In JMicmory
FREDERICK
BENJAMIN KAYE
(Yale, 1914)
Professor of English
.Uorfh-ufesfern Xlnix^erstfy,
1916-1950
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Two Compendious
DISCOURSES:
The one concerning the
%
Power of God:
The other about the
CERTAINTY and EVIDENCE
O F A
Future State.
a- :. c
T?UbliJhed in oppofition to the gromng
Atheijm and ^eijm of the Age,
LOND O N:
Printed for and '^♦CZPialfO^lljat tht Prince's
Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard. M DC XCIX.
X
To the Honourable,
»
Samuel Pepys Efquire.
SIR,
PRefuming upofz your leave and favour, I take the ti-
berty of infer jbing your name before two fort dif-
courfes, written feveralyears fince, which I now pub"
lijh with very little alteration. In the time of a great
fire no one k to be an idle fiander by or lookgr on : but he k
to contribute, as much as in him lyes , to the extinguifing of
the raging and devouring fames : thd it he onely by handing
a bucket of water toward the next engine, which others are
laborioufly managing with art and shjU. Thk feems to be
our prejent cafe. Diffolutenefs of manners, like a peflilential
vapour, having diffufed its venimous influence farre and wide,
and Jtheifmt and Deifme growing rampant, and all Religion,
whether natural or revealed and infiituted, being run down
and ridiculed by feveral, who fet up for Wits and Virtuofos,
and pretend to greater meafures of reafon and underfianding ,
than their dull forefathers ever had, who, it feems, prepoffef-
fed and prejudiced by a fimple education, could not attain to
thofe new difcoveries, which they have' made : a due concerne
for the honour of God and of religion, which k founded upon
eternal and effential rules of righteoufnefs and wifdom , will
yufiifie any mans difcreet and fiber zeal, in oppofing the growth
of fich oatragious and impudent blajphemy and infidelity.
A-2 Thk'
This I al/edge in defenfe of my little attempt : thd it may be,
it will be lookt Hponto be almojl as vaine,as if IJJjould go about
to flop the violent current of water at London-bridge, when it
comes fwelling and flowing in with full wind and tide, with
my naked hand : all other methods and remedies at prefent in
this wicked and licentious age being inejfeliual, I muH not fay,
without a temporary Inquifition, but I willfay, without a flriH
and rigorous execution of the laws, made by our wife and god-
ly Anceflors : which would make thefe bold men , if not more
fiber, honeli, and virtuous, at leajl more modeli, referved,
and decent in their behaviour and conduH. Having thus made
out the fincerity of my intention and defgn in publifhing thefe
Papers, I am the lefs fillicitous, whether I have with equal
care and judgment performed the part of a Scholar, as well
as of a Church-man : of which fuch excellently learned and
thoroughly accomplifhed Gentlemen, as your felf, are the mosi
able and proper Judges, But however,whilfi I am endeavou-
ring in my medn way to ferve and promote the common caufe
and intereli of religion and virtue, I readily take advantage
of this addrefs , which I prefent, as a memorial of the great
reffeU, efleem, and honour, I have for you, upon the accompt
of your public fervices and merit, and alfi of the many
great obligations, flowing from an entire friendfhip, which you
have been pleafed for feveralyears to lay upon
SIR, • "
Tour mofl faithfuII
and moli humble Servant
Tho Smith
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A
DISCOURSE
Concerning the
Power of God.
A'
LL error proceeds from an undue appre-
/% henfion of things 3 which is caufed, either
•hatiit _ /' by weaknefs and (hallownefs of judgment,
when there is a defeft and inability in the
underftanding to fearch to the bottom of
things , to examine with a juft and wife feverity what-
ever is propofed, before it be admitted, and to weigh all
circumfiances in an even ballance 5 that is, according to
fober, fix'd, and fure principles, bottomed upon reafon,
good fenfe , and unqueftionable experience, and agree-
able to. the faculties of the mind , and the notions im-
printed upon it; or elfe.
Which makes the error more dangerous and faulty, by
an inconfiderate alTentj and an over-hafty partiality,when
the affections hinder the calm and deliberate debates of
fober reafon, and calling a mift before the underftand-,
ing, altogether blind it: fo that it (hall not be able to
difcern truth from fallhood, right from wrong, opi-
B nion.
A D/fconrfe concerning the
nlon, and plaufibility , and conjefture , from certairfty,!
and knowledge, and dejmonftration. But where the idea's I
of things, capable of being fully known and proved, are!
diftind and proper , where the underftanding is found
and clear, and where the operations of the mind are free ,
and undifturbcd, either by irregular paffion, or by foolilh
or irrational prejudice, truth is readily difcerned and en-
tertained, and makes its way into the mind, with the fame
eafinefs and quicknefs, as the ftreams of light flow upon
the eye, which is open, and not otherwife indifpofed to
receive them; by the help of which it may fee all thofe
glorious and aftonilhing objects, that from every part of
the vilibje creation prefent themfelves.
For want of this rightful method and juft principle in
examining the truth of things, many are very apt and
very willing to cheat themfelves, and out of a lazy kind
of ignorance, an,d a foolifh belief, that all things are,
and muft be, as they phanfie, take up idle and falfe opi-
nions, and that not only concerning things of nature,
(of which be our perceptions true or falfe , it matters not
much in things purely fpeculative, if they have no influ-
ence upon life, manners, or government ; and a latitude
of opinion is juftly allowable in fuch things alfo, as are
not capable of a clear and fatisfadory decifion , either by
fenfe, experiment, or demonftration ) but alfo concern-
ing religion ; opinions, which contradid its holy de-
figns, and diredions, and commands: fuch too, as are
derogatory to the nature and attributes of God 5 fuch, as
are altogether dilhonourable and unworthy of him, and
iqconfiftent with his divine perfedions.
That God is a being abfolutely perfed, and confe-
quently of infinite power, nature and right reafon, even
abftraded from revelation, fuggeft to every confidering
man to admit and aflent unto: and no one, who hath a-
ny juft or true notion of God, can pofiibly deny it^
without
Pomr of God.
wrtaintvvithout great violence done to his faculties: and yet
"iWidjjwhen any dilBculty prefents it felf, which we cannot ma-
'Oved, jjfter, and when we are puzled and dilTatisfied in ourfearch
iis for,of things, we prefently fly off, and whatever is above
iarefrjjthe reach of our nature,or above the comprehenfion of our
byfooli^nowledge , or above our contrivance, or above our
fd and .power, rauft be denied to be poflible even to God him-
th tlielii;felf, becaufe we cannot conceive it, or rather will not
doff i]f(Conceive it aright: thus bringing all things down to our
lifpofednarrow and (canty model, and levelling, not onely the
tall thighefl: myfteries of revealed religion, but the eflential
vtty [srperfedions of the Godhead, knowable by the light of
nature, and the principles of natural religion, that there
prindpliiare fuch, and neceflarily muft be fo, with our low, dull,
erya[)t:;jand earthy phanfies.
a lazy Hi To obviate thefe miftakes therefore, which may arife
ltliiopjj.from a mifapprehenfion of this div'ine Attribute, I (hall
|fa|feojj.endeavour to fettle the true notion of it: upon the clear-
of nart^ng up of which , all thofe doubts and fcruples , and ob-
latterSKijs^tons, which fome bold and prefumptuous men, as void
'eDoiDi.fot the moft part of all honefl: and fober morals, as they
[ajjtgiare of found learning and philofophy , being equally
fo jjjijdebauched and corrupted in their underftanding, and in
their behaviour and pradtife, are wont as it were trium-
^ooceni'pf'^titly to propofe even in places of publick refort, as
loly (jfWeJl as in their ordinary converfation , in this Sceptical
, j5 3j(and Atheiftical age , againfl: a creation, againft the mifa-
y jjCles recorded in the holy Scriptures, againfl: the doflrine
jjjj jjjof the ever bleffed'and adorable Trinity, and of the in-
' "carnation of the Son of God, and laflly againfl the be-
^^jjj^lief of a refurredtion , and the like, will vanilh and dif- .
appear 5 and all'thofe truths , whether natural or re-
I • vealed, which they with equal rafhnefs and impiety have
pronounced impoflible, will be found jufl objedts, as to
; the former, of our knowledge and ^underftanding, and
the
A Difcourfe concerning
as to the latter, of faith and of a wife and rational
alfent.
In order hereento I will (hew thefe three things :
I. What is the true and proper notion of the divine
power 5 and in what refpedt it is faid,that nothing
is impoffible to God: that
II. The attribute of infinite power is neceflarily inclu-
ded in the notion and idea of God : and that
III. It is altogether unreafonable to limit the power
of God in things poffible,or deny any doftrine of
religion, whether revealed in Scripture, or flow-
ing from the principles of natural reafoUjbecaufe it
tranfcends either our power or our underftanding,
I. What concerns the firfl: particular, v/z,. what is the
true and proper notion of the divine power, _and in
what refpeft it is affirmed both by the voice of nature and
Scripture, that nothing is impoffible to God, may be com-
prized in thefe two following propofitions.
I. The firfl: propofition is, that God can readily and
eafily effed and do whatever is abfolutely poffible to be
done;
The world , it is certain, from the beginning has been
fubjeft to the laws of Providence , and all things run
the courfe, which was at firfl: fet them , and are directed
and carried on to the feveral ends of their creation by an
unerring hand ; and notwithftanding their feveral ten-
dencies, all concur to accomplifh the great defign of
God, and that without prejudice to their refpedive na-
tures. Thus the celeffial orbs and vortices have their
fixt periods and revolutions : the fun , and moon, and
ftars are regular in their motion, and take their rounds
day aud night about the earth: and the great ocean in
3t3 ebbs and flows follows the laws of motion and ftar
* tick
tjeylia
iteyoii
fan (if i
lEi'®';
ad CO'
inttmip
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iafltlic
tiiowk
(iofcs,
diafffc
ddtffi
iliioogi
lljlOIl,
witlii
teha
w
CIS.
pti;
Ti
Fon>er of God. 5
tick principles. And fo for all other natural Agents r
they have their limits fet them , which they cannot pafs:
they only do what is agreeable to their nature ^ and they
can do no more: the powers, whereby they ad, being
necelTary, but withal confined. Yet though this order
and courfe of things be fixt and fettled , and feldom
interrupted by God, unlefs to alarm the world , and for
fome great end, and to fhew, that nature depends upon
him ,. and that all things fubfift by his power , which is
onely able to preferve what it firft made: yet there is-no re-
pugnance, that things might have been made otherwife,
than they are, if it had pleafed him. We cannot but ac-
knowledge feveral poffibilities of things, lying in their
caufes, which we, by reafon of our weaknefs, cannot
draw forth into effed : for want 'of fuch and fuch com-
binations, and by reafon of feveral impediments and ac-
cidents, which it is not in our power to remove, or
through fome indifpofition in the matter to be wrought
upon, it happens, that thofe poffibilities are not clothed
, with adual exiftence : there being no repugnancy in the
nature of the thing it felf, and the defed wholly ari-
fing from fome other caufe. Whatfoever effeds there are
then of the divine power now exifting, more may be
produced: new fpccies of things may be added, and new
worlds made, whatever becomes of the hypothefis of
thehabitablenefs of the planets,and of the opinion,that e-
very fixed Star is a Sun, at an almoft immenfe difiance
from the earth , and fiom one another : and thofe things,
which are, might have been endowed with different pow-
ers, adivities, qualities, impreffions, motions, and o-
perations 5 and matter made capable of other far differeirt
modifications, and determinations of particular motions,
from whkh might have been derived inconceivably great
variety of other natural produdions. -
But
^ A Difcourfe cotJcernwg the
And here It may be necefiary to interpofe , that Cod
does no more, than what he firfi: wills: his power is di-
refted by his wifdom and divine pleafure, which is the
rule and meafure of it: which conlideration fhould juft-
ly fatisfie us about the late creation of this vifible world,
in which we breath. To call in queftion therefore the
accompts given of it by Mofes, who fixes its beginning
not many thoufand years ago, as our modern Atheifts
and Deifts do, and to objeft idle, foolifh, unlearned,
and groundlefs phanfies againft thofe authentick Regi-
fters, acknowledged in all ages fince his time, and which
the more grave and judicious fort of Heathen Writers
have revered< and from whence they have borrowed fe-
Weral of their tenents both of philofophy and religion,
though oftentimes artificially difguifed, or corrupted with
their fabulous additions, is altogether irrational. For
w- let thefe men of high-flown wit and phanfie deny, if they
can or dare, and at the fame time pretend to reafon like
Philofophers and Scholars, whether this is not to pre-
fcribe to the almighty and alwife God, what he (hould
have done, and with equal impudence and impiety li-
mit his will. For fuppofe, for arguments fake, that the
world had been created forty or fifty thoufand years
before, or if they will, fo many m}^iads and millions
of years, and that the chronology of the Chinefes, Chal*
deans, and Egyptians, which latter is preferved out of the
writings of Manetho, a Prieft of that country, who li*
ved in the time of Ptolemseus Philadelphus, by Julius Afri-
canus,and out of him by Eufebius and GeorgiusSyncellus,
were not fabulous, and proceeded not from a vain affeda.
tion of Antiquity, but had fome ground in nature and
hiftpry : yet confidering the eternal power of the God-
head, the fame queftion might as well be put, (and it may
be put thoufands of years hence , if the prefent confti-
tution of the world fhould continue fo long undiffolved)
why
It God
t is di^ produced fooner: this mighty fpace, as
it feems to us, poor, frail, and mortal crearures, who
are permitted by the great God, who made us, to live
here upon earth three or fourfcore years at furtheft, be-
ing comparatively inconfiderable, arid holding no pro-
portion to a duration, which had no beginning. Thus,
at laft, thefe conceitedly inquiliiive men lofe themfelves
in the rambling and unbounded flights of their phanfie,
or elfe run themfelves upon this grofs abfurdity, that
dull and unadivc matter is eternal , and take upon them
to direft an alwife and infinite being, when, and what
worlds he fhould make : not confidering, that the mind
of God is unfearchable , and paft the comprehenfion of
finite underflanding, and that no reafon ought to be
demanded of his divine will and pleafure, and of his
zdi\ons ad' extra^ as the School-phrafe is.
