had knowledge of some few it was wonderfully obscure and dubious. But how could the revelation of God have suffered them to groap and wander in that ignorance! To conclude, is it then to those Oracles of Delphos, Dodona, Jupiter Ammon, and others the like, that we own the glory of this divine knowledge? Truly, it moves both shame and pity, to hear themselves speak both of the original, and faculty of divination, and cessation of Oracles. It was a heard of Goats that first brought that of Delphos, which was the most famous and venerable of all, into reputation. But the virgins that were placed there to give answers to inquirers, which they received by their obscene parts, were not long there, but there arise most notorious scandals of them. All their predictions were ambiguous and doubtful, like our Almanac-makers, who prophesy by haphazard; and themselves gave this account of it; that the Daemons which spoke there not knowing things to come but by inspection of the Stars, and so being able to gather from thence but incertain conjectures, they shrouded their ignorance under the ambiguity of words capable of different interpretations, to the end they might make good their credit whatsoever the event of things might be. In a word, af●er Plutark had bestirred himself on all sides to find out the causes of these Oracles and their ceasing, and sometimes conceived them perishable and mortal Daemons, sometimes immortal, but that they changed place, he seems to resolve upon this worthy Philosophy. That the earth was in some places endued with certain prophetic Virtues, which come by exhalations to be mingled and insinuated into souls fitting to receive those inspirations, and so cause in them those Enthusiasms and predictions of future things: Afterwards, when all the virtue is spent, and the whole mass that was made thereof in the subterranean caverns, evaporated, than the prediction that was made by the Oracles of things to come, ceases and is extinguished. Without question those divinations could not but be very clear, which proceeded only from the fumes of the earth, and the religious devotions very good that were paid to these divining exhalations and the persons who received the impressions of them in their souls.  
But perhaps though the evidences of this divine revelation be lost, I mean the books in which it was recorded, yet it has remained in the memory of man, and is preserved by practice as by a living transcript. Be it so. Let us therefore now examine the Pagan Religion in itself. Which certainly if it was divine, aught to have afforded a great knowledge of those supreme truths, in the understanding of which consists the perfection of our souls. And yet it has been pitifully defective herein. For setting a part at present those principles of Christian Religion, which seem most incredible, and by reason of which profane men reject or suspect it, there is no person that has a dram of common sense but will freely confess that we have beyond comparison more knowledge of the nature of the Deity and true virtue, than the ancient Greeks or Romans ever had, which notwithstanding we have drawn from books more ancient than them by many ages, and which condemn the Gods of all other Nations. Whence therefore came it to pass, that if they had that particular revelation we inquire after, they were so ignorant of those indubitable truths, of which we are so knowing, who have learned the same from those that are professed enemies to the Pagan Deities? If what they believed in matter of Religion was truth, whence do those truths which we perceive now so clearly and comprehend so certainly, convince them of falsehood? And if the Gods which the Pagans adored were true Gods, why do the books which have taught us so many excellent things whereunto humane reason cannot repugn, call them Gods of clay?  
And indeed they were marveilous Gods; for even those that adored them knew their parents, and could show their tombs, and tell a thousand debaucheries of them; which confirm that they were so far from being worthy to reign in the heavens, that on the contrary they deserved public punishment upon earth. Their thefts, their rapes and adulteries, their attempts against parents, their whoredoms, whereby, if we believe their authors, they filled the heavens with bastards, their Sodomies and incests would not have been suffered unpunished by those that built Temples and Altars to them, if they had apprehended them in the jurisdiction of their respective Republics. And the supreme Jupiter himself must not be excepted, of whom Menelaus exclaimed with more reason than he imagined, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Jupiter pater, nemo Deorum est te perniciosior.  What a kind of Religion is that whose Gods have had a beginning, and that a long time after men, of whose history we have certain knowledge? For Jupiter and Saturn and Uranus are none of them so ancient as Abraham. On the other side what Gods had the Nations before these came into the world? Whosoever (saith Plutark) would search into the histories of the times that preceded Theseus and Hercules, shall find therein nothing but vast and unknown solitudes, deserts, labyrinths and abysses; where nothing occurs to fix and arrest his wand'ring thoughts. And the reason is because the most ancient people having for a good time retained some memory of their original and of the true God, it diminished and vanished by little and little till there remained no more of it in the World but the bare name; and so those that came after not knowing to whom they ought to ascribe it, they imputed it to them who had most endeared themselves to their love by their benefits or rendered themselves most redoubtable by arms. Whence it was that Scipio Africanus in Ennius utters this brave language, 
Si fas caedendo coelestia scandere cuiquam est,  
Mi soli coeli maxima porta patet.  
If killing can give title to the Sky,  
No man bids fairer for that place then I.  But had not the lateness of their original and the debauchedness of their manners been so well known, yet their multitude renders them contemptible. For they had some high, some low, and some of middle rank; some kept their quarters in the Heavens, others in the Earth, and in the Sea, and Rivers; and some under the barks of Trees and in Chimney-corners. They had of one sort for their corn, and another for their , others for tuition of their houses, for arts, swords, and diseases. Honour, Virtue, the Fever, Fear and Victory, were consecrated and deified by them promiscuously; and even the infernal regions had their Deities, to the end there might be no corner in the world either above or below destitute of them.  
Peradventure some will here take occasion to interpose two things: First that the wiser sort amongst them did not believe this multiplicity of Gods; and Secondly, that they that did believe it, acknowledged one supreme over the rest, and to whom they were as subalternate Deities. But this makes nothing against us. For, as to the first objection, we speak here of the form of Religion established amongst the Greeks and Romans and not of the opinions of such or such Philosophers. If some have had peculiar conceptions different from those of the people, this was not by reason of any special revelation, but through the natural strength of their minds which could not approve all that rabble of Divinityes which were in reverence with the vulgar. Besides, we have shown that all those particular conceits were of extreme little worth, and that what they contained of truth was intricated and confused in a Chaos of lies. In the next place, no Religions authorised by the consent of those Nations were founded upon those truths. If one person produced any thing of that kind into the public, the people became immediately his enemies, as if he purposed the overthrow and destruction of Religion. Their opinion is probable who think the sole cause of Luhemerus' being branded with the name of Atheist, was his writing the history of those false Gods and discovering their shame to all the world; not that he peremptorily and flatly denied the Deity. Even the persons to whom those better sentiments were peculiar, never had, to speak strictly, any design of reforming the world, or reclaiming it from Idolatry and Superstitions. Themselves conformed thereunto, and commended the same as others did; because the little they perceived of truth was so dubicus, that it could not give them courage to oppose boldly the common received apprehensions; which appears by Plato's books De Republica, and the Apology for Socrates contained therein. For does not he well prove that he believed there were more Gods, since he believed the Gods had children; the name of son presupposing the existence of a father? Is not this a rare ratiocination for so great a Philosopher? And how does he defend himself against the accusation of attempting to alter the Religion of his Country? No otherwise then by a flat denial; though he was a person whom the fear of death could not have induced to dissemble a truth which he certainly knew, as appears sufficiently by the issue of his case. For the second; In truth I doubt not but those amongst the Pagans which had the least measure of understanding, asserted some supreme Deity above all those diminutive ones, of which some reckon five and twenty or thirty thousand. Thus Homer makes his Jupiter utter this rodomontado, that should all the Gods together draw at one end of a chain, and he himself at the other, he could hoist them all up in spite of their reluctancy. Whereby it appears he had a higher opinion of him then of the rest; though he says in another place, that had it not been for Briareus who came to his succour upon the request of Thetis, Jupiter had been bound by the other Gods, who had complotted to that purpose together against him. But what is the guess or hariolation of two or three to the constant opinions of a whole multitude? Or what is it considerable, if several persons have had these particular opinions, seeing they generally followed a contrary practice in Religion? And this is attested by experience. What defect do they charge upon the other Gods, which they do not likewise attribute to Jupiter? What honour do they afford him, which they do not also allow to the rest? Do they erect more Statues or burn oftener and larger portions of incense to him? Do they consecrate more Altars to him or build him a greater number of Temples? Do they give less credit to the Oracles of Apollo then to his, or make less account of his ceremonies? Are the rest addressed to by them with less reverence, or are they more sparing in giving them the title of Gods? Have they rather recourse to him in their afflictions? Do they render less praise to the others for victories which they obtain in battle? Whoso reads their histories, will find the other Gods as much praised, magnified, sacrificed to, adored, thanked and venerated as Jupiter; and if they allow him some priority in speaking, as we do to the Precedent of a Council, yet in effect they equal all the others to him. But let them, if they please, place him in the highest throne in the heavens: what celestial revelation is that which multiplies Deities to millions? Certainly, if there be a Deity, it is infinite both in essence and power; if it be infinite, it is one, and suffers no companion or equal: If God be sufficient alone for the government of the whole Universe, for what end were all these little pygmy-Gods, but only to distract the minds of men from the true and supreme Deity to them? And if he be not sufficient, how is he himself God who is so defective in his power? If the others be not Gods, but only Daemons, either good or evil, creatures of the sovereign God and ministers of his commands, then are those mortals idolaters that ascribe to them that title and glory; and by consequence their Religion is either humane or rather diabolical, certainly far from being divine, as they pretend.  
But, alas, this is an Augean Stable. Though there should be some small Deities inferior to the supreme (which yet right reason abhors) yet He ought to be of a majesty so glorious, and of an essence and power so immense, as we have shown above, that no corporeal image either by the hand in brass, or marble, or even by the mind in the fancy, can be framed of him. In as much as all corporeal figure not only determines and limits the subject which it represents, but always refers it to the proportion of the thing itself under the figure whereof it is represented. Now how abominable was the idolatry of the Pagans in this respect? The Egyptians represented the Deity under the figure of beasts, and Apollonius in Philostratus blames their Gymnosophists for it. The Greeks and Romans thought they did more suitably to represent him under a humane figure. How came this to pass, but only because they imagined that God resembled themselves, and that there was a proportion as it were of greater and less between them and him? And was it not upon this apprehension that they were so forward to attribute the name of God to men, as to Kings, Emperors, and Philosophers, and that they dedicated Temples and Altars to them, and burnt incense to their Statues? Wretched worms of the earth, that conceived they could comprehend what God is, and measure him by their fathom! To make Gods at their pleasure, and to become Gods themselves! But that which was most of all pernicious to them was the consecration of their Idols, into which by means of certain invocations they conceived they could attract some portion of the essence of the Deity, or cause some extraordinary virtue to descend from him into their images; after which they looked not upon them as mere Images, but as things partaking of the divine nature itself. For under this pretext Daemons entered into them, making them sometimes speak intelligibly sometimes weep, sweat, bleed, remove from their places, clatter their weapons, and practised divers other kinds of illusions in them, whereby the poor people were encharmed, and conceived the same opinion of them, as if they had had the Deity itself lodged in their Temples. Thus the evil Spirit exercised an absolute dominion amongst them. In short, it is an abuse of time to spend many words in showing that all their opinions in this matter were false, their mysteries wicked, their observations frivolous, and the service which they rendered to their Gods full of Idolatry. Their sacrifices were oftentimes barbarous and inhuman, for not only the Massagetes, the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Persians, and some other less civilised nations, but the Greeks, and Latins, and Gauls, whose druids were in great esteem, offered victim of living men, yea some their own children, to their false Gods, as if they had conceived God delighted to feed on their entrails. And who sees not that it was the devil, who is a murderer from the beginning, that incited them to those so lamentable bloody devotions. Their mysteries rendered men furious and frantic: for with what a spirit were those enraged women agitated after their devotions in the Bacchanal festivals? Their auguries by the flight of birds, their presages by the smoke of incense and the fat of their sacrifices, and by inspection of the entrails of immolated beasts were so absurd, that they seem to have been invented in derision of those that applied themselves to them, and argue that the learned Greeks and prudent Romans, how great personages soever they thought themselves, had not much wisdom in the heart, as One of themselves sometimes said, since they sought it in the liver of beasts. Then for their ceremonies, there is nothing more inept and ridiculous. Was it not excellent to hear the Curetes and Corybantes when they were in procession, some of them drumming upon Kettles, some upon Bucklers, and Helmets, and others gingling chains and Cymbals? Their manners of celebration were dishonest and unbecoming. For how could they but be ashamed both of those dances of naked men about tombs and of the races of naked men in the public places of the Cities, yea at the meeting of women in the Lupercalia? Their propitiations, purifications and oblations were unprofitable and inefficacious. For what could the death of poor beasts do in order to appeasing the anger of God? It was not they which had offended, nor did it belong to them to bear the punishment. If their blood had had the virtue of making propitiation for sins, the rich however otherwise wicked, were happy, that were able to offer hecatombs. And what efficacy was there in the aspersion of cold water to cleanse the conscience of man from his crimes? Certainly with good reason did One amongst them write, 
Ah! nimium faciles, qui tristia funera caedis  
Tolli fluminea posse putatis aqua?  
Fond men! that think by water's crystal flood  
To cleanse away the horrid guilt of blood.  Their miracles were for the most part illusions of Daemons; as the Serpent adored for AEsculapius in the City of Epidaurus, and afterwards carried to Rome to assuage the pestilence; and the apparitions of Castor and Pollux relating the tidings of the defeat of Perseus' King of Macedonia, and all the speakings and sweatings of Images in their Temples. Or else they were tricks of Magic: as that of Appius Navius, who to gain credit to his Auguries, cut a Whetstone in two with a Razor in the presence of Romulus; and also that manner of appeasing a raging plague in the City of Ephesus practised by Apollonius of knocking down a Daemon with stones, and his vanishing before Domitian, and all those juggling sleights that were done before him when he was at a feast with the brahmin's of India. Or they were simple gulleries; as that of the inundation of the Lake of Alba. The inventors of their devotions were crafty men, who abused the credulity of the people to render them pliable to their laws, and more respectful to their persons, as themselves confess of Numa Pompilius at Rome, and Minos at Crete, and some others. The most seemingly devout sectators of their Religions were very frequently contemners of them in the bottom of their hearts, though outwardly they put on a grave countenance to retain the affection of the vulgar; as Cotta, who in the books written by Cicero de Natura Deorum, says that Religions must be preserved in the state they were at first instituted for the conservation of Commonwealths, but that otherwise wise people laugh privately at all those mysteries; which was very religiously spoken by a Pontifex Maximus. Or they were shamefully superstitious. For was it not gravely done of Fab. Maximus and C. Flaminius, one to depose himself from the Dictatorship and the other from the Mastership of the Horse, because a Mouse made a noise in the time of their installation; and of the Senate of Rome to call home Figulus out of Gallia and Scipio Nasica out of the Island of Corsica to abdicate the Consulship, because Tiberus Gracchus had observed in the books of Augurs that they were created contrary to the custom, and that the pavilions were not rightly placed in the public Assemblies. Lastly, the means used to promote and propagate this Religion were merely humane, as wars, conspiracies, encroachments, invasions, sieges of places and battles. For how did the Romans impose other Gods upon other Nations but by force of Arms? And how did they possess the Gods of their people but as spoils of their enemies and trophies of their victories? Whereas, as we shall see hereafter, it was overthrown and ruined without a blow strucken, after a most wonderful manner.   

CHAP. III. Whether the Profession of all Religions be Indifferent according to the Religion of Mahomet. And that this Religion is not of Divine Institution.  
IT is of some difficulty to know certainly what was the opinion of Mahomet, the Author of the Turkish Religion, concerning this Question, Whether the Profession of all Religions be Indifferent? For he seems sometimes to affirm it: as when he says in the Chapter of the Fable, That Jews, Samaritans, Christians, all that shall have trusted in God and believed the Resurrection of the Dead, and done good Works, shall be exempt from affliction, and they shall have nothing to fear at the day of Judgement. Sometimes again he denies it: as when in the same Chapter and Page he says, Certainly they which say that Jesus the son of Mary, is God, are impious; and the entrance into Paradise is forbidden to him that says God hath a companion equal to himself, but hell shall be his habitation. Which Assertions are manifestly contradictory. And he is otherwise alike unconstant and fluctuating. For sometimes he promises the grace of God to all those that do good works, provided they believe the unity of the Deity; a thing which he is very instant in recommending. And sometimes he says that his Law is the only way of truth and salvation, and almost every where he teaches to promote it by force of Arms; which does not well consist with his former maxim. For if all Religions equally endear to God and his favour, what necessity is there of so many bloody wars for the propagation of Mahometism? In truth it would be a strange thing if a good Musulman should think his salvation secured in the profession of the Christian Religion, which censures Mahomet for the greatest and most abominable Deceiver, that ever lived upon the Earth, and his Alcoran for a piece of unparallelled imposture and execrable impiety; or if he should partake in a communion where they pray continually for the destruction of the Empire of the Turk, and the extirpation of the Mahometan Religion. It is possible he might dextrously explicate his meaning by this distinction, whereof there are some shadows frequently in his book; That if a person who once embraced the faith, afterwards happen to relapse from or renounce the same by constraint, yet he shall not be condemned, provided he retain the same in his heart: but if he do it voluntarily and without any violence, he shall never be redressed or restored into the right way by God, but shall be adjudged unto eternal pains. And it is well known, that whatever the Alcoran says to the contrary, The Turks hold the Persians for eternally damned, as heretics of their Law, though they consent in the principal points of the same, and both unanimously hold that impostor for a supreme Prophet. But as to matter of life and ordinary practice, there is no people under the Sun more scrupulous in observation of things which they account as making part of their Religion, or come near it within a hundred leagues; as not to employ any paper to unclean uses, because the Alcoran is written in it, and other such niceties, which speak them indeed sufficiently foolish, but otherwise exact observers of their most minute ceremonies. Their public prayers are constantly frequented, & their private never neglected. Their Fasts are strict and inviolable; and seeing they condemn the use of Wine as abominable, how can they be indifferent in other things more essential and important to Religion? Certainly though Christians have without comparison better grounds for this pretention, that the truth is on their side, yet they are nothing near so passionate for the promoting of Christianity, as the Turks are for the propagation of the Law of Mahomet. For they invite Christians to them by great rewards; they favour and advance renegadoes: and when a war is undertaken, they are wonderfully zealous and ardent therein, if there be hope of extending their Belief, further thereby, and planting it amongst the Nations which they invade. Which also themselves are so obstinate in retaining, that it is very ordinary to find amongst them great numbers of persons that have abandoned the name of Christ; but to see converted Turks in Christendom, is a thing then which nothing is more rare: Yea there have been some who have rather chosen to suffer an ignominious death, then to accept of a pardon for notorious crimes committed by them, on condition of being baptised.  
But admit that Mahomet and the doctrine of his Law made for our, adversaries; yet I can scarce imagine that in this great light both of holy and profane learning any man in these parts of the world would put any stress upon the testimony of those people, who have not only a professed enmity to all liberal Sciences and such as are suitable to the excellence of humane understanding, but whose sottish and abominable superstition equals and in some things surpasses that of the Pagans themselves. 'Tis true, he teaches not only one supreme, but one single and solitary Deity, infinite in essence and power; and condemns all those trifling Deities, which rendered the Pagan Religion so contemptible. He acknowledges that this Deity governs the World by his Providence, and that all is subject to his Empire, even things natural, fortuitous and contingent, and the motions of the mind of man. He preaches in general that God is a rewarder of virtue, and that he will repay wickedness with suitable punishments. He extols the mercy of God, and declares that he invites men to repentance. He exhorts to good works, and asserts the resurrection with a final judgement of all men at the consummation of the World. But all these things which are so specious and plausible in themselves, are but as Sugar blended with his poisonous doctrines to make them be swallowed more pleasingly and unadvertedly; nor needs there any long discourse to discover his imposture.  
I shall not at present insist on the qualifications of his person, how he was a wretched and vile Arabian, and raised himself to a reputation only by robberies. Nor shall I mention his adulteries, and impure concubinage, nor his frauds and violences. I shall pass over with silence, that it was only the ambition of establishing an Empire amongst thiefs that induced him to invent and hatch that Religion; which he suited to the genius of those he was to rule over, who had been accustomed to lead dissolute lives with women, to enrich themselves by depredations and robberies, and to live by violence and rapine. Perhaps such as favour him, may be offended at these reproaches, though they contain nothing but what is true. Let the doctrine be considered alone in itself. The first thing which be propounds is that he is a great Prophet of God, and a messenger by whose ministry he makes known his will to men. In the mean while, he acknowledges the Old and New Testament as divine Books; for he affirms that God imparted the Law to Moses, and the Psalms to David, and the Gospel to Jesus Christ, and in the general speaks very advantageously of them all, pretending that as the Gospel succeeded the law, so likewise the Alcoran succeeds the Gospel. But how is it possible that so great a change should arrive in the Church of God, that the Gospel should be as it were devoured by the Alcoran, without any prediction of so remarkable a matter either in the Old or New Testament? Certainly God hath followed a quite other method in all times as to what regards the various dispensation of his knowledge. In contracting alliance with Abraham, he in a manner laid the foundations of the Law and the Gospel, and declares things that did foreshow both the one and the other. The Law which came into the world four hundred years after, made express and direct mention of Jesus, and Mahomet himself does not deny but that Jesus was promised by the Prophets. How comes it to pass therefore that the Gospel hath intimated nothing of Mahomet to advertise the Christians of so marveilous a mutation, to the end they might prepare themselves thereunto? It is true, that his advocates do here allege two things: One, that Moses designed him by those words, God shall raise up unto you a Prophet like to me among your brethren; Hear ye him: The other, that his name was expressly written in the Old Testament, but that the Jews and Christians have expunged it out of all places where it was in their books. But both these exceptions are vain. For, as for the first, The Gospel applies those words of Moses to Jesus Christ. Which if they do with just reason, how are they competent to Mahomet? If they be perverted to a contrary sense, whence is it that Mahomet confesses that the Gospel is of divine institution and revelation? Either Mahomet is an Impostor, that arrogates that to himself, which agrees to Jesus Christ; or the Gospel is false, to which notwithstanding Mahomet allows the dignity of being proceeded from the hand of God himself. For the second; it is without all colour of reason. For who first razed the name of Mahomet out of our Books? Was it done, before he was born, and his doctrine had gained any repute in the world? No, surely: for neither the Jews nor the Christians had at that time any interest to move them to commit such a sacrilege. If he were named therein, yet they pretend it was with a promise to the Church of God, to raise up a great and sovereign Prophet to it at a certain time; and who would have gone about to efface such promises out of the holy books? Certainly, as the Jews did not imbezle out of their Scriptures those which promised Christ before he was revealed, so neither would the Christians have blotted out of theirs those of this supreme Prophet, before he came into the world, And if they have so carefully preserved the predictions of Antichrist, who was to commit such horrible outrages, how much more dearly would they have kept the promises of this great and incomparable personage? Was it then, after the times of Mahomet? Certainly, no: for there are copies of the Old and New Testament in their primitive language, and Greek and Latin Translations made many ages before the birth of Mahomet, which are inserted in the Writings of those that preceded him by a long time, and which are found wholly congruous with ours. The , Syriack, and  Versions and Paraphrases which were performed long before these was any mention of Mahomet in the world, have continued in their integrity to the present, without any trace of this prophecy. In a word, of all the ancient Christian and Jewish Commentators and Authors that have laboured with an incredible diligence in the Old and New Testament for a thousand years past, none hath lest the least conjecture or shadow in his writings of ever having any knowledge of it. Can it possibly be, that this prophecy should be so totally rooted out of all the Writings in the World, in which it ought to have been implanted, as not one slip or sprig to be left of it, neither in Europe, nor Asia, nor Africa? And why were not the Turks careful to preserve some Authentic Copy wherein it might be found, thereby to convince the fraud of the Christians, and support the honour of their Prophet by the Scriptures? Certainly, we cannot have a greater animosity against Mahomet, than the Jews have against Christ: and we are not less jealous of the conservation of our Gospel, than they were of their Law. Wherefore since they have not erased out of their Law the testimonies which authorize the person of Christ and his doctrine, there is no reason to suspect that we should have expunged out of the Gospel those that had favoured Mahomet and Mahometism.  
But further, put case the Holy Spirit forgot to make mention of Mahomet as a great Prophet, in the Old and New Testament; yet if so be the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel are proceeded from God, and the Alcoran also be, as its authors pretends, descended from Heaven, it is requisite that their doctrines agree together. For God cannot be repugnant to himself. Now the Jews observe an excellent correspondence between the Prophets and the Law; and the Christians between the Gospel, the Law, and the Prophets: but there is such a disagreement between these Books and the Alcoran, as neither the Mahometans, nor the Jews, nor the Christians, nor God himself can reconcile them together. I shall not now mention that the Old and New Testaments teach that the Messiah is both God and Man, and that there are three Persons subsisting in the Blessed Trinity, and that Christ died for the redemption of mankind: because they are points, which perhaps may be disputed: although, to receive the New Testament for the Word of God, and to reject the Doctrine of the Trinity, and that of Redemption by the Merit of Christ, is as if a man should take back with one hand that which he casts away with the other. I shall only speak of those things which are clearer than the light itself. In the Alcoran, the History of the Creation of the World, of the Terestrial Paradise, of the Fall of man, of the Death of Abel, of the Deluge and the Ark of Noah, of the Angels which appeared to Abraham, of the Selling and Imprisonment of Joseph, of the Plagues of Egypt and Pharaoh, of the Calling of Moses and his Miracles, are so villainously corrupted and contaminated with Fables, both contrary to the truth, and ridiculous in themselves, that whatsoever is excellent, elegant, genuine, pathetical and divine in the books of the Jews, becomes cold and impertinent, absurd and devested of all verisimilitude, when this busy sciolist has the management of it. If Moses and Mahomet were guided by the same spirit, whence comes it to pass that they do not agree together? How do the Writings of the Former ravish attentive and sober minds with admiration, while the confused trash of the latter deters ingenuous spirits from the belief of those histories? In like manner, there is in the Evangelists a clear and coherent narration of the Annunciation of the Angel to the Virgin, of the miraculous Conception of Christ, of the Birth of John the Baptist, and the history of Zacharias his father, of the Crucifying of our Saviour and his Ascension into Heaven, and other like matters with their circumstances and dependences. All which is so perversely related in the Alcoran, debased with so many falsities and fables, mangled and disguised with so many additions, contradictions and intolerable mutilations, that were it not for the proper names that he uses therein, and some slight marks by which the reader may judge that he intended the rehearsing of those histories, it would be difficult to imagine that he had ever heard of or understood any thing of them. Wherefore, if the Alcoran be proceeded from the Spirit of God, and yet it bears testimony to the divinity of the Gospel, how is it that the same spirit blows both cold and hot? Why does it report at one time after one manner, and differently at another? Had it lost the memory of that which passed in Judaea five or six hundred years before, and therefore recounted the same afterwards after such a disagreeing manner? Or why did it not make use of the Memorials which the Evangelists and Apostles, who were ocular witnesses of those transactions, had recorded concerning the same? But it's possible, our Books have been altered. Which is a most frivolous exception. For if they were changed before the Sarazin name was heard in the World, by what prophetic spirit could it have been divined that Mahomet was to come, and so to new mould all the Old and the New Testament, out of despite to him? And if it was afterwards, how come our Books to accord from word to word and point to point, both in this and all other matters, with the Commentaries of all them that writ in the first Ages of Christianity? How would the Jews have permitted the Christians so to alter the Old Testament from the beginning to the end, and the Christians the Jews likewise the New, seeing they are so irreconcilable enemies amongst themselves? Is it not rather to be believed, that the ignorance of Mahomet, who had never professed Christianity, and the bad memory of those that helped him to compile his Alcoran, who suggested to him by rote, that little of it they had learned by hear-say, caused him to commit all those hideous absurdities? And certainly he extremely mistrusted that people would believe so. For there is nothing he has so strictly forbidden, as to dispute concerning his Law with the Jews, because his cheats and foists are so open to discovery and conviction. Two things alone keep up in credit amongst his fellows the falsities which he vented with so outrageous an impudence; Force of Arms, the terror of which he diffused wheresoever he came, and the Profound Ignorance of the people that follow him, to whom it is forbidden to enter into any examination of the verity of things.  
But if he be foully inconsistent and discordant in the relation of histories, he is no less in the doctrines which he teaches. For the Gospel exhorts universally to patience, and would not have any maintain or advance it otherwise then by sufferings; and though in other things it condemns not wars justly engaged in by Princes for conservation of their rights and the peace of their dominions, yet in matter of Religion it recommends only constancy in suffering of the Cross, and would have us be contented with that promise, that all shall be so well ordered by the Providence of God, that none shall have cause to complain that he leaves his own in oblivion. But what does Mahomet in this cast? There is not a chapter in all his book, wherein he does not preach fire and sword, wars and massacres for the advancement of his Law. He promises rewards in Paradise to those that shall acquit themselves valiantly therein, and denounces eternal pains to cowards. And although (as He contradicts himself very frequently) he says sometimes that no person ought to be constrained by force to receive his Law, yet himself was the first that began so to make it be believed, and gave special commandments for it, which also has hitherto been practised by his successors upon all occasions. In the Gospel Christ reduces Marriage to its ancient and natural purity, prohibiting Polygamy and Divorce, saving in case of adultery only. By the Alcoran it is lawful to have four or five wives, if a man be able to keep them, and to add to them moreover if he pleases a number of concubines. How then is it, that Christ having taught that the permission of Divorce was an induligence to the people of Israel because of the hardness of their hearts, that at the beginning it was not so, and so having by degrees abolished polygamies which had been in custom amongst them; How is it, I say, that this Prophet, whose revelations are, if you will believe himself, the accomplishment of the Gospel and the Law, establishes the same again with so boundless licentiousness? Certainly Christ did in this correct the defects of the polity of Moses, and put things into an estate convenient to the excellence of times under the Gospel. To urge the same further; Had there been any thing in the causes of the Gospel to be amended, Mahomet ought to have caused as much purity of holy marriage to have shined in his Law above that of Christ, as Christ had made to appear in his above that of Moses. And notwithstanding, clean contrary, he dishonours and pollutes it more than it ever was in the time of the Law of the Jews, or even amongst idolatrous nations that have had any knowledge of natural honesty. Add hereunto, that the Gospel being a Doctrine of holy liberty, and which hath favoured us with the grant of well-using such things as are neither good nor evil in themselves, hath abrogated the constitution which obliged to abstain from them, and likewise recommended the use of them in time of necessity: which appears expressly in wine, which the Apostle advises Timothy to use for the weakness of his stomach. And so far was Christ from intending that his disciples and believers should abhor that sort of liquor, that he hath made it a part of the celebration of his most sacred mysteries. What new inspiration therefore had this pretended Prophet to forbid wine as an abominable thing, and the game of Chess as a diabolical and cursed invention? As for the prohibition of Games of Chance, such as Cards and Dice, he is most readily commended for it: but I know not what evil sports of industry had done him, that he should attribute the invention of them to wicked spirits, and excommunicate unpardonably out of his Paradise all those that divert themselves therewith. Above all things the contrariety of manners and fashions of behaviour is remarkable between the authors of these two Religions, the Christian and the Mahometan. For Christ shown himself an unimitable example of all sorts of virtues, and Mahomet acknowledges him such, and his most bitter enemies could never find any thing in him that was to be blamed. Whereas Mahomet, like a monster of uncleanness, places amongst the privileges allowed him above others of his sect, that it was not lawful for them to have more than four or five wives beside some concubines, but he had liberty from God to espouse as many as he pleased. And that which is horrible to hear, he makes God speak as if he had endowed him with extraordinary vigour at his birth for that purpose. Yet I am the most mistaken man in the world if he were not jealous; so strictly doth he enjoin his wives not to go forth of the house, to make no flaunting of their beauty, and never to appear but with a veil over their faces: and so severely does he forbidden the mahometans to approach and caress them, yea to enter into his house, saving at certain hours prefixed and determined by him. And for the height of continence in a Prophet of God, his sectators do not deny, that becoming enamoured of the wife of Zeid his slave, he caused him to divorce her, that he might espouse her himself because of her excellent beauty; and afterwards this beast introduces God speaking, and owning that it was he that married them together. Who can doubt, as to the rest, of the genius of this person?  
