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SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
PLURIOUS UNUN
TUEBOR
SI-QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM·AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
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THE HE. 13
THE
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ble
The Hon: DUNCAN FORBES
of CULLODEN
1 H
SE EU
11 118
Original in the _Possesion of Geo: Ross Eoq
111
113 15
S.FRavenel sculp.
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315
F
:
The Whole
W
ORK S
Of the Right Honourable
DUNCAN FORBES,
Late Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion.
Now firft Collected.
Containing,
I. Thoughts on Religion, Natural and Revealed.
II. A Letter to a Biſhop, concerning fome important
·
Diſcoveries in Philofophy and Theology.
III. Reflexions on the Sources of Incredulity with regard
to Religion.
In Two VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
Printed for G. HAMILTON and J. BALF QUR,
in Edinburgh;
And D. WILSON and T. DURHAM, in London.
BT
1100
· F69
·~13-397934
1
A
THOUGHTS
CONCERNING
RELIGION,
NATURAL and REVEALED.
>
SOME
THOUGHTS
CONCERNING
RELIGION, &c.
I
T is impoffible to view the immenſity, the
variety, the harmony, and the beauty of
the univerſe, without concluding it to be
the workmanſhip of a Being infinitely power-
ful, wife, and good
It is impoffible to examine the ſtructure of
the moſt inconfiderable plant or animal, with-
out being ſurpriſed with ſuch admirable con-
trivance, as pronounces the author infinitely
intelligent, and excludes all fufpicion that it
ow'd its origin to blind chance.
B
THE
2.
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
!
THE vegetable world is adjuſted with ſuch
amazing ſkill, that each plant, perfect in its
own kind, is ſupported, and propagated, me-
chanically, by the unerring action of the fun,
the air, and the earth where it grows; its
feeds, by that mechanifm, produce new plants
of the fame kind; and the herb, that periſhes
with the ſeaſon, clothes the fields with the
fame livery again the next. That brute
matter, inert, and inſenſible, fhould be fra-
med ſo as to perform fuch wonders, fhews
wiſdom, and power, far beyond the compre-
henfion of the most perfect man.
THE action of the material powers in this
ſyſtem upon the organized body of a plant,
preferves, and propagates it: its roots ſhoot
out into the foil where it grows; there it
finds abundant aliment for perfecting its
trunk, and preparing its feeds; and thoſe
feeds are dropped where they meet the like
encouragement. But it is not ſo with animals:
the most perfect of the kind, left to the di-
rection of material and mechanical powers
only, muſt perifh without rearing any fuc-
ceffion.
VEGETABLE's and animals are fo far fimi-
lar, that both require conftant fupplies of
freſh juices; but in this they differ, that nature
mecha-
I
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
3
mechanically reaches to the one the ſupply it
wants, whereas the other muft, by fome act
of its own, find, and fetch it: and therefore,
in animals, befides matter and mechaniſm,
there is an active principle; fomewhat, of
which we have no conception or knowledge
but by its effects, that finds, prepares, and
takes in proper nouriſhment, and determines
to the propagation and preſervation of its
own ſpecies.
By what fort of mechaniſm this principle
acts on, or is affected by, the meer matter
to which it is join'd, we cannot at all con-
ceive; but this we fee, that it calls all the
brute animal creation to thofe acts that are
neceffary. for felf-prefervation, and propa-
gating the ſpecies; each clafs of animals is
highly induſtrious to compaſs theſe ends ;
and, if we may judge by what we feel tranſ-
acting in the brute part of ourſelves, there
is in them a ſtrong defire to do thoſe acts
that are neceſſary for the fupport of them-
felves, and a very fenfible pleaſure attending
the gratification of that defire.
Ir does not appear to us that plants are
fenfible of pleaſure or pain; whereas ani-
mals, we know, are affected by both. To a
plant it is indifferent whether it is fupported
B 2
or
4 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
or not; but to an animal it is not fo: it
taſtes felicity in receiving the neceffary fup-
plies, and languiſhes under want: the plea-
fure it receives in feeding, is the motive to
look for food, and it is bribed to ſupport
itſelf by the happineſs it meets with in ta-
king in its nouriſhment. What the plant does
neceffarily, the animal does from choice,
and is highly rewarded, by the pleaſure it
receives for every act of its duty in preſerv-
ing itſelf, and propagating. “
WHO can give attention to this economy,
and at the fame time reflect on the profuſe
Tupply that nature every where affords, for
the ſupport of the infinite numbers of ani-
mals, of différent kinds, that fwarm upon
this globe, without concluding, that over-
flowing goodneſs and benevolence is an at-
tribute of the infinitely wife, and powerful,
Author of nature?
In looking over the whole animal creation,
one fees infinite variety of inſtincts, and ta-
lents, fome approaching nearer, fome more
remote from, thofe difpofitions that are to
be met with in man, but all tending to the
preſervation of the creature poffefs'd of
them; but it does not appear to us, that
the fagacity, or diſcerning, of the brute goes
any
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
5
any further than to its own immediate pre-
ſervation, and promoting what its inftinct
leads it to: in this confifts the brute's feli-
city it ſeems to be the meaſure of its un-
derſtanding, from which it never ſwerves.
WHEN man turns his eyes inwards upon
himſelf, he fees in himſelf the brute in great
perfection; fimilar calls to preſerve life, and
to propagate the fpecies, and fimilar gratifi-
cations for obeying thofe calls; but then he
feels fomewhat in himſelf more
noble ;
ſomewhat that diſtinguiſhes him from all the
reft of the animal creation, that falls within
his knowledge: he is confcious of reflexion,
he can complicate ideas, and compare them
together; he can difcover the relations of
things; he can perceive the beauty, the or
der, the harmony of the creation; he can,
in the creatures, fee the power, the wiſdom,
and the goodneſs of the Creator; he finds
in himſelf an inſatiable thirst after fome-
what that has no connexion with the body,
after knowledge; a ſtrong defire to contem-
plate, a difpofition to admire, and to imi-
tate perfection; a natural propenſity to gra-
titude, and thankfulneſs for favours; and
when he carries his thoughts to the fountain
of all wiſdom, power, and goodneſs, the Au
B 3
thor
6
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
thor of the creation, a fulneſs of heart that
breaks out in gladnefs and adoration.
WHEN man confiders that he alone, of all
the animal creation, has got eyes to fee the
beauty and excellency of the univerſe; that
he alone has got an underſtanding to dif
cover the perfection of the Creator in his
works; that he alone has got a foul fitted
to admire, to adore, and to rejoice in the
goodneſs and perfection of his Maker; ta-
lents unneceſſary for preferving his life, or
propagating the fpecies, but talents that qua-
lify him for enjoying a much more perma-
nent and exalted kind of felicity than the
other animals feem capable of reliſhing:
can he doubt that thoſe eyes, this under-
ſtanding, and that difpofition of mind, were
given him to fit him for ſeeing, admiring, and
adoring the fountain of all goodneſs and
being? can he queftion that the doing fo is
indiſpenſably his duty, as it would be his fe-
licity? and can he imagine he anſwers the
end of his creation, if, neglecting this care
of thoſe talents, he give himſelf wholly up
to purſue thoſe pleaſures that are common
to him with the brutes ?
THE brutal appetites, and enjoyments, are
nicely proportioned to their ends, the pre-
fervation
4
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ſervation and propagation of the animal:
the appetites call regularly for what is necef-
fary, and are fierce in proportion as the want
is great; when the want is fupplied, the de-
fire ceaſes; excess fatiates, palls the appetite,
and diſorders the machine.
It is not ſo with the mental purſuits, and
pleaſures: the mind is abſolutely inſatiable;
the more it knows, the keener it thirfts after
knowledge; its defires are endleſs, and the
object infinite.
BESIDES the power of thinking, man has
the faculty of communicating by ſpeech, and
recording his thoughts. The obſervation of
each individual, and within the compafs of a
ſhort life, could not go very far in fcience;
but we are ſo made, that each may be helped
by the diſcoveries of each other; the defire
of communicating knowledge is almoſt as
ſtrong as the defire to know; and, as the
end of the capacity to know, is, manifeftly,
to diſcover the excellency of the Creator in
his works, that the Man may be filled with
admiration, and acknowledgmnnt, it is im-
poffible to doubt that the end of the faculty
of ſpeech is to exprefs, and communicate to
each other, what we feverally diſcover, to
enlarge our ideas of the divine perfections,
B 4
and
8
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
and to join in expreffions of acknowledg-
ment, and praiſe.
IT is not fo with the Brute; that is made
to fhew, and not to know, the excellency
of the Creator.
ONE difference there is, highly remarkable,
between the meer animal and the rational
creature: nature produces, fpontaneous, all
that is neceſſary for the brute ; whereas fome
art, beſides induſtry, is neceſſary to make
what nature furniſhes uſeful, and comfort-
able, to man. The brute is clothed by Na-
ture; the earth uncultivated produces the
herb, the feed, the berry, that is fit for its
nutriment; raw meat fuits the ftomach of
the carnivorous, nor is there any occafion
for cookery, or drefs. But it is otherwiſe
with Man: tho' Nature furnish abundantly
the materials, yet ſkill, and induftry, is ne-
ceffary to fit them for his ufe. By much the
greateſt part of the globe would be uninha-
bited, if induſtry did not furniſh clothing;
grains muſt be raiſed; the juice of grapes and
fruits muſt be fermented, and meat muſt be
prepared fot the ftomach, before Man can
make uſe of it.
BECAUSE Nature furniſhes abundantly for
all the occafions of the brute, they are each
inde-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 9
independent of the other, without con-
nexion, or fociety; except in a few inftan-
ces where inftinct calls them to it, becauſe
it is in thoſe inftances neceffary for the pre-
ſervation or propagation of the ſpecies.
BUT, becauſe men have occafion for the la-
bour, the ſkill, the talents of each other,
they are naturally focial, and dependent on
each other; they are fitted to promote the
interefts of each other. The foul is fo
made, as to reap fatisfaction from acts of
beneficence, to feel concern from the fuffer-
ings of its fellow-creatures, and to be knit
in bonds of friendſhip and alliance with fuch
as entertain the ſame ſentiments.
THUS Nature has made men fit for ſociety,
as it has made fociety neceffary for them;
but the end of making fociety neceffary for
men leads to a further confideration. No
one can think that the infinitely Wife, and
Powerful, could not have fo framed men,
that Nature, alone, and unaided, ſhould have
ſupplied all their wants; but, if he had done
fo, folitude muſt have been the inclination of
the rational creature, and no more of the
perfection of the Creator would have been
known, or celebrated, than what fell within
the obfervation of each individual.
But, as
effential
10 TO
*
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
eſſential Wiſdom has diſpoſed men neceffarily
for fociety, has provided them with proper
faculties to communicate to each other their
obfervations and their fentiments, and has
furniſhed them with inclinations to make
fuch communications, and to join in acts
of acknowledgment and praife; it cannot be
doubted that the chief, the high, and honour-
able end of fitting men for fociety, was to
advance and propagate the knowledge of
Nature, and of the Author of it, and to
promote and perfect that exerciſe of the foul,
for which it was given to man.
WHEN Man furveys his own ſpecies,
framed for the contemplation of the works
of God; fitted for admiring and adoring the
author and fupporter; fó contrived as to aid
each other in that great defign, and to con-
tribute to one another's happineſs, not only
in that, but in the common enjoyments of the
animal life; he cannot help conſidering each
individual as the immediate fervant of the
Creator; he cannot diſpenſe with obſerving
the cloſe relation, and connexion, between
the whole, and the neceffary dependence each
has on the other.
AND, when he recollects what pleaſure re-
fults to the foul from conſciouſneſs of be-
neficent and merciful acts, what horror ari-
fes
1
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
fes from the thoughts of cruelty and in-
juſtice, he muſt needs fee his duty towards
his fellow-fervants, and with thankfulneſs
acknowledge the goodness of the Creator,
who has annexed immediate pleaſure to each
act of duty, and joined horror to tranfgref-
fion.
VIEW then man in his perfect ftate, as,
from the ruins ftill remaining, we certainly
know he muſt have been, Bleffed with all
the enjoyments that give reliſh to the animal
life; Diftinguiſhed from the reft of the vi-
fible creation, by that intelligent principle
that enables him to fee the infinite wiſdom,
power, and goodneſs of the Author of nature
in his works; Choſen to be a witneſs to the
boundleſs perfections of the Eternal; Poffef-
ſed of an inſatiable defire of knowledge, and
freſh diſcoveries pouring in upon him, with-
out ceafing; Qualified to admire, to praiſe,
and to adore, and perpetual occafions offer-
ing themſelves for thoſe rapturous exerciſes;
Placed in fociety, with companions fitted for
the like enjoyments, and fo made as to pro-
mote his felicity, under ties of duty to them,
but duty, the performance whereof was ne-
ceffarily to be rewarded with pleaſure; Con-
ſcious of the favour of his infinitely power-
ful
12 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ful and beneficent Creator, and thereforè
bleſſed in the exerciſe of perpetual thankful-
neſs: View man, I ſay, in this light, and ſay
whether imagination can fuggeft to itſelf a
ſtate of higher felicity, or conceive how
man came by choice, and of his own free-
will, to relinquiſh it?
SUCH was man! but view him in his pre-
ſent condition, and you fee a creature ſtill
poffeffed of all thoſe qualities that fitted him
for ſeeing and enjoying the chief good, with
fupreme delight; but you fee thoſe talents.
monftrouſly and mifchievously employed:
thoſe eyes, and that underſtanding, that were
given to perceive with tranſport the perfec-
tions of the Creator in his works, are now
no more employed in that glorious fervice;
the heart, and the defire, that panted after,
and rejoiced in, the favour and protection of
the fountain of goodneſs, have ceaſed to act
upon that object; all the mental powers, all
the ſprings of the heart, are ſtill at work in
fearch of felicity; but they ſeek for it where
no real good is to be found, and contribute
to the real mifery of unfortunate man. The
fovereign good neglected, all thoſe talents,
that were given for difcovering and enjoying
it, are turned to the improvement of thofe
pleaſures
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 13
pleaſures that man has in common with the
brutes. The ſkill and induſtry of that intel-
ligent creature are occupied in purſuing
the gratifications of the brutal appetites;
and, in ſo doing, weaken and diſable even
thoſe appetites from anſwering their real
uſes; or are employed in finding, and laying
up, means for fuch beaſtly gratifications. In
the place of ſocial affection, and benevolence
to mankind, malice, envy, fraud, rapine,
murder prevail; in the place of God, love
chufes Self for its object. Knowledge, if
look'd after, is fought to gratify a vain, an
uſeleſs curiofity, but not to lead to the ſource
of knowledge, and life; in fhort, rebel to
God, man ſets up the vileft of his creatures
in his room, and employs thoſe faculties, that
were given for the ſervice and enjoyment of
the Eternal, in purſuits infinitely diſhonour-
able, and offenfive.
IN this diftreffed, this frightful condition,
human nature can hardly bear looking in up-
on itſelf: the crime, as well as the folly, is fo
monstrous, that ferious reflexion on it muſt
four all the filly enjoyments that men amuſe
themſelves with, and create apprehenfions,
which, without fome foundation for hopes,
would be abfolutely intolerable; and there-
fore
14 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
:
fore mankind, to avoid reflexions ſo very
diſagreeable, ſuffer the active principle, in-
. tended to lead to God, to carry them away
from one brutiſh purſuit to another if any
beam of light, darting in upon their foul,
fhould fhew them their duty, they ſhut it out,
becauſe it points out the forfeit; and, be-
cauſe the amazing long-ſuffering and pati-
ence of the Deity delays deferved punish-
ment, unhappy mortals are ready to harden
themſelves into a belief that there is no God
to be offended at their treaſon, or to flatter
themſelves with hopes, that, as they live like
brutes, they fhall die like brutes, and, by
ceafing to be, eſcape vengeance.
SUCH is the depraved ftate of wretched
mankind! and fuch the perverfe turn of thoſe
whoſe minds are fo debauched with brutal
pleaſures, as to like the beaſtly ſtate in which
they are! But they, in whom the image of
God is not altogether defaced, who entertain
honourable notions of the fupreme Good-
nefs, who fee with wonder the long-fuffering
and forbearance of the infinitely Juft, and
who cannot conceive, that Effential Juſtice
could diſpenſe with vengeance for a moment,
if fome confideration of infinite value did
not interpoſe, are willing to entertain hopes
that
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
15
that ſome ranſom may have been found for
the offence of mankind, fome expedient pro-
vided, by the wiſdom and goodneſs of God,
for obliterating their crimes, and reftoring
them to the favour and protection of the Eter-
nal; and to have thofe hopes confirmed,
and improved into a well-grounded and cer-
tain belief, is the chief object of their wiſhes,
as it would be the only folid foundation of
their happineſs.
WHOEVER has the fainteft glimpſe of fuch
hopes, if he acts rationally, will not ceaſe in-
quiring, with the utmoſt earneſtneſs and ac-
curacy, till he diſcover whether there is any
juft foundation for them, or no; he will con-
fult nature, he will examine authorities, and
will be equally folicitous not to admit inſuf-
ficient, as he will be not to reject ſufficient
evidence.
IN fuch an inquiry, beginning with the na-
tural light ſtill remaining unextinguiſhed, and
carefully ſeparating what does, from what
does not flow from it; examining the noti-
ons commonly received about the Deity, and
comparing them with the dictates of reafon,
many propofitions will appear demonſtrative-
ly true. For example :
I. THAT
16 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1. THAT the Deity is infinitely powerful,
good, and intelligent, is deducible from na-
ture.
2. THAT the Deity is merciful, ſo as to
pardon fin, and to be reconcileable to finners,
is not deducible from nature.
3. THAT the Deity is poffeffed of quali-
ties like thoſe in the foul of man, ſuch as
love, anger, compaffion, is not deducible from
nature.
4. THAT there is a plurality of Perſons
in the Deity, is not deducible from nature.
5. THAT man's fin, upon atonement, is
to be pardoned, and he reconciled to the
Deity, is not deducible from nature.
6. THAT the fufferings of a man, to
whom one of the Perfons of the Deity was
to be joined, was to be that atonement, is
not deducible from nature.
7. THAT the effect of this atonement and
reconciliation was to give all mankind a right
to approach, and rely on the protection and
beneficence of a placated Deity, is not dedu-
cible from nature.
8. THAT the Deity, thus appeaſed, is de-
lighted with prayers and praiſes, is not dedu-
cible from nature.
9. THAT
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 17
9. THAT there is a correſpondence be-
tween the fouls of men and the Deity, is not
deducible from nature.
10. THAT the prayers of men are accept-
able to the Deity, heard, and anſwered,
through the interceffion of that perfon whofe
fufferings atoned for fin, is not deducible
from nature.
IF then theſe things concerning the Deity,
and man's ftate, are true, and of abfolute ne-
ceffity to be known to man, for his comfort,
and towards enabling him to perform any ac-
ceptable duty to his Creator, his knowledge
must come by revelation, and that know-
ledge muſt be kept up by inftitutions, or re-
cords.
I. THAT there is ſuch a thing as right
and wrong, may, and muſt be known, with-
out revelation.
2. THAT right muſt be attended with re-
ward, and wrong with puniſhment, is known
without revelation.
3. THAT therefore there muſt be a future
ftate, for rewards and puniſhments, muſt be
known without revelation.
VOL. I.
C
4. THAT
18 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
¿
4. THAT man is in a depraved ſtate, at
enmity with the Deity, is known without re-
velation; and muſt have been known ſo ſoon
as that ſtate of enmity began.
IN this depraved ſtate, man, attentive to
his own circumſtances, muſt have been in a
condition infinitely wretched, the object of
the juſt indignation of the Almighty here
and hereafter; helpleſs, and hopeleſs, becauſe
no defence againſt öffended juftice; and muſt
have continued incapable of hope, or comfort,
or of attempting any means of placating,
'or of obtaining the protection of the Deity;
unleſs the mercy of God, and his acceptance
of the atonement provided, had been reveal-
ed to him, with evidence of the authority of
that revelation, fo convincing as to gain ab-
folute belief. This, and nothing leſs, could
render life tolerable.
1. We know certainly that all men are,
and from the earlieſt ages have been, in a
ftate of enmity and corruption.
2. THAT men now have, and from the
earlieſt times have had, comfort, from a per-
fuafion of mercy and forgiveneſs from God,
con-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 19
contrary to reaſon, and the ftrongest evidence
which from thence can reſult.
3. THAT the whole world, from the earlieſt
times, uſed nearly the fame rites, ceremonies,
and inftitutions religious, for placating the
Deity, averting wrath, procuring favour,
returning thanks, by Sacrifices, Burnt-offer-
ings, Blood; means that, in nature, have no
fort of connexion with the end propofed,
and therefore could not poffibly have had
their origin from reafon, or natural light.
AND, as this belief, and theſe religious ob-
fervances, prevailed over all mankind, without
any ſupport from, but rather contrary to
reaſon, it is a juft conclufion, that the autho-
rity for ſuch a belief, and fuch obfervances,
muſt have been exceeding high and ſtrong;
and man cannot think of any fufficient au-
thority to have produced that univerſal faith,
ſhort of divine revelation.
•
THE doctrine of remiffion of fins, and ex-
piation by blood, is, till the fecret is explain-
ed by revelation, fo deftitute of any founda-
tion in reaſon, and apparently fo contrary to
it, that no Reaſoner could ever have thought
of it; and, if he had, no one could have
given credit to it, without fome convincing
proof for the authority of that doctrine,
C 2
which,
zo Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
which, as has been faid, could not poffibly
have been from reaſon. The univerſal re-
ception then of that doctrine is a demonftra-
tion, in its own kind, that it had a divine
authority.
IF the Deity had determined to pardon
man, by and through an Interceffor, and up-
on fatisfaction, that would not have anfwer-
ed the end; unleſs man were acquainted
with, and believed it, he would remain in the
fame gloomy ſtate of defpair, without the
leaft glimpſe of hopes, or encouragement to
pray, to praiſe, to love, or to rejoice in the
mercy and falvation of God; which would
have left him a prey to his terrors and his
lufts, and must have determined him to have
hut out all thoughts of the Deity. For no-
thing could poffibly determine man to hope,
to pray, to praiſe, to ferve, to rejoice in the
protection of the Deity, but a firm convicti-
on and belief that God was placated, would
forgive, and protect, and was pleafed with
fervices.
IF then it was the intention of God to par-
don man, to reſtore him to a capacity of ſer-
ving him, to reclaim him from his finful ſtate,
to encourage him to love, fear, and ferve his
Creater; it was abfolutely neceffary, towards
that
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
21
that defign, to acquaint man with his inten-
tions, to give ſuch proof of thoſe intentions,
as ſhould convince, and thoroughly perfuade
thoſe to whom the revelation was made, and
to preſerve ſuch evidence of that revelation
to mankind, as ſhould be fufficient to ſupport
their faith and hope.
THE loweſt degree of faith that can poffibly
be fufficient to quiet the foul of man, and
to reſtore him to a capacity of ſerving com-
fortably his God, and truſting to his favour
and protection, is a firm conviction that God
is placable, and will pardon upon repentance,
and protect.
WHATEVER degree of evidence or re-
velation fixed this in man's mind, reftored
him quiet, and a poffibility of endeavouring
to gain the favour of God; and, fuppofing
the belief abfolute, muft determine the man,
fo believing, to feek and ferve God, to the
best of his abilities and underſtanding.
THEY to whom the merciful intentions of
God have been the moſt fully revealed, and
to whom the evidence of that revelation has
the moſt diftinctly appeared, are in a much
happier condition, and have many more in-
centives and helps to piety and devotion, than
thofe who have juft light enough to know
·C 3
that
22 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
that God is merciful, and to believe that he
will pardon, upon repentance, and a hearty
converfion of the defire of the foul towards
him. But, if the belief of the latter is total
and abfolute, it may change his heart, and
his courſe of life, and bring him within the
favour and protection of his God. Hence faith,
fo much prized in the Old and New Teſta-
ment; not that faith, as fuch, is of value;
but becauſe, where it truly is, it muſt pro-
duce a change of foul, and obedience. No
man, who verily believes any fruit to be poi-
fon, will tafte it; and let any man, who
knowingly fins, fay what he will, he has not
faith, when he fo acts,
As this belief is abfolutely neceffary to all
mankind, and muſt have been intended to
reach them all, the evidence for inducing it
muſt be of that nature as to accommodate it-
felf to all ſpecies of men. There muſt bẹ
that fort of evidence that leads the vulgar, the
unthinking, the illiterate; and there muſt
be alſo ſuch proof as fhall determine the in-
genious, the inquifitive, the learned.
By much the greateſt part of mankind
have no other evidence for this belief, than
general received opinion; what has been held
by their fathers, and all their acquaintance,
paffes,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 23
paffes for truth, and produces refolutions
and actions.
IT is impoffible to believe any thing more
firmly, than the vulgar do, that the earth
ftands ftill, and that the fun moves round:
a belief as general, and as abfolute, of the
facts revealed for the comfort and falvation
of mankind, would produce a conduct very
different from what we fee.
WHERE the common opinions about the
devil, witches, witchcraft, &c. prevail, the
belief is tranfmitted to pofterity, and the
children doubt as little as the fathers did.
IF theſe things were true, and capable of
demonſtration, the vulgar would believe, not
becauſe of the demonftration, which they
have not leifure, or learning, or capacity to
enter into, but becauſe of the fixed opinions
of others from whom they learn.
FOR, as they are not true, nay fome of
them demonſtratively falſe, the vulgar be-
lieve them, becauſe they are not qualified to
examine the demonftration.
BUT, if there is not fuch evidence as is fit
to fatisfy the learned and the inquifitive, it
cannot produce belief in them; and the vul-
gar opinion cannot be of long continuance,
C 4
where
24 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
where the learned and the inquifitive declare
againſt it.
THE evidence therefore attending revela
tion ought to be fuch, as was fit to create and
continue a very firm and general belief, and
opinion, amongst the grofs of mankind; and
to conquer, and anſwer the doubts and fcru-
ples of the inquifitive and the learned.
THAT the first publication of the merciful
intentions of God to men, and the declara-
tion of fo much as he thought fit to reveal
concerning himſelf, and what was to be done
and believed, was attended with fufficient evi-
dence to fupport the authority of the reve-
lation, cannot be doubted, becauſe the defign
was to gain belief.
AND, if, in every fucceeding age, the fame
publication had been made, with the like
evidence, there is no doubt we fhould have
no unbeliever.
BUT, in fact, we fee it has not pleafed
God to repeat in this manner the evidence of
his revelation.
NOR is the not repeating the evidence, to
fatisfy the curiofity of impertinent and pre-
fumptuous objectors, who meaſure the con-
duet of the Deity by their own vain imagi-
nations, any juft caufe of doubting the ori-
ginal
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 25
ginal revelation, if the proofs of that revela-
tion are fufficient to induce belief.
GOD could have prevented man's finning
originally; he could have reſtored him abſo-
lutely to his priſtine ſtate; and he could
have continued ftanding and perpetual obvi-
ous miracles, for confirming revelation: but
he has done neither of theſe. And, though
no other anſwer could be given to the que-
ftion, Why has he not? but that it has not
fuited his wife fcheme, for the government of
his Grace to man, it is beyond all doubt
fufficient.
IF it was the ſcheme of the Deity,
To create man perfect, with a capacity of
retaining that perfection, or of falling from
it, which we call liberty, without interpofing
farther, to determine him either to the one,
or to the other
;
To reſtore him to a capacity of regaining
happineſs, by publiſhing means of falvation,
with divine or fupernatural evidence, and ap-
pointing the moſt feaſible means for continu-
ing the belief of that revelation, without far-
ther interpofing, till the ill uſe of the free-
will, or liberty of man, made farther inter-
pofition neceffary; and
To
26 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
To diſplay omnipotent power, or remark-
able events when the notable defection of
mankind made it neceffary, in order to con-
firm or reftore the revelation, at that time,
and to produce ftill ftronger and ftronger
evidence for it, to fucceeding generations;
Who dare prefume to find fault with ſuch
œconomy?
WHO can tell what wife ends the Deity
may have to anſwer by fhewing, in the feve-
ral ſtages of the world, and under the diffe-
rent degrees of light and information, what
uſe the heart of man was to make of free-
will, and of the mercy of God offered?
If it was the intention of the Deity, to re-
veal to man the method of Salvation; that a
Saviour was to come in the fleſh, by his death
and fuffering to atone for fin; and that the
Saviour, having aboliſhed fin by his ſufferings,
was to become interceffor for man, to recon-
cile him to the Deity, and produce communi-
cation between them; no doubt this might
be, by convincing evidence, intimated and
publiſhed at firft: and the queſtion is, What
would be the moſt proper method for con-
tinuing to pofterity the belief of the truth fo
revealed?
IT
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 27
IT does not appear that, in the earlieſt
times, writing by letters, or recording facts,
any other way, than by emblematical or hie-
roglyphical repreſentations, was known or in
ufe.
AND, if writing by letters had been in uſe,
fuch writing, to prove it of divine authority
to fucceeding generations, would require
evidence.
TRADITION furely was one way; but
that, without other help, not very certain,
and liable to infinite miſtakes; as well as the
authority of it, for that reaſon, liable to
doubt.
BUT, if to Tradition were added certain
conftant, ritual, and emblematical obfervan-
ces, at fixed times, for ever to be continued
and endure; then, in proportion as the em-
blems were expreffive, and univerfally recei-
ved, the memory and belief of the matter
repreſented would remain diſtinct and ſtrong,
and the end of recording be obtained.
ANNIVERSARY, monthly, weekly days
obſerved, preſerve freſh the memory of moſt
events:
IF therefore it was the command of God,
that, to keep in mind the revelation that a Sa-
viour, the firſt-born of a woman, ſhould die
for
28 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
for the fins of men, fhould by his blood
atone, and become interceffor for mankind,
Man fhould kill a kid, or a lamb, fhed its
blood, fprinkle the blood towards the fame
place which the Deity directed to be emble-
matical of the place of its refidence, chufing
a perfect, unfpotted male, as the emblem of
the fuffering Saviour, and a perfect first-born
amongſt men, as the emblem of the firft-born,
the Interceffor; and if this emblematical act
was to be repeated once, or oftener, every
year, on a ſtated day; once every moon, on
the firſt day; once every week, on the fe-
venth day; and twice every day, morning
and evening; and if, on thofe occafions,
men were in the emblems to ſee, with for-
row, the repreſentation of the blood they
forfeited, and, with joy, to entertain the
hopes of mercy through that blood, which the
blood of the beaft facrificed repreſented; and
to believe that God, on thofe occafions, was
willing to hear their prayers, and receive their
praiſes the invention of man cannot deviſe
any other method, fo likely to preſerve and
perpetuate the knowledge and belief of a re-
velation, fo neceffary to mankind.
MEN, indeed, might err, after a courſe of
generations, in the expofition and application
of
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
20
of thofe emblems, and emblematical actions;
and, when the true fenfe and intention of
them was varied, "or in any degree loft, ima-
gination would fuggeft other, and different,
nay even falſe meanings; but, ſo long as the
obſervance remained, a belief of placating the
Deity by blood muſt remain: which belief is,
of all others, the most unreaſonable, except
as it is explained, by the original, and only
true fenſe and meaning of the emblems and
inftitutions.
THUS, what was intended by the prieſt's
interceffory office, was loft, though officiating
by a prieſt remained; what was intended by
the firft-born's being to diſcharge the prieſtly
office, was forgot, long before men ceaſed to
look upon the right of priesthood to be in
the firſt-born; what was intended by facri-
ficing a perfect MALE, was loft, whilſt great
accuracy was employed to take care that no-
thing but what was perfect ſhould be facri-
fieed; nay, fuch was the weakneſs of man-
kind, that they forgot the blood ſhed was ty-
pical and emblematical only, and imagined a
real virtue in it; than which nothing could
be more abfurd: but ftill they continued
with the greateft zeal to make uſe of facrifice,
to believe it a mean of atoning for fins, of
averting
30 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
averting puniſhments, of procuring favours
from the Deity; they thought facrifice made
their prayers and praiſes acceptable, that there
was fomething facred in it, that it bound
contracts and covenants of all kinds, and that
the Deity expected and required facrifice of
them, and would be highly offended, if that
ſervice was diſcontinued.
So that, notwithſtanding all the errors,
wanderings, and falfe imaginations of man-
kind, they ſtill retained, by this EMBLEMA-
TICAL INSTITUTION, a ftrong belief that
the Deity was placable, and that fins were
forgiveable; which left it poffible for them to
hope, and to endeavour to gain the divine fa-
vour, and confequently to love and ferve the
Deity. And the perpetual and univerſal uſe
of facrifice, with particular rites, and under
particular obfervances, after the original
meaning and-intention of them was loft, is a
proof, not only of their divine origin, but
alſo of the reality of that facrifice, which
thoſe emblems were intended to repreſent.
THE original and primary uſe of ſacrifice,
and of all other religious inftitutions, was
commemorative of the original revelation, a
fort of daily MEMORIAL, or Record, of what
God declared, and man believed and hoped.
But,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 31
But, as the declaration of God regarded a fu-
ture event, every one, almoft, of thoſe infti-
tutions and emblematical ordinances, muſt
be looked upon alſo as prophetick; which,
when the event predicted happened, proves a
demonſtration, much above what HUMANI-
TY could invent, of the Divinity of the IN-
STITUTION, and of the certainty of the hopes
and belief founded on that event.
BESIDES the original intention of being
commemorative and predictive, there was a
very uſeful deſign in the annual, monthly, week-
ly, and daily Services, to give men frequent oc-
cafions of ſearching into themſelves, as in the
preſence of the Deity; of confeffing, wor-
ſhipping, and adoring; and fo reforming,
and preſerving their minds from folly. This,
in time, they mistook for the chief end, for-
getting the chief end almoſt entirely; and,
at laft, they greatly corrupted even the fe-
condary defign, imagining that there was
merit in the facrifice, as fuch; that the Deity
loved facrifice, and expected it, as a tribute
that was due though God never required fa-
crifice (it is in this fenfe the Scripture fays fo)
for his own fake, as one may ſay, but inftitu-
ted it for the fake of men, as a memorial to
keep in mind what he had revealed. To this
:
end
32 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
end was the frequency; as well as to give
frequent opportunities of worſhip, the true
fervice of the heart, and reflexion, which
vain man almoft entirely forgot.
As the antiquity and univerfality of facri-
fice, notwithſtanding the various corruptions,
with which, by the imaginations of men, it
was infected, is a proof of its divine original;
fo is the ridiculous POLYTHEISM of antiquity
evidence, in fome degree, of a plurality of
PERSONS in the Deity; as the opinion, in all
appearance, muft have flowed from ſome re-
velation, or inftitution, for preferving the
memory and knowledge of that revelation.
"NOTHING is more remote from any
foundation in reaſon, than the doctrine of the
TRINITY; and therefore it is a fair conclu-
fion, that it must be owing to REVELATION,
real or fuppofed..