For want of this confideraticn alfo, others there are,
and the Platonifts efpecially, who under a pretenfe of ad-
vancing the divine goodnefs , do really , and in effedi:,
deftroy it 5 whilft they make the emanations of it phy-
fical and neceflary , which are mofl: arbitrary and free,
and the pure refults of his will.
The powers of moral Agents are at their own difpo-
fal, to ufe when and how they pleafe : and by this they
are difcriminated from natural, who aft according to
tor tilt utnioft ftrength and vigour , unlefs their aftivity be
hindred by a miracle , and from brutes, birds, and other
animals, who are devoy'd of reafon, and follow their
innate inftinfts, motions, and appetites. Where there
is a principle of knowledge and liberty in tfie mind to
direft it, as in men, who have thereby apow-
er over themfelves and their aftions , it is far otherwife :
and it is not neceifary , that they do all which they can
do. Nor is this power therefore to be accounted idle, and
to no purpofe *. becaufe they can make ufe of it, whenfo-
ever
8 A DifcoHrfe conmmng the
ever it (ball make for their intereft: and advantage , or -
whenfoever their reafon , or even their phanfie, (hall
judge it fit and proper to reduce it into a6t. Much more
is this to be allowed to God , whofe other attributes are
as infinite, as his power : Pfalmcxv.5. Our God k in the
heavens 3 he hath done whatfoever he pleafed. Pfalm cxxxv.
(c) Theodo' 6. (^a) Whatfoever the Lord pleafed , that did he in heaven
retKfand in earth , inthefeas^ and in all deep places. And if
ov had thought fit, and if he had once willed
faine, inftead of creating one world, he might have
ttW T? created a thoufand.
Km{' hd-jvdi\a
^ TnyhAvKsifftA r'aiwv TnrKa fjuel^eva, eTx/^iip^HtTK/, rsscwm )y TOIMJTU.
The things^ which new exijf, are not fully proportionable to the dhine power, fe as to exhauji it, but
onely agreable to bis divine will and pleafwe. For God could have created more and greater things
than thefe : but he would only mal^e fo many, and of fuch forts, ffecies, and denominations, as it plea-
fed him.
.—■.
(4)TheGreckc However, the objeft of the divine power in its fulleft
thct^are wy l^^thude and comprehenfion , abftraftedly confidered, is,
copious and whatfoever is abfolutely and fimply poflible. By which
Tph^'fophi-" exclude (f)
cai nicenefs,
in their explications and illuftrations of thefe common notions about the juft and 'proper cbjeft
of the divine power: a collcftion of which the Reader may find in Bifliop Pearfon's elaborate
and learned Commentary on the Apoflles Creed, where he treats of this particular argument, as
of the reft of the Articles, with great accuracy and judgment. More authorities might eafily
be added by one of ordinary reading : but I forbear at prefent it being a common place; and
fhall content my felf onely to adjoyn the concurrent tcftimonies of the Mafter of the Sentences,
aad Thomas Aquinas. Petrus Lombardus lib. i. Sententiarumxlii. diflinft.
Sunt alia quadam, qua Dens nullatenus facere poteft, utpeccata; non enim poteti mentiri, non po-
tefl peccare. Sed non ideo omnipotentia Vet detrahitur vet derogatur, fi peccare non poffe dicitur: quia
non ejfet hoc potentu, fed infirmitatis. Si enim hoc pojfet, omnipotens non effet. Non ergo impotentii
fed pteatia imputandum eil, quod iff a non poteji. Again, Manifejium eSi, Deum omnino nihil pjfe
pati, omnia facet e pjfe, prater ea fola, quibus e]ns dignitas Uderetur, ejufque excellentia derogare.
tur : in quo tamen non eSl minus omnipotens. Hoc enim poffe non effet poffe, fed non p(je
Herein following the dotlrine of his Mafter S. Auguftine, in his book de Symbolo, which he
there cites : Deus omniptens non ptefi mori, non potetlfalli, non potetl mifer feri, nec pteji vinci.
Hac utique <(py hu)ujmodi abfit, ut poffet omnipotens. Si enim hujufmods paffionibus atque defetlibus
fubjicipoffet, omniptens minime foret: and in his book de fpiritu & litera: Non pote^ Deusfacere
injujla, quia ipfe efl fnmma jujtitia bonitas. Thomas Aquinas in Summa Thcologica part i.
quasft. XXV. Artie. ?■ Ea qua contraditfionem implicant, fub divina omnipotentid non continentur:
quia non pffunt habere pojJibiUum rationm. Vnde convementius dicitur, quod ea non poffunt fieri, quam
quod
Porver of God. p
Deifi ea mn poffit facere. Poft. Peccare ejl deficere <J perfcH^a rathne .• uitde pojje peccare eji
pojfe depcere in agendo-^, quod repugnat omnipotently. Et propter h:c Dem peccare non poteji, quia eft
ornnipptens.The whole of what lias been faid both by bathers and Schoolmen upon this lubject, is
furamed up by the learned Dr. Overall, (then Dean of St. Pauls, and afterwards Bifliop of Nor-
wich^ in a letter to his Friend, H. Grotius, writteir i6 May 1S15. in this brief definition and.
fcntence: Fotentia[Def]aniva, qua omnia pftibilia, qua non implicant contradiShnem, impotenti-
am, iniquitatem, aliudque quid Deo indignum facere pftit.
»
I. Whatever is contrary to the nature and effential per-
feftions of the Godhead. Thm it is impojjible for God to
lye : uq d'^vahv Qihv, Ebr. vi. 18. to which
paflage, as to many others in that Epiftle, * S.Clement al- * Ep'ftola
1 J 'W* 1 p ^ ~ r V ' I r' cs u Romanos;
lUdeS : naiv aovvaiot' Tra^ td QcOe, fm to ■fAjm.Sscfjj : be- edit. Oxon.
caufe he is a God of infinite veracity. God cannot deny 1^33-4"-
hiwfelf: d.f.vri(Ta.<Sr<zj icuillv s ^valatf' 2 Tim. ii. 13. God^"*^^^'
cannot but make good his word, whether we will believe,
orno: if we are refolved to be Infidels and Scepticks in
the midfl of fo much conviCfion, which Chriftianity af-
fords concerning the truth of its myfteries and dodtrine, '
and the truth of its promifes: if we throw in our fcru-
pies and doubts, and diftruft his word, we fhall one day
be convinced and alhamed of fuch irrational infidelity :
his word Ihall infallibly be effefted , veracity being as ef-
fential to God, as neceflary exiftence: and if God cannot
but be, he cannot be otherwife, than juft and true. If we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful t, he'cannot deny himfelf
And for the fame reafon we remove from God whatfoever
favours of imperfedtion, as being repugnant to the idea, ~
which we have of hirn, who is a being infinitely and ab-
folutely perfedt. And in hridtnefs of fpe^h, if fuch things
could be done, he would not be omnipotentbecaufc
they are arguments and demonftrations of weaknefs. For
what is a lye, but a plain confeffion of guilt, and of
fear, that we dare not tell and own the truth, when we
are demanded it? Unfaithfulnefs is a breach of that mo-
ral honefty and integrity, which humane nature and the
civil laws and rules of government require between man
C and
10
A Difcourfe concerning the
and man. God is alfufficient, and therefore cannot ftand
in need of the affiftence of his creatures: whereas we want,
becaufe we have not an abfolute and full power and com-
mand over things, and cannot difpofe of them, as and
when we will,to fupply our felves. Our being deceived
proceeds from our ignorance: but God cannot be decei-
ved,becaufe he is omnifcient, and knows the fecret thoughts
and intentions of the heart, and all things are nakgd and
cpen before him: there being an utter impoilibility of er-
ror in the divine underftanding. Our ficknefs flows from
ilnefs of temper, natural decays of animal and vital fpi-
rits, and tainted and vitiated bloud and other humors 5
and death is the punifhraentof fin, and the effeft and con-
fequence of a frail and brittle conftitution: the curious
machine of the body,- being quite worn out by age, at
lafi: falling into pieces,tho' otherwife never fo carefully pre-
ferved from thediforders of intemperance,or the mifchiefs
of chance, or the affaultsof violence. All which imper-
fedtions the very notion of a God does wholly exclude and
remove.
2. By this we are to exclude whatever implies a contra-
didion or a repugnancy in its nature 5 as that the fame
thing fhould be and not be at the fame time, and in the
fame manner and refpedi:: and that things, which have
been, fhould now be made not to have beeor Things
might not have been, before they were: but when once
they have been, they'cannot but be: which onely is a ne-
ceffity by way of fuppofition. Whatever then is repug-
nant to the nature and effence of a thing is therefore im-
pofiible , becaufe otherwife the thing would be the fame,
and not the fame: the effence would remain entire, and
yet be deftroyed at the fame time: which is a clear and
manifeft contradidtion. Power therefore, in the effential
notion of it, is no way extenfible either to the doing or
reconciling real and perfedt contradidlions: becaufe the
oppofite
f
fftaod Fewer of Cod.
oppofite terms deftroy each other, and confequently there
is an utter impoffibility of their fubfifting together; and
) if Yve examine the contradiftion thoroughly, we (hall find,
^ that there is always in one of the terms a plain and mani-
■ decei. denial of being. Thus to imagine, that the humane na-
•ou^li; ture of our B. Saviour , by reafon of its union with the
word, (hould become in a manner immenfe, and fill all
places, becaufe the Godhead does ^ what is it,but to con-
ws tros found eflential properties of things, which are altogether
vital I irreconcileable > or to alTert, that a body, continuiug one
u* and the fame, (hould yet be multiplied into feveral entire
wholes: that the entire body of Chrift ftiould be in the
M Qinoc jeafc crum of a wafer, and the feveral parts of it be di-
ftinft, and retain the fame figure and order, and be ex-
tended at their full length, as they lye unconfufed as it
;ii)iiclii(6 ^ere in an indivifible point : be in heaven and upon earth
cli inijici'at the fame time: be upon a thoufand altars together in
idcdec: the moft diftant parts of the world, without any difcon-
tinuity, and be brought thither by the pronunciation of
sacor. five words, not to urge the ugly and horrid confequences,
the which flow from the admittance of fuch a grolly abfurd
w in i opinion 5 what is it, but to impofe, under the pretenfe
hiclibof an infallible authority, upon the faith, underftanding,
Tliiffiand reafon of all mankind, and peremptorily lay down
ten01'contradictory and felf-deftroying notions, as neceflary
is aw terms and conditions of Catholick communion ? If in
s repjij'things, which are pUinly and confelTedly poflible in them-
fore ill'felves, we are not to engage the infinite power of God
ic la®, without a juftcaufe, nor to think God almighty obliged
ire, and to make good our groundlefs and extravagant phanfies :
caraiimuch lefs are we to deftroy the nature of things, and
ifentialfwallow down and maintain real and manifeft contradidli-
■ingfltons, and make that, which would be one of the greateft
rfetlit wonders of the world, fuppofing, that it were poffible,
poiltctoTe done ordinarily, and every where, and every day, a
C 2 thoufand
A Difcourfs concerning the
thoufand times, without any other proof, than our bare
phanfying fo: as they do, who maintain the dofirine of
Tranfsubftantiation in all the School-niceties ol it, againft
Scripture and reafon, againft the principles of nature and
philofophy, againft the atteftation of fenre,and thejudg-
ment of antiquity, and againft the experience of all man-
kind: and do alfthis, rather than admit of a figurative
exprefiion in the words of the Tnftitution.
In favour of this monftrous tenent, the Romanifts ob-
jeft to us theincomprehenfibility of the my fteries of faith 5
and hence think, that they may elude all thofe unanfwer-
able difficulties, which this new docftrine is charged with,
and that there is argument enough to fatisfie their doubts
in that mifapplyed faying, the effeft, it may be, of rap-
ture andindilcreet devotion, Ideo credo, qpda eli irrfpo'Jibi-
le. But the great difparity, which is between them, is
eafily obvious to any one, who will give himfelf leave to
confider things calmly and fairly, ^and not futfer himfelf
to be impofed upon by a pretenfe of an authority , abfo-
lutely to be obeyed and fubmitted to, as well in doctrine,
as in matters and decrees of difcipline , without the leaft
fcruple and hefitation. As,
I. That there is the higheft reafon in the world to be-
lieve the myfteries of faith, tho' they tranfcend our ut-
moft capacity 5 becaufe they are expreOy and clearly re-
vealed in the writings of the new Teftament. It is the
greateft fecurity of our faith imaginable, that God has
faid it; and therefore let the thing revealed feem never
fo unlikely and harfh to my underftanding,I have as much
reafon to believe it, as any thing, which happens ordina-
lily every day, and prefents it felf to my fenfes 5 nay
more : for there is a poffibility, that a particular perfon
may be deceived fometimes, not to fay all mankind, even
in a matter of fenfe : but there is an utter impoflibility,
that God ftiould be deceived in any propofition he has
though
Power of Cod.
W bj thought fit to reveal. But this they will not pretend to
^tineo fay for their Tranfsubftantiation, that there is the fame e-
lagaii viclence of Scripture for it, or indeed, that they have a-
iturem ny evidence at all, as many of their own party have con-
fefled, and for want of which they have recourfe to the
fallnii' authority of the Church. Befides, their greatefi: ftrefs for
figiini: the proof of it wholly lyes upon a grofs and unnatural
fenfe of words, which are capable of a far eafier and
lanifts) more agreeable interpretation , efpecially when the other
soffit words, ufed by our B.Saviour in the bleffing and confc-
cration of the wine, are raoft certainly and undeniably fi-
irgehi gurative.
ceil k
l)e,ofE 2. Thefe articles are eflential to the Chrifiian faith:
the dodrine of it cannot be entire without them : and
iDilieiii ^befides, they were explicitely believed and affented to , as-
elflat:: to the matter of them, from the firft ages of Chriftanity,
fcrFc tho' there were fome dilputes raifed about the terms, by
ritr.a which they were expreifed, and a latitude ufed in the ex-
plication of them : and the disbelief or denial of them
]{t!]elE was juftly branded with the odious name of herefie in ge-
neral Councils : and the dilfenters anathemati-zed and
jpytoi thrufi: out of the communion of the Church , and the true
jjoQif dodrine of the C hriftian religion, as delivered by Chriffc
and his Apolfles, fecured and eftablifhed againO: the cor-
{t'isi ruptionsand innovations in after-times by.publick Creeds
(joJ! univerfally received. Whereas this is a meer novel do-
ftrine, firft brought into the Church the better to efta-
blifh the grofs errors and fuperftitions relating both to the
opinions and praftiles of Image-worfhip, and advancing
x-.j by degrees in times of horrible ignorance and corruption
of manners, till it came firft to be decreed and eftablifhed
an article of faith by the Affeifors of the Lateran Coun-
cil : befides, it does no way ferve or promote the inte-
' lefts of Chriftianity , but does very much prejudice
bovf - '
A Difconrfe toticernmg the
it, and expofe it, I am fure, to the contempt of the enc-
miesofit, both Turks and Jews, who choofe rather to
continue in their infidelity, than fubmit to it upon their
firft disbelieving their very fenfes.