But indeed the Paradise which he promises to his True-believers is an indubitable argument that the mind of this man was absolutely ingulfed in the dissoluteness of the flesh, and subverted with the love of women, and that his intention was to inveigle the minds of others by the same baits of lasciviousness. For with what beatitude in the heavens above does he feed their hopes? They shall be, says he, in a Paradise watered with fair and delightful fountains, which shall flow as gently as if they were of liquid crystal. They shall lie and repose in the shadow, under the cool of thick-leaved and stately trees, which by their own motion shall intwine into pleasing bowers. There shall they eat all sorts of delicious fruits in all seasons, and shall be recreated with the melody of ten thousand little birds warbling amongst their branches; wherewith shall be mingled the consort of most harmonious instruments and melodious voices. Their attire shall be magnificent and triumphant, as of silk purfled with gold, and bedecked with jewels and pearls. They shall sleep in beds embroidered with gold; their pillows shall have great pearls hanging at the corners, and their curtains shall be beset with jewels beyond value and number. And that which tickles his fancy most, they shall each have their wives transcendently beautiful, with breasts delicately protuberant, and eyes like Jet enchased in Sylver, whiter than snow, and as great as large Eggs; which is a bigness something exorbitant, unless he will give them an enormous stature at the Resurrection. And because sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus, they shall banquet with them every day, and shall be diverted with all sorts of sports and recreations that can be imagined; and they shall be served at their feasts in fair large goblets of gold and crystal, beset with most precious jewels, and that by beautiful young Lads more smooth than pearls themselves, and perfumed with odours beyond that of Ambergris and the most fragrant of Arabia. What can be concluded from this description of his rare Paradise, but that Mahomet was wholly of flesh, and there was nothing spiritual lest in his soul? Then, as for Hell, he describes it almost after the same rate. For he says that the Wicked shall be cruelly tormented there in flames, and shall beg for a little water to refresh them; upon which shall be given a little drop of I know not what liquor, but so poisonous and corroding that it shall eat out their bowels, and yet they shall not die; then they shall be fed against their wills with a fruit resembling the Devils testicles, which shall boil like fire in their stomaches; and they shall be clothed with shirts of flaming pitch, and wear great colours of burning fire about their necks. Is not this an excellent prospect of the infernal pains? I know there are some of so perverted fancies as to seek out mysterious doctrines hidden under them. Yea they go so far as to make comparison thereof with that which is contained under the veil of some typical and figurative words in the books of the Old and New Testament. But were not these wild-brained persons sufficiently punished in this life by their own folly, they should be answered with stripes and scourges instead of the reasons of Divines and Philosophers. For what is mysterious in the Bible is such, that were it, not understood, yet it offers nothing either absurd or ridiculous. And that which is understood of it (as there is scarce any thing which is not, saving some prophecies not yet accomplished, in regard they are veiled under enigmatical expressions) has been manifested by events, which are the best Commentaries on prophecies, or illustrated by doctrines explicitly and clearly delivered in other places of it; So that the whole book does give light unto itself by its own beams. But in those prophecies of Mahomet, the obscure matters are irrational and ridiculous in their obscurity; and he that goes about to seek some doctrine worthy of esteem under the bark of his words, there is in the first place such a perpetual dissonance in the text of the Alcoran, that he will soon perceive those words were not made for those things; and liken a noble and excellent doctrine clothed with the seemingly mysterious style of that person to the story of Herculeses putting on the attire of a young maid; for what could be easier than to discern that those feminine habiliments were unsuitable to the robust and nervous members of him that overcame so many monsters? In the next place he will be forced to borrow that doctrine some where else, either from the Holy Scripture, or from Philosophy, and transplant the same into the Alcoran as into a strange soil. For of itself it neither furnishes matter wherewith to supply its deficiency and emptiness, nor light to clear up its obscurities. And indeed, what a furious love of the Alcoran is it, that causes a man to observe such things in it, of which its author would not have us believe he ever thought, and such as his interpreters reject, and his followers detest and abominate? For why are they so affected to the Law of Mahomet, unless because it promises them all sorts of corporeal contentments? And should any expound those things to them in a mystical way, who doubts but that they would think his endeavour was to cause all the hope of their beatitude to vanish into smoke?  
Moreover, though for the Words and the Rhyme, that book was written in an Arabic style good enough, yet it is composed of parts so lose and incoherent amongst themselves, that 'tis a wonder how they that read it with so much admiration, do not advert its impertinence. For it is a hodgepodge of several confused matters huddled together without any other connection than they have by chance; and it is sufficiently apparent that it was built at several times and by divers hands, and not followed according to one uniform and continued design. For he mingles therein the Histories before the Law with those after it, those of the New Testament with the Wars of his own time, and sometimes divides one into two or three pieces, and contrarily sometimes ineptly moulds two or three into one. Prayers, promises, exhortations, admonitions, commandments and laws, privileges and histories, descriptions of Paradise and Hell, Philosophy and Divinity after his manner, fables of times past and future, the number of the Celestial Orbs, and the death of a Cow are to be found jumbled together in one and the same Chapter. And you would say sometimes that they are verily the rave of a man in a fever, or the enthusiasms of a drunkard. 
—  nec pes, nec caput uni  
Reddatur formae—  And if the order thereof be so perverted, the matter is little better. He says that the Mind of man is a portion of the soul of God, which he breathed into him at his first creation, and that under the shadow which the trees make they adore the Deity. He swears by the Alcoran in one place, and in another by his pen, that that book was sent to him from Heaven. That the Heavens would fall, were it not for the Angels that pray for us. That Jesus Christ had the soul of God. That many deserted Christ, because he was too eloquent. And disputing against the Christians he proves that Jesus is not the Son of God, and that God can have no Son, in as much as he hath no need of any thing whatsoever. He says, Men were created of shadow, and Devils of flames of fire. And as for the creation of the rest of the Universe, he relates it in this manner: God created the Earth in two days, and fastened it, to the mountains as it were by anchors and cables. In the two next days he caused all sorts of herbs to spring up for the nutriment of animals. After which the earth being thus framed began to emit exhalations and steams, of which he form the Heavens in two other days, in which he placed the Stars, and gave them principally in charge to chase away the Devils by the splendour of their light when they go to spy what is doing in Heaven. Did he reason or rage, when he writ all these excellent pieces of Divinity? But then he interweaves the same here and there with I know not what putid fables. He repeats a hundred and a hundred times, so distrustful is he it will not be believed, that God is the author of that rare book, & professes that all mankind together could not have made the least syllable of it. He sprinkles the doctrine of the resurrection with shameful and unprofitable fables. Sometimes he goes about to discourse of matters treated on by the Writers of the New Testament, and presently discovers that he understands nothing at all of them; as where he makes a comparison of Christ with Adam. Then in another place he trifles incongruously about the Table of the Lord and the Sacraments of the Gospel. He boasts of having cemented the Moon together again which himself had cut in sunder. He speaks of Predestination and the Providence of God, as a Fatal Destiny; and some say, 'tis by this means that he rendered his followers so adventurous in war, because being persuaded that the decrees of that Destiny are inevitable, they cast themselves without heed into the mouth of danger, presuming they shall not die, in case it be not predestinated, though their hearts were pierced with a hundred Javelins. Lastly, he contradicts himself at every turn. But the thing for which he most frequently defends himself, is his not doing of miracles, and he will not allow anyone to require them from him; though indeed he did all things which no man ought to undertake unless he can prove his vocation by authentic miracles. For he abolished the constitutions which himself acknowledged were authorised by God, as those of the Law and the Gospel. He introduced a new form of Religion, and invaded the dignity of sovereign Magistrates, levying arms against Princes, though he was but a private person, giving liberty to slaves in spite of their masters with an absolute authority, and maikng invasions and wars the most violent and bloody that ever were seen in the world, But ought not he to have authorised himself by miracles, to show the right he had to do all this? Who ever attempted any of those things, as Moses, or Elias, or Christ, or his Apostles, but at sometime or other gave testimony of their celestial calling by miracles? Certainly when I consider on the one side the absurdity and grosseness of almost every thing he says, I cannot but think he had great need of miracles to persuade the same to people of understanding, and I should reckon it a miracle if any honest man could believe him. And on the other side when I consider the nature of his doctrine, and those to whom he persuaded it, I conceive it no great miracle to have allured and drawn carnal minds by the gaudy baits of a carnal Paradise. In a word, it needs not to be much versed in that work to observe that it is a medley of all impertinent and bad things, amongst which there is sometimes found some little good, as there is in the Drugs of Egypt.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
But what good there is there, is overwhelmed in an abyss of falsities, impieties, fables and impertinences; and it is not difficult to show from what fountains he derived it all. The good doctrines and sentences which are sometimes met with by the way, are taken from the Old and New Testament; The hatred which be perpetually testifies against the doctrine of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, he received by contagion from the Arians and other heretics that were in high repute in his time; That vile pollution of Marriage by the licentious multiplicity of wives and concubines, came from the School of the Nicolaitans; The rare carnal Paradise was the invention of Cerin●hus and the ancient Chiliasts; and that other foist, That Christ did not suffer really, but only some Fantasme in his place, was forged by the Cerdonians, and others of that stamp. The greatest part of his Fables are borrowed from the Jews and some Apocryphal Authors that were current, like false money, in those times: and his gross follies wherewith he hath larded and strewed it throughout, came from his own ignorance, and for that having himself no knowledge at all neither of the Old nor New Testament nor of the writings of the Jews nor profane histories nor the Poets, he trusted to the memory of a lewd Monk, and some false Christians or false Jews, who never understood very much of them; whence all that he relates out of them is delivered rashly and at random. But on the other side, though there were nothing but truth in the whole Alcoran, nothing but what were rational in itself and consentaneous to the Holy Scriptures, both for histories and doctrines, yet the author of it ought nevertheless to be held for no other than an Impostor, for that he dares to vaunt himself for a great Prophet. For such a Prophet as he pretends to be, ought not only to declare things agreeing with those that were before him, but either to reveal doctrines unknown till then, or to expound those which were delivered enigmatically, and to unveil them out of their obscurities, and withal to make faith of his calling either by miracles or prophecies of things to come ratified by the events, the prediction of which does not import the vivacity of humane wit by penetrating by conjectures into some things undiscerned by vulgar eyes, but the wisdom of God to whom the bottom of the most impenetrable secrets is conspicuous. Otherwise all Divines that ever writ concerning Religion either Jewish or Christian congruously to the books of the Old and New Testament, should be either Prophets or Apostles. Besides, were there no errors in the Alcoran, yet how many books have we that treat the best things contained therein in a manner incomparably more excellent. Wherefore he ought to be accounted a Deceiver, and the father of Deceivers, who being so ignorant, so impertinent, so absurd, so discordant from truth, so fabulous and pollute, he yet glories that he is the greatest of all the Prophets, by whose ministry God revealed himself to men.  
Now if Mahomet himself was so gross and mad a fool, his principal Doctors and interpreters had yet more need of manacles and chains than he; which I shall show only by the sample of two books which they have in esteem. In one of which is described the journey of Mahomet into Paradise by the conduct of the Angel Gabriel. He entered (say they) into the first heaven, being mounted upon Alborach, an animal something bigger than an Ass, and having a humane face; where he observed that that first sphere was of fine silver, and so thick as would require the space of five hundred years to be travelled over by a footman. There they found an Angel so high as it would be a thousand years' journey from his head to his foot, with seventy thousand other Angels, each of which had seventy thousand heads, every head seventy thousand horns, every horn seventy thousand knots, and the distance of forty years' journey between one knot and another. Also, every head had seventy thousand faces, in every of which there were seventy thousand mouths, in every mouth seventy thousand tongues, and every tongue spoke a thousand languages, in which they praised God seventy thousand times a day: you may imagine what a rare melodious noise they made. In the second heaven, which is made all of burnished gold, they found a great multitude of Angels greater than the former, amongst whom there was one whose see't touched the earth and his head the eighth Heaven. 'Tis strange no body ever saw him at least in one of the hemispheres. But all these were but pygmies in comparison of another, whom they met in the third Heaven, who was so prodigiously great that if he should hold all the world in the palm of his hand, he could nevertheless shut it. Yet betwixt him and those which were in the fourth heaven, it is hard to say whether there were any proportion, unless some new Geometry be f und out to express it. For every one of them had seventy pair of wings, in each of which were seventy thousand pinions, and every pinion was seventy thousand cubits long. But as for him that they saw in the fifth sphere, the Poets with their Briareus never understood any thing of him; for what was he with his hundred arms to the Angel that opened the gate to them, who had seven thousand arms, at the end of each of which he moved seventy thousand hands? In the other spheres they scarce found Angels of so enormous a stature: but in the eighth sphere they beheld I cannot tell what huge Giant, so dreadful, that he could have swollowed the Globe of the Earth & Sea as easily as a little Pill. Is the true History of Lucian and the Chronicles of Garagantua to be compared to this? In the other Book is recited the discourse between a Musulman and a Jew who puts questions to him about the principal points of his doctrine; and here it is that the spirit of error and lying displays its full sails. He says God created a large Carton or Paper-volume and a pen of so rare a shape, that it was five hundred days journey in length and four and twenty in breadth; and that with this pen, which has four and twenty points, he writes continually in that Paper all that ever was, is, or shall be in the world. That the light of the Sun and the Moon were equal in the beginning, so that the day could not be well distinguished from the night, but the Angel Gabriel as he flew by, struck the Moon with the end of his wing and made it lose half its light. Mention is made there of an Ox, of so immense a greatness, that between each of his horns (whereof he hath forty) there is the distance of a thousand years' journey. And yet he says this Ox is under the Earth, which the Hollanders sail round about in less than a year. And lest the Sea should complain of being destitute of Mahometical Monsters, he assigns a fish to it, whose head is in the East, and tail in the West, which carries on his back the whole earth, seas, and mountains; a heavy load indeed; but the air and darkness which he casts into his burden do not much increase his weight. He makes Rats to have been produced in the Ark of the sneesing of a Hog, and Cats of the sneesing of a Lion, perhaps by reason of the resemblance of their snout and muzzle. And he says that Seraphiel (whosoever he be, is not worth much enquiry) on the day of resurrection, shall by sounding a trumpet of five hundred years' journey long, puff out all the souls of the deceased, which being so dispersed about the world shall fly about, every one seeking its own body. They that find allegorical senses in these rare texts, I think no reasonable man will judge but a portion of Hellebore were more fit for them then argumentative discourses. Wherefore let him be perpetually concluded and accounted a most stupid and senseless person, who will not subscribe to this Result, that the doctrine of Mahomet is so far from being of divine revelation, that it is not so much as of humane institution. Or if man had any share in it, the evil spirit, when he contrived it, was lodged in his hypochondres.   

CHAP. IU. Of the Religion of the Jews; Whether it allows Indifference: And how it ought to be held of Divine Revelation.  
I Intimated above that the Jewish Religion is not to be distinguished according to the Sects of those that profess it, but according to the times in which they lived. Nevertheless in this contest against those that maintain Indifference in the external profession of all Religions, it is not material, if they betake themselves to the Jewish, in what time they consider it, before or after the birth of Christ. For if they plead it as it was established by Moses and continued down to the birth of Christ, there never was any that so severely forbade its professors to participate in strange ceremonies. The first Commandment of their Law is, Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. And next, Thou shalt not make to thyself the likeness of any that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or in the Waters under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down before it. Comprehending in one and the same prohibition both devotion towards other Gods, and the expression of it towards their Images. And all the books of Moses are in a manner but a commentary in confirmation of these two Commandments, repeated and inculcated from page to page. As likewise all the ceremonies enjoined by the same Law, differing from those of all the Gentiles, were as a separation between those Nations, which withheld the Gentiles from approaching to the Jews, whose God they did not know, and the Jews ftom communicating with the Gentiles, whom they looked upon as profane and idolatrous. Marriages with the Daughters of strangers were forbidden them, lest they should become snares to them and cause them to turn aside to other Gods: and the total extirpation of the inhabitants of Canaan was commanded, to the end there might remain no memory of them or their idols, which might be an occasion of perversion and scandal to them. And it appears by many experiences that God and men construed this Law after this manner. For there is no where else to be found examples of greater resolution and constancy in maintaing of Religion. They have chosen rather to be cast into burning furnaces, and amongst the paws of Lions, then to conform to the idolatries of Babylon. They have endured cruel deaths rather than they would taste of swins flesh, which was forbidden to them, and in short, have cheerfully suffered all kinds of oppressions and violences for the desense of their Law. On the other side we do not find more dreadful judgements inflicted on any nation for associating with other people in their religious Ceremonies. For they have been enslaved by their adversaries, their Country turned into desolation, and their whole Nation carried away by their victorious enemies into a strange Land. And indeed the case is too notorious of itself to be doubted. If the Jewish Religion be considered as it is professed by them at this day, being themselves pretend it to be of a permanent durance, and not subject to any variation, it follows that they must accord in this point with the doctrine of their ancestors. For wherefore should it be changed in this particular, being in all others invariable? And truly their practice is not different from that of old. They bear still about them a token imprinted in their flesh, which separates them from the rest of mankind. They abhor and despise other nations as ignorant of the true God: and abominate Images and Statues more in these days than ever, as reminding them of the idolatry heretofore so expressly forbidden to their fathers. So that they choose rather to be the scorn and hatred of all Nations, and deprived of all hopes of honours, pre-eminences, great possessions, and offices, which are so powerful attractives to the rest of mankind, then to conform only in outward profession to our devotions, and set foot in our Churches. But if they were of the Opinion of our Indifferents, were it not an easy thing for them to be baptised, and thereby redeem themselves from so many mischiefs, and partake in the honours of the Countries in which they dwell? It is true, some Marchands amongst them dissemble in such places where they are not permitted to sojourn; but they do it with great regret and against their consciences. Yet they cannot be brought to do any thing on the Saturday for fear of violating the Sabbath, or to eat the flesh of swine, the prohibition whereof they account perpetually valid.  
But should the present Jews have degenerated in this particular, as they have done in many others, from the faith and practise of their ancestors, yet there ought not any account to be made of their testimony as to the matter in question. For whatever advantages they have above the Pagans and Mahometans, they are nevertheless deviated from the way of salvation as well as they, and cannot pretend hereafter to have that Divine Revelation which ought to be the sole Rule to men of piety and devotion. Indeed their race is the noblest of all others; and there is no King or people that can boast to be descended from so ancient a stock, nor prove their pedigree by so authentic evidences. For they are not guilty of the ridiculous vanity of the Egyptians, who by their own account are many thousand years elder than the World; nor of that of the Athenians, who thought themselves sprung out of their own soil. They do not pretend to have been form of the Stones of Pyrrha, nor go about to rake the badges of their nobility out of the rubbish of Troy. They show by a great series of time, and an exact & clear display of divers periods the world of, that their first father was the common father of all, and that no nation can have any manifestation of its original but from their Records. As for the Antiquity of their Religion, it preceded all others by many Ages. It has been ratified by an infinite number of great and excellent miracles, which made that Nation sometimes formidable to their neighbours, and which being frequently exploited, did without question advance it above the parallel of all other people of the Earth. It has preserved amongst them the knowledge of the true God, and delivered the same to us, disintricated from the confusion of so many false Deities, to whom our Ancestors were devoted. It gave them to know after what manner the World was at first form, and has preserved fresh amongst them the memory of the most remarkable matters that arrived in that primitive Age of Men, of which other nations have had only some kind of obscure and faint glimpses in fabulous stories, which afford only enough evidence to convince the books of the Pagans of vanity, and to confirm the truth of what is found in the Jewish histories. And that which advantages them yet more, is, that their Law contains such an excellent model of all piety and virtue, that more wisdom has been revealed to them in ten words only, then can be collected out of the Books of all the Philosophers, were the quintessence extracted out of them. In a Word, the Books of their Law and the Revelations of their Prophets are proceeded from Heaven; and as it shall more amply appear, they bear with them most undeniable testimonies of it. But the polity of their Religion, how divine soever, was to be changed; and its time being expired, we must otherwhere seek the rules of that which we ought to follow.  
Wherefore to show that their Law was to be changed, and that it was established but for a time, it must be considered in each of its principal parts; As in the Political Laws, upon which their Republic was founded; In their Ceremonial Ordinances, in observation whereof consisted all their external divine service; And in the Ten Commandments of the Two Tables, which contain the General Precepts of piety towards God, and virtue which ought to be practised amongst men. As for their Political Laws, they were excellent indeed for the government of that Nation, and established with singular Wisdom. But I conceive there is no Jew so opinative, as to account them proper for the government of all sorts of Nations in all Ages. For every country, every people, and time must have its respective laws, and there is necessity of altering the same according to the variety of circumstances. And as Divorce was permitted in the Commonwealth of Israel in its political government, for some necessity particular to that Nation, so there may be some other Nations, in which likewise for some political necessity it must be absolutely forbidden. It would seem unreasonable in a country where the houses are built with plain ridges, for the public authority to demolish all sort of edifices of that fashion, & enjoin to build only with battlements and balisters. Now it is as little comprehensible, how in such a Country as France is, the Laws given by Moses concerning the determination of Lawsuits could be practised. It would be requisite not only to change the order of Magistrates and practice of Courts, but to new mould the manners of the entire Nation. And how could the divers forms of Governments of Kingdoms and Empires be conformed to the political Law of Israel, as Monarchy in France, Aristocracy in Venice, and Democracy in Athens? Must they that should become Jews in these parts of Europe, renounce all sovereign powers that are so well established therein according to the genius of every Nation, to reform them all according to the model of the Jewish policy? And if the great Cham of the Tartars with all his subjects, should cause themselves to be circumcised, to what purpose would the Laws of Tenths for the Levites, & the like, be in his Country? Indeed all the policy of Israel was regulated either according to the nature of that people, different from most others, or according to the division of their Tribes, wherewith other Nations had no resemblance, or else according to the quality of the Country, which was unlike to others in many respects. But on the other side, their great Legislator, the most pious amongst their Kings, and the divinest amongst their Prophets have expressly promised the Calling of the Nations to the communion of one and the same Law with the Jews, so that they shall make up but one people. Rejoice O ye Nations, his people, saith Moses, Deut. 32.43. And David in the 117. Psalms, O praise the Lord, all ye Nations; praise him all ye people. Why? but for being called to his knowledge. And in Psal 69.1. O sing unto the Lord a new song: All the Earth sing unto the Lord, vers. 3. Declare his glory among the heathen, and his Wonders among all people. But Isaiah more expressly when he promises in the 55. chap. of his Revelations, that the Messiah shall be equally a Legislator of the Jews and others, vers. 4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the Nations, to be a leader and commander of the people. Behold, thou shalt call a Nation that thou knewest not; and the Nations which knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God. And 'tis for the same reason that he speaks thus to the Church of God in the foregoing Chapter, Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that knowest not what it is to travel with child, etc. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy Pavilions; spare not, lengthen thy cord and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt spread forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy posterity shall inherit the Nations, and make the desolate Cities to be inhabited. And the Jews themselves await the accomplishment of these promises. Wherefore it follows necessarily that their Law, as to the policy of the Commonwealth, was to alter; and that whereas before, it obliged all those who had any interest and title in the Alliance which God had contracted with them, the use thereof in this respect is now become free, and not necessarily obligatory. The truth is, though political Laws of Republics be nothing but the natural laws of justice and honesty, which being general are applied to particular matters according to the diversity of circumstances, which are infinite and infinitely variable; provided that in the government of every Nation the image of that natural justice be always resplendent in their Laws, it is not important whether there be difference in things of lesser concernment. And it would be too rigorous a yoke, to subject all Nations to the same form of Laws, without regard whether the humours of men and conditions of times permit it. Now whereas the Law of Moses is composed of three parts equally, the change of one necessarily infers with it the alteration of the rest. And it must needs fall out here as it does in the building of Palaces. For he that should go about to change one part of a great uniform edifice it would be needful for him to change it all, and ruin it all from top to bottom; otherwise the disparity of its parts would render it unproportional and deformed.  
But this is more manifest in the Ceremonial Law, in which consisted all external service performed to God. For it would be more difficult for all Nations to obey that, than the Political. What likelihood is there, I beseech you, that God would tie all Nations, so remote and dispersed upon the face of the Earth, to repair and sacrifice at Jerusalem, and assemble there at solemn Feasts? That from the North, South, East and West, they should all be there at a time appointed to perform that service, notwithstanding the interval so many Seas & mountains: And if when Jerusalem was besieged by Titus, the multitude of men grievously pestered the place, although there was only the Nation of the Jews assembled there at that time, what Jerusalem would be capable of containing all other Nations besides, which ought to come to the knowledge of the true God? Can the Tribe of Levi have furnished Sacrificers enough, or Judea beasts for victim? Can the Temple, had it been twenty times as big as that which Herod built, have received the twentieth part of those that were to perform their devotions in it? And what a horrible slaughter would there be, or how could they escape the deluge of blood which would fill the streets if every one were to offer his beast? But indeed he that shall duly consider the whole structure of the Religious Policy which was sometimes amongst them, shall find that it has not the appearance of a thing that was to endure to perpetuity, but was only the platform and delineation of some other to come in its place. For to what end served the massacre of so many beasts? Was it, because God took pleasure in the flesh of bulls, or in the blood of Goats? Himself denies it in their Prophets. In the 50. Psalm vers. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices, or for the burnt-offerings which should be continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds, etc. Vers. 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, etc. Also, Thou takest no pleasure in sacrifices, else would I give them; the burnt-offering is not acceptable to thee. The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit, etc. And Isaiah in a severer strain, chap. 66. He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a sheep, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered the blood of a swine; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an Idol. And certainly he should have too low an opinion of God, that should imagine he delighted in beholding the spilling of the blood, or the smoking of the fat of sacrifices. He takes pleasure in the piety of the heart and in virtue, and not in the odor of incense or the death of beasts. Was it to make propitiation for their sins, and secure them from the curse denounced by their Law? Much less. For 'tis possible some man might fancy God so good towards his creatures, as to be pleased with such offerings proceeding from a good heart, as testimonies of its devotion; But he is too just for any to imagine, that when he is incensed he maybe satisfied with trifles. Lastly, was it to exercise the people of Israel, and keep them in discipline, as curbs and pasterns are used to unruly horses, and divers rules of discipline are prescribed to youth inclinable to deboshery? This indeed was one of the uses of the Law, but the Jews will not acknowledge it, and which they cannot have learned but from the Doctors and Founders of the Christian Church. Moreover, these exercises are not to be continued for ever: We take away the shackles from horses when they are become tractable, and leave children to their own conduct when they come to age. Can it be thought then, that the Church of God should be always in infancy, and never come to perfect age to have no more need of so exact and so rigorous a discipline? Let them consult their Books well, and they will find that in process of time God gave them to understand that all those things were but shadows, which were to vanish when the truth should be manifested, and that proportionably as that time approached, the contempt that he had of those things in themselves was discovered. For in the books of Moses they are most severely enjoined as if the service of God really consisted therein. In the Psalms of David God gins to decry the use of them. And Isaiah in the first and the sixty sixth Chapter of his Prophecies, speaks so disadvantageously of them, that he almost as good as says that they were even already abolished. I know well, that he speaks of them after a comparative manner with internal virtues, which the Jews wholly forgot, confining themselves strictly and trusting in the observation of these externals. But I conceive that Moses in reproving the contempt of internal piety, would never have spoken with such disdain of those corporeal sacrifices, and there is nothing in all his books but gives assurance of the contrary. Whence then should this difference between them arise, since they were all guided by the same spirit, but that Moses was yet too remote from the body in which those shadows were to terminate? To what end were their Arks, Propitiatories, or Mercy-seats, Tables of Shewbread, candlesticks, dishes, basins, courtains, covertures, veils, altars, sives, gridirons, censers, and lamps, in a word all the accoutrements and deckings of the Tabernacle, which if they represented nothing but what they barely seem, would be frivolous and tedious? Especially, why should God so particularly give the whole scheme of it, and enjoin Moses so strictly not to transgress in any thing from the pattern shown to him in the mountain? Certainly if all this had no further reference then to the Tabernacle, no body can give a pertinent reason why God should make so scrupulous a description of it, or why he should impart extraordinary graces of his spirit to the chief managers of the whole work, unless we will say that God takes pleasure, like us, in imbrodery and painting. But when he says expressly that it was only a representation of what he had shown to Moses, he apparently intimates that he aimed further, and that the Tabernacle was but the image of that which God reserved to himself till another time, and the Israelites were to expect. For seeing our minds are never contented with the images of things, when-they consider that they are merely images, be; cause they cannot perfectly represent the life and the more tightly the images seem to be made, the more desirous are we to see the reality; God admonishing them that the Ark and the Tabernacle were but representations of that which he kept hid with him, would by degrees excite them in the desire to behold the thing itself. But he would never have excited the appetites of men for nothing: if he inflame our hearts with any desires, he always supplies wherewith to satiate them, and never deludes men with vain expectations. Wherefore it must needs be that he has exhibited the same in its due time, and the figure has given place to the substance. For at the appearance of the body it would be a folly afterwards to stick to the consideration of shadows. God therefore has done like an excellent Architect who intending to build a great and magnificent Palace, before he cuts out the porphyry, prepares the pillars, forms the arches, carves and squares the pieces of Cedar for the feeling or the Wainscot, designs out his whole work with a Crayon on paper, and taketh pleasure in beholding the proportions of it in such an Idea. For before building up his Church of all Nations, and revealing his spiritual secrets to it, he was pleased first to behold the design of it in the structure of the Tabernacle, and in the whole Legal Polity of the Jewish Church. Not to make an assay, or take his proportions, for fear of failing when he should come to the effect; for all his works are present before him from eternity, but because the time did not yet require that he should put his hand to the true building, he would as it were please himself in the Idea which he had portrayed of it in the Nation of the Jews, and give those that should one day see the real extribition of the thing itself, singular incitements to admire his wisdom in the wonderful correspondence of the building with the shadow.  