As inconfiftent as the TRINITY feems to
be with reafon, Polytheism is no leſs fo; all
nature ſpeaks for ONE Deity, and even the
doctrine of the TRINITY fuppofes it.
AND yet in almoſt all the antient nations
we find Polytheism eftablished; they had a
plural to the noun GoD: nay, the eldeſt of
all languages, the Hebrew, uſes almoſt al-
ways the plural noun ELOHIM, when ſpeak-
ing
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 33
ing of the Deity, frequently joined with plu-
ral verbs; though the Scripture, the only
book extant in that language, takes care to
let us know that this plural ELOHIM is but
one Deity.
Now, as the knowledge of the TRINITY,
if true, muſt be had by REVELATION, and
not by REASON; if the Deity was pleaſed
to diſcloſe ſo much of ITS own nature to
mankind, IT muſt do it by 'referring to ideas
taken from natural things; and, if the know-
ledge of that diſcovery was to be recorded,
whilft hieroglyphical or emblematical was the
only WRITING, there must be a conjunc-
tion of three Emblems in one, to repreſent
what was intended. Such conjunctions, by
Egyptian and other monuments yet extant;
appear to have been very frequent in earlier
times, and very probably owed their origin
to the lawful emblems firft propoſed by the
Deity; and the word in the Hebrew uſed to
fignify the IMAGE or Repreſentation of the
Deity, carried about as an IDOL, is plural
alfo, [TERAPHIM], though relating only
to one image or idol.
THE imagination of man, however, as in
the caſe of facrifice, dropping the only ra-
tional thing, the UNITY, made ufe of the
VOL. I.
plurality
D.
34 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
plurality of perfons in the one Deity, to
coin a plurality of Deities; and, by retain-
ing that notion againſt all reafon, gives
ground to conclude that it muſt have flowed
from ſome very high, though miſtaken ori-
ginal, and to inquire what the fountain of
fo extraordinary an opinion may have been.
As the imagination of man, proceeding
from one miſtake to another, muft, at laft,
have obliterated the knowledge of all RE V E-
LATION, notwithſtanding the wiſeſt precau-
tion to preſerve it; it behoved the Deity,
perfiſting ſtedfaſt in the purpoſe of mercy to
mankind, to renew that REVELATION from
time to time, and to rectify abuſes, with
fuch authority, for the renewal and rectifi-
cation, as was fufficient evidence of the truth
of what was revealed: and, if that merciful
and perfect Being was to fhut up all REVE-
LATION, and to ceaſe from farther interpo-
fition by extraordinary appearances amongſt
men, it behoved him to make the REVELA-
TION fo complete, and to leave it fo fixed
and unalterable, and attended with fuch
evidence for the truth of it, as fhould leave
no further room for error or doubt, amongſt
thofe, who, with reſpectful hearts to the
Deity, fought after the truth.
THOUGH
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 35
THOUGH it is extremely obvious, that
fuch a REVELATION and RECTIFICA-
TION must have been; yet, feek for it
amongſt all the monuments, the wiſdom, the
records of the Heathen world, and you ſhall
ſeek in vain; nothing but vanity and mad-
neſs. The wifeft of them, at leaſt of thoſe
that have come to our hands, feem to have
known little of MAN's fallen, deſperate ſtate;
and, when they turned their thoughts to
Religion, appear to have known nothing fur-
ther than a parcel of the lyes and forgeries of
their Priefts.
-
So that, if any of the antient Heathens
wrote before their REVELATION was
totally corrupted, it is loft; having been
neglected by their fucceffors, who did not
underſtand what it meant.
BUT, in looking over mankind, as they are
at this day, we find a NATION in very par-
ticular circumſtances, Diftinguiſhed from all
the People that are, or perhaps ever were,
upon the face of the earth; the CHILDREN,
as they believe, of one Man; Profeffing a
Religion different from that of all the Na-
tions that now are ſcattered up and down
the whole earth; Without dominion, power,
or property any where; Tenacious, to
death,
D 2
36 Thoughts concerning Religion, &C«
death, of their own Religion and Opinions;
for that reafon defpifed, hated, oppreffed,
and perfecuted; and yet, fubfifting in ſo
prodigious numbers, that, were they to be
brought together, they would prove a mighty
People.
·
EXAMINING the hiſtory of this People,
(I mean the Jews), we find they were very
Powerful about 2000 years ago; Poffeffed
of a country, their own, and called by their
own Name; in the full Exercife of a Reli-
gion, with Ceremonies, and Services pecu-
fiar to themſelves; in a firm Belief, derived
from their holy Books, which they held to
be REVELATION, that fome very extraor-
dinary Perfon, of their blood and kindred,
fhould then arife, who fhould deliver them
from all their Enemies, and fet up a King-
dom above all the Kingdoms of the earth.
WE find fome time after, that, encoura-
ged by this opinion, they quarrelled with
the Romans; and, after the moſt obftinate
defence that ever people made, were utterly
overthrown, their City and Temple deſtroy-
ed, and thoſe that eſcaped the fword ſcat-
tered up and down over the face of the
earth.
WE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 37
1
WE find that the particularity of their
Faith and Service, the diſtinction that fub-
fifted between them and other Nations, and
the feditiouſneſs and mutiny of their De-
portment, founded on the perſuaſion of a
great DELIVERER to come, brought total
diffipation upon them; fo that they became
every where the object of ſevere laws and ill
ufage.
AND we find, nevertheless, that for near
1700 years they have remained, under all
thefe diftreffes and difficulties, a People dif-
tinct from thoſe they live amongft, tenaci-
ous of their own Religion and Obfervances,
not to be bribed or frightened from them,
and fully convinced their Religion is imme-
diately from God, and that the great DELI-
VERER, for them, is ſtill to come.
A Circumſtance fo very fingular calls for
extraordinary attention. Of the many Na-
tions and Kindreds famous for Prowefs, for
Laws, for religious Opinions, is there any
that remained, that preferved their Name af-
ter a Conqueft? Did not all mix and blend
themſelves with the Conqueror? Of all the
Religions that ever have been, did any ſtick
fo cloſe to the profeffion of it, that, for a
feries of Ages, they did not forfake it for
D 3
the
38 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.:
the Religion of the Country they became
fubjects of; that infamy and oppreffion
could not drive them from it, but rather ri
veted them the ftronger in it?
AND this is ftill the more amazing, that
the Religion they hold, is, of all others, the
moſt abſurd, as they underſtand it; and that
the hopes they entertain are, undoubtedly,
chimerical and falfe.
INQUIRE of this People, and you ſhall
find their Faith is founded on a Book, which
contains their LAW, faid to have come
immediately from God, the HISTORY of
this Nation, and certain HYMNS, and
PROPHECIES; all which they firmly be-
lieve to have been written by Divine Infpi-
ration, and to contain the WILL, and
WORD of God.
THIS Book they entertain with the higheſt
eſteem, and preſerve with fuch fcrupulous
exactneſs, that there are in the Copies of it
fewer various readings than in any other
Book extant; that they have never ſuffered
a various reading, how true foever, to en-
ter into the text; and that, as fond as they
are of their method of Pointing, for varying
the found, and thereby the ſenſe in ſome de-
gree, of the Hebrew words, they have never
dared
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 39
dared to add thofe Points to the Copies of
their LAW read in their Synagogues, be-
lieving that ſuch an addition would be a pro-
fanation.
THAT this Book is not fictitious, nor in
any part forged to gratify the vanity of the
Jews, but, when firſt given to them, came
with authority ſufficient to enforce the re-
ception of it, will appear to thoſe who look
into it, from this obfervation; that, through-
out, the Jews are deſcribed as the vileft, the
wickedeft of all men; they are feverely re-
proved for their faults; DESTRUCTION is
threatened; nay it is, formally, and over
and over again, predicted, that they ſhall be
confounded; that they fhall be dark, and
blind; that the Book, which they keep, fhall
be fealed up from them; that they hall not
understand, and therefore fhall be rejected;
and the Nations, at large, taken to be the
People of God, in their room.
RECEIVING the Book originally, with fuch
a fting in it, ſhews the authority was high;
preſerving it entire, without ftriking out or
altering fuch paffages, proves the Book was
held facred: Not to mention, here, the ar-
gument arifing for the authority of the Book,
from the exact completion of the Predictions.
D 4
THE
40 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
THE first curfory view of this Book muſt.
fill any man, who has looked into all the
Remains of the antient Learning, Philofo-
phy, and Religion of the Nations, with a
ftrong prepoffeffion in its favour. Amongſt
all thefe, nothing but folly and impertinence
is to be met with; no tolerable Idea of the
Deity; none of the Duty of Man, from the
true motive; none at all of the chief and
peculiar Felicity of the human race, in the
enjoyment of the favour of God.
BUT in this Book, from one end to the
other, the Praiſes of God, defcribed as One,
Spiritual, Infinite, Eternal, Merciful, Graci-
ous, Long-fuffering, Juft, Powerful, in ſhort,
infinitely Perfect, are every where to be met
with the Duty of Man is placed where it
ought to be; and the Felicity of man is de-
fcribed to confift in the enjoyment of the
favour of the Deity, to be obtained by con-
forming to the Will of God, and yielding
him the heart. This is the language, the
fpirit of the whole; nothing contradictory
to this, whatever vain men may fancy to
the contrary, from fome ill-underſtood paf-
fages.
THIS Reflexion will not be fo prevailing
with the unlearned; who, in the moſt com-
mon
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 41
mon books fince the Christian Æra, meet
with the moſt juſt, and at the ſame time the
moſt noble and fublime ideas; which are
all, tho' they do not know fo much, taken
from the Jews facred Book: but it will be
very cogent with thoſe that have read all the
Remains of the Heathen world, prior to Chri-
ſtianity, and who alone can make the com-
pariſon, and fee the peculiarity of the cha-
racter of this Book, as it differs from all
others, the productions of men.
THIS Book, taken all together, ſeems in-
tended to promote religious reſpect and ſer-
vice to the Deity, and to raiſe ſtrong hopes
and confidence of mercy and felicity.
IT contains a complete fyftem of SACRI-
FICATURE, with all the rites and religious
obfervances thereto belonging, faid to be deli-
vered to the Children of Ifrael by the Deity,
in the moſt ſolemn manner, by the hands of
Mofes.
THIS Syſtem, which is called the LA w,
or the DIRECTORY, is faid to have been
publiſhed by the Deity, in a manner attended
with great figns and wonders, in the preſence
of all the people, as to fome part of it; and,
as to the reft, by Mofes, to whoſe authority
God,
42
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
God, by very furprifing miracles, gave cre-
dit.
THIS LAW is faid to have been reduced
into Writing by Mofes, at the command of
God, to be for ever prèſerved, and obferved;
with promiſes of perpetual felicity, in cafe
of obferving, and threats of BLINDNESS
and DESTRUCTION, to the whole nation,
in cafe of not obſerving it.
THIS LAW was given to the Children of
Ifrael, the Iffue of Abraham, Ifaac, and fa-
cob; to each of whom it was promiſed, that
out of their feed fhould arife That which
fhould bleſs the whole earth. This people
is faid to have been, by the immediate pro-
vidence of God, kept diftinct from all other
nations, till the LAW was directly given to
them; and then, by the very tenor and ten-
dency of that LAW, was to remain diſtinct
from all other people, fo long as their na-
tion fubfifted.
By the ſcheme of this INSTITUTION it
appears, That the people were to be under the
immediate government of the Deity; to
poffefs a fruitful land, in the middle of the,
then, beſt-peopled part of the earth; that
God was to be in a particular manner
preſent with them, to be confulted with, in
a facred
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
43
a facred place, (firſt in the Tabernacle, and
then in the Temple), by facred rites, and to
give decifions, and directions; and that, from
time to time, he was to raiſe up Prophets
to admonish, rebuke, and direct.
BESIDES the Writings afcribed to Mofes,
called the LAW, the Book contains the HI-
STORY of the Nation from Mofes's time to
their firſt Captivity, for their defection from
God, predicted first in the Law, and after-
wards by fucceeding Prophets.
I T contains the writings and predictions of
feveral Prophets, and the PSALMS, or reli-
gious HYMNS of the Nation, employed in
the Divine Service, and compofed by infpired
men, for the uſe of the people.
IN theſe HY M N S, and other writings, a
fyftem of the faith and hope of the enlight-
ened Jews is to be met with; the true
meaning and uſe of EMBLEMS, SYMBOLS
and TYPES is explained; errors in practice
and opinion are reproved; the expectation of
mercy and falvation by a Divine Perſon is
raiſed; that Perfon is, under various repre-
fentations, deſcribed; the change of the,
then, prefent INSTITUTION for a better is
intimated; the BLINDNESS, and total de-
fection, and deftruction of the Jews, with
their
1
44 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
their State and Temple, is predicted; the
CALLING into their room the Gentiles is fore-
told; and the time, for that great event, li-
mited, and defcribed with characters and
marks that cannot be miſtaken.
Ir the Book, then, that contains all theſe
things, be Divine, it is plain that God did
not leave Man without farther affiſtance to
aid and induce his faith, after promulgation
of Peace, but that he renewed the glad T1-
DINGS; as, from the nature of the thing,
ought to have been done.
AND, if it fhall appear to be true, that
the manner in which he renewed that Reve-
lation has furniſhed a demonftrative, perma-
nent evidence, which never needs to be re-
newed, of his grace and favour to loft Man,
it calls for belief, and the higheſt acknow-
ledgment of his mercy and wiſdom.
IF the hiftory of Mofes, his miracles, his
communication with the Deity, is true, there
is no poffibility to call in queſtion the truth
of what he delivers.
As the LAW, and INSTITUTION found-
ed by Mofes, was to eſtabliſh Religion, and to
make Mercy and Peace known to the whole
earth, the Writings aſcribed to him begin
with the CREATION, and carry down a ge-
neral
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 45
neral account of the concerns of mankind,
till the Election of Abraham and his Seed.
THE thing Mofes begins with, is the CREA-
TION of the HEAVENS and the EARTH by the
Deity; which, tho' true to the conviction
of all mankind, no antient Wife-man ever
found out. Here is no ridiculous Theogonia,
no eternal Chaos, no fortuitous concourfe of
Atoms; but a fair and a true declaration,
In the beginning God created the Heavens and
the Earth.
He further takes notice of the Inftitution
of the Sabbath; which, though the Antients
obferved, they knew not the reaſon, or oc-
cafion of.
THE declaration of this undifcovered truth
gives ſtrong prepoffeffion in favour of the reſt.
THE next important thing is, that Man
fell from a ſtate of innocence. This, as has
been faid, every living man muft find to be
true, upon examination; and yet none of
the Wife, whofe works have come to us, ever
thought of it nothing more certain, no-
thing more important to be attended to; no-
thing leſs known: but this Mofes diftinctly
relates as the caufe, or at leaſt the occafion,
of every thing that followed.
THE
46 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.`.
THE third thing he marks is, the confu
fion, and deſperate ſtate, in which man was,
upon the FALL; afhamed of his fault, with-
out hope in the mercy of God, and there-
fore ftudious to hide himſelf from him.
This, the FALL being true, muſt neceffarily
be true too; and therefore we readily be-
lieve Moſes.
THE fourth thing he relates is, that God
revealed his purpoſe of mercy to Mankind,
and thereby delivered them from dread, de-
fpair, and confufion. The words, in which
Mofes relates the promiſe of mercy, are,
That the Seed of the Woman Should bruife the
head of the Serpent, and the Seed of the Serpent
fhould bruife his heel.
-
THESE words, which are all that is ſaid,
'do not, it is true, fay that this Seed of the
Woman should be facrificed; though bruifing
the heel looks mighty like the ſuffering of the
lower and leaft noble part of that Seed; nor
do they ſay that facrifice, and the other ob-
fervances of the LAW, were then inftituted:
but it appears plainly, that, foon after, Cain
and Abel offered, and that at a ftated or ap-
pointed time; it appears Noah facrificed, and
that, in his days, Man was commanded to
abſtain from eating BLOOD, as a thing fa-
cred;
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 47
ered; it appears the Patriarchs did fo, with-
out any precedent, inftitution, or command-
ment, recorded, and that their Sacrifices
were reſpected by the Deity; and it appears
that all the nations of the Earth, who ſprung
from the first PARENTS, practiſed ſacrifice,
with nearly the fame rites: Wherefore, it
may fairly be concluded, that Sacrifice, and
the rites thereto belonging, were inftituted
upon the first promulgation of the EVAN-
GELIUM, the tidings of mercy, and from that
inſtitution were tranfmitted to all mankind;
and it would imply an abſurdity to ſuppoſe,
that this EMBLEMATICAL, COMMEMORATIVE
obſervance was inftituted without man's
knowing the reaſon and meaning of it.
We know by Hiftory, without the help
of Mofes, that all Mankind facrificed in hopes
of mercy; from Reafon we diſcover, that
thofe hopes muſt have been founded on
REVELATION, and that Sacrifice (which of
itſelf could fignify nothing) muſt have been
no more than a memorial, by inftitution :
and now from Mofes we learn, that thoſe
hopes were actually founded on explicit
Revelation by the God of Nature; and that
Sacrifice, which the fame God fays in itſelf
fignifies nothing, was practifed, juft after,
by
48
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
by the favourites of the Deity, and accept
able to him; and that he gave a new mo-
del of that Inſtitution, correcting abuſes, in
the wilderneſs.
WE learn, next, from Mofes, that God
was pleafed at different times to appear to,
and converfe with Men, Adam, Enoch, Noah;
and that, nevertheleſs, men corrupted them-
felves ſo monftrouſly, (an early inſtance
whereof is Cain's killing his brother Abel),
that the Deity brought on a FLOOD, which
deſtroyed the whole earth, and with it all
men, except Noah and his family.
THIS FLOOD all antient nations have con-
fuſed tradition about; and though Exuvia,
ftill remaining near the ſurface of the Earth,
give very ſtrong evidence of it, yet there.
is no fenfible account of it, from the An-
tients; which ſtrongly raiſes the credit and
authority of Mofes's Writings.
By the direction to take into the ARK а
greater number of clean than of unclean
beafts, and by Noah's practice, immediately
after the FLOOD, of facrificing of every clean
beaft and bird, it is evident the diſtinction
of clean and unclean does not depend ori-
ginally on the Law of Mofes, but has its
origin
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 49
origin before the FLOOD, probably at the firſt
publication of Grace to Adam.
As the FLOOD deſtroyed all the corrupted,
and to Noah and his family was demonftra-
tion of the power of, and obedience due to,
the Deity, this great event was a total ex-
tirpation of all falſe Religion; and, humanly
ſpeaking, it was to be hoped the faith and
religious ſervice of men would have conti-
nued long pure.
BUT that was not the caſe: for, as Adam's
fon Cain finned early, fo did Noah's fon Ham;
he merited to be pronounced accurſed of his
father, foon after the deliverance from the
FLOOD. And, before the memory of that
dreadful judgment was loft, men meditated
the ſetting up a falfe Religion and Service
to the Heavens at Babel; which the Deity
diſappointed, by confounding and dividing
their IMAGINATIONS, fo that they ſeparated
and diſperſed at that time.
As Mofes relates the deftruction of the
Antediluvian world by the FLOOD, fo he
gives an account of repeopling the earth
by the three fons of Noah, giving a brief
abſtract of the Defcent of the families from
theſe three fons and it is extremely re-
markable, and ſtrongly confirms the truth
VOL. I.
E
of
50 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
of Mofes's hiftory, that, from the moſt ac-
curate and judicious inquiry into the pro-
phane records and monuments extant, it
does appear the world has been repeopled
in the manner which Mofes defcribes, and
nearly about the fame time, counting back-
wards from known periods, by the juſteſt
rules.
AFTER the account given of the irreligious
attempt at Babel, of the defcent of man-
kind from Noah's fons, and of the peopling
of the earth, Mofes begins the hiftory of the
Jewish Nation, defcended from Abraham, who
was fprung of Shem. This hiftory, as to cer-
tain events, is very particular: It defcribes
Abraham as called, immediately by God,
away from a family and land that had be-
gun to corrupt itself, to enter into a for-
mal covenant with God: It defcribes the
promife of the land of Canaan to Abraham,
and to his feed, which is expreffed in very
extraordinary terms: It defcribes the fame
promife repeated to Ifaac, and to Jacob:
It relates the Inftitution of CIRCUMCISION,
(which, if inftituted before, ſeems to have
been left off), to be obſerved by the whole
race of Abraham: It relates the manner of
the Children of Ifrael's going into Egypt, their
bitter
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 5#
bitter fervitude there, and their feparation
from the Egyptians: It records their miracu-
lous deliverance by the hand of Moſes: It re-
lates their long fojourning in the wilderness,
and their progress toward the land promifed:
It relates the miraculous and furprifing man-
ner of the promulgation of the LAW by the
Deity, with extraordinary figns and won-
ders: It records all the Rites and Ceremo-
nies of the Sacrificature, and of the whole
religious fervice of the Jewish Church: It
records the Conftitution of the Jewish civil
government, which, as well as the religious,
had God for its head: It defcribes the Ta-
bernacle, the refidence of the fupreme Go-
vernor, till the Temple fhould be built: It
records the promife of the Advent of ano-
ther Prophet, like unto Mofes, who was to
be heard: It relates a formal cutting off
the Type of the predicted PURIFIER, or the
renewal thereof, and the Terms upon which
the People ſhould partake of the benefit of
that PURIFICATION, commonly tranſlated a
COVENANT between God and the People;
wherein ftrict obedience is promiſed on the
part of the people, and, on that condition,
great and perpetual bleffings promiſed on
the part of God; but a manifeſt prediction
E 2
is,
52 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.¨
is, at the ſame time, made of the people's
defection, and of their future deftruction.
AND the end of all this ſurpriſing difpofi-
tion, and œconomy, manifeftly is to record,
with great accuracy, the LAW with its fe-
veral RITES and CEREMONIES, and to recom-
mend the exact obfervance of it; to the
end it never fhould be loft, or fall out of
the view and knowledge of Mankind; but
the particulars of it, and the Authority
by which it was promulgated, ſhould remain
attefted, to future generations, by better
and ſtronger evidence than any other mat-
ter of fact ever was amongſt men.
AND, if the giving this LAW, and the ſe-
lecting and conftituting this people to be the
depofitaries of it, in this manner, was the
immediate act of God, it muſt certainly be
of infinite confequence to have had that LAW
ſo recorded, and preſerved; and yet, if you
look only at the obvious and outfide ap-
pearance of that LA w, it was of little or
no uſe, and the obfervance of it has ceafed
many hundred years ago, and is now, with-
out a miracle, become impracticable; where-
as, viewing it in the light already hinted,
it becomes the evidence of all hope and
faith.
THE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 53
THE evidence the Jews had to believe the
feveral matters related by Mofes, preceding
the deliverance from Egypt, was, fo far as
we know, no more than Mofes's word; whofe
credit was ſufficiently eſtabliſhed, by the te-
ftimonies given to him by the Deity; but,
at the fame time, it is not certain that they
had not fome diftinct tradition concerning
theſe things.
BUT, as to his authority, and the autho-
rity of the Laws and Inftitutions given by
him, they had, and their children, and we
who' take it from their children, have the
ſtrongeſt evidence the nature of the thing is
capable of. For,
1st, THE whole People, an infinite mul-
titude, were witneffes of all the miracles
wrought preceding the deliverance from
Egypt, and of the final miracle that at-
chieved their deliverance; in memory
whereof, the PASSOVER, an annual ſo-
lemnity, was inſtituted, with the ſtrongeſt
injunctions, to acquaint their children
with the cauſe of that obfervance, and
to mark that night throughout all their genera-
tions for ever.
E 3
2dly,
54 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
2dly, THE whole People were witneſſes
to the miracle in paffing the Red Sea, and
fung that hymn which Mofes compoſed on
that occafion, which was preſerved for
the uſe of their children.
3dly, THE whole People were witneffes
to the dreadful Promulgation of the Law
from Sinai, with which they were alſo to
acquaint their children; and the feaft of
PENTECOST was annually to be obſerved
on the day on which that Law was given;
befides that, the very Tables in which the
ten COMMANDS were written, were de-
pofited in the Ark, and remained, at leaſt,
till the building of Solomon's Temple, and
probably till the deftruction of it.
4thly, THE whole People were witneffes
to the many miracles wrought, during the
ſpace of forty years, in the wilderneſs
to the Pillar of FIRE and CLOUD, to the
MANNA, QUAILS, &c. a fample of the
MANNA remained to future generations;
and they were directed to relate what they
faw to their children.
5thly, THE whole People were witneſſes
to the framing and building of the Ark,
and Tabernacle; they were all contribu-
ters to it; they faw the CLOUD fill, and
reft
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 55
reft upon it, and they affifted at the Ser-
vices performed there; and, to comme-
morate this, as well as their fojourning in
tents in the wilderneſs, the annual Feaſt of
TABERNACLES was appointed, which,
in fucceeding years, they were to explain
to their children.
As theſe things were abfolutely fufficient
to fatisfy the children of Ifrael, then in be-
ing, touching the authority and obligation
of this Law, feveral things were added to
enforce the obfervance, and to preferve the
memory and evidence of what was to be ob-
ferved.
tft, THE LAW was by Mofes, at the
command of God, put into Writing, for
the greater certainty, as well as all the di-
rections for making the ARK, the CHE-
RUBIM, the TABERNACLE, the Priests
GARMENTS, &c. and all the Rules of
GOVERNMENT, JUDICATURE, &C.
with every other circumſtance revealed, for
directing the faith and the conduct of the
Nation:
2dly, THIS LA w was to be preſerved,
perufed, and attended to, m the moſt
E 4
careful
56 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
:
careful manner; The Priests, who were
to judge in queſtions relating to it, muſt
be well verfed in it; The King, who was
to rule over the Nation, was to write out
a Copy of it for himſelf, and to peruſe it
`continually; And the People were to write
out paſſages of it, and to wear them, by
way of Signs, upon their Hands, and of
Frontlets, between their Eyes, and to write
them upon the posts of their doors, &c.
And they were to teach their children the
moſt notable parts of it, and particularly
to inftruct them in the miracles attending
the deliverance from Egypt, as they fat in
their houſe, as they walked by the way, as
they lay down, and as they rofe up, &c.
3dly, BESIDES the authority that pro-
mulgated the LAW, there was a folemn
COVENANT and Agreement between
God and the people, whereby the people
became bound to keep, preſerve, and ob-
ſerve this LA w, and all that was contain-
ed in it; and God became bound to be
the God of the Ifraelitish People, to pro-
tect and profper them: and this COVE-
NANT, towards the end of their fojourn-
ing in the wilderneſs, was folemnly re-
newed.
4thly,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
57
4thly, THE particulars of this COVE-
NANT, upon God's part, were, to give the
people the good land of Canaan, a land
flowing with milk and honey; to preferve
and protect them in it; to give them per-
petual indurance, and victory over their
and his enemies; to profper them in all
their labours; to give them the increaſe
of their fields, and flocks; and to make
them a great, a happy, and a flouriſhing
people; on condition that they kept and
obeyed his LAW.
5thly, THE particulars, on the part of
the People, were, to ſerve Jehovah, and
no other God, in the way directed by the
LAW; to preferve, obferve, and obey the
LAW carefully and exactly; and, if they
failed or tranfgreffed, to ſubmit and con-
fent to the ſevere fanction of the LAW and
COVENANT, which, in many inftances,
was, to individuals tranfgreffing, death,
[to be cut off from the people], and to the
bulk of the People, DESTRUCTION,
CAPTIVITY, DISPERSION, BLIND-
NESS, MADNESS, &c. befides the for-
feiture of all the good promifes.
6thly, BESIDES the other bleffings, and
pre-eminences, God was, by ſome ſpecial
vifible
58 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
vifible Symbol of his prefence, to refide
continually with the people; firft, in the
Tabernacle, which was made in the wil-
derneſs for that end, and, afterwards, in
the Temple; whence he was to give judg-
ment and directions, and to anſwer pray-
ers, and accept of vows.
7thly, THIS COVENANT was alfo re-
duced into writing, and was the tenure by
which the Ifraelites held the land of Ca-
naan, and on which all their hopes were
founded: wherefore it muft in all gene-
rations be confidered by them as a thing
of no ſmall moment.
As God was the head of this STATE, and
as the people held immediately their land of
him; fo he made feveral Regulations for
holding that property, that are very re-
markable.
Ift, THE Land was by his command
divided into twelve lots, one for each
Tribe; and they were put in poffeffion
accordingly, to the exclufion of the tribe
of Levi, who for their portion had no
more than what attended the ſervice of
God's
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 59
God's houſe, and ſome Cities, with Sub-
urbs, diſperſed amongſt other Tribes.
2dly, Not only were the defcendents of
each Tribe to enjoy, in exclufion of other
Tribes, their own lot, but the particular
fields and parcels, within each Tribe, were
to remain for ever with the reſpective fa-
milies that firft poffeffed them, and, on
failure of the Iffue of the Poffeffor, to
the neareſt of that family: Hence, all
lands fold returned at the Jubilee to the
Proprietor, or his neareſt a-kin; he who
had right to avenge blood, might redeem.
3dly, THIS right of Blood, depending
upon knowledge of deſcent and genea-
logy, made it abfolutely neceffary for the
children of Ifrael to keep very exact re-
cords and proofs of their deſcent: not to
mention the expectation they had of fome-
thing, furprifingly fingular, from the ma-
ny promiſes made to Abraham, Ifaac, and
Jacob, that the BLESSING to mankind
fhould ſpring from their feed; and, in
tracing their genealogy, we fee they were
very critical, upon their return from Ba-
bylon: fo that, before their Records were
diſturbed by the Captivity, it could not
well be otherwiſe, but that every body of
any
·
60 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
any note amongſt the Jews could tell you
the name of his Anceſtor, who first had
the Family-poffeffion, in the days of fo-
fua, and how many degrees, and by what
deſcent, he was removed from him. And
as theſe firft Poffeffors, purſuant to the
cuftom of the Nation, muft have been de-
ſcribed by their fathers name, 'tis highly
probable, they could have quoted by name
that Anceſtor who faw the miracles in
Egypt, who faw the LA w given, who en-
tered into the COVENANT, and who con-
tributed to the fetting up the ARK and
TABERNACLE.
4thly, THE very ſurpriſing care taken by
the Deity, to keep the breed of the Jews
pure, and genuine, by the proofs of VIR-
GINITY, and by the miraculous Waters of
JEALOUSY, is a circumſtance that merits
attention, and will eafily induce a belief
that Deſcent and Birth was a matter much
minded amongſt them. And,
5thly, THE appointment and obfervance
of the Sabbatical year, and, after the ſe-
venth Sabbatical year, a year of JUBILEE,
for the general releaſe of debts, lands, &c.
is a circumſtance of great moment, not
only as theſe notable PERIODS were uſe-
ful
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 61
ful towards the eafy computation of time,
but as it made inquiry into TITLE s, and
conſequently genealogy, neceſſary every
fiftieth year; and as the ceffation from
culture, every ſeventh year, gave conti-
nual occafions for the Deity's diſplaying
his power in increaſing the Crop of the
fixth, purſuant to his promiſe.
Now, taking theſe circumſtances together
under confideration, could any human pre-
caution have provided more means to keep
up the memory and evidence of any fact?
Could this have been done by human fore-
fight or force? Has any thing like to it ever
been in the world befides ?
WHAT could tend more to perpetuate the
memory of any event, than to deliver a
whole People, by publick glorious miracles,
from intolerable flavery? To publiſh a very
extraordinary ſyſtem of Laws immediately
from heaven? To put this Law in writing,
together with the Covenant for the obeying
it? To make the tenure of the poffeffions of
the felicity of that people depend on the ob-
ſervance of this Law? To appoint annual
folemnities for keeping the L A W, and the gi-
ving of it, in mind? To appoint figns for
the
$
1
62 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
محمد
the hands, and frontlets for the face, by way
of MEMORANDUMS? To injoin perpetual pri-
vate` inſtruction by the parent to the chil
dren? To make the tenure of the Eftates
depend on the original divifion of the Land,
to men who faw the miracles, and firſt took
poffeffion, and on the proximity of relation,
by defcent, to them? To appoint a return
of Lands every fiftieth year, which ſhould
give perpetual occafion to canvaſs thofe de-
fcents? To order a Sabbath every ſeventh
year for the Land, the lofs of which fhould
be fupplied by the preceding year's increaſe?
And to ſelect a whole tribe, confifting of
many thouſands, to be the Guardians, in fome
degree the Judges and the Executors, of
this Law; who were barred from any por-
tion of the land, in common with their bre-
thren, and were contented with the contri-
butions that came from the other tribes,
without any fixed portion amongst them?
This muſt keep up the belief and authority
of that Law amongst the defcendents of that
People, or nothing could: and, if fuch a be-
lief, under all theſe circumſtances, prevailed
amongſt a people fo conftituted, that belief
could not poffibly proceed from impoſture;
becauſe the very means provided, for proof
of
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 63
of the truth, are ſo many checks againſt any
poffibility of impofition.
If any man will fuggeft, that the Law of the
Jews is no more than human invention, and
that the Book of the LAW is a forgery; let him
fay when it was impofed upon that People, or
at what PERIOD it poffibly could have been
impoſed upon them, ſo as to gain belief, later
than the PERIOD they mention, and under
other circumſtances than thoſe they relate.
COULD the whole People have been perfua-
ded, at any one PERIOD, by any Impoftor,
that they were told feverally by their fathers,
and they by theirs, that the LAW was given
with fuch circumftances, and under fuch
promiſes, and threats, if they were not real-
ly told fo; or that they, throughout all
their generations, had worn certain paffages
of the Law by way of FRONTLETS and
SIGNS, if it had not really been fo?
COULD the whole People have been perfua-
ded to fubmit to the pain of death, upon
all the offences the LAW makes capital, un-
lefs their fathers had done fo, upon evidence
of the authority of that L A w ?
COULD the whole People have been perfua-
ded that they had kept exact Genealogies,
in order to intitle them to the bleffing, and
to
I
64 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
to their inheritances feverally, unleſs they
actually had done fo?
COULD the whole People believe that they
had kept PASSOVERS, Feafts of TABER-
NACLES, &C. down from the date of the
LAW, commemorative of the great events
they relate to, unleſs they had really done
fo ?
COULD the Children of Ifrael have been
impoſed on to receive an ARK, and a TA-
BERNACLE, then forged, and a complete ſet
of SERVICE and LITURGY, as deſcending from
Mofes by the direction of God, unleſs that
AR K and that SERVICE had come to them
from their Anceſtors, as authoriſed by God?
COULD the whole People' have fubmitted
to pay TITHE, FIRST-FRUITS, &c. upon
any feigned revelation? Or,
COULD the Tribe of Levi, without divine
authority, have ſubmitted, not only to the
being originally without a portion in Ifrael,
but to the being incapable of any, in hopes
of the contributions of the people; which,
however large when the whole twelve Tribes
ferved at the fame Temple, became very
ſcanty when ten of them withdrew their al-
legiance from heaven?
COULD
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 65
COULD ever the * Book of the LAW, if con-
figned to the Levites, and promulgated, have
been loft, ſo as to give room for new fictions?