5. There is a vaft difference between them in refpetil of
their fubjeOi-matter. Things relating to God are above
the level of our under [landing 5 moft of our little know-
ledge being derived from fenfe, which cannot reach thofe
obje(3:s, that are altogether abftradled from it: whereas this
falls under the examination of our fenfes and reafon : they
are things we every day converfe with : things we may
fafely pretend to judge of, as being every way proporti-
enable to our faculties.
4.Thefe articles of faith involve in them no true and real
contradiction, asthedodrine ofTranfsubdantiation does.
The Chriftian religion propofes nothing to our belief,
but what is poffible, and therefore credible 5 as has been
proved by feveral learned men of our Church againfl the
heterodoxies and blafphemies ctf the Socinians ; nothing,
which contradids or thwarts the common and eflabliflied
notions of nature; I fay, the dodrine of it, as it is con-
twined in the Scripture, and according to the ancient tra-
dition of the Catholick Church, and the explications of
the firft cecumenical Councils; to both which,tradition and
authority, next to the facred Scripture, which is the rule of
faith, we ought to have regard even in controverfies of faith;
and not as it is perplcxt and entangled by the bold niceties
of the School-men, who have corrupted the truth and fim-
plicity of the Chriftian religion by the mixtures of the phi-
lofophy of Plato and Ariftotle. So that we do not limit
the'divine power, or deny it to be infinite, as the bigot-
ted Romanifts pretend, becaufe we rejed this figment of
Tranfsubftantiation, as a falfe, abfurd, and contradidory
dodrine, ( befides the other above-mentioned exceptions
which no fophiftry or cavil can honeftly and truly put by,
or
Power of Cod.
or juftly fatisfie) which they ought to prove to be in the
number of things poffible. All which we believe from
tkr to the nature ofthis attribute^ as we are obliged, that God
mtlitii can do.
2. The fecond propofition is this, that nothing can
[p?(3o( hinder the effedts of God's power, if once he has willed
eaboit and determined the fame And of this truth, both g
ebow. nature and religion, the very Heathen had a fixt belief and mentemRo-^
:ht!i(si apprehenfion, -v/z. that all oppofition made againft God
reastlii inelfcdfual: and that though Ibme,according
in; tia to the fid ions of their Poets, were fo foolifli,as well as im-
Yiooj; pious, to make a war upon the Gods, and attempted to
piopoij pluck Jupiter out of his throne , yet they always came by
the worfi, and were caff down from their hopes, and.
ledn ftom thofe mountains, which they had laid one upon a- '
aondiK "Other to fcale heaven with, to feel tfie revenging eftedfs ,
orte ^haj: power, which before they had fo much llighted.
jjjj Hce below power may be either balanced and refified
with fuccefs, orelfeitmay be undermined or baffled by
joiiiijj wit, and policy, and ftratagems of war : and great armies ,
yijlji have fometiraes been routed and vanquifhed by inconfi* .
derable numbers, and have met with (hameful defeats
j^juu^ and overthrows. But the divine power is irrefiftible:
there is no withftanding it: the whole creation mull: needs
tremble and fink ^t the prefence of God : and this the
j.ijjjjjProudA{ryrian King was forced to confefs, when he was
recovered from his phrenfie : Dan. iv. 55.. That the inhabi-
ni'etis sarth are reputed as nothings and that God doth
dk army of heaven , and among the
I !■ inhabitants of the earthy and none can flay his hand, and fay
I? I unto him, what doji that .<? So that we lee, that the credi-
bility of this article is founded not onely upon Scripture
f' and revelation , but upon nature and right reafon: which
I ftiall more fully prove, by making good
^ II. The
tbj,
or .
A Difcourfe concernwg the
n. The fecond general head , that the attribute of in-
finite power is eflentially involved in the notion and idea
of God.
Power in it felf is an excellence and perfeftion : and
things are more or lefs valued according to the greater or
lefler degrees, which they have of it. I do not mean
that force and energy onely, fuch as is found in inani-
mate beings, arifing from the feveral difpofitions of mat-
ter, whereby they are apt to make thofe great alterations,
that are in the world : becaufe their operations are necef-
fary, but withal limited to a few particular etfedfs : nor
fuch a power, as is in brute creatures, arifing from the
ftrength and quantity of animal fpirits, from the temper
of bloud, and from the make and conftitution of their
bodies ; but fuch a power, as is direded by reafon, and
is arbitrary and free, and may be ufed or not ufed,accord-
ing as upon debate and deliberation (hall be judged rnofi:
convenient: fuch a power, as extends it felf to various
'objeds, and eftedually brings to pafs, what is defigned
in the mind, and contrived in the brain : a power,where-
by a man has a full command over things, and can fub-
jed them to his will anddifpofal, and make ufe of, fo as
to advance himfelf, and get the maftery over others, and
make himfelf be dreaded every where. Yet however fuch
a one, who has attained a defpotick power, whether
rightfully by fuccefiion, or by force of arms and cruelty,
or by the arts, whether of lawful or wicked, policy, may
pleafe himfelf with the fuccefs of his councils and ftrata-
gems and dextrous management of affairs, both in peace
and war, and phanfie great matters of himfelf, and fwell
with the thoughts of his acquired greatnefs: he is not able
to withftand the leaft ficknefs: this can foon mortifie him,
and bring him upon his knees, and make him fenfible of
his weaknefs,and the folly'of his pride. When God does
but arm the moft defpicable creatures againft him, and
' * gives
of ill' Power of God.
.J M /
^ ^ gives them a commiffion to affault and invade him , the
leaft inflidion baffles and routs his hopes and confidences,
fj/"' gives him a fair profped of himfelf and of his defefts,
and (hews him, what a miferable creature man is at the
\f fftW'
beft, who cannot fecure himfelf of health, ofhappinefs,
of life for one moment. By this he is made to fee and
® acknowledge, that there is fomethingabove him, to whom
he is accountable, that orders and difpofes of all things
at his pleafure: that all that power, which is diftributed
among fo many creatures, in fuch a ftrange variety and
J™' fubordination, is derived from fome fupreme being, in
5 whom it is united_,and infinitely much more : and if that
-he v^ithdraw his influence, or blows upon any counfel,
,if comes to nothing, and the defigns of thefe mighty men,
'H® who have got the empire of the world into their hands,
Iged® together with their lives, and they
faint away, and drop into their graves, and all their
' thoughts perifl] ^ becaufe all the power they have is but
the communication of his will, an emanation of his pro-
'^"1' vidence, and an imperfed lhadow of that power, by
lofjo which he governs the world ; all fecond caufes being in-
fluenced by him, and ading onely by virtue of what they
feveti received. For it is the plain and unconftrained col-
ledion of reafon, that nothing has of it felf a power to
[®- ad, whereby it contributes to make up the harmony of
the world : that their elfences and the operations, flowing
from them, are both limited, and are eafily diffblvible by
f that power, which firfl: made them ; and that they have
a dependence upon a being, which is infinite, and al-
mighty,and independent. What a blot and ftain would
it be to that fair idea of a God, to imagine, that any
thing poiflble could be above his power, or too hard for
his omnipotence > what were this but to cloath him with
h f the infirmities of a man, to level him with his creatures,
and to take off that elfential and neceffary diflindion
D between
iS A Difcourfe concernwg the
between them ? This power then muft be infinite ; for
what can limit or reftrain it > who can put a force upon
him, or ftop his procedures, when there is nothing equal
and co-ordinate? can man,whofe breath is in his noftrils,
who a few years fince had no being, and that which he
has, he owes wholly to another, born an infant into the
world, made to his hands : he, as foon as he comes to
years, and can ufe his reafon, and difcern things, quickly
perceives his weaknefTes and wants, and cannot help him-
felf. Can the united ftrength of other creatures ? They
ad onely, as they are direded: all that they have is plain-
ly borrowed, and at the difpofal of him, who made :
them. They may be traced to their originals, and are pe- .
rifhable in their natures: it is the power of God, which,
as at firft gave, ftill continues to them their being.
Now to demand, why is there then no infinite effed of
an infinite power ? is to forget, that this implies a con-
tradidion : infinity being an incommunicable attribute,
and onely peculiar to God 5 and therefore the diftance
will ever remain infinite between the oppofitc terms of
fuch a relation, as that of the Creator to the creature.
But God has given fufncient difplays of his power,and the
effedsof it are fo various and innumerable, that they arc
convincing and demonftrative arguments of its being infi-
nite, and that no power lefs than fuch could ever have
produced them. The invifible things of God from the ere-
ation of the rtporld are clearly feen, being underflood by the
things^ that are made^ even his eternal power and Godhead.
i Rom. 20. We judge of worldly produdive power by
vaft piles of building : but what is a Pyramid, or an A-
quxdud, or a Coloffus, or an Amphitheater, to the or-
re^&cieme^ glorious frame of things ? how pitiful and mean
tem Roma- in comparifon of the heavens ? Let us caft up our eyes
thither, and there behold ^ the feveral orbs moving on in
an uninterrupted order, the fwiftnefs of their motion,
and
flOl
ill
Power of God.
: fa and withall the greatnefs of their'bodies, that the earth,
^ "poi about which poor mortals contend fo much, and to get a
little part and (hare of, which they cannot pofTefslong,
venture their quiet and their lives, and oftentimes their
'pichlii very fouls, is but a point inrefped of them ; the vaft di-
rototli fiance between us and the heavens : the glorious and in-
:otii«t( exhauftible brightnefsof the fun and the ftars,and the kind
. quicft influences of them upon all things here below, and the
lelphiffl like ; and we cannot but be filled with the admiration of
> -Th{|God, who made them. The heavens declare the glory of
God^ and the firmament fieweth hk handy work:. Let US re-
mi fled upon the fituation of the earth, how it is hung upon
indartpt. nothing in the middle of the heavens, having no foun-
xl, widi, dation to reft upon, but a magnetical vigour, imprinted
ig' by the hand of God, whereby the parts of it are fo firm-
teffedd ly united, all of them tending toward the center by an in-
nate principle of gravity, that, if it were pofRble for it,
according to the phanfy of Archimedes, to be moved out
e diftaffi of its place by any engine , it would return fpeedily to it
etcrasot again : the virtue and fruitfulnefs of it in producing thofe
aeatiitt various forts of plants, flowers, and trees, with thofe fe-
;r,andtk veral minerals and metals, and other foilils, which lye
itthejait hid in the bowels of it : the great variety of living crea-
eiflgiii tures, which ferve for the ornament and beauty of the
rer han creation : and ^abo\»e all, let us contemplate man : the
ttkcrt- curious make and frame of his body, and the ufes of each
I k tk part; but chiefly the faculties of his mind, whereby he is
jded able to govern himfelf and the other creatures fubjedt to
3iperl)y him, and even make ufe of thofe things, which he can-
ran A-not alter and change, and derive a benefit from them to
iheoi- himfelf.
jmn Now the conclufions, naturally arifing hence, are
rejes !• That the builder and maker of all k God: becaufe
onin this frame and conftitution of the world is above all crea-
(ion, ted ftrengthand power, and things could not make them-
iod D 2 felves,
A Difcourfe concerning the
felves, but owe their being and original to his divine,
will, and to his infinite power and wildom ; and
-2. That he, who made the heavens, and the earth, and
all things therein, who has hung up thofe lights in the
sky, which flame fo brightly : who has imprinted fuch a
fwitt and unwearied motion in the ftars : who has filled
that vaft diflance of fpace between us and them ^with fo
. fubtil and perfpicuous a body : who has caft the earth in-
to fuch a figure, that every part of it might enjoy the in-
fluences of the heavens with the greater advantage, and
as it were interchangeably and by turns ; who has caufed
tfiofe deep channels for the waters, upon which Ships
may pafs from one extreme part of the world to the other,
and-keep, up and maintain a commerce with all mankind 5
and the like : He can do much more : his power is not
confined to any one efFe(ft : if he does but once will the
fame, prefently a new world fhall ftart up out of nothing,
For what lhall hinder ? it being equally eafie to an inli-
nite and inexhauflible power to make more, as one. Who
queflions an Artifts power, who has brought fome curious
piece to perfeftion, whether a flatue , or a pidure, or a
watch, or a medal 5 but that fuppofing the fame conve-
niences, he can make more, according to the firft modelj
and vary and alter it according to the feveral workings
and movings of his phanfie? and if this be fo eafily con-
ceivable, and withal fo agreeable to reafon , who can
doubt of thofe lelfer things, which have been brought to
pais in the feveral ages of the world: fuch,- as are the al-
terations of the courfe of nature for a -time, as the Jiand-
jng of the fun and moon., (thatdiforder in the heavens,
which this interruption might caufe, being foon after re:
moved, and the former regular motion reftored ) the di:
raiding of the red fea into two parts : the waters of it rifing
up and (landing on an heap, the wonders of/Egypt., and
all thofe ffipendious miracles., ivroughtfy our hlejfd Savicm
ana
Fowetr of Cod. 21
and hfs Apofiles ^ for if we confider , things thoroughly,
as great things are done every day : but the commonncfs
of them takes away the wonder, and makes us flight and
neglet^l- them. Let us embrace either of the two Hypo-
thefes, it matters not. One would Judge it more incre-
dible, that fo great a body, as the fun, or earth, fhould
move at all, than that the motion of the one or other
Ihould be interrupted and flopt for fome hours, but that
our fenfes and the interchanges and viciffitudes of day
and night, and the feveral feafons of the year, affure us
of it: and it is as great, if not a greater, wonder, that
the tides fhiouid be fo regular and periodical according to
the courfe of the moon , and that this flux and reflux
(hould be made twice alm.ofV in five and twenty hours,
than that the waters in a fmall gulph, as is the Arabian,
(hould rife and fwell as it were into a mountain, and
leave.partof the channel dry and bare, and to be pafied
over-on foot. They will fay, that thefe admirable effefts
are according to nature : a word ufed by thefe men, who
are afraid to own a Deity, to very ill purpofes. But what
do they mean by nature .<? Do they mean a principle of
things , void of life and underftanding ? but can the
(lately, and curious, and regular frame of things flow
from fuch a principle? Can that, which has nofenfe, or
underftanding, or life, or skill, be the author of fuch
beings, which are endowed with all ? How comes it to
confer that upon others, which it has not in it felf? If
they fay, that they mean by nature that order of thinga,
which was fixt and eftabli(hed by God, the fupreme caufe,
in the beginning, by which the world is ordinarily go-
vcrned : why then will they deny the God of nature to •
be able to alter it, when it (hall m.ake for his glory ? A.
ferious reflexion upon the ordinary works of nature will
quickly filence all thofe doubts and fcruples, which have
Been raifed by a company of ignorant, .illiterate, andde-
• bauched .