Now in my judgement the present Jews ought to reflect more seriously upon the state of their affairs, and the change which is really and evidently befallen them; which if they did, they must be very obstinate not to be convinced by such experience. God caused the tabernacle to be built in the desert, and placed his Ark in it, giving them to know thereby that he dwelled with them under tents, during their attending the accomplishment of his promises. Afterwards he permitted a Temple to be built to him in Jerusalem, wherein the Ark was at length settled, which till then had been ambulatory. As if he would signify that his abode was fixed among them, and their Nation absolutely confirmed in the promised land. And who would not have said at that time, that the Temple would continue as firm as the mountain itself on which it stood, David having utterly defeated his enemies and filled all the neighbouring countries about him with the terror of his arms, and Solomon enjoying so profound a peace? Nevertheless, about four hundred & fifty years after, Jerusalem is ruined, the Temple razed to the ground, and all the sacred vessels carried away to Babylon; and as for the Ark, it was never seen after in the World. Behold a notable change befallen both to their Civil and Religious Polity. For they had no longer a King, which was the head of the Republic, nor the Ark, which was incomparably the most venerable part of all their Religious Mysteries. Yet this was but the forerunner of a more universal change. The distinction of their Tribes remained still, and the Royal race was owned in that of Judah, and that of Levi was preserved for the restoring of their sacrifices. 'Tis likewise true, that at the end of seventy years they returned from their captivity, and rebuilt the Temple, but much less than that before, inferior to it in all prerogatives, and especially in being destitute of that particular testimony of the presence of God which was before in the Mercy-seat. Why was it thus, but only because the time was drawing nigh, in which they should seek their God no more upon the Earth, and that consequently their Religious polity should be ended, seeing it had this express promise, I will dwell in the midst of them, and abide there; which is not to be understood but of the Tabernacle and the Ark, At length, after many profanations, the second Temple is destroyed from the foundations, the City of Jerusalem burnt to ashes, the Nation dispersed, without Levites, without sacrificers, without sacrifices, without offerings, without solemn Feasts Sabbaths, Altars, Incense and Lamps, and this for the space of fifteen or sixteen hundred years, without any hopes of ever being recollected from so dreadful a dissipation. And which is more, all their Tribes so confounded by their long wander and by the search that has been made for all the evidences of their Genealogies to abolish them, that they know no longer to distinguish which is Judah, or which is Levi, or Benjamine, or any other Line. Certainly if that dispensation was to have been perpetual, God would never have permitted so long an interruption of it, much less such as it should be impossible to be redressed. For should they rebuild Jerusalem, yet the Function of Sacrificing having been restrained to the Family of Levi with exclusion of the rest, they could not have any lawful Sacrificers, by reason of the confusion of their Tribes.  
Let us now proceed to the Law of ten Words (or Decalogue) contained in the two Tables. In which two things are considerable. First, that it is, as was said above, a perfect model of piety and virtue, and in a manner the image of God himself. Secondly, that God propounded the hopes of life to the Jews upon observation of this Law together with the Judicial and Ceremonial; and forbade the transgression of it with threaten of an unevitable curse. For these are the terms, Do this and thou shalt live; and, Cursed is he that continueth not in all the words of this Law to do them. Now, as for the first of these things, no person can deny to the Jews, but it is of perpetual duration, and aught to be uniformly observed amongst all Nations. For since God is immutable in his own nature, his image also must of necessity be alike invariable; and I have already asserted that his image consists in the holiness and justice of this Law. But as for the other, there must necessarily betid a change in that as well as in the other Laws. For though God has instituted Religion to save men and not to be as a snare to make them obnoxious to eternal damnation, how could this law be the means of attaining salvation, which no man (except one only) ever perfectly observed in all ages, yea which no man can observe in any age? Not that his Commandments are impossible to be performed in themselves, if we were not fallen from our ancient and primitive Integrity. For what is there more proportionate to our natural faculties, if they were in their integrity, then to love God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves? But for that sin has caused such a disorder in us, and imbued us with so profound habits of vices, it is always impossible for our affections to be duly conformed to that obedience. Since therefore, according to the Religion of the Jews the hope of salvation is solely in the absolute observation of this Law, and on the other side the violation of it is accompanied with an evitable curse, conscience, which checks all men for sin, suggests to them, that either there must be some change in Religion as to this regard to become capable of salvation, or that Religion was instituted not out of a design to save but to curse and destroy. They will say perhaps, that there are promises of mercy mingled here and there in this Law, for those that shall repent of their sins, whereof their conscience convinces them. And I grant it. Miserable had they been, if it had not been so. For how could they have appeased the disquiets of their conscience? But I say the promises of mercy to penitents do not belong to the Contract established between God and them, according to which he promised life to those that kept it, and denounced a curse to those that should transgress it in the least clause. For how can one and the same Covenant be capable of two such contrary clauses, Cursed is whosoever shall not observe this Law in all points; and, Mercy it promised to those that repent of the transgressions which they commit. What is repenting but returning to be a good man? And what is to be a good man, but to observe this Law? Therefore Repentance is an observing the Law after a transgression, I say an observing it, inasmuch as the Repentance be good and durable. Whence these two propositions will be found contradictory in one and the same Contract, Cursed is whosoever abideth not in all the things of this Law to do them; and, Whosoever does not abide in all things of this Law, is not therefore accursed, provided he does not always persevere in his transgression, but at length repent of it. Now it is not consentaneous to the Wisdom of God to contract an alliance of so repugnant parts. But further, There will not be only a contradiction in the denouncing of the Curse but also in the promise of reward. For observe how the Law speaks; Do these things and thou shalt live, that is, Observe this Law in all points, and thou shalt have life for thy salary of observing it. So that he that obtains Life by the Law, obtains it by virtue of his observation thereof, as a recompense. Now Life and the Curse are so opposed that he that has not life falls into the curse, and on the contrary he that is delivered from the curse is instated in the enjoyment of life. As he that is in health or in the light, is thereby exempt from diseases and darkness, and contrarily he that is sick or in darkness is necessarily deprived of health and light; The enjoyment or sense of the one consisting in the privation of the other. If therefore the same Law says, Repent and thou shalt obtain mercy, seeing mercy implies deliverance from the Curse deserved, and deliverance from the curse is nothing but the enjoyment of life, it will follow that by the same contract life will be obtained as a recompense of the observation of the Law, and nevertheless be a favour too in regard of mercy. Which are things directly repugnant, and cannot be reconciled together. These promises therefore belong to another Covenant different from that which says, Do these things, and Cursed is he, etc. and they were the seeds of that other Law which was to succeed in the place of the ancient one, and sufficient to bring penitents to salvation in that time and entitle them to Life (not by virtue of observation of the Law, but through pure mercy) yet such as were to be more clearly and abundantly revealed. And let them but remark a little what their own Prophet David says in the 32 Psalm; Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guilt. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. Because day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer. I have acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the punishment of my sin. I appeal to themselves whether this be the language of a man that seeks the quiet of his conscience in those words of the Law, Do these things and thou shalt live? For the peace of conscience ariseth from the hope of life. But when he looks towards the Law, he is desperate, and hath no peace in his soul. His satisfaction is in the forgiveness of his sins, and therefore in the assurance of mercy. And yet this was David, a man according to God's own heart, that spoke thus. If therefore such a man as he did not obtain life by virtue of this contract, Do these things, what other dares claim a right upon such terms? If no man obtains the same upon that account, is it not necessary that some other Covenant succeed, namely that of mercy and grace, in the room of that which was ineffectual? But we prosecute this too far; Let them hear God himself in the 31. Chapter of Jeremy, vers. 31. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my Covenant they broke, although I was an husband to them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Who sees not that he distinguishes the Covenants by these two things? First, that he will give them the grace to violate the New no more; which he did not under the Old. And secondly, that he will pardon under the New the transgressions of the Old, which under it he did not nor could, the denunciation of the curse annexed thereunto being irrevocable. And what can be said more? Does not God in promising a New Law foretell the abrogation of the first? And why should he term this Old, if it ought to be perpetual, since perpetual things never wax old, age being a tendency to an end, till the thing growing old comes to be to tally extinguished. But whereunto then served this Law, if none could obtain salvation by it? Truly, as Ceremony was a preparation to that which was to succeed and to give the Israelites some taste and knowledge of it, as in a shadow, so the old Law was a preparing of the minds of men to receive that which was to be enlarged and communicated under the other. For the more they have attempted to fulfil the Law of the ten Commandments the more have they found by experience of their vain endeavours, that they had need of that grace which engraves the Laws of the Lord upon our minds. The greater knowledge they have had of their transgressions and the curse which they had incurred, the greater necessity have they discerned of that Pardon and propitiation which was to be exhibited to them under the New Covenant, and breathed more ardently after it. Which shall be shown more clearly in the ensuing Chapters.   

CHAP. V That the time of the duration of Moses' Law is expired; and consequently that some other must be come in its place.  
I Will not examine at present the solidity of that distinction of the Ages of the World made by some Jews, That two thousand years passed before the Law, two thousand under the Law, and two thousand more shall run out under the reign of the Messiah, according to which computation the world is to last six thousand years. In the first period there will be found a mis-reckoning, unless the two thousand years of the Law be extended to the first Covenant entr'd into with Abraham, which indeed contained the principles of it. Concerning the last I will not determine; For not only the disposing of times and seasons is in the hand of God, but to him alone belongs the knowledge of things to come. But as for that in the middle, it is a long time since those two thousand years were expired, not only counting from the days of Abraham, but likewise from the publication of the Law upon the mountain. And nevertheless, as they think, they do not yet behold the Messiah come; which might be another error in their account. I shall only say it was very consentaneously done to make the Messiah succeed after the Law, as he that was to bring the abrogation of it. For since it was to be changed, to whom could it belong to make that alteration, but to him of whom Moses said, The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken; And David, The Lord hath sworn, and it shall not repent him, Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck; And all the Prophets, That he was to be a King sitting upon the throne of David and commanding over the Kings and Rulers of the Earth. For since he ought to be a Prophet like Moses, he must also be a Legislator and continual Mediator of a Covenant, because it was this which rendered the office of Moses eminent above that of all other Prophets. Now he would be neither Legislator nor Mediator of a Covenant, if that of Moses were in force during his reign. Next, In as much as he ought to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech, the Levitical Priesthood must be changed. Lastly, if he ought to be the King of Kings, he must establish other ordinances than those enacted by Moses which were only to rule the people of Israel, and not to command over Kings themselves. But further; All the Law, by acknowledgement of the Jews themselves, tends to the Messiah as to its end, and all the parts of it concentre and terminate in him. Wherefore if the time prefixed for the coming of the Messiah be passed, of necessity also the term of that Law must be expired. But that it is passed, divers reasons constrain us to believe; which I shall deduce briefly, because others have done it with very exact diligence. And first, the Patriarch Jacob, as we read in the 49 chap. of Genesis, spoke thus by a prophetic spirit, The Sceptre shall not departed from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until that Shiloh be come, or till Shiloh come. That the Sceptre and Lawgiver denote the power of political government, both the words show evidently, and the consent of the Jews themselves attests. And that the Messiah is denoted by Shiloh, both the titles of the Prince of Peace and Saviour given him in other places, and the ancient Jewish Interpreters and Paraphrasts do confirm, though there be difficulties made by some concerning the signification of the word, and the modern Jews quarrel about it. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which bears both these significations, To love peace, and To save; and the circumstances of the place disparage all interpretation that refers it to any other than the Messiah. Wherefore the meaning of this Prophecy is, That the power of the Political Government should not be taken away from that Nation, in which the Tribe of Judah had unquestionably the pre-eminence, till he that was to bring eternal Peace came into the World. Now concerning the precise time when the Political Sovereignty was taken away from Israel, I shall not at present dispute; it is all one to me whether at such time, when Herod having extinguished the race of the Asmoneans, invaded the Sovereignty, or whether the entire ruin of their Government must be referred to the desolation of their City and Temple, and to the dispersion of their Nation by the Romans. The reasons wherewith both these opinions are maintained being diligently discussed by Learned men, are of no necessity to the matter in hand. It's sufficiently apparent that there has been no form of Regiment amongst the Jews for fifteen or sixteen hundred years. And they of the Tribe of Judah, if this promise have a particular regard to them, are so far from holding the Sceptre of that Nation, that all the Jews are universally subjected to stranger's Laws, and their Tribes so mingled, as I said above, that there remains no longer any mark of distinction of their families. Moreover, there were two Temples at Jerusalem; the First built by King Solomon, with such magnificence that no structure in the World was comparable to it; the Second, erected by the Jews upon their return from the Babylonish Captivity, so mean and despicable in respect of the other, that the Old men who had seen the former, poured forth tears when they beheld it; so that the Prophet Haggai, who was present at the re-edification, speaks of it in these terms, in the 2 chap. of his Prophecy, vers. 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? But besides the smallness and contemptible form of the building in comparison of the former, the ancient Jews observe that there wanted five things in it; The presence of God in the Mercy-Seat; The spirit of Prophecy; The celestial fire which consumed the burnt-offerings; The Vrim and Thumim; and the Ark: which added such lustre and glory one to another. Yet behold, how the same Haggai prophesies of it immediately after, vers. 6. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry land. Vers. 7. And I will shake all Nations; and the desire of all Nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. Vers. 9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this place will I give peace. Now of whom can this be understood but of the Messiah, who was to enter into it, and effectively fill this house with glory? What else could advance it so, as not only to equal but transcend the magnificence of the other? And indeed Malachy who lived and prophesied at the same time, speaks it plainly in the 3. chap. vers. 1. Behold I will send my Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in; Behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of Hosts. They will say, perhaps, that Haggai foresaw that Herod would enlarge and enrich it so magnificently, that it should equal or surpass even that of Solomon. And 'tis true as Histories inform us, that he advanced the same to a far greater splendour than rhat which the poor returned exiles had given it. But seeing all the pompous state that he bestowed on it was but the effect of his vast and boundless ambition, which he expressed almost every where by proud structures, as amongst others in the City and Haven of Caesarea, to the end his power and greatness might be admired, and not the divine glory promoted, how could it be agreeable to God to attribute to him the vanity of a man? and even of such a man? who was a stranger, if not absolutely in profession, at least in heart and affection, from his Covenants, and a cruel bloody usurper of the government of his people? And if it was not wellpleasing to God that David should build him a Temple, because his hands had been bloodied in so many wars, which he had managed, though very just and undertaken out of necessity, for the deliverance of Israel, and for the Glory of God himself, how could he take pleasure in the vanity of this Monster, who was form and elemented of wind and blood and dirt? Besides, though it had been built all of Saphires and Diamonds, could that glory have rendered it comparable to the least of the five mentioned particulars? or would it have been worth the pains that God should promise to shake the Sea and the dry land, the Heavens and the Earth for it? to cause, I say, by his infinite power a universal change in the face of the World? and to what purpose were it to mention the shaking of all Nations, to bring the choice of them into that Temple, if there were no more signified by it then the proud magnificence of the Pile, and vast greatness of the Stones? And what Nation ever changed their seat to go to see it, or to send offerings thither by their Ambassadors? We see therefore the Temple demolished, and all the attempts made to re-edify it defeated by a special demonstration of the anger of God against them that endeavoured it, so that there remains only the dust of its ruins after near sixteen hundred years, without ever having been filled with the glory promised to it, if the Messiah be not yet come, as the Jews pretend. In the third place, Daniel in the 9 chap. determinately foretold the time; since the expiration of which are past a dozen Ages. Seventy weeks (saith the Angel) are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy City, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. That this place ought to be understood of the Messiah, nothing but obstinate blindness can descent; and 'tis very strange that Passion should so feel up the eyes of some of them, that in hatred of our Lord they should interpret it of some other. For to whom belongs it but to the Messiah, either to be styled the Anointed by way of excellence, or to put an end to Prophecies, or to bring in and manifest eternal righteousness, or to make propitiation for offences? Now what is meant by those seventy weeks? Septenaries of days, or weeks, or months, or years, or ages? Of weeks of days, and weeks of years there is frequent mention in the Old Testament; of the rest there occur no examples. And surely they cannot understand it of Ages, for so they would refer the coming of the Messiah to too remote a distance of time; and of fifty thousand years which Daniel should have foretold, there would he passed little more than two thousand. And when would they see the accomplishment of their hopes? Therefore they must be septenaries of years, or months, or weeks, or days; and indeed they ought to be understood of years.  
But observe what their subterfuge is, and to what they constantly retreat, to defend their opiniastry; That indeed the time prefixed by the Prophets for the sending of the Messiah is expired, but 'tis their sins which hinder them from seeing the accomplishment of those promises. By reason of them God has delayed the time of their visitation and deferred the exhibition of the Messiah, and consequently prolonged the term appointed for the duration of the Law: That when they shall have performed a suitable repentance, they shall see the effect of that which God hath promised; at which time, they do not gainsay, but the Law of Moses shall cease. But this Evasion is vain. For supposing that God deferred the sending of his Anointed, yet at least the Temple ought to have been kept undestroy'd, and the Jewish Religion maintained in its integrity, and not so dreadful a dispersion of that Nation to have been suffered, and so total an abolition of all his service. For where are his sacrifices and his Altars? Why did not He leave some use of them at least, during the expectance of the accomplishment of that promise, Mal. 1.11. From the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same, my Name shall be great among the Gentiles, & in every place incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering? Let them consult their own Books. God denounced that he would cause the Deluge to come upon the Earth; and he executed it at the set time. He promised Posterity to Abraham, and gave it him contrary to all probability. He foretold the Captivity of his Posterity in Egypt, and it came to pass, and continued neither more nor less than the four hundred years which he had limited. He promised the Deliverance of them from it, and performed the same faithfully with a thousand miracles. He foretold the Babylonish Captivity, and it did not fail; and he gave in charge to his Prophets to promise deliverance from it by means of Cyrus, naming him a hundred years before he was born: and with exact fidelity at the end of seventy years after their transportation into Babylon, he brought them back into their own Country by the Edict of that Prince. In a word, all their History from the beginning to the End is interwoven with predictions and prophecies, which have had their accomplishment, without the least defect or miscarriage. Whence therefore should it be, that in this prediction, which is the foundation of their comfort, and on which all others depend, God should have changed his purpose, and by so long delays deluded the expectation of the people of the Jews, which himself excited in them by his promises? Why did not their sins hinder their deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh, and the accomplishment of that Word, that he would give the Land of Canaan in heritage to the seed of Abraham? For they were sinners at that time as well as now, and besides inclined to Idolatry, a sin hated by God most of all, and which themselves have at this day in so great abhorrence. And ought not the same obstacle to have impeded their return from the Captivity of Babylon? They were sinners then too, and have always been of the same genius, both they and their Ancestors. And if by reason of some more obstinate perverseness in them then in their predecessors, God pleased to await their repentance for a time, why is that time lengthened out to fifteen or sixteen hundred years? that is, to three or four times as much time beyond the day prefixed as between the promise and the prefixed day itself? Who ever heard tell of such a tedious over-delay, where the Promises of God were engaged? And how long doth he attend their repentance? Hath he resolved to give it them, or to expect till they be converted of themselves, and of their proper motion? For if he expects the same from their voluntary and proper motion, all hope of ever seeing the Messiah is lost. Since the horrid desolation of the City of Jerusalem, the burning of the Temple, the slaughter of their Nation, the dispersion of the remainder to the four winds of Heaven, the long servitude in which they are, the reproach and ignominy which they endure, the hatred of great and small; and in sum, all the curses they could imprecate upon their enemies, being befallen them, have not been sufficient to mollify their hearts and convert them, what hope is there that hereafter any thing should move them to repentance? Fifteen or sixteen Ages suffice to give us a proof by them and their predecessors, what their posterity will do in this case after them. If God himself will give it them, and touch their hearts, what is the reason that he expects that so long time from another, which he has resolved to execute himself, and thus to expose his fidelity and constancy to the  suspicions of some, and to the close murmur or even open blasphemies of others? Now I wish they would consider this attentively; Namely, that in their Books God makes two sorts of Promises to them; Some are founded upon a Condition, and others are (as they speak) Simple and Absolute. As for those which are sounded upon a condition, should God have prefixed a certain time for performance, yet ought not he be accused of inconstance, though he should defer it beyond the term, when the condition has not as yet been accomplished. For where the obligation is reciprocal, and some thing is to be done first on the part of men, why should any think God obliged to perform that which he promised not but under some previous condition? Are we wont to act thus one towards another? And of this Nature are the Legal promises, that is, the Promises of Life and Blessing upon a firm continuance in his Covenant. For by saying, If thou continue in the observation of my Commandments, I will give thee all sorts of blessings, he does perpetually imply, that in case of deviating from them the expectation of all those Benedictions is frustrated. For the other, which are absolute, and not dependant on any condition, to fail to effect them is to be wanting to his own constancy. And why should God have been so forward as to promise absolutely, and yet retract it afterwards upon so groundless a pretence? This is the practice of vain men, who promise rashly; and afterwards repenting of the matter, seek out excuses and pretexts to put off the effect, and veil their levity. Now let any man read the Old Testament from end to end, and he will find that the Promises concerning the Messiah are so far from being founded on any precedaneous condition on the part of men, that they are not so much Promises as settled and determined Predictions. Or if they ought to be called Promises (as indeed they are, since they are predictions of a Good to come, which must afford incomparable benefit and contentment) they are promises in which the Goodness and Mercy of the infinite God seems to wrestle against the obstinacy of men. As soon as Adam was fallen, God, without being invited thereunto by his repentance, even without speaking to him, says to the Serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Can it be suspected here, that without the foregoing penitence of men, these words shall never be accomplished? On the contrary, it is to excite our repentance, which otherwise would have remained dead; for they are the promises of Grace, which alone (as we have said elsewhere) can awaken the minds of men to true repentance. In like manner, when the Patriarch jacob says, The Sceptre shall not departed from Judah, etc. Does he understand that Shiloh shall come, only provided Judah and Israel repent? Certainly he had no regard to that; but puts this among the absolute pure predictions, which the Spirit ennabled him to make concerning his Posterity, and the things which were to happen to every Tribe, were it repentant, or not. And thus it is also in all the rest, Deut. 18.18. I will raise them up a Prophet among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Vers. 19 And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my Name, I will require it of him. Psal. 2. I have set my King upon Zion the mountain of my holiness. And 7. The Lord hath said to me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Nations for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel, etc. And Isaiah, 7.14. Behold, A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Also chap. 11.1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stemne of jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his Roots. 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, etc. Also chap. 32.1. Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, etc. And likewise in that celebrated 53. chapter. And Malachi having ended the second chapter with a complaint of the murmur of the Jews against the Providence of God, and likewise of their blasphemies, he continues his discourse thus, chap. 3.1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his Temple, etc. As if he would either break the heart of those Rebels by this admirable effect of an incredible goodness, or warrant his Providence from blame by the execution of his immutable decrees. But above all things, the Prophecy of Daniel above alleged is remarkable. For after having so clearly set down the time of the birth of Christ, he adds (vers. 26.) And after score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the ●rince that shall come, shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a stood, and unto the end of the wa● desolations are determined. Now I beseech you, had not this its event in Titus and the Romans, who utterly destroyed the City of jerusalem, and burned the Temple to ashes? How then could the prediction of the Desolation have been accomplished which was not to happen till after the accomplishment of the Promise, if the Promise were not executed before, seeing they are both contained in the same Prophecy?  
It remains therefore, that since as it is not allowed for men to exempt themselves from subjectino to Divine Institutions so long as they are in force, so neither is it lawful to extend them longer than the term appointed to them by God himself admits; the Law of Moses having passed its time, either there is now no longer any form of Religion of divine institution in the World, or that some other hath been established by God in its place. For as to what they allege, that in several places of their Books, it is said that their Law ought to endure to perpetuity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it hath been answered a thousand times that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken simply, does not necessarily signify the perpetuity of a thing, or eternity of time, but oftentimes a long duration only, which began or is terminated at some certain and remarkable period, as of the Deluge, of the descent into Egypt, of a Jubilee, and the like; Examples of which are very ordinary. Now it would be a thing too unsuitable to that great goodness which God hath always testified to men, and to that special care he hath had to bring them to the knowledge of himself and by that to salvation, to have abolished and suppressed the true Religion without substituting another in its stead. He hath always shown that he loves the Political or Civil Societies of men, which only have relation to the conservation of their rights and civil comportments among themselves: how much dearer than is the maintaining of a Religious Society to him, in which the importance is concerning the preservation of his rights over us, actions of piety and virtue, and the eternal salvation of our souls? Certainly, it would be a too strange inequality in the proceed of a Nature so wise and uniform as the Divine, to have employed so great exact diligence in prescribing and delineating the Religion of the Jews and in all the order of it, and afterwards to destroy the same totally without raising another upon its ruins. And it would be too great a lightness in so constant a nature to have promised his Church in so many places of the Old Testament to cause her to subsist eternally (and what is the Church, but a Society regulated according to the Laws of the true Religion) and yet to subvert it utterly beyond all apparent possibility of restoration. Wherefore there has succeeded some other Religion in place of the Jewish. But it can be neither the Pagan, nor the Mahometan; and therefore it must necessarily be the Christian. And this is the business to be deduced more at large in the following Chapter.   

CHAP. VI That the Christian Religion, being more excellent, hath succeeded the Jewish.  
SO numerous is the store of things that offer themselves for the proof of what the title of this Chapter promiseth, that I beseech the Readers indulgence if I omit some. Should I do otherwise, it would be impossible to proportion this piece to the rest of the work. I shall not allege that the author of the Christian Religion and his principal Ministers were Jews, and so interessed and engaged, according to the natural instinct of all Nations, to the maintenance of their own Religion, if it ought to have been perpetually durable; Nor that it was first of all to their own Nation that they addressed to persuade the same to them, and did not turn to the Gentiles, but only after they had been rejected and persecuted by the Jews. Nor that the Pagans converted by their preaching professed to be only gathered to the Jewish Nation, and inserted like a wild grass into a natural stock. I shall only compare the two Religions together, so to manifest the excellence of the Christian above the Jewish, and that not only in things wherein they differ, but also in such as they agree together in: for ours will be found to have in either respect inestimable advantages above it. And this will be sufficient for the proof of my proposition. For since the Jewish was of divine institution, if the Christian be more excellent, it must have been drawn from the same treasures of his celestial Wisdom, who enlargeth and augmenteth his favours as he pleaseth.  
First, as for the things they agree in, seeing the Christian Religion acknowledges that the Books of the Jews are not only true but divine, and consequently accords with them as to all the ancient histories recorded therein, of the Creation of the World, the formation of man, the propagation of mankind, the destruction of the same by the Flood, the restoring of it by the family of Noah, the conflagration of Sodom, the selection of Abraham, the calling of Moses, the miracles in Egypt and the Wilderness, the deliverances by the Judges, the establishment of Kings, the Captivity of Babylon, and the like; And that the Christian Religion has retained the doctrines revealed therein as inviolable, being of eternal and immutable truth; As, that there is but one God infinite in essence and perfections, and that all the petty Deities of the Pagans are trifles; that he is the punisher of Vice and the rewarder of Piety and Virtue, by suitable penalties and recompenses both for the body and the soul; that all creatures owe him honour and obedience, both because they hold their being from him, and in regard of his infinite majesty; that their beatitude consists in their communion with him, and their ruin and extreme misery in their elongation from him; that he is the author of all the good that is in them, and therefore to him only is praise and thanksgiving to be rendered; And also that it professes to embrace the promises of the Messiah, in the exhibition of whom the Jews place all the hope of their felicity and glory: It might seem that in these particulars and the like, the Christians ought not so much to be held to have succeeded the Jews as to be Jew's themselves; or indeed rather the ancient Jews to have been Christians, in as much as these are the foundation of Christianity laid by the Prophets, and upon which, to speak strictly, all the faith and piety of their ancestors was built. Nevertheless, the Christian Law is not without greater advantages herein, as having diffused these doctrines without comparison more universally than the Jewish ever did. For God being not only the God of Jews, but of all people in the world equally, in as much as he framed all of the same blood, it is more suitable to the goodness of his nature to communicate the knowledge of his Name to all Nations, to East, West, North, and South, then to hold himself as it were included within the bounds of judaea: and it cannot be denied but that he presents us with a more glorious example of his love to mankind, by uniting them together in a Society more straight than that of humanity itself, than he did sometimes by the Law of the Jews, who having their God, their Laws, their Ceremonies, and their hopes apart, looked upon all other Nations as profane, and entertained no communion with them. And certainly were not the Jews blinded by their passions, they would acknowledge in this not only the excellence of the Christian Religion above their own, but also that the Author of it was the true Messiah promised by the Prophets. For there is nothing so clear in all their Scriptures as the prediction of the calling of the Gentiles at the appearing of the Messiah, as was shown above; and the day is not so clear, as it is evident that this Promise hath been accomplished by the preaching of the Gospel. For did not the preaching of the Apostles aim at the reducing of the Gentiles from the service of Idols to the knowledge of the God of Abraham? Did not they wage a mortal and irreconcilable War against false Deities? Did they not overthrow their Temples, and demolish their Altars, with the sound of their voices? Are not the very names of the Idols of the Pagans obliterated out of the memory of men in the greatest part of the world? Certainly the Romans and the Greeks, whom the jews held for aliens from the true God, and the Nations which both of them accounted Barbarians in Asia, Europe, Africa; even the Savages of the Indies, which were unknown to them, have done homage to the God of Israel, acknowledge the Jews for those that heretofore alone served him, venerate their Scriptures, ascribe to their Law the prerogative of being the only rule of piety and virtue, reverence their Prophets as heralds of the Divine Will, have cast off and abandoned all their images. What do they require further? Such a universal mutation in the whole face of the Universe, such a marvellous conversion of the hearts of so many Nations, in all parts of the World, can they judge possible to have been made without a special divine assistance? Certainly either this Prophecy, The Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the bottom of the Sea with waters that cover it, has been accomplished in the preaching of the Gospel, or it will never be accomplished at all. Wherefore the Christian Religion hath this advantage in this respect above the Jewish, that God shows himself in it more affectionate and good towards men, and 'tis his property to be good; that men have more powerful inducements by this consideration to be good one towards another, in which consists their perfection; and lastly that it has this indubitable evidence of the manifestation of the Messiah.  