Or could a Book of the LAW have been
forged, if there was none precedent, and
put upon the People, as a book that had
been delivered to the Levites by Mofes? If
no book at all ever was delivered by him
to them, what authority could be pretended
for fuch a book?
HAD a book been to be forged, in order
to be received by the People, could it have
contained ſo many fcandalous reflexions
and accufations against the People, and fo
many fatal threats and predictions concern-
ing them? and, if it had been fo framed,
would it have been received as authen-
tick?
IF the LAW, &c. was forged, it muſt have
been before the days of David; becauſe by
the facred hymns, in his time, the publica-
tion of the LA w is celebrated, and the LAW
was obſerved: And yet the time between the
entry of Ifrael into the Land, and the reign
of David, being but about four hundred
VOL. I.
F
years,
*N. B. The Book of the L Aw, found in the days of Jo
fias, was the Copy of the COVENANT in the hand of Mofes.
66 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
years, is too ſhort a pace for forgetting the
real manner of that Entry, and forging an-
other, to be received by a People, whofe ge-
nealogy was fo fixed, and whofe time was
reckoned by fuch PERIODS.
IF the Book of the Law was not forged
before the reign of David, it could not
poffibly be forged after, unleſs the whole hi-
ftory of the kingdom, the tabernacle, the
temple, and all the facred hymns and pro-
phecies, are looked upon as one complete
fiction; becauſe the tabernacle, the temple,
the economy of the kingdom, the facred
hymns, and all the other Writings faid to
be facred, bear formal relation to the
LAW.
BUT, that all theſe things were not fup-
pofititious, is evident from the anxious zeal
that poffeffed the Jews who returned from
the captivity; from their folicitude to re-
ftore the city, the temple, and the facred
fervice; from their ftrict examination of
their genealogies, and fcrupulous care
comply with the Law.
to
THE ſpace between the captivity and the
return was fo fhort, that fome, who faw the
firft temple, faw alfo the fecond, and many
who were themſelves, or at leaſt whofe fa-
thers
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 67
เ
thers had been, Officers in the firft temple,
returned to the fervice of the fecond: fo
that it is utterly impoffible that the hiſtory,
the liturgy, the fervice of the Jews, preceding
the return, ſhould be a fiction, at leaſt that it
ſhould be a fiction earlier than the return.
AND the ftory of this nation, from that
PERIOD, falls in fo much with the hiftory of
the reft of the world; their facred books
have been fo foon after that tranflated, and
they have been fo famous for the tenaci-
ouſneſs of their LAWS, that there is no pof-
fibility of fufpecting that their LA w and hi-
ſtory was forged later than the return.
AND, if it is granted, that the devotions,
the precepts, the inftitutions, and rites and
ceremonies, of this LAW, and the great
lines of their Hiftory, are not forged; one
needs, as to the prefent confideration, be but
little folicitous concerning the accuracy of
the Copy of the Books of the LA w, and of
the other facred books; and whether there
may not have been fome miſtakes or inter-
polations. It is not with one or one hun-
dred words or fentences we have to do; it
is with the ſyſtem of the SACRIFICATURE,
and the other religious laws and ſervices of
the Jews, and with the political eſtabliſhment
F 2
of
68 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
of their Theocratical government, and the
authority for the eſtabliſhment of both, that
we have, at preſent, concern.
FOR, if ſuch a fyftem of religious fervices
and ceremonies was revealed and commanded
by God; if, for the greater certainty, it was
reduced into writing by Mofes, by divine di-
rection; if fuch a model of government was
framed, as is manifeftly calculated for keep-
ing up the obfervance of thofe fervices, and
preſerving the memory of the inſtitution,
and keeping up the authority of the book
wherein it is recorded; and if the nation, to
whom this inftitution was delivered, have
preferved it accordingly: complete evidence
thence ariſes to us of the Divinity of the
inftitution; which confirms what has already
been deduced from nature, and the hiſtory
of the world, concerning REVEALED RE-
LIGION; and leads to a demonftrative proof
of the truth of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION,
to which all the emblematical inſtitutions
tend, and in which they center.
AN D, if one can but be once fatisfied that
this people was chofen and conftituted, in
a way ſurpriſingly particular, principally for
preferving the ORACLES of GOD, the religion
revealed by him to men, and the evidence
thereof;
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 69
thereof; one ſhall have little difficulty to
believe that they were reaſonably exact in
this particular :
ESPECIALLY if he recollects the abſolute
fcrupulofity which which they preſerve the
facred Books, not having dared, fince the
days of Jefus Christ, though their diſputes
with the Chriftians gave them the ſtrongeſt
temptation, to alter a letter, or to inſert in
the text uſed in their Synagogues thofe very
POINTS which they have contrived to vary
the fignification of the words, to ſerve their
purpoſes, though all of them fay, and moſt
of them believe, thefe POINTS to be of di-
vine original.
BUT the matter does not reft fingly upon
the preſumption of accuracy and fidelity in
the Jews: We have a tranflation made, near
two hundred years before Chrift, into Greek;
and, by comparing that verfion with the
Hebrew kept by the Jews, the diverfities
are not ſo many or fo material as to make
any difference in the fenfe and tendency of
the whole. They may all have flowed from
the ignorance or careleffneſs of interpreters,
and from miſtakes and accidents incident to
Copyers; and, where there is any diverſity,
it is eaſy to judge on which fide the miſtake
F 3
lies,
70 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
lies, and the error muft naturally be impu-
ted to the Tranflation, which cannot be pre-
fumed to have been handled with fo great
care and reverence as the Original.
AND we have, befides, an Hebrew Copy of
the Pentateuch kept by the Samaritans, mor-
tal enemies to the Jews, and who would
not probably co-operate with them towards
any fraud. This Copy, a very few imma-
terial things excepted, is literally the fame
with that of the Jews; and as the Penta-
teuch contains the very kernel, and the ftand-
ing proof of that revelation which ſupports
the Chriftian religion, it feems to be the di-
rect act of Providence for confirming the
truth of that important piece of Revela-
tion, that the Cuthians fucceeded the ten
tribes, and that they took up ſo much of
their Religion, as had been retained by theſe
tribes, after their defection from the houſe
of David, and preferved as facred the Pen-
tateuch, which would have been a check up-
on the Jews, had they falfified theirs; and
is a confirmation of the truth, as they have
not, out of the mouth of enemies, at leaſt
of fuch as were in no confederacy with
them.
!
AND
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 71
AND the exiſtence of a Copy of the Pen-
tateuch in the hands of the Samaritans,
who must have had it from the ten tribes,
and they again muſt have retained it from
the days of Jeroboam's revolt, is a proof, not
only that that book, as it now ftands, was
extant, and the ſtandard of the Ifraelitish
facred ſervice and faith, in the days of Da-
vid and Solomon, but alſo that all the Co-
pies of the Pentateuch were not loft, as is
fooliſhly ſuppoſed, in the days of Jofiah;
this one being then, clearly, amongst the re-
volted tribes, as the rule of the faith and
practice of fuch of them as had not bowed
their knee to Baal; befidés many thouſands
that, probably, were in the hands of the
Levites, and ſcattered over Judab and Ben-
jamin: ſo that the Copy of the LA w found
in the temple, in the time of Jofiah, was the
Copy of the COVENANT in the hand of Me-
fes, as the text afferts, and not the Copy of
the Pentateuch.
}
THESE reflexions put the divine authority
of the Jewish Inftitution beyond all doubt;
they ſhew it was the indifpenfable duty of the
Jews to obey and obferve it; and prove de-
monftrably, that it would be our duty, as
well as theirs, to comply with the fame infti-
F 4
tution
72 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
tution and obſervances, unleſs theſe fhall ap-
pear to have been fuperfeded and changed by
the ſame divine authority.
AND it is an event that calls loudly for our
attention, that this inftitution, eſtabliſhed fo-
lemnly by God, has ceaſed; the temple, cho-
ſen for his refidence, has been deſtroyed; and
his own peculiar People, whofe head and pro-
tector he was to have been, and was bound by
Covenant to be, have been utterly unpeopled
and ſcattered near 1700 years ago.
To obtain ſatisfaction on this head, it is fit
to recollect, that almoſt all the Jewiſh religi-
ous fervice confifted in external emblematical
acts, rites, and obfervances, which, in them-
felves, and but for the inftitution, and what
was intended to be repreſented by them, fer-
ved for no good purpoſe.
THE Hebrew word tranflated the LAW
carries not in it, properly, the idea of autho-
rity enjoining or commanding, but it is taken
from a word that fignifies, originally, to der
monftrate, to direct, to point out, the way; and
all the precepts, commands, ftatutes, ordinances,
and appointments, come promifcuouſly under
that word which we tranſlate Law.
Ir
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 73
It muſt be remembered, that throughout
all the facred Hebrew writings, as well in the
LAW, as in the HISTORY, HYMNS, and
PROPHECIES, many matters concerning
the LAW are declared by the Deity, and
fentiments expreffed, which regulate the un-
derſtanding, end, and meaning of it.
1
NOTHING is more diſtinct than the ſeveral
Inftitutions, the pofitive and negative Pre-
cepts of the Law, if no more than the out-
ward operation or obfervance is in queſtion;
but we find that, throughout the SCRIP-
TURES, and particularly the book of
PSALMS, it was not, fingly, the practice of
the Precepts, but the meditation on them day
and night, that was the duty and delight of
thoſe that feared God; it was their prayer to
be made to underſtand, to be taught them;
it was the duty of the Pricft, and the Prince
in a particular manner, and it was the expreſs
command of God to Joshua, to meditate in
the Law day and night; then should he do
wifely.
It is no wonder that the Law required
meditation to unravel the true end and mean-
ing of it; fince, to inftance in one particular,
the principal inftitution of it, to wit SACR I-
FICE, in itself had no virtue at all, and it
was
74 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
:
was contrary to common fenſe and reaſon it
fhould have any.
IT is not only contrary to common ſenſe,
that ſacrifice ſhould have any effect towards
removing fin, and placating the Deity: but
the fame God, who inftituted facrifice, tells
over and over again the people, to whom he
gave that Inftitution, that he has no pleaſure
in facrifice; that the blood of goats cannot
atone for fin; that their facrifices were uſe-
lefs towards the ends for which they imagined
them profitable.
WHAT then must the religious Jews, who
believed that facrifice was of divine Inftituti-
on, who believed at the ſame time that it was
of no effect towards pardoning fin and pro-
curing favour, and who were bound to me-
ditate on the depths, the hidden things of the
Law, conclude? And what muft we con-
clude, who believe as they did? Can we con-
clude otherwiſe, than that this uncouth, un-
natural obfervance, unprofitable and ineffec-
tual in itſelf, was appointed to commemo-
rate or point out fomething, emblematically,
that the Deity was defirous to have pointed
out and kept in mind?
As one great end of the religious inftituti-
on, and of the frame of the commonwealth of
the
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 75
the Jews, was to keep up perpetually the or-
dinance of SACRIFICATURE; another
great end was to preferve, with proper evi-
dence and authority, all the revelations and
providences of God, recorded by Mofes and
the other inſpired Writers.
>
WE know, then, certainly, from the reve-
lation made by God and preferved by the
Jews,
THAT God was to be merciful to man ;
that he promiſed The feed of the woman Should
bruife the head of the ferpent; and, that the
feed of the ſerpent ſhould bruiſe his heel.
THAT SACRIFICE Was coëval with this
revelation, or néar it; Abel facrificed accep-
tably.
THAT blood-fbed was deemed holy; and
Sprinkling that blood the mean, and outward
ſymbol, of making every thing on which it
was fprinkled, the Prieft, the Altar, the
Ark, &c. holy.
THAT, when God firft declared his pur-
poſe of ſelecting Abraham, and his family,
and made a COVENANT with him to multi-
ply his feed as the stars of heaven, and to give
them the land af Canaan, he, at the fame time,
and with the fame breath, declared that in his
feed all the families of the earth ſhould be bleſſed.
THAT
76 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
THAT the fame declaration was often re-
peated to Abraham, and to his fucceffors Ifaac
and Jacob; which became the foundation of
the hopes and expectations of their defcen-
dents, made them carefully preſerve their
genealogies, and greatly value themſelves on
being of the feed of thoſe men, of whofe
feed ſhould come THAT wherein all the
families of the earth fhould be bleffed.
THAT the first part of the CoVENANT
or Promife was, literally, and in a very mar-
vellous manner, fulfilled; The Ifraelites were
miraculouſly put, and kept in poffeffion of the
land of Canaan: But, whilft they ſtaid there,
the ſecond part was not performed, nor will
they admit that it is to this hour performed.
THAT, though this fecond part was not
performed whilſt the Nation remained in pof-
feffion of the first part of the promiſe, yet it
was perpetually kept in view, and freſh hopes,
by repeated promiſes, given of the fame blef-
fing, under very extraordinary deſcriptions.
THE Sceptre was not to depart from
Judah until Shiloh came, and to him was to
be the gathering of people.
THE Throne was to be eſtabliſhed with the
feed of David for ever; the Covenant was
eſtabliſhed with him; and of this SEED of
his
}
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 77
his fuch marvellous things are ſpoken, as
do not agree to any of his carnal fucceffors,
or to any meer man.
THIS Son of David goes under the name of
the Anointed of the Lord, and this anointed
one is faid to be alfo the Son of God, the King
Anointed on the holy hill of Sion. I will de-
clare the decree: the Lord hath faid unto me,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee.
A Virgin was to conceive, and to bring forth a
fon, whofe name was to be Emmanuel. A new
thing was to happen in the earth, a woman was
to compaſs a man, Jer. xxxi. 22.
To the houſe of Ifrael a child was to be born,
to them a fon was to be given, the govern-
ment was to be on his houlder; and his
name was to be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace. Of the increaſe of his go-
vernment and peace there was to be no end,
upon the throne of David, &c. Ifa. ix. 6, 7.
A Rod was to come forth of the stem of Jeſſe,
which should stand for an ensign to the people,
and to which all the Gentiles should feek, whofe
reft was to be glorious.
NUMEROUS are the promiſes and predic-
tions of peace and falvation to come, not only
to
78 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
to the Jews, but to all nations, by a mighty
CONQUEROR, a great PRINCE, who was
to fit on the throne of David; who is called
David [i. e. the beloved] in prophecies deli-
vered hundreds of years after king David's
death; who was to rule in peace, to lead, and
to defend his people; who is called The
righteoufnefs, The holiness, The falvation of Fe-
hovah, The righteous fervant of the Lord, who
was to deliver Ifrael from their fins; who was to
be a Light, was to be Salvation to the Gentiles;
who was to be given for a covenant to the peo-
ple; who was to restore peace and joy to Man-
kind; a fountain was to be opened to the houſe of
David, and to the inhabitants of Feruſalem, for
fin, and for uncleanness.
THE Righteous fervant of the Lord was to
fuffer for Mankind, for the fins of the people; he
was to bear their iniquities; to be bruised for
them; to be unjustly condemned in judgment,
and to fuffer death; to make his body an offer-
ing for fin: but he was to divide a portion with
the great, &c. because he had expofed his body
unto death, and he was numbered with the tranf-
greſſors, and made interceffion for the trans-
greſſors.
THIS extraordinary perfon, who was to do
thoſe wondrous things, is defcribed as fitting
on
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 79
on the right hand of God; as the fellow of
God, against whom the fword was to be employ-
ed to fmite him; and the people were, at laſt,
to look upon him whom they had pierced; and to
mourn for him, as one mourneth for his eldeſt
fon: But this was not to be till the Spirit of
prayer and fupplication ſhould be poured out on
the houſe of David, and on the inhabitants of
Ferufalem.
MESSIAH the anointed one, the Prince,
was to be cut off, at a determined period, but
not for himſelf.
AND many and various predictions are ſcat-
tered every where throughout the facred
Writings, that the Jews fhall be rejected, and
the Gentiles called to the fervice of God, and
to enjoy the bleffings promiſed to Ifraei.
THESE feveral wonderful predictions and
promiſes, with many more of the fame kind,
could not poffibly be overlooked by the Jews;
or thought to relate to any thing but the
great, the important branch of the original
COVENANT with Abraham, not performed
when the Nation was in poffeffion of the land,
to wit, that in his feed all the nations of the
earth were to be bleſſed. This was too con-
fiderable a part of the Covenant to be over-
looked, or to remain unperformed; and it is
no
80 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
no wonder that the Jews, from it, and from
theſe ſeveral predictions, promiſes, and decla-
rations, that related to it, expected with con-
fidence that bleſſing to all nations in the MES-
SIAH, who was to be of the feed of David.
TAKING then all theſe predictions and
promiſes together, and joining them with the
original COVENANT made with Abraham, it
is as clear as the fun's light, that the extraor-
dinary perſon promiſed, and deſcribed to be
the fon of David, and the Son of God, the an-
ointed one, the beloved, was the feed promiſed
to Abraham, in whom all the nations of the
earth were to be bleſſed.
AND therefore the Jews, who believed the
SCRIPTURE to be infallible truth, were in-
fuperably determined to believe this extraor-
dinary perſon, whom they call the MES-
SIAH, was to come; and we, who believe
the fame SCRIPTURE to be the word of God,
muft neceffarily conclude, that he either is
come, or is to come; or clfe we muſt ad-
mit that God has given his authority to the
belief of a falfhood, which is monftrouſly
abfurd.
THE Jews may value themſelves as much
as they pleaſe on their being the favourite
people, and may flatter themfelves in the
opinion
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
81
opinion that the MESSIAS was intended pe-
culiarly for them, and that the COVENANT
with Abraham, and the whole ftructure of,
and divine providence about, their law and
nation, was meant only, and primarily, for
them: but we, of the nations, beg leave to
differ with them, and to infift, that in the
feed of Abraham all the nations of the earth.
and amongst them we, were to be bleffed;
and their MESSIAS was to be the Light of
the Nations; that he was given for a Cov E-
NANT to all people; and that he was to bring
falvation to all men.
AND we muſt obſerve, that all that part
of the COVENANT that regarded the land
of Canaan, and the Jewish people in particular,
was conditional, forfeitable upon breach of
COVENANT by the Jews; and actually for-
feited, as they themselves muft own, and as
their own Scriptures teftify: whereas the
promife of bleffing to the Nations, in the
ſeed of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, is abfo-
lute, and unconditional, and believed ne-
ceffarily to be performed, whatever came of
the Jewish law and commonwealth.
THE City and Government of the Jews is
now deſtroyed, and diffolved; they are un-
peopled, as we may fay, and remain feat-
VOL. I.
G
tered
82 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
*
1;
tered up and down the face of the earth
their ſyſtem of religious fervice is now no
more practiſed, nor practicable; no man
can trace his deſcent from Aaron, ſo no man
amongſt them can lawfully fhed blood; nor
can any prove his deſcent from David, fo
none can know the MESSIAH by his pedi-
gree, were he yet to come. It is near 1700
years fince the temple, to which the Meſſenger
of the Covenant was to come, was deſtroyed
utterly; and yet the Jews will neither admit
that the MESSIAS is come, nor that their
Scripture is falſe; which is very extraor-
dinary.
IT was equally the intereft of the Nations,
as of the Jews, to have looked out for the
advent of the MESSIAS; but they did not
know what concern they had in that event,
and therefore could not be folicitous about
it. The Jews were juftly folicitous about
it, and had all the marks, and tokens, given
by infallible Revelation, by which to know
it; but, in purſuance of the blindneſs pre-
dicted to themſelves, they did not ſee it.
It is an amazing providence, that the Jews,
who looked for the MESSIAH, did not ſee
or receive him when he came; and that the
Gentiles, who knew little, and had no expec-
tation
2
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
83
tation of him, faw and received him, and
in him the bleffing. This is furprifing; but
it did not happen by chance; it was predicted
by Mofes and the Prophets.
DÀ NIEL had fixed a determined Time
for the Advent of the MESSIAH; the whole
Nation knew it, and expected him, about the
time he came; their expectations ran fo high,
that the confidence founded upon them pul-
led on their ruin, and final deſtruction. The
MESSIAS came when they expected him,
and yet they knew him ſo little, that they
became his executioners, and put him to
death as a blafphemer.
IN Jacob's bleffing to Judah, or rather pro-
phecy concerning him, the Sceptre was not to
depart from Judah, nor the Lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh came; and all
the Jews, by Shiloh, understood the MES-
SIAS.
IN Daniel's Prophecy the advent of the
MESSIAH, who is to be cut off, is to be fol-
lowed by the utter deftruction of the city,
the temple, the law, the commonwealth of
the Jews.
THOUGH the Jews were fo blind as not to
fee the MESSIAS when he came, but, inſtead
of receiving him, to cut him off; it is afto-
nifhing,
1
G 2
84 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
niſhing, that, when they had cut him off,
when they ſaw their city, their temple, their,
commonwealth, and their holy fervice, at an
end, they did not fee their miſtake, and look
to him whom they had pierced.
IF the Sceptre was not to depart from Judah
till Shiloh came, it is a neceffary confequence,
that, if the Sceptre is actually departed, Shi-
lok muſt certainly be come.
A T the time predicted, and when the Jews
expected the MESSIAH, a man of the tribe
of Judah, and family of David, appeared in
Judea, preaching repentance, and remiſſion of
fins: He declared he was the MESSIAS, the
Son of God, fent to fave Mankind; and, as
an evidence of his miffion, wrought in the
fight of the people great numbers of ama-
zing miracles; he opened the eyes of the
blind, and the ears of the deaf; he reftored
fpeech to the dumb, and health to multi-
tudes of fick perfons, by his fingle fiat: He
faid he came to fulfil, and put an end to the
Law, to die for the fins of mankind: He
taught as never man taught. But, being in
a form too humble and lowly for the expec-
tations of the Jews, he was arraigned of
high treaſon against the Roman power, and
of high treaſon againſt the head of the Jewish
I
com-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 85
commonwealth, that is Blafphemy; was
tried, convicted upon his own acknowledg-
ment that he was the Son of God, and igno-
miniouſly crucified, and buried: And, though
he did not uſe his divine power to avoid that
death which he faid he was to undergo, yet
he ever had that power to confirm his own
promife that he was to rife again the third
day; he roſe, inftructed the diſciples he had
elected, and afcended into heaven; having
firſt promiſed to fend the HOLY SPIRIT,
the COMFORTER; who was accordingly
ſent, and filled the Apostles, and Diſciples.
As the Jews, that is the High Priest and
the Nation, not knowing this Perfon, put
him to death for pretending to be the ME S-
SIAH, it is but natural to think they would
for ſome time perfift in their opinion; and
therefore they made uſe of all means to ju-
ſtify their own opinions and conduct, to
weaken his credit, to make him paſs upon
the World for an Impoftor, and to oppoſe
the propagation of his doctrine.
As the heathen world was at that time
deep funk in ignorance and fuperftition, and,
where Superftition did not prevail, ftrongly
biaffed to Atheism, the philoſophy of Epi-
curus; it was againſt all probability that the
G 3
fur-
86 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ſurpriſing, the ſelf-denying doctrine of Jefus
ſhould prevail.
NEVERTHELESS, in less than 300 years,
in ſpite of the fierce oppofition of the Jews;
in ſpite of the many Perfecutions from the
Roman Emperors, who were then Lords of the
whole known earth; in ſpite of the ignorance
and weakneſs of, the first followers of Chrift,
the Apoſtles, who were chofen of the loweſt
rank of the people, the doctrine of that cru-
cified Jeſus ſo far prevailed, as to become
the religion of the whole known world, (the
Jews excepted): fuch influence had the
teaching of the HOLY SPIRIT, and the
Miracles wrought.
If any man ſhall wantonly think fit to call
in queſtion (notwithſtanding the evidence)
that miracles were wrought, and ſhall aver
that none were performed; let him confider,
whether, on that fuppofition, it is not a mi-
racle, and evidence of Divine power, beyond
all cavilling, that this doctrine, in the hands
of fuch men, againſt ſuch oppofition, pre-
vailed over mankind in fo fhort a ſpace,
without the affiftance of any power but the
power of God, and the proofs brought from
the Scriptures.
THE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
87
THE doctrine taught by the followers of
Jefus was, That he was the Son of God, the
promiſed MESSIAS; that he came, purſuant
to the COVENANT of GRACE, to ſhed his
blood for the remiffion of fins; that pardon
and grace was thereby to be had; that the
Law ferved only to point him out, and de-
ſcribe him; and that the blood of Sacrifices
were but emblems, and types, of his blood;
who, having therein washed mankind from
their fins, was for ever to make interceffion
for ſuch as believed, and expected mercy.
THIS doctrine prevailed early over ſuch of
the Jews as waited humbly for the Salvation
of God, and whofe notions were not totally
debauched; it prevailed over fuch of the
Gentiles as retained notions of atonement
by blood: but it made no progreſs among
the hardened Jews, who crucified their M E s-
SIAH, who by all arts whatever, except fal-
fifying the text of their facred Books, endea-
voured to ftifle the new doctrine, and keep
their own in countenance; though it is highly
aſtoniſhing it ſhould not have prevailed over
them, when their city and temple were raſed,
and when it became the light of the Gentile
world.
G 4
IT
88 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
It is eaſy, by running over the many typi-
cal and prophetical predictions in the Law
and the PROPHETS, and fhewing the harmo-
ny and accompliſhment in the perſon of Jeſus,
to heighten the demonftration of the truth of
the Chriftian Religion, and the amazement at
the furprifing hardnefs of the Jews; but,
poftponing that for a little, can any man,
from what has been already ſtated, doubt that
the Chriſtian Religion is that pointed out by
the Judaick difpenfation, and that it is Di-
vine, unleſs he admit that the Judaick difpen-
ſation is a pure forgery, or that the Deity can
fail in fulfilling his Promiſes?
OR, can any man reflect on the blindneſs
and obftinacy of the Jews, in fhutting out the
light which fhone amongst themſelves, and
which from them only ſhone out to the reſt of
the world, without obferving the immediate
finger of God in this aftoniſhing event which
happened, being predicted?
CONSIDERING with due attention theſe
circumſtances, it is impoffible not to perceive
fkill much greater than human contrivance,
as well as power Divine, in preparing and fur-
niſhing evidence for the truth of the Chriftian
Religion; or, which is the fame thing, the
Doc-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 89
Doctrine of pardon and mercy through the
blood of Chrift.
*
THIS Doctrine, not reſulting from nature
or reaſon, is not capable of proof à priori, or
from reaſon; and therefore muft depend on
evidence external, as other matters of fact
do.
MIRACLES, or the immediate Interpofi-
tion of Almighty Power controuling the com-
mon courſe of nature, may be proof of reve-
lation; but the proof of thofe miracles may
decay, by length of time, and by degrees,
unleſs ſome very extraordinary mean is uſed
by the Deity to preſerve the proof of fuch
miracles.
PREDICTION of natural events that do
not depend upon a certain unchanging courſe
of nature, is, when the event happens, proof
that the Prophet had his Prediction from
heaven.
PREDICTION of miraculous or fuperna-
tural events, when theſe events happen, is the
higheſt evidence of the intervention of the
Deity; and, if one can be certain that the
event was predicted, and accordingly hap-
pened, no doubt at all can remain the Pre-
diction and the Event were both from God;
and, fuppofing ſuch a thing to have happen-
ed
90 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ed for the confirmation of any doctrine, the
only requifite to perpetuate that proof to
pofterity would be, to provide ſuch a hiſtory
of the prediction and accomplishment, as
could not, juſtly, be ſuſpected, or called in
queſtion.
THE chief cauſes for denying affent to the
truth of facts recorded in hiſtory are,
THAT the Hiftorian may have been ill in-
formed, and may have taken what he wrote
without fufficient evidence;
THAT the Hiftorian may be fingle, unfup-
ported by any other collateral evidence, in
which cafe his veracity may be queſtioned;
and,
THAT the Hiftory, in length of time,
may be vitiated, interpolated, or altered, to
be accommodated to prevailing notions or
opinions.
Now, if the ſacred Inftitution, and civil
Oeconomy, of the feed of Abraham is con-
fidered, as calculated to receive, to preſerve,
and to communicate the revelation of the
good will of God to man, it furniſhes a teſti-
mony to that truth fuperior to all doubt, and
to any other evidence that ever ſupported a
matter of fact.
THE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 91
THE Hiftorian could not be deceived: the
miracles related were wrought in his and in
the fight of the whole people, and many of
them not fingle acts, but reiterated, fome re-
peated for forty years together.
THE Hiftorian cannot be looked upon to
be fingle; (I confider the whole People as
joint hiſtorians atteſting the truth of Moſes's
relation): what he relates was done in the
fight of many hundreds of thouſands; they
all agree the relation to be fact; they receive
his account of it, hold it certain and facred;
obſerve the precepts; expect the promiſes;
fubmit to the fanction; and hold their whole
land, the poffeffion of each individual, and
the offices in the Church and State, by that
tenure.
THE fufpicion of any alteration, or inter-
polation, to promote any favourite point or
opinion, is abfolutely excluded, by the reli-
gious reverence had, at all times, for the fa-
cred Book; by the many reproaches every
where to be met with therein againſt the Jews,
which their ſcrupulofity prevented their med-
dling with; and by the many predictions, not
only of thoſe miſchiefs to the Nation which
happened to them before the facred Book
went out of their own hands, and language,
into
92 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
into other hands, and languages, but of
thoſe miſchiefs alfo which happened fome
hundreds of years after the Scriptures were
publiſhed in foreign languages, and continue
to happen at this day; I mean, their rejecting
the MESSIAH, and putting him to death, the
fubverfion of the ſtate and temple, and their
difperfion, blindneſs, and obftinacy: for I
take it to be an event of all others the moſt
furpriſing, and the leaft to be accounted for
from the nature of things, that the Jews
fhould continue, under fuch circumftances,
and in fuch numbers as they are, firm even
to death in the belief of their Scriptures,
and the hopes of a MESSIAH, and yet blind
and obftinate to madneſs in rejecting that
MESSIAH, whom every one that confiders,
but they, evidently ſees, and with joy ſubmits
to.
HAD the nation of the Jews feen in Jefus
the MESSIAH, and fubmitted to him, the
Scriptures would not have been fulfilled.
HAD they, after his death, univerſally ac-
knowledged him, as many individuals of the
nation did, they, as thefe individuals did,
laying afide all national distinctions, would
have been funk and loft in the general maſs
of Chriftians; and we fhould have had no
more
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 93
more than an hiftorical account of their have-
ing once exifted, as we have of the Athenians,
Spartans, Samnites, &c.
•
HAD this been the cafe, the authority of
the facred Book would have reſted folely on
itself; there would not have been one living
witneſs to prove its authentickneſs, or to pre-
vent the fufpicion that it was forged, as the
Fragments of the book of Enoch, the Teftaments
of the twelve Patriarchs, the Sibylline Oracles,
and multitudes of other pious cheats, moft
certainly were.
OR, had the Jewish Nation maintained its
land, preferved its government, and turned
Chriftian with the reft of the world, the
books they should then exhibit as facred,
would not be altogether free from fufpicion :
Thofe, who combat their truth, as they
ftand, would not fail to fuggeft, that paffa-
ges had been accommodated to the, then, pre-
fent belief of the Nation, and that the whole
might be a forgery, to introduce a belief,
which fome impoftors of that Nation had
a mind to fet up.
BUT, as the Jewish Nation have ever reject-
ed, and do ftill continue to reject, with
the utmoſt horror and deteftation, the be-
lief of thoſe truths, which their own books
are
94 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
are the chief evidence of, they are the moſt
unexceptionable witneffes that the heart or
head of the moſt ſcrupulous Man could wish
for; it being abfolutely impoffible that they
can concur in any fraud or fiction for the
ſupport of that doctrine which they utterly
abominate.
To reflect a little, then, on the evidence
of this Revelation: Here is a People chofen,
in the loins, as, one may fay, of their pa-
rents, to be, as the Deity is pleaſed to de-
clare, witneffes for him; formed into a
very great and a very peculiar people; di-
ftinguiſhed by particular inftitutions, and by
the immediate hand of God kept diftinct
from all the nations of the Earth; recei-
ving, directly from God, revelations, inftitu-
tions, predictive and emblematical, and ma-
ny oracular declarations; preſerved by the
peculiar providence of God in poffeffion of
their land, and in the practice of thoſe pro-
phetical inſtitutions for above 1500 years;
believing that thofe predictions deſcribed an
event, which was at hand, big with the great-
eft bleffings to them, and to the whole uni-
verſe, and looking out hourly for the accom-
pliſhment.
BUT,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 95
BUT, when that great event happens, this
fingular people, obftinately blind, refuſing
to fee it, and rejecting the benefit of it;
not by accident, but in purſuance of ma-
ny predictions in their own facred Book; and
thereby remaining the irreproachable wit-
neffes of the truth of the facred Revela-
tion, which from the beginning they were
chofen to bear evidence of.
NOR is their continuing, with that quafi-
fication of witneffes, at this day, lefs mar-
velous, or leſs the immediate act of God,
than their preſervation in their land, before
the advent of the Meffiah, formerly was.
WHO can with attention, and without
prejudice, view the contrivance, the ſkill,
the interpoſition of the finger of God, for
fo many ages, to provide, prepare, and pre-
ferve, ſo ſurpriſing, and fo unexceptionable
a proof for his revelation of grace to man-
kind, and at the fame time fuffer himſelf
to doubt whether all this is not impofture,
purely becauſe God has been pleaſed to re-
veal fome things that do not conform fo
well to his apprehenfions; tho' he knows full
well that his underſtanding is, almoſt in every
thing, fcanty and weak?
WHO
96 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
WHO can doubt that, if God intended to
reveal peace and mercy to mankind, he would
make the evidence of that revelation ftrong
and permanent?
AND who can ſee the evidence, and believe,
without adoring, and determining to ferve
that beneficent Being, who has provided
ſuch evidence of his grace, for the com-
fort, direction, and encouragement of man-
kind, to purſue their duty, and to arrive at
felicity?
EARLY we ſaw man undone, unleſs there
was fome hidden method in referve with the
Deity for aboliſhing his fin; and in a deſpe-
rate ſtate, if hope was not created, by re-
vealing that method, which to man muſt
naturally be unknown.
WE faw, alfo, that mankind had hopes
from the earlieſt times; that theſe hopes had
in them fome connexion with the fhedding
of blood; and, from the univerſality of the
hope of pardon on that principle, we con-
cluded it highly probable that theſe hopes
were given, and that mean pointed out, by
the Deity; both the one and the other be-
ing not only without any countenance from,
but even, as fome men have feemed to un-
derſtand them, contrary to reaſon.
WE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
97
WE faw, that, if theſe hopes, and the
mean uſed, were from God, there muft be
ſome ſtanding evidence, provided by the Dei-
ty, for producing in man belief in his mer-
cy, and the just confequences of that be-
lief.
AND, now, we fee, in fact, that fuch evi-
dence is provided; which juftifies the hopes.
and the practice of the antient world, at the
fame time that it receives confirmation from
them; and fhews clearly that this REVELA-
TION was given from the beginning, and
that the Law of Mofes is a REPUBLICATION
of it.