A Difcomfe concerning the
baiiched Atheifts and Deifts againft the belief of the mi-
racles recorded in the Scriptures, and confirmed by un-
queftionable evidence of thoufands, who have feen them
done, and were aftually prefent at the doing of them,
upon this foolifti pretence, becaufe they feem to contra-
did the prefent ftate of things, as if that could not be al-
tered, changed, and exceeded : which is nothing lefs,
than to limit and tye up as it were the hands of an al-
mighty Agent. Thus nature and reafon fully and uncon-
ftrainedly give in their fuffrages to the truth of this arti-
cle : and certainly, tho' fome (hallow wits may acquiefce
in fecond caufes, and think, that they have attained their
end, if they can find out fome of the nigheft and moft
immediate, and relying very vainly and prefumptuoufiy
upon the fuppofed ftrength of the Atomical or Mechani-
cal philofophy, go about with great impiety to exclude
God from having any thing to do either in the making or
governing the world : yet whofoever, like a wife and
true Philofopher, and fober rational man, will fearch fur-
ther into the originals of thofe immediate and funda-
mental caufes of things, and carefully obferve, how they
are linked and tyed together , in what excellent order 5
and to what wife ends and purpofes ^ he will find him-
felf under a neceffity of having fpeedy recourfe to the in-
finite wifdom and power of God : and therefore, as that
excellent perfon, the Lord Verulam, obferves in hft Ef-
fays 5 God never verought a miracle to convince Atheijm:
becaufe hk ordinary vporkj fuficiently convince it.
Now as it is altogether abfurd to proceed upon flight
and narrow principles, taken up from the obfervation of
the prefent and ufual ftate of nature, to the prejudice of
the truth of miracles, which fuppofe it alterable , and
aftually at that time altered : fo it argues the fame pre-
fumption and folly to doubt of the poffibility of a thing,
and deny the great truths and principles of religion, whe-
ther
Power of God.
t mi- natural or revealed, meerly becaufe they are above
JtL are not proportionable to thofe ideas
: andxonceptions, which we derive from fenfe and the im-
®®i preffions of outward objefts. Which is
contra- xhe third general head of this difcourfe, which I un-
De al- dertook to make good : namely that
III. It is altogether unreafonable to deny the verity of ^
I 3nal- the divine attributes, and limit the power of God in
I uncoil- things poflible, or refufe to fubmit to the belief and ac-
thisp, knowledgment of the myfteries of faith, becaufe they
acqutefii tranfcend either our power,or our underftanding and com-
®dtlii! prehenfion. Which propofition I (hall confider in its
andiiioi particular branches.
Dptiiooii I. It ismoft unreafonable to lay a reftraint upon God
Mciliaiii. almighty, and limit his power, and deny any thing to
'fKlmit be pofiible, which is no way repugnant to the eflential
uiingoi perfeftions of the Godhead, and does not involve in it
wife anil felf a real and manifeft contradidtion, upon this pretenfe,
ardifij- becaufe it tranfcends our power, or the whole power of
dUa-created nature.
lowtkej In this indeed, as I have intimated above, we have the
t order: advantage of all other creatures here below, that they adt
nd Will- either neceffarily, or elfe fpontaneoufly onely , that is, * Amob. adv.
according to natural inftindts, and are hurried on to their Lug^Batav!"
as thai feveral objedts by the force and fway of their appetites, 4°.p.55,55.
ift Ef- and confequently do nothing by deliberation and choice.
'kijs: Thus the birds build their nefts fpherically, and the bees
are very artificial and curious in making the hony-comb,
digk and the filk-worm and the fpider fpin a very fine and
ioDof fubtil thread ; they perform the task., .which the wifdom
ice of of the great Creator has fet them, and are diredted to thofe
mi ends by his omnifcience, and to thofe onely : for they
pre- cannot vary thefe actions, peculiar to each, according to • -
i/w their different powers. It is man onely in this vifible
he- world, tho' fent into it weak, and hglplefs, and unarmed.
.24 A Difcowfe concernwg the
who, when grown up to' maturity of years and judgment,
by the help of his wit and reafon, can conquer the other
creatures, and make them ferviceable to his ufes, and eafi-
ly mafter them, notwithftanding their wildnefs and fierce-
nefs, and hereby exercife an entire dominion over them,
as being conftituted Lord of the creation : who can firft
defign and contrive, and then perform and execute, what
lyes within his reach and within his view. It is by this,
that he has invented that great number of infiruments and
engines, w;^hereby he reaches heaven, and takes an ac-
compt of the order and motion of the ftars, and of their
feveral periods and revolutions, tho' at that vaft diflance
from them, and makes them ferviceable to the meafuring
of his time, and directing him in his travels and voyages.
It is by this, that he dares commit himfelf to that incon-
ftant element, arid by the diredive virtue of a conterapti-
ble ftone, as it appears to be, tho' more valuable for this
admirable ufe, than all the diamonds of India, can find
his way in the great ocean, where there is no track, and
encompafs the world from one pole to the other, and
keep pace as it were with the fun in its eaftern and we-
ftern courfe. It is by this, that he raifes ftately manfions
and fortifications,for his pleafureand defenfe,cuts through
rocks, and joyns difiant rivers and feas by artificial chan-
nels, and invents thofe curious manufactures, together
with that great variety of other artificial produdtions,
which ferve both for ornament and convenience. And
all this is done by a dextrous and skilful application of
aCtives to pa (lives: by framing and fhaping the materi-
als, which are made to his hands: by puttirig different
things together, by enquiring into their nature and ufe:
by ftudy, and experience, and obfervation : by often re-
peated and adventurous tryals : by cafling about in his
thoughts, how to fecure himfelf of fuccefs: by proceed-
ing flowly and by degrees, according to method and or-
der:
Tower of God,
igmer der : and the fuccefs has been glorious and admirable, and
•bcot!!: a new world of things has been added 3 and every where,
andea: except in fandy defertsand uncultivated plaines and for-
ndfiere refts, and in fuch countries, where the wild people are
er tfe not jeduced to gentlenefs and civility of manners, are
)an6: ererired monuments of mans wit and power. But how
ute,s[ great foever this may feem, yet it is very little, and piti-
isbytt tril, and inconfiderable in comparifon of what he does
mentsj not know, and what he cannot do ; thoufan^* of things
ICS an there are above his power, which neither his wit nor his
adofilr ^rm can reach: it is not in his power to create one atome
ayiie of matter : he does but difguife things all this while, and
emm put them into new lhapcs. All that he can pretend to, is
cdvovij: but to know nature 5 and that very imperfedly, and to
that It imitate it, as well as he can, and draw rough copies of
cootaj that perferi: original. For how rude, and homely, and
ihlcfoi^ inartificial are the beft pieces of the ableft Artifts, ifcom-
a^cant pared with the curioufnefs, with the neatnefs, with the
itiach:. beauty of natural compofitions ! Thefeare fo curious and
Qijjff r admirable, wrought with fuch excellent and extraordinary
■J an]!; skill, that the moft fagacious and inquifitive cannot fully
lypf; comprehend them. All things are fo exaftly and geome-
Dtsthrffi trically fitted to their proper ufes, even the leaft fibre, and
^ the minuteft particle, tho' imperceptible to the naked eye:
there being nothing idle and ufelefs in nature. There is
fo much accuracy and perfedion in the meanert and mofl:
j; contemptible pieces of the creation, that the more a wife
man, a Philosopher, confiders, the more he is at a lofs:
and the refult of his ferious thoughts, after they have been
, long bufied and tired out in the fearch, is this, that they
'-jjf' are all the works of a divine hand, guided by an infinite
, wifdome. Thus every confidering man, even by a Oight,
•f],.. much more fefious and deliberate, contemplation of na-
L„ ' ture, cannot but be fully fatisfied and convinced, that
there is an all-powerful being, which has wrought all
E thefe
4^ A Difcourfe concerning the
thefe glorious efFeds: or elfe fuch a one, if yet fuch 3,
filly creature, which has the (hape, and pretends to the
. reafon of a man, can be found, muftfall into this prodi-
gious and irrational error,which no one can be guilty or
without the juft imputation of phrenfie, that all that he
fees, is not the produdion of contrivance and defign,
but meerly of accidental hits, firugglings, and conjundti-
ons of little particles of matter, floating up and down in
an infinite empty fpace : that things fell into this admirar
ble order Jhd frame, which has diflradFed and confound-
ed the wits of all ages fully to underhand and make out
fatisfaftorily, at firft as it were of their own accord, as if
they had had life, and fenfe, and power to determine
their own motions, and mutually agreed to do this, ha-
ving'firfl: made themfelves : or which iS'as grofs and foo-
lifli a phantafie, (though herein the Ariftotelean Atheift
thinks himfelf a fine wit and a fubtil arguer in compari-
fon of the Atheifls of the Epicurean feft ) that they are
improdpced and eternal : that the fun moves in the E-
cliptic to the great advantage and benefit of the world,
and not in the Equator, or in any of the Parallel CircleSj
meerly becaufe it happened fo after long (hiftings and in-
finite irregularities of motion : and that it ftill keeps the
fame courfe-as it were out of choife, and fympathy,and
good nature. But now how difficult, how falfe, how
ridiculous, to fay nothing of the impiety of it, muft
fuch a way of arguing and proceed ure be, to judge of
God by our narrow fcantlings of wit and flrength, ^
to meafure his power by our weaknefs, and the good or
ill fuccefs of our endeavours and undertakings : when
we are ignorant of the utmoft ftrength of nature 5 what
may be done by the conjunction and combination of fe-
veral beings 5 how and in what manner they may operate
one upon another 5 and what effeCts they may produce f '
and elpecially, if wf refleCt, that, many things have been
pro-
Fower of God, 27
pronounced impoffible, and given over as fuch, that is,
in refpcdt of us, and not in the- nature of the things
themfelves, and for the wit and art of man to effect,
which have been difcovered by the indufl:ry*of after-times.
Why then fhould any man pronounce a thing impoffible,
which involves in it no repugnancy to aftual exigence,
and hereby pretend to overthrow the doftrine and faith
of miracles, becaufe they are above the ftrengtli of nature?
when the power of God, as has been proved, is immenfe
and infinite : and by the fame argument he may as madly
conclude, notwithftanding his high-flown pretenfions of
arguing according to the principles of Arid reafon , fe-
veral things in the world, nay the world it felf, not to
be made, and maintain dull and ftupid matter to have
been eternal : which is a manifefl grofs abfurdity: meerly
upon this fuppofal, becaufe if they were made, they muft
be made by a power above natural and humane.
2. It is moft unreafonable to rejefl: th« articles of re-
vealed religion and the myfteries of faith, becaufe we can-
not fully comprehend them. Before thefe men, whether
Deifts, or Socinians, renounce the belief of fuch articles
and myfteries, let them try their reafon in explaining the
difficulties of nature : let them refolve all thofe Pro-
blemes, if they can, which have exercifed the Philofo-
phers of all ages; and if upon trial they cannot fatisfie
themfelves or others in thofe ordinary phsenomena, where
they have their fenfes to affift them: if they cannot tell,
how things are done, which are done daily : if many of
the ordinary operations of nature be abftrufe and unintel-
ligible: if they, cannot trace her in all her labyrinths and
windings , and are quite tired, and forced at laft to give
over the purfuit: if plain matters of fenfe cannot be ful-
ly accompted for: why (hould they prefume upon the
ftrength of their little knowledge, and make their reafon
the meafure and ftandard of divine truth, allowing that
E 2 onely
a8
the
A Difcourfe concerning
onely to be true and certain which fuits with it? He is,
very unfit to judge of any piece of art, fuppofe a pidfure
or a watch, who knows nothing of defign or clock-
work 5 and efpecially at firft view , without taking no-
tice of the feveral flrokes and lines, and the proportion
of the parts of the one, or the hidden fprings and wheels '
of the other, which give it that orderly and regular mo-
tion. And if an Artift reject their judgment, as foolifli
and incompetent, becaufe grounded on no principles of
knowledge and skill: fhall we not much more rejeft
thefc mens either bold determination or peremptory de-
nial of things, which they neither underftand, nor have
throughly confidered > fuch, as pretend, that they can-
not believe either a creation, becaufe they cannot tell
how to admit of a vaft empty fpace, before the world
was made, or how it fhould be made, no matter pr^e-
exifting 5 or a refurredtion, becaufe they cannot fee how
the fcattered atomes of duft fhall rally and reunite, and
conftitute the fame man again; fuch, as disbelieve the arti-
cles of the Chriftian faith, becaufe they cannot form ^
clear ideas, and full and comprehenfive notions of them:
and upon the fame pretenfe thefe very men, who will be-
lieve nothing, but what they can make out and demon-
ftrate by reafon, will, if they follow their own princi-
pie, quickly commence down-right Atheifts, and deny
God to be infinite, omnifcient, and eternal: of which
necelTary and elfential attributes of the divine nature we
cannot have complete and adequate conceptions, our nar-
row faculties being no way capable of it. But if there
be fuch a vaft difercnce between man and man, upon
the accompt of education, induftry, experience, learn-
ing,and the feveral ways of advancing and improving rea-
fon and the natural faculties of the mind: if the con-
ceptions of things be clear , eafie, and diftinft in fome,
without wracking or ftraining the phanfie, which are
clouded
iyli<
]gji
fearcig
It
jjalf
tltoitji
noai
isitki
l)k,i
iliv; 1
imi]
'W,
'siktio
tlnik,
ISl'
Hoi,
lot
lisoc
oab
ffii!