Then in reference to things in which they differ; they are of many sorts. And as we above distinguished the Law of Moses into three parts; the Political, the Ceremonial, and the Moral, we will now consider each of them distinctly by itself in brief. And first for the Political, it needs not much to insist upon that, because it does not so directly regard Religion; and yet it must not be wholly passover in silence. How exact therefore so ever it was, and congruous to the Nature of that people, yet it cannot be denied but the Christian Religion which hath left to all Nations the free use of their own Laws, provided that honesty and equity be resplendent in their policy, wherewith all the actions of men ought to be tempered, is in this point preferable before it many degrees. For seeing the substance and groundwork of Political Laws is proportionate to and does not exceed humane reason, and therefore the constitution and administration of those Laws depends on Prudence, it is a very evident testimony that God greatly disinherited the prudence of the people of the Jews, when he took care to prescribe to them even in the least matter, and to give them, as their Prophet speaks, Precept after precept, Precept after precept, line after line, line after line. But having diffused over all Nations a spirit of prudence and wisdom, by the publication of the Gospel, to administer their affairs with sage and good conduct, it was consentaneous that the establishing of their respective Laws should be permitted to themselves. And this turns both to the great adorning of the Universe and to the singular praise of the divine Wisdom. For as the Wisdom of God is more illustrious in the several motions of the Heavens, of which some are slow, others more rapid, some tend towards the East, & others to the West, & yet from all of them at last results that excellent harmony on which the conservation of the World and the production of all things in the Universe depends, then if were no variety at all in their courses; And as in the Earth the different streams of Rivers, of which some glide so gently that their motion is scarce preceptible, others rush with violence like torrents, each according to the manner of the places through which they pass, some flowing towards the North, others towards the South, and all in the mean while come from the Sea and return thither again; do much more grace and adorn the face of the World, then if they all kept the same equal and uniform tract; So without doubt there appears a greater Providence in the conduct of so many Nations so diversified by various sorts of Laws and Governments, Monarchical, Aristocratical, Democratical, and mixed, each according to its peculiar genius, all which nevertheless conspire to the glory of one and the same God, and aspire to the atchieument of one and the same hope, then if they were all modelled and policyed according to the same constitutions. Besides, that God being willing that Christians should be people of free courage, and erected to that honest liberty which is worthy of generous and noble souls, it has pleased him that men should exercise the actions of Justice and virtue no otherwise then by following the suggestions of a nature, almost restored by so excellent a Religion to its primitive integrity; so that every one should be a Law unto himself. It is true, that a good part of the Nations which in these days make profession of the Christian Name, do not show that a doctrine so heavenly has been efficacious to cleanse the vitiosity of nature, and repress the disorder of their passions; so that there may seem need of more Laws to prevent frauds and injuries. But this is the corruption of these dregs of Ages. And he that would know what Christian charity and the uprightness of those that have embraced this Law, is, must not consider it such as it is at the present time, but in the first Ages of the Church.  
As for the Ceremonial Law, 'tis the Christian Religion alone that teaches us to understand the use of it, by manifesting the en● to which it aimed. For by that we are instructed that the whole structure of the Tabernacle, and all the Oeconomy of the service which was performed therein by external and sensible things did refer to spiritual verities and virtues. So that as much as the knowledge of divine mysteries and admirable doctrines, transcends things obvious to sense, by so much is the Christian Doctrine and the fruits produced by it more excellent than the Mosaical Worship. It would be too long to allegorise all that pertains to it; the matter will be evident by two or three examples. There were two eminent Sacraments; Circumcision, and the Paschal Lamb. To take them according to the construction of the Jews what other signification had they but only to separate the people of the Jews, and to discriminate them from other Nations, and be a commemoration of their deliverance out of Egypt, and the death of the Firstborn? The one was a token imprinted in the flesh of a Covenant that seemed to regard only the body, and the other a memorial of a deliverance merely temporal. Now we have learned from the Christian Religion that the First was instituted to represent the need we stood in that this corrupt nature of ours which we derive from our fathers by ordinary generation, should be retrenched, if we would have part in the spiritual Covenant with God; and the Second to be a type of him, of whom it was said, He was lead like a Lamb to the slaughter, and whose blood and death secured our souls from the dreadful and universal destruction, to which otherwise they were obnoxious. And in this we do no more but follow the traces which themselves have hereof in the Prophets, but could not discern. To this purpose is their speaking of and exhorting to the circumcision of the heart, as in contempt of that which was made in the flesh; and also that of Moses' diligent injunction to sprinkle the blood of the Paschal Lamb upon the posts and tressel of the house, and that it should be a perpetual institution in their generations. For what virtue had the blood of a Lamb to divert the sword of an Angel, and to warrant the houses of the Israelites from the calamity of others?  
There was moreover prescribed by it several washings and purifications for the vessels and utensils of the Tabernacle, houses and garments infected with any pollution, for men and women seized on by some natural infirmity; things which were accounted unclean, if all these mysteries were not solicitously observed. The Gospel hath taught us that all this represents true sanctification, which cleanses the corrupt appetites of man, and purifies his conscience. And truly, otherwise to what end or benefit served all these washings, if they did not design something else? Or why should corporeal and naturally inevitable infirmities, such as the Lunar flux of women, debar them from communion with God and his Tabernacle, but only as figuring those voluntary ones of the conscience? In this also we have the authority of their Prophets; It is said in Ezekiel, chap. 36.25. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your Idols will I cleanse you. But how? A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, etc. Now by how much piety and the internal virtue of the soul is better than the cleanness of the body, so much is the recommendation and doctrine of the one more excellent than the observation of the other. But this appears remarkably in the principal part of the Ceremonial Law, namely in the Sacrifices. For the death of beasts being, as we intimated formerly, incapable to make propitiation for sins, and yet it being a thousand times expressed in the Law, that those victim were appointed for propitiation, what remains but that they were destinated as types for the representation of a Sacrifice, which in truth made real and sufficient propitiation for offences? And indeed what else could the Prophet Isaiah have referred to, when he said, chap. 53.6. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before the Shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Especially, since the blood of Bulls and Goats had no virtue for the purification of souls, and yet the High Priest entered every year into the Holy of Holies with blood in the presence of the Ark of the Lord, as if he had gone to offer satisfaction for the sins committed by the People, what had this been but a vain and empty ceremony, in case it did not typify One, who in the quality of great and Sovereign Priest entered into the presence of God in the Heavens, with real satisfaction for the sins of men? Truly the resemblance is admirable, Only once a year (a period of time in which the world seems to exist a new, grow up, wax old, and terminate its duration, by the revolution and succession of the four seasons) the High Priest slew in the Tabernacle, but in a place separated with a veil from the Ark, a sacrifice for the offences of the whole people: and once in the whole duration of the World, a Man devoted thereunto offers himself in sacrifice, and suffers death upon the Earth, a place remote from the presence of God, and severed from his especial mansion by the extent of the Heavens as with a veil, to the end to o●tain remission to all them that seek it. This being done, the High Priest took the blood of the Victim, and presumed to enter into the Most-holy place within the veil, and to appear before the Mercy-Seat: And the same Man, Holy and without spot, after having suffered in the World, taking confidence from his sufferings, as having satisfied the justice of God, dares attempt to ascend into the Heavens, and pass beyond the veil to present himself before the Lord in the habitation of his glory. For he no longer dreaded his presence, having undergone all his wrath. Lastly, the High Priest, dipping his finger in the blood sprinkled it seven times before the Mercy-seat; Now the Septenary is a number of perfection, as the Jews themselves acknowledge: And the same Man, who suffered death for the remission of sins, being entered into the Holy of Holies in the Heavens, abides there until the consummation of Ages, to represent his sacrifice continually before God, and by this his intercession to render him eternally propitious unto us. Let them therefore consider a little without passion or prejudice the correspondence, and resemblance distinctly. For whereas in all that external service, God had regard to something to come, what better interpretation can be made of this mystery, then that the sacrifice of a beast prefigures that of a man; the expiation of a corporeal defilement, a spiritual purification; the place where the victim was slain, the World; the veil, the Heavens; the Most holy place, where the Ark was, the habitation of Gods' glorious residence; and the sprinkling made by the High Priest, the perpetual intercession of him that offered up himself by the Eternal Spirit? Wherefore let them either admit this explication thereof made by the Christian Religion, or study to give more congruous and suitable. Which I assure myself, their attempts to effect will be so vain, and all their inventions so extravagant, that in respect of ours they will be but as darkness in comparison of light. But that all these typical representations have been really acted and accomplished, shall by the help of God, appear hereafter with abundant evidence.  
Now if our Christian Religion be thus excellent above that of the Jews in the understanding and application of their own Ceremonies, it is also far superior to it in those which Christianity itself practices; of which indeed it ought not to be destitute. And first, it is highly advantageous to us, that they are few in number, and consequently less painful and laborious. Next, that they are less carnal and material, as not being appendances of a Religion which seemed to consist wholly in outside, in the mean while till the spiritual things which it promised were really exhibited. And lastly, that they are eucharistical and commemorative of that truly propitiatory sacrifice, which has been already offered, and by consequence more proper to beget piety in our minds, because they represent and apply things passed to us, of which we have a perfect and clear knowledge; whereas the Jewish figured the same as future, obscure, and in a riddle. Moreover, he that shall duly consider the external face of the true Church, its exercises of devotion, its pompous simplicity and modest magnificence, singing, public and solemn prayers; due celebration of its mysteries without Idolatry or Superstition, and on the other side without contempt of a Being so worthy of profound admiration and reverence, and that excellent custom of instructing the people by Preaching, and dispensing the Christian Doctrine to edification and comfort by exhortations and convenient reprehensions; will find that there is a more pleasing and comely spectacle in the order of its divine ministry, then in that butchery of sacrifices which was made in the Tabernacle, where it was necessary to be always employed in washing and cleansing away the blood and scouring all the utensiles of the service from the soil and fat of sacrifices. And it may be also observed, that whereas the Jewish Religion arrested the mind to sensible things, affording them but very little taste of spiritual and intellectual; as 'tis the custom to retain children and instruct them in gross and sensual things for that their reason is yet but weak, and they live principally according to the guidance of their senses; On the contrary, in the Christian Religion men are reclaimed from sense to understanding, so that what is sensible in it is not capable to arrest our minds on it, although it be profitable to lead us to the use of spiritual things, where with our souls are abundantly fed and satisfied; and this because that the Church under this Religion is come to perfect Age, being endued with far greater strength of reason and understanding to comprehend them. This the Prophet's first taught us, who have spoken so disdainfully of all those external ceremonies of the Mosaical Law, as we have seen above, in comparison of the internal virtues of the Soul. And indeed nature itself would teach us the same; though they had been wholly silent of it. For since man, being composed of body and soul, is principally man by the faculties of reason and understanding, the Religion which consists rather in corporeal exercises, then in the instruction and perfectionating of the mind, must be judged infinitely inferior to that which is concerned principally and almost solely about the Soul.  
As for the Decalogue, it has not been less illustrated by the preaching of the Gospel than the other: Not that there has been any thing relating to piety and good manners taught by the Gospel which was not comprised in the Moral Law; Since this Rule of Justice and Perfection has been always like to itself in all Ages. But the understanding of it having been corrupted partly by the hypocrisy and partly by the profaneness of men, the Christian Religion has reduced it to its primitive purity and restored it to the highest pitch of its natural perfection. The Jewish Doctors upon this Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, thought that it was enough to abstain from the effusion of blood, and otherwise either justified or excused wrath, desires of revenge, and words of spite and scorn. The Christian Excellency teaches us, that 'tis not the external act of murder only that is forbidden, but even the least motions of the mind that carry to revenge, the most lose thoughts of mischief, and the slightest words uttered in offence to our neighbour, either by derision or outrage. Then which what is more agreeable both to the nature of God who is so good, and who is not the judge only of actions, but likewise of cogitations; and to the nature of man, whose outward actions are neither good nor evil, but only so far as they proceed from the good or evil source of the internal affections? Upon this Commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, they condemned the act indeed which defiles the bed of ones neighbour; wanton thoughts and lascivious glances they made no great reckoning of. The Christian Religion teaches that he that looks upon the wife of his neighbour with desire after her, hath committed adultery in his heart. Then which what is more suitable to the holiness of God and more reasonable in reference to that which ought to be in men? For what great advantage were it to have kept the body unpolluted with filthy actions, if yet the soul should be full of impure cogitations? Moses in his Political Laws, the administering and superintendency of which belonged to the Magistrate alone, constituted the retribution of Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth, that so the violence of outrages might be repressed by the fear of a penalty semblable and adequate to each sort of crime. The Jewish Doctors extended this to private revenges, as if they had been permitted by this sanction. But the Christian Purity reforms this error by teaching, that a man ought to be so far from doing himself reason for an injury, that it is more commendable to be so disposed as to receive and dispense with reiterated wrongs and insolences. Then which what is more befitting them that believe there is a God in Heaven, who preserves the rights of every one, who watches over all by his Providence, and who hath declared that vengeance belongs to himself? And thus also it is in the Law of Divorce and Polygamy, abrogated by the Gospel, which reduces marriage to the estate of its primitive institution, an estate so worthy and becoming in regard of its natural honesty, and so recommended even by their own Prophets. And truly, what likelihood is there, the Jews should be lest to eternity in that ancient hardness of heart for which it had been indulged to them, or that the example of the Jewish incon inence should be made authentic in other Nations? So also concerning light and unprofitable Swearing, which the Doctors of the Jews tolerated, provided exact care were used to perform what was incumbent by virtue of the oath; Christian Religion has abolished the same as a profanation of the holy and sacred Name of God, which must not be pronounced but with great reverence. And is not this to reduce men from the shell to the marrow of the Law, from the outside to the inside, from the body to the soul, and even to the most spiritual part of the soul? And that these and such like have been the corruptions which the Doctors of the Jews have introduced in their Law, the testimonies are but too frequent in their Books.  
But there is yet something further considerable. For there are two things in every good Law; First the Righteousness of the command which it contains; and Secondly, the Right of punishment due to the transgression of it: both which arise from the natural difference which is between Vice and Virtue, and their necessary appendances, Punishment and Reward. Now Christianity hath not only reduced the Law to its integrity in relation to the first, but hath also wonderfully illustrated it in the second; in which the Ignorance of men had debased it two ways. For first, if there were some among the Jews that had a little deeper knowledge in the Nature of the Law, and esteemed it the rule not only of actions or intentions accomplished but also ●f thoughts, yet they accounted sins committed in thought or word only so light, that they scarce believed God ought to inflict any punishment for them, and judged them very venial in themselves. Secondly, though in sins perpetrated by scandalous actions they beheld a turpitude, which deserved severe chastisement, yet they had all this opinion that God would readily forgive them without other satisfaction then by pitiful sacrifices. Perhaps, not that they thought sacrifices could impretate remission by their own value, as being equivalent to the deserved penalty (for to believe so, they must have been too like the victimes which they jugulated) But because God remitting the same freely, was contented with the acknowledgement made of the demerit by killing the sacrifice. For every man that slayeth a beast in his own stead, confesseth that he hath deserved death. But the Gospel hath restored it in this point to its pristine Majesty, and reinstated it in the prerogative of a severe avenger of the sins of men; for as we shall see hereafter, the belief of its inexorable severity in this point conduces highly to conciliate honour and reverence to it. First then, the Gospel hath taught men that those which they looked upon as piccadillo sins according to the custom of the world, are of a henious nature when weighed in the balance of God's justice, so that men are to give account even of their idle words; and that the most inward thoughts of their minds, the least tickle of their appetites, if they be dissonant from the rules of the Law, which require a perfection in which nothing can be impeached, render men obnoxious to the curse that is annexed to it. And truly should not the Gospel affirm it, the Law itself holds forth as much. For I demand whether the Decalogue does not contain the rule of the most exquisite and consummated perfection that can and aught to be in humane nature? If it does not, then seeing all things which can concern the Moral perfection of man that are neither commanded nor prohibited in this Law, are reputed as mean, that is, neither good nor evil, but indifferent in themselves, it will follow that there may be some defect of moral perfection in man, which nevertheless shall not be at all reprovable: for mean and indifferent things, whether they be done or not, bring neither praise nor blame. So that a man that has all the moral perfection which the Law requires, but yet sails of that which it does not, shall notwithstanding merit as much praise as he which has that which it commands not, and that which it does command together. Which is as absurd, as if one should say that an Angle made with a right Line and another that cuts the same decussatim, deserves as well the title of a right Angle, as that which is composed of two right Lines, one of which falls perpendicularly upon the other. For it is not more necessary to an angle that it be composed of two right lines, whereof one falls perpendicularly upon the other, to be approved for a right angle; than it is necessary to a man to have all moral perfections possible, in order to being perfect with humane perfection. Moreover, the Decalogue being nothing but the renewing of the Natural Law, which was for a rule of Life to the first man in the Garden of Eden, and of which he with his posterity lost the knowledge by Sin, it would be requisite, suitable to that opinion, to presuppose that Adam in his first creation was not endued with all moral perfection required in humane nature. Which indeed would be an affront to him that form him. But I beseech you, do not the praises wherewith David extols the Law of God, constrain us to have a more advantageous esteem of it. The Law of the Lord is perfect (saith he in the 19 Psalms) converting the soul: the Testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the Commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And in the 119. Psalms, he prays for nothing else but that God ●ould illuminate him in the knowledge of the Law, that he might walk in his Commandments, as being the rule of all perfection ; which is also extreme frequent throughout the whole book of his sacred Hymns. But if the Law contains the measure of the most exquisite and accomplished perfection that can be in humane nature; then since the denunciation is express, that Cursed is he who abideth not steadfast in all the things of this Law to do them, he is undoubtedly subject to the malediction that deviates from this Law, and omits or commits the least thing forbidden or commanded by it. But a curse denounced by the mouth of God himself, cannot but be unconceivably dreadful and hideous.  
In the next place, the Gospel teaches that the Law is so inflexible in its rights, that 'tis impossible, after having transgressed it, whether in a small or great matter, to be acquitted from punishment, so as not to suffer the same either in proper person, or in that of some other. Which to an intelligent considerer even the Law itself sufficiently testifies. For it denounces on the one side an inevitable curse to them that transgress it, God himself pronouncing the same from the mountain of Sinai, with lightnings and thunders, smoke and flashes of Fire, and earthquakes. On the other side gratuitous remission of offences is promised to them that have violated it. Now what expedient is there to fill up the abyss which is between these extremes? Shall that pardon be granted without preceding punishment? If so, what need was there of such terror at the promulgation of this Law, and after to suff●● all those horrible menaces of malediction vanish away thus in smoke? Perhaps, God pours all the Curse upon the victim instituted upon himself to be sacrifices of propitiation: and 'tis true they are termed expiatory a hundred and a hundred times. But what a kind of Comedy would it be, if God after himself had published his Law with such dreadful majesty, should be contented, for satisfaction of the transgressing of it, with the death of a poor beast? Might not that Adage be here applied, Parturiunt montes, etc. It remains therefore that those terrible threaten must either fall upon them that violate the Law, or upon some other capable to bear the same, substitute in their room, that so they may be secured from them. And the glory of the Law remains hereby more full and entire. For Reward being a sequel not more natural to Virtue, than Punishment is to Vice, the Law which denounces a Curse for transgression, and yet does not really inflict the same, is as imperfect as that which should promise a reward to its observers, and afterwards when it came to the effect, frustrate all their expectations. As he that should have fulfilled the Law in every point, would have cause to complain of it, if in case he reaped not the recompense of his piety and virtue, so would the Law have cause of complaint if he that violated it, did not undergo the penalty of his offence: the natural order of things alike requiring both the one and the other. And from hence results a thing which turns marvellously to the advantage of the Christian Religion above the Jewish; Namely, that it represents to us the principal Attributes of God, in which his usual ways consist, as his Justice, Mercy, and Wisdom, in a much more eminent degree of excellence. For as for his Justice, it is nothing but a natural repugnanee that is between him and sin; by reason his Nature is good and holy, and the essence of sin (as they speak) consists in iniquity and pollution; a repugnance, I say, which necessarily inclines him to the hatred and abhorrence of sin. For he were not God, unless he hated Evil. Now all Hatred is a vehement desire of revenge; and hence it is that in their books this Justice is termed Wrath and Fury, and even an ardent Fury. Whence we infer, that accordingly as God is perfect in himself, so he abhors Evil; and as he perfectly abhors it, so he is equally inclined to execute vengeance upon it. Wherefore the Christian Religion which teaches that God has not saved the World without being revenged, I say, not without taking satisfaction convenient to his Justice, exhibits the same to be considered in a more eminent degree, then that which holds forth remission without inflicting deserved vengeance. For since the hatred of sin is a virtue in God, the more implacable this hatred is the greater is the virtue. There are indeed three sorts of satisfactions: First, such as is made to repair a damage received; as if one should give a Statuary money for having broken an Image in his shop. Secondly, such as is in order to contenting an incensed Passion; as when we strike one by whom we have been offended. For though no good accrue to us by his harm, yet the passion is contented by being revenged. Thirdly, a satisfaction of Justice, when without regard either to damage or indignation, a crime is expiated by punishment for the sole love of righteousness and the natural order which ought to be in things. Now the first hath no place in God; for what damage can arise to him from our offences? Nor the second: For he is not subject to our Passions; choler, and animosity do not discompose his serenity, nor agitate him in any manner. And if these Passions are oftimes attributed to him in the books of the Prophets, 'tis by way of similitude with the humane mind, as well as repentance; or rather according to the similitude which seems to be between the actions us which men do out of choler, and those which God does out of justice; inasmuch as both the one and th●●ther cause grief or pain to those on whom they are exercised. 'Tis therefore the third sort of satisfaction or revenge, which is competent to God after so peculiar a manner, that the more perfect his nature is, it must of necessity be equally inexorable. And no man can imagine a justice in God capable of leaving the sins of men unpunished, but he must with all fancy him little abhorring sin, and too negligent of the natural order of things. Which would be a very unbefitting reflection upon him. But of this more at lage hereafter.  
But in the next place there is discovered in the Gospel an incomparably greater depth of Mercy. For it is evident, he obliges less by pardoning that conceives himself less offended, and he conceives himself less offended that apprehends he may pardon without doing himself any injury, or diminishing the reputation of his virtue or his courage. On the contrary, he obliges more, that forgives an offence so sensible and atrocious, that to make expiation of it there needs a great preceding satisfaction. Since therefore the Christian Religion represents the justice of God inexorable, and nevertheless tenders absolute remission to men by his mercy; of necessity this mercy must be of a more transcendent benignity, that swallows up an implacable fury. And lastly, his Wisdom is admirably resplendent in the Christian Religion; whereas in the Jewish, as the Jews understand it, there is scarce a glimpse of it in all that mystery. For if he punish according to the curse denounced in the Law, 'tis an act of pure Justice not of Wisdom. If he pardon without other satisfacti●● 〈◊〉 then the death of beasts, 'tis a work of pure Mercy, and not at all of Wisdom. But to find an expedient to punish and pardon both together, to display his Mercy without derogation from his Justice, this is it which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of man was unable to penetrate into, and wherein now it is revealed, appears an admirable design of Wisdom.  
And now what more natural conclusion can there be, then that the Christian-Religion is incomparably more proper to induce men to Piety and Virtue, than the Jewish. For, as we have intimated elsewhere, there are three motives alone that incite us thereunto; Fear of Punishment, Hope of Reward, and the Admiration of the excellence of the Nature of God in itself, and of the beauty of piety and virtue in which his image is resplendent. Now as for the Fear of punishment, it is always so much the greater as ●ustice is vigorous and inflexible. And therefore the more implacable Religion represents the Justice of God, the more powerful is it to reclaim and keep men from vice by the terror of punishment. In like manner, the Hope of reward ought to be greater, where Mercy is greater too. For our Conscience bears us witness, that 'tis on this score we are to expect it. And if Admiration of the Perfections which are in God can be to us an efficacious attractive to goodness (as indeed there is no true and sincere Piety which is not principally rooted and fixed on this foundation) besides the great and incomprehensible Wisdom that is eminent in him, the immense depths of his Mercy ought to ingulf all our thoughts and inflame all the affections of our souls with a holy devotion. For ever since the time of the first sin, all our piety is nothing but a gratitude towards his mercy. And lastly, for that Contraries mutually illustrate one another, the Beauty of Piety and Virtue will be more resplendent by the opposition of Sin, the horror of which appears so much the greater, as the punishment that attended it is more terrible. Now how much this consideration, that God hath discharged the vengeance due to the sins of men on the person of his own Son, exalts the lustre of all the precedent doctrine, we shall not now insist upon (for we have not yet considered the qualifications of his Person, who hath made this satisfaction for our offences) But truly every one may of himself readily judge.  
Lastly, The Christian Religion infinitely excels the Jewish, in the understanding of the Promises which concern the Messiah. For what Messiah is that which the Jews expect? A Triumphant King, who by force of arms may subdue the Nations, and bring Emperors under his yoke, and break Empires in pieces, may extend his conquests from East to West, and from North to South, and fill the whole Earth with the terror of his Legions, and advance the Jewish Nation as high as it is now miserably abased. For as for many more impertinences which they are otherwise guilty of in this matter, I shall forbear to mention them; as less intending their shame then their conviction; And I cannot but pity them when I observe the race of Israel, the Posterity of Abraham, and the people once beloved of the Lord, to equal and surpass in this all the extravagances of the Mahometans, and the Pagan fopperies. In that which I have proposed which is the most tolerable of all their imaginations they sufficiently manifest that they are of the flesh and the world, since they apprehend nothing but carnal and mundane things. For if their remained in them any spark of spiritual Light, they would acknowledge that they are composed of two Parts, Body and Soul; and that the body being earthly and material, and endued with organs and faculties like to those of beasts, does not come near the dignity of the nature of the soul, which is spiritual, inmaterial, intelligent, next the Nature of Angels, and as it were a beam of the very Deity. If therefore they expect glory and advantage from the appearance of their Messiah, it ought to be chief in reference to the soul, and not for the body saving so far as it is the servant and dependant of the mind. Now, as we have shown above, in what can the glory of the soul consist, but in Wisdom and Virtue? And wherein does wisdom lie, but in the knowledge of him, who is the Author and Fountain of all Virtue, Prudence and Understanding? Should he have turned the rocks into Diamonds, and the flints trampled on at each step into Gold and Jewels, the Snow of the Alps into Butter, and the rivers into milk, the Wine of Judah into Nectar, and the bread of Asher into Ambrosia, and driven all the Kings of the earth fettered before his triumphant Chariot into Jerusalem, yet all this terrene pomp and magnificence had not been comparable to his lively illumination of minds by the knowledge of the Most-high, and to his victory over hearts, their passions and appetites. For there is so little proportion between the mind and the body, that the greatest and most triumphant Emperor of the Earth, if vicious and ignorant of things worthy the excellence of man, is to be contemned in comparison of the most miserable slave that in the servile condition of his body, excels him as to the understanding in Virtue and Prudence. And I think there is not any so unworthy the being of man, that would not choose rather to lose all the Kingdoms of the Earth, if he possessed them, and after that even the limbs of his body, than the use of Reason which advances him above the equality of beasts. Moreover, let them speak in conscience, whether it be not the sense of their present calamity and the miserable estate they are reduced into by their dispersion throughout the whole world, that makes them breath after a Deliverer powerful in arms. Now what is the cause of this misery but their Sins, both such as are common to all men in general, and particular to their own Nation? For certainly God who loved them so tenderly, and chose them out from all others to communicate his Covenants to them, would not treat them so rigorously, were there not some lawful cause in their extraordinary offences. And what a strange blindness and stupidity of mind is it, to have so quick a resentment of evils, relating to the body, and not to acknowledge the cause of them? What a depravity and perversity of understanding, to groan under the strokes of the hand of God, & never to groan under the load of their own iniquity? To pant incessantly after a Deliverer of the Body, and never to think of the redemption of the soul? They are driven out of Judaea, and Heaven and Earth resound with their lamentations: They are by their sins debarred the hope of Heaven, and make no matter of it; They are enthralled to their corporeal enemies, and murmur against God for it; They themselves are sold to Satan and to Sin, and do not understand the horror of this servitude: They are impatient in a waiting the coming of some Person, that may reassemble them from their dispersion, and deliver them in reference to the body: The Redeemer and Deliverer of their fouls is offered and preached to them, and they reject him. They flatter themselves with hope of a profound and plenteous tranquillity in all sorts of pleasures and delights of the Flesh, and cheer up themselves with it: They are invited to taste how good the Lord is in his compassions, and they refute it. Their thoughts are day and night upon gold, silver, silk, scarlet, fine linen, and jewels; and their hearts leap with the fancy; The Gospel tells them of riches and ornaments relating to the mind, and they blaspheme it. Is this the Posterity of that only wife and intelligent people with whom God established his Covenants? But above all the rest, they do injury to the glory of that Messiah, who was promised to them, to fancy him an earthly Prince. For since themselves call his Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven, what other ought they to hope for but one spiritual and heavenly; which beginning to be exercised here below in the souls of men which are of a spiritual nature, is accomplished above in glory unspeakable. And truly 'tis to this that all the Prophets lead us from the first to the last. What does that promise refer to (The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head) but to the consolation of man by the hope of being delivered from the Curse of eternal Death, into which he is fallen by the deceit of the Evil One? For as he sinned principally with his soul, which is the source and principle of the actions of the body, and alone capable of understanding the laws of piety and obedience; so it was consentaneous that the condemnation of death should be directed to the soul in case of rebellion. And that other promise (In thy seed shall all the families of the Earth be blessed) and (I will give this Land to thee and to thy Posterity after thee) wherein did it profit Abraham, if it aimed no further than that Canaan, which himself never possessed, and was not given to his Posterity till above 400. years after? Was it either a sufficicent consolation to him in all the Crosses that he underwent, or a Promise worthy of God who established his Covenant with him? For which of us cares what will be done a hundred years after his death? As for those words of Jacob (until Shiloh come) they promise a Prince of peace, about whom neither fire nor sword shall glitter, but he shall be the author of peace between God and men. It shall come to pass (saith Isaiah) that the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the Hills, and all Nations shall flow unto it. But what to do? Come, shall they say, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. Therefore 'tis to be enriched in the knowledge of the Name of the Lord, and not in Jewels or Pearls; to learn to moderate and subdue their Passions, and not to conquer Kingdoms. Also in the 25. chap. 6. verse. In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of Wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. Can they take this according to the Letter? It is certain, there are some so stupefied with the wine of ignorance, that they take it so, and expect to be satiated with that horrible Leviathan, which is powdered up I know not where against the manifestation of the Messiah. Poor people! who think the Prince of the Kingdom of Heaven will come to fill their bellies. But behold what follows, vers. 7. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all Nations. What is the meaning of this, but that all Nations being involved in ignorance as in the black veil of night, he will dispel all that darkness to the end they may behold the light of his knowledge; that they may rejoice (I say) in the light of that Sun of Righteousness who carries healing in his wings? And thus through out all the Prophets; which would be too long to recite: there needs no more but to read them. For it will be found that he is a Prince of peace, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord shall rest, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. That under his reign, The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard lie down with the Kid; and the Calf and the young Lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, etc. That is, He will unite the most hostile Nations together in the same society of Religion, and cicurate and mollify the fiercest people by the knowledge of the true God, and render the most untractable natures gentle and sweet. Which the Prophet himself expounds immediately after; They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall be not break, and the smoking flaw shall he not quench. So far is it that he shall batter all to pieces with Canon-shot, or hue all down with the sword. And as for his Glory, it must needs be other then terrestrial and corporeal, Since he was to be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: Since (I say) he was to be lowly, riding upon an Ass & a Colt the foal of an Ass. And indeed the frail dusty ornaments of the Earth would have been too vile and wretched for him that is the Sun of righteousness of souls. Wherefore forasmuch as the Christian Religion refers all the promises of the Messiah to the good of the Mind, making him to be the Redeemer of souls, and attributing to him a spiritual Empire and glory; it directs them to their right end, from which the carnal imaginations of the Jews had perverted them, and hath consequently as great pre-eminence above the Jewish in this point, as the soul hath above the body, and the Heavens above the Earth.   