THIS then being, undeniably, the caſe,
how abfurd and pernicious muſt the fenti-
ments and conduct be of theſe unlearned,
but conceited men, who, without examining
nature or revelation carefully, prefume to
decide magiſterially againſt REVEALED RE-
LIGION; and employ all the talents the
bountiful God of nature has beſtowed upon
them, not to examine and inquire into, but
to difcredit and defeat the evidence that he
has, with ſuch infinite care, provided; and
thereby harden themſelves, and all ſuch whoſe
hearts and heads are turned like theirs, in
falfe and impious notions?
VOL. I.
H
TINDAL
98 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
:
TINDAL (and all who have thought, be-
fore or after him, as he does) will have the
law of NATUR E, that is, the light of NA-
TURE, a perfect rule for mens actions; and
who doubts this? He fays this light is abſo-
lutely fufficient to guide men in their conduct
towards God, and towards one another; and
this is no doubt alſo true. But, then, he con-
cludes, that this light of NATURE is, by itſelf,
fufficient in our preſent ſtate to lead us com-
fortably through this life to happineſs in the
next: but here he errs, manifeftly, either from
want of attention to truths which he admits,
or from building on falfe principles which,
without due examination, he has adopted.
THAT the light of NATURE, with the in-
ftructions the first man had, was fufficient to
guide him before he finned, is certain; and
that the fame light, after committing that
fin, was a fufficient monitor againſt commit-
ting more, may alfo be true: But how was
this firft Man to find out, that the firſt fin
he committed was to be pardoned, if that
God, against whom he finned, had not told
him ſo much? Is there any thing in NATURE
to let a man know, certainly, that the infi-
nite, the perfect, the immutable juſtice of
God will pardon, connive, or wink at fin,
the
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
99
the tranfgreffion of the eternal law of order,
in fetting up another fovereign, without
ſome cauſe, motive, or confideration, of in-
finite moment, to determine the Deity fo
to do? Or can NATURE find out that there
was truly the interpofition of fuch a cauſe?
MR. TINDAL would avoid this difficulty,
by fuppofing that the light of NATURE teaches
man that God is merciful, and that he will
pardon, upon repentance, and a purpoſe of
amendment: and, if this was true, his argu-
ment would go pretty far. But this is moſt
certainly not true: the Deift borrows, in
this, an article from REVEALED RELIGION,
which, by afcribing to the light of NATURE,
he would make ufe of to overthrow that very
Religion that diſcovered it.
THE light of NATURE fhews the God of
nature to be bountiful, good, benign, cle-
ment, beneficent, and merciful, if the Idea is
carried no farther than a difpofition not to
hurt, and to relieve proper objects of re-
lief: but the light of NATUR E does in no
way fhew that this perfect Being is merciful
to finners, or that his clemency or benefi-
cence can have for its object the offender
againſt immutable juftice. The ideas of In-
dignation against fin, and Puniſhment of
H. 2
treſpaſs,
100 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
}
treſpaſs, are ſo neceffarily joined with, and
infeparable from, the idea of infinite, per-
fect juſtice, that the light of NATURE, with-
out deftroying the idea of the effential ju-
ftice of God, or without diſcovering what,
without REVELATION, it could not diſcover,
that juſtice was, by the interpofition of an
atonement of infinite confideration, to be
fatisfied, could not poffibly frame to itſelf
any notion that mercy was to take place,
or that repentance, and purpoſe of amend-
ment, were to be of any moment.
REVELATION, indeed, has altered the cafe ;
it has deſcribed God as merciful, long-ſuf-
fering, patient, and pardoning tranfgreffion,
upon repentance: But, then, it has recon-
ciled that diſcovery to the dictates of nature,
which ſpoke juſt the reverſe, by intimating
that an atonement has, by infinite mercy,
been found out to fatisfy immutable, effen-
tial juſtice.
THUS do weak, prefumptuous mén miſlead
themſelves, to lull their conſcience, that
glimpſe of the light of nature, aſleep; and,
to prevent the trouble it muft give them,
they lay hold of a principle diſcovered, and
proved, only, by REVELATION ; but, becauſe
they would not be beholden to REVELA-
TION
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 101
TION for it, they boldly, and falfely, aver it is
deducible from REASON; and then make
uſe of it to fupport an Hypothefis, of their
own framing, that ſhall overturn that R■ V E-
LATION, from which the fupport to their
Hypothefis is fought.
DEISM is not tenible, without fuppofing
remiffion of fin to be neceffarily confequent
upon repentance, and this to be diſcoverable
by the light of NATURE. Remiſſion does not
appear from NATURE to be the confequence
of repentance, but rather the contrary; the
diſcovery and proof of this propofition is
owing folely to REVELATION; and yet there
are men, who would be thought wife and
honeft, who would be thought to believe
the propofition, and yet make it the ſtudy
of their lives to overthrow the evidence on
which it is built.
IT would be very happy, if theſe Gentle-
men, who pique themſelves fo much on the
ſtudy, the knowledge, the light of NATURE,
entered a little more into the confidera-
tion of themſelves, and of thoſe things they
ſo much pretend to know, and to admire;
and beſtowed but half the time they take
to direct others, in finding out their own
condition, and what they have to hope or
H 3
fear:
102 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
fear Did they, but look at their own cafe,
they ſhould be lefs wanton, lefs preſumptu-
ous.
WHAT man is there, who, entering into
himſelf, and comparing honeſtly what he now
is with what man originally was, and ought
to have continued, does not fee the corrup-
tion, the miſery, the helpleſſneſs of his own
condition? If the depravity or violence of
his appetites, his lufts, or his paffions, have
drawn him to commit any of the more no-
torious crimes that difturb fociety, or de-
ftroy his neighbour, confcience generally
interpoſes, and the fting is felt, till the de-
praved wretch harden himſelf by fome falfe
excufe, or, by fome other criminal purfuit,
draw away his attention from the fore.
BUT, ſuppoſing a man, from the happy
conftitution with which he was born, from
the advantage of a good education to form
his fentiments, or from the kind conduct
of God's providence, free from thoſe grof-
fer offences that fall under the cenfure
and diſtaſte of all honeft men ; can he re-
collect, that he is the creature of the in-
finitely perfect Being; that the great, the
chief end of giving him all thofe intelle-
ctual faculties that diftinguiſh him from the
Į
reft
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 103
reft of the creation, was to contemplate the
power, the wiſdom, the goodneſs of God,
in his works and in his providence, and to
admire, adore, and ſerve this ſource of good-
neſs, power, wiſdom, and perfection; that
kis diftinguishing felicity lay in purſuing his
duty, in anſwering the ends for which thoſe
intellectual faculties were given; that a tri-
bute of praiſe, of acknowledgment, and of
thankfulneſs, is due to the God of nature,
who has mercifully and beneficently framed
the heart of man, ſo that the very act of
paying this tribute is neceffarily attended
with the moſt perfect, pure joy, ferenity, and
fatisfaction, that the human mind is capable
of feeling I fay, can he recollect theſe
things, and at the fame time be confcious
that he ſeldom, if ever, employs the talents
given him to the end for which they were
given; that it is not the occupation of his
mind, or the joy of his heart, to contem-
plate or acknowledge the divine wiſdom, and
goodneſs; that the fupreme good is not only
not the object of the meditation of his mind,
or of the purſuit of his heart, but that theſe
faculties, and difpofitions, bountifully given
for thoſe honourable and bleffed ends, are
monftrouſly mifapplied to the purſuit of
fleeting,
H 4
104 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
fleeting, perishing, if not wicked, pleaſures;
that the Soul is fo knit to, and bewitched
with, thoſe mean, unmanly, unreaſonable
enjoyments, which end in ſmoke, if not in
forrow, that there is no tafte left for thoſe
fublime, permanent pleaſures, for which it
was created; and that, in place of ufing the
very refuſe of one's time, what is over and
above the purſuit and enjoyment of thoſe vain
comforts, to the chief end for which time was
indulged, the thought of the leaft communica-
tion with the Creator is fo painful, that all
amuſements, how fooliſh or infignificant fo-
ever, are anxiouſly fought after, to murder
time, and to divert, as 'tis called, from that ex-
ercife of the foul, and heart, wherein confifts
his indifpenfible duty, and his higheſt felicity;
without perceiving that he is guilty of high
treafon againſt the God of NA TURE; that he
is revolted from him, and has ſubſtituted in
his place, and made choice of, his creatures
for the object of his defires, and of his pur-
fuits; that they are become his mafters, who
hold him in captivity; and he their ſlave, ſo
chained to their drudgery, that he has no
more capacity left to return to the enjoy-
ment of his Maker, and to relish the plea-
fures that are with him for evermore; with-
out
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 105
out dreading the juft vengeance of the Omni-
potent, which may reach him here, and muft
reach him, unlefs reconciliation intervene,
in the life to come; whither, he knows, the
pleaſures and the amuſements of this life
cannot follow him?
WHOEVER makes theſe reflexions, and
every living foul muft, who will enter into
himſelf, and think feriously, can have no
other queſtion to exerciſe his mind with, but,
What ſhall he do to be faved? And, if any
accident ſhould bring to his ears that bleffed
piece of intelligence, that there is a way ſtill
open to the favour of God, and means pro-
vided for the pardon of fin, it is impoffible
the tidings ſhould not roufe the whole of his
attention, and employ the utmoſt of his di-
ligence to diſcover the truth of ſo acceptable
news; which, if found to be the very will
and revelation of God, muſt meet with thẹ
moſt joyful and thankful acceptance.
BUT, if men will not look ſo far into them-
felves, as to fee and feel their miſerable con-
dition; if they are fo well contented with
the pleaſure they enjoy, or have in view,
that they look for none other; or if their
immerfion in fenfual fatisfactions prevents
their entertaining thofe honourable notions
of
106 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
of the Deity, and of his fervice, that are
contradictory to their prefent purſuits and
ſcheme of life; it is no wonder they ſhould
not liſten with attention to a piece of infor-
mation, which, if true, breaks in upon their
preſent happineſs, fours all their pleaſures,
and promiſes, in exchange, an enjoyment for
which they have no taſte.
MEN, fo minded, cannot poffibly receive
the GOSPEL, or fail to forge reaſons againſt
it; whilft thoſe, who fenfibly feel the want,
muſt with the greateſt earneftneſs wifh they
may, upon due examination, find it true.
THE GOSPEL is an infallible CURE, a
glorious MEDICINE, though of a bitter
reliſh to many palates, for the moſt obſtinate,
the moſt dangerous diſeaſe: A MEDICINE
coveted, however, notwithſtanding its harſh-
nefs, and greedily fwallowed by thoſe who
feel the anguifh of the diſeaſe, or dread the
danger; but nauſeated and rejected by thofe
who are ſenſible of no ailment, and believe
themſelves to be in health. It is one of the
hardeſt things in the world, to perfuade Mad-
men to come under the regimen neceſſary for
their cure, becauſe it is impoffible to con-
vince them they are mad: a madman, howe-
ver, can by violence be compelled to the
taking
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 107
taking of medicine; but the GOSPEL muft
be fought after, and taken voluntarily, and
wiſhfully, before it can do any good.
THE whole want no PHYSICIAN, and
thoſe who think themſelves fo, believe they
want none: It is otherwife with the fick;
who, in proportion as they feel agony, are
impatient and earneſt for relief.
THEY begin at the wrong end, who, to
perfuade a DEIST to receive the GOSPEL,
attempt firft to prove the excellence and infal-
libility of it: If he is fatisfied he has no oc-
cafion for it, he cannot be brought to exa-
mine fufficiently, and to weigh the proof.
Convince a man, who diſlikes the only medi-
cine that can cure him, that he is danger-
oufly ill, he will hear you patiently on the
fubject of the remedy, and fubmit to make
uſe of it, be it ever fo unpalatable; if you
cannot convince him that he ftands in need
of it, he is incurable.
As fome men are fo thoroughly corrupted,
as to like the wretched ftate in which they
are, better than that, in the poffeffion where-
of the higheſt felicity their nature is capable
of confifts; they are fo weak, and at the
fame time fo conceited, as to think they can
perſuade others, who do feel this miſery, and
pant
108 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
pant after relief, that they are in perfect
health, and want no remedy; and, by doing
fo, expoſe themſelves to the pity, if not to
the indignation, of thoſe who are conſcious
of their own mifery, and with joy hope for
relief from means that theſe men endeavour
to traduce, and abuſe.
THE whole of the DEIST's fcheme is, as
he imagines, built upon RE A SON; and, fo far
as right reafon goes, the CHRISTIAN agrees
with him: but the difference between them
is this, The DEIST maintains, that nothing
is to be admitted but what he can affign a
proper reaſon for, or, in other words, what
falls in with the ideas which he has, or has
made for himſelf; whereas the humble CHRI-
STIAN believes that there are things of which
he neither has, nor can have, adequate ideas;
that things may be true, though he does not
justly know how, or why, they are fo; and
that, for the reality and truth of fuch things
as do not depend upon reaſon, or fall within
his knowledge, he muſt depend upon ſuch
evidence as is fufficient to induce the belief
of any matter of fact.
WHEN One confiders how little we know
of Matter, which we fee, feel, and taſte, and
on which we have tried ſo many thouſand
Ex-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 109
EXPERIMENTS; how undeniably every
fyftem forged by the wit and induſtry of the
greatest GENIUSES, and believed for fome
time, has been overthrown by fucceeding Ex-
PERIMENTS; what amazing, nay feemingly
contradictory, effects the CHYMIST every
day fees produced in his Laboratory, by very
fimple mixtures; and how certain we are,
that hitherto we, from our reaſon, have dif-
covered nothing of the first principles of Mo-
TION, and that MECHANISM which fup-
ports ourſelves and this ſyſtem: when one re-
collects, that we know nothing at all of the
nature of our own foul, and are incapable of
framing any idea of it, or of any other fpi-
rit; and when one reflects how infinitely
above our comprehenfion the Deity muft-be;
it is impoffible not to be aftoniſhed at the
prefumptuous folly of thoſe men who would
fet up their knowledge for the ſtandard, and
teft, of every thing, divine and human;
who by it would define the nature, and
mánner of exiſtence, of the incomprehen-
fible Deity; who by it would determine and
regulate His views, His defigns, Hrs acti-
ons; and who by it take upon them to judge
of the wisdom and juftice of His defigns and
actions, contrary to what He has declared
་
about
110 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
about them; though it is demonftratively
certain, that they cannot be ſure they know
the cauſes of, or motives to, thoſe deſigns or
actions.
RIDICULOUS as this fond conceit of the
fufficiency of REASON and human Know-
LEDGE is, INFIDELITY finds in it one of
its chief ſupports. Many facts are related,
many things are revealed, that do not quadrate
with the notions men have framed to them-
felves, which they call knowledge. Each of
theſe creates an objection, which the objector,
taking to be unanfwerable, does not give him-
ſelf the trouble to look for an anſwer to; and
the fame weight is laid upon the point's be-
ing inconſiſtent with his notions, or not ac-
countable for by his knowledge, as if it was
a manifeſt contradiction to right reafon :
though every one muſt ſee the difference be-
tween a contradiction in terms, an abfolute
inconfiftency in the thing itſelf, and an incon-
fiftency between a thing, and the notions a
man has franied on that fubject, or even the
incapacity of framing a diſtinct notion of the
thing itſelf.
1
VANITY, ſelfiſhneſs, an affectation of gain-
ing more knowledge than the Creator thought
fit to allow, was the cauſe of the ruin of our
firſt
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
III
first parents; and a falfe, prefumptuous opi-
nion, of the fufficiency and extent of the
knowledge their deſcendents are poffeffed of,
is the cauſe of their continuing in mifery to
this day Preferring knowledge, in expecta-
tion, to the favour of God, undid the firſt
rational creatures; fetting up the OPINION
of knowledge againſt the revealed WILL of
God, faftens the calamity upon their unhappy
children.
IT is however furpifing, that men who are
fo fond of, and lay fo much ſtreſs on know-
ledge, are not more careful to lay up a fuffi-
cient ſtock of it. A late noted writer againſt
Chriſtianity gave himſelf the trouble to pick
up fo much Hebrew learning, as was, in his
opinion, fufficient to call in queftion the ap-
plication of a few particular paffages of the
Old Testament to the MESSIAH, and ſeemed
to think that his labours had overthrown the
whole evidence that arifes from the Old Tefta-
ment to fupport the New; without knowing,
(what a little more learning, and unbiaffed at-
tention, would have fhewed him) that the evi-
dence does not depend on a few texts; that
the whole fyftem of the Jewish inſtitution,
every rite, ceremony, and facrifice, was pre-
dictive; and that the chief ſcope of all the
•
bymns
112 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
hymns and prophecies, was to explain and ap-
ply thoſe predictions.
To frame a true notion of any thing, one
muft confider it altogether, and examine all
the parts of it; a juft idea can never be got
of any object by viewing only ſcraps of it,
and confidering it by halves.
So fares it with revelation, and the evidence
of it. No man who has confidered the whole
with due care, and has thereby framed a true
idea of it, ever did, or ever will reject it;
whereas he who will frame an opinion from a
partial confideration only, can hardly fail to
make a miſtake.
IT has been taken notice of, as an objection
of vaft confequence, against the evidence
drawn from the Old Testament to ſupport the
New, that all the promiſes and threats, to en-
force obedience to the Law, are every one
temporal, relating to the goods and evils of
this life, to the enjoyment or forfeiture of the
land of Canaan, to profperity or adverſity in
this world, without the leaſt mixture of any
confideration that relates to the life to come;
and thence it has been concluded, that the
Jews had no expectation given them of future
happineſs; that the Sadducees, who denied the
refurrection, found nothing to contradict
them
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 113
them in their facred Books; and that a reli-
gion, fo framed, could not be intended to in-
troduce or lead to the CHRISTIAN.
THE obfervation which gives rife to the ob-
jection, is undoubtedly true: the end of the
whole of the Jewiſh inſtitution, facred and
civil, was, fufficiently to reveal, and preſerve
to future generations fufficient evidence of
that REVELATION. The way choſen by the
Deity to preferve the evidence was, to felect a
particular people; to make them all witneſ
fes of the miracles that demonftrate the cer-
tainty of the revelation; to eſtabliſh among
them fuch obfervances, throughout all their
generations, as ſhould commemorate and pre-
dict; to reduce his Will into writing, for the
greater certainty; to give them the keeping
of that writing; to lay before them the
ſtrongeſt motives, that, as a people or nation,
they were capable of; to keep up unviolated
theſe obſervances, and to preſerve untouch-
ed his written will; to promiſe to give, and
to keep them in poffeffion of the land of Ca-
naan, a land flowing with milk and honey;
to engage to refide amongst them, and to di-
rect and protect them from all harm, and to
favour them with all national bleffings; and
to threaten them with all national ills, if they
VOL. I.
failed
I
114 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
failed in keeping his LA w, that is, preſerving
the evidence of his REVELATION.
AND, to make thofe motives the ftronger,
we ſee that the Deity was pleaſed to enter in-
to a formal covenant with the whole people,
as a PEOPLE, which bound him to the per-
formance of all theſe articles; upon condition,
however, that the people performed, on their
part; and bound the people,' abfolutely, to
the keeping and obfervance of his LA w, with
a formal fubmiffion to the threatenings and
denunciations of ruin and deſtruction, if they
failed in the performance of their part, to
which they explicitly confented, by pro-
nouncing the curfes against themſelves, if
they diſobeyed.
AN D, in fact, we obſerve that God perform-
ed, literally, his part of this agreement: With
mighty power he introduced, and maintain-
ed this people in poffeffion of the promiſed
land; he refided in the midſt of them; he
cheriſhed them when they kept his Law;
and chaftened them when they were remifs
in his fervice: when their rulers, their princes,
and nobles, fought after other gods, and
flighted his ſervice, the NATION, as fuch,
was delivered to flavery; when they return-
ed in their hearts to their duty, they were
reftored
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
115
reſtored to their land, and became again a
NATION: but, when they nationally cor-
rupted themſelves, forgot the end of the
LAW, framed to themfelves unworthy no-
tions about their God, his REVELATION,
and SALVATION, which by the whole law
was predicted, and carried their perverfe ima-
ginations fo high, as to put to death, as a
malefactor, the DELIVERER of mankind;
then God executed the threats, to which the
people by covenant had agreed; he difperfed
and blinded them; and, by preſerving them
ftill under that DISPERSION and BLIND-
NESS, preferves the evidence of the REVE-
LATION as ftrongly and clearly, as it was
preſerved by them whilft a NATION, in
poffeffion of the promiſed land.
THE COVENANT, then, with the people,
was literal; all the promiſes annexed to the
performance, on their part, were literal, and
literally performed; the end of the Deity had
in making that COVENANT is obvious, and
has manifeftly been attained: but will it from
thence follow, that the Law itſelf, with all
the emblematical rites, ceremonies, and inſti-
tutions, had no higher meaning, did not ſpeak
a language very intelligible to every indivi-
dual Jew, who had a foul to be faved, and
I 2
who,
116 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
who, from thofe divine Inftitutions, was to
difcover the will of God, and conceive hopes
of mercy and forgiveneſs; or that the obſerv-
ing and meditating on this Law, ſo often re-
commended to every individual, was not ne-
ceffary to lead them to the knowledge of
God, and to the expectation of his favour,
in a future ftate?
To fatisfy one's felf about this, no more is
neceſſary than to look into the hiſtory, and
the other facred writings of the Jews; where
the religious fentiments of inſpired men, the
declarations of the Deity, the profeffions,
prayers, and confeffions of the church, fuffi-
ciently fhew what each individual was to ſee
and believe, and what the wife and the devout
did believe: Comparing the law with thefe
things, one has a KEY to decypher the typical
inftitutions, and a certain explication of all
that it behoves us to know of the Mofaick
inftitution; and it will evidently appear, that
that the Moſaick inftitution, which is no more
than a REPUBLICATION of the REVE-
LATION and inftitutions originally given to
Adam, together with the accounts he gives of
things, contains a full difcovery of all that
MAN was to know, and to believe, concern-
ing God, and himſelf, that was not diſcove-
rable
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 117
rable by the light of nature, fo much prized,
and idolized, of late.
If one, from the Reflexions already made,
is ſatisfied that the Law of Mofes is from God,
and that the Jewish SCRIPTURES Contain
the REVELATION of the Will of the Deity,
recorded and preferved with fuch induftry
and evidence, not for the fake of the Jews,
but for the fake of all mankind, he must look
upon them as an inestimable treaſure, ftored
with important truth; and cannot think any
pains, beſtowed in perufing and underſtand-
ing them, loft; or any thing, from them dif
covered, to be trivial or doubtful.
A CYPHER is, in itſelf, obfcure; make uſe
of the KEY, it becomes intelligible; and, if
by fo doing it becomes clear and intelli-
gible, you are certain you have the right
KEY.
THE fcriptural rites, inftitutions, and ce-
remonies, are emblematical, and therefore, in
fome degree, obfcure; find out but a KEY,
to explain the meaning of thoſe EMBLEMS,
that ſhall make all fenfe, and truth, and you
are ſure your KEY is a true one.
THE antients recorded their fentiments,
their actions, hieroglyphically, that is, emble-
matically, by figures of things animate or
inanimate,
I 3
118 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
inanimate, expreffive of their meaning; the
KEY to, or DICTIONARY, if one may fo
term it, of thoſe EMBLEMS, is now loft;
and, if it could be recovered, would certainly
explain thoſe Egyptian antiquities ftill prefer-
ved. To us that fort of writing is obfcure;
but it was not fo to the Egyptians who
made uſe of it; and it can with as little
reafon be imagined, that the emblematical re-
ligious fervice, inftituted by God, was ob-
fcure, or not perfectly understood by thoſe
who were commanded to obferve it, and for
whoſe comfort and inftruction it was eſta-
blifhed; on the contrary, it could not anſwer
the end, if it was not plain and intelligible.
IT has been already obferved, that all men
are not alike fagacious, and conſequently not
alike qualified, for difcovering, and know-
ing, their misfortune, their duty, their feli-
city; and that the REVELATION of the
will of God, to be perfect, muſt be ſuch as
fhould accommodate itſelf to all, and tend
to lead all to their duty; a confequence
whereof it is, that MEMORIALS fhould be
eſtabliſhed, even of things diſcoverable by the
light of Nature by the penetrating, for the
ufe of the lefs clear-fighted, if reflexion on
thoſe things was to be of univerſal uſe.
I
T.HE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 119
t
THE SCRIPTURES are the moſt antient
of all writings extant; the language, in which
they are wrote, is now no more, and has
not for 2000 years been in common uſe ;
and there is not a line of that language now
in being, but what is contained in the facred
Books.
WITHOUT the affiftance of the Greek
tranſlation, and ſome other paraphraſes, and
helps from later languages, the Hebrew Scrip-
tures, though in our hands, would be alto-
gether uſeleſs to us.
AND therefore we must reverence the di-
vine providence, that made the Babylonish
Captivity, and the Difperfion that followed
upon it, which drove multitudes of the Jews
into foreign countries, where they forgot
their own, and learned the prevailing, the
Greek language, the inftrument or occafion
of procuring that tranſlation, by which we
can certainly decypher the Hebrew, and come
at the perfect knowledge of almoſt all the
SCRIPTURE, at leaſt of ſo much of it as is
neceſſary for the great End God had in view,
the evidence of the truth of the REVELA-
TION of his will to mankind.
As no other Book comes near to the
SCRIPTURE, in point of antiquity, it is a
I 4
difad-
120 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
difadvantage to us that we do not preciſely
know, further than we can collect from the
facred Books, the cuſtoms, the manners, the
ſentiments, and common notions, that pre-
vailed amongſt men, at the date of the feve-
ral tranſactions related; and are therefore at
a lofs to conceive, and diftinctly to account
for, the reaſon and meaning of feveral phra-
fes, directions, and obfervances, whilft the
antients, to whom theſe things were faid or
delivered, well knew what they meant, and
for what end they were recorded. But,
though we do not know exactly why the
thing was fo phrafed, or cannot tell, pre-
cifely, the immediate origin of the particu-
lar inftitution; yet, by comparing of texts,
we can ſee evidently the general ſenſe of
the phraſe, and collect the end of the IN-
STITUTION, fo far as the knowledge of the
one or the other is neceſſary to the great
defign of God; and therefore ought rather,
with thankfulneſs, to acknowledge the good-
neſs of God, who, through the midft of fo
many difficulties, has preſerved to us all
neceffary knowledge, than repine at the loſs
of that which would tend chiefly to gratify
curiofity.
THE
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 121
THE higheſt act of religious ſervice in the
Jewish church, and amongſt all mankind, was
SACRIFICE, which, though in obſervance
as early as Adam, was nevertheleſs reefta-
bliſhed by Mofes, with many particular pofi-
tive injunctions, and many negative precepts;
correcting abuſes that had crept into that IN-
STITUTION from the falſe notions of men.
IT was common to all forts of SACR I-
FICE, that the BLOOD of the animal was
ſpilt, and deemed of very high efficacy; and
the whole body, or ſome part of it, that
which was the moſt inflammable, the fat, and
the inwards, was burnt with fire on the al-
tar.
THIS BLOOD is directed, carefully, and
very early, to be abſtained from; it is faid to
be the life of the animal; it is reprefented
as what by the touch polluteth; and, at the
fame time, it is repreſented as the moſt ſo-
vereign Purifier: by it the altar, the ark,
the Sanctum San&torum, the tabernacle, the
prieft, were fanctified, were cleanfed, were
hallowed.
THE BURNT-OFFERING is properly
termed Afcenfion, from the parts of it aſcend-
ing in ſmoke by fire; the BLOOD is faid to
atone,
122 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
atone, and the SMOKE to be of a fweet fa-
vour, or a favour of reft to the Lord.
THE party who offered, was to lay his
hands upon the head of the Victim facrificed
for fin, when it was to be killed.
AND the very intent of the SIN-OFFER-
ING was, to atone for the fin a man came
to the knowledge of, and confeſſed.
THE Deity, confidered as the puniſher of
fin, and as in a ſtate of anger and wrath
againſt the guilty, is always repreſented un-
der the image of Fire, a confuming, devour-
ing Fire.
IF God, then, to commemorate his decla-
ration of mercy and pardon to mankind,
and to preſerve and encourage their hopes,
through the interceffion of a Saviour, who
was to be flain and bruiſed for their fins,
was pleaſed to direct, that an innocent ani-
mal, to repreſent the great Interceffor, fhould
be flain, and that for the fins of him who
brought it to the altar; that the Blood of
it fhould be ſhed, and fprinkled upon the altar,
and poured out at the foot thereof; that the
carcass, or at leaſt the fat, the covering of
the inwards, the moſt inflammable part of it,
ſhould be committed to the facred fire, the
emblem of the wrath of the Deity againſt
him;
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 123
him; and, being confumed, thereby fhould
afcend towards the heavens in Smoke, which
Smoke is reprefented as of a ſweet favour,
or favour of reft to Jehovah; and if man
was told that this commemoration of the
promiſed falvation was to atone for fin, and
procure favour: how could there be any
doubt in his mind, that the Victim was only
typical; that the virtue was really in the
thing typified; that the Blood that fanctified
every thing, and atoned for fin, was not the
blood of the Victim; and that the Smoke,
afcending from the facrifice confumed by
fire, was emblematical only of fomething elſe
that was to afcend, from the typified Victim,
to propitiate, and reconcile God to the fin-
ner?
IT cannot, with reaſon, be doubted that
the merciful God, who inftituted SACRIFICE
for the comfort and inſtruction of mankind,
communicated to him the end and meaning
of the ſeveral appointments; and, being
once diſcovered, the EMBLEMS are in them-
ſelves fo expreffive, and the taking them in
the literal ſenſe ſo abfurd, that it is no ſmall
proof of the corruption of human nature,
and the ſtrength of giddy IMAGINATION,
that
124 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
that they ever came to be miſtaken, or mif-
applied.
IN SACRIFICE, which was daily to be re-
peated as the higheſt act of devotion, man
had the ſtrongeft Memorandum of his FALL;
of the forfeiture thereby; of that life for
which the BLOOD, the LIFE, of the VICTIM
was to be ſhed; of the anger of God which
muft have confumed him, if what was repre-
fented by the BURNT-OFFERING had not
interpoſed; and of the excellency of the SA-
CRIFICE typified, by whoſe oblation the
Deity was placated and reconciled. Refle-
xions on this SYMBOLICAL act, and what
clearly was intended by it, muſt put the mind
in the moſt proper difpofition for acknow-
ledging, praying, and praifing.
AND, therefore, befides the daily, the week-
ly, the monthly, the yearly facrifices, at fta-
ted times, it pleaſed the Deity to direct the
iteration of the fame SYMBOLICAL act, when-
ever man, moved by reverence to the Deity,
was defirous to approach the place he chofe
for his fervice, in order to pray, to praiſe,
or to rejoice, in his mercy, or favour. His
peace-offerings were to be offered with glad-
neſs; and, after the blood was ſhed, and the
FAT burnt upon the altar, the party who
made
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
125
made the offering was to feaſt on the re-
mainder with Joy, in confidence of the fa-
vour of the Deity.
NAY, the perpetual obligation to abſtain
from BLOOD, and the FAT of animals, flain
even for private ufe, was a conftant Memo-
randum, to fuch as could not attend the pub-
lick fervice, of their forfeiture, and of their
reſtoration.
AND the neceffary oblation of the FIRST-
FRUITS, and of famples of what the earth
yields for our fupport, in the regular meat
and drink offerings, were fo many memorials
of what was to be with, or in the great SA-
CRIFICE, that it is furprifing the meaning
fhould have been ſo much miſtaken, as, in
time, it came to be.
THAT the fame INSTITUTION, not de-
pendent on the publication of the Law by
Mofes, reached all nations, is evident from
the antient and univerfal practice of all na-
tions, with whom SACRIFICATURE was
the higheſt act of devotion, thought fufficient
to expiate fin, and to procure favour, and
even fellowſhip with God.
THE antients of all nations fhed BLOOD,
and believed the virtue of it to be wonder-
ful, witnefs their TAU ROBOLIA, and their
CRI-
126 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
CRIOBOLIA; burnt the FAT, and fometimes
the whole VICTIM, on altars, with fire, and
believed the ſmell grateful to the Deity; they
offered FIRST-FRUITS; they poured out
LIBATIONS; they burnt famples of the grain
the earth afforded them; the SALT of the
COVENANT was not wanting; they vowed.
SACRIFICE, and returned thanks by SACRI-
FICE; and in their PEACE-OFFERINGS they
feaſted before their God on part of the vic-
tim, and rejoiced in his favour, and pro-
tection.
'Tis true, the greateſt part of them, ſuf-
fering their IMAGINATIONS to miſlead them,
forgot the expreſs prohibition not to eat
BLOOD; but ftill they retained the higheſt
opinion of its efficacy. If they ate the
BLOOD of facrifice, it was to render them
more perfect, and more acceptable; and if,
inſtead of ſprinkling the altar, they befmear-
ed their own bodies with BLOOD, they gave
thereby the ſtronger evidence of the merit
and virtue they imagined was in the blood
they made that uſe of.
BESIDES the VICTIM, another main in-
gredient in SACRIFICATURE was the
PRIEST, the Perfon directed by God to ap-
proach his altar, and to make the oblation and
atone-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 127
atonement in the name of Jehovah, for the
party offering.
THE PRIESTHOOD, originally, refided
with the first-born; with whom alſo, amongſt
the antient heathens, refided the ROYALTY.
IN Ifrael God exchanged, formally, the
first-born for the Levites, and took the Le-
vites, in their room, for the ſervice of the
tabernacle.
Of the houſe of Levi, Aaron, the firſt-born,
was to be High-Prieft, his fons were to
ſerve under him in SACRIFICATURE, and
the bulk of the Levites were for inferior fer-
vice only.
THIS High-Priest was to be perfect; he was
to be confecrated with BLOOD, and anointed
with OIL; he was to be pure from all fpot;
he was, whilft officiating, to be clothed with
holy garments, all of linen; he had precious,
and very particular robes and ornaments ap-
pointed for him. In the Breast-plate of Judg-
ment he was to carry URIM and THU M-
MIM, LIGHT and PERFECTION, by which
God gave reſponſes; on his heart, and on his
fhoulders, were the names of all the tribes of
the people, engraved on a plate of pure gold,
to be conftantly, whilft officiating, worn; on
his forehead was the infcription, Ho LY, or
HOLI-
128 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
HOLINESS, to Jehovah. The Plate, with this
inſcription, was faid to be upon his fore-
head, that he might bear the iniquities of the
holy things, which the children of Ifrael
fhould hallow, in all their gifts, and that
they might be accepted. This Prieft was to
ſprinkle the BLOOD; was to offer the BURNT-
OFFERING; was to make atonement for fin,
and reconcile; was to enter, with BLOOD,
once a-year within the VAIL, into the SA N-
CTUM SANCTORUM, the EMBLEM of the
refidence of the invifible God; was to ſprin-
kle BLOOD upon the MERCY-SEAT; and
was, when he came out, folemnly to bleſs the
people.