Power of Godl .
H« i; clouded, perplext, and confufed in others, by reafon of
api&i][( fome natural or accidental hinderances and difadvantages,
ir cloci. through dulnefs and ftupidity, or fettled prejudice : if
ikingno ^te ignorant.of the poffibilities of nature, and cannot
:oportift tell, how far and in what manner natural caufes may aCt:
idwfe what can be more unreafonable and unjuft, than for a
gularmo tnan, whofe knowledge is fcanty, and power confined
as iboli within a narrow circle, and who is fo apt to miftake in
inciples: judgment of things, to oppofe his reafon to God's in-
lore li finite wifdom, as if it were equally clear and comprehen-
lUoivi five; to pretend, that his conceptions are the adequate
meafuresof truth; and that God can do no more, than-^
what he, poor finite'(hallow creature, is able to think ;
and to rejeft clear and exprefs revelations of God concern-
ing himfelf, upon the accompt of a phanfied incongruity
and a feeming repugnancy to his reafon ? If the creatures^
which are of a different order of being from us, cannot
at all, much lefs fully, underhand and comprehend what
we do according to the didates of reafon and wifdom,,
and the refults of deliberate counfel and hudy : becaufe
life, and fenfe, and animal motion are not able to reach
fo far, without the aliiftence of an higher and nobler fa-
culty; what an unpardonable piece of arrogance is it
for a man to think his reafon able to comprehend the things
of God, when there is fuch an infinite difproportion be-
tween them; and call in queftion the truth of the divine
revelations; and meafure all by this crooked and deceit-
ful rule, whether it be agreeable to his phanfie or not >
It is a mod rational and infallible ground of faith, that
God, who has revealed thefe myheries, cannot utter a
faKhood. It is more certain than demonftration, if God
has once faid it. There are fome monflers in the world,
•whofe lufts and debaucheries have fuggehed to them
doubts about the being of God, and the truth of his
attributes: and a confcioufnefs of t^ueir guilt has made
them
30
^ Difcourfe concerning the
them wifh, that there were none. No one was ever
found, who acknowledged a God, and did not at the
farhe time acknowledge, that he was juft and true. Py-
thagoras found no oppofition, when he taught, that there
were two things, by which men became like to God 5
ttS >9 gV ivipyil^v ,- hji ^eakjfig truth and
doing good: both perfedions naturally dreaming from
the divine nature. So that upon the whole matter it
will appear, that it is nothing but pride and a pre-
funlptuous conceit of maftering all the difficulties of re-
ligion by the ftrength of reafon, which put them upon
the denial of thele revealed truths, and that this pride
and prefumption are altogether unjuft and unreafonable.
Which was the thing to be proved.
From this neceffary, effential, and fundamental notion
of the divine power, thefe following inferences, rela-
ting to pradife, may mod certainly be drawn :
I. That we are to repofe our whole trud and confi-'
dencein God, whofe power is infinite.
We naturally fly in cafe of didrefs and danger to a
power, which is able to proted and relieve us. There is
no man, but needs a fupport fome time or other. Men
are not always able of themfelves to refid fuccefsfully the
aflaults of envy and malice ; but this way envy may be
at lad conquered, and enemies brought over and recon-
ciled, or elfe defeated. Let this therefore be the great
comfort of our minds, that God is both able and ready;
to affid us in our utmod and greateTf dangers, and in all
the particular difficulties and didrclfes of our lives,
which may befalf us. It was a reflexion upon this,
which made David break out into thofe triumphant ex-
preffions ; Pfalm xlvi. 1,2, 3. God is our refuge and
Jirength^ a very prefent help in trouble : therefore mil rve not
fear^ tho' the earth be moved : and tho the mountains be
S' Wij
Pomr of God.
31
IS ei;f carried into the mid!i of the fea : tho' the waters roar and
at til he troubled : tho the mountains fake with the fwelling there-
!. Pj of. And V. 7. The Lord of hofls is with US': the God of
ith (I 2. That we are to ftand in fear and awe of God, and
ig fro: do nothing, which may difpleafe him.
natter: Fear is a paffion, which ufually refults from a reflexi-
1 ape on upon power; and according to the nature and de-
esoft. grees of it, the fear will rife and encreafe proportion-
miiH-ably 5 and therefore the power of God, who is able to
tVispiii punilh us eternally, is a moft rational ground of fear,
eaioi S. Luke xii. 4,5. fays our B. Saviour to his difciples^ Be
not afraid of them^ who kfU the body^ and after that have no
more., that they can do: but I will foyewarnyou., whom you
:al OOT. fear him., who., after he hath kjUed., hath power to
:es, ttif eaji into hell : yea., I fay unto you., fear him. And with
this argument the heroic , woman encouraged her young
id coii fon to^endure the torments and cruelties of Antiochus,
as his fix brothers had done before him, rather than fave
ijrftto, bis life by violation of the divine law : I befeech thee., my
Tbt: tipon the heaven, and upon the earth , and all that
Jjj is therein : and confider, that God has made them of things,
fllllj'tl! b fo was manJ^nd made likywife. Fear
|j not this tormentor, but being worthy of thy brethren, take
thy death, that I may receive thee again in mercy with thy
,j gffj. brethren : as you may read the tragical hiftory in the fe-
jffjdjCond book of Maccabees, chap. vii. Whofoever refledts
feriouOy on Gods infinite power, will never pre-* vide s. ck-
, jjyjj fumptuoully do fuch things, as may draw on him his '"fntem,p.37,
I difpleafure : and upon a true fenfe of his guilt, will be
gj. reftlefs, till by repentance and a good life he is reinfta-
ted in the love and favour of God.
I God
itthei Jacob is our refuge.
9.,That
A Difcourfe concerning the
'5. That the fetife oTour weaknefs and defeats (hould
teach us humility and modefty in our enquiries into the
great myfteries of religion : there being as great reafon
for us to fubmit our under (landing to the revealed truths
of Scripture, as our will to its commands. He, who re-
ligiouily adores and believes a God , and acknowledges
him to be a being infinitely perfect, will not dare to que-
ftion the truth of his revelations : and as firmly will he
believe, that all thofe promifes and threats, which are
contained in the holy Scriptures, which have a reference
to a future ftate,(hall one day be fulfilled. For with what
pretenfe can any one doubt or disbelieve their fulfilling,
who refleds upon God's truth and power ? All doubt or
diftruft arifeth from a double caufe , either becaufe men
are not real in what they fay, and fo intend it not; or
■elfe want power to make their words good: neither of
which can pofllbly have any place here. For God is a
God of infinite veracity, and all his promifes are infalli-
:bly real and firm : and he is able to perform them. We
value not indeed thofe menaces, which are the effeds of
an impotent palTion 5 when we are out of their power,
and when they cannot reach us : but there will be no fly-
ing from God : his eye and hand will find and lay hold
on us, wherever we are. He, who made me at firft, and
placed the feveral parts of my body in that comely or-
der, in which they (land, and which from time to time
in continuance and in the fucceflion of a few months'
were fajlmned^ when as yet there was none of thent^ he
can raife up this very body at the laffc day, and will raife'
it up: and of this I cannot pretend to have the leafl: ra-'
tional doubt, were it ten thoufand times more difficult
ji'stljn
nil
niltr
I tbi.
tienib
iftrak
to conceive, than it is : becaufe he has abfolutely pro-*
mifed it, and his veracity is obliged for it, and his infi-
nite power can eafily make it good. Does God threaten
impenitent and incorrigible finners with everlafting tor;
nt
Potver of God.
^onl; rnent in hell ^ I with trembling fubmit to the truth of
ototlj this threatning : becaufc he can eafily continue a creature
Kifoi in a miferable being, unconfumed, and that for ever :
i tuti and I know he will do it, becaufe he has faid it. And
wboR upon this belief and aflurance we are to provide accord-
ingly, that fo we may avoid the ftrokes, the fierccnefs,
the terribienefs of his revenging hand, and may partake
will: of thofe moft glorious promifes, which his goodnefs and
vbkli! mercy inChrift our Saviour has made over to us in this
refaa life, and which his infinite power will make good^ to us
wttbiii. for ever in the next.
fill / - - ^ -
11 (loflij. , "
raoles , ■ _
itooL'. - . .
ntiiiiB • ■ ■
ifCodfj . ■ ■ - .
areii ■ , •
lieo!, f;-' ■ ' ' ' • .
lerfeSik * ■ ■ »" X ■
Ubeiioi; ^ _
llayl:'' ^ ^ ^ :
atfc
walr, ■■ ■ • • ' ■" ',1' • ■ - '
letoK''' • ■" ; _ ~ , ■ ' _ ,
w nicP ;
' {'' ■
ffiliif " -■ / " ■ " _
■C0: ' ' . ^ ■
(slff, ^ A
bisiP'',' - ■ \ .
thread
iflg# ^ ^ -
A
DISCOURSE
: ABO-UT THE
C E R T A I. N T Y, and E V I D E N C E;
O F A
Future State.
HO W much itbdow a man to bulTe himfeif<"
wholly in the purfuit of earthly things, whe--
ther honour, wealth, or pleafure y and howi
contemptible a creature he is, notwithftanding?
all his acquifts of outward greatnefs, unlefs he does raifcr
his mind to the contemplation of better and nobler ob-
jeds, whofoever will refled ferioufly upon the nature and:
faculties of the mind, by which he is enabled to difcourfe,-
and reafon^and judge of things and of their confequences,r
unlefs he is utterly forfaken by his reafon,and governed by
brutal appetite, will be forced to acknowledge., Befides^
there are fuch continual changes and viciffitudes ofthings-^
here below, fo much uncertainty in them, and withal, la-
little fatisfadion to the rational defires of the foul, fuchf
iatermixtureSiof g^od.and.evil^, ebbs and flov/s of prc-r-
E 2.; fperity?
A Difconrfe about the certaiaty
fperiry,{icknefs, and difcontent, and difappointments, and
various anx4§t4es, arifing from irregular pailion and di-
licmper of bloud and humours, and a thoufand evil acci-
dents, which no wifdom or care can prevent, not with-
(landing the flattering intervals of health, and eafe, and
pleafurable felf-en)oyment, taking up the greateft part of
oirrdives, and deaihtat laft, after three or fourfcore years
at fiizihg upoti us, that,even accord^ng^'to the )udg-
mentof natural reaibn, and the more refined Heathen have
acknowledged it, the condition of humane life would
be very milerable, and all things confidered, inferior to
that of other creatures, if there were no life hereafter in
another world. Nay, amidft thofe corrupt principles,
which barbaroufnefs and fcnfuality had fuper-induced a-,
raong the wilder fort of Heathen, immerfed in blind and
flupid ignorance, and deftitute of all helps and methods
of knowledge and-karning, they yet retained a belief and
exfpeftatiorf ofTnno^er ftate after this dik : this could not
be wholly effaced out of their minds and memories: thefe
thoughts purfued them, wherever they went: and when
theyimet with violence and hardfhip, and were Oppreffed
by'the irrefiftible ftrength of invaders,and fuffered ilnjuft-
lyf'in all thefe ftraits and difficulties, they comforted them-
, feives with faint hopes of it: and tho' they could not by
redfon of fatal prejudicesand prepofreffions,taken up from
fehfe, and of the want of the true knowledge of God,and
his attributes, have any juft apprehenfion or notion of the
refurreftion of the body, yet they all concluded unani-
ffloufly for the life, and being, and fubfiftence of the foul.
So that the wild arid favage people of Afric and Ameri-
ca, as'well as the more civilized, and cultivated by philo-,
fophy and the difcipline of laws, give in full evidence a-
gainfl the Atheiflicalwitsof the age, who with an unpa-
rallel'd boldnefs maintain, that when a man has a£ted his
part in this life, he goes off the ftage, and difappears for
ever,
and evidence of a Future State.
ana ever, that the foul like a flame, when the matter, which
and4 fed it, is fpent, is wholly cxtinguilhed, and vanifies mto
acd- fofi air 5 that we caffje into the world by meer chance., and JJ)ali
notwitli. be hereafter, as tho' we had never been as the Author of the
^afe, ast bo6k of Wifdom elegantly brings in the Gallants of his
time triumphing and entertaining themfelves with fuch i-
iCoieyea: die, phantaftick, and irrational hopes 5 chap. ii. 2. and
otkjadj that when a man dyes, there is an utter end of him , a
^atbenb diflblution of foul as well as body, every element taking
life wot its own, and the whole fwallowed up in the univerfal
hfttlot; raafs of matter, out of which it was at firft made ; fing-
hieafit:; ing out with the chorus in Seneca's Troas:
t princij!:^ ■ . ■
ir-indactuj ' Shi^ris quo jaceas poB obitum loco ^
inUat; ^10 non nata jacent.
lodffiilioi and,
i a belief at Voli ntortem nihil eli, ipfaque mors nihil.
liSCOllldlKI .
norics.'ii! But it ought not to be exfpefted', as to the Heathen,that
laodfffe tBey, whofe eyf^s were dim and weak, and who were in-
volved in thick clouds and mifts of ignorance, fhould
erediliiiiit ^ profpeft of another world, and that
heavenly objefts fhould appear to them, whofe un-
jjljjjojr derftandings were darkned with falfe notions and princi-
fflcpfo in their full brightnefs. However, it is mofl certain,
^(jodjj^that they did believe a life after this: and made it the
■qjjqI'jJ;'great incentive and encouragement of virtue and cou-
d DDat flyiug for thar country : and when they did ill,
ftbdod the dark, with all poffible fecrecy and undi-
J .ujjfj, fturbance, and with all fecurity , under no reflraint of
law, or fear of punilhment 5. yet their hearts mifgavc
■jL^. them, and in private and alone they dreaded the evil ef-
' ^ fedfs and confequences of their guilt. I am not back-
ward to acknowledge, that this opinion , belief, and ex-
fpeftation of another life,might be oftentimes clogg'd in
ever, , .