CHAP. VII. That according to Right Reason and the Old Testament, the means of obtaining Salvation ought to be such as the Christian Religion holds forth.  
I Affirmed in the precedent Chapter that the Law of God, and the nature of his justice require that either all men perish universally, or that some person in their stead endure the punishment which they have merited. But because this is the Foundation of the Christian Religion, and the most usual stumbling-stone on which the Jews and divers other people fall foul, it is requisite for us to discover it something more clearly in this Chapter. Certainly, if they will confess the truth, the natural terrors of their Consciences, when they consider the justice of God seriously, will make them acknowledge that nature itself directs them in order to the obtaining of solid comfort, to seek out a satisfaction of merit proportionate to the Majesty of him to whom it is due, and to the demerit of their offences. For not only the Jews, to whom God revealed his vindictive justice more manifestly, but others who never heard speak of the Law, have been invaded by them. Which how could it be, did not punishment accompany sin as the shadow a body; and that for a man to be quit from the penalty, it must either be suffered by another, or he must be exempt from sin himself? And the Natural Instinct which lead them to offer sacrifices in the beginning, and which was approved and authorised by the Law of God under the Old Testament, is an evident argument of it. For whence was it that soon after sin committed, Abel offers the first-lings of his stock in sacrifice, and that this example became so powerful to all the posterity of Adam, that there has been no Nation by whom the death of beasts immolated in sacrifice was not practised; but only that nature itself taught him to acknowledge what he had deserved, and all others have in like manner followed his sentiments? So that though they could easily judge that the satisfaction was not proportionate to the dignity of him with whom they thus transacted; yet being unable otherwise to satisfy, they offered that which they could, and withal referred it to the Wisdom of God to supply the rest? Moreover it is apparent by several Nations mentioned above, and whose names and customs are recorded both in Holy & Profane Histories, as the Cananaeans, Tyrians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, Cyprians, Arabians, Persians, Scythians, Cretans, the ancient Grecians, ancient Romans, Gauls, and others, who sacrificed living men, that the opinion which Caesar attributes to the druids, That it is not possible for the Wrath of the Gods to be appeased but by offering the blood of men to them, was naturally imprinted in their souls; Otherwise man, being sufficiently prone to elevate the opinion of his faults and flatter himself, partly through an immoderate self-love, & partly by reason of the little knowledge he hath of the nature of God, would never be so inhumanely animated against his own species, and even against his own children; which some of those Nations were wont to make victim of. And for testimony to this, I appeal to men's peculiar thoughts in the administration of humane justice. How do they detest murderers and robbers, and those that give themselves up to perpetrate heinous crimes? And when they observe a Magistrate suffering such persons to go on in impunity, do not they judge that he is either like them, one of their complices and partakers in their prey, or that he connives at their facinorous actions through want of power? Certainly, when any enormous misdeed is committed, there ought no damage to arrive to the Commonwealth either by the Fact or the example; But there is a kind of detestableness in the deed that of itself cries out for vengeance, the impunity of which blots the reputation of him who hath the authority and power of punishing in his hand, and brings him into an evil suspicion and esteem. And he that shall more attentively consider the emanations of his own mind, will find that Nature has not only endued us with the Passion of Anger to be inservient towards defending us from particular injuries which are offered to us, but also has imprinted in our Minds a Hatred against Wickednesses which do not particularly reach us, which causes us not to be satisfied till we have seen vengeance inflicted upon the same. But assoon as we have beheld them expiated by suitable punishment, our minds acquiesce in the justice done with a kind of satisfaction, and our indignation ceases. For corrupt qualities and horrid vices in the soul, when they come to be discovered by actions, they are like Ulcers and Cancers which hideously deform the visage; we divert our thoughts from the former with indignation, and our eyes from the latter with nauseousness. Now the Virtues which are but little in us, are in God in a degree transcendently eminent; he possesses (as we may speak) the body of them, whereas we have no more than the shadow. As therefore a good Magistrate does not only detest Crimes, because they are detrimental to the Commonwealth, but also by reason of the natural turpitude which renders Vice odious, were it not pernicious; so that he thinks he does not satisfy the natural equity of things nor his own Conscience unless he punish it; and the more upright a person the Judge is, the more hatred does he bear against Vice for its own sake: So God does not only punish Sin, being the Universal Judge and Magistrate of the World, because it produces prejudice to Humane Society, and is an enemy to its preservation; but also by reason of that internal and essential deformity in it which is so repugnant to the Divine Nature and the natural order of things; so that he cannot possibly prevail with himself not to revenge it. And the more perfect his Nature is, the greater is this natural detestation he hath against sin.  
But to proceed further; The Jews consent that men are naturally corrupted by sin, and that they have in them from their conception an evil seminary of Vice, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which (they say) is like a mountain to the Good, and a straw to the Wicked; That is, they which are immerged in it are not sensible of it, no more than a dead man would be of his burden, if he were buried under a mountain. But they in whom God hath put some sparkle of spiritual life, feel what a great hindrance it is to their spiritual motions, and are discruciated and oppressed with it in their Consciences. And we have evinced above that this Corruption is manifest in all, against those which do not acknowledge the Holy Scriptures. Now, could the Divine Justice (in their opinion) allow that men should arrive to Eternal Felicity, without satisfaction beforehand and repentance of that natural corruption? No, surely. And they which acknowledge no Satisfaction, do yet confess it absolutely necessary to the obtaining forgiveness of sins, and beatitude by that forgiveness, that the sinner repent of his Offences. I ask therefore, whence they have this repentance? Whether God begets it in them, or whether they have it from themselves? Certainly, the books of the Jews teach expressly, that 'tis God who circumcises the Heart. And the usual prayers of David, That God would teach him to walk in the ways of his Commandments, sufficiently show, that if He, that was already converted, and a man according to God's heart, stood in need of the Working of God in him that he might follow his ways aright, it follows that with greater reason it is necessary for God to work the conversion of sinners, who are grown obdurate in their Wickedness. This, though it were not so plainly held forth in the Holy Books, is so evident, that even reason and experience make it good. For if Aristotle (who acknowledged not the vitiosity of man's Nature, but attributed all his depravedness to custom) teaches that when a man has once contracted a habit of vice by custom, it is not in his power afterwards to quit it, by reason that vice has possessed his faculties, whose strength and performance is necessary to rescue him from it, and hinders them from executing their natural abilities; much more is it impossible for a man to disimplicate himself from sin, the habit of which is in him, not by custom only, but also by nature. Custom (it's said) is another Nature; yet Nature is always stronger than custom. How will it be then, when inveterate custom and nature are found together in the same vice? Certainly, in such case another force then humane is requisite to reform it. Moreover, is not true repentance the Love of Holiness and Righteousness? And is not that Love also the chief part of Beatitude, of which other things are but as Dependences? Surely, he that denies this, must pass into the School of the Epicureans, who placed the Supreme Good of Man in Pleasure, and made no reckoning of Virtue, but only so far as it is requisite to a cheerful and Pleasant Life. Which was condemned by most part of the Pagans, and would be shameful for the Jews and those who acknowledge their Books to be Divine, not to condemn. It will follow therefore that without a foregoing satisfaction to his Justice, God may give the Wicked the principal part of Beatitude without Repentance. For since 'tis he that gives them to be penitent, and that the principal part of Felicity lies in Repentance, that is, in the love of righteousness and holiness, God shall give them the principal part of beatitude before he sees any preceding repentance in them. Now if there be nothing in the Nature of God which hinders him from giving the most excellent part of the Supreme Good to the Wicked without any regard to repentance, why should there be aught in it to hinder him that he should not even without that give them the other part of it, which consists only in appendances, to wit, Immortality and Glory? Which yet themselves account a thing absurd and impossible. Nor would it be material here to say, that it is not possible that God should give this Second and less principal part of Beatitude, unless man have the former before, because Happiness is a natural consequent of Virtue; besides, that there is such a correspondence between them, that virtue is incompatible with Misery, and Happiness with Vice; and that they are things of so repugnant an essence, that there is no possibility of coupling them, but there will appear a remarkable dissonance in the conjunction. And lastly, that God may draw near to a sinful Creature to amend it, inasmuch as he loves virtue in which the amendment of it consists for its own sake; but cannot have any communion with a wicked creature to render it happy, by reason the Happiness of a creature is not so precious with God, that to confer it, he should do injury to his justice and his Wisdom, which abhors vice and wickedness. For in the first place, if Happiness accompanies Virtue by a natural and inseparable dependence, misery does not less necessarily attend vice and wickedness. So that if it be not possible for Virtue not to be remunerated with a suitable Happiness, it is not less impossible for Vice not to be punished with due chastisement, there being an equal necessity and dependence between these things. And truly, he that considers the matter attentively, will find that the bond which conjoins Beatitude and Virtue together, is less indissoluble than that which connects Vice and Punishment. For the condition of the Creature being such, that it ought to be holy and virtuous, though God had not commanded it; and that God having so commanded, it is bound to obey his command, though he had not proposed the hope of Reward, inasmuch as it owes all to God, both in regard of the infinite eminence of his Majesty, and because it holds its being from him; the promise which God makes of remuneration, and the actual retribution which he performs of the same, aught to be imputed only to his goodness and gratuitous liberality. We cannot pretend any other right towards him, from whom we hold all, yea our very Being. Now that which proceeds from Goodness, seems not to be of so straight an obligation, but that he which does it is at his liberty not to do it, and especially when the transaction is between two persons, the dignity and authority of one of which is infinitely above the condition of the other. Hence it is evident how, regard being had to the sovereign Majesty of God, which advances him infinitely above all his creatures, and exempts him from all obligation towards them, he might have enjoined Holiness & Virtue to his creatures without promising Recompense for it. But the relation which is between Punishment and Sin, as to the consequence and dependence one of another, is a relation of Justice, from the exercise of which it is so impossible for the Supreme and Infinite Dignity to be exempt, that the greater it is, the more is it obliged thereunto; for that, as I said, the Love of Justice, on which the exercise depends, and the Hatred of Evil is a Perfection in God, inasmuch as he is supreme governor and magistrate of the Universe; whence the greater his dignity is in this respect, the more is he obliged to the exercise of Justice, in which if he should fail, it could not be but he must suffer diminution of his glory. Again, if there be such a correspondence between Virtue and Beatitude, that they cannot be dissevered, without appearance of deformity and irregularity, so that the Wisdom of God, who does all according to weight, number and measure, cannot permit the dis-junction of two things so closely united together; there is not less between sin and punishment. Of which the motions of our minds, which are as obscure shadows of the Properties which are in God, may be testimonies to ourselves. For if we have compassion of a miserable man, whom we esteem not deserving his misery, we are also moved with indignation against one that is highly fortunate, but unworthy the felicity he enjoys. And if we observe an excellent harmony between these two things conjoined together, Virtue and Felicity; so likewise we esteem these two extremely well adapted where we find them together, Vice and Misery. So it is incongruous to the same Wisdom of God who commits no dissonance in any of his administrations, to permit a separation of these most Natural Relatives. To conclude, I readily concede that God loves the virtue and holiness of his creatures by reason of its own excellence; for how can he but love his own image? and also that it is more precious to him then the Felicity, consequent to it; that is, to speak more clearly, that it is more wellpleasing to him that his creature be holy and virtuous, then that it be happy. But at the same rate that goodness and piety are affected by him, he detests the creature that despises them. And if God be naturally inclined to provide for the happiness of man, because he is his Creator, he is likewise natural inclined to execute vengeance upon his Sin, inasmuch as he is his Judge. And truly I wonder how any can so much cry up the Mercy of God in the impunity of sins, to the prejudice of his Justice, whereas Historians do so highly extol the memory of Zaleucus, for an act of justice done, as it may seem very much to the injury of the virtues of clemency and Mercy. This man (saith Valerius Maximus) having constituted very wholesome Laws in the City of the Locrians, one of which condemned adulterers to have their eyes pulled out, it happened that his own son was found guilty of the prohibited Crime, and consequently obnoxious to the severity of the punishment attending it. But the whole City interceding in the favour of the young man that he might be exempted from the rigour of the Law, were a long time denied, till at length Zaleucus being overcome by the Petitions of his Citizens, that he might preserve the sight of his Son and the authority of his Laws, caused one of his own eyes to be pulled out and one of his Sons; thus by an admirable temperament of equity showing himself both a just Legislator and a merciful Father. Why did not he suffer his Law to lie dormant for one day, to save both the eyes of his Son for the good of the Commonwealth? Or if he would not that his Law should be wholly infringed, why did he punish himself, when he was no partaker in the fault? But his reason was, that having established Laws, he accounted them inviolable; and this Act is recorded amongst the most memorable examples of Justice. How then can any esteem the eternal laws of God possible to be violated with impunity? Therefore either it is impossible for men to attain to the enjoyment of Felicity without satisfying the Justice of God; or else it is possible for them to attain to it without Repentance. Which the common sense of man abhors.  
Object. But possibly some may object and ask us, Whether the same absurdity will not follow from the Christian Doctrine which teaches necessity of a satisfaction precedaneous to Beatitude? For it informs us that men have not made satisfaction in their own persons but in the person of another, who was constituted a Pledge in their room; and 'tis God himself that gave them this Pledge. Now the bestowing one to make satisfaction for sins, is an effect of infinite mercy and inestimable bounty; and yet it was not prevented by the repentance of men, but on the contrary prevented their repentance; For the gift of sanctification, to which repentance pertains, is an effect of the satisfaction and a fruit of the merit of Christ. How then could God be moved to communicate so great a good to men without preceding repentance, or without something else equivalent to a satisfaction? And if he could love his creatures so much, notwithstanding his justice, as to give them one to make satisfaction for them, to the end they might be capable of repentance and beatitude, why could he not give them both repentance and beatitude too without that satisfaction?  
Answ. This deserves to be further displayed, that so the harmony which is between the parts of Christian Religion may become more conspicuous. Satisfaction is to be considered in two respects; First, as it is a punishment of sin, and so 'tis an act of justice; Secondly, as it is a means to obtain remission and impunity to those for whom satisfaction is made; and in this respect, 'tis an act of Mercy. As for the first, seeing it was an exercising of the justice of God upon the sins of men, there needed no other previous condition. The case stands thus. The Creature sinned, and the justice of the Creator takes Vengeance upon it. For the second, distinction must be made between the Mercy by which God is inclined to render his creatures good and happy, if nothing withhold him from it, and that whereby he really and the facto renders them good and happy. Not that these are two Mercies; for they are but one; but being considered in the first respect, the effect which it would produce is intercepted by some obstacle; and considered in the second, it is followed with the effect, because an expedient is found out to remove the impediment which strained its efficacy. If therefore some image of the former sort of Mercy can be found in men, it resembles the natural affections which Zaleucus had for his son, whose sight without question (had he had no other considerations) he ardently wished might remain safe and perfect. His paternal compassions would lead him to this, but the sacred authority of his Law obstructed his desires, and restrained his natural inclinations, that he should not do injury to justice. Now in reference to the first sort of Mercy, we grant that it may be in God towards his sinful creatures without any previous satisfaction or condition of repentance. But yet withal it does no injury to justice, because it brings nothing to effect. The consideration of the Law transgressed by the Creature intercepts it, so that man remains in his condemnation. For the other, which really and effectually confers repentance and consequently beatitude, satisfaction ought of necessity to precede it, because otherwise it would derogate from Justice, as the pity with Zaleucus used in sparing one of his sons eyes would have prejudiced the authority of his Law, if he had not at the same time decreed to pull out one of his own. But Gods giving of his son to make satisfaction for us, arising from the former sort of mercy, was not founded upon any preceding condition or satisfaction; otherwise it would be requisite to proceed to infinity, or recur to repentance. But the real conferring of sanctity and blessedness which attends it, was grounded on foregoing satisfaction. Whence it appears that though God might give us a Pledge without being otherwise prevented by us, yet he could not remit our sins and bring us to salvation without the intervention of that Pledge. And herein it is that on the one side his mercy is resplendent in willing it, on the other his Justice in hindering him, and his Wisdom in satisfying the latter by such an expedient, and giving free passage to the former.  
Now this without doubt ought to be sufficient to men of not contentious spirits: And nevertheless here it is that the Boasters of Humane Reason lift up themselves. What show of reason (say they) is there to punish sin in any other than the person delinquent? What justice to execute vengeance upon the just instead of the unjust? And what proportion between the punishing of one Man and the Sins of all the world? To the two former of these exceptions we intent to give satisfaction in the remainder of this Chapter; The third shall be remitted to another. First then, that several persons may be involved in the penalty and yet not in the guilt of a crime, appears in the practice of Life and ordinary exercise of humane Justice. For Children are punished for the sins of their Parents; and the taint of the crimes of the Children redounds back upon the Fathers. This is seen every day in Offences of Treason, where the design is more atrocious in itself and pernicious to the Common wealth. God himself, as Magistrate has given us a Precedent of this acting. For the Thest of Akan, who purloined forbidden goods, was fatal to his whole Family, and the Posterity of Saul was hanged for their Father's fault. And the sin of David, who in a vanity and presumption of his strength, caused the Tribes of Israel to be numbered, was expiated with the death of seventy thousand men. Which also seemed not irrational in the judgement of the Pagans, who very frequently attribute the defeats of great battles and the loss of flourishing Armies either cut in pieces or destroyed by mortality, to the fault of one single man. For, the overthrow of Cannae, if we will receive their account, was occasioned by I know not what sin of Ter. Varro against Juno; and Apollo sent the Pestilence into the Army of the Greeks for Agamemnon's despising his Priest. Thus also the Goddess Dice in Hesiod requires of Jupiter, 
— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
— ut luat  
Populus delicta Regum.  Now if it be not absurd for them which have no share in the saul● to partake of the punishment, it cannot seem more inconvenient that a translation of punishment be made from one person to another. And indeed that communication of punishment is in some sort a translating part of it. As if the Criminal not being capable of all the punishment, others should be associated with him to bear a part of it. Now if a part may be transferred, and he discharged from so much, why may not the whole be devolved over to another and so he obtain absolute exemption and impunity? Certainly, if it be not (as they speak) of the essence of punishment for sin to be all undergone by him that committed it, it will be no more essential to it, to be undergone by him in part; provided at least there be some sufficient reason to oblige him that suffers the punishment to substitute himself in the place of him that deserved it. And this reason ought not to be fetched elsewhere then from the straight and indissoluble conjunction that those two persons, the Criminal and the Sufferer have together. Now there are divers sorts of Ties, which conjoin persons closely. First, Natural Consanguinity; as of Fathers towards their Children and Children towards their Fathers, of Brethren amongst themselves, and of all those who have some near communion in the same blood. Secondly, Political Union; as of Subjects with their Kings, & vicissim, and of fellow-Citizens one towards another. And thirdly, Friendship voluntarily contracted, but ratified by inviolable promises of running (as they speak) the same fortune, and laying down the life courageously one for another. For it w●● never looked upon as unjust or strange, for those who are obstringed one to another by these bonds to partake in the punishment of their Relatives, or substituted themselves in the room of one another to bear it all. There is nothing so celebrated in the Poets and Historians as the death which Alcestis suffered in her husband's stead, and the story of Damon and Pythias Pythagorean Philosophers of which one generously offered himself to bear the sentence of death given against his Friend by Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracuse. And many other like examples have been diligently collected by learned Men. What can be said then, where there is found One that hath not only one or two of these relations with mankind, but all together and much more? What injustice or absurdity will there be for him to derive the punishment of men's sins upon his own Person? But such is He whom the Christians venerate for their Redeemer. For he is man, and consequently of the same blood with them, one with them in communion of the same nature. He loves them ardently, hath contracted an indissoluble society with them, and hath offered himself of his own free and immutable will to be surety for their debts. He is King of all those whom he hath redeemed, and their head, and their brother. But he was innocent, and they unrighteous. What equity can there be in this, that he who did nothing should be beaten, and he that committed the fault have never a stripe? This is the Second Exception, to which there are three Answers. The First of which is, that by demonstrating above that Punishment may be communicated, and likewise all of it transferred to the person of him that had no hand in the Crime, it was by the same means demonstrated that the Just may be punished for the Unjust: for he that was unconcerned in the fault, of which notwithstanding he suffers the penalty, is innocent in this respect, whether he be culpable or no in some other matters; and therefore he suffers in such case, not for other matters of which he may be guilty, but in consideration of this in respect of which he is absolutely just. So that all his other actions what ever they be are set aside, and of this, he is punished for, he is as innocent as the most virtuous man in the world. The Second is, that the Punishment of the Innocent and Impunity of the Guilty are so far from giving us ground to judge the Doctrine of satisfaction to the Divine Justice extravagant, that on the contrary 'tis that alone which renders it receivable by right Reason. For had the substitute himself been culpable, he had been unfit to be a substitute, for that the Divine Law obliges the Creature to all it is able to perform, and therefore the Transgression of it obliges to all the punishment of which the Creature is capable. If therefore the substitute should be of himself obnoxious to punishment, how could he be able to satisfy for another? Certainly, he could not pay for an other, if he were bound to pay all he had of value in the world for himself. For he that h●th but a hundred Crowns and can have no more, and owes them all, he can by no Arithmetic●●●tisfie for himself and his friend that owes a hundred more. Moreover, if they in whose stead the substitute suffered were still liable to punishment, there would be no satisfaction; which was purposely made to exempt them from it; Unprofitable were the payment made by the Surety, should the Creditor have yet a right to redemand his debt. The Third Answer is, That if the Substitute had continued for ever under the condemnation of those whose vicarius he became, such an excessive charity might have been thought strange, to destroy himself eternally for the salvation of others; But if he free himself from that condemnation, and bearing in his hand the discharge for an other, so wrestle against the Curse as to surmount it; if he endures the wrath of God even so far as to exhaust it, if he fight so successfully against Death as to triumph over it; if his very sufferings are to him but a passage to inestimable glories; if he obtain for the prize of his Fightings, beside the salvation of mankind, an immortal Crown of honour and a transcendent Sovereignty in Heaven and Earth, who can afterwards be scandalised at his sufferings? And who will not acknowledge in his being willing to undergo the punishment deserved by men, an immense charity; in his remaining victorious, a wonderful power; in his being so highly recompensed, an immaculate justice; and in all this dispensation, an incomparable Wisdom? But such is the Redeemer whom the Christians have embraced, and whom they persuade the Jews to acknowledge, even by inducements out of their own Scriptures. For besides that, as was shown above, all their sacrifices were inept and unprofitable, if they had no figurative relation to some other really propitiatory sacrifice, where the punishment of men's sins were actually laid upon the victim offered, as it was typically placed upon the Beast which was immolated in the Tabernacle, so to rescue really from eternal condemnation, as the other delivered typically from the legal malediction. The 53. chap. of the Prophecies Isaiah is so express to this purpose, that there must be abundance of perversity to call it into doubt. For in the beginning he describes the external appearance of the Messiah (for 'tis of him he speaks, as the most solid and learned among themselves confess) when he prepares himself for this satisfaction so full of sorrows and griefs. He is (saith he) grown up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a dry ground; that is, withered, and not like young plants which abound with sap: He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Because it was not meet for him who prepared himself for an ignominious death to lead before a delightful and pompous Life. Being to descend so low, it was expedient to go by degrees, and not to fall down suddenly, as from a precipice. He is the despised and rejected amongst men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was so despised, and we esteemed him not. Such scandal indeed, it behoved him to suffer who was exposed to all, that even his own should abandon him, and be ashamed of his ignominy: otherwise how could he have saved us from the eternal reproach which we had deserved, if himself had not been covered with reproach? But surely (saith he) he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows; his being so contemptible before our eyes was not for any thing he was culpable of himself. He was covered with our misery and our shame, though we for our parts esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted; that is, They that beheld him did not consider it was for their offences that he was stricken. And yet he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities: they were our sins and not his own that brought him into this condition. The chastisement of our peace was upon him; the satisfaction, by which we are reconciled and obtain peace with God. And with his stripes we are healed: by his sorrows and pains comes salvation both to our bodies and souls. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. Every particular person of us have erred from the right way, and consequently by our perversity deserved to be destroyed. But the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Every one questioned him, and he was afflicted by it. Both the Devil, and the World, and they themselves for wh●se sakes he came, tormented him both by importunate troublesome questions, and outrageous actions. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he i● brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Such it behoved his obedience to be towards him who laid the same upon him. Now is it possible to be more plainly declared, that the world was to be redeemed by a satisfaction? Or have the Christians need of more clear and emphatical terms to preach it? But as for the Victory he was to obtain over his enemies, the rest he was to have after his labours, and the glory arising from his sufferings, they are not less apparently held forth in the following expressions. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. But when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days. Which, being he laid down his soul, can be only by a victorious resurrection. And the good pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Whence, God shall commit to him the execution of his decrees, and strengthen him with power for the conduct of his purposes. He shall see the travel of his soul, and shall be satisfied: for there is nothing of so delectable a gust as the fruit of one's victories. By the knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with Transgressor's, and bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. In conscience now, is this to be a Prophet, or to preach our Gospel? Is this to foretell things to come, or to point with the finger to things present, or to relate passed. Certainly, let any man choose the clearest passage of the New Testament concerning this matter, and compare it with these recited, and it will be hard to distinguish which is that of the Apostle and which of the Prophet. We conclude therefore, that the Holy Scriptures of the Jews agree with the Doctrine of satisfaction and have foretold it; and that Right Reason induces yea enforces to believe it.   

CHAP. VIII. That the Promised Messiah ought to be both God and Man; whence it follows that there are several persons in one simple Divine Essence: Also, Of the Divinity of the Old Testament.  
THe third Objection against Satisfaction remains to be dissolved; Namely, that the punishment of one alone is not sufficient to obtain impunity for all men. Indeed, there is either no satisfaction, or it ought to be proportionate both to the ossenses of men for whom it was made, and the Justice of God that was incensed, and consequently must be of an infinite worth and value. For to fancy to ourselves a satisfaction admitted by God, infinitely below the demerit of the offence by way of Acceptance (as they speak) that is, that he should be contented as fully paid for all, though he receives but a small part, is a thing not consistent either with the Wisdom or Goodness of God, or the nature of his Justice, as we declared it above. Not with his Justice; For since it is impossible for that to leave the sins of men unpunished, by reason it is the Hatred and Detestation of Evil, a Perfection which is not divine if it be not infinite & extreme, nor extreme & infinite if it be not wholly inexorable; how could it be contented with the punishment of one alone, for a satisfaction belonging to all mankind? seeing it should thereby take vengeance only for the offence of one, & remit the sin of all others freely without punishment? For, to speak properly, there is no real satisfaction in an Acceptance, but only for so much as is received; all the remainder of the debt exceeding what is received is freely forgiven, and there is none but a fictitious and imaginary satisfaction for it. Now it is not competent to an implacable justice to be paid with empty formalities and fictions. Secondly, not with his Goodness. For it there be nothing in his Nature that hinders him from remitting gratuitously and without satisfaction the offences of all men, saving one, what can there be in it to hinder him from forgiving that one also? If, I say, there be nothing to hinder him from being contented with the death of one single man only (which of itself is of value only to be satisfactory for one) for payment for the infinite offences of an almost infinite number of men, why did he not likewise exercise this his infinite goodness towards this person, that so it might be complete, and no vengeance eclipse its lustre? Since also, be it by Acceptance or no, it is perpetually necessary that the person who is to make the satisfaction be perfectly innocent and exempt from sin. For God would not accept a polluted victim; and he were uncapable of appeasing the wrath of God for another who had provoked him by his own offence. Whence it should seem, he could scarce justify his Goodness, if freely pardoning sinners, he should without any need at all revenge himself upon an innocent person. Lastly, 'tis not consistent with his Wisdom. For to what end were it to, make such an ambages and intricacy, where the way is so plain and short? What could be more easy then to pardon plainly without digressing to a satisfaction wholly defective in itself, and complete only because he that receives it will absolutely have his justice contented with it? The reason alleged, is, that he might show that his justice is terrible when he pleases, and ingenerate in the minds of mortals so much greater horror of their offences. Certainly, if the design be to render Divine Justice sormidable, it appeared so incomparably more in Noah's Flood, the conflagration of Sodom, and many other dreadful judgements then in the Death of one single man. And if men must be made to know how worthy their Sin is of detestation and Hatred, the Destruction of the City of Jerusalem with the unparallelled mortality and slaughter that was seen there is a much more authentic Document to that purpose, and an Instance that speaks louder and farther beyond comparison. But I believe men are not possessed with much dread of the wrath of God, when they are preached to, that it is appeased with so small a matter. It remains therefore necessarily that the Satisfaction be of an infinite weight and value, to the end it may be proportionate to the sin of men and to the infinite Majesty of God himself. But who can make it such? No man surely, who is nothing more than man. For the condition of his Nature is too low, and the bounds of his dignity and excellence too narrow, to correspond to so great an effect. It would be very much if One could pay for one; besides that the surety must abide in eternal destruction and having saved an other perish himself for ever. Then, all men in geneneral cannot make it. For since Sin committed against an infinite Majesty deserves an infinite punishment, the Offence increasing, as Philosophers and Jurists teach, according to the proportion of his dignity against whom it is committed; and since the punishment of men cannot be infinite unless it be eternal; should all men in general present themselves to undergo the wrath of God, they would become overwhelmed by it to all eternity, far from redeeming themselves by a sufficient satisfaction. Thirdly, the Angels are equally unable. For besides that there is not communion and affinity enough between men and them, to be conveniently substituted as Pledges for them in suffering those pains, whatsoever dignity the Angelical Nature possesses, whatsoever excellence it may have above the humane, yet it could never arise to equal the Majesty of God, in order to satisfying his Justice after a proportional manner. For at most they are but Creatures, and there is an immense disproportion between the Creature and the Creator. And he had good reason, who said, Behold, He putteth no trust in his servants, and his Angels he chargeth with folly. Because, though upon comparison of Angels with men, they are of more transcendent purity and excellence; yet if they be compared with God, all their excellence is despicable; and were it not that God upholds them they would fall; did not he infuse Light into them they would become darkness, as well as we. There remains therefore but one Expedient; which is, for God who alone is infinite, to satisfy himself. And here it is that humane Reason is confounded. Let us, nevertheless, experience how far we are able to comprehend this abyss.  