NOTHING can be more abfurd, than to
fuppofe that Aaron was HOLINESS to Jehovah;
that he was clean, and innocent; that he
had in him light and perfection; that he fup-
ported the whole people of Ifrael; that he
could effectually atone for, and intercede
with God, for the people; or that he could
enter into the real prefence of Jehovah, and
from thence bring a bleffing to the people :
and confequently nothing is plainer, than
that, in all thefe particulars, Aaron was no
more than a Reprefentative.
Jannet
IF
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 129
*
IF Aaron was to reprefent a Perfon pure
and innocent, full of light and perfection, the
holy One of Jehovah, who was to ſupport,
and have for ever on his heart, the people
of God; who was to offer blood, effectual,
for cleanſing them from their fins; was there-
by to atone, and make continual interceffion
for them; was to enter into the immediate
preſence of God, to propitiate for the peo-
ple, and from thence, to bleſs them: how
could he do this otherwiſe than by waſhing
his body with WATER, as the EMBLEM Of
purity; by putting on white linen GARMENTS,
as the EMBLEM of INNOCENCE; by carrying
URIM and THUMMIM, i. e. Light and Per-
fection, fomething by which the Deity mani-
feſted itſelf, about with him; by having the
inſcription of the holy one of Jehovah faften-
ed to his forehead; by having the names of
the tribes of Ifrael on his heart, and on his
fhoulders; by fprinkling the BLOOD for
atonement; and offering the BURNT-SACRI-
FICE, that yielded a favour of reft; and
by entering in folemnity into the HOLY of
HOLIES, the EMBLEM of the refidence of
the invifible God, there again to ſprinkle
BLOOD, and from thence, formally, to bless
the people ?¸‹-
VOL. I.
K
IN
130 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
In the merciful act of the Son of God for
the ſalvation of mankind, there are two parts;
the PASSIVE, if one may ſo ſpeak, and the
ACTIVE; the VICTIM bleeding and burnt
repreſents the PASSIVE part: but then the
great SACRIFICE was not compelled to fuf-
fer by the act of any one; the finner did
not offer it; the SACRIFICE voluntarily of-
fered itſelf; by doing fo, atoned, and conti-
nues ACTIVE in making interceffion perpe-
tually *.
THE VICTIM bleeding, then, points out
this PASSIVE part of the ſatisfaction; but the
ACTIVE part, that which claims, fo neceffa-
rily, the acknowledgment, and adoration, of
mankind, to that beneficent, bleſſed Being, that
offered the atonement, and makes intercef-
fion, would not have been pointed out in this
emblematical act, unleſs fome thing, or perſon,
to repreſent him, acting in that capacity, had
been fixed upon; fomething adorned with the
higheſt SYMBOLS of purity, fanctity, and per-
fection, offering and interceding for mankind;
and who can fail to fee theſe characters in
the High-Priest?
AND
* N. B. Amongst the heathen, when a VICTIM feemed re-
luftgut, that was deemed a bad OмIN.
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 131
AND therefore, as has been obferved in the
caſe of the VICTIM, no one, who believes the
INSTITUTION divine, can doubt that the end
and meaning of each particular was explain-
ed, when the obfervance was firſt appointed.
AND whoever admits this, muſt alſo ſee that
the original REVELATION was very clear, cir-
cumftantiate, and diftinct; and that the ME-
MORIALS inſtituted for preferving the know-
ledge, then revealed, and maintaining the im-
preffion of it on the ſpirits of men, were very
expreffive and fignificative, and with great ac-
curacy adjuſted to the ways of thinking of
thoſe who recorded every thing, intended to
be known, by EMBLEMS, and SYMBOLICAL
reprefentations; however fome of the parti-
culars may not be now clear to us, who know
not the proper meaning of fome of their
SYMBOL 8.
THE affumption of the Levites in place of
the firſt-barn, is, viſibly, no older than Moſes ;
but it ſeems very clear the firſt-born were, be-
forẹ that inſtitution, in ſome ſenſe, what Aa-
ron wore on the plate of the mitre, Holy, or
HOLINESS, to Jehovah; and were all, as
repreſentatives of the great INTERCESSOR,
intitled to ſhed BLOOD, and exerciſe the
Priefly
K 2
132 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
Prieftly office, till the change was made, for
very wiſe and juſt reaſons.
No more is recorded of the firſt promiſe,
than that The feed of the woman ſhould bruife
the head of the ferpent: So that it does not ap-
pear, from this text, to have been originally
declared that the SAVIOUR was to proceed
from a VIRGIN.
AND, if that had been declared, it would
have been difficult to have found out any Re-
prefentation fit to exprefs, and keep up the
memory of it.
BESIDES, that the expectation of being
the mother of that Saviour might have, with
believing women, prevented marriage; as the
ſame hopes promoted it among the Ifraelites,
who looked for that ſeed, in the ordinary way;
nay prompted fome women to unlawful ac-
tions with men of the Line, who they fup-
pofed had the promiſe of the Seed, as Lot's
daughters, Tamar, the Midianitiſh woman,
Bathsheba, &c.
BUT we find the expectation of the pro-
mifed Seed was confined to the first-born, that
which opened the womb.
PRIMOGENITURE was reckoned af-
ter the mother; the firft-born of a ſecond wife
was intitled to the rights attending it, in pre-
judice
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 133
judice of the ſecond ſon of a firſt wife, though
born, in point of time, ever fo long before.
him. Vid. 1 Chron. v. 1. 2.
AND the right of Primogeniture was confi-
ned to the male opening the womb; ſo that, if
a daughter came firft, the right ceafed in the
fübfequent fons. It must have been for fome
very important end that God marked out this
circumftance of the first-born, the first that
opened the womb, with ſo extraordinary charac-
ters; that, as the first-born amongſt men was
to be holy to the Lord, and to officiate as Priest,
or Interceſſor, the first-born among beaſts were
alſo to be holy to the Lord; to be offered to
him, if clean; if unclean, to be ranfomed.
WHO, then, can doubt that the prerogative
of PRIESTHOOD was annexed to the firſt-born,
to keep in mind, and to point forth, that the
great INTERCESSOR was to be a first-born;
and that the first-born, in every family, were
chofen for the PRIESTHOOD, as fo many Types,
or fymbolical repreſentations of him?
AT the firſt peopling, and, afterwards, at
the repeopling of the earth, when men began
to ſpread, and ſeparate into new ſettlements,
it was neceffary to keep up the ſervice of
God, and the knowledge of his REVELATION,
by the eſtabliſhed SYMBOLS; to have a Prieſt
K 3
who
134 Thoughts concerning Religion, &e.
who could fhed BLOOD, and make atone-
ment, in every family. And it ſeems certain
every family had its Priest, (the firſt-born), its
holy things, and all the appurtenances of re-
ligious fervice.
WHEN ambition joined many families into
commonwealths, or kingdoms, and human
prudence would make laws, this right of
PRIESTHOOD could not fail to come under
fome regulations, different from the original
INSTITUTION; though, for the firſt ages of
the world, it remained ftill in the higheſt
efteem.
WHEN men, from their vain imaginations,
began to miſtake, or miſinterpret the original
REVELATION, and to deviſe new notions,
and new ſervices, for themſelves, it became
neceffary to republifh REVELATION, with all
the marks of omnipotent power; and, to
prevent miſtakes for the future, it was fit to
erect the Jewiſh ſtate, as above hinted, and to
give them the keeping of the LA w, and the
obfervation of all the rites and ceremonies.
BUT, as this Law could not poſſibly have
been fo accurately obſerved whilft the PRIEST-
HOOD was executed, at large, by the firſt-born
in every family, it pleafed God to alter the
original inftitution, and to make choice of
one
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 135
one particular tribe for his ſervice; and, out
of that tribe, of the firſt-born and his defcen-
dents for ever to ferve at the altar, and
to repreſent the High First-born, the great
Interceffor, in all the ſymbolical ſervice that ſup-
ported the knowledge, the faith, the hope of
thoſe that feared God.
AND, in the very order for changing the
INSTITUTION, the knowledge of the original
Inftitution is preſerved; the Levites are faid to
be taken in place of the first-born; and the
regard for the firft-born is ſtill preſerved, as
holy to the Lord, by making it neceffary to
redeem them by an oblation; not to ſpeak of
the prerogatives ftill accruing to them by the
Jewish civil conftitution.
THOUGH the Jewish law has a particular
additional reaſon for the fanctity of the first-
born, to commemorate the delivery of their
firſt-born from the common calamity of the
firſt-born in Egypt; yet, by the proceeding
of God towards the Egyptian firſt-born, it is
evident the notion of their importance was
ſtrong, before that event.
In the original meſſage which Moſes was to
deliver from JEHOVAH to Pharaoh, Ifrael is
called his firſt-born; and, if Pharaoh did not
diſmiſs him, JEHOVAH was to flay Pharaoh's
K 4
firſt-
136 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
firſt-born; and the fame Ifrael is, afterwards,
called a nation of PRIESTS.
WHEN Pharaoh, hardened by his vain heart,
and doubtless prompted by the Priests of thofe
gods whom he ſerved, refuſed to let the firſt-
born, the Priests of JEHOVAH, go, the threat
was literally executed; all his first-born were
flain, and the firſt-born of Ifrael were deli-
vered.
IF Egypt had any hopes from their firſt-
born, the threat was fevere, and the execution
terrible; and we fee it prevailed, above all
the other judgments, for the deliverance of
Ifrael.
AND that Egypt had hopes from their firſt-
born, is very likely, from what appears to have
been the practice, and opinion, of their neigh-
bours; who burned to Moloch, and facrificed,
on great exigences, their first-born, in hopes
of placating the offended Deity: Whence
could a practice fo feemingly monftrous come,
but from the firſt promiſe miſunderſtood?
E SAU's felling his birth-right, the infamous
character that brought him, the feemingly ex-
traordinary ſteps his mother took, (when it is
not obſerved that ſhe was directed by the Ora-
cle), and the lofs of the bleffing confequent
upon it, fufficiently fhew the high eſteem of
Primo-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 137
Primogeniture, before the days of Pharaoh.
And, indeed, the parting fo cheap with a pri-
vilege fo high, as repreſenting the Interceffor
between God and Man, gives a very vile idea
of Efau; if one can help calling him a Free-
thinker, which he could hardly be, confider-
ing his concern for the bleffing.
THAT Priesthood and Primogeniture went,
anciently, together, we gather from prophane
hiſtory:
Rex, Anius idem, Phœbique facerdos.
The Lacedemonian Kings were both Priests
and Kings, becauſe it could not be decided
which was firſt-born; and almoſt all the anti
ent kings facrificed.
WHATEVER corruptions imagination in-
troduced in religion, the Priesthood was ever
held in great honour. The original inſtitution
was ftrangely depraved in the Roman ſtate,
but ſtill the Priesthood continued to enjoy, at
leaſt, its antient titles; the term of Rex fa-
crorum, Rex facrificulus, went down through
the Roman commonwealth, where the title of
Rex was abominated. And the Roman Em-
perors, notwithſtanding their ignorance, and
vanity of aſpiring after DEIFICATION for
themſelves, yet affected the title of Pontifex
Maximus,
138 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
Maximus, as an honour, and a fecurity to
their government.
THE religious regard for SACRIFICA-
TURE, and the reverence for the PRIEST-
HOOD, must have been ftamped deep upon
the minds of men, by a very extraordinary
authority; elſe they could not have endured
for fo many generations, and amongst nati-
ons fo little converſant with each other.
THOUGH Rome, and the Greek common-
wealths, eſtabliſhed on levelling principles,
ſeem to have forgot that any prerogative at
all was due to Primogeniture; yet it was not
fo with more northern nations, whoſe nòti-
ons were leſs corrupted with imaginations.
The Goths, the Franks, and the other people
called Barbarians, who overthrew the Roman
Empire, preferved continually a regard for it,
and have left large prerogatives attending up-
on it over all Europe.
As the original REVELATION, for the
prefervation whereof thoſe rites, ceremonies,
and obfervances were inftituted, difcovered to
man, in the ordinance of SACRIFICATURE,
the chief foundation of his faith and hope;
fo, it is evident from other rites, obſervances,
and fymbols or emblems, conſtantly obſerved,
and preſerved, that from the beginning man
was
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 139
was taught his duty, what he was to do with
reſpect to, and what he was to believe con-
cerning the Deity.
Of this the univerfal practice of ABLU-
TION, or waſhing with water, is an inftance
which, from the earlieſt times, has taken
place over the whole known world.
THE Ifraelites, before they received the
LAW, were to wash themſelves when they
were to approach the preſence of God; all
nations had their LUSTRATIONS, by
ſprinkling of water; the High-Prieft, and his
fons, were to wash their fleſh, as often as
they went about any part of the facred work;
and the children of Ifrael, upon any unclean-
neſs, were to waſh with water, in many caſes,
with particular ceremonies.
TOUCHING any filth or naftiness, a dead
carcaſs of any kind, the fore or iffue of man,
`or woman, were faid to pollute, were fuffici-
ent to debar the party from appearing before
the Lord, who is defcribed as abominating
every thing that is unclean; and ABLU-
TION, with certain other obſervances, were
fufficient to put an end to that uncleanneſs,
and to admit to the ſervice of God.
No man, in his fenfes, can think that the
external uncleanness of any perfon, in the li-
teral
140 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
teral fenſe, or the imputed uncleannefs, as one
may ſay, by the touch of an unclean thing,
could be offenfive to God; much leſs that
waſhing with water, confidered as an exter-
nal act only, could remove any real, internal
uncleanneſs; and therefore it is impoffible to
doubt that both the one and the other figni-
fied ſomething more than is in the letter ex-
preffed.
THOUGH, by the Light of Nature, we can
diſcover that this creation had an author,
eternal, infinitely perfect, and, particularly, in-
finitely juft, good, wife, and intelligent ;`yet
we, who can frame to ourſelves no adequate
idea of our own fouls, and who know nothing
about them, but the little we collect from
what we feel tranſacting in ourſelves, ought
not to be ſurpriſed, that, without REVELA-
TION, we can frame to ourſelves no juſt no-
tion of the invifible God; but ought rather
to be amazed at the impudence of thoſe who
pretend to decide what God is, or is not, and
what he can, or cannot do, from the notions
they have framed to themſelves of his attri-
butes, nature, and perfection.
THE firft hint we have in the facred Book
that can help us to any notion of the Deity,
is, that man was framed in his LIKENESS,
and
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 141
1
and according to his image; from whence we
may not only collect the intelligence of the
Deity, which Nature fufficiently diſcovers, but
alſo inclinations, or difpofitions, in the divine
mind, to which thoſe in the mind of man, in
the ſtate of perfection, were fomething fi-
milar.
DISLIKING, hatred, anger, liking, pleaſure
in the actings of creatures, love, jealouſy, in-´
clination reſtrained, compaffion and concern,
are affections which the Wife-men of this world
hold the Deity incapable of, they look fo like
paffions that cannot touch a Being infinitely
perfect, and effentially happy; and in this
reaſoning they agree with Epicurus, who re-
jected all providence, touching the things of
this world, becauſe he looked upon the care
it preſuppoſed to be troubleſome to the
Deity.
BUT REVELATION differs from theſe
Wife-men. It defcribes the Deity as poffeffed
of affections, and inclinations, fimilar to thoſe
that a perfect man may feel in himfelf, and
fomething ftill higher and peculiar to God:
Deteftation, hatred and abhorrence, of fin;
Anger, and wrath againſt the finner, as fuch;
Compaffion towards the miferable, and con-
cern; Defire, though ſometimes without fuc-
cefs,
142 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
cefs, to fave, and to reform; Love to thoſe
that do well, fatisfaction in their well-doing;
Pleaſure in the acknowledgments, and praiſes,
of thoſe benefited, and attention to their re-
queſts; as well as jealoufy, and indignation,
at the ſetting up any Rival for acknowledg-
ment and praiſe.
Now, if any man will give himſelf leave to
confider to what purpoſe God diſplayed fo
much wiſdom, power, and goodneſs, in the
formation, and preſervation, of this whole
material ſyſtem, of man, and of all other living
creatures; to what purpoſe man had difcern-
ing and reafon given him; to what purpoſe
he had the ideas, and the law of right and
wrong, imprinted on his mind; and to what
purpoſe he had in his heart planted a diſpoſi-
tion to admire, to adore, to reverence, to ac-
knowledge, to thank, and to praiſe; he cannot
long be in fufpenfe between REVELATION
and IMAGINATION, but muft affent to the
truth of what the Deity has revealed.
DID God exert infinite power, wiſdom, and
goodneſs, in the creation of this world; did
he give man eyes, and underſtanding, to ſee
that wiſdom, power, and goodneſs, and a
heart diſpoſed to admire, adore, and praiſe;
and will it nevertheleſs be ſaid, that this admi-
ration,
I
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 143
!
ration, adoration, and praiſe, is indifferent to
him? Muft it not, neceffarily, be concluded,
that theſe things are well-pleafing to the Deity,
and that the man who yields them is ac
ceptable to him, ftands in his favour, and
good-will, and may be confidered as beloved
of him? And muſt it not, with equal certain-
ty, be concluded, that the man who refuſes
to anſwer the end of his creation; who
neglects to pay God that adoration, praife,
and fervice, that is due; who fixes his heart
on the creature, in place of the Creator; and
who gratifies thoſe lufts, and purſuits, he has
ſet up in the room of God, at the expence of
breaking the laws of right and wrong, im-
planted in his breaft, is difagreeable to God,
the object of his anger, and indignation; and
that his finful, treaſonable actions are offen-
five to that Being that delights in right, in
harmony, and in order?
PHILOSOPHERS may puzzle them-
felves, and others, with reafoning, from ab-
ſtract notions which they have framed to
themſelves, as they think fit; they poffibly
may not ſee how a Being, infinitely and ef-
fentially perfect and happy, can admit of ac-
ceffion to, or diminution from that happi-
nefs; but their not being able perfectly to
com-
144 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. ·
comprehend how this is fo, will be no good
reaſon to diſbelieve what the Deity declares
concerning himſelf; or to perfuade that God
is not pleaſed with the doing of his will, and
diſpleaſed at doing the contrary.
AND, if we can bring ourſelves up to be-
lieve, that the infinitely perfect SPIRIT is
pleaſed, and affected, with the rectitude of
the ſpirits of men, with the fentiments there-
in framed, and with the joy and gratitude
that flows thence, in expreffions of praiſe, ac-
knowledgment, and adoration, we ſhall have
fmall ground to doubt (what the Deity form-
ally reveals) that his SPIRIT acts reciprocal-
ly on men, that it enlightens, enlivens, and
encourages them towards their duty, and
felicity.
1
NOR is the ceffation of miracles, for fome
centuries, or the obſervation, that nature
follows, in all things falling under our cogni
fance, a fettled, fixed, mechanical courfe,
purſuant to certain eſtabliſhed rules, any
ground to doubt of the communication be
tween the infinite SPIRIT, and the fpirits' of
men, which, the Scripture fays, is and ever has
been open. The godly difpofition, the reli-
gious actings, of the foul, operate, as one
may ſay, mechanically upon the Deity, pro-
ducing
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 145
ducing fatisfaction and complacency; and
that, again, acts reciprocally upon the ſoul,
by that fort of mechaniſm, or manner of
operation, by which ſpirit operates on ſpirit.
Were the caſe not fo, God would not have
been delighted with prayers, and praiſes; he
would not have commanded and encouraged
them; and the duty of man, in the religi-
ous acts of the heart, inftead of being a
bleffing and enjoyment, would be a burden
to him.
♦
WE are ſo well acquainted with the pertur-
bations, the tranſports, the ruffles, that plea-
fures and paffions produce in ourſelves, that
we are unwilling to allow any ſuch affections
in the Deity: But why muft affections and in-
clinations produce fuch difturbances in the
Deity as they do in us? May not God deteft
fin, diſlike the finner, and even deſtroy him,
without being ruffled, or fuffering his effen-
tial happineſs to be impaired? May he not
have affections and inclinations like to ours,
without thoſe inconveniences that, in our
weak frame, attend them?
GOD cannot be defirous, fays a Reafoner,
that any thing ſhould happen, and yet that
thing not happen; becauſe, if he were truly
defirous, his OMNIPOTENCE would infal-
libly
VOL.
L
146 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
bly effect it. But, then, the Reafoner does not
confider, that this defire is only spoken of the
difpofition, the inclination, of the Deity, and
not of any formal act of the will. The incli-
nation, the difpofition, may lie ftrongly one
way, and yet there may be infuperable obſta-
cles that hinder to will what the mind in-
clines to..
A Prince may have the ftrongeſt inclination
to pardon an offender convicted, fuppofe his
favourite ſon, guilty of a'crime of the higheſt
nature, and moſt dangerous example, and yet
reafons of juſtice and polity may determine
his will not to follow that inclination. In
the fame way, why may not the Deity be de-
firous, and even folicitous, that a thing may
happen, which, becaufe of higher confidera-
tions, he cannot interpofe in, that is, cannot
formally and abſolutely will ſhould happen?
THESE réflexions, and many more of the
fame kind, that muſt occur on reading the
Scriptures, leave it very plain, that the lan-
guage of that book, which defcribes the Dei-
ty's actings, affections, and inclinations, in
terms borrowed from the fage, the fenti-
ments, and reſolutions of men, is not fo figu-
rative as it is generally fuppofed to be ; and
that we ought to underſtand it fomething
more
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 147
more literally than Reafoners are willing to
allow.
In every page of the facred Book God in-
culcates his averfion to, and abhorrence of
fin, and his deteftation of finners.
To give men fome notions of this averfion,
and diflike, he borrows that idea of lothing
and abhorrence that men feel on the fight,
or touch, of any nafty, unclean, lothfome
object.
GOD reprefents himfelf holy, pure, undefiled,
Separated from finners, of purer eyes than that
be can behold iniquity.
He repreſents fin as uncleanneſs, pollution,
lothfomeneſs, in the higheſt degree; and fi-
militudes are taken from many vile, impure,
abominable things, to defcribe it.
AND he repreſents thè finner, as polluted
by fin, unclean, and therefore abhorred, and
incapable to approach his PURITY, in thát
unclean state.
But, then, as this picture, by itlelf, would
be fit only to diftract, and drive the finner to
defpaîr; he, at the fame time, reprefents a
poffibility of wiping away this pollution, and
washing the finner clean, by means very ná-
tural, and very eafy to be come at.
t z
2
To
148 Thoughts concerning Religion, &e.
To the end, therefore, that this image
fhould be the more ftrongly impreffed on
men's minds, and the picture come the more
frequently before their eyes, it pleaſed God,
at the firſt REVELATION of his will, and
INSTITUTION of religious ceremonies and
fervice, to direct a total abftinence from the
touch of every thing that was, either in it-
ſelf, or in the apprehenfion of mankind, un-
clean, foul, or lothfome.
IT pleaſed God, alfo, to command the abf-
taining from ſeveral things that do not
feem, in their own nature, to be unclean or
lothfome; and to declare that, by the very
contact of ſuch things, men became impure,
were unclean, and abominable in the eyes of
God;
and therefore could not be admitted
into his holy Prefence, or to any religious
´act.
BUT this impurity was to be purged away
by Ablution, or afperfion, according to the
preſcription in the feveral caſes: when the
party was waſhed in water, and purified, he
might preſent himſelf before God; but, if,
knowing his uncleannefs, he mixed in the
ſervice of God without being purified, the
offence was capital, he was to be cut off
from his people.
THIS
I
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 149
THIS conftitution muſt, neceffarily, pro-
duce the greateſt nicety and care to preſerve
cleanliness, in thoſe who put any value on
the favour and fervice of God.
AND, if they were not fo ftupid as to look
only to the Letter, the external act, it muſt
for ever keep in their view the purity and ho-
linefs of God; the uglinefs and deformity of
fin, the abhorrence God had of it, and of
the finner, the neceffity of avoiding it, if
one would have any communication with
the Deity; and the mercy and goodneſs of
God in providing a purification to cleanſe
from it, fuch as could as eafily be come at as
common water, and was as effectual to re-
move the filth of fin, as water was for com-
mon naſtineſs.
THE whole of this INSTITUTION,
which was as antient and univerfal as facri-
fice, is obviously fymbolical and inſtructive;
and, if the real meaning of it was loft, if
men began to think there was any real impu-
rity in the touch of a dead carcass, or any
real virtue, to purge fin, in water, it muſt be
evidence of their utter degeneracy, blindneſs
and corruption.
PERHAPS, things not really impure were
to be avoided as fuch, to create the greater
L 3
cir-
150 Thoughts concerning Religion, deg.
circumfpection, and to bring the instruction
oftener in view.
IT is not reaſonable to think, that God
ſhould injoin, or prohibit, in matters of re-
Jigion, any thing in itſelf abſolutely indiffe-
rent, under fevere penalties, purely to be a
test of obedience,
BUT it is reaſonable to think, that a thing
in itſelf indifferent may be commanded, to
keep up the memory of any fact, or precept
to impart knowledge, and preferve inftru-
ction.
ABSTAINING from the altar, after any ex-
ternal pollution, could not poffibly have been
injoined, under the pain of death, but for
the important leffon it was intended to teach,
of the holiness of God, and the purity of
heart neceſſary to thoſe that would approach
him.
EATING the fruit of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil would not have been prohibit-
ed, but to warn our first parents againſt the
ambitious defire of knowing more than, came
to their fhare, and the prefumptuous con-
ceit of relying on their own knowledge, and
following their own imaginations, which de-
Broyed them, and continues to mislead and
undo
1
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 151
undo multitudes of their weak, vain de-
fcendents.
THAT ſpecies of Infidels that glories in
the title of FREE-THINKERS, who fet up
their own knowledge and underſtanding againſt
the Revelation of God, ſplit upon the fame
rock on which our first parents fhipwrecked,
notwithſtanding the beacon that has been fixed
on it from the creation of the world.
CIRCUMCISION may have ſerved for a
mark of diftinction to the Ifraelites, becauſe it
was not practifed by their neighbours in
Canaan, though it was by the other defcend-
ents of Abraham and Ifaac, Ishmael and Efau :
But it had undoubtedly a higher meaning,
and probably an origin earlier than the days
of Abraham.
THAT it had a higher meaning, is certain,
from the frequent declarations that a cir-
cumcifed heart, a heart cut off and ſeparated
from all unruly lufts, and affections, is what
God delights in.
AND that it had an earlier origin, ſeems to
be very evident, from the early obfervance of
that inſtitution, amongft many nations who
cannot be believed to have received it from
Abrabam, or his defcendents.
L 4.
MEN
152 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
MEN may dream, but it is impoffible to
perfuade one that has his eyes open, and
who reflects on the bitter animofities that
muſt have been between the Egyptians and
the Ifraelites, the high contempt the former
muſt have entertained of the latter, the va-
nity and tenacioufnefs of the Priests of
Egypt with reſpect to the myſteries of their
religion, and the impiety and abomination
which the religious fervice of the Ifraelites
appeared to them to be ftuffed with, that
the Egyptian Priests (and they, principally,
were in the earliest times circumcifed) would
have fubmitted to follow the defpifed, de-
teſted Ifraelites in a bloody practice of this
kind, and would have tranfmitted it, as fa-
cred, to their defcendents.
AND, indeed, if it had been meant only
for a fign of diftinction for Ifrael, it ought
not to have deſcended to Ishmael and Eſau;
but ought to have been confined to the twelve
tribes.
IT may, reaſonably, therefore be looked
on as one of the original Inftitutions ap-
pointed juſt after the FALL, which, though
retained here and there, particularly in Egypt,
had nevertheleſs been left off in Abraham's
country, where idolatry began to prevail;
and
༄
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 153
and was therefore renewed to Abraham, when
he was ſelected, from his depraved country,
to be the father of a people to whom
the original Revelation fhould be republished,
and who were to become the keepers of the
Oracles of God.
TAKING this, then, to be the caſe, and
recollecting that Eve proved the tempter to
Adam; that love to her, who had forfeited by
eating, prevailed with him to follow her fate;
that inclination to women is the moft fierce,
the moſt ungovernable of the defires and lufts
of men; and that it was fit to eſtabliſh ſome
very fenfible memorial of the offence at the
Fall, that ſhould carry inftruction along with
it, to curb and bridle noxious defires: who
can help concluding, that Circumcifion was
appointed to fix a permanent MARK on that
part of the body, the gratification of the luft
whereof had ſo great a fhare in the feduc-
tion of mankind; and thereby to admoniſh
againſt all lufts and carnal gratifications, and
to adviſe and inftruct men to cut off all fen-
fual defires, and to wean themfelves from
them?
LYING carnally with woman, even with a
man's own wife, than which nothing is more
natural, or more innocent, is, in the eye of the
LAW,
$54 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
LAW, a pollution, and required Ablution, be-
fore the party could be admitted to the Pre-
fence of God. Why? to prevent the fetting
too high a value on it; to check the too fond
defire and purſuit of it; and to fhew that
fuch defires, encouraged, are inconfiftent with
that purity of heart that is required in the
fervice of God, who claims poffeffion of the
whole heart, and will not admit of rivals.
And, if this is the undeniable meaning of that
prohibition, it is eafy to fee the fenfe of the
Lymbolical act of cutting off, and flinging
away, the FORESKIN of the flesh; than
which nothing can be a more proper Emblem
of forward, fierce, fleſhly appetites, and ſen-
fual delights.
THOUGH Circumciſion might have been given
to Ifrael, as a MARK to diſtinguiſh them from
the other adjacent nations furrounding Ca-
naan, and was by them to be confidered as a
Mark of the COVENANT between them and
God; yet that does not fay that the original
intention, and emblematical uſe of it, was to
be dropt, or loft; on the contrary, it is evi-
dent, from the frequent allufions plainly
made to the fymbolical ſenſe of it by the infpi-
red writers, that it was ftill kept in view, and
principally to be obferved, by Ifrael.
AND
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 155
*
AND, in like manner, many of the Inftituti-
ans, which were in practice antiently, feem to
be applied to particular actions or events
which were near the time of the renewal of
thoſe Inſtitutions in the Jewish Law. But it
does not follow from theſe applications, that
the original Inftitutions, or the ſenſe and
meaning of them, were to be dropt or loft.
In an earthly affair, each Ifraelite, when he
entered upon lands in Canaan, was to bring a
baſket of fruit, and make a CONFESSION Why
he performed that action: which proves that
thoſe fymbolical acts had a formal meaning;
and ſuggeſts that there may have been origi-
nal, formal Confeffions, acknowledgments,
and prayers, attending the acts of Religion
or Devotion; though, not being recorded,
otherwiſe than in general, that once all the
Earth had one Confeffion, the particular Forms
have not deſcended to us, with fufficient Evi-
dence.
NOTHING is more unjuſt than the ſug-
geſtion, that the obſervation of the SABBATH,
or ſeventh day, was to take place only amongſt
the Ifraelites.
Is the Scriptures are to be the rule, the Sab-
bath had its origin immediately upon the
Creation, and before the FALL. God is faid
to
156 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
to have RESTED on the feventh day from his
work, and to have hallowed the fabbath day, on
which it was criminal, nay 'capital, to do any
work.
IF the antient profane writers are to be
fearched, the Sabbath will be found fo anti-
ent, that it could not poffibly have been de-
rived from the Jewish Law. For, not to take
notice of the frequent mention to be met
with of Sabbaths, and days of reſt, which
might have been borrowed from Jewish cu-
ftoms, it is certain that the moſt antient
Greeks, and the more antient Egyptians, divi-
ded the time by HEBDOMADES, a circle or
revolution of feven days, to each of which
they gave the name of fome planet, except the
feventh, which they dedicated to the fovereign
of all the heavenly luminaries, the SUN; and
this CYCLE being no proper, conſtituent part
of the moon, month, or year, muft neceffa-
rily have flowed from Inftitution: Nor could
any thing be a more proper, permanent Me-
morial of the Creation, than the appoint-
ing the obſervation of the ſeventh day; at the
fame time that, debarring man from work, it
fequeftred him to the contemplation of the
Creation, and its Creator, of Formation and
its Former, and allowed his foul time to en-
tertain
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 157
tertain itſelf with objects peculiarly fitted
for it..
IF every ſeventh day man was to be ſtop-
ped in his career, in purfuit of low, earthly
comforts, by a holy reft, which it was capital
to profane by labour; if he was to obferve
this reft, week after week, in memory of
God's having reſted the ſeventh day, after ha-
ving finiſhed the creation in fix: no mean
could be deviſed more likely to keep up the
memory of the creation, and to baniſh the ex-
travagant Imagination that the world was eter
nal; and no Inftitution could lead more ne-
ceffarily, and directly, to employ man, at
leaſt one ſeventh part of his time, in thoſe
fpeculations that tend to keep up communi-
cation between the foul and the Deity, and
preferve the memory and knowledge of the
Revelation of God to man, nor could man
have been guilty of a more fatal piece of per-
verfeneſs than to difcontinue and leave off
the obfervance, which, in all appearance, drew
along with it the lofs of the true fenfe and
meaning of all the other Inftitutions. It is
one of the reproaches the moſt inſiſted on
againſt the backſliding Ifraelites, that they neg-.
lected the fabbaths of the Lord.
IN
158 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
IN the whole of the primitive religious
fervice, there is not any circumftance cafual;
every particular, every gefture is inftruc-
tive.
IN the PRESENCE of God man fell upon
his face to the ground; and, by that act, hum-
bly confeffed his ORIGINAL: hence, bowing
to the ground is the formal word for wor-
ſhipping, which it was high treaſon to practiſè
toward any idol. And when, from that po-
Ature, man raiſed himſelf to praife, and to
bleſs God, he raiſed himfelf no farther than
the knee, ftill fo far retaining the pofture of
humility; and from this pofture the word to
fignify Bleffing is taken; as bowing to the
ground is uſed to fignify worshipping, kneel-
ing is uſed to fignify bleſſing.
If the original Revelation was complete,
man muſt have been told that the Deity was
to defcend to this earth, to dwell there
amongſt men, and to inftruct by precept and
example.
Ir this was originally revealed, it muſt have
been recorded, by appointing fome ſymbolical
obfervance, fome emblematical reprefenta-
tion.
ACCORDINGLY, in the Republication of the
Law to the Ifraelites, the appointment the moſt
remark-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 159
remarkable was, to erect, firft a tabernacle,
and then a temple, for the reception of the
Preſence of the Deity; who made repeated
declarations, that he was to dwell in the midft
of the children of Ifrael, that he was to re-
fide, in the tabernacle firft, and then in the
houſe that was to be built for him, and was
moré particularly to refide between the CHE-
RUBIMS.
AND, the tabernacle firft, and then the
temple, having been built, a Cloud, the Glory
of the Lord, or the ſymbol of his prefence, filled
theſe manſions, and the Deity from thence
gave reſponſes, and directions, and pronoun-
ced Judgments.
In the facred writings there are many for-
mal intimations that this Inftitution, and dif-
penfation, amongst the Jews, was typical, and
predictive that the real GLORY of the Lord
was to come to the temple; that the temple,
the ſymbol of his manfion, was to be deſtroy-
ed; and that the figurative, the emblematical
ſervice, and Inftitution, was to ceaſe, and to
give way to the real Prefence, and ſpiritual in-
ftruction of the Deity.