38
liiiiDti
safiiti
adistri
'J
nt.
SjtSiM
jimDO
Etfetti
nffipll
riiies
isitor!
a
A Difcourfe about the certainty
the beftof them with mixtures of doubts: the prepoffefT
fions of fenfe ftifling the didates of right reafon and the
fuggefcions of natural confcience. Even that excellent per^
fon, Socrates, vyho was one of the firft among the GreekSj
who freed his reafon,from the entanglement of vulgar o-
pinions in matters of religion and moral philofophy,.
which the corrupt Theology of their Poets had introdu-
Qed, and who died as it were a Martyr for the unity of,
the Godhead, fpake fomewhat doubtfully of it in the dif-
courfe he had with his friends, the very day of his death:
Plato inPhoe- the fum qf which is preferved by Plato in his dialogue,
done.edit^ entitled Phcedo^ or of the foul. He faid, he vpould not he.
' fofitive and dogmatical: but however heprofeft his hope,
«irthat hefhould pafs immediately to the company of thofc
good men, who died before him, whofe fouls furvived
in fome happy place he knew not where. This was far
from the heroick and fteady aiTurance of S. P.w/, who-
after his fecond appearance before Nero, when he faw,
that there was nothing but death to be exfpefted from the
Tyrant and his bloudy Oilicers, triumphs in his neer-
approaches to it, as the entrance to ableffed immortality.
2 Tim.ii. 7,8. I am. novp ready to be offered^ and the time- ^
of my defartuye.is at hand. I have fought a. good fght:
have finifjcd my courfe : I have kgpt the^falth.: henceforth n
laid up for me a crown of righteoufnefs, which the. Lord., the
righteous Judge,/had.give me at that day. He feemed as fure
of it, as if he had had the crown upon his head, and had
been adually, in heaven. What Philofophy can fcarce
reach, being at that vaftdiftancc. from it, that Chriftiani-
ty eaiily difcQvers. Reafon is the fame in all mankind
but reafon, aihfted by revelation, is like the eye armeR
with a Telefcope: it not only fees things clearer and bet--
ter, but difgovers newobjeds fuch as before lay hid, and-*
were indifcernible to the naked fight. A Chriftian man, that
i^,if .he be more fo, than in profeffion, apd if hjs immora-.
lities,
Ms
■f
pi
ki
sotp
It is
iitel'
;itQti
5KpoIt evidtnc^of a Future State.
undtl IWss^have not altogether corrupted his mind,and plunged
sllentpt very dregs of infidelity, cannot at all doubt
leGted a future ftate. He looks upon himfelf as a pi 1 grime ,
vulgai; travelling toward a better country, that is, a hca-
hilofopi venly : here he has no continuing city , but looks for one to
dinttoi His hopes are fixed elfewhere : and the doctrine
tieun'itj of afiures him of the certainty and reality of his
tintk; ^op^s, and plentifully affords him good and well fettled
and unmoveable grounds, upon which his expectation is
diaW founded. ^
But fetting afide the proofs from the clear, and full, and
feftliislio: oi^contrpllable revelations of Scripture concerning the diffe-
rent ftatesand conditions of happinefs and mifery in the
other world: as having now to do with men, who throw
off all belief of the facred writings of the Prophets and A-
5 p^j J. poftles, and rejeCt their authority 5 in order to their con-
jjj,: viCtion I will only make ufe of arguments drawn from
iedfroE' principles of teafon and of natural religion, which
they pretend to admit and embrace, in proving,that there
iuuui^vare things to be hoped for and feared in another world,
that is, that there are rewards and puniftimcnts to be di-
jr i ftributed hereafter according to our good or ill behaviour
in this life: and that a full, and pofitive, and fatisfaCto-
, ry proof of this is derivable from ^he nature of things,
I' , / and that fuch evidence is fuflicient, and cannot with any
(hew or pretenfe of reafon be rejefted.
'I (hall only by way of preliminary lay down this fol-
lowing propofition, of the truth of which thefe men
" ! cannot but be fully fenfible 5 viz.. that the belief of this
" natural truth, fo univerfally received, that is, in all ages
T and among all nations, is very conducive to, and has a
mighty influence upon, the well-being of the world,
'f ' It is indeed one of the grand bafes and principles of
all religion, whether natural, or prefcribedhy pofitive in-
ftitution. If all things were to end here,and no exfpeCla-
htl' ' tinr,
A DifccHrfe ahont the certainty
tion of any thing future, men would little care to be
virtuous or religious for virtues or religions fake,
tho' to live virtuoufly and reiigioufly, that is, according
to the law of nature and the law of God, be agreeable to
our rational faculties, and creates a greater joy and lere-
nity in the mind, than what all earthly, fenfual, and bru- ^
tal pleafures, enjoyed to their full height, can afford, and
confequently does carry along with it its own reward : "■'? > '
yet it is juftly to be feared, that the fatisfadion of ha-
ving done ones duty would be judged meager and empty ,
in refpedt of thofe, grofs delights of the fenfes, and be ,
lookt upon as tlie eifed of melanchply and chagrin , and
it may be, of miftake and folly 5 anli that religion would
have but few votaries upon this noble and generous prin-
ciple. The only bufinefs then of life would be how to^:
be rich and great; ftrength would be the law of juftice,
and right and title meafured out by the longeft fword.
Innocence would be no fecurity againft oppreflion and^^^
violence 5 but rather their fport and prey. Luxury would
go hand in hand with ambition : pleafures, tho' never fo ';®"
unmanly and impure , (hould be wanting to no fenfe:
the appetitefhould be fated with wine and luft, and then
raifed again with charming incentives and provocatives.
Men would play the hearts more folemnly, make the ^®
whole creation adminirter to their wantonnefs and riot,
and fpend their whole time in the exceffes of extravagant "
mirth and jollity. Confcience, alas, and honerty would fe®
be accompted meer empty names: corrupt interert and
policy would raife themfelves upon the ruines of religion iiaf
and morality. Deceit and evil arts fhould foon take place, 'iow
where there was no hope of prevailing by open force, tiifll
A mans own will, were it never fo unreafonable, fhould
be theonely rule of his life: and the gratification of anNdi
irregular appetite fhould be the onely law of his mind, he] 1
Next,.
and e'vidence of a Fnture^Staffo
Next, the belief of this fundamental truth is the great
ke. f(i and necefiary fupportof government. It is like the mid-
iccordin hone of an arch, which fuftains the whole building :
reeable: keeps^ the world from falling into confufion, and re-
and fc lapfing into its original chaos. All government would
i,an(il)!: quickly be at an enddaws would not have fufficient ftrength
2iffoid,ji to their duty 5 at leaft, they would be
fnrraai: fpiders webbs, onely proper to entangle petty ofFen-
ionof i. tiers, who could not break through them. They would
and® no longer obey, than they were forced; they would be
impatient of living under fuch relfraints, which, as fome
hp,; of our modern Virtuofi pretend, abridge them of their
[jgjooyor natural liberty: and if fo, they were to be treated like
MDsps beafts, and pent up in dens and caves from doing
mifchief. Every man would pretend to have a right to
ffof jolk ^very thing: and Mr. Hobbs'sabfurd and phantaftic hypo-
thefis about the hate of nature would be really introdu-
pieiojt World by innumerable inftances and examples
Dxonffos cruelty and injuftice, to the (hame of humane nature,
and utter overthrow of humane race. Such continued
[jjjpff;, clafhingsand fightings would be more fatal and pernici-
ous, than plagues, hurricanes, earthquakes, and inunda-
oroT® fions, and wopld quickly difpeople the earth of all its
jjjjij: inhabitants. It is the belief of another world, which
i y f fecures government,-preferves authority, and gives ftrength
Im
Fear and hope have a great influence upon our lives:
ntereili' imperious paffions, and fhew their power
fjjiiji fufficiently in all the great tranfadtions of mankind, which
1. i are done with reafon. and defign. They are natural to us,
L and will never forfake us: and their ftrength increafeth
proportionably, according to the nature , and quality ,
( and degrees of thofe rewards and puniftiments, on which
^^5 thev are fixt. Now if thefe rewards and puniftiments
vind- J Q
A Difcourfi about the certainty
were only temporary,if after death there were nothing fur-
ther to be feared or hoped for,men would not value the utr ^
moft feverity of law, to gratifie a paffion, fuppofe luft or r
revenge; they would willingly run the hazard of dying, *
fo as that they might either enjoy their extravagant phan- ' f
lies, or ruineand difpatch their enemy: death in it felf. f L
being not fo terrible, (the fear of which feyeral paffions" ^
can eafily overcome) but as it is a palTage to eternity. He~ V
who is grown fo defpcrate, as not to value his own ^
life, is eafily mafter of another mans: and nothing could
deter fuch an one from adting, the greateft villany ima-
ginable. -
But now, if there be rewards and punifhments after. ^
this life ended, if thefe rewards and punifhments be ever-
lading, if thefe everlafting rewards and punifhments be,
difpenfed and proportioned according to the adions and
behaviours of men here in this world , if this be certain,-
and if it be believed and exfpeded as certain, the juft
and well grounded hope of future happinefs will power-
fully perfwade and incite us to the pr^iAifes of a virtuous
and holy life , and the fear and dreadful exfpedation of
future endlefs mifery will as powerfully deter us from the
coramiHton pf thofc wickedneffes, which render us juftlyi
obnoxious to fuch punifhments. For who would not be
happy for ever., if he either might or could > who in his
right wits and calm thoughts would be content to be mi- fe®ii
ferable to eternal ages ? who would make it his choice to ^
be damned,, if he might avoid it >'
Now as to the, proof of a future Bate from the.princi-
pies of natural religion, the certainty and evidence of it *
are founded on the juflice of God and his governing pow-
cr: which render it undeniably neceffary. 'tJVif
^ Nothing perplext the minds of the ancient Philofo- .
Pliers more, th^n to fee righteoys and virtuous men often^ V
limes
igfu;. And e'vidence of a Future State,
times affliited and opprefl, and the wicked and difToIute
profperous and triumphant. No phcenomenon whatever,
dyio^ which they pretended might be folved and accompted for
it pk; by their feveral hypothefes, without interefting a Deity
nitfc 'at all in their folutions, troubled themfo much, asthi»;
IpiSo; thefe difficulties were great and perplext, and difagree-
rnity.li; able, as they thought, to the common notions of reafon,
liisQj; equity, and juftice, imprinted upon their minds: fo that
ingcoi in the tumultuous workings of their thoughts, they be-
iiny iit gan to queftion, whether God ( for fuch a fupreme be-
ing they could not, they durft not deny) had any thing to
3ec52fe do in the govefnmentof the world , who permitted fuch
diforders, and feemed fo unconcerned. But upon wife
kaii thoughts and fedate deliberation they quickly recovered,
generally condemned the doftrine of Epicurus, and
Ixcerta. teadily acknowledged, that all the great revolutions, that
ytiejiE were in the world, all the odd and ftrangc events of
illpoK. things, and the different conditions of life, as to good
and evil, fo feemingly repugnant to the rules of right
.(jjtioc: and wrong, were for wife ends and purpofes permitted
s&ooic come to pafs: that there was a foveraign infinite being,
Pjjjiji.; who governs the world according to his will and plea-
,l(j fure 5 and that all things are fubjed to the rules and laws
jjg of his wifdom and providence. This, after all their re-
j^r;. fearches into the caufes and reafons of things, notwith-
ftanding the great difficulties, wherewith they had been
entangled, was generally acknowledged by them , as the
:.2, voice and didate of univcrfal nature and clear and right
^ J, reafon. The Schools of all the fober Mafters and Pro-
feffors of Philofophy, both at Athens and B.ome, found-
ed with this dodrinc : and all, who pretended to virtue,
M ( and honour, and underftanding, very few excepted, em-
f braced it. It was to the belief of this prime truth, and
'■ the pradifesof religion grounded upon it, that the wife
G 2 and
A Dtfcourfe abmt the certainty
and judicious C/Veri? afcribed the afto-
nifliing fuccefs of the Roman Arms in. ^
the feveral diftant parts of the then
known world, where their vidtoribus ^
eagles percht 3 that it was not, becaufc \
they were more numerous, or excelled
either in the arts of policy ^ or in the r l •
art of war, (as if the Galls or the Car- '[■■jyj
thaginians had been inferiour to them j,. ,
in valour and difcipline, for they had" ^
had frequent experience of the contrary, ('Tim
and had been fadly diftreft by both 5
and Brennus anH Hannibal were names , which had made
Rome to tremble,or as if the other nations,as the Greeks,or ®
the Spaniards, or even their own neighbours and country-
men, the Italians and Latines themfelves,whom they con-
quered, and brought under the jurifdidion of their im- '
perial City, were not fo numerous, or not fo cunning and
ingenious, and excellent in difcipline and civil arts and' ^
accompliftiments of life ) Jed pktate atque reljgwne^ atque
hdc una fapknth^ quod Deorum immortalmm numme omnia
regl guhernarlque perjpeximus : but in piety and religion^and,
in this peculiar rpifdom^ that they acknowledged^ that the
great affairs of the world^ and all things in it, were govern^ ^
ed and over-ruled by a Deity. This truth they retained,
notwithftanding the grievous errors, which they had ta-
ken up concerning the multiplicity of inferior Gods, and
the horrible and fhameful fcandals of their idolatrous ^
worlhip. But our improved reafon, enlightned with the ^ i
knowledge of the true God, does more fully and clearly, -5^,®
upon juft and eafie reflexions, prove and- make manifcft
to us, that God, who created the univerfe, is an alwife
God, holy, jufl, andtrue, that righteoufnefs is eflen- ffl
tial to his nature 5 that nothing comes to pafs, or can >
come-
* Cicero in his Oration, dc Ha-
rufpicum refponds, which be pro-
nounced in the Senate. volu-
mus licet, P. C. ipfi ms amenm ; ta-
men nec numero Hifpams, nec caUidi-
tate Poenos, vec roiore Oaltos, nec
artfbus Graces, nec denique hoc ipfo
huqm gentii ac terra domeflico natiiio-
que fenfu, Italos ipfos ac Latinos; fed
pietate {pp religme, atque hac una
fapientia, quod Veorum immortalium
numine omnia regi gubcrnarique per-
jpeximw, omnes g-entes nationefque fu-
peravimuf.
andi'videnceof a Futwre State.
fome to pafs without his appointment, at leaft without
Irtns i permifTion 5 that what now feems diforder and chance,
he thet contrivance and defign 5 and that all the con-
iftorioin ^*wfic)ns brought upon the world, tend to illuftrate God's
(becaos wifdom and power, who can and will bring beauty and
excdlcj' of, them.