By the words above recited out of the Prophet Isaiah, it appears that he that underwent the chastisement of our peace, was to be man. A man of sorrows (saith he) and acquainted with grief, who must lay down his soul an offering for sin: and this cannot be meant of any other Creature. But had he had not expressed the same so manifestly, the nature of the punishment which it behoved him to suffer, necessarily requires it. For this is the wages of sin, In the day thou eatest of the fruit of this Tree, thou shalt die the death, that is, thou shalt be under the subjection and condemnation of death both as to body and soul. For as the Reward of Piety has respect to the whole complete man, composed of body and soul, so also has the retribution of sin, which has corrupted both the one and the other. And indeed, he that was to break the Serpent's head, according to the word of God, was to be the seed of the Woman. If therefore the satisfaction which he was to render to God, aught to be of an infinite value, what person is able to render it, though a man, unless himself be of an infinite dignity? And if such man be of an infinite dignity, what remains but that he is also God; since infiniteness of dignity cannot reside but in the divine Essence and Nature? Certainly, infiniteness of Dignity is as much incommunicable as infiniteness of Essence; for it has its root and foundation in infiniteness of Essence, and the one is as the natural reflection or irradiation of the other. So that, as it is impossible to separate the light and strength of the Sun from the Sun itself, or to imagine that something should possess that admirable splendour and vivificant virtue which is in the Sun, and not fancy it to be the Sun itself; So, yea, much more, impossible is it, to attribute a dignity beyond all limits to any whatsoever, and not withal attribute to him an uncircumscribed and infinite essence. And to this, how seemingly repugnant soever to their reason, do the Divine Scriptures manifestly astipulate, out of which, I shall for brevity's sake, produce but some few irrefragable passages. Thus speaks the Prophet Malachi in the 3. chap. of his Prophecy. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the may before me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his Temple; even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in. Words which we have shown above, and the Jews grant, are intended of the Messiah alone; the Messiah, who alone was promised to be a Redeemer to his Church. Now, I beseech you, to whom was the Temple of Jerusalem dedicated but to the true God? and can it then be meant of any simply a Creature that it was his Temple? Certainly, neither the Jealousy of the Lord could endure it, nor the ancient piety of the Jews have permitted it; the erection of Temples, and dedication of Altars being not due but to the Deity alone, as testimonies of the sovereign honour we own to his supreme nature and Majesty. But David apertly terms him God in the 45. Psalms, and will not have us put to the necessity of gathering it by consequence. Thy throne (O GOD) is for ever and ever; The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore, O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. For I challenge any man, to make out to whom else these words can suit, but to the Messiah? Whose throne is this that must abide for ever and to eternity? For that the words he uses, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, signify a duration without end, they know who understand any thing in this language. Now there is no appearance, that the Holy Spirit would give the name of God to a simple creature on this manner, together with a Kingdom of everlasting duration. So likewise in the 110. Psalms, where David calls the Messiah his Lord, there's no question but he would have him understood to be something more besides a mere man. For David was a King and depended of no other but God; so that between the Divine Power and that which is truly Regal, such as that of David was, there can be no other intermediate. And yet he styles him with the same appellation subjects use to their sovereign Prince. In the 110. Psalms; The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. But least any further cavil at this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which sometimes in Scripture is given both to men and to Angels, by reason of the greatness of their strength and eminence of power (though it cannot be found attributed to one alone in particular either of Angels, or men that are in power in the world) Isaiah makes the commentary of it. For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Father of Eternity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Prince of Peace. Are these titles competent to a creature? I know well that they assay to turn this passage to Hezekiah, and refer all these titles to God, except that of the Prince of Peace, which they say is given by him to Hezekiah; but it behoveth to have lost both shame and the use of common sense to believe them. For in what other place of the Scripture, where the Prophets mean to speak of God, and some action purposed by him to be done, do they accumulate so many titles? Besides, that to them that understand it, the genius of the language contradicts them very evidently: and their best Paraphrasts, being overcome with the clearness of the truth, refer it to the Messiah. But the Prophet Jeremy speaks with the greatest clearness possible, in the 23. chap. of his Prophecy, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as King, and shall execute judgement and justice in the Earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his Name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. For here the Ineffable name of God is used, which is as much incommunicable, according to the opinion of the Jews themselves, as his very essence. And indeed the greatest part of his other Names seem to hold forth his Properties; but this denotes his eternally permanent essence. This is it by which he delights to call himself, and glorifies himself in it. 'Tis true, they have two exceptions against this. One, that it ought to be translated thus; And the Name of him that shall call him, is the Lord our Righteousness. The other, that the City of Jerusalem is also termed by this Name, and therefore that the Messiah cannot take so great advantage by it. But these are cavils unworthy of people in whom there is left the least measure of Understanding and Ingenuity. For as for the first; to what end here serves the mentioning the name of him that must call the Messiah, without expressing the name of the Messiah himself, seeing the drift is to set him forth, and to encourage the Church with the hope of those benefits which should accompany his coming into the World? And in the next place what a defective manner of speaking is this, And the name of him that shall call him, without adding how or wherefore? What example can be produced of the like? And when the Prophet speaks thus; In those days I will raise unto David a righteous branch, etc. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and then shall she be called The Lord our Righteousness, where the name of the City of Jerusalem is remarkably declared, and not of him that calls her, is the phrase and placing of the words wholly alike? For the second, Indeed it is more than evident, that this Name cannot have been attributed to a Person and to a City after the same manner. To a Cit● it cannot be suitable, but only as a memorial of Favour done to it by him to whom the Name is properly competent. And to a Person it cannot be appropriated, but to denote something that resides in such person. There can be no danger in communicating so glorious a Name to a City, none being so brutish or stupid as to take occasion to suspect any Divinity either in the whole people of a City, or its stones. To a man simply as man it cannot be given without an inevitable scandal of Idolatry, especially to such a personage as he that is described there was to be, not only a King, but the firstborn among Kings, and the King of the whole world. And truly, if the Messiah be not God, it would be injustice to condemn those that should adore him, as culpable of Idolatry, seeing him honoured with so magnificent Names. For what ought we not to render to him, to whom both divine names and honours are communicated in the Scripture, the names of the highest Majesty, as that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the most sublime honours, as dedication of a Temple, and that so holy and sacred a Temple? Besides, that in describing his admirable achievements, there is excuse more then enough for error; if error may be committed herein. He ought to break the serpent's head with his heel. Is it within the power of a mere man to foil so strong an enemy with so much disdain and glory? In him all the families of the earth ought to be blessed. A benediction so firm and vigorous, that it reaches through so many Ages, and is diffused so abundantly over all Nations, whence could it flow but from an infinite fountain? He ought to have the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for possession. Can so great an Empire be maintained and governed, yea even eternally, without an infinite power and wisdom? He ought to sit at the right hand of God. But how should he be capable of so great an honour except he be God himself? For seeing Kings did not readily admit any to sit at their right hands, but only those which were of their own blood, as Solomon did Bathshebah, or whom they established Lieutenants and Governors of their Dominions, as being the second place of the Kingdom, most honourable next the throne: Whether it be out of the first consideration that the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God, he can have no consanguinity with him but by communion of Nature; Or the Second, he cannot be capable of so eminent a dignity, nor provided of wisdom and power enough to maintain the same, it being necessary to possess both in an infinite manner, if the person himself be not infinite. He ought to redeem the Church both by suffering an infinite punishment, as we have shown, and by the victory which he was to obtain over death and him that was chief in the Empire of death. Who could undertake and accomplish so great a design, unless one that is very God? Now if this Messiah our Surety, aught to be God, as must be acknowledged, or else all the Holy Scriptures denied; forasmuch as his Person is of an infinite dignity, his Satisfaction was not only sufficient for all mankind (which how numerous soever, cannot be actually infinite) but also correspondent to the immensity of the Nature of God, and proportionate to his Justice. For as the Professors of the Civil Laws teach that crimes become more henious proportionably to the dignity of the person against whom they are committed, and Reason also adds its suffrage hereunto, so in like manner they attest that penalties and Satisfactions are rated according to the dignity of those who undergo and perform them. And it is not material, that the punishment deserved by men was to be eternal in case they suffered it in their own persons, whereas the Passion of their Substitute ought to have had a certain termination of time; otherwise (that which is impossible to imagine) a person of such excellence should have continued under perpetual condemnation. For according to the natural right and order of things, sin deserved an infinite punishment, inasmuch as it was committed against an infinite majesty. But because the nature of man is bounded, and infinity cannot otherwise be competent to him but only by perpetual duration; had men themselves been to suffer it, it could not have been infinite otherwise but only by being eternal. But the satisfaction performed by our Substitute, did not need to be immense in respect of perpetual duration because his person was of an infinite dignity. For it was made according to the absolute Right of God's Justice, and the Natural order of things, and not according to the compensation which should have been made in the persons of men by the eternal duration of their pains, by reason of the narrow limitation of their Nature.  
From this discourse it very clearly results that there are distinctly in the Divine Essence, which with the Jews we acknowledge to be one and simple, at least two Persons, or Hypostases, or Subsistences; (for we stand not greatly upon it, by which of these names they are termed) Namely, that which is most usually represented to us in the Old Testament by the Name of God Creator of all things; and that, which in order to being Mediator between God and Men was to assume humane Nature; who is sometimes represented to us under the names of SON and Branch. As in the 2 Psalm, vers. 7. I will declare the decree; The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And vers. 12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. For whatever clouds they endeavour to obscure this place with, it is as clear as the Noon-Sun, that it cannot be applied to David or any other besides the Messiah; No other can inherit so glorious a name as to be called, The Son of God, nor have the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession and the Heathen for his inheritance. So likewise that that promise made unto David [When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom. He shall build an house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son] is applicable to Solomon (though that which follows agrees to him [But if he commit iniquity, etc.)] the too great magnificence of the words and the event of things cannot allow: the Kingdom of Solomon having been first of all rent in two in the time of Rehoboam, and afterwards his Throne for so many Ages so shattered to pieces that there are not the least relics of it to be found in the world. And in another place, Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, etc. Of whom without question Solomon is to be understood, where he introduces wisdom speaking thus; By me King's reign, and Princes decree Justice. By me Princes rule, and Nobles, even all the Judges of the Earth. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was made. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there was no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth. When he prepared the Heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth. Then was I by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. For what a strange manner of speaking would this be if the intent were only to express that God is wise? To what purpose were it to give us notice so diligently, that he was wise from the beginning, if there be no other mystery in it, seeing it is as impossible that he should ever be without Wisdom as his own Divine Nature? What manner of expression is it of Gods being wise from all time, for wisdom herself to cry out the Lord begat her? Can any Poetical Fury excuse such extraordinary and uncouth fetches, and especially in a Book whose style otherwise throughout, though it seems writ in verse, is as remote from enthusiasms as the Heavens are from the Earth? Now the Son is without question a Person distinct from the Father; The Wisdom begotten, from him which begets it; The Branch shouted forth from him that emits it; He that causes to sit, from Him that sits at the right hand. And reason consequently proves the same evidently. For since it was requisite satisfaction should be made to that eternal and immutable Justice, and it behoved him to be God that should make it, to whom could he satisfy unless there be an other person likewise God in whom this Justice is considered? For we have asserted and repeated many times, that this Justice is a Perfection in God, which consists in the hatred of evil; and that God by punishing exercises the office of universal Magistrate and Judge of the World. Wherefore it was necessary for the person who exercised this inexorable Justice to be distinct from him upon whom it was exercised, the punisher from the sufferer. For in one and the same matter and the same respect none can be Magistrate and Criminal both together.  
Well (will some say) let Christian Religion stop there. The Scripture and Reason hold forth these two distinct Persons. But Christianity conjoines also a Third. What necessity is there of multiplying thus the Persons of the Deity? Indeed, that which makes the Christian Doctrine seem strange in this point, is, that Humane Reason is not easily able to comprehend how divers persons really and distinctly subsistent can reside in one single and simple essence: the union of essence being according to the judgement of Reason, repugnant thereunto. But if it be granted upon inducement of the Holy Scriptures and the necessary dependence of these truths so excellently coherent together, that there are two distinct Persons in one single essence of God, the Doctrine of a Third ought not to be scrupuled. For the Unity of the Divine Essence will be as little repugnant to the distinct subsistence of Three Persons as of Two. It behoves us therefore to inquire in brief whether the Jews may find this Third Person in their Books. Now mention is so frequently made of the Spirit of God in the Books of the Prophets, that it is some trouble to make choice in so great a multitude. These are apparent amongst others; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning (saith Isaiah chap. 48.) and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Are not the Lord and his Spirit distinct? And yet to whom appertains it to send Prophets but to the Lord himself? If the Spirit had not been God, would Isaiah have called himself his Prophet? And that it might not seem to be the Second Person who is called The Spirit, he elsewhere puts all three distinctly in one and the same passage; And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, etc. For it is clearer than the day, That the Branch growing out of the roots of Jesse is the Messiah; upon whom seeing the Spirit of the Lord ought to rest, and that He also, as we have shown, is the Lord, behold here is one only Lord distinguished into three Persons. And in another place in the same terms; The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. What me? The Prophet? No. For it follows, Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Effects which transcend both the capacity and the condition of the Prophet's times. And to the same effect in another place; Behold my servant (to wit, the Messiah, so styled in respect of his humane nature, and because as he is Mediator he is employed by his Father for Redemption of the Church) whom I will uphold, mine Elect, in whom my Soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him. And that passage in the 1 chap. of Genesis is very remarkable, though they except against it; And the Earth was without form, and void; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. For what is that Spirit of the Lord? A great Wind (say they) which agitated that confused Mass of the Elements; for great things are said to be God's; as the Mountains of God. But in the first place, what verisimilitude is there that Moses should in the beginning of his History make use of a rare phrase and which is not found but in the Books of the other Prophets, and perhaps no no where else in his own; which is enough to evince that it was not yet extant in his time? In the next place, whence came this great Wind, and to what end served it? Was it to hinder that great confused mass from putrifying? God was well able to hinder that; and there being as yet no order established in Nature, it was not needful for God to create a wind supernaturally, to prevent the putrifying of the Matter by its agitation. And Then, the Matter of the Chaos being to continue so little a space in that estate, the putrefaction of it was not to be feared: Besides, the word moved, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, does not signify such a motion as the blast of a great wind, but only a gentle tremulous concussion, in which regard it is attributed to the Eagles' shaking the wings in incubation over its brood; as if Moses would have said, The Spirit of God gently incubated on the World to cause it to be excluded or brought forth out of that confused matter. But many others have handled this Doctrine at large, and therefore I shall produce no more testimonies. Certainly, if regard be had to the Order which Christian Religion observes, not so much in reference to these distinct persons considered in themselves (for they are abysses, which it looks upon as inscrutable) as to the effects which are attributed to them in the work of Redemption of Mankind, it will be found highly admirable. For to the Father, as to the first Principal Author of all things, it attributes the care and administration of the Justice which takes vengeance on the Sins of men; So that 'tis properly to his Person as Superintendant of the Common right of the Three in what relates to the unity of their Essence, that satisfaction has been rendered; And the first source of that Mercy whereby he was moved to determine to raise man from the misery into which he was fallen; And the Invention (if I may so speak) of that Expedient in order to it by his incomprehensible Wisdom. To the Son, as to him who assumed humane Nature and conjoined it with the Divine in the unity of his Person, and who suffered in one of his Natures a Passion of infinite value by reason of the infinite dignity of his other, it attributes the work of Redemption both in regard of the satisfaction which he made and the exercise and accomplishing of the other things belonging to his office. So all things having been created, as the Wise man speaks, by that eternal Wisdom, it could not be competent but to the same to raise them out of their ruins. To the Holy Spirit, as to him who, being common to the Father and the Son, is the Virtue by which both one and the other produces things, and bring their purposes into being, it attributes the Action which renders both the mercies of the Father and the Performances of the Son beneficial and efficacious to us. For what would the Dilection of the Father advantage us if we do not experience it, and the satisfaction of the Son if we do not embrace and receive it, to the peace and joy of our consciences? Which how can we do, if the faculties of our Understandings and Wills which are so blind and perverted, be not enlightened from above, and rectified by a supernatural power? So the Father, who prevented the existence of all things by his goodness, hath also prevented them by his mercy in restoring them to a happy being. The Son, by whom all things were at first created, as by the Eternal Wisdom and Word, hath re-established and repaired them. And the Holy Spirit, by virtue of whom both the Father and the Son accomplished the Decree of the Creation of the World, hath also been the Virtue of both to perfect actually the restauration of the World.  
Nor ought the Jews here to be exasperated, or humane reason demur. For as for the Jews, since their own Scriptures teach this, what can they oppose in contradiction? Are they wont to control the words of the Lord, or to measure the Doctrine he reveals to them by their own judgements? Have they not learned, That his thoughts are not as their thoughts; nor his ways as their ways, but as distant as the Heaven is high above the Earth? Have they not learned of their Prophet, that not only none hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his Counsellor hath taught him, but also that there is no possibility of fathoming his understanding? Yet their Ancestors, who lived before the Hatred of Christian Religion had so blinded their Nation, perceived some shadows of these truths in the Scripture, and have left divers footsteps of them in their Commentaries and Paraphrases, speaking so frequently both of the Word and the Wisdom of God and of his spirit, as of things distinct, that there is but too much to convince the obstinacy of their descendants. As for humane Reason, it ought not much to be scandalised if there be in the nature of God a depth beyond comprehension, there being in all other things which seem commensurate to its capacity, so many difficulties which check it. None has yet been found that could give account of that Motion in the Heavens called The Motion of Trepidation; yea 'tis not yet fully determined, if we follow the Phaenomena of Astronomers, whether the earth circulates about the Sun, or the Sun about the Earth. The formation of Meteors has not hitherto been clearly and certainly explicated, nor is there any that pretends confidently to have discovered their causes throughly. The Flux and Reflux of the sea is to Philosophers a secret more deep than any of its abysses; and there is no mention of any that ever rightly understood it. Then, in terrestrial things, who is he that can declare to us the nature of the Loadstone, what that attractive virtue is which draws Iron to it, and that other of its verticity towards the Poles of the World? How numerous mysteries are there in the most easy Sciences, which cannot be discovered to the bottom; and how many things seem facile, against which the acies of our minds is blunted? Who ever understood the reasons of the almost infinite variations, which are observed in the mixture of the Elements in the production of all things, as to colour, figure, quality, quantity, medicinal and venomous faculties? All the world knows what a Circle is, and Children are not ignorant of the shape a Square, a Peasant is capable of comprehending that there is according to all appearance some proportion between these two figures; and yet after so many thousand years to the present time, it is not found out nor determined what it may be. Where is the person amongst us, that is able to make our handsomely what is meant by the Agent and Patiented Intellect, as they speak, and wherein their difference consists? And 1. evertheless they bicker in the Schools to maintain that they are really distinct. Certainly, nothing ought to be so well known to us as ourselves, nothing so evident to our minds as their own motions. Now we understand and will different things a thousand times in one day; and yet 'tis disputed whether the Will necessarily follows the dictates of the Understanding, or have some liberty of resistance for all dominion it has over it. 'Tis scarce known whether they be two distinct Faculties, and there are some which confound them. Books are compiled of the Miracles of Nature; so termed, because the effects indeed are visible, but the causes undiscerned. The Occult Sympathies and Antipathies of things fill complete Volumes; and after the most exact and curious Inquiries, Obscurity and Incomprehension is pleaded in Favour of Ignorance. Physicians examine our Pulses every day, and the most learned amongst them, if ingenuous, confess they understand not what that wonderful faculty is which sets the Heart in motion, whether it began to move first by contracting or dilating itself, and whether the Arteries are contracted at the same instant of the Heart's extension. What ground of scandal therefore is in this assertion, that there is something in the Nature of God which we are not able to comprehend? But which is more; should it be granted that there is but one single person in the Divine Essence, yet none can boast of being able to solve the difficulties which may arrive from thence. For what humane mind is capable of distinctly understanding how all the Perfections of God are his very Essence, and not Accidents or Qualities like those faculties of ours, really distinct from the subject in which they reside? Since there are some of them not only extremely different; as Wisdom and Power, but directly opposite, as Justice and Mercy? And yet reason induces yea compels to believe it; otherwise, Accidents must be imagined in God, and consequently a composition, unworthy the simplicity of his being. Who is he of us that is able to imagine an infinite essence, as the Divine is, diffused infinitely in the mane space, beyond the world, expanded throughout the whole Universe, so as to be totally present in all things, not divided or separated by the occurse and interposition of bodies, not mingled and confounded with the spiritual and immaterial substance of our Souls? Where is the man that is able to conceive after what manner our souls are extended through all the members of our bodies? For if it be all in every part of the Body, as is commonly taught, what difference is there between its manner of being in the whole body and in each of its members? and if it be not totally present in each part, why is it not composed of parts, after the manner of bodies, and by consequence divisible and corruptible? I am not ignorant that many subtle distinctions are used in this matter, more proper to cast a mist before the eyes, then to afford a clear and certain knowledge of it: but I am confident, they are most times not understood even by those which allege them. Now let us bestow our inquiries in such things as yield solid satisfaction to the mind, and not in such in which those that propose them have only designed to show the vivacity of their Understandings and their abilities. Otherwise, if we betake ourselves to subtleties, forsaking manifest deductions, and conclude that for true which we are not able to make out, the Speculations of our Scholasticks in this kind will over-cloud our Religion, and supply matter enough for contradiction. But there are certain verities resembling too radiant lights, which dazzle if beheld in themselves, and in their fountain, by reason of the weakness of our eyes, but content and delight if looked upon in the correspondence they have with others more preceptible by our minds. And this in question is of this Nature.  
Now there are two ways of being assured of the verity of this Doctrine. The first is that which we have touched upon formerly; That every man have so high an estimation of the justice of God, as to believe it absolutely implacable towards us without a preceding satisfaction for our offences; and know so well to weigh the horror of Sin, that he never dare think of approaching God without confessing ingenuously that he has deserved both the temporal death of the body and the eternal of the Soul, and that it is impossible for him ever to obtain pardon unless some other satisfy for him, and that with a price equivalent to the greatness of his crimes and the Dignity of Divine Justice. For he that is thus disposed in his soul (and we have shown above that the right consideration of the nature of God requires man to be so) assoon as the means of so idoneous a satisfaction is propounded to him, he will eagerly embrace it, unless he ascribe too much to Reason, and presume too much on his own capacity to comprehend things which are above his reach. But the good opinion we have of ourselves in being able to dive into abstruse matters causes us oftentimes to commit most pernicious errors. The Second is, for a man to consider attentively what the Book is, and the Doctrine in general, and in the body of which this makes but a part. For there will appear in the First so many evidences of its Divinity, and in the Second such an indissoluble connection of this point with many other verities of an indubitable certitude and evidence, that it will be impossible for the mind of man, if it be not totally obstinate and hardened, not to acquiesce therein. And in truth, let him begin with the books of Moses. Their Antiquity in the first place renders them venerable above all other writings of the world. For there are lest no monuments in all Antiquiquity that come near them by many Ages: The War of Thebes, and the Sacking of Troy, to which Lucretius limits the knowledge men have of ancient matters, in these verses; 
Praeterea, si nulla fuit genitalis origo  
Terrai & coeli, semperque aeterna fuere,  
Cur supra bellum Thebanum & funera Trojae  
Non alias alii quoque res cecinere Poetae?  And the times of Theseus and Hercules, beyond which Plutarch is able to discover no certainty in Histories, followed a long while after the birth of this great Prophet. The language in which it was written is the mother of all others; of which the several words which they have retained from it, and which are as slips of that ancient stock, and the names of their very letters bear sufficient testimony. The style of it is plain indeed, but full of such native decency and graces; its narrations so equal, and accompanied with so curious a facility, that the truth of what it relates is resplendent throughout, and seems to justify itself with a confidence that none would call it in question; an undubitable evidence of its generosity. The discourses it assigns those it introduces are wonderfully pathetical and agreeable to the condition of the persons. The things which it relates both of the creation of the World and the propagation of Mankind, upon examination of reason alone hold forth a higher evidence then that of verisimilitude. And it is dubious whether the histories of the deluge, of the conflagration of Sodom, of the building of the Tower of Babel, and the like, more clearly convince the Fables we meet with in the books of Poets, as a well-proportioned body discovers the deformity of the prodigious shadows it casts, or whether those vain worn-out traces of these ancient verities bear a more irrefragable testimony to the same. The Prophetical eruptions, speak a spirit other then humane. The Predictions found therein have been so ratified by events, that 'tis too great obstinacy to disparage their credit by contradiction. And if some things be related to have come to pass beyond the ordinary ways of nature, as mysterious shadows of what was to appear afterwards, and which really appeared in due time, there results a light truly admirable from the comparison of the Verity with the Figure. And the miracles which he performed for confirmation of his doctrine and for accomplishing the enterprise which himself declared was committed to him, which might have been refuted by a hundred and a hundred thousand persons, if they had been counterfeit, and for defence of which so many millions of men would at present lay down their lives, clear him from all suspicion of fraud and imposture. Proceed then to the books of Josuah, the Judges, Samuel, and the rest which writ the histories of the Kings of Juda, and Israel; and there will appear in them such an excellent continuation both of matters and times, such an exact description of Genealogies, a narration of various occurrences arrived both in the Church and State, in the persons of Kings and Prophets, great and small, Princes and Vulgar, war and peace, and all sorts of accidents, which carry with them a thousand marks of verity by the correspondence they have with humane passions and affections, and the resemblances we observe of them in the various adventures of ordinary life, that a man must either belly his own faculties or give belief to such illustrious truths. And remarkably here and there occur such excellent instances of the Divine Providence both in justice and mercy, such illustrious examples of eminent piety and virtue in rare personages, such grave admonitions and efficacious exhortations by the mouths of the Prophets, that he must exceed rocks in stupidity, that does not resent some lively emotions in his soul by reading them. Then go forwards and read the book of the Patience of Job, the Psalms of David, and the Proverbs of Solomon; Good God, how fraught with wonders! Sometimes you will meet with sentences so full of Wisdom both in reference to knowledge and moral virtue, that the most excellent piece the Philosophers ever composed in that kind is dross and darkness in comparison; sometimes with a complaint so lamentable that it may melt the most rigid hearts with compassion; sometimes with the voice of God speaking and revealing himself from Heaven in a most august Majesty surrounded with lightnings, and with a terrible voice resembling thunder. In one place an ardent prayer, in another testimonies of a fervent piety: here a zeal for the glory of God, and so inflamed a virtue, or else so violent a hate against vice, that when you come to pass from reading of these books to those of the Philosophers, or of any other whatsoever that has assayed to write of such matters, you will seem to be transported from Vesurius to Carcasus. In the whole series of them are interspersed predictions of future things so remote, that no other but the Spirit of God durst have offered at them; apostrophes to the Nations which were to be converted to the knowledge of the God of Israel, exultations for the manifestation of the Messiah, so different from the ordinary thoughts and sentiments of men, that we must forget who we are, if we attribute the same to humane invention. And throughout the whole body composed of members so well adjusted and disposed in so excellent a harmony together, are universally diffused (like blood replete with spirits) vigour, life, consolation so lively, efficacious and sensible to the soul into what perplexing inquietudes soever it falls, that there is none so sweet a refreshment in any ardour, nor sovereign balm to whatsoever wound. And lastly, he that shall proceed from thence to the reading of the other Prophets, unless he do it with much supinity and negligence, will observe in each page sparklings and beams of a light and inspiration truly Divine. Do they expound what the aim and use of the Law is? they do it with most profound Wisdom. Do they reprove and threaten in the name of God? the gravity of their admonitions is inimitable, and the denunciations of his judgements, terrible; so that no humane voice is able to stretch to so high a strain without breaking, no affectation can be set out in a dress so stately, constant and uniform. Do they promise? If temporal deliverances, 'tis with demonstration of so redoubtable a power, that the very name of the Lord of Hosts, which is so often repeated in them, sounds a kind of grandeur I know not how to express, and which cannot arise from humane imagination: If spiritual redemption by the Messiah, 'tis in terms which represent an inexhaustible sea of benedictions and riches. Do they foretell things to come? if it be in obscure terms, the very obscurity of the Prophecy is venerable; and there is always something of greatness discernible cross the veil, though not very distinctly; if it be in plain words, the names of persons designed entire Ages before their birth, times predetermined, and circumstances of matters most exactly taken notice of, sufficiently argue that they are neither divinations of Daemons, nor humane conjectures; neither nature being capable of so remote a foresight. Then, their transports are so sublime and their flights so bold, that no man durst attempt to soar so high; the doctrine held forth is so directly intended to the glory of God and the salvation of man, that 'tis not possible any evil spirit should have been the author of it; and the mixture of the Law with the Gospel is dispensed therein so wisely according to the condition of times, and the oeconomy of Prophecies opening themselves by degrees maintained after such a rate, that should men and Angels conspire together, they would fall infinitely short of such an admirable wisdom. And I entreat such Readers as have any familiarity with the language in which they writ, to observe the same attentively. For I am confident, whatever some say, there is not to be found in any Author, Greek or Latin, so magnificent and pompous an eloquence. And if they understand them not in their natural language, let them read them considerately in some version performed with care and diligence, especially in those which are commonly called Living Tongues. For though the Greek and Latin languages are in their own authors more rich and copious; yet those which live, if well managed, are more pliable to these Translations and take off better the impression and graces of the language of the Prophets; and this, because they are capable of new words and phrases. It will without question appear that all the reproaches profane men cast upon the Holy Books, and disparagements of its style and eloquence, are frivolous. If therefore these Books teach the doctrine of the Trinity, as we have shown they do, and are delivered to us by divine Inspiration, as is clearer than the Noon-Sun, what a folly would it be to go about to examine by reason the mysteries of the Divine Wisdom, which itself has revealed?  