AND, indeed, by the ceffation of all that
fervice, and by the deftruction of the temple,
immediately after the Lord who was expected
came
2
160 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
came to it, we evidently fee the Inftitution
could have been to no other end but to create,
and keep up, that expectation.
BUT, if we look a little farther back, we
ſhall ſee the belief of God's refidence among
men, and the practice of building tabernacles,
and houſes or temples, for that refidence,
much earlier than the republication of the Law
from Sinai.
Most of the antient nations had temples,
dedicated, for the fuppofed refidence of their
gods. The Philistines had a houſe for Dagon,
before the Ifraelites had any for JEHOVAH;
and many cities in Canaan are named from the
temples of the deities worſhipped by the in-
habitants.
JACOB promiſed to make the ſtone
which he anointed at Luz, Beth-el, the houfe
of God: and he was as good as his word;
for, fome years after, he there built an altar,
and facrificed.
THE Ifraeliies, upon their going out of
Egypt, before the Moſaick tabernacle was built,
had a tabernacle in which they believed the
Prefence of God to be, and in which the pot
of Manna, &c. was laid up.
THE idolaters, who came up amongſt the
Ifraelites, are reproached with having carried
in
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 161
in the wilderneſs the tabernacles of their gods,
whilst the living God was fo miraculouſly
feeding, and protecting them.
THIS Practice, which could not poffibly
have come from the Law of Moſes, but which
the Law of Moſes, as well as the uſage of Ja-
cob, and of the Ifraelites, fhews to have been
approved of by God, muft neceffarily have
flowed from divine Institution, as early as
the original Revelation; and was perfectly
well calculated to keep in mind the original
intimation, that God was to humble himſelf
ſo far as to deſcend to dwell amongſt men,
and to create a conftant expectation of that
event.
AND, as we have already obferved on other
occafions, if this practice had not had ſome
very authentick inftitution for its original, it
is ſcarce poffible it ever ſhould have univerfal-
ly obtained; nothing being more contradicto-
ry to the common notions which the light of
nature could afford, than the belief that the
immaterial, incomprehenfible Being ſhould
dwell in houſes made by hands, and fojourni
with fuch groveling creatures as man. The
univerfal practice, then, in this inftance, is
ftrong evidence that it does not depend upon
human invention. Imagination, indeed, would
VOL. I.
miſlead
M
162 Thoughts concerning Religion, &e.
miſlead from the intention. of the Inftitution,
and would graft many impertinencies on it,
whenever the real defign was miſtaken; but
there is hardly any example of an obſervance,
fo ſeemingly unnatural as this, if univerfal,
that cannot be traced up to a divine original,
at leaſt to ſome divine intimation, or inftitu-
tion, that gave occafion to it.
As the Inftitution we are now upon, was
of a very high nature, and important to be
obferved, and relied on, it is extremely pro-
bable that the Deity, to devout men, (for to
ſuch, we know from Scripture, God was plea-
ſed to reveal himſelf), thought fit to give par-
ticular proofs of his Prefence in the houſe, ta-
bernacle, or place appointed for his refidence.
He ſpoke to Mofes from the tabernacle of the
congregation, before the Mofaick tabernacle
was erected: And, if thoſe temples, or taber-
nacles, were ſo honoured on particular occa-
fions, we may ceaſe to wonder why the Gen-
tiles took up the belief of Oracular reſponſes
from their deities, (which, again, is a conceit
they hardly could have taken up without
precedent). Knowing that the true God re-
vealed his will to his true fervants, in thoſe
places which he authoriſed to be fet afide
as for his Prefence, and believing their falfe
gods
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 163
gods true, and themſelves acceptable fervants,
they naturally would expect fuch communica-
tions; and their Imaginations might impoſe
on them, or make their belief an eaſy prey to
any impoſtor, any Prieſt of a falſe god, who
ſhould have courage and cunning enough to
frame a lye.
WHEN We ſee an obſervance has, univer-
fally, prevailed amongſt the heathens, which
is afterwards approved of by the Law of Mo-
fes, we justly conclude it ſprung from divine
authority.
WHEN we ſee cuftoms, obtaining among
the early heathens, which are prohibited by
the Law, we may fafely conclude that thofe
cuſtoms were not of divine Inſtitution, but
were derived either from ſome laudable, pious
practice of the believing Patriarchs, which had
been abuſed, or from Imagination.
THUS we ſee the reſpect among the earlieſt
Syrian and Greek heathens for BAITULIA,
ſtones which were fet up on end, anointed,
and believed to be facred, and in procefs of
time transferred to their temples, and revered
as ftatues of their gods.
AND we cannot avoid ſeeing the practice
of confecrating, as we ſay, a ſtone by Jacob,
when, upon the manifeftation of the Deity,
M 2
he
164 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
he ſet it up, poured oil upon it, vowed a vow,
and ſaid it ſhould be BETH-EL, the houſe of
God.
BUT, however that devout act, that folemn
memorial of Jacob's vow, and of the merci-
ful appearance to him, might have been ac-
ceptable to God; and however fuch things
might have been religiouſly, and acceptably,
done by other pious men, before and after
him; yet we ſee the practice is in the Law
prohibited, perhaps becauſe of its being liable
to abuſe, and becauſe of the corruptions it had
already introduced.
WE fee, alfo, that the Patriarchs fhewed
particular, facred refpect to fome fort of trees.
The Oaks of Mamre were, in, fome degree,
facred to Abraham. It is not impoffible they
might have made fome fpecies of trees Memo-
rials, to the end they might think on the
thing fuch tree repreſented, fo often as the
tree came in their view. Abraham planted a
Grove, or Tree, at Beersheba, and called there
on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God.
Many of theſe emblematical trees, put toge-
ther, might form groves; and we do know
that groves were amongst the most antient
places of Worſhip, amongſt the Nations; and
that particular forts of trees were held ſacred
to
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 165
to certain deities, amongſt thofe that had for-
got, or rather miſapplied, the ſervice of the
true God.
THESE obfervances continued to be reve-
renced as late as Homer: Hector wishes for a
Stone, or an Oak Tree, from whence he might
with ſafety ſpeak to Achilles; and loqui à
quercu is, in the language of the old Italians,
to ſpeak with fafety.
AMONGST the things which were abuſed,
and, by the renewal or Jewish inftitution, were
prohibited, ordered to be diſcontinued, cut
down, and deſtroyed, the Jews have taken in
facred Trees, or Groves: But, it appears,
the word which they conftrue Groves, figni-
fies images of Venus, or &c. and it appears
that they uſed facred Trees, and Groves, to
the laſt.
THERE is another inftance of the fame kind,
in the caſe of what we tranſlate ORNAMENTS.
The original notion of the word carries in it
the idea of witneſſing, teſtifying, &c.; and
fome paffages of the Scriptures ſeem to point
at a very ſurpriſing regard fhewed by the Dei-
ty to thoſe ornaments. After the defection in
making the golden calf, God commands the
people, by Mofes, Exod. xxxiii. 4. 5. 6. to
put off their ornaments from them, that he
M 3
might
166 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
might know what to do unto them. And the
people put off their ornaments, and mourned.
We cannot doubt, then, that the people look-
ed upon thoſe ornaments as defences againſt
any ſudden miſchiefs, or unlucky caſualties;
and that this opinion had fome authority from
the conduct of the Deity, in providence, and
from the practice of godly men, if not even
from divine inftitution; and to this early ob-
ſervance are owing all the Amulets, all the
Talismans, the Annuli, amongſt the antients,
which they looked upon as averruncating of
evil, and as fo many defences and preferva-
tives from harm.
THOUGH We know nothing of the Orna-
ments of the Ifraelites, yet, looking upon the
antient Talismans, the Abraxas, the Annuli, and
other gems, that are ftill preſerved, which are
full of inſcriptions, and hieroglyphical figures,
of which we can make no certain ſenſe, at
this day; we may naturally conclude, that the
earlieft ornaments, which had the virtue the
latter were only ſuppoſed to have, were form-
ed fomewhat in the fame way; and that the
hieroglyphical figures, with which they were
charged, repreſented fome facred difcoveries,
or promiſes, worn on certain parts of the
body,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 167
body, to be perpetual memorandums of the pro-
pofitions expreffed in thoſe emblems.
AN D, accordingly, when the Law was gi-
ven, by Mofes, in writing, in the room of that
preſerved, formerly, by hieroglyphicks, we ſee
injunctions that the people fhould wear the
Law, or parts of it, as Signs upon their hands,
and for Frontlets between their eyes, Deut. vi.
8.; which the later Jews underſtanding literal-
ly, wrote paffages, as they conceived the moſt
remarkable, of the Law on vellum, which
they rolled up in Phylacteries, and wore on
their arms, and foreheads, with a fuperftitious
regard, in the days of Chrift; and it is for the
oftentatious, hypocritical uſe of them, making
broad their Phylacteries, the Pharifees are re-
proved, Matth. xxiii. 5. and not for their be-
ing at all uſed, as fome fuppofe; which fhews
that the wearing thoſe Signs and Frontlets was
literally, and not in a figurative ſenſe only,
injoined.
If we obſerve the paffages of the LAW of
Mofes, in which the wearing thoſe Signs and
Frontlets is recommended, we ſhall find them
exceeding important; and that the intent of
the recommendation is, to keep, for ever,
and attentively, in memory, the particular
tranfaction or declaration to which they re-
late,
M 4
168 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c,
late, by way of evidence that ſuch a tranf-
action happened, or fuch a declaration was
made; and in this light they agree with the
fenſe of the word we tranflate Ornaments,
which implies, bearing evidence, testifying:
and, if the meaning of this later INSTITU-
TION was to inculcate, by written Memoran-
dums, the important paffages of the Law, or
the Jewish œconomy, it is very natural to
think that the end of thofe Hieroglyphical
Ornaments, in ufe before the written Law,
was of the fame nature, to preſent frequent-
ly to men's view the moft fignal articles of
the original Revelation.
MEN who have not fufficiently inquired,
may make it an objection to the goodneſs of
God, with an intent to impeach the truth of
the Chriftian religion, that the world, on the
fuppofition of the Chriftian ſcheme, was fuf-
fered to lie ſo long in darkneſs; that the Ju-
daick religion was confined, and hidden, in
myfteries; and that the Chriſtian religion
came too late, and attended with too flen-
der evidence; but, after giving due attenti-
on to theſe hints, they must confefs the ori-
ginal publication of the revealed will of God
full, and perfect; that inftructive leffons
were conveyed in every Rite, Ceremony, Ob-
Servance
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 169
fervance and Inftitution; that the ſtrongeſt
Memorials were eſtabliſhed of what was de-
clared, was to be believed, and hoped for;
that perpetual Memorandums were appointed
for bringing into men's minds their duty, and
ftrengthening their belief, and their hopes;
and that this knowledge, thoſe inſtitutions,
and thoſe hopes, reached over the bulk of
mankind, before the renewal of the Law to If-
rael; though mankind fo corrupted them-
felves, fo cooled and flackened in their duty,
and purſued fo wantonly, and preſumptuouf-
ly, their own imaginations, as to have loft al-
moſt all the knowledge of the things revealed,
and of the end and deſign of the Inſtitutions;
and to have preſerved no more than fome great
lines of external obfervances; which ferve at
this day for evidence, only, that there was a
very early REVELATION of the will of God
to mankind, joined with hopes of mercy;
but do not fhew what the particulars were of
that REVELATION, which can be gathered,
only, from confidering the facred Inftitution,
as it is delivered, completely, in the Law,
explained by the PROPHETS, and perfected
by the GOSPEL.
BUT, after all, though, in the Inftitutions al-
ready referred to, one may fee, very diftinct-
ly,
170 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ly, almoſt all the articles of the Chriſtian
faith, and hope; yet, if the original RẸ V E-
LATION went no farther, it must be owneď
there are ſome great points wanting, fome-
thing diſcloſed in the GOSPEL, relating to
the Deity, that the declarations and Inftituti-
ons, hitherto mentioned, do not extend to,
and that the light of Nature, by itſelf, could
not diſcover.
THE Goſpel informs, precifely and formal-
ly, That, though the Godhead is effentially
one, yet there are in the divine effence three
Perfons, equal in perfection, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit; that the Son, to
fatisfy effential juſtice, took on him fleſh,
was united to the humanity, fuffered for fin-
ners, made atonement for them, raiſed the
Man, to whom he was joined, from the
dead, glorified him with himſelf, and is to
make continual interceffion for finners; and
that the Holy Spirit, upon the afcenfion of
the Son of God, was fent to inſtruct, to com-
fort, and, as one may fay, to inſpire all who,
believing in Jefus Chrift, fhould endeavour to
do their duty, to ſerve, and to glorify God.
THAT this is true, every Chriftian be-
lieves; and whoever does fo, feels the expe-
diency of being acquainted with it, as it exalts
his
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 171.
his fentiments of the wiſdom, the juſtice, the
mercy, the goodneſs, the love, of God; and
lets him know how to place his acknowlegd-
ment, his ſervice, his adoration, at the fame
time that it cautions him againſt thoſe fins
and abuſes that can be waſhed away no other
ways than by the blood of the Son of God.
AND, as this is true, and highly neceffary
to be known, it would not be of a piece with
the rest of the tenor of the goodneſs and
condefcenfion of the Deity, if, in the origi-
nal Revelation of Grace, this was not alſo in-
timated to mankind, however the perverfity
and preſumption of human imagination, and
invention, may have confounded, and there-
by, in a great meaſure, have loft the Memo-
rials inftituted for preferving this REVE-
LATION.
It will be granted by every Free-thinker,
becauſe it is the foundation of his own be-
lief, or rather unbelief, that, confulting na-
ture, Unity is effential to the Deity; and
that nothing is lefs deducible from the
Light of Nature than a Plurality of Deities;
nay, that a Plurality, in the common fenſe,
is inconfiftent with it, and therefore im-
poſſible.
IT
172 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
IT is, at the fame time, true in fact, that all
the antient nations entered readily into the
belief of a Plurality of Deities, how con-
trary foever the opinion might be to the
Light of Nature; and continued in that faith
till Chriſtianity beat them out of it.
ONE would not infer from this, that Poly-
theism was an article of the original Revela-
tion, becauſe we ſee the heathens grafted ma-
ny miſtaken imaginations upon what was
originally revealed; but it ſeems to be a fair
conclufion, that ſomething, concerning the
Deity, not diſcoverable by the Light of Na-
ture, and feemingly diffonant to it, was ori-
ginally revealed, from whence this falfe, but
univerfal, opinion took its birth: and, if the
doctrine of the Trinity was originally pro-
mulgated, and believed, it is eaſy to ſee how
it might degenerate into POLYTHEISM, as
the Chriftian TRINITY ran the hazard of
doing.
If this reflexion is candidly weighed; if
one confiders, that the firft teacher of Poly-
theism could not poffibly deduce his doctrine
from reaſon, but muft neceffarily ſupport it
from authority; and if one then inquires
what degree of authority would be fufficient
to draw all mankind into the ſettled belief of
this
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 173
this monstrous propofition, or indeed of
any thing a-kin to it, from which this, by
imagination or deduction, can be derived, he
muft needs conclude the authority must be,
at leaſt believed, divine, before reaſonable
creatures could give credit to it, and could
be brought to ſpeak of, and make their ad-
dreffes to Gods in the plural number.
Ir is impoffible to make this reflexion
without joining to it, what has been already
obferved, that the word ELOHIM, uſed in the
Hebrew Scriptures to fignify God, is plural;
owned by all to be fuch, and particularly by
the Jews, who have the idea of plurality in
the higheſt contempt, and who make in their
tranſlations a very ridiculous diſtinction,
rendering the ſame ſpecifick word, when, as
they apprehend, it relates to the true God,
fingular, but plural, Dii, Gods, when it re-
lates to the objects of the Pagan worſhip.
THIS reflexion is the more important, that
the word ELOHIM has confeffedly a fingular,
ELAH, uſed fometimes, but not often, in
fcripture. Now, when the facred writers
make uſe almoft always of the plural word,
not from neceffity, but from choice, it is
hardly poffible to believe that this choice is
altogether without meaning, and that a word,
fit
174 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
2
fit not to inform, but to mislead, was em-
ployed by the Deity, in the written inftru-
ctions given to mankind.
THE Jews, and with them thoſe pretended
Christians who reject the Trinity, as well as
ſome who admit it, but are loth to lay much
ſtreſs on the idiom of a language they do
not give themſelves the trouble to under-
ftand, ftrive to invalidate this obfervation,
by ſuggeſting that the plural may be uſed
honoris caufâ, as Princes, in our days, expreſs
themſelves, WE and OUR, and perſons of
condition, ſpoken to, are addreffed by pro-
nouns in the plural number.
BUT, not to inſiſt on what is moſt certain
truth, that the fcripture language is, in
every other inſtance, oppoſite to this ſuggeſ
tion, conftantly ufing the fingular when Je-
hovah ſpeaks of himſelf, and moft frequent-
ly joining verbs and pronouns in the fingular
number to the plural ELOHIM; there are
many caſes in which the expreffion cannot
poffibly be reconciled to this Jewish pre-
tence, of which this may be an example,
Gen. iii. 22. And Jehovah Elohim faid, Be-
hold, the man is become like one of us, to know
good and evil. Here the expreffion is diſtinct,
and unambiguous, and not to be twiſted to the
Jewish
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 175
Jewish conftruction, by any force of figure,
or example; One of us, neceffarily implies
more than one: and the Jews and their fol-
lowers are fo fenfible of it, that they pretend
Jehovah is here ſpeaking with and to the
Angels, bringing them on the level with him-
felf; which he no where elſe in the fcripture
does, and which there is no reaſon to ſup-
poſe he does in this place, though it did not
imply an abſurdity; becauſe the plural word
ELOHIм preceding, fufficiently. fhews who
the Us were, and forbids the application of
that pronoun to any other ſet of beings.
As this text affords a demonſtration, in its
own kind, that the plural ELOHIM is not
uſed by chance, but is the fruit of choice,
and fignificative, care is taken in ſcripture to
prevent the grafting the notion of POLY-
THEISM on an expreffion that might lead
fo naturally to it.
AND therefore, Deut. vi. 4. the great com-
mand which Chrift, being interrogated, de-
clared to be the first and higheft of the Law,
and which was directed to be laid up in the
hearts of the Ifraelites, to be taught to their
children, to be worn
as figns upon their
hands, and as frontlets between their eyes,
and to be written on the poſts of their houſes,
and
I
176 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
·
and on their gates, is ufhered in with this
remarkable admonition, Hear, O Ifrael,
the Lord our God is one Lord: in the origi
nal, Hear, O Ifrael, Jehovah our Elohim is one
Jehovah.
THE word Jehovah is agreed by all to be
the proper name or term for expreſſing the
effence of the Deity; it is derived from the
verb that fignifies to be, and therefore im-
ports, being, existence, av, he who is, who
exifts, neceſſarily.
THIS noun is fingular, and knows no plu-
ral; wherefore there would be very little
occafion for the declaration, that Jehovah is
one, is not plural, if it were not for the plu-
ral word ELOHIM, which might lead into a
miſtake; to prevent which, the declaration
was neceffary, that, though in Jehovah there
were more ELAHS than one, yet theſe differ-
ent ELOHIM were but one Jehovah, one ne-
ceffarily exiftent Effence; which is allowing
a plurality, not of diftinct Deities, but of dif
tinct ELOHIM in the fame Elferice, Godhead,
in Jehovah, who is one.
ON occafion of mentioning the word Je-
hovah, the proper name or term uſed to fig-
nify the eternal, the neceffarily exifting Be-
ing, the cauſe and author of all other Be-
ing,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 177
1
ing, it may not be improper to obſerve, that
this name is of the higheſt antiquity, coëval
in all appearance with the original Revela-
tion, and given by the Deity to expreſs that
grand character of his own nature, which
modern Wife-men value themſelves on having,
as they imagine, diſcovered from nature, and
reason.
FOR, not to mention the authority of Mo-
fes, who makes uſe of that name juſt after
defcribing the creation, it appears not to
have been unknown to the antients, though
they loft the ſenſe of it, and confounded
themfelves with new names for their fictiti-
ous Divinities. The oracle in Macrobius de-
clares fauo to be the chief God; whence
it is plain at leaſt that the found was known
by thoſe who confulted. The Zeus of the
Greeks was in all appearance from the ſame
ſource; and the Jupiter of the Romans con-
feffes more clearly that original: Antiently
Jupiter was written and founded Jovis pater;
Jovis was the nominative, or, more properly,
Jehovah with the Latin-is for a termination.
in all caſes, and Javis pater became by corrup-
tion, in length of time, Jupiter, though it
retained more of the original found in the
genitive, and the other cafes.
N
VOL. I.
Now
178 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
Now, though the Roman people and reli-
gion were but modern, compared with that
of ſome other nations, yet is their Jovis pater,
which took much time to be corrupted in-
to Jupiter, very antient; and, if they had
their THEOLOGY from the Hetrufcans, or
from the Phoenicians, the term Jehovah muſt
have been very pure and diftinct, when it came
firft into Italy, to have remained fo long fo un-
corrupted, as we fee it did. No man, in his
fenfes, will think the antient Greeks, and Ita-
lians, borrowed from the detefted Jews the
name of their God; and therefore it may be
fafely concluded, that the name which travel-
led thus into Greece and Italy, in the earlieſt
times, was the name of the God of the whole
earth, uſed and honoured by all fleſh.
BUT, to return to the idea of the Deity
given by revelation, though the unity of Feho-
wah is exprefsly fettled, yet it is manifeſt from
great numbers of texts, that there are diffe-
rent perfons, different agents, in this effence,
that have different characters, and are to be
confidered differently by men.
BESIDES Jehovah, who, by way of diftinc-
tion, may be called the firſt Perſon, or the Fa-
ther, in the language well known to all Chri-
ftians, there is the Name of Jehovah, or the
Name
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 179
Name Jehovah, the Word of Jehovah, or the
Word Jehovah, and the Angel of Jehovah, or
the Angel Jehovah, with feveral other terms,
all applicable to the fecond Perfon, or the Son,
by the circumstances of the ſeveral paffages;
and there is the Spirit of Jehovah, or the Spi-
rit Jehovaḥ, to denote the third Perfon, who
retains the fame name in the Chriftian lan-
guage.
THOUGH the term the Name of Jehovah,
is become fo familiar to our ears in the ſenſe
that means only the title or appellation, or,
metaphorically, the fame and reputation of
any one; yet there are flat texts to fhew
there is more in the matter; and that per-
fonality, as it is called, is afcribed to this thing
called the Name Jehovah, or the Name of Je-
hovah.
Exod. xxiii. 20. 21. JEHOVAH promifes
to fend his Angel before the people, of whom
they are to beware that they do not offend
him, for, fays Jehovah, my Name is in him.
This Name faid to be in the Angel is fome-
thing more than will tally with any reaſona-
ble acceptation of the word Name, unleſs you
will fuppofe that word the Name of Jehovah
to mean a Perſon.
N 2
рисов
IN
་
180 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
IN like manner, Pfal. xx. 1. The Name of
the God of Jacob defend thee; Ifai. xxx. 27.
Behold, the Name of Jehovah cometh from far;
Zech. xiv. 9. In that day Jehovah fhall be one,
and his Name one; with infinite numbers of
paffages where the Name of Jehovah is faid to
be placed, to dwell, to act, fhew to a demon-
ftration, that, by the Name Jehovah, a perſon,
and not a title, is meant; and, indeed, that per-
fon by whom the Deity was to be revealed,
diſcovered, and made known to mankind.
THAT there is fomething very extraordi-
nary in this term the Name of Jehovah, and
which correſponds ill with the notion of unity
of the preſent ſet of rebellious Jews, is evi-
dent from the filly fictions they ſet up, by
which to account for the ſurpriſing uſe made
of it. They fuppofe fomething divine to be
in the four letters of which the word is com-
poſed; that it is the higheſt crime and pro-
fanation to pronounce them, except in the
High-Prieft, once a-year, on the day of expi-
ation; and therefore never write, or attempt
to pronounce that word, fubftituting, in all
their writings, another word for it, and pro-
nouncing, ſo often as Jehovah occurs in the
reading of the fcriptures, the word Adonai in
place of it. They imagine fomething fo fa-
cred
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 181
cred in theſe letters, that whoever could pro-
nounce them truly, might work miracles, and
controul the power of nature at pleaſure;
and they carry their frenzy on this ſubject
fo far, as to account for our Saviour's mira-
cles, by ſaying, that, gaining admiffion into
the temple, he stole the name Jehovah out of
it, rightly wrote, and pointed as it ought to be
pronounced; and, by being fo poffeffed of
that fecret, by the force thereof wrought his
wonders, and might have wrought as many
more as he would.
THESE Circumftances will not prove that
the term has the force I have aſcribed to it;
but furely they will convince any reaſonable
man, that there is fomething very remarkable
in the expreffion, which has puzzled the
Jews fo much, and put them to fuch ridicu-
lous ſhifts to get rid of the force of it.
BESIDES the Name, there is another term
uſed to fignify a Perfon, or Agent, in or of the
Deity, under the title of the Word of Jehovah,
or the Word Jehovah. This Word has many
characters of action and perfonality that can-
not poffibly agree to what is fimple or proper
Speech. The Word Jehovah, or of Jehovah,
came; the Word fpoke; the Word acted. In
Jehovah will I praise the Word; in God the Elo-
him,
N 3
182 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
1
Jehovah fent his
without fcruple
him will I praife the Word.
Word, &c. And therefore,
ór hefitation, the Apoſtle St. John applies it
to the divine Perſon that was joined to Jefus,
agreeable to the plain feope of the Old Tefta-
ment, and to even the notions of the Jews;
of thoſe times; whatever their fucceffors, in
oppofition to the Chriftians, may have, fince
thofe days, deviſed, to obſcure the light of
the antient ſcriptures.
THAT the antient Jews, before their dif-
putes with the Chriftians turned their brains,
by the Word of Jehovah underſtood an active
principle, diſtinct from the firſt Perſon in Je-
hovah, and alfo called properly Jehovah, is
beyond contradiction evident from their an-
tient Targums, of age, if not equal to the ad-
vent of Chrift, yet framed before their dif
putes with the Chriftians had forced them to
coin new and perverſe notions. All the acti-
ons of a diſtinct perſon are attributed to their
Mimra Jehovah, the Word of God, in many
hundred paffages; and often, where Jehovah
only is mentioned in the original, yet, where,
according to their conceptions, which origi-
hally were true ones, the fecond Perfon is
meant, they have, without heſitation, in their
Paraphrafes, tranflated it Mimra Jehovah, or
the
1
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 183
the Word of Jehovah; which leaves no doubt
that the antients understood the Scriptures,
in this important article, as the Apoſtles did,
and as we do.
IF the Targum of Onkelos, which is agreed
to be of great antiquity, was publiſhed before
the Goſpel came to be the object of the Jews
oppofition, this argument has all the force al-
ready given to it; and, if in an age later, it
has no leſs weight, becauſe no one can fup-
pofe that complaifance to the Chriftians pro-
duced the expreffions relied on. And indeed
all that fufpicion is excluded, and additional
force is gained to the reflexion, by confider-
ing that Philo the Jew, who was contempo-
rary with our Saviour, the Ambaffador for the
Egyptian Jews to Caius Cæfar, unſuſpected of
Chriſtianity, probably a ſtranger to it, ſuſpect..
ed of a ſpirit of accommodation with Plato-
nick or pagan notions in his writings, intend-
ing to make his notions as plaufible and pala-
table to the learned heathens as poffible, can-
not diveft himſelf of the notion of making
the WORD, his Logos, a Perfon, nay, a di-
vine Perfon, of infinite power, nearly allied
to the Deity, though with a ſubordination
that he can find no where in the ſacred Book.
N 4
THERE
I
184 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
THERE is ftill another term behind, which
the Jews have much obfcured, by confining
the meaning to one of the fenfes which the
word bears; it is ANGEL. The Hebrew word,
from which Malak is derived, fignifies, to ſend,
to employ, to fend on an errand, to do, or fay,
any thing: hence Malak, in Greek rendered
ayyeλos; in Latin, promifcuously, Angelus, or
ἄγγελος
Nuncius; in Engliſh, an Angel, or Meſſenger.
To this word, thus fignifying, the Tranſla-
tors, who originally were Jews, and all their
fucceffors, have given the meaning of what
we, in common ſpeech, underſtand by an An-
gel, a CREATED SPIRIT, of which, we are
taught to believe, there are immenfe num-
bers; and, what is worſe, they have confined
the ſenſe to that meaning, infomuch that,
when we hear of the ANGEL JEHOVAH, We
are to underſtand by it ſuch a created Spirit.
we
BUT it happens unlucky for this conftruc-
tion, that, almoſt always where the ANGEL
JEHOVAH is mentioned, there are characters
which ſhew that this ANGEL is JEHOVAH:
for, either the Angel calls himſelf fo, and
ſpeaks in the firſt perſon, as JEHOVAH;
or the perfon, to whom he is fent, acknow-
ledges him to be fuch, and addreffes him un-
der that defignation.
Gen.
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 185
Gen. xviii. THE THREE that appeared
to Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, who are
called fometimes Men, fometimes´ Angels, are
faid to be Jehovah; Jehovah is faid to have
appeared in that form; HE of the Three that
talks to Abraham, ſpeaks in the firſt perſon,
as Jehovah, and Abraham addreffes his anfwer
to HIM, as to Jehovah.
Exod. iii. THE Angel Jehovah, who ap-
peared to Mofes in the burning buſh, ſpeaks
from the bush under the title God, gives
himself the ſignificant name which we tranf-
late, I AM THAT I AM, and is plainly under-
ſtood to be Jehovah, Deut. xxxiii. 16. The good
will of him that dwelt in the buſh.
Judg. xiii. THE Angel that appeared to
Manoah's wife, firft, and then to himſelf, is
acknowledged to be Jehovah. And every
Angel, called, of Jehovah, that appeared, or
ſeemed in viſion to appear, to the Prophets,
either ſpeak as Jehovah, or are ſpoken to as
fuch.
Exod. xxiii. 20. 21. THE Angel whom
Jehovah was to fend before the Ifraelites, and
whom he calls his Angel, had his NA M E in
him, and was therefore to be obſerved. And,
Malach. iii. 1. THE Angel (which we
tranflate the Meſſenger) of the Covenant is de-
clared
186 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
clared to be the Lord; and the Lord, whom ye
feek, ſhall fuddenly come to his temple: even the
Angel of the Covenant, whom ye delight in.
THE Malak, the Meſſenger, therefore, the
fent, the Angel Jehovah, or of Jehovah, we fee,
is not always uſed to fignify a created Being,
but, on the contrary, to denote a Perſon of
Jehovah, of the Deity, fent as a meſſenger to
· execute the will of Jehovah, of the Deity;
and accordingly Chriſt, upon many occafions,
declares that he is fent of the Father, and came
to do the will of him that ſent him : which tallies
exactly with the language of, and with the
ideas given in, the Old Teftament.
ALL theſe terms, the NAME, the WORD,
the ANGEL OF JEHOVAH, with ſeveral others
of the fame kind, which evidently fhew a
diftinction of Perſons in Jehovah, are, by the
characters that attend them, clearly applica-
ble to one and the fame Perfon, in the Goſpel
.called the SON, from the fecond Pfalm; the
exprefs image of the Father's perfon, who thought
it no robbery to be equal with the Father; and by
whom, and for whom, the world was made.
THE Old Testament, in multitudes of texts,
mentions a third character, with attributes of
action as a diſtinct Perfon, the Spirit of Jeho-
pah, which is faid to do, and direct many
things,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 187
things, almoſt always under that ſpecifick
name, and in diftinction to the other Perfons
or characters in the Deity; and the New Te-
Stament formally makes this Spirit a diſtinct
Perſon, acting a proper part in the economy
of grace to mankind.
.
WHEN theſe things are duly weighed, men
muſt be convinced that the godly, ſerious
Jews, who ftudied their Scriptures with-at-
tention, and without prepoffeffion, muft have
been fatisfied that there was a diftinction of
Perfons in the Deity; and that the WORD Je-
hovah, or of Jehovah, for example, was diſtinct
from the Spirit; and both from the Father,
who fent the Werd; and then their ſurpriſe will
ceafe at the freedom and eafinefs with which
Chrift and his Apoftles fpeak of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, as diſtinct Perſons of the
Deity, as a thing well known and underſtood,
without any preamble or apology; whereas,
if this had not been a notion commonly re-
ceived by the intelligent, it is impoffible that
the Preacher of Salvation could have made ufe
of, or applied it, without having firft explain-
ed it, and ſo prepared the hearers for it.
AND, accordingly, we find that, when Chrift
was examined by the Rulers, they did not at
all boggle at the doctrine which mentioned
the
188 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
the Son of God, but aſked him whether he pre-
tended to be fuch; and, upon his ſaying that
he was, concluded him guilty of blafphemy,
without further ceremony: which fhews that
the Son of God was a phrafe known and fami-
liar to them, as indeed it muſt be from the fe-
cond Pfalm. And furely they could not have
entertained an idea of the SoN, without alfo
admitting an idea of the FATHER, which muſt
have made that term alfo familiar to them.
So that in this inftance it is, as in almoſt
every other it will, on a careful examination,
appear to be, the New Teftament fpeaks the
language of the Old; the principles and the
fentiments are the fame; and the New does
little more than explain, and apply, what, by
corrupt Imagination, through length of time,
was obfcured or perverted, and in fome de-
gree loft, in the Old.
THE fame confideration, that makes the
knowledge of the TRINITY neceffary for us,
made it ſo to the believing Jews, to whom
that myſtery was diſcloſed in the Old Tefta-
ment in writing; and made it fo, alfo, to the
firſt believers, to whom the mercy of God
was diſcovered, whilft hieroglyphical records
only were uſed; and therefore it is very rea-
ſonable to expect to meet with ſome footſteps
of
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 189
of this diſcovery, fome hieroglyphical repre-
ſentation, in which it was to be recorded.
WE fee the making of molten and graven
IMAGES, repreſentations of things in the hea-
vens or in the earth, to be worſhipped and
ſerved as gods, was a practice as extenſive, as
it was offenfive, in the moft early times, to
the Deity; and as nothing could in itſelf,
and confidered literally, be more abſurd, and
lefs deducible from, and confiftent with na-
ture and reaſon, than to make any bodily re-
preſentation of the Deity, and to ſerve and
worſhip that figure as divine, it may be pretty
ſecurely concluded, that, great as the abuſe
was, it was not altogether human invention,
but, probably, a notorious abufe, from the
wantonneſs of Imagination, of fome laudable,
facred INSTITUTION.
THE practice is bitterly cenfured, and, un-
der the moſt ſevere penalties, prohibited, in
the Law of Mofes. No reprefentation at all
was to be made of Jehovah, nor was there
any Image of HIM to be met with in the ta-
bernacle, or temple, to whom the people
ſhould bow down; contrary to the practice
of all the heathen nations.