)t ■ If ad things then in the world are under a law , the
theCai, refpedive natures, and ad according to the
r to tie eflablilhed laws of their creation j and if there be an
theyj^ over-ruling providence feen every where ; man certainly,
tconte ^do is capable of a law, by reafon of his intelledual fa-
;l)jy j culties and liberty of will, cannot be fuppofed left to him-
yri- felf, to ad, as he wantonly pleafeth, without being ac-
tCfffljj. comptable to a fnperior power; He , who made him,
and continues his being to him, has a right to govern
itjjjyfgj,. him, that is, may, if he will, lay down laws and rules
ftlieirk- "8^^ ordering of his life: and he has adually
nmsjJ' every man is confcious to himfelf, that he
jjjjgJ is obliged by virtue of his creation and dependence upon
m ak much the equi-
m\l agreeablenefs, the advantage , or neceflity of a
timm' as the fandion, which makes it to be obeyed, and
I preferves it inviolable. If God then be the governour of
; the world, and particularly of mankind , and if he go-
ffliiwl according to the laws and rules of juftice, the
yij, necelTary and fundamental maximes of government will
oblige us to believe, that he will accordingly reward and
11' ^ punilh. - Tl)ere is one Law-giver^ "who is able to Jave^ and to
.ft deflroy. But we fee daily, how the laws of God are vio-
I I lated, and that the violators of them oftentimes efcape
.[i unpunifhed in this life; and we know, what ill ufe im-
, f patient and inconfiderate men have made of this forbear-
J ance and long-fuffering of God. Is not bloud-thirfty
cruelty, for inftance, a manifeft breach of the law, natu-
come'
4 6 A Difconrfe about the certainty
ral and divine > that multitudes of rnnocent perfons
(hould be facrificed to the revengeful and wanton humout
of a Tyrant 5 which was the cafe of the primitive Chri-
ftians during the reigns of the heathen Roman Emperours:
who does not deteffc as impious and inhumane ? yet how
many of them, who have been guilty of this barbarity,
haVe left the wocld without any mark of the divine veri-
geance upon them ? they having had whole armies te
defend them , and affill: them an their outragious and
bloudy maffacres. Who is not concerned for the fufter-
ings of good men in all ages ? when they are dead, they
are pitied perchance , and men weep over their graves,
and celebrate their memories with anniverfary orations,
and fpeak great things in praifc of their courage and vir-
tue, which no oppolition, no trouble whatever, no not
, ^ death it felf, could tire out and overcome. This is all
the reward, which they have in this world ; and certain-
ly in it felf a very poor one, tho' juftly due to their
name and memory. But while they lived , oftentimes
they w^re defiitute^ afli&ed, tormented, wanting the con-
veniencies of life, expofed to extreme poverty, and to
cruel mockjngs -and fcourgings , wnndring about in d^erts
and mountains, and retiring^to dens and caves for Ihelter 5
• and outlawed by fanguinary edifts from the fociety of
mankind: and at other times condemned to the flames,
or to wild beafts in their Amphitheatres , or to gibbets
and crofles, or to wracks and wheels, and fuch like cruel
deaths, with all poffiblc ignominy, as well as torment.
Does not the juftiee of God make it neceflary, that there
be a diftribution of rewards and punifliments hereafter,
according as every one deferves ? Can the government
of a moft holy and alwife God be fuppofed imperfedt
and defedive in fo ncccffary a part of it, as is diftributive
juftice? Can God be thought to give laws on purpofe ,
that
and evidence of a Fnthre State.
that they might be broken, and to reward the breakers
of" them, and to have no regard to thofe, who confd-
entioufly obey them > This moft certainly evinceth, that
there mull: be another life after this, wherein God will
vindicate the honour of his juftice and. providence,
which now feemingly fuffer, and do himfelf right in the
fight of all mankind. If there be a God, there will be
a future ftate, becaufe God cannot be otherwife than julV.
For tho' he hath an abfolnfe power over his creatures ,
yet he governs them according to rules of eternal redi-
tude and juftice, and has declared from heaven his
wrath and indignation againft all unrighteoufnefsof men,
which is the tranfgreflion of thofe rules , and his veraci-
ty, as well ashis jnfiice, will oblige him to make it good.
If it be faid, that this evidence of reafon is not fo clear
and convincing, as that, which arifeth from Mathemati-
cal demonftration, or the attefiation of fenfe, tho' it
fnould be granted, nothing can be gained by it "to the
prejudice of the truth and certainty of this doftrine :
which I (hall (hew in thefe two-particulars-:
I." That this evidence-of reafon is fully fatisfaftorw
of itfelf.
II.That in a matter of this nature no-other evidence
can or ought to be-exfpe£Ied.
I. That this evidence of reafon is fully fatisfaftory of
itfelf, will appear hence, becaufe it is highly irrational-
to doubt or deny fuch proofs, as are grounded upon the
evidence of reafon,meerly upon this pretenfe,that the evi-^
dence of Mathematical demonftration and of fenfe. is
clearer. For tho'all themaximes and poftulata of Geo--
metry, with the feveral Theoremes and Problemes built
upon them, be in themfelves fo clear and evident, as that
A Difcmrfe about the certainty
' npotia'right perception either of the terms, or of the
manner of conhrudion, we readily and eafily yield our
aflent to them without the leaft demur : and tho' the *
judgment of fenfe be certain, that is , when nothing, re-
, quifite to make the fenfation perfed, is wanting : yet the
* Sccptick has called in quedion the truth of both, upon
this foohlh pretenfe, that for ought he knows, and cat: .si"®'
be throughly convinced of, all this Mathematical evi-
dence may be a fatal and fettled, delufion : that it is pof- Isritj,
fible, that a man may be mod deceived, when he thinks
himfelf mod affured : that the colledions and inferences -^ofc
'^of what we call reafon may be falfe and deceitful; that
the impreffions, which material objeds make upon the
phanlie, may be onely chimerical : that when we fee and
near, and difcourfe, we may but. onely think fo ; that
we have as little certainty of things , when we are a- ^iogii
wake, and are very attentive and ferious, as when we 'Mmd
are aOeep and dream; and that our whole life may be
but one continued fceneof phande and imagination. So
- that the mod common, and univerfal, and edablidit iaiar
truths of nature may be, and have been called in que- jl!if(cn
dion by fubtil Sophiders, who have a mind to cavil. 2ioj(a;
But who does not deride and condemn fuch fccpticifm mm
as very filly and irrational ? Men are not to be per-
fwaded or difputed out of their fenfes, and their belief iirand
of fird notions, by fuch idle and phantadick fuppofitions: iialpn
the polTibility of the truth of which is overthrown feve-
^ral ways, as, by the reflexions, which the underdanding
makes upon it felf, whereby we clearly know what we
know : by our acting according to deliberation and fixt jfticn,
principles: by our being confcious to bur felves of the
continued and repeated adVions of our lives : by con-
firmed and undoubted experience^ that, tho' we are de- jrda;
ceived, when our outward fenfes are fufpended by fleep,
and '
't of k
and ezfidence of a Future Staie,
■ u phanfie takes a liberty to amufe us with a thou-
Iieldoi; land various fhapes and figures, arid fometinies with
wo tl; ftrange conjundions oF things, which neither exift, nor
wwg,!;. can poffibly exift, we make certain conclufions from our
■I' yetfc awakened fenies, when we have the full and entire ufe
)Otu,Ej)fr and exercife of them: and becaufe it is inconceivable,
'5)311^0! either how fuch a delufion ftiould arife of it felf, and be
MhcaU elTential to the nature of man ^ or how that God ftiould
Jtitispi^' fuffer it 5 that is, that he, who is of infinite truth, and
ihetliiiii wifdom, and juftice, (hould force us by the very confti-
i infmia tutionof our nature to believe a lye, and embrace error
under the femblance of truth : and that too without any
;eiipo!id help or means of difcoveriqg our being convinced of
iweftea our miftake, or at leaft fhould leave us to fuch great in-
certainties , that we (hould have no x,^%^ov or rule
affeaiil to diftinguifh between, and difcern truth'from falfe-
hood, and that he (hould give us-reafon and fenfe for
lifeip no other end or ufe, but to deceive us, at leaft to perplex
Djtiofl, i- and diftradl: us with doubts and fcruples, whether we un-
id eWi derftand and fee, when we both underflandand fee.
IfjjjjKjji The certainty and clearnefs of Mathematical demon-
odioati ffration (as alfo of fuch propofitions, as are faid to be
ifccp 'f-tern£ veritatis^ arifeth hence, becaufe it is converfant a-
jf - bout things abflrafted from matter, or,rather tofpeak more-
clearly ^nd diftinftly, it is founded in the elfential noti-'
ons and properties of things, which have an infeparable
^^pendence upon and connexion one with another ,
ierfwD^ without any regard to their aftual exiftence ^ as that all
the lines drawn from the center of a circle to the cir-
,jr cumference are equal ^ and that the whole is greater than
pfj} any of its parts : which is infallibly and univerfally cer-
\ J tain 5 it being efTential to the nature of a thing, confi-
[ \ i dered as entire and whole, to be made up of many parts
united and connefted together, and therefore neceflarily
21^1
A Difcourfe about the certainty
greater than any one of thofe parts aftually divided or
conceived divided from it. And the like is to be faid or
all the eflential attributes and properties of a fphere, cy-
linder, ellipfis, or any other Geometrical figure whatever:
tho' there were no exactly fpherical, cylindrical, or ellip-
tical body in nature, or could be framed fuch by the pow-
er of art. Such fpeculative truths carry in themfelves ^
their own evidence : and the und'erftanding very readily
aflents to them : and let me add , the more readily, not
only, becaufe it would be the eft'eft either of a natural or ^
lhamefully abfurd ftupidity to deny fuch evidence, which
would be the fame thing, as to maintain grofs and palpa-
ble contradictions ^ but alfo becaufe it is no mans intereft ^
to do fo. For nothing is rfiore certain^ than that intereft
oftentimes rejeCts the clear refults of reafon 5 than that ?
the judgnient is oftentimes enclined to pafs a wrong fen-
tence, even againft knowledge and juft proof of the con-
trary, in favour of a falfe opinion, if it be advantagious 5 .,
lit
that what we do not like,and is difagreeable to our defigns.
in'i
does not eafily get admittance within us: we demur up-
tliaiiiii
on it, and raifedifficulties and doubts, and pretend, that
we cannot underftand it 5 when the true reafon is, it
loiei
makes againft us, and therefore we will not. And this
is one great reafon, why the Atheifts and Deifts fet them- ® ®
felves againft the fundamental truths of religion, and la- I®' ™
hour fo much to confirm themfelves in their infidelity, by
making ufe of their wit and the little reafon, that is left
them, to find out new difficulties, and raife objections,
to juftifie and defend themfelves in-their unbelief, in .
oppofition to the rational, wife, and juft fentiments of
good men, whom they moft abfurdly reprefent under the ®
nickname of Believers^ that is, credulous. Forthefemen
are fully convinced, that their praCtifes are altogether in-
confiftent with fuch profeffions: that if they admit thefe 1
truths,
and ez/idence of a Eufure State,
■ truths, they niuft quit their prefent courfe of life, unlefs
tliey could have the patience to live under the anguifh of
ielt-condemnation, which would turn all their lufcious
enjoyments into gall and wormwood : that if there be a
God, and that his power and juftice are equally infinite,
he is to be feared and adored ; (for who would dare to
live in open defiance ot his laws, and blafpheme him
daily, who believes, that he can punilh him eternally for
fuch defiance and blafphemy ?) and that if there be a fu-
ture ftate, they muft not then live like the beafts, which
perifh, and which are altogether unconcerned in it. But
the pleafures of the animal life have corrupted their
minds: they are immerfed in fenfuality : they have given
up themfelves to be governed by their appetite : to gra-
tifie that is their only ftudy and bufinefs : it is death to
them to think of a fober, reftrained, and mortified kind
of life: it is not their intereft, they know, as the cafe
ftands with them, to believe, that there is a heaven or an
hell: and therefore we need not wonder, if they cry out,
that they fee no force in this or that argument, in which
the whole world has. hitherto acquiefced, as juft and fa-
tisfaftory, to convince their judgment. Nothing will
content them, but Mathematical evidence and demonftra-
tion : tho' it may very juftly be feared, that if the evi-
dence, they fo foolifhly call for, were prejudicial to the
end and purpofes of life, which they purfue, they would
deny even that too.
*11. No other kind of evidence in the cafe of a future
ftate can or ought to be exfpedted or demanded. And the
reafon is, becaule the fubjedi-matter is not capable of it.
There are different ways of proving things agreeable to
their refpeftive natures , both in Metaphyfics, Natural
Philofophy, Ethics, and the like ; of the conclufions of
H 2 which.
A Dtfcturft about the certainty
which, fairly deduced according to the laws of me-
thod, there can be no juft doubt : every fcience being
built upon certain general principles and rules, tak'en up,
either from experience and obfervation, or elfe drawn
from the common notices and confent of mankind. Of-
ten repeated trials and experiments, which have fucceed-
ed well, futficiently convince us of the truth of feveral
things, which we will not pretend to demonftrate. If
a matter of fa6t, in it felf not unlikely, much lefs im-
poffible, be confirmed by credible witnelfes, or by au-
thentic records, it would be a very ftrange piece of nice-
nefs in us , to deny the truth of it, and call for demon-
firation : becaufe we have all the alTurance, which relati-
on and hiftory can give us, that it is fo. To perfwade
aman, that it is his duty to be juft, and honeft, and To-
ber, and chaft, 1 am onely to make ufe of moral argu-
ments. To prove to him, that he has a command over
himfelf, as to his adlions, I fhew him the abfurdities of
the dodrine of fatal necelfity : and if he fliould perfifb
and demand further fatisfacTion, I can do no more, than
make an appeal to himfelf,- whether he does not find a
power within him of adingor not ading, as he pleafeth ;
whether he does not deliberate with himfelf , whether he
had beft do it or no: and when after fome demurs and
debates he hath determined his will, of his own accord,
which before was indifferent either to this or that, whe-
ther he doth not confult about the means to bring about
his defign : and upon a furvey of feveral, make choice of
fuch, as he judgeth moft proper and effedual. In thefe
and the like cafes, we can have no Mathematical evidence
and demonftration: yet we cannot rationally doubt of the
verity of their proofs: tho' the evidence and affurance be
onely moral,yet it is fuch,as will perfwade any man, who
is free from unjuftand irrational prejudice.