Now concerning the correspondence these verities have with others unquestionable in the Doctrine which holds them forth, it may seem sufficiently declared in the preceding discourse. Man is fallen into a depth of misery, and so is become an object of pity. Now in whom can he excite it, unless in him that is the Father of Mercy? But it was by his sin, and so he is an object of justice. And from whom is he to expect punishment but from the supreme Judge of the World? Will this Mercy display itself in pardon without punishing? No, that would be to the prejudice of justice. Will this justice be executed upon man himself; Nor so; this would be to exclude all Mercy, in which the Almighty takes delight. What remains therefore but for God to substitute a pledge in the room of men? Now it is requisite that this substitute suffer death, and by consequence that he be man. And it is requisite that his passion be of an infinite value; and for this, he must be God; for no other is capable of making such a satisfaction. And if he who is God be stricken by the hand of God by way of punishment, does it not necessarily follow that there are two distinct persons in God? This redemption is unprofitable, if it be not efficaciously applied to man. Who shall apply it to him? Not himself. A blind man might as well open his own eyes, or a Carcase raise itself out of the grave. And since this work of our salvation is common both to the Father and the Son, what is more consentaneous then for them to consummate and apply it by a Virtue which is common to them both? Now if it be common to both, it is distinct from both. How therefore is there not a Third? This is that which men chief stumble at in the Christian Religion. In all other things it is so consistent with reason, that its greatest enemies dare not gainsay it. In this indeed it is in no wise incongruous with reason, provided it be attended to in a due manner, & we let not lose the bridle to its presumptuous curiosity. These principles are likewise common to both the parties, into which we have distinguished all those which profess the Christian Name in Europe at this day. If there be some things embraced by either, which seem absurd to reason, or contrary to piety, yet it behoveth not forthwith to accuse Christian Religion for it. It is meet to try the same by those Books which both equally own, and explore them by the common Principles upon which their Religion is built. For if they be conformable thereunto, they will be found in no wise repugnant to right reason; if not, they must be held for humane inventions, and Religion discharged of the blame.   

CHAP. IX. That Jesus is the Messiah promised by the Old Testament. Also, Of the Divinity of the New.  
WHereas we have evinced in the preceding Discourse that the Christian Religion far surpasses in excellence of Doctrine that which the Jews of old professed, how divine soever it was; and consequently that it was substituted in its place; it is now sufficiently clear, since Jesus is the sole author of it, and professed himself to be the Messiah promised by the Prophets, that he is really the person. For how could an Impostor have been the interpreter and revealer of so celestial a Doctrine? And this is chief the means by which he verily aught to be judged; For 'tis a man's Doctrine which manifests what he is. Nevertheless, our design would not be complete, unless we also observed here briefly (because others have most diligently and amply acquitted themselves in this matter) the principal circumstances of his birth, his Life, and his Death. For there has not been the least defect therein, in relation to all that was heretofore either required or presignified by the Prophets. Malachi had writ in these express terms (chap. 4.) Behold, I will send you Eliah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their Fathers. From this place the Jews still expect the coming of Elias. But what appearance is there that Elias himself should be fetched back from Heaven to converse again here below on Earth? That after so long an enjoyment of the felicities above he should return once more into the miseries of life? Certainly, as it was necessary for him at his reception into Heaven to be devested of the terrestrial qualities of his body, and clothed with suitable ones to the place of his new abode; so, if he should redescende amongst us, it would be requisite for him to resume qualities agreeable with a terrene condition, and to despoil himself of his celestial glories. Now he might well pass from worse to better, from an earthly to a heavenly life; but to return from better to worse would be a mutation of too much disadvantage. Elias therefore was to come, just as David was to come: for the Prophets promised him also. Not that the Son of Jesse and father of Solomon ought to arise from among the dead, to repossess the Kingdom of Israel; but the Messiah, of whom David was a type, aught to be the conductor and Chieftain of spiritual armies, and passing through many dangers and fights obtain peace to his people by his glorious victories. Thus ought one to be born, who being clothed with the spirit of Elias, and leading the same manner of life, might prepare the hearts of men to receive the Messiah by preaching the doctrine of repentance with an extraordinary authority & gravity. And such was John the Baptist, as our Evangelists describe him to us. Isaiah had said in the seventh Chapter of his Prophecies, Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel. And though this might have had its accomplishment after the time of the Prophets, by the extraordinary birth of some infant, for a sign of the deliverance which is promised here, yet in the second place it has regard to the Messiah; as many things in the Prophets agree to the type in one respect, which are referred to the thing signified by the type in another. And in truth, besides that all temporal deliverances have, as shadows, prefigured the great and spiritual one, and this being very signal ought to prefigure the same in a more signal manner; what kind of sign was here chosen to assure Achaz and his people of Deliverance? For if the child of which he spoke, was to be born after an ordinary manner, certainly the sign was not great, nor capable of suggesting much assurance. If there ought to be something extraordinary in his birth, the election of this sign among so many others is strange, if it had no remoter aim. Add hereunto, that were all which the Jews allege concerning the word Virgin true, and that it should sometimes signify a young woman, because there is but little distance of time between these two conditions; yet being its proper and most common signification denotes a Maid, 'tis a manner of expression marvellously strange, to intimate that a young woman shall bear a child, by saying, A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son. So that according to this meaning, should the Prophet have shown with his finger the young woman he spoke of, he had left Achaz and his people at as great a loss by this uncouth speech; and the condition of the times was suitable to such biased Prophecies. Now jesus was born of a Virgin, in a miraculous manner. Which the Jews now cannot handsomely deny; whose Ancestors that condemned him never did him this outrage, though they had rigorous laws against adulterers, and means enough to prove that he was not born in marriage, to which they might have had the acknowledgement of joseph and his Mother. Micai had expressly designed the place of his birth (chap. 5.) But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose go forth have been from of old from everlasting. And all the Prophets promised him of the seed of David, in their Revelations, Histories, and Psalms. As for the place, the Evangelists declare it expressly: and as for his blood, they rehearse the race of Christ from father to son and from time to time up to David, judah, and even Adam himself. And the Jews never called in question his being of the royal line. jacob prefixed the time of his coming at the subversion of all government and political power in judah; and Malachi, before the ruin of the second Temple; Daniel, after seventy weeks of years, to be reckoned from the time of his Prophecy. And the revelation of it was so clear and the tradition founded on it so constant, that all the Jews waited for this time; and several impostors risen up about this time to abuse their expectation. Now Christ was born at the predetermined time, when Herod possessed himself of the Kingdom, and extinguished all that was left of the race of David in any political Power or probability of attempting to gain it; a little before the destruction of the Temple, and the total desolation of the Nation, and the ruin of the Sovereignty of Herod himself, and at the time when the seventy weeks of the Prophet were expired. It was foretold that he should be both a contemptible man in his external appearance, and of a Life unblamable in his conversation. For God calls him his just servant; and Isaiah, The despised and rejected of men. And jesus spent the space of about thirty years unknown of all, not acknowledged even by his kindred, with parents of abject condition, although of royal descent: The calamities of the house of David having reduced some of his posterity to these terms: and his enemies reproached to him, as if he had been the Son of a Carpenter, and a Carpenter himself. As for the integrity of his Life, his most capital Adversaries, and calumny itself found nothing to reprehend in it. Isaiah uttered these remarkable words in the 35. Chapter of his prophecy; Behold, your God shall come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap us an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. A promise too magnificent to receive accomplishment under any other than the Messiah, both in reference to healing the imperfections of the body, and also in relation to the vices of the soul of which those are in a manner resemblances. As for the first, the Miracles which Jesus performed, were so great in themselves, so notorious in the sight of his enemies, so consonant to this Prophecy, that none can with any shadow of verity question that this Prophecy was accomplished in him. For he gave sight to the blind, he healed such as were impotent from the womb, he raised the dead, opened the ears of the deaf, loosened the tongue of the dumb, commanded the winds and the Sea and they obeyed him, and surpassed as well in number as magnificence of his miracles all the Prophets that came before him. 'Tis true, there are some Jews who accuse him of having done the same by Magic. But then their Ancestors who condemned him, would have bethought themselves to make this a part of his Indictment, and insert it into the sentence of his condemnation. For what law is more severe than theirs in constituting terrible penalties for Sorcerers, and all such as addict themselves to Magic? And nevertheless he did these wonders before their Eyes, under the view and cognisance of all the world; in the City and the Country, in the house and the street, and for the most part in the presence of the greatest multitudes. Yet they never accused him of Sorcery. Some Pharisees indeed, whose eyes were perstringed by the lustre of his deeds, accused him of effecting them by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils. But their own followers did not believe them, and the Answer he gave them was perfectly convincing; That his Doctrine wholly tending to the subversion of the Empire of Satan, the Devil would never have confederated with and assisted him that went about thus to undermine the foundations of his Kingdom. And truly what diabolical art or what sleight of Magic could be employed in restoring life to the deceased, and sight to those which never had any, to heal persons desperately sick at a great distance from him and by his Word alone, and to stop a continued flux of blood of twelve years only by the touching of his garments, to reinfuse decayed strength in a moment, and rectify crippled members after long impotence? For what are the works of Magicians usually but illusions, and feats of juggling, rather than actions surpassing the power of Nature? Others of the Jews ascribe his admirable Works to the Cabala, pretending that he stole the name of God out of the Temple, and that to that ineffable Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was annexed the power of doing miracles. But besides that this is a shameless fable, and unworthy to be taken notice of, what colour is there that four Hebrew Letters should have the power of resuscitating the dead? And if the Name of God ennabled him to work Wonders, was it with the permission of God himself, or against his consent? If against his allowance, surely it would be a pitiful case should a man by subtlety steal the name of God and do miracles by it, in spite of him to whom it belongs: That God, I say, should have devested himself of his infinite power to transfer it to four small Hebrew Characters by a irrevocable donation. If with his permission and consent, then hereby he confirmed the calling of Jesus and ratified the open and clear declaration he made of being the Messiah. Which he would never have done in patronage of an imposture. God also foreshowed that the Messiah should suffer, and David apparently specified the manner of his Death: otherwise, to what end did he say, They pierced my hands and my Feet? since in those times of his there was not among the Jews, any custom of a punishment in which they pierced the hands and feet, from whence David might borrow this phrase? For as for what they cavil upon the word, they pierced me, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as if it ought to be translated, as a Lion, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the sense of the sentence, which would by that means become imperfect and in suspense, refutes it. For what can this signify, As a Lion my hands and my feet, there being no connexion to that which precedes? Now our Lord Jesus hath suffered death, even the death of the Cross; by which on the one side the words of David have been accomplished, and on the other that has been really brought to pass which was figuratively represented by the Lifting up of the Serpent: besides, that the Curse denounced against those which hanged upon the tree, is become expiated thereby. David had said in the 16. Psalms, Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption. To what purpose spoke he thus if he meant it of himself, seeing he is dead and in his dust with his fathers? And yet he spoke it not extravagantly; for the Holy Spirit which guided him did not suffer these words to escape him at random. To whom then ought they rather to be referred then to him, of whom David was so express a type that he is styled by his Name? Therefore since he was to die, and yet ought not undergo putrefaction in the grave, it follows that he ought to rise again from the dead; and this our Scriptures teach us of Christ, and is of most evident verity, though the Jews pretend dissatisfaction of it. For why shall we not give credit to his Disciples who were eye-witesses of it, since they gained nothing but persecutions and capital hatreds by maintaining it? Who can imagine that men, who naturally love Life, should spontaneously abandon themselves to death, to defend the delusion of a Death from which they could expect nothing? Moreover, David in the 68 Psalms, saith, Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast lead captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men. I beseech you, who does he speak of? Is it of God as a person distinct from the Messiah? It cannot be. Throughout all the whole space of Ages which passed before Penning of this Psalm, never any deliverance was wrought for the people of Israel, nor extraordinary favour shown them, whose greatness or manner may correspond to this passage; and the strain of the whole Hymn testifies the contrary. To whom can it suit but to him in whose time was to be seen the effect of the words which follow in the same place? Prince's shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. By reason of which the Kingdoms of the Earth shall sing praises unto God, and Psalms unto the Lord; that is, to the Messiah. Now our Lord is ascended into Heaven after his glorious resurrection, whence he hath sent those admirable gifts of the spirit, which have imbued the people of the Earth with the knowledge of the Lord; whereof there need no other proofs, then that the Nations, heretofore the most ignorant and barbarous, have now so much knowledge of the Nature of God, and the truths of Religion, that they exceed the Jews therein as far at least as they were exceeded by the Jews before the preaching of the Gospel. Daniel had foretold that after that Christ should be cut off▪ that is, after he should have suffered death, but not for himself, The People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary: and Christ confirmed this Prophecy by foretelling that of Jerusalem and the Temple there should not be left one stone upon another. Now who can doubt but that the event hath ratified the Prophecy? Lastly, it was predicted, that he should destroy the Kingdom of Satan and the worship of false Gods: and since his times, they have been no longer in repute, even the most famous oracles have lost their very being. Of which there needs no other testimonies than those of Pagan Authors, who inquire after the cause of their cessation, and of experience after so many Ages that their memory is quite abolished.  
Very good (will some say) but of all this we have no authors besides the Evanglists and the Apostles, who are therefore justly suspected and liable to exception, as speaking in their own cause. And moreover, who will warrant to us (say they) that there were Apostles heretofore; or if there were, that those Writings were of their composing? How frequent are cheats committed in such matters.  
Here 'tis difficult to dispute: for what argument and how clear soever be brought the thing itself is of greater evidence. And the Jews are very unjust and unreasonable, if having no other warranty to give us of their Religion but the books of their Prophets, whereunto notwithstanding they require we should yield an absolute belief, and ply under those magnificent names of Moses, David, Jeremy, Isaiah and the like; they demand of us other evidence of ours, than the writings of our Apostles. For what reason is there to ascribe more to the former than the latter? Yet let us comply in this with the obstinacy of men. It is demanded whether there were Apostles heretofore. But he that should demand whether there was a Caesar at Rome and an Alexander in Greece, might with good reason be judged troublesome and impertinent for indubitating a thing of so constant credit. And nevertheless what remains of the Empire of Alexander that may give us assurance of its quondam existence? are there any traces of it either in Asia or Europe? Certainly, no statues which were erected to him, no medals, no pillars erected for his monument, no memorial engraven in a rock or mountain, no person of his lineage, nor shadow of his Empire can give us any certainty of him. There's nothing but the Books of the Ancients for it, of which it may be in like manner demanded whether they be not supposititious, and whether the Authors whose names they bear, were ever in the world. Only it has continued constantly in the memory of men, that there was sometimes an Alexander surnamed the Great by reason of his virtues and grandeur. And what have we of Caesar? His Commentaries; which may with as much reason be called in doubt as the Epistles of Saint Paul? For what more lively character do those bear of that great Emperor then these do of this great Apostle? More than this, what evidence can be produced but I know not what vain pretended inscriptions, some mutilous monuments and the foundation of some old castle, without any other title of its author then the ancient tradition that the Romans waged great wars with our Gauls under his conduct? The most eminent token remaining of him is a vain shadow of his Empire transferred from Rome to Germany, and his name which is perpetuated from one to another by those Princes. Now is there any thing in all this to be compared with the immarcessible evidences which the Apostles have left of themselves in the whole earth? And if the name of Caesar retained by the Germane Emperors, and that carcase of his Empire are sufficient proof that there was a great Prince of that name, is not the name of Saint Peter preserved by the Bishops of that place, and their authority to which those Caesars have subjected themselves, an authentic testimony that there was a Saint Peter? The Roman Name is indeed perished and the Nations have shaken off the yoke of its obedience, and out of the shivers of that great body are risen up divers Kingdoms, who own it no longer, how ever renowned Emperors and formidable armies it had heretofore. But the Christian Name is Living, and the memory of those who founded it, though we be now far removed from their Generation, so fresh and deep in the minds of men, that a self-oblivion will sooner arrive to all mankind than they will forget them. They are continually spoken of in life, they are sought to for consolation in death; the knowledge of them is instilled into the souls of little children with their milk, who do not so soon understand that they are men, as they do that they are Christians and disciples of the Apostles. If therefore a much less certain tradition be not questioned, why shall that which is so constant be called into doubt? If belief is given to some fragments of statues, and some old triumphant arches defaced by time, shall we not give credit to so many Temples and infinite other authentic monuments? Wherefore it remains that there are certain things which though not otherwise known then by tradition and common report, nevertheless cannot be contradicted but by contentious spirits and such as are insupportable in their impudence. For when a thing contains nothing incredible in itself, and is moreover universally received; when all memorial that can be required of it are found both in books & monuments; when the multitude of those which affirm it is innumerable in comparison of those which deny it; when it is embraced by all sorts of spirits and of all conditions, high and low, learned and ignorant, rich and poor; when it has got footing in several Nations, passed over seas and mountains, and penetrated into the most remote regions; when it has taken such root in the minds of men that millions might be found all absolutely disposed to suffer death in defence of it; it behoveth to have lost common sense, or to be immensely brainsick, to be capable still to distrust it. The Question, whether the Books attributed to them be theirs or not, perhaps may seem of somewhat more difficulty to be resolved. And yet, if we be minded to use the same argument, the Christians have had so constant an opinion from all time that they are so, and all Nations and Languages so unanimously acknowledged it, and rendered them so uniform a testimony, that if we doubt not but the Books bearing the names of Aristotle and Cicero are truly theirs, much more ought we to be assured of these, to which such a cloud of witnesses of all qualities and in all times have given most peremptory and convincing evidence. But let us close with them a little nearer.  
The first thing which ought to be considered in a writing is the matter, whether it be both excellent of itself, and consentaneous to the condition of the person who propounds it. For I am persuaded the Marshal de Strossy who was an assiduous reader of Caesar's Commentaries, was not so much assured by the title of the Book that they had that incomparable Captain for Author, as by the traces of an extraordinary military sufficiency he discerned in them, which could not have been made or written but only by a man that was a perfect master in the art of war. Now who did the Apostles pretend themselves to be? Ministers sent to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, and dispensers of his heavenly mysteries. Let it examined what consonance there is between their writings and this profession, and a most perfect correspondence will be found between them. For in that which they have written of his history, they paint him out to us so much to the life, and with so natural a pencil, that he that reads them attentively cannot but seem to himself, to see, understand and converse with him amongst his disciples in Judea. Moreover all their doctrines and narrations have that aim, without ever intermixing any thing of humane sciences or affairs, and extraneous matters little conducing to their purpose; and yet even in that which they teach they discover such a profound wisdom, so unknown to all those that ever professed learning, and nevertheless so conformable to the humane Understanding when once it has comprehended the same, that it is abundantly manifest, that they in truth derived from the fountain of those mysteries what they dispensed to us, and that they portrayed Jesus so lively by having a perfect Idea of him deeply imprinted in their souls. Since therefore the matter of those writings is such that they could not have been made but by those who were either Apostles or alike qualified, what is more rational then to attribute the same to them, seeing they bear their names inscribed in the front, and the air (as I may so speak) and genius of them in their aspect?  
In the next place the style is to be considered; which ought to be agreeable both to the condition of the Writer, and the capacity of those for whose use the writing is intended. Now the Apostles were indeed exalted to a most eminent dignity, but withal teachers of humility, and writ not to refined wits accomplished by the acquist of Sciences, but to the most simple vulgar. What then behoved them to do but choose a plain manner of writing and phrases to which their Disciples were accustomed, to the end not to obscure mysteries of themselves above the ordinary reach of men by an elaborate and sublime style? And this they have done by writing in Greek indeed, because that language was most generally in use among all sorts of Nations which were to be brought to the knowledge of Christ: but they have so accommodated it to the mode of the Hebrew Tongue, that rendering themselves understood by the Greeks, they have not relinquished the idioms to which those were accustomed who by reading the books of the Prophets were already somewhat lightly imbued & prepossessed with those mysteries. As likewise it would have been inconvenient for that Divine Wisdom, unknown to all the Nations and which had conversed with the Jewish alone, though veiled in a sort with ceremonies and legal doctrines, to have all at once quitted its simple and modest attire, to put on the pomp of the Greek or Roman eloquence. For besides that it would have been disguised thereby as in a strange garb, the love it had excited in our minds might have been attributed to that acquaint attire, whereas we ought to be invited to it only by the attractiveness of its simple and natural beauty. Nevertheless there shine so many beams of celestial light, and such a venerable Majesty through this humility and modest outside, I mean the plainness of its language, that whoso observes it attentively will judge it never to have been of humane extraction. But in this it is in some measure different from the manner in which it was revealed by the Prophets, because it was then something terrible, for that designing to awe the minds of men rather by the respect of its Majesty then by very much knowledge, and unveiling itself but seldom, it was requisite it should use a high tone and full of authority. And thus we see why the Prophets seem to use more lofty strains and a more magnificent procedure. But now that it offers itself to perfect knowledge, taking away the band from before the eyes of men and the veil from its own face, it shows itself more obliging and gracious. Hence it is that the Apostles do not thunder and lighten, but discourse and reason, and persuade the humane mind by the consequence of their arguments; whereas the former amazed it.  
Moreover, because 'tis proper to God to be constant, and on the contrary to man to be variable; so that the Works of God, as proceeding from an infallible wisdom, are correspondent to themselves in all their parts; whereas those of man, both through his ignorance which he cannot avoid, and his natural inconstancy, usually vary and interfere; since the Apostles being designed for Teachers to the whole world, aught to have been taught by God, it behoveth necessarily that every one be both consistent with himself and concordant with the rest. Let the New Testament therefore, the writings of which bear the names of eight or ten authors, be diligently considered, for discovering what harmony they make together: certainly the histories will be sound so consonant, the opinions so uniform, the style so like, and the ratiocinations prosecuted so equally, that though according to the diversity of each man's genius there be some kind of air which distinguishes them, so that it may be well observed that they are not the work of one alone, yet in this consort of several voices of which each bears its measure and part, there cannot be found any real discord or dissonance.  
And because the Christian Religion ought to be built upon the foundations of the Jewish, so that what was begun by the Prophets, aught like an edifice to be continued by the Apostles, and finished according to the same design; let the Old Testament be compared with the New, that it may be seen whether there be any part of the structure not correspondent to the foundation, vitiating the proportion, disordering the work, or making a breach. On the contrary it will be found that there is no other difference between the Old Testament and the New in reference to the doctrine of salvation propounded by both, but that it was in the former as it were in its infancy, and in the latter as in its perfect age; there the foundations were laid of it, which scarce ascend above the ground, here 'tis advanced into a complete structure as high as the clouds. 'Tis there like seed shouting out its verdure amidst the ceremonies of the Law, as amongst strange plants; here it is like a flourishing and plentiful crop which has overtoped them all. And lastly God speaks there indeed to the Israelites as a Saviour and Redeemer, but 'tis from the middle of acloud, whence sometimes issue forth lightnings and the noise of thunder; here he dispels all obscurity and shows a calm and serene aspect with a mild and charming strain.  
[Hence also it comes to pass that they who betake themselves seriously to the reading of these books, being enamoured on the excellency of the things they teach, persuaded by the evidence of truth, deeply affected with the knowledge of the nature of Sin which they hold forth, comforted effectually with the remedy which they exhibit against the same, and raised by the gracious promises they meet with therein, to a lively hope of a glorious immortality, are transported with such ardour to embrace them, that all other things afterwards, how commendable soever, seem to them in comparison, jejune, languide and disgustful, impertinent to the right end of humane life, and unprofitable towards what is alone of importance and necessity in it, to wit, The knowledge of God, for whose glory we were created; and The knowledge of the Chief good, whereunto we have a natural tendency; and the means to obtain the same, without which we are destitute of all hope. For admit you were imbued with all the Philosophy of the Greeks, understood all the excellent Learning of the Roman Civil Laws, possessed all the skill in Physic which Hypocrates and Galen have left the world; had turned over all the writings of the ancients, and treasured up a magazine of all histories, observed all the motions of the Heavens, acquired the knowledge of all Arts and perfection in all languages, and discovered the most abstruse secrets in the Mathematics or in Nature, indeed ye might find something of contentment to your mind by noble speculations, and avoid many disturbances of life, and be ennabled to provide for your security and the recovery of your health for a while, and perhaps gain a high repute amongst men: But when a man is at the point of death, and conscience summons him before the Tribunal of God, and he reflects seriously on the immortal state of his soul, the memory of all this vanishes, and there's nothing to animate and comfort us but only the knowledge of the things which are revealed to us in these divine writings; which moreover, both the multitude and the constancy of such as have maintained with their blood to be of Divine original, do justly challenge admiration. For since it has not been through ferocity of courage that they underwent death with such alacrity, being simple men for the most part and humble and quiet-minded in their whole lives; nor through ambition of vain glory, from affecting which they were very remote in all their conversation; nor through a blind and obstinate headiness and opiniastry, having always shown themselves submissive to all good reasons, and respectful towards all persons and especially towards superior Powers; nor through brutish stupidity, since in all other matters they appeared men of sober judgements, capable of reason and prudence; nor through ignorance of the nature of Death, seeing they preached to others that 'tis an effect of the vengeance of God upon the Sin of men, and were fully persuaded of the immortality of their souls; but the only hope of glory promised in those books raised them beyond all fear; & they must needs have had a high persuasion of their verity, since it was capable to ingenerate so powerful and impregnable a confidence in their minds.  
And whereas there were many things which might have reclaimed and deterred them from embracing these Books; as the continual afflictions which they promise in this life (for such is the gratification they hold forth here to those which receive them) the love of their estates, honours, and children, which naturally possesses the minds of men; the reproach of an ignominious death, which is so intolerable to minds that own any thing of generosity; the severity and reiteration of torments, sufficient to shake the most firm resolution; it follows that there must have been some more than humane inducements which fixed their minds so unmovably on an object exposed to so numerous incomfortable perplexities and violences. Then, consider especially the almost infinite multitude of Martyrs, and their long perseverance through so many Ages. For had there been but two or three, it might have been deemed Nature had intended some extraordinary exploit in them, or that they were transported by some foolish fancy; and every Religion might produce some like example. But what charm could have been potent enough to induce so many millions of men, women and children, of all ages, conditions, sexes, and in so many most bloody persecutions renewed from time to time and age to age, to despise death so magnanimously, in maintaining a doctrine, which had no other trouble attended it, may seem aught to have been disgustful to them both because it opposed their passions, which we follow so willingly, and deprived them of all the sweetnesses and delights of life? Nevertheless those Violences have been the means to propagate it throughout the whole Earth; and resolution and patience, the arms wherewith it has destroyed the empire of the false Gods, and expelled the Demons from government of the World: Other kind of Armies it never depended on to extend its conquests even to the ends of the World and subdue the greatest and most flourishing Empires. All other Religions are confounded; or if any are still upheld, 'tis only by the favour of Princes & force of arms. This, though all the powers of the world were enemies to it at its birth, though it never attempted any thing but by the Voice only, never used other rampart for defence but an invincible patience, has born up through 1600 years, and overcome the hearts of Princes themselves. But of this subject there are express Treatises, to which we refer the Reader, and proceed to examine in the next Chapter a certain Opinion excogitated of old by some giddy spirits, and revived in our days, against the Divinity of Christ; which though destitute of all appearance of reason, does not cease to take root and grow amongst many persons, and therefore requires our consideration.] 
Place these two leaves, which you find with Stars, between 510 and 511.    

CHAP. X. That those who affirm Christ took upon him the appellation of God, though he was not so, only that he might thereby render his Doctrine more authentic, are apparently destitute of all reason.  
THere are some people in these days who conceive they render the Christian Religion very acceptable, when they give this account of matters pertaining to it; That true Religion consists in the internal piety of the soul towards God and in the sincere and constant exercise of true virtue towards men; That of all Religions, the Christian is that which holds forth most knowledge of the nature of God and true virtue, reducing the humane mind to the principles of nature itself and rectifying it from all the perverse opinions which the corruption of depraved Ages had induced into it: But because the naked and plain proposing of these matters would have been very little effectual with men, their own affections inclining them more powerfully to vice then virtue; and for that the exhortations of a man merely man would not have been very prevalent; Christ, who was the chief and most excellent promoter of it, that he might render his preaching more authentic, assumed the glorious appellation of the Son of God and pretended to be God too; to the end that, it being natural to us to receive with reverence what proceeds from the Deity, his Doctrine might be more readily and firmly embraced, his pretended divine dignity and the danger of rejecting what God is author of, conciliating a sacred and venerable authority unto him. Whence it was, that like as when some great structure is to be built, scaffolds are erected round about it, which of themselves make no part of the Work, but are serviceable for conveying materials upwards and for the standing of workmen; so in the structure of Christian Religion some positions were employed, which of themselves are but mere fictions, but yet conduce to the establishing of profitable and excellent truths: Such are the doctrine of the Trinity, that of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, of Justification by means of Christ's death, and others which depend on these; which are in their judgement Pious Frauds (as they speak) useful to very advantageous effects, and might be employed with a safe conscience, because 'tis a good thing to deceive when the delusion renders men better, more happy and more wise.  