YET, nevertheless, both in the tabernacle
and temple there were hieroglyphical or emble-
matical
19 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
matical Figures fet up over the Mercy-Seat,
called CHERUBIM; and between, or in them,
the Deity was to dwell, or refide; and to his
Prefence, in that place, the blood was to be
brought in within the Vail, on the day of Ex-
piation.
THOUGH the form of theſe Cherubim was
fo well known in the days of Mofes, that,
without any other defcription of them but the
name, the workmen, being commanded, made
them; yet the knowledge of the figure they
were of was fo little inquired after by the
Jews, when they revolted from God, and re-
ceded from the purity of their religion, that
they ſeemed totally to have loft it before they
built the ſecond temple. For it appears evi-
dently that they had no Cherubim there, from
thefe circumstances: That Philo knew no-
thing of their form; that Jofephus, the learn-
ed and inquifitive prieft, who lived under the
fecond temple, and had proper occafion to
have known ſomething about them, had any
appearance of them been there, owns the ig-
norance of himſelf and of his nation, acknow-
ledging they knew nothing about them, but
that they were Images of fome fort of winged
Animals and the conclufion from this laft ob-
fervation, and from the utter filence of the
Jews,
I
;
鲁
​}
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 191
Jews, fince the days of Chriſt, on that ſubject,
is certain; unleſs one will chufe to ſuppoſe
that Jofephus, and the other later Jews, dif-
fembled, and concealed their knowledge, left
fome advantage might from thence have ari-
fen to the Chriftians; which is not probable,
becauſe the Chriftians had not become, fo
early, fo much the object of the Jews jea-
louſy and averfion, as afterwards they were.
THESE Cherubim were to be beaten out of
the fame piece of gold that covered the Ark of
the Testimony, called the Mercy-Seat; they
were to look inwards towards the Mercy-Seat;
the blood on the day of Expiation was to be
ſprinkled on the Mercy-Seat, between them;
Jehovah was to dwell, to refide, between, or
in them; from thence he was to give direc-
tions, and reſponſes: and theſe figures, with
the Mercy-Seat and the Ark, were all the furni-
ture of the Sanctum Sanctorum, the moſt holy
place, the emblem of the divine refidence.
A this was the most holy place, and thefe
figures, made out of the Propitiatorium, the
Mercy-Seat, were the most facred Emblems, it
cannot be doubted they were of very high
fignificancy, by any perſon who knows that
the whole knowledge of early times was de-
livered and recorded in ſymbols and hierogly-
phical
192 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
phical repreſentations, and who recollects that
every other branch of the Jewish inftitution
was emblematical.
AND, if theſe emblems, rightly understood,
conveyed knowledge, and directed the fenti-
ments and the ſervice of the antient Ifraelites,
whoſe chief joy was meditation on the Law of
God, under the firft temple; we cannot help
lamenting the misfortune of the Jews, under
the fecond, who furely had loft all the bene-
fits the information by thoſe ſymbols could
give; and who, certainly, could not bring in
the blood on the day of Expiation within the
Vail, and fprinkle it, according to the firft di-
rections of the Law.
IF the lofs of the knowledge of thoſe Em-
blems had been fortuitous, occafioned only by
the length of time, between the deftruction of
the firſt, and the building of the fecond tem-
ple, in which all thofe that knew the form of
thefe Emblems, in the firft, had periſhed, the
Jews caſe would be much to be pitied ; but it
is by ſo much the leſs a proper object of com-
paffion, that abundance of circumſtances ſhew
the lofs was owing to their own grofs fault,
and perverfenefs; which juftifies the judg-
ment of Blindness the Deity has been pleaſed,
in purſuance of many denunciations, and
even
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 193
even of the COVENANT folemnly entered in-
to by their fathers, to execute againſt them.
THE firft Temple was deftroyed, and the
people carried away, becauſe of their rebellion
againſt Jehovah, and their running after the
falfe gods of the nations; and it ſeems pretty
certain, that thofe who forfook Jehovah, en-
tirely, would very little mind, or meditate
on the ſenſe of the fymbols, or fervice inftitu-
teď by him; and, if any of them returned
to their land, it is not very likely they would
be folicitous about what they knew nothing
of.
IT is ſurpriſingly remarkable, that, from
the promulgation of the Law on Sinai, till the
deſtruction of Jerufalem with the firſt temple,
the depraved turn of the Jews, who followed
their own imaginations, was to Polytheism,
quitting Jehovah for the fooliſh gods of the
nations; and that contrary to the cleareft
evidence, though they had amongſt them the
ARK of Jehovah, the whole ornaments and
liturgy of the Temple, the fire of God burn-
ing on their altar, the EPHOD with URIM
to direct them, the Prophets inſpired to in-
ſtruct them, and the interpofition of frequent
miracles, to prove Jehovah the only, the true
God.
VOL. I.
AND
194 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
AND it is equally remarkable, that, after
their return from the captivity, when all
theſe extraordinary pieces of evidence failed,
notwithſtanding their many faults and follies,
they never once nationally ſwerved from Je-
hovah to the fervice of the gods of the nati-
ons; but, by guarding againſt that error, and
the faulty effects of encouraging Imagination,
they ran into the contrary extreme; becauſe
of the UNITY of Jehovah, they were unwil-
ling to think of the PLURALITY of Elohim ;
and, left Imagination fhould carry them too
far, they would go no farther than the Letter
of the Law, and the Exterior of Inſtitutions and
fervices; which, confidered purely in that
light, fignified nothing, or was apt to miſlead;
neglecting the precept fo often inculcated,
and fo carefully practiſed by the godly, to ob-
Serve, to meditate on the Law, and thereby
to diſcover, and comfort themſelves with the
merciful and beneficent meaning of it. This
turn of mind loft the knowledge of the Che-
rubim, it prevented their ſeeing the Meffias in
Jefus.
•
As the Cherubim are not fully deſcribed in
the hiſtory of the framing and building of the
tabernacle, or temple; and as the Prieſts, who
might have ſeen them in the Sanctum San&to-
rum,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 195
Hum, and the other perfons, who must haye
ſeen them on the walls and doors of the tem-
ple, might have failed, before the fecond tem-
ple was completely finiſhed, which would have
furniſhed an excufe to the fucceeding Jews
for being without thofe emblems in the ſe-
cond temple, and for neglecting the know-
ledge thereby conveyed, it pleaſed God to ex-
hibit to one of his prophets, Ezekiel, in vi-
fion, at different times, the figure of theſe
Emblems, which he has in two feveral places,
chap. 1 and 10. carefully recorded. And it
is not a little ſurpriſing, that, though the Jews
unanimouſly hold Ezekiel to be a prophet,
and theſe paffages to be infpired, yet they ne-
ver thought fit to give the Figures he defcribes
a place in their temple, or to gueſs at the
meaning of them, though they hold that thoſe
vifions contain the moſt important myſtery.
THE deſcription of the CREATURES, feen
in this vifion by Ezekiel, is fo full, and fo
anxiouſly, and laboriouſly given, that there is
no miſtaking ſome of the great lines of it.
Each CHERUB had four heads, at leaſt faces,
and but one body; each had hands of a man,
and wings and the four faces were, first, the
face of a Bull, which is properly called a Che-
rub; fecondly, to the right of the bull, the face
:
02
of
196 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
of a Man; thirdly, to the right of the man, the
face of a Lion; and the faces of the Man and
Lion are faid, chap. i. 1o. to have been on the
right fide; whereas the face of the Bull is faid
to have been on the left fide; and fourthly,
the face of an Eagle, without taking notice of
any particular conjunction between the face
of the Bull and that of the Eagle.
AND the prophet takes ſo much care to in-
culcate that the Creatures, or Figures, thus
repreſented, were the CHERUBIM, and that
the deſcriptions in the first and the tenth
Chapters relate to the fame Cherubim, that
there can be no doubt he deſcribes the very
Cherubim placed in the tabernacle and temple;
unleſs it can be ſuppoſed that this deſcription
was given, on fet purpoſe, to deceive and
miſlead us.
KNOWING thus, from Ezekiel, the form of
the Cherubim, and knowing the uſage of the
moſt antient nations, particularly the Egyp
tians, of framing compounded figures of
this kind, for hieroglyphical or fymbolical pur-
poſes, from the remains of their antiquities
ftill extant, we can entertain no doubt that
this repreſentation was fignificative, He who
cannot believe that the Cherubim was ſet in
the Holy of Holies to repreſent one animal,
com-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 197
compounded of Bull, Man, Lion, and Eagle,
muft neceſſarily admit that the faces of theſe
animals, ſo joined, were intended to fignify
ſeveral characters, powers, or perſons, united
together in one.
THE Italian Janus was bifrons, fometimes
quadrifrons; Diana was triformis; many Egyp-
tian monuments fhew two, ſometimes three
heads of différent creatures to one body; in
vaft numbers of gems, particularly thoſe call-
ed Abraxa's, human bodies have the heads,
fometimes of dogs, fometimes of lions, fome-
times of eagles or hawks, &c. and no one can
doubt that each of thoſe repreſentations was
fymbolical.
IN confidering this fubject, we muſt re-
collect, that, though the building of the ta-
bernacle was not fo early as to give birth to
thoſe ſtrange compofitions over the heathen.
world, yet this Figure was exhibited, imme-
diately, upon the expulfion of man from Pa-
radife; and was fo well known, when Ifrael
left Egypt, that the workmen made the Che-
rubim, without any other direction than that
of making them out of the gold that com-
poſed the Mercy-Seat, and placing them on
either end of it, looking towards the Mercy-
Seat, and ſtretching their wings over it. So
that
O 3
198 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
•
that the compound Figures of the antients, tọ
repreſent their Deities, had no other origi-
nal but that at the east end of the garden of
Eden.
HOWEVER the Emblems, or repreſentations,
of the heathen divinities may have been com-
plicated of the forms of different animals,
originally; yet we fee, with length of time,
they ſeparated thofe fymbols fuppofed the
different Figures to be different Deities
at laſt worſhipped them apart. ¦
and
THE Egyptian Apis, the Bull, in imitation.
whereof the Ifraelites made their golden Calf,
and Jeroboam made his Calves, was but one
of thoſe figures; and the deity called Baal
amongſt the Syrians, which is alſo called the
Heifer Baal, was the fame, and yet was the
repreſentation of the great God, the LORD
of all.
THE Perfian Mithras was, in all the De
vices of the fervants of that god, pictured a
Lion, or with a Lion's head; and the Egypti
an Sphinx, which ſtood at the entry, of their
temples, had but two of the cherubical figures,
joined in a ſtrange manner, the head of the
Man put on the body of the Lion.
J
THE Eagle was to the Greeks, and Romans,
an emblem facred to Jupiter or Jovis, their
great
+
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 199
great God, whom they pictured like a man.
In the talons of this bird they put a thunder-
bolt, and this expreffion of thunder, pro-
ceeding from clouds, borne by the Eagle,
whofe way in the air is among the clouds,
was the enfign of Νεφεληγερέτης Ζεύς : and we
know, from Sanchoniathon, that the Tyrians
had a pillar facred to Wind, or Air in motion,
as well as they had to Fire, built, as they
ſaid, by Uſous the ſon of Hypfouranias; which
Fire and Wind they worshipped as gods.
We know from antient authors, and we
fee in antient gems and other monuments,
that the Egyptians were very much accuſtom-
ed to make the body of their Image, or re-
preſentation, human, fometimes with the
head of a Lion, fometimes with that of a
Hawk, or Eagle, and fometimes with that of
a Bull, a Ram, or ſome other horned crea-
ture.
AND as, from the original exhibition of
the Cherubim renewed, and recalled to its
proper ufe, in the tabernacle, and temple,
we ſee the antients had a pattern from whence
they might have taken thoſe repreſentations,
which they monftrouſly abuſed, we may rea-
fonably conclude, that theſe repreſentations,
which, naturally, and without ſome inſti-
O 4
tution,
200 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
tution, would never have come into the heads
of any men, flowed from an early practice,
that had a different intent from that to which
it was at laft turned.
AND, from the application made by the
antient Pagans of each of the figures in the
Cherubim, to fignify a different Deity, we
may with reaſon conclude, that they under-
ftood that particular figure, in the Cherubim,
which they chofe for their protector or god,
repreſented, in the hieroglyphical ufage of the
early times, the power, the thing, or perſon,
that they intended to ſerve.
THUS, for example, if the curled hairs,
and horns, in the Bull's head, were, in hiere-
glyphical writing, made the emblem of Fire
in general, or Fire at the orb of the Sun,
thoſe who took material fire for their deity,
would ſet up that Emblem, and worship it.
IF the Lion's piercing eyes, or any other
confideration, brought that animal to be the
emblem of Light in general, or of Light iffu-
ing from the body of the Sun, fuch as took
Light for their god, if any fuch were, would
fet up the Lion for the Emblem.
AND, if the Eagle's foaring flight, and com-
merce thereby with the air, brought that bird
to be the emblem of Air, fuch as imagined
a divinity
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 201
a divinity in the Air, in Clouds, in Winds,
would take that bird to repreſent their
deity.
AND the HUMAN FIGURE in the Che-
rubim muft, one ſhould think, be the moft na-
tural occafion of that univerſal miſtake, which
all the heathens, at length, dropped into, of
picturing their gods with human bodies, and
the very earlieſt gave ſome countenance to,
in joining parts of the human body to, al-
moſt, all their repreſentations of their gods.
Now, fo it is, that we do know, from in-
numerable texts of Scripture, and from ma-
ny paffages in heathen hiftorians, and Mytho-
logiſts, that the objects of the earlieſt pagan
adoration, after lofing the idea of the true
God, were the Powers in the Heavens, that
were ſuppoſed to maintain this fyftem; the
Sun, Moon, and Stars, the Host of Heaven,
the Queen of Heaven; Fire, which was ſup-
poſed to be one of the chief agents, in fup-
porting the motion of the univerſe; Light,
iffuing from Fire; and the Air, Clouds, Winds,
&c. which had infinite force, and were fup-
poſed to act a very confiderable part in the
government and preſervation of the material
world.
IN
202 Thoughts concerning Religion,&c.
•
In particular, we know, that Fire at the
orb of the Sun was worshipped by the an-
tient Egyptians, who made ufe of Apis, the
Bull, for their Emblem; and that the worſhip-
pers
of Baal, the Heifer, believed their god
had the command of Fire: for, in the re-
markable contention between Jehovah and
Baal, managed on the one fide by Elijah, on
the part of Jehovah, and on the other by
four hundred and fifty Priests, on the part
of Baal, the teſt of all was, which of their
Deities could command Fire to come down
from heaven to confume the facrifice; and
the iffue diſgraced Baal, and deſtroyed all
his Priefs. And therefore, it is no rafh
conclufion, that the Ox's or Bull's head was
the hieroglyphical Emblem of Fire, perhaps
Fire at the orb of the Sun.
Wɛ know, alfo, that many of the Egyp-
tians and of the neighbouring nations wor-
thipped Light; it was difficult to feparate the
idea of light from that of fire. Thoſe that
ferved the moon and planets, had not fire
for their object. The Perfians, who wor-
fhipped fire, and eminently the body of the
Sun, had Light, neceffarily, in eſteem, their
beneficent principle. Oromafdes was Light.
Job talked of worſhipping Light as Idolatry.
There
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 203
There were ſeveral Temples in Egypt, and in
Ganaan, to the Light of the Sun; and in
Egypt, as well as in Perfia, the Lion was a
facred Emblem. Wherefore, it ſeems highly
probable, the Lion was uſed as the Symbol or
Emblem of Light, as the Bull was made uſe
of as the Emblem of Fire..
WE know, alſo, that the earlieſt heathens
took the Air, Wind, that thing which in the
antient languages is expreffed by a word fig-
nifying, promiscuouſly, Wind and Spirit, that
inviſible agent which we feel, and which per-
forms fo many confiderable effects in nature
without being feen, for a Deity; that to it
they afcribed inſpiration; their Sibyls, their
deliverers of Oracles were inflated, futuri-
ties, the will of their God was, difcovered,
by the countenance of Clouds, and the flight
of Birds, which were religiouſly obſerved
by Augurs, in the Hebrew, Cloud-mongers;
Thunder was the voice of their God, which
was portentous, and much obferved; Thun-
der was afcribed to the great Jove, the Thun-
derer, and the Eagle with the thunderbolt
was his enfign. Whence we may, pretty
fafely, conclude, that the Eagle, to the wor-
ſhippers of the Air, reprefented, hieroglyphi-
gally, Air, Wind, Spirit.
IF
204 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
If the Deity, to give ſome idea of him-
felf from a fenfible object, had made choice'
of the Heavens as the fenfible object, from
which to take the imperfect idea of his im-
menfity, perfonality, and manner of exiſtence
and operation; if, by the vaftneſs and extent
of them, his immenfity was to be repre-
fented; if, by fire, the first Perfon, neceffa-
rily and continually generating and ſending
forth Light, the fecond Perfon, and conſtant-
ly and neceffarily fupplied by Air, or Spirit,
the third Perfon, the Trinity coexifting, and
co-operating, for the fupport of the whole,
and in aid of each other, was to be reprefent-
ed: then, upon diſcovering this to mankind,
the Heavens would become the type of Fe-
bovah, the divine Effence; Fire would be-
come the type of the first Perfon; Light, of
the fecond; and Air, or Spirit, of the third:
and whatever EMBLEMS, in hieroglyphical
writing, were uſed to expreſs theſe, as the
names of the one, would, or might be uſed,
for the appellations or names of the other.
So that, if this reſemblance, or repre-
ſentation, were to be expreffed in ftone,
wood, or metal, the emblems of Fire, Light,
and Air, or Spirit, that is, from what has
been faid, the Bull, the Lion, and the Eagle,
ought
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 205
ought to be conjoined together into the
form of one animal; and every body, who
underſtood the hieroglyphical emblems, would
immediately think on the Heavens which
they repreſented, and, from thence, raiſe to
himſelf the intended image of the Trinity in
the divine Eſſence.
Now we do know that the word SHEMIM,
uſed always for the Heavens, in the facred
language which God has choſen to exprefs
his Revelation in, is plural, as the other
word ELOHIM is; that its natural fignifica-
tion is Names; and that it has been often
made uſe of to fignify the Deity. And, if
the Characters, or Powers, in the Heavens
have been chofen to point out, and exprefs
the Perſons in the Deity, we can perceive
the reaſon why the Heavens have got the ap-
pellation of the Names, by way of eminence,
as they denote, or are defcriptive of thoſe
Sacred Perfons.
AND we do, further, know, that the firſt
turn the antient heathens took from the
worſhip of the true, the invifible God, was
to the worſhip of the Heavens, thofe Names ;
which can, pretty naturally, be accounted
for, if they were accuftomed to think on
the Powers, or Characters, in the Heavens
with
1
206 Thoughts concerning Religion, &ċi
with any facred regard, and to believej
that they ſupported themſelves, and all the
reft of this fyftem, by one unerring, perpe-
tual action and reaction upon themſelves;
and on every thing elfe, in the material
world.
THIS defection from the knowledge and
ſervice of the true God began as early as the
project at Babel. The ſcheme, then, was,
to build a tower or temple to the Heavens :
and, though the defign was then broken, by
making the projectors fall out amongst them-
felves about the LITURGY, and form of Wor-
fhip, which was confounding their language;
yet it foon took place, in different families,
and countries, tho' with different emblems,
ceremonies, and fervices. Abraham, by the
direction of God, left Ur of the Chaldees,
where the rebellious fervice, probably to the
Light, had begun; and was, as were his fon,
and grandchild, after him, for many years,
kept under the immediate direction of God,
itinerant in regions, that were then but
thinly peopled, and with the inhabitants
whereof they had but fmall intercourſe, to
prevent the infection that might have come
from communication with idolaters; and,
by the immediate act of providence, his race
was
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 207
was brought down to Egypt, and exceeding-
ly multiplied there, under particular man-
ners, and inſtitutions, that kept them dif
tinct from the people of that great empire;
which, as it was one of the first mighty mo-
narchies, fo was confeffedly the moſt noted
for the learning, and fuperftitious profeffion,
of the Pagan religion; and chofen therefore
by the Deity as the ſcene in which his won-
ders were to be wrought, for the confufion
of idolatrous imagination, and for eſtabliſh-
ing the authority of himſelf, his Lawgiver,
and confequently his Laws, with the Ifraeli-
tifh people.
As fubftituting the viſible fimilitude in the
room of the invifible God was the first, it was
the moſt criminal, the most dangerous abuſe
that ever crept into religion; and therefore
the ſtrongeſt, the moſt laborious efforts, if one
may be allowed to ſay ſo, were made by the
Deity to correct, and prevent it; and to fet
men right in that particular. Reafonings of
any kind could not have had the fame weight
to convince the idolatrous Egyptians, or the
Ifraelites, who might have imbibed fome of
their notions, that the Heavens, and in them
the Fire, the Light, the Air, or Spirit, were
no real Gods, and were but fervants of Jeḥo-
vah,
I
208 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
vah, their maker; as the repeated miracles
wrought by Mofes, the fervant of Jehovah, in
the fight of both nations; giving animal life
to'inanimate matter; turning rods into fer-
pents; producing multitudes of frogs; turn-
ing water into blood; turning light into
darkneſs; making the air produce fwarms of
noxious infects; inflicting diſeaſes, and death,
on certain claffes, whilft others were ſafe; di-
viding the fea; commanding fire, and cloud,
to execute his command, &c. ; miracles which
were, to all intents, fufficient to convince the
Egyptians of their error, and to guard Ifrael
againſt falling into it.
AN D, accordingly, we fee the point, prin-
cipally, laboured in the writings left by Mofes,
is afferting to Jehovah the power, pre-emi-
nence, and dominion, attributed by the Pa-
gans to the Heavens. Hence his books begin
with the creation, and formation of thoſe
Heavens by the word of God; the hiſtory of
the deſtruction of the earth, by the flood, is
minutely recorded; the conftant claim of the
Deity is, to be confeffed as the Creator of the
Heavens and the Earth, and the giver of all
the good things that were fuppofed to come,
immediately, from them. The chief view of
the Law of the two Tables, is to deny ſervice
?
to
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 209
to all beings but Jehovah; the profeffions of
the faithful were, that Jehovah made the Hea-
vens; was the fovereigh Lord and Mafter;
and in thoſe profeffions, the miracles in Egypt,
&c. are referred to, as the foundation of their
belief and acknowledgment.
IT calls for very particular attention, that
the firſt, and the grand miftakes in religion
proceed from taking literally, what was
meant figuratively, or emblematically only;
and ſo denying, in effect, the ſymbolical mean- -
ing; from which feveral impious abfurdities.
foliowed, terminating in abſolute infidelity,
where ſome ſort of impertinent belief was not
maintained by extravagant imaginations.
THÈ ridicule of this miſtake appears very
ſtrong, in taking fymbolical repreſentations
for the Realities intended to be reprefented;
whatever pretence a Revelation, recorded in
words by writing, might have to be fo, literal-
ly, understood, fure it was extremely perverſe,
to take pictures only, for the original things
or perſons deſigned to be exhibited by the
pictures:
AND yet this folly we fee mankind fell into
almoſt in every particular. The Elohim were
repreſented by the Heavens, and theſe, again,
in Sculpture, or Picture, by the Bull, the Lions-
VOL. I.
P
and
210 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
and the Eagle joined. The first who wander-
ed from the truth, miſtook the Heavens, Fire,
Light, and Air, or Spirit, for what they were:
intended to reprefent, the invifible Trinity;
and as fuch worſhipped them, ufing the figures
of the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle, only as hiero-
glyphical repreſentations of thofe Powers,
which they truly were intended to be. But
their fucceffors, in procefs of time, forgetting
the fuppofed influence of thofe Powers in the
Air, or Heavens, and obferving religious fer-
vice paid to the forms of thoſe animals, made
a ſecond miſtake; looked no more to the
Heavens as their Gods, but ftupidly imagined
a Deity to be inherent in thoſe graven or mol-
ten Images which they worshipped and ferved,
and from whom they looked for favour, and
protection: and, when thoſe things became
too abfurd to be credited, and formally de-
fended, Imagination was fet to work, and pro-
duced fuch ridiculous fyftems in refpect to
the Deity, as endangered the lofing of the
knowledge, even of the original Symbols, and¸
helped to introduce total Unbelief and
Atheiſm.
IT was taking Symbols for Realities, that
made men imagine a purifying quality in the
blood of beaſts; that made them fancy that
Hea
1
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 211
Hecatombs flaughtered placated the Deity;
and that God was delighted with the ſmoke
that aroſe from the fat of burnt-offerings.
It was laying hold of the letter, and letting
the meaning flip, that induced men to facri-
fice their firſt-born, and to ſhed in facrifice
human blood: the blood of the first-born
was to atone; the feed of the woman was to
relieve mankind from mifery; the firſt-born
were facred to God. Zealots to the letter
imagined the fruit, at leaſt the firſt-fruit, of
the womb had this virtue; and therefore of-
fered it, literally, to their gods; which, at laſt,
made human-facrifice faſhionable.
IN fhort, looking at the external ſymbols,
and letter, and not at the apparent, certain
meaning of both, drove the heathens to all
their follies; and firſt miſled, and afterwards
hardened and confirmed the Jews in thoſe ab-
furdities, under which they are ridiculous,
and miferable, to this day.
As the practice of the earlieft heathens, who
firſt apoftatifed to the ſervice of the Heavens,
in ſetting up the figures of the feveral ani-
mals, whereof the Cherubim was compofed,
for the fymbols, or emblems, of the different
Powers in the Heavens, which they worship-
ped, is ſtrong evidence what thofe figures
were,
P 2
212 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
were, originally, intended to repreſent; it be-
comes neceffary for any one, who would have
further fatisfaction in this particular, to ſearch
the ſcriptures, to fee whether, in the feveral
appearances of the Deity therein related, there
may not be ſome characters fit to confirm, or
deſtroy the opinion that the figures in the
Cherubim were the emblems of fire, light, and
air, or ſpirit.
AND, upon due inquiry, it will be found,
that, almoſt always, when the manner of Je-
hovah's appearance is defcribed, the viſible
fymbol of his prefence was fire, or light, or air,
or all three together: not to mention that
the appearance of fire is generally, and, al-
moft, neceffarily attended with that of light.
THE first appearanee deſcribed is Gen. xv.
where, to confirm the covenant to Abraham,
the parts of the divided beaſt, and the fowls,
being ſet over againſt each other, the appear-
ance of a ſmoking furnace, and a lamp of fire,
paffed between them. That this appearance
contained fire, light, and air, or fpirit, is
evident.
THE ſecond appearance, of which the form
is mentioned, was under the oaks of Mamre,
Gen. xviii. where the figure is not particular-
ly deſcribed, though probably it was human,
ár
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 213
་
or like to it; and all we can gather from this,
is, that the appearance was under the form of
three Perfons.
THE next appearance deſcribed is that to
Mofes, in the bufh, Exod. iii. what was exhi-
bited to view, was a burning buſh, which was
not confumed; and this exhibition could not
poffibly be without light; whether it was at-
tended with cloud, or ſmoke, the text does
not ſay.
THE next emblem of the prefence of God,
deſcribed, is the pillar of fire, and cloud, that
guided and guarded the Ifraelites in the wil-
derneſs if light be allowed to the fire, in this
exhibition, all the three are joined.
4
IMMEDIATELY after this, we ſee Jehovah
giving the Eaw, folemnly, from Sinai. He is
faid, Exod. xix. 18. to have defcended upon it
in fire: Mount Sinai was altogether on a
ſmoke; it was covered with a thick cloud, and
there were on it thunders and lightnings;
and Moſes takes notice, Deut. iv. 15. in cau-
tioning the Ifraelites againſt graven images,
and the making the fimilitudes of any crea-
tures, to be worſhipped as God, that on the
day that Jehovah ſpoke to them in Horeb, out
of the midſt of the fire, they ſaw no manner
of fimilitude: by which, the text fhews, muft
P 3
be
214 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
be meant the fimilitude of any animal; be-
fides that it is certain there muſt have been
the appearance of fire, and light from it, as
well as from the lightning, and the cloud,
which, naturally, denotes air, or Spirit, whofe
peculiar language thunder is.
WHEN the tabernacle of the congregation
was removed, and pitched without the camp,
upon the people's rebellion, whilft Mofes tarri-
ed yet in Horeb, the pillar of Cloud defcended,
and ſtood at the door of the tabernacle, fo
often as the Lord talked with Moſes; and all
the people, upon ſeeing this cloud, worſhip-
ped. Exod. xxxiii. 9. 10.
WHEN Mofes defired to fee the way of the
Lord, and Jehovah was to proclaim his name,
he cauſed his glory to paſs by him, Exod. xxxiii,
22. Now, if this glory of the Lord was of the
fame kind with that which filled the taber-
nacle, and temple, on many occafions, and
which Ezekiel,' in his account of the Cherubim,
deſcribes, it muſt have conſiſted of fire, light,
and air, or ſpirit.
WHEN the tabernacle was ſet up, Exod. xl.
34. 35. the cloud of the Lord covered the tent,
and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle..
When Aaron bleſſed the people, for the firſt
time, upon entering upon his office, Levit. ix,
2.3"
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 215
23. the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the
people. When the temple was completed,
and the facred mufick had played, 1 Kings viii.
10. 11. and 2 Chron. v. 13. 14. the cloud filled
the houſe of Jehovah, fo that the Priests could
not fland to minifter, by reason of the cloud:
for the glory of Jehovah had filled the houſe of
Jehovah. And, 2 Chron. vii. 2. when Solomon
had done praying, at the dedication of the
temple, the glory of the Lord filled the houſe.
And the Priests could not enter into the houfe
of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah had
filled Fehovah's house.
Now, if we examine what appearance this
glory of Jehovah had, when he was, as one may
fay, in perfon, taking poffeffion of his houſe,
and can with certainty diſcover it, we may
with confidence conclude, that the fenfible
image it bore, was what God intended ſhould
give the idea of the material thing, to which
he, whofe prefence that appearance denoted,
was to be affimilated.
THE common notion of glory has fplen-
dor, a glare of light, attending it; and, when
brought into ſculpture, or painting, is figured
like rays iffuing from the fun; and, in the paf-
fages above mentioned, a cloud, another em-
blem, was attendant.
P 4
IN
216 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
IN Ezekiel, chap. 1. where the Cherub is de-
fcribed, the glory of Jehovah is alſo ſtrongly
painted. The vifion begins with a whirlwind,
a great cloud, v. 4. and a fire infolding itſelf.
v. 13. As for the likeness of the living creatures,
their appearance was like burning coals of fire,
and like the appearance of lamps it went up
and down among the living creatures, and the
fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth
lightning. v. 26. 37. 28. The appearance
of a Man, on the appearance of a throne; and
the prophet faw, as the colour of amber, as the
appearance of fire round about within it: from
the appearance of his loins even upwards, and
from the appearance of his loins even down-
wards, he faw as it were the appearance of fire;
and it had brightneſs round about. As the ap-
pearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the
day of rain, fo was the appearance of the bright-
nefs round about. This, fays the Prophet, was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the
Lord: and, when he faw it, he fell dawu upon
his face. And chap. 10. v. 4. where the fame
Cherubim are deſcribed, the court is ſaid to have
been full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory,
whilft the houſe was filled with the cloud.
THE deſcription fhews that fire, light, and
cloud, were the principal, if not the only, in
gredients
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 217
gredients in the appearance of the glory of Je-
hovah; and the preternatural appearance of
light, fhining from the ſkin of Moſes's face,
after the glory of Jehovah had paffed by him,
ſhews pretty well, what ſhare light had in the
compofition of that glory; which the Apoſtle
Paul feems to have underſtood, when, writing
to the Hebrews, chap. 1. he ſpeaks of the bright-
nefs of the Father's glory, the exprefs image of his
Perfon.
BESIDES theſe appearances of the glory of
the Lord, Jehovah acts in character, when,
Levit. ix, 23. 24. pleaſed with the priesthood
of Aaron, he fends fire, the emblem of him-
ſelf, out from his face, to burn the ſacrifice on
the altar; when, 2 Chron. vii. 1. fire, upon the
ending of Solomon's prayer, came down from
heaven, and confumed the burnt-offering ;
and when, 1 Kings xviii. 38. the deciſion was
made, as above mentioned, between Jehovab
and Baal, by fire from heaven.
THESE being, perpetually, the fignals of
Jehovah's prefence, the fymbols made uſe of to
denote his appearance; thefe having been,
jointly, or ſeverally, the objects of the earli-
eſt Pagans religious fervices, the Pagans ac-
knowledging the bull, the lion, and the eagle,
as the emblems of theſe their divinities, which,
in
*18 Thoughts concerning Religion,&c.
1
in length of time, they miftook for what they
were intended only to repreſent; and the bull,
the lion, and the eagle, joined in the appear-
ance of one living creature, having been con
fecrated, as one may fay, in the Cherubim, for
the refidence of the presence of God in the
Holy of Holies, one can hardly doubt that the
figures, joined in the Cherubim, which were
the emblems of fire, light, and air, or ſpirit, the
ordinary fimilitude under which the Deity
ufually appeared, were intended to repreſent
thofe characters, or perfons, in the divine Ef-
fence, that fire, light, and air, or ſpirit, re-
fembled.
WHATEVER Occafion man might have had
for the knowledge of the diſtinction of perſons
in the Deity, before the FALL; yet it feems
certain, the manner of his falvation, after his
defection, could not have been imparted to
him without revealing that truth, undiſcover-
able by the light of nature. He could not
poffibly know, how, or upon what ac-
count, his fins were to be pardoned, and him-
ſelf reinſtated in the favour of God, without
being told, that the Deity confifts of three.
Perfons; that of thoſe three, purſuant to a cove-
nant made before the CREATION, the fecond
was to take on him fleſh, and in the form of
a man
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 219
1
a man to ſuffer, and thereby atone for the fins
of mankind; and that the third was to keep
a communication with the fouls of men, for
their guidance and comfort. And man could
not poffibly keep up, with any certainty, the
memory of this Revelation, without fome me-
morial, fome fymbolical act, or thing, to pre-
ſerve it; or look upon fuch fymbol, knowing
the ſenſe of it, without gratefully confeffing.
his obligations to thofe divine Perfons, to
whom he owed his being, his comfort, his
falvation.
A CHRISTIAN, the moſt important
article of whofe Creed it is, that the Deity was
joined to the humanity, that the Word was
made fleſh, that a Perfon in Jehovah became
the Son of Man, and a Man, born of a virgin,
became the Son of Jehovah, will not fcruple,
when he is told, that, in the repreſentation of
the Deity exhibited under ſymbols in the Che-
rubim, for the inftruction and comfort of
mankind, the figure of a Man is added to thoſe
that repreſent the Trinity; that this figure of
a Man is placed at the right hand of that em-
blem that repreſents the Father, the first Perfon,
the Fire; and that it is, in a particular manner,
conjoined with the Lion, the fecond Perfon,
the Light. He firmly believes what theſe fi-
2
gures,
220 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
gures, thus explained, reprefent; and muft
think it agreeable to the great condeſcenſion,
and goodneſs of the merciful God, to acquaint
man, from the beginning, with what fo near-
ly concerned him, and what, without Revela-
tion, he could poffibly have no idea of.