Befides,
ande'Z/idence of a Fntnre State. 53
of me-
sVm Benclcs, upon this kind of afTurance (a) Ejim opm w vita nei'}t!cfm
itenup,
f drawn
nd. Of.
: fiicceed-
of feverr!
ftrate. 11
lefs h
liclirdai!.
^perfwadi
f, aod id.
aral arp-
Daod ora
iird&ot'
C<0 depends all the anions of our lives.
No man can demon ftrate to another, who aggredumtm actons ^ As Amobius
.has not been there , that there are fuch
countries, as India,Perna, and Turkey,or with great fiiarpnefs of wit and
fuch great cities, as Dehli,Agra, Ifpah^n, ii^dgment againft the Heathen of
1 n . , y " ' t- 5 his time. who ob;efted credulity
and Lonftantinople ; and yet men fend to the chriaians.
their eftates thither, tho' they have one-
orbyaj-l ^7 the reports of others for their alfurance, and. the a-
ceofoitt.i bility and integrity of the perfons , whom they employ
3rdfuoi,,| ahd truft in the management of their rich trade. That
they are the fons of fuch and fuch perfons, they are onely
alTured by the teftimony of others, and chiefly of their
Parents, who have taken carc of their education. It
would be idle, monftrous, and unnatural to deny to pay
them the refped and reverence,due to them,both by the laws
of God and nature, upon a pretenfe, that they have fome
fcruples upon their minds, whether they be their parents
or .no : and that it cannot be made out demonftratively to
them, that thety are fo- What other affurance have they,
that the deeds and conveyances, whereby they hold their -
eftates, derived down to them from their anceftors, at
the fealing and delivering of which they were not pre-
fent, are not counterfeit 5 and would they be contented
to have them called in queftion upon fuch' a phantaftick
fuppofition >-No one can demonftrate to himfelf out of
f. '■ Euclide and Archimedes, that the houfe' wherein he h^es,
cfloitcdj ' . ' . . . y '
]ore, tb
f! accoio.
\H, ffb
In tW
will not fall upon his head : and yet for all this bare pof-
ancett
ii, fflif
kfiM
!'j fibility he fleeps fecurely and without any difturbahce,
and will not lye in the open air. Not to heap up more
inftances in a thing fo common, and every where to be
met with.
All
comprohath. Cum ergo hxc fit condi-
tio futurorum 5 ut teneri compre-
hendi mllius pojfint antkipationis at-
tactu (yc. Arnob. lib.2. pag. 44.'
^5^4 A Difcourfe about the certainty
"All fatisfadion concerning the certainty of a future
ftate is offered, that can be juftly demanded. We have
the evidence of reafon, and the evidence of religion,
which is founded upon the belief of it: the juftice of
God makes it neceffary : and the doftrine of providence
and of the government of the world by the alwife and
omnipotent Creator fuppofe^ it. Things future are not'
^ n. -a triable by fenfe: they are the ob-
rb) Nulla futurorum petejt exiltere j^r r
^ - - - . - r. jedsofour hopes, and of our fears,
and of our belief, and of our exfpe^ta-
tion 5 and therefore cannot be proved
to exi ft the fame way, as things, which
every day prefent themfelves to our fight. But how are
thefe men affured, that there is no future ftate } what de-
monftration can thefe great Mafters of reafon, as they
think themfelves, whom nothing lefs will content and fa-
tisfie, bring to the contrary > It is but juft and reafon-
able, that they who deny, or fo much as call in queftion,
the truth of any opinion, tho' built upon probable ar-
guments, flaould produce arguments, if not of greater,
yet at leaft of equal probability. To deny a thing bold-
ly at firft, witliout giving any reafon for the denial, and
then to be very peremptory in the affirmation of a con-
trary propofition, is againft all the laws and rules of wife
difcourfing and arguing,and is not the effedt of judgment,
but of meer trifling and foolifhconceitednefs: much more
when they pluck up the very foundations of a fcience^
when they deftroy the principles of nature 5 when they
condemn a truth , as is this of a future ftate, which all
mankind in all 'ages has received and embraced, except
an inconfiderable number of wretches like themfelves,
they (hould be throughly convinced before hand , that
their proofs are juft and good, and little lefs than infal-
lible. But all which they alledge in behalf of their infi-
delity,
[30
X- < N.
and euidence of a Future State.
delity,is either,that they cannot frame a juft and clear idea
of fuch a ftate: or elfe they make fome little and unphilo-
fophical exceptions and cavils at terms, as Sp/rit., i/icorporeal
fuLjia^ce, and the like : which is the way of Mr. Hobbes,
(tho' the notion of an incorporeal fubftance and of
thought is as eafie to conceive, and 4s little liable to
juft exceptions, as of fubftance in general, or of fub-
ftance in extended matter ) pleafing themfelves onely with
the grofs images of fenlible beings. They cannot pre-
tend to any direft and pofitive proofs: they neither can
nor dare fay, .that what they imagine is certain and
infallible. They only think fo, and wilh fo ; and in-
deed for their wilhes they have fome reafon, tho' none
for their opinion. For what malefaftor can think of his
trial and the confequences of it with any kind of pa-
tience, and not wilh at the fame tirtie , that there were no
fuch things, as a law and a judge to execute that law in
their deferved punilhment ? - And befides this, they very
foolifhly and idly alledge, that they have mot fpoken ;
with any, who have arifen from the dead to give them
an accompt of it : as if before they would be convinced,
whether there be fuch places, as a heaven or an hell,
they would have an exaft furvey taken of them ^ and fe-
veral chorographical fchemcs and maps made to defcribe
them the better to them. But is not this a mod irrational
and fenfelefs ground of their infidelity > Have we not
in- the facred writings undoubted teftimonies of feveral
raifed from the dead , beyond all pofiibility of denial,
of which faithful and authentic regifters have been made
to inform pofterity } But may it not alfo be juftly fup-
pofed, that thefe very men, if the moft real and certain -
apparition pofilble were made to them, after they had
recovered themfelves from the furprize and affright-
ment, into which fuch a gaftly fight might caft them,
would
55
K
^(5 A Difcourfe about the certainty
would look upon it onely, as a meer phantome? as
Caffius, one of the fed of Epicurus, told his friend
Brutus, as Plutarch writes in his life, that the evil ge-
nius, which appeared to him, was the efteft of his me-
lancholy ^ no other than a dream and the roving of his
difturbed imagination , when he was between Oeeping
and waking: or if a dead perfon , raifed again to life,
fhould appear to them, they would cavil, and fay, that
he had not been really dead : they would find.out fome
fuch foolifh and idle pretenfe and excufe, and ftill
hold faff their beloved conclufion. The rich man -in
the Parable, when he was in hell, was very follicitous
for his furviving brethren, that they might not come in-
to that place of torment: and therefore made it his
requeft, that a meffenger might be fent thence exprefs to , b
forewarn them ^ but the propofal was rejedfed , as un-
juff and unneceffary. They were fufficiently inffrudted
oiit of the divine writings, that there was fuch a place :
the Law and the Prophets were continually read, and
founded in their ears, that they could not pretend ig-
norance. Befides, if they hear not Mofes and the Pro-
phets : neither will th^j be per/waded, the' one arofe from the
dead.
But let us fuppofe, in order to the convidtion of thefe
men, if any of them fhould chance to caff their eyes
upon thefe papers, that there were an equal probability
on both fides : that as much might be faid againft the
rertaintv of a future ffate , as for it: that God had not
j *
fo clearly and exprelly revealed his will in the holy
^ ^ »T Scriptures about it : and that the cafe had not been fo
(c)NomepU' ^ , . , , , • . .
rior ratio eft ex luWy determined, but yet hung as it were m £qtaljbrio :
duobw incertK ygj- becaufe it is of-an eternal confequence dc), tight rea-
^.tn ambigm ■> l
exfpeftatmependentibiifjid petias: credere,quod aliquot [pes ferat,quam omnim quod ««//(/^.''Arnob.p.44.
fon
and e<videti€e of a Future Stutt.
fon and common prudence fliould teach a man to make
choice of the furer fide : nay, if there were lefs degrees
of probability for it, we fhould make provifion how-
ever, for fear, that it (bould prove fo. If in matters of
ordinary fpeculation, which lignifie nothing to our in-
terefl: and advantage , whether they be true or no, ( for
what am I the better, whether the Ptolemaic or Coper-
nican hypothefis beft folves the various appearances of the
heavens) we relinquilh the vulgar opinions, which have
the prefcription of antiquity, and which feem confirmed
by fenfe, as being, fwayed by more rational proofs and evi-
dences: certainly in a bufinefs of fnch moment, as is the
living hereafter for ever in happinefs or mifery, when
there are fo many arguments to fway and encline our
belief 5 when we have all the aflurance, which things,
that are future, and not yet feen, can poffibly have:
when the danger is fo great, and the lofs infinite and
irrepairable, it is a folly beyond all exprefiion for
any perfon to fuffer himfelfto be cheated, by the corrupt
judgment of fenfe, which in this cafe cannot pretend to
arbitrate, and by the little cavillings and oppofitions of
a grofs phanfie, into the belief of the contrary. If one-
ly the probable hope ,of gain makes men defpife cer-
tain danger, and carries them round about the world to
the utmpft points of Eaft and Weft : if they undergo,
not onely with patience, but with great, readinefs and
chearfulnefs, all thofe uneafineffes and hazards, -which
fuch long voyages in tempeftuous feas, and through va-
rious climates of exceffive heat and cold, necelfarily fub-
jeffc them to: if they venture their health, and often-
times their lives : and that too with the good liking and
applaufe of the world, efpecially if the advantage be a-
ny way proportionable to the danger: certainly the in-
tercft of our immortal fouls (hould make us adventure
I as
'"""A.
^ Difconrfe about the certainty
as much for heaven, a place of infinite blefiednefs,where (
we ftiall live for ever , without feeling the decays ot j
age, and without being weary of thofe unmixt p'lealures,
which it affords^ and where are heaped up treafures ot
glory, which no time (hall exhauft, if we had not the
infallible word of God tor it, but onely the dictates of
natural religion, and the evidence of right and unpreju-
diced reafon.
Columbus had no demonflration, that there were fuch j|
vaft tracts of land on the other fide of the great Atlan-' 1
tic ocean, running out almoft from one Pole to the o- ,m
ther, which he afterwards difcovered : he was onley :.
lead by probable arguments to undertake that voyage:
as thinking it very unlikely, that fo great a part of the
terraqueous globe, over which the Sun pafles in his
diurnal revolution, fhould be covered with water. It
was lookt upon at firft as a projeft, which had nothing
to fupport it, but the ftrong phanfic of the man, who
propofed it: and it was a long time, before he could be .
furnilhed with fhips ^ in order to make a difcovery.
But how were they alarmed at his return with the news, 75'
which he brought of another world , which had layn
hid for fo many ages ! how. were the opinions of the
old Philofophers confuted , that there could be no li-
ving between the Tropics, and efpecially under the
Line , by reafon of the intolerable heat, which the per-
pendicular projection of the fun-beams they phanfied
muft necefiarily produce: when they were alTured from
eye-witnefies, that no country in the world could be Too
more populous ! Now our B. Saviour, who came down
from heaven, has made full and clear difcoveries of a
glorious kingdom, and has laid down rules and diredi-
ens for our journeying thither: rules and diredlions fo
plain,
' W»rthw«3it«»f'
ji
and e'tfidence of a Future State*
plain, that we cannot fail of arriving at that blefTed
place, if we obferve and follow them. What can any
one all edge to juftiffe or excufe his folly? how can he
dnfwer it to God,' or to himfelf, at the laft great day, if
after all this he fliould doubt, whether there be fuch a
place, as heaven or no, and fo doubt, as wretchedly to
neglect the happy opportunities of getting thither ai the
end of his life >
if, as Socrates argued a little before his death , nothing
remains to a man after he is dead, then he would be the lefs
troubled at what he was then about to fuffer ; for then he
fhould ceafe to be miftaken,ifhe were miftaken.Butif there
be another ftatein the next life,as there is the highefl: reafo^
to believe,and noreafon to believe the contrary,what a foo-i-
lifti bargain will it appear,the Epicure has made in buying
the vain and perifhing pleafures of the world at the price
of his foul! It will then be an infallible demonftratiqn,
that he has aded againft the common rules of prudence,in
preferring a trifle, a fhadow, a humour, before the favour
of God 5 before the fulnefs of joy, which is to be had
in his prefence ^ before immortal bleffednefs, with which
he fliall fee the righteous crowned ^ which will heighten
his anguifh, and make it intolerable ; and the thought
of this will as much torment him, as the very flames,
that he might have been happy as they, but for his own
wretched carelefsnefs and obflinate infidelity.
To conclude this fhort difcourfe, which I raoft heartily
and pallionately recommend to the ferious and impartial
confideration of all fuch, as vouchfafe to read it.
Seeing that there will be and mull be a day of judgment,
in which we fhall give a ftrid accompt of our lives : that
there is a future ftate, whofe duration (hall be beyond the
limits
Wnfv»r»lt*
Whrary
59
* A Difccurfe about the certahty^Scc.
limits of time ^ that, when we depart out of this fife, we
launch forth into an ocean, which knows neither bounds
nor fliore : that there are eternal rewards and punilhments
in the other world : and that according to the tenor and
habit of our lives, and the condition we are found in at
our death, we fhall receive our everlafting doom : how
much does it concern every one. of us fo to live here in
this world, that is, in the fear of God and in a confci-
entious difcharge and praftife of all Chriftian and moral -
virtues, as to live for ever happy in the next!
t
FINIS.
m
m:
wmA
|5®
m^mm