Now this Opinion is so strange and swarms with so many absurd impieties, that not the scarcity but the abundance of Arguments which arise all at once in the mind of whosoever considers it, renders me anxious where I should begin. For in the first place, it is requisite that they take away all correspondence between the Old Testament and the New, and deny that our Lord Jesus was the Messiah. Because the preaching of Christ was grounded on this point, That God had heretofore by his Prophets promised a Messiah to the people of Israel, who should be the Redeemer of the Nation; and he was sent accordingly by God for that end in the fullness of time t in which regard he invited all the world to receive him as the Supreme Prophet. Let them speak it out therefore confidently whether Christ be the Messiah promised by the Old Testament, or not. For if he be not, it behoveth to become Jews, and to account him as they do for the greatest Deceiver that ever was upon the earth, and hence forward turn our Churches into Synagogues, reducing all Christian order to the ancient manner of the Tabernacle. If he be the Messiah promised by the Old Testament, he is God; for that describes him to be such, as we have shown by irrefragable proofs. And that those Books of Moses, David, and the Prophets, are divine, what we have spoken above in the matter leaves it no longer doubtful. Nevertheless, admit (for the present) they be writings purely humane; surely these excellent Theologers will not deny (lest the reading shame them) but that they agree all in this particular, That from the Nation of the Jews ought one day to arise a great and rare personage who should be King in Israel, and should be called the Son and the Branch of the Lord himself. And this hath been the expectation of that people in all times, with which they comfort themselves still in their deplorable desolation. But what moved them to speak in this manner, if they had no other instinct but from their own mind? Who incited Moses to set this fraud first on foot? Why did the others many Ages after so carefully cherish, ratify and augment it in several circumstances with other false prophecies? What profit did they reap by deluding the world with such a hope? They must have had intelligence so many ages before with a man who was not yet in being, to foretell that he should exist; and this man born by chance at the just time which they presumed to determine, must have taken occasion from these fortuitous predictions and the expectation raised by them in the minds of men, to declare himself the person whom so many prophets in so many different times had unanimously presaged was to exist. Now it would be a strange case, that Moses should first of all, without any necessity of so doing or advantage by it in reference to his design of governing the people of Israel and the establishment of his power, take up a fancy of the future arising of some great Prophet; and then another should come two or three hundred years after, and revive this prediction made at random and enlarge and clear it up with other new (for this opinion was successively more and more confirmed and rooted in the minds of men) and that at length, at the time prefixed and the set period, there should be found one both confident enough to draw all those presages to his advantage, and so favoured by fortune that all the circumstances of his birth, his life, and his death should meet together in his person. Surely there's as much likelihood in this as in the Imagination of Epicurus concerning the framing of the world by the casual lighting together of Atoms. But there's something yet more strange. If they were predictions purely humane and also fortuitous, like the Ephemerideses of Nostradamus'; being they were clothed in magnificent terms, and there was nothing promised less than a King sitting upon the throne of David, who was to restore the Commonwealth of Israel, fallen into so miserable an estate under the power of the Romans; If Jesus were merely man and intended to advantage himself by the foolish hopes of that people, what a preposterous madness was it to take the course he did? In stead of exciting the people to sedition against the Romans, he commands to pay tribute, and pays it himself to give example: In stead of insinuating into the affections of daring adventurous men and such as he might use for Captains, he makes choice of a dozen poor Fishermen, and people of such condition, to have them continually in his train: Instead of erecting his Nation to magnanimity, he betakes himself to preach humility and obedience: In stead of employing the virtue of doing miracles he was so mighty in, to astonish Herod or Pilate in some surprise or battle, he heals the lame and the blind and the dumb and the paralytic: And that which is, if these Opinionists be credited, the height of folly, instead of raising men into hope of his victories, he foretells to them which followed him that he was to die upon the Cross, and sharply reproves one of them who went about to dissuade him from that purpose of his. Was this the way, if it was a humane Design, to be get in the world already possessed with hope of a Messiah for a great Earthly King, a belief that he was the person which was promised by their Prophets? Surely Mahomet used not this course, who takes arms in hand, giveth freedom to slaves, and because he knew his doctrine could not support itself by the prop of truth, plants it in all places, where he can by wars and battles. Wherefore to conceive a person should endeavour to serve himself, after this manner, of the presumptions and expectations of men, is not to fancy a man but a lunatic. In the next place, I ask, whether Jesus Christ, when he called some persons with him to serve him in the work he undertook (as nothing is more apparent than that he had twelve peculiar Apostles) he discovered this secret of his pretended Divinity to them, or whether he abused them aswell as other men? For if he discovered the same to them, 'twas a wonderful complot, that he should style himself the Son of God, deport himself for very God, and they profess themselves his messengers, sent immediately from him to promulgate his doctrine, and at last for their reward, he should be ignominiously crucified, and each of them respectively after divers dangers both by Sea and Land, after imprisonments, stonings, tortures and racks, should conclude their miserable and painful lives by cruel and shameful deaths. Truly, though he chose Fishers and men of low condition, yet I believe there was none among them so stupid as to be capable of being persuaded to partake in this enterprise upon these conditions. For as for his having induced them to it by this only consideration, that great good should come thereby to the World, and that the Nations should be converted by their word from Idols to the true God, there was so little colour in the thing, that he would never have been believed; so little of that generosity in them which leads men to promote the universal good of the world without appearance of other recompense then misery and death, that none of them would have forsaken his boat or his cottage. If he abused them also and imposed upon them by his fair language, 'tis yet a thing surpassing all admiration, that this deceit should have rendered them of idiots and rustics, the most excellent persons of the world, and incited them (who knew nothing beyond mending nets) to undertake the reformation of Religion and manners of all the people of the habitable world. For even a rejecter of the Gospel cannot but judge it requisite for them to have been endowed with extraordinary graces, not adequate to Fishers and toll-gatherers, that they might persuade men to embrace things of such a surprising nature, and bring it so to pass, that whereas Mahomet with all his Armies, and they which have succeeded him, have not been able to establish a firm Empire, but in the space of some hundreds of years, twelve mean and despicable men, in half an Age drew the greatest part of the World to them, and established an Empire over the consciences of men which continues unshaken after so many generations; and furthermore, which is observable above the rest, they effected this by teaching men things repugnant to their natural inclinations, and exhorting them to die courageously for one that was crucified; whereas Mahomet published a Law which flatters the body with carnal pleasures and likewise the mind by indulging it in its most violent passions? But will they venture to give credit to what the Apostle Saint Paul writes concerning himself? We have shown above that it would be too great impudence to deny the Epistles which bear his name to be his, too great perversity not to believe it. I demand therefore, whether, when he relates the means by which he was converted to Christ, he does it according to truth, or to promote the Illusion? For if it were only to play his part in the Comedy, what advantage was it to him to abandon the honours and privileges he enjoyed in his own Nation, and expose himself to hunger and thirst, the hatred of his Countrymen and the sury of cruel beasts, only to deceive the world in favour of another Deceiver, and he one that was crucified, for which he had no other reward to hope, but at length to perish by the same sort of punishment? If it was according to truth, what power had a dead man to cause him to see such visions, to speak to him from heaven and captivate all his thoughts (as he speaks) to his obedience?  
Yet perhaps both the one and the others, Christ and his Ambassadors, intended the glory of God, and did all this in favour of true virtue, by an honest zeal which closed their eyes against all dangers, and was also seconded with some especial strength from God ennabling them to contemn all things in comparison of the advancing of their enterprise. Let us therefore inquire what their piety and virtue may have been if the opinion of these people be admitted. And first, did they use this proceeding by the command of God? No, surely; For God, who is the God of truth, would not have commanded them to teach a Lie, or to make use of one to persuade some other thing that were true. He is powerful to cause the truth to be embraced by other means; and a greater injury cannot be done to him then to go about to gratify him with what he hates. Much less would God have commanded a mere man to call himself his eternal Son and God equal to him, so to add blasphemy and sacrilege to a lie. Indeed what appearance is there, that whereas men ought to honour and venerate him as God alone, he should not only have favoured by his connivance but enjoined by his express commandment that a mortal man should take upon him to be eternal God, and draw the hearts and veneration of men to himself? But if they had no such command, what prodigious boldness would it have been for a man, whose conscience was convinced he was no more, to dare to call himself God? And what a hideous impiety in those who seconded him in this design to preach him for such throughout the whole world? These people make show of commending Christ because he brought the minds of men to the knowledge of the purity of virtue, and taught a more refined and exquisite holiness than any that ever was besides; and yet they represent him to us the most notorious liar and most impious blasphemer of men. The wise men of old exclaimed against the folly of Alexander the great, who suffered himself to be almost flattered into a belief that he was the Son of Jupiter, though he lived in a dark Age and Country, in which the stories of the lewdness of the Gods made it no incredible thing; Bacchus and some others worse being in the number, whose achievements were short of his. But these subtle people we deal with, represent him to us for a modest person and worthy of imitation for his virtue, whom they judge to have abused the world by so notorious an imposture. Moreover, what piety could Christ have had towards God? For what an insolence was this to believe himself God if he was not so? And if he did not believe it, why did he not, having no command to profess himself such, tremble with horror as oft as he reflected on God and his own blasphemy? Certainly, if he had been such as these people describe him, he had deserved far worse than the cross which he suffered. But behold something yet more strange. They say that among the great and glorious things which Christ did, this excels the rest, That he abolished Idolatry and the rabble of Gods which were adored by the Pagans, and restored the knowledge and true worship of the Deity: And yet, if what they say be true, he has established the highest and most universal Idolatry that ever was seen in the world. For almost all Nations have embraced the doctrine of Christ: And amongst those Nations very few persons can be found but acknowledge him for God blessed for ever. Nor is it material here to allege that his intention was not to be acknowledged for such. For why did he call himself God, unless that men might believe it? Wherefore does he complain of the incredulity of the Jews when they will not acknowledge him for such, but accuse him of blasphemy? And how would he have men believe him God without adoring him, since it is as much sin not to adore him whom we believe to be God, as to adore him whom we esteem not to be so? Besides, he never repelled any that addressed to him under that notion, and his Apostles universally own it. Was it not therefore by his commandment? Or, if it were not by his express commandment, ought not he to have redressed so dangerous a mistake?  
One thing there is which I would understand certainly, whether they against whom I dispute, give any credit to the Books which we call the Gospel. For what ever good outside they wear, I doubt they believe them not at all, and withal think no Jesus Christ was ever in the world; and consequently all this Discourse is absolutely unprofitable: they must be referred to the preceding dispute, in which I proved their Divinity against the Jews and others like them. If they afford any belief to those Books, certainly they will never accuse them of having forged the testimonies rendered of Christ from heaven, the authors of which might not only have contradicted one another, but might have been convinced of fall should by fifty thousand persons. What then was the meaning of God in these words, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased? As for the miracles which he wrought, as raising the dead, giving sight to such as were born blind, healing inveterate lamenesses of many years, and the like, they could not proceed from any but a special assistance of a power truly divine. And what appearance is there that God should have afforded his infinite power to such an impostor to cause men to believe in him, and consequently to found such a prodigious and universal Idolatry? We know, said one, God hears not the wicked. But who ever was more wicked than Christ if he was so impious and such a blasphemer as this Opinion represents him. Then, in reference to the certain predictions which Christ made of things to come into which no humane conjecture could dive, there needs no other proofs of them then by comparing the correspondence which the Evangelists observe of them with the events themselves. He foretold that he should die, and it came to pass accordingly. But which is more, he foretold that he should rise again, and he was not deceived in his assurance. He foretold the ruin of Jerusalem; and the Romans, as if they had been hired by him for that purpose, fulfilled his Prophecy. He declared that when he was once lifted up on high, he would draw all men to him; and experience attests the verity of this oracle. For his Cross is like a standard lifted up before the Eyes of all Nations to summon and invite them to his knowledge. Now many others indeed have foretold things to come; but I judge it impossible for such a person, as Christ would have been had he been such as these people describe him, to have obtained the spirit of Prophecy from God. Balaam sometimes prophesied of things to come; but it was for the good of the people. But this of Christ's would have been to gain credit to the word of an impostor, to lead men into many snares, and especially, as was said, for God to lend his hand to the setting up of Idolatry. As for what these good the people say, that it was lawful to abuse men in some points in order to leading them to embrace certain excellent virtues; although it be a strange and absurd method of teaching truth by the favour of prodigious falsities, and a wiliness uncommendable by prudent judgements, yet should it be admitted, it ought not to be practised unless in matters which draw no pernicious consequences after them; as when the simplicity of childhood is beguiled by smearing honey or sugar on the brim of the cup which contains a medicinal potion, 
— Deceptaque non capiatur,  
Sed potius tali facto recreata valescat.  But the using impious and blasphemous falsities, and which are infallibly effective of such idolatry, had Christ and his Apostles practised it, they had not followed that incomparable precept which they give us for a rule of our actions, Not to do evil, that good may come of it. As for the other opinions, being they are consequent of this, and by reason of their dependency implicitly proved in the proof of their primitive principle, I shall not insist upon demonstrating the truth of them. Only I shall intimate, that Saint Paul had been a person of a stranglye distempered mind, to labour so much in disputing against the Gentiles from the maxims of Nature, and against the Jews from the constitutions of the Law, to draw arguments from the books of the Old Testament, to expound allegories, to reason, raise and resolve objections, in maintaining the doctrine of justification by faith, and of predestination or eternal election, and other like doctrines, if they were nothing but fictions. His writings discover a wisdom too profound to leave place for an accusation of so inept and ridiculous deceit. But the cause these people speak after this rate, is, that they never read or never understood the Holy Scriptures and the oeconomy of Christian Religion. For did they attentively consider them, they would easily observe that the point of Christ's incarnation in this doctrine, is like the image of Phidias in the Statue of Minerva; which if taken away, the whole work is dissolved; if let alone, all the parts of the statue are terminated in the same with such art and wisdom, that an observing mind is ravished with admiration at the whole contrivance. But let us now return to our Design and bring it to conclusion.   

CHAP. XI. That Indifference in the professing all Religions is not justifiable according to the Christian Religion, which Party soever be embraced. And for Conclusion, The Refutation of the Pretext propounded in the Preface.  
WE have by the Divine assistance shown by reasons in which all endued with any sense of piety, and even in whom nature and reason are not absolutely perverted, aught to acquiesce, That the Jewish Religion having been heretofore alone of divine institution, the Christian hath by the authority of the Messiah so succeeded it, as that it hath wholly abrogated its use; and That this latter bears infinite evidences of its heavenly original, both in the excellence of its doctrine, and the correspondence of it with the ancient Prophecies. We also intimated at the beginning, that there are two principal Parties of Christians, under which all are ranked that wear this name, differing in two principal Points, on which all their other controversies depend. One of these Parties holds that that particular Revelation by which God hath ordained Religion and matters pertaining to his service, has been left to men by two ways; namely by the Scripture, and by verbal Tradition; the Scripture to serve for a foundation to Tradition, and Tradition to be a supplement in the deficiency of the Scripture, for that it contains not all things necessary to salvation; and even in what it does contain, is of dubious understanding, and hath need of the interpretation of Tradition. Moreover, that the dispensing of Tradition has been committed to the hands of the Bishop of Rome, to use it with a Sovereign and Apostolical authority, and a promise from God to be absolutely infallible in it. The other Party acknowledge no other revelation of the Divine Wisdom, then that which is contained in the Books of the Old and New Testament, rejecting all verbal Tradition in reference to things necessary to salvation. And as for the authority of the Pope concerning the infallible interpretation of the Word of God, they not only do not acknowledge it, but dare to condemn it as tyrannical and Antichristian. It remains therefore to inquire briefly, whether this flexible and soft Indifference be approvable by either Party.  
Now how sharply soever they contend in other points, they both accord in this, That it is in no wise lawful for Christians either to partake in the Idolatries of the Pagans, which their Religion condemns as abominable; or to desert the Christian Religion, and embrace the Law of Mahomet, which they account a damnable impiety, with which no communion ought to be had even so much as in appearance; or to join themselves to the Jews, though anciently the people of God, or partake in any manner whatever in their worship, for that it would be an abjuration of the name of Christ the sole Saviour & Redeemer of our Souls. And this their judgement is grounded on texts of their Gospel so frequently occurring almost in each page, that 'tis scarce needful to allege any example. Certainly, those words of St. Paul writing to the Corinth. are singularly emphatical, I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to Devils and not to God; & I would not that ye should have fellowship with Devils. And they are so much the more to be considered in that he speaks not to those which were of Pagan belief, for he would not have termed such, Brethren; nor to those which had a desire to revolt from the Gospel of Christ to Paganism; for otherwise those words, You cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils, and you cannot partake of the Table of the Lord and of the Table of Devils, had been wholly beside the purpose and impertinent; and if he had had to do with such people, he would have written in another style. But he speaks to such, as either through fear of persecution or complacency, were willing to hold in with both sides, and to retain the Gospel of Christ in secret, but otherwise to conform, as to outward profession only, to the ceremonies of Idolaters. And the same Apostle was so jealous of the purity of the doctrine which he held forth, and esteemed it so necessary to salvation for the form of it to be retained sincere and complete without any mixture of strange doctrines, that when certain Teachers went about, not openly to withdraw his disciples of Christ, but only to introduce the doctrine of the Old Law in the matter of justification into the Covenant of Grace, because these are things absolutely incompatible, he says, Although we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Gospel unto you then that ye have received, let him be accursed. And can it now be conceived he had any favour for this Indifference? On the contrary, the Cross was ever the cognisance of him and others like him, and in general of all true Christians in all Ages; Not only to denote that they believe in him who was crucified for them by the Jews and the Romans, but that they are resolved, if need requires, to undergo the like or more grievous punishment for the confession of his Name, as not being worthy to have part in his glory, unless they generously incur all sorts of dangers and sufferings for his sake. Thus likewise he said, Whosoever will be his Disciple, must take up his Cross and follow him. And the Martyrs of the Primitive Church, who in the infancy of Christianity, sealed his truth with so much blood as they courageously lost, so many horrible torments which they underwent, so many shameful and exquisite deaths which they endured, have more then authentically confirmed this belief, which was so universal and immutable in them, That he who confesses not the Name of Christ in the very face of danger, who abstains for love of him from all religious ceremonies different from his own, who does not condemn th' m publicly and even in the presence of Flames and Axes, is fallen from the hope of their chief Good and for his unworthiness adjudged to eternal punishment and ignominy; according to that saying of their Master, Whosoever shall deny me before men, I will deny him before my Father which is in Heaven.  
Then, for communicating in the Religion of one another, both Parties alike condemn it, and look upon this Indifference as a Profane and irreligious humour. For they which hold Religion to be constituted aswel by Tradition as by Scripture, and that the Church of Rome alone is entrusted with the custody of it, and the Pope the supreme mannager and dispenser of it, thunder out anathemas against those which are not of their opinion, have persecuted them with flames and torments, and at this day in Italy and Spain exercise a cruel Inquisition against them of different judgements, though they declare not the same; and moreover when occasion is offered they make bloody wars upon those whom they account heretics. And they believe themselves bound hereunto by zeal to the Christian Religion and the salvation of the souls of men, which when they cannot be reduced by reason, aught to be reclaimed from error by the terror of persecutions and arms. And as they hold this for a necessary course towards those who are turned aside from the faith, so they wonderfully extol the courage not only of the ancient Martyrs, but also of those who resolutely undergo any thing for defence of the Roman Religion. And if there be any Country in Europe, wherein the contrary Party prevails, they enjoin their adherents to submit rather to all sorts of evil usages, then to comply with anheretical profession; proclaiming openly that there is no salvation out of the communion of their own Church, the head and mother of all others, by communication, participation and dependence on which alone, all other Christian Assemblies have right to the titles of Christian and Catholic; so that whoso is not gathered unto it, is out of the way and lost. On the contrary, should the other Party, who restrain all Divine wisdom revealed for the instruction and bringing of men to salvation within the bounds of the Holy Scripture, approve this pretended lawful Indifference, they would be the most stupid and inconsiderate branglers in the World: For they allege this cause of their separation from the Roman Church, for that they could not with safe conscience partake in its ceremonies; which has occasioned many great wars, which within this last hundred years, have filled all Europe with deplorable slaughters and calamities. Themselves also undergo all sorts of inconveniences and mischiefs for their professions sake, rather than condescend in this point to the command of Kings and the bent of whole Nations; they extol the patience of their Martyrs (for with this title they honour the memory of such as have been put to death for defence of the Religion they profess) they exhort one another to the like magnanimity, and denounce eternal perdition in ●ase they be deficient of courage herein.  
I will not at present determine on which side the right is. May the Father of Mercy please to reconcile their minds, and close up this great wound of his Church! But in the mean time, it is beyond all doubt that according to their contrary doctrines they ought to condemn one the other, and hold that whoso embraces the faith of the One cannot secure his salvation in the external profession of the Other. For example (for I will will not engage far in this matter) The Reformed charge the Roman Church with three accusations; Of heresy in its doctrine, in many particulars; of Idolatry in its religious service; and of Tyranny in relation to government, in sundry instances; So as to call the head of it, Antichrist, and apply to him, as the person intended by Prophecies, whatsoever is found concerning Anti-christ in the Epistles of Saint Paul and the Revelation. If these accusations be grounded on truth, how can they comply with that Church, unless they will violate this Commandment, A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; Knowing that he that is such, is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself, etc. And how can they but hold the teachers of it for accursed, according to this other commandment, Little Children, Keep yourselves from Idolatry? And I cannot imagine that Saint Paul would permit external communion in the same Religion which those whom in regard of their Religion he excludes from hope of the Kingdom of Heaven. Be not deceived (saith he) Idolaters shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. And if he forbids to eat with them, that is, to converse familiarly with them in the way of civil and ordinary life, much more would he prohibit to entertain society with them in the same Religion. But those words are most highly remarkable; If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. For if the Beast mentioned there be Antichrist, as 'tis manifest; and the Bishop of Rome be this Anti-christ as the Reformed pretend; and that to receive the mark of the Beast in ones forehead or hand, be, as is evident, to adhere to it in external profession, what does he but pronounce sentence of condemnation against himself, who believes the Pope to be Anti-christ, and nevertheless esteems the outward profession of adhering to him indifferent? For 'tis all one, as if he should affirm it lawful for a good and loyal Subject to follow the standard of the enemy of his King, some unjust and violent usurper of his Kingdom. And indeed it cannot be thought but that the Pope himself and his Cardinals, if they believed themselves such as the adversary party publishes them, would condemn themselves and all those which follow them.  
On the other side, the Catholics accuse their Adversaries of a temerarious separation from the true Church, and of having added Heresy to Schism, amassing their Religion up of all those heresies which have been condemned by the ancient Councils; and moreover of having to heresy added Rebellion against the Pastors, whose vocation is only true and legitimate. Also, of having abolished the most sacred Mysteries which our Saviour instituted, subverted all order of Discipline from top to bottom; in a word, of having revolted from the faith and obedience of the Supreme Monarch of the Church, the Vicarius of our Lord Jesus, the sole and infallible dispenser of his mysteries. Now if this accusation contain as much truth, as upon seeing it explicated and maintained in the writings of those great and even incomparable personages which have undertaken the quarrel in favour of the Roman Church in our times, it seems to have verisimilitude, what man so persuaded can with a good conscience associate himself to people culpable of so many heinous crimes; as of Schism, heresy, rebellion, temerity and sacrilege against God, impudence towards men, and above all of disobedience to him that represents Jesus Christ and God his Father upon earth? Surely he that should in the least connive at or bear with the reproaches cast upon him might be thought even capable of attempting on the person of the Redeemer of the World.  
From all this it is easily colligible, That this opinion of Indifference of all Religions in outward profession, is false and pernicious; renders all the exhortations of God himself in his Gospel to suffer for the truth, insignificant; disparages the sober judgement of the Apostles, who were the first that proposed themselves examples of inflexible resolution; and consequently leads to the contempt of God and of all Religion in the World. For like as one that should profess it indifferent to him what man he owns for his Father, or what Prince's badge he wears instead of his King's, would tacitly intimate himself to be of some spurious or degenerate offspring, and that he has a venal and unnatural soul; So he that cares not of what God he bears the cognisance here below, declares sufficiently that he acknowledges none for his own part, and that his following of any Religion is only out of interest and complacency; and those Pretexts we mentioned in the beginning, how specious soever, are only a coverture to this profane humour. Truth, say they, is hard to be disentangled from the confusion of the many Religions which have the vogue in the world: And God is of his own Nature so merciful, that he is not strictly inquisitive concerning it, but is better pleased with the love of peace and society, then with the adherence to certain particular opinions which occasions such disturbances and miseries. Strange people! who complain of the difficulty of a thing they never enquired after, who limit the prerogatives of God and his affections, without understanding them, and who under colour of tenderness for peace with men make no conscience to wage war against God, who for the preservation of Civil Society which only regulates and contains the duties of men among themselves, subvert and confound the Laws of Religion, in which are contained our duties towards him who created the World and Men. Certainly, had these Opinionists employed in the search of God's truth, half the time they bestow on unprofitable occupations of this life, they would not judge Religion a thing full of spinous questions and irresolvable difficulties. The sole reading of the Old and New Testaments, which would not take up so much of their time as a quarter of Amadis or the Romance of Astrea, would clear up all those perplexities, and cause them to pronounce resolutely, provided they come to it with attentive minds and free from evil prejudices, for the preeminence of the Faith of Christ against all the superstitions of the world. And though some knot may be met with here or there by the way, yet what man is there who addicting himself to the study of a science, is deterred from it by one or two difficulties he finds in it? How often has such a one vexed his brains for the understanding of Aristotle, and how many days and nights has he spent in the reading of his writings, despairing of being ever able perfectly to understand them, who having scarce once in his life cast his Eyes upon the Epistles of Saint Paul complains of the contexture of his ratiocination and the obscurity of his doctrines? And yet the affair with the Philosopher, was perhaps no more than to know whether Demonstration from the Effect deserves the title of Demonstration as well as that which is made from the Cause; or whether according to the Peripatetic doctrine Universals have a subsistence out of our Intellect; or what reasons justify the opinion of ranking Privation among Principles of things; empty questions and of no importance in reference to Life: whereas in the writings of the Apostle, the argument is concerning the glory of God and the salvation of our souls. But the truth is, where the business is to render to God the service which we own him, the most even ways seem rugged to us; but where 'tis to follow our fancies, all precipices become easily superable, and we levelly mountains. Had these people once understood Religion and well conceived the idea of it, they would exalt the mercy of God without comparison more than they do, and withal have a greater dread of his justice; and where he has revealed his celestial truths, they would not dare to bring a Lie into competition; where he has manifested his will, they would not presume to prefer their own before it; where he has described the form of Religion he would have us to follow with his own hand, they would not offer to equal with it either humane imaginations or inventions of Devils; where he hath sworn, that As he lives, he will not give his glory to another, and that he will bring vengeance upon his enemies, by drenching his arrows in their blood, they would not abuse his mercy to impiety, nor sleep in so profound a supinity, but would learn from those who have most of all extolled his compassions, that 'tis a terrible thing to fall into his hands. The great judgements wherewith he hath chastised all Nations by reason of their Idolatries, the dreadful calamities which he brought on his beloved People for having imitated the same, the unparallelled desolation of the City of Jerusalem, and the visible Curse which pursues that miserable Nation every where for having rejected the Gospel, the breaking to pieces of the Roman Empire for having persecuted it, and the judgements which lie pours down from time to time upon all those who provoke him, would be sufficient documents to them that though his patience be marvellous, yet he is terrible in revenging contempt towards himself and the truth revealed by him. As for what is alleged concerning the peace and union of minds inflamed with so great passion through the occasion of Religion some against others, and of the tranquillity of States put in combustion by differences in sacred matters; did we see no other means to obtain the same but those of impiety, it were more eligible to be at perpetual jars and enmities. Did Christ, who knew well that he came to bring fire and sword into the world by the preaching the Gospel, desist therefore from preaching it, or command his Apostles to conform themselves to all professions according to occasion, for fear of exciting seditions and tumults? No, surely. Should the world perish by combustions, his truth must be maintained. But by the grace of God we are not reduced to those terms. To turbulent and inconsiderate minds Religion is often a pretext of commotions: to violent and bloody souls the same Religion is sometimes an incitement to murders and massacres. But wise and politic Princes, who give not themselves up to their own passion or to the furious zeal of others, have well understood, how, notwithstanding the diversity of professions, to contain their people within the compass of duty towards them and concord together; and experience hath attested that when they will employ their prudence and authority therein as they ought they are equally well served by opposite Parties. So that the zeal of Religion being moderated by the laws of reason and humanity does not so transport men's minds but that they may live peaceable together under one Government although in contrary profession of Religion. Besides, the two Societies (Civil and Religious) have their rights and their laws distinct, and the knowledge of the true God does not lead to the troubling or subverting of humane Commonwealths, no more than ardency we ought to have for his glory ought to render men murderers and barbarians. But what tends all this discourse to? For certainly, these people who speak so much of the public peace, have no great care for it; 'tis their own peace they are solicitous of. And because their God is the grandeur, pleasure and contentment of the world, they hate the profession which crosses th●ir designs, and lays obstacles before them, & which hinders them from mounting whether they aspire. And being 'tis an infamous thing to be accounted a despiser of the Deity, and they which declare freely that Religion is not worthy to be preferred before the things of the world, are ordinarily looked upon as monsters by others, they shelter themselves under the fair appearance of the desire of peace, and seek masks to disguise so uncomely an aspect. But he that should behold the bottom of their hearts (and they cannot so well hid themselves but they may be discerned cross their veil) would find there the contempt of God and of his service, which shame hinders them from laying open to the world. In Christendom whoever is neither a Catholic nor Reformed, he must of necessity be an Atheist (since he cannot be either Pagan or Jew or Mahometan, unless he have lost common sense together with all gust of piety) And indeed for the most part either their lives or discourses convince them to be such. For if there be any such person that lives in a measure honestly in the sight of the world, yet he speaks disdainfully of Religion, and looks upon all those as besotted who are lovers of the same. Others swim in all sorts of pleasure, and are so abandoned to dissoluteness, that they cause shame to mankind and horror to any that considers them. These, Truth accounts it a glory to have her enemies. The former she cares for so much the less as they are much more rare. I pray God restore them to a better mind. And to him who hath afforded us the grace to bring this small work to its conclusion, be honour and glory to all eternity. Amen.   
FINIS.