THE hieroglyphical repreſentation in the
Cherubim muft not be confidered, fingly, from
the form of it; but to that muſt be added the
rank it had in the tabernacle, and the cere-
mony, or emblematical action, in which it was
concerned.
IT has been already obſerved, that the Che-
rubim were to be made out of the fame pure
gold that compofed the mercy-feat, which they
were to cover with their wings; and all that
is defcribed to us, further, of their poſture,
is, that, ſtanding one at each end of the mercy-
feat, their faces were to look towards each
other, and towards the mercy-feat.
THIS mercy-feat, the ſpace between the two
Cherubim, is deſcribed, particularly, as the
place of the refidence of the Deity, and of
his appearance; he was to inhabit the Cheru-
bim, or between them; and he was to appear,
there, in the cloud, and to declare his will
from thence.
BESIDES
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 221
BESIDES this, there was a ſtated folemn
ceremony to be performed, once a-year, on
the day of Expiation, before the mercy-feat:
the Priest was to bring within the vail the
blood of the fin-offering, and with it to make
atonement for all the people, by fprinkling of
the blood upon the mercy-feat, and ſeven times
before it; and this blood, fo fprinkled, is faid
to expiate.
THE atoning blood, in this higheſt act of the
Mofaical inftitution, was fprinkled on that
place, the mercy-feat, towards which the feve-
ral faces of the Cherubim were turned: and,
if they were to fee, they had no object to
look at, on this folemn day of expiation, but
the Priest in the holy garment, the emblem of
the Second Perfon, the Light, ſprinkling this
blood on, and towards, the mercy-feat; this
could hardly fail to raiſe the idea, that the
blood, ſo ſprinkled, was the object, the divine
Perfons, whom thefe figures reprefented, look-
ed upon as the propitiation, the ranfom, the
atonement.
AND, if it was neceffary, towards making
this emblem complete, to repreſent all the
Perfons as looking upon, and accepting, this
blood, then it became neceffary to make two
feveral Cherubs, and to place them at different
ends
222 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ends of the mercy-feat, that the face of each
figure might be turned towards the ſpot the
blood was to be' fprinkled on; becauſe, had
there been no more than one Cherub, two on-
ly of the four faces could have been directed
to the place on which the blood was to be
fprinkled; befides that the fignificancy of the
circumftance of their faces looking towards
each other, which deferves a ſeparate confide-
ration, would have been loft.
NOTHING is more certain, than that, un→
der the Mofaick œconomy, the Deity was to
refide, to dwell, to appear, in the midſt of the
people, in the place where he was to put his
Name; the place where, and where only, in
exclufion of all others, facrifice was to be of-
fered, the altar was to be fet up, and every
other ceremonial, or emblematical act of their
religion was to be performed, and more par-
ticularly the higheſt, in, or between the Che-
rubim.
WHATEVER religious act was done, in this
place, is ſaid to be done before Jehovah; in
the Hebrew, always, before the faces of Fe-
hovah.
Now, if the feveral faces of the Cherubim
are taken to repreſent the Perfons in the Dei-
ty, and therefore to be called the faces of Fe-
hovah,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 223
hovah, the reaſon of this phraſeology will be
obvious, as the phraſe itſelf will be fignifi
cant.
IT is not to be diffembled, that the Hebrew
words, tranflated before the faces, are often
made uſe of to fignify before, or in preſence of,
without regard to plurality of faces; but it
deferves inquiry, how ſo ſtrange a phraſeology
came to take place.
AND it ſeems to call for very particular at-
tention, that, before the Mofaick inftitution,
and, indeed, from the firſt Revelation, the pre-
fence of the Deity is repreſented as confined,
with reſpect to religious acts, to a place; and
what is done, in that place, is ſaid to be done
before the faces of Jehovah.
CAIN is faid to have gone out from the
faces of Jehovah, and to have dwelt in the land
of Nod, to the eastward of Eden. Now, if by
the faces of Jehovah is not meant fome parti-
cular place of his immediate preſence, and if,
on the contrary, his prefence, as we tranſlate
it, in general, is underſtood, the thing will not
be true: Cain could not convey himſelf out
of the preſence of God, which is everywhere;
but he might remove from that place which he
choſe, in a particular manner, for his refi-
dence, in the celebration of religious acts.
IN
224 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c:
In like manner, the pot of manna, Exod. xvi.
is ordered to be laid up, and was accordingly
Iaid up, before the faces of Jehovah, before the
Teſtimony, long before the Mofaick tabernacle
and ark was made, or erected. Laying it up
any where would, in one fenfe, have been
laying it up before the Lord; but Aaron un-
derſtood the meaning of the expreffion to be,
to lay it up before the Teftimony, where the
faces of the Cherubim were.
NOR need any one fcruple admitting the
force of this laſt obſervation; for it is evident
from this, as well as other texts, that the If-
raelites had an ark, and a tabernacle, conſe-
crated to the refidence of Jehovah, and de-
ftined to religious ſervice, before the Moſaick
tabernacle was reared up.
UPON the provocation of the Ifraelites, in
making the golden calf, Jehovah being highly
difpleaſed, the tabernacle was by Moſes taken
out of the center, and removed far from the
camp, and was called the tabernacle of the con-
gregation, where Jehovah deſcended in a cloud,
to give directions to Mofes. Now this hap-
pened in the interval, between Mofes's recei-
ving inſtructions for building the tabernacle
that was made in the wilderneſs, and his gi-
ving orders for the contribution for that
work
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 225
work; which evinces that the Ifraelites had,
upon their going out of Egypt, a tabernacle
for Jehovah, diftinguiſhed by his prefence,
and the fymbols of it, before that reared by
Mofes was prepared.
THOUGH the having a tabernacle for Je-
hovah fufficiently implies the having an ark,
with the mercy-feat and Cherubim, the furni-
ture of it; yet there is other evidence to ſhew
that the Ifraelites actually had an ark, differ-
ent from that made by Mofes. For when the
ark, which had been taken by the Philistines,
was locally at Kirjath-jearim, Saul, being at
Gibeah of Benjamin, 1 Sam. xiv. 18. orders.
Abijah to bring him thither the ark of God;
and the perman of that book adds a remark,
for at that time there was an ark of God, be-
fides that, with the children of Ifrael. And
when the ark made by Mofes, after having
been carried from Kirjath-jearim, was lodged
in Zion, Uriah, who had left Joab at the fiege
of Rabbah, being preffed to go to his houſe
and to his wife, excuſes himſelf, alledging it
was not proper for him to take fo much eaſe,
when the Ark, and Ifrael, and Judah abode
in tents, and Joab, and the King's fervants.
were incamped in the open fields, 2 Sam.
xi. II.
VOL. I.
е
AND
226 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
AND it ſeems highly probable, that the
Ark thus brought to Saul when in camp, and
the Ark that was with Joab at the fiege of
Rabbah, was the fame that belonged to the
tabernacle which the Ifraelites carried from
Egypt with them; becauſe, after the building
of Mofes's tabernacle, it was unlawful to have
made any new one in imitation of it.
If it is afked, whence the Ifraelites had an
ark, a tabernacle, Cherubim, and the preſence,
or the ſuppoſed preſence, of Jehovah, in, or
between thoſe Cherubim? toward the reſolu-
tion of that queſtion, it muſt be conſidered,
whence the antient nations had their Cifte,
their Arks, their Images, their Teraphim, their
Tabernacles, their Temples; becauſe the origin
of both will, very probably, be found the
fame.
THE account given us by Mofes, of the pub-
fication of the Gospel, after the Fall, is very
fhort, and conciſe, though the Revelation may,
in itſelf, have been very full and explicit.
Hopes of mercy given are recorded in that
fingle ſentence, The feed of the woman shall
bruiſe the head of the ferpent: and we hear
of no other ſymbolical thing, inftitution, or
exhibition, except only the placing, or inha-
biting.
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 227
biting, the Cherubim, to the eaſtward of Eden,
upon man's being removed out of it.
*
THE Jews, who have miſconſtrued the An-
gel Jehovah into a created angel, have thought
fit, here, to underſtand, by the Cherubims, two
of the fame fort of Angels, who had got a fla-
ming ſword, amongſt them, to frighten Adam
from re-entering Eden, and meddling with the
fruit of the tree of life; and this monſtrous
ſtory they have made out of a text that, ne-
ceffarily, means no fuch thing, and may fairly
be conftrued to a fenfe big with the moft im-
portant information to mankind.
FOR, in the first place, what the Jews and
we tranſlate to keep the way of the tree of life,
with intent to prevent the coming at it, may
as properly be rendered to obſerve, or for ab-
ferving, and fo diſcovering, or finding out,
the way to the tree of life; and every body
knows that the word way of heaven, way to
life, in the Greek, as well Hebrew learning,
means to arrive at happineſs.
In the next place, what we commonly trans-
late flaming fword ftands in two feveral Nouns,
not joined by conftruction, flame and fword;
which laft means nothing more particular than
a killing weapon.
Q. 2
ANDI
228 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
•
.
AND, in the laſt place, the word we tranf-
late placed Cherubims, is, almoft always, in
every other text tranflated inhabited; and whe-
ther you tranſlate it placed, or inhabited, the
next word ought to be tranflated the Cheru-
bims, as things or emblems well known to thoſe
for whom Mofes wrote. So that Jehovah's
placing or inhabiting theſe Cherubims, where there
was alſo the appearance of fire and fword, was
the method, chofen by him, to make the way
to the tree of life kept, or obſerved.
Now, as the eſtabliſhed method for atone-
ment and propitiation, the known way to the
tree of life, was, by employing fire in burnt-
facrifice, and the fword in fhedding blood,
both which must be done before the faces of
Jehovah, refiding in or between the Cherubim ;
what hinders us to conclude, that the exhibi-
tion mentioned by Mofes was, to the fymboli-
cal inftitution and ſervice afterwards eſtabliſh-
ed amongſt men, the fame that the patterns
ſhewed to Moſes and to David were of the ta-
bernacle and temple that afterwards were
erected; and that Adam, and in him mànkind,
was thereby inftructed to ſhed Blood, and
offer burnt-facrifice, before the faces of fuch
fymbolical figures as were then repreſented?
Surely, if the ſhedding of blood, and offering
by
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 229
1
by fire, were then inftituted, as we are pretty
ſure they were, the manner would alſo be di-
rected. And, as we know, from the hiftory
of Cain, that Jehovah choſe a place for his
more immediate prefence, called his faces, we
cannot poffibly doubt that directions must be
given with what fymbols that place was to be
adorned, and how it was to be diftinguiſhed:
nor can we reaſonably heſitate to pronounce
that the ſymbol of his prefence was the Cheru-
bim, the place where, in the Jewish œconomy,
he most certainly dwelt, and where, in the
very text in queftion, he is faid to inhabit.
IF then this emblematical repreſentation was
exhibited, immediately after the Fall, to ex-
prefs and keep in perpetual memory the Re-
velation of mercy to man, by the blood and
fuffering of that perfect human facrifice, who
was to be joined to the fecond Perſon in the
Deity, and to redeem and govern thoſe that
ferved, and trufted in him, we can clearly
ſee the extent of God's goodneſs from the
beginning, univerfally, to all mankind; and
we can perceive how the Jews came to have
a tabernacle, and an ark, with proper em-
blems, before that made by Moſes; and how
the Nations came by their ſymbols, of the like
Q3
nature;
130 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
•
nature; which in proceſs of time they mif-
took, mifapplied, and altered, when their
corruption and imagination had once led them
aftray.
FOR, if, in that emblematical ſervice, the
Symbol of the prefence of the Deity was ne-
ceffary, towards performing facrifice, as well
as the emblem of the great facrifice, the great
interceffor, &c. then it became neceffary for
men, when, by multiplying, they were for-
ced to extend their quarters, and to people
diſtant regions, to carry fome ſymbol of the
divine preſence along with them, in order to
the facrificing acceptably; every nation, a-
greeing in the fame fervice, muft have one;
and every family, fo long as the right of ex-
ercifing the priesthood remained with the
firſt-born, muſt alſo have one, elſe that right
would be of no benefit: and, if they lived
in the itinerant, No-made way, they muft
have a tent, or tabernacle, for placing thoſe
fymbols in, as well as means of tranſporting
them; as, on the other hand, if their feats.
were fixed, fo as to fuffer them to erect
houſes for themſelves, they naturally would
find houſes, temples, for thofe fymbols.
NOTHING was more common than Houſe
old-Gods among the antients. Laban had his
Teraphim,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c, 23k
Teraphim, which he calls his Gods, and about
which he was extremely folicitous; Rachel
had no leſs reſpect for them than he. The
Heathens carried their Gods along with them,
whitherfoever they went. The idolatrous
Ifraelites had, probably, in the wilderneſs
tabernacles for their Gods Chiun and Rem-
phan. The caufe of making the golden
Calf was, probably, compliance with this
cuftom. Æneas is commended for the pious
care of carrying his Gods, his Dii Penates,
from Troy to Italy; though what the form
of them was, is not known. Every family
had their Penates, their Dii Lares, though
in later times they forgot what form theſe
antiently were of. Teraphim, Penates, La-
res, are all plural names for the reprefenta-
tions of thoſe Family - Gods; and, laying
thofe circumftances together, it is impoffi-
ble to doubt that the making thefe repre-
fentations, amongst the different nations and
kindreds, owed its origin to one and the
fame caufe.
IT was becauſe of the many corruptions
introduced into the facred ſervice, in prac-
tice as well as in opinion, that the Jewish
œconomy was inftituted; and it was becauſe
the permiffion of every head of a family to
Q4
be
232 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
be Prieft, for his own houfe, and to facri-
fice according to his own will, had introdu-
ced the greateſt uncertainty, as well as er-
ror, that the firſt act towards eſtabliſhing
the Jewish liturgy was, the abrogating that
right, the depriving the first-born of all pre-
tence to fhed blood, and transferring that
right to the family of Aaron.
IT was for the fame reaſon, and to the
fame intent, that facrifice of all forts was
prohibited, except before the faces of Feho-
vah, in the tabernacle firft, and then in the
temple. In the wilderneſs no Ifraelite could
lawfully kill a clean animal, for private uſe,
in any other place, except before the taber-
nacle and though, when the people had
fixed feats in the land of Canaan, diftant
from the faces of Jehovah, they were per-
mitted to kill of the flocks, or of the herds,
for domeſtick uſe, provided they did not
eat the blood or the fat; yet ſtill, under the
ſtrictest menaces, they were prohibited to
facrifice, for fear of the abuſes that might
enfue.
THE very prohibition, together with ſub-
ftituting the Levites in place of the firſt-born,
and the change that was thereby introduced
in the precedent practice, which all man-
kind
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 233
kind but the Jews continued in, fhews fuf-
ficiently what was lawful and regular before
that prohibition; and the circumſtances,above
taken notice of, fufficiently fhew the occafion
and meaning of it.
MUCH of the fame kind, and nearly for
the ſame reaſon, is the prohibition to make
graven or molten images to repreſent Jeho-
vah, to fall down before them, or worſhip
them; to erect altars, ftatues, or pillars, for
religious fervice. Abraham, &c. built altars;
Jacob anointed a ſtone, which he had fet up,
and called it Beth-el; and doubtlefs the prac-
tice of both was laudable, and, but for the
prohibition in the inftitution given by Moſes,
each might have been lawfully practifed by
the Ifraelites in Canaan, as well as their fa-
crificing before the faces of Jehovah might
have been imitated. But, after all religious
ſervice, the whole fymbolical repreſentation
of the grace of God to mankind, was con-
fined to the tabernacle and temple, then
what was lawful to be done elſewhere, be-
came unlawful; and, as it was thus impoffi-
ble, after that period, to facrifice any where
but before the faces of Jehovah, the fymbols
of his prefence, in the holy place, it became
unfit to make, or to have in reverence, thoſe
Symbols
234 Thoughts concerning Religion,&c.
fymbols (which were only expreffive, as they
were joined with facrifice) any where elſe,
except when a Prophet had immediate di-
rection, or in caſes of neceſſity.
THE prohibition, then, is to Ifrael, that
they ſhould not make unto themſelves gra-
ven images, the fimilitudes of any thing in
the heavens above, or in the earth beneath,
&.; that they fhould not bow down to
them, nor ferve them; that they ſhould not
take upon themſelves, wantonly, to affimi-
late God to what their imaginations might
fuggeſt to them he was like, by the practice
whereof mankind had already run into ſo
many ridiculous, and miferable errors. But
this prohibition does not, in any degree,
imply, that the Deity might not continue
the uſe of the facred fymbol of his perfonality,
and grace, in the merciful act of redeeming
mankind, in the Holy of Holies; no more
than the inhibition to facrifice, at large, pre-
vented facrificing in the temple. And, if
it be faid, that the actual inftitution of fa-.
crifice, at the altar, fhews the prohibition to
facrifice was not abfolute, it may alſo be
faid, that the command to frame the Cherubim
is as expreſs as that to burn Holocaufts at the
altar.
IT
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 235
IT is, indeed, true, that the prohibition
extends to prohibit all religious worship,
even to the facred emblems in the holy place;
an extravagance into which the idolaters had
fallen; and that may be a main motive for
forbidding the very making, or having, fuch
emblems in private hands. But then there
was no danger of that abuſe in the temple:
The Symbols were placed there, not as the
objects of worship, but as defcriptive, in
fome degree, of the manner of the act of
grace, as it was to be brought about by the
perfons in the Deity, for mankind. The
prefence, that was to be worshipped, was to
be looked for between thoſe ſymbols, or em-
blems, upon the mercy-feat; and the cloud,
and the glory iffuing from it, called away
the attention from thoſe repreſentations. Be-
fides that, to prevent abufes from imagina-
tion, and all attempts of worshipping, theſe
facred figures were kept in the innermoft
part of the tabernacle, and temple, to be
approached only once a-year, and that by the
High-Prieft, on the day of expiation.
THAT this was the apprehenfion of the
Ifraelites, of thoſe times, is evident from the
conduct of their fucceffors, who could not.
well fail to be acquainted with their noti-
ons;
236 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
ens; and who might think, that ordinances.
of this kind, intended to take place in a
ftate of quiet and tranquillity, when all the
people had free access to the tabernacle, or
temple, might be fuperfeded, in cafe of abfo-
lute neceffity, when the pious could not have
acceſs to preſent themſelves at thoſe places.
MICAH, who lived in the time of the
Judges, certainly feared Jehovah: the fil-
ver, belonging to his mother, was dedicated
to Jehovah, to make an Ephod, and Tera-
phim, &c. when he fucceeded in getting a
Priest to his mind, he concluded that he was
certain Jehovah would do him good; and
this Ephod, and Teraphim, evidently were
prophetick.
His ſcheme, then, manifeftly was not to
revolt from Jehovah, nor to ſerve idols, or
other Gods; but, whilft the confufion and
oppreffion of Ifrael made it impoffible to at-
tend at Shilo, to have a house of God in his
own family, with facred fymbols, and a
Prieft, who, before the faces of Jehovah, in
that place could make atonement by facri-
fice, whilft communication with Shilo was
obftructed.
HE, therefore, made an Ephod, and Tera-
phim, in imitation of the approved Symbols-3
and,
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 237
✔
and, having them fet up, had, Judg. xvii. 5.
Beth-Elohim, a house of God.
The Tranf
lators, imagining that the Teraphim repre-
fented falſe gods, have rendered the words
Beth-Elohim a houfe of gods; though, chap.
xviii. 31. they render the very fame words,
when applied to the tabernacle in Shilo, the
house of God.
As the fervice, for which this Ephod, and
Teraphim, this house of God, was intended,
could not be performed without a Prieft,
Micah, who it ſeems was not himſelf a firſt-
born, confecrated one of his fons, probably
the eldeft, for that office, for want of one
more fit; but meeting, at laft, with a Le-
vite, he engaged him to ſerve in that ftation,
and confecrated him, in full belief that this
action would be acceptable to Jehovah.
AND, accordingly, we ſee Jehovah was pro-
pitious to this pious, though irregular defign.
The Ephod, and Teraphim, confulted by the
Danites about the fuccefs of their under-
taking, returned a true anſwer; which fo far
raiſed the eſteem of the Danites for thofe
facred fymbols, that they robbed Micah of
them, and ſet them up in their own coun-
try; where they continued in reputation till
the Captivity.
MICAH,
238 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
MICAH, complaining of the injury done
him in taking from him the Teraphim, fays
they had taken away his Elohim, his God.
It is difficult, if at all poffible, to imagine
that Micah, who ſet up thofe figures to do
fervice to Jehovah, could have meant any
more than that the Teraphim were the Sym-
bol. or repreſentation, of the Elohim, necef-
fary to be uſed in the chief act of religious
fervice; and, if that fhall be the conftructi-
on, the reſemblance between Teraphim in
private fervice, before the Mofaick Law, and
Cherubim in the publick ſervice, after it, is
pretty obfervable.
IT was, in all appearance, for the fame
reaſon, and to the fame end, that Gideon, a
fervant of the true God, who had feen the
Angel Jehovah, to whom Jehovah had ſpo-
ken, to whom and by whom Jehovah had
wrought wonders, made an Ephod of the
golden fpoils of the Midianites, and fet it
up in Ophrah, his city; whither the Ifraelites;
in proceſs of time, ran a whoring after its
and where it became a fnare to Gideon, and
to his houſe.
THAT this Ephod had Teraphim, and all
the proper appurtenances, as Micah's had, at-
tending upon it, is not to be doubted; and
it
2
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 239
T
I
it is remarkable, that Gideon's act is not
cenfured for any inherent malignity in it,
but only for the confequences of it; as the
Ephod he fet up, in procefs of time, de-
bauched the people, and became a fnare to
him, and to his houſe.
THESE inftances, pretty plainly, ſhew, that
Teraphim were no more than a copy of the
original Cherubim, applied to the fame ufes
that the Cherubim were on the Mercy-feat:
and as all mankind agree, from many clear
proofs, that the Teraphim were images, or
repreſentations, of what the antients took to
be expreffive of their Deity, it can hardly be
queftioned that the Cherubim were intended
for the fame purpoſe.
SUPPOSING this to have been the cafe ;
as the very exhibition muſt have been intend-
ed to repreſent Trinity in the Deity, and the
share each Perfon had in the falvation of
man, it is impoffible the Jews could have re-
jected the belief of the Trinity, and with it
the Meſſiah upon his advent, fo long as they
retained the memory, and the underſtand-
ing, of that hieroglyphical reprefentation..
But, as it was fixed in Providence that they
fhould disbelieve the one, and reject the
other, their wild imaginations, whilft the
figures
240 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
figures remained in the temple, led them to
neglect all reflexion upon them, and to run
after falſe gods; and this neceffary piece of
knowledge, towards underſtanding the fy-
ſtem of grace, dropt fo totally out of their
heads, or rather they had framed notions fo
contrary to it, that, upon their return from
the captivity, the Ark and Cherubim had no
room in their temple; though theſe were
the very kernel of all their religious ceremo-
nies; and tho' the knowledge of the figures.
of the Cherubim was preſerved by Ezekiel, a
Prophet allowed by themſelves to be inſpired,
as the dimenfions and fabrick of the mercy-
feat were by Mofes.
THAT the fhutting up thoſe figures in the
Sanctum Sanctorum might have contributed
to the lofs of the knowledge of their form,
amongst the Jews, may be true; but then, if
they had not been deſcribed by Ezekiel, that
lofs would have been total, and irreparable;
and we, as well as they, fhould be deprived
of the benefit of that reprefentation, to
evidence the original and permanent deſign
of the merciful Deity: But as the loſs of
the ideas, which ought to have refulted from
that repreſentation, anfwered the end of
God in the hardness of the Jews; fo the
pre-
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 241
preſervation of thofe facred figures, by
Ezekiel, ferves to convict the Jews of that
hardneſs, to render them inexcufable for
their infidelity, and, at the fame time, to
confirm and illuftrate the faith of Chri-
ftians.
THE form and the meaning of the repre-
ſentation in the Cherubim is not the only
piece of uſeful knowledge the Jews, to whoſe
cuftody the facred oracles were committed,
have loft as to themſelves; though, in pre-
ferving the facred books, they have providen-
tially faved them for the benefit and in-
ftruction of thoſe who were called, to be the
people of God, in their ſtead.
IT has been already obferved, that there
is a particular emphafis, which the Jews will
not fee, in the plural Elohim, ufed always in
ſcripture to fignify God; and it is uncon-
teſtable, that the word itſelf carries fome
idea in it deſcriptive of fome character, ſome
relation, the Being defcribed bears to Man.
THE word Jehovah the Septuagint tranf-
lates Kuęros, and we, after it, Lord; becauſe
of the delicacy of the original interpreters,
who might think it fome fort of profana-
tion to tranſlate that facred word, and make
it common in its known meaning. Neither
VOL. I.
Jew
R
242 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
Few nor Chriftian doubts that Jehovah ex-
preffes the effence that neceſſarily exifts; and
every body knows that it does not mean
what Kugios properly fignifies the Greek
word is a faithful and juſt tranſlation of Ado-
ni, which the fuperftitious Jews have placed
in the room of Jehovah; it fignifies Dominus,
Lord, Mafter, but carries nothing in it of the
idea of the Original.
THE idea reſulting from the word Kúptos,
Lord, is relative, and bears a particular re-
gard to fubjects, fervants, without which the
idea of Lord cannot fubfift; but the idea
arifing from the word Jehovah is abfolute,
bearing no relation to any thing but itſelf,
and ftanding fixed and determined by itſelf,
fubfifting though nothing befides did exiſt.
AND, therefore, we can reaſonably fay,
my Lord, thy Lord, his Lord, our Lord, their
Lord, the Lord of the land, &c. and thofe
expreffions are often ufed in fcripture; but
we cannot ſay, my Jehovah, thy Jehovah, &c.
and in fact there is no fuch expreffion in the
whole facred book: and, when we tranflate,
my Lord, thy Lord, &c. the word tranflated is
never Jehovah, but always Adoni, or fome
other word of the fame fignification.
A s
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 243
1
1
As we diſcover the idea conveyed by Je-
hovah to be abfolute, fo we perceive the idea
implied in Elohim to be relative, by the uſe
of it: nothing is more common than my,
thy, our, their, his, Elohim, which never is
faid of Jehovah; and, as the word has fome
fignification of relation, the tranſlators ought
to have expreffed it by a word that bore
fome fuch fenfe.
BUT, as they have erred in rendering the
abfolute word Jehovah by the word Lord,
which carries an idea fignificant of relation;
fo they have erred, on the other hand, by
rendering the word Elohim Osòs, Oedt, God,
Gods; which, ſo far as we know by the deri-
vation affigned for it, has nothing fignificant
in it, at leaft carries no idea of relation to
us, or to any other thing.
IF the word sòs, or the word God, have
no fignificant meaning in themſelves, and
are made uſe of as founds only to raiſe the
idea of the eternal Being; then the apply-
ing that word by the relatives, my, thy,
&c. is improper; the eternal Being, abfo-
lutely confidered, has no more relation
to one, than to another: and, if the term
☺sòs had originally any fignification of rela-
tion, by all we can difcover from the Greek
R 2
anti-
244 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
antiquities, it was loft long before the Sep-
tuagint tranſlation; nor do we know what
the preciſe meaning of the Saxon word God
was, other than to denote the ſupreme be-
neficent Being.
THE Jews, therefore, ought to have tranf
lated the word Jehovah by a word of the
fame fignification; or at leaſt to have ren-
dered it totidem literis, if they could not
find a word of the fame import; and they
ought not to have tranflated it by a word
that has another and a different meaning:
and they ought not to have tranflated Elohim,
which moſt certainly had a fignification of
relation, by a word which had no fignifica-
tion at all of relation affixed to it; on the
contrary, they ought to have kept up, in
the tranſlation, to the true meaning of the
word; or to have retained the Hebrew term,
totidem literis, in the tranflation, as they
did in proper names; for then, though they
muſt have left men in the dark, they would
not have miſled them, nor done the miſ-
chief they have done to their fucceffors.
WITHOUT inquiring whether the loſs, or
the concealing of the meaning of this word,
proceeded from folly, or faultinefs, or from
a mixture of both, in the Jews, it is highly
neceffary
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 245
neceſſary to ſearch, in order to the recovery
of it; knowing the genius of the Hebrew
language to be ſuch, that fignificant words
are framed from roots that yield ſome cer-
tain, fixed idea, and thereby convey a de-
termined meaning.
In looking over the radical words of the
Hebrew language, one finds the root Elah
to mean an Oath, or Adjuration, the Exe-
cration made to affect the breaker of a cove-
nant; and the genius of the language cer-
tainly admits the word Elab to be uſed, from
that, to fignify a perſon that hath taken upon
him this oath, and Elohim to denote more
perfons become fubject to it, or entering into
covenant, or agreement, together.
THAT Elohim fhould be formed, from this
root, to fignify perſons under the obligation
or execration of an oath, may ſeem, at 'firſt
fight, ſomewhat hard; but that notion will
become more familiar, when one confiders
that Jehovah, throughout the facred ſcriptures,
is ſaid on many occafions, in confirmation
of any promife, or covenant, relating to a
future event, to fwear, to fwear by himſelf, to
fwear as Fehovah liveth, in order to create
abfolute certainty, and reliance on the per-
formance.
R 3
WHY
246 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
WHY Jehovah is thus repreſented as taking
an oath, and what the nature and manner of
that oath may be, merits a diftinct confidera-
tion; but fince, in fact, he repreſents him-
ſelf to us in that light, as binding his pro-
mifes my oath, we may eafily conceive why
he may chufe to be called, and confidered,
as the God bound by oath, the Being folemnly
engaged under an immutable obligation, by
thoſe who are to believe in, and rely on his
promiſes.
THOUGH we have no footſtep, ſo far as I
know, left of this fignification, in the terms
which the Greeks, or Romans, or other later
heathens, made ufe of to fignify the Deity;
yet the Greeks had their Jupiter "Opnios,
and the Romans their Jupiter Foederator;
and nothing was more common, amongſt
thofe heathens, than the notion that the fu-
preme God could bind himſelf by oath; nay
they defcribe, with fictitious circumſtances,
the particular oath that was immutable. Here,
again, is an inſtance of a very extraordinary
notion, very far from being deducible from
the light of nature, pick'd up, and maintained
univerſally, amongſt the moſt antient nations
we know, which tallies wonderfully with
what the facred book, of which they knew
nothing,
•
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 247.
nothing, exhibits; and muft therefore have
flowed from the fame original.
If we admit that Elebim carries the no-
tion of Fœderatores, Beings or Perfons in
Alliance, bound by oath to make their en-
gagement effectual, then we evidently fee
why they may, are, and ought to be, called,
my, our, their, &c. Elohim; why Jehovah
deſcribes himſelf by the title of the Elohim
of Abraham, of Iſaac, of Jacob, of Ifrael;
why they call upon him as their Elobim;
why, in their praiſes, they aſcribe to their
Elohim power, goodness, faithfulneſs, be-
yond the Elohim of other nations; and why
the leading encouragement to the Ifraelites,
to do well, is, that Jehovah is, or will be,
their Elohim, and they are, or ſhall be, to
him a peculiar people; as, on the other hand,
if they broke their covenant, the Elab, the
oath or execration, would reach them.
AND, furely, if Jehovah was pleaſed to
make, or to repreſent himſelf as making a co-
venant for the benefit of mankind, or of any
particular people, by which he was unaltera-
bly bound to redeem and preſerve them, on
their performing certain conditions, the moſt
kind, and, at the fame time, the moſt uſeful
appellation he could chuſe to be addreſſed to
R 4
by,
248 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
by, is that of Elohim, in the notion of Fadera-
tor; becauſe it could not be pronounced,
with attention, without raifing the moſt thank-
ful fentiments of the mercy and goodneſs of
God, joined to the ſtrongeſt confidence in his
favour; and, at the fame time, warning the
party of the danger of tranfgreffing, by non-
compliance with the conditions to which he,
on his part, was bound.
IF Elohim was a term peculiar to Jehovah,
as God of Ifrael, with whom he plainly ap-
pears to have been in covenant, the reafon of
that appellation would be pretty obvious;
but fo it happens, that he is called the Elohim
of the whole Earth; and, in the deſcription of
the Creation, the works performed by the Eter-
nal are ſaid to be done by the Elohim, and all
the antient nations admitted the term Elohim
as deſcriptive of their God. So that it will be
a ſtrong objection againſt this ſenſe of the
word Elohim, if no reaſonable account can be
given of an earlier covenant than that with
Abraham, and if that covenant did not extend
to all mankind.
WHOEVER believes that there are three per-
fons in the Deity, whereof one became bound
to join himſelf to humanity, and perform
complete righteouſneſs, and give complete
fatis-
A
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 249
fatisfaction for the fins of mankind; one be-
came bound to affift man, thus redeemed, to
do his duty, and to reform his heart; and one
became bound to accept of this fatisfaction,
and, upon receiving it, to admit man to fel-
lowſhip and favour; will not ſcruple to allow,
that, before even the creation, a covenant, or
agreement was made to this purpoſe between
the facred three, in the event of man's falling:
and he will be the lefs fcrupulous to admit.
this, when he confiders ſeveral texts that ſup-
poſe it; particularly the 110th Pfalm, v. 4.
which fays, Jehovah hath fworn, and will not
repent, Thou art a Prieft for ever, after the or-
der of Melchizedek.
BUT, whatever may be thought of this; as
none, who confiders and believes the fcrip-
tures, can doubt that this covenant was made
known to the firſt man, on the fall; if that
term Elohim was confecrated for his in-
formation and comfort, it would pafs current
amongst all mankind, his defcendents; and
that would ſufficiently authoriſe Moſes, in de-
fcribing the creation, to make uſe of the term
Elohim, afcribing to Jehovah, the Elohim upon
whoſe fidelity all mankind were to depend for
falvation, the creation of this ſyſtem, and of
man.
AND
250 Thoughts concerning Religion,&c.
AND though Mofes does not, formally, re-
late that Jehovah acquainted man, immediate-
ly upon the fall, of a covenant made for his
falvation; yet ſeveral paffages, as recorded by
him, fhew that mankind had early knowledge.
of this covenant. For, in fpeaking to Noah,
both before and after the flood, Jehovah fays
he will eſtabliſh his covenant with Noah, and
with his feed; not ufing the word that is, com-
monly, tranflated to make a covenant, which
would have been done if no covenant had
been made before; but making choice of an
expreffion that prefuppofed a covenant, for-
merly made, and known to be made to Noah,
who was made fure he was to reap, after that
declaration, the benefit of it.
AND, if one enters into the belief that this
covenant (which gave birth to the appellation
Elohim) was made by the Elohim, from the
beginning, and was intimated to mankind,
upon the fall, when the purpoſe of mercy was
first revealed; and when, for explaining and
recording that purpoſe of grace, the whole
emblematical inftitution was appointed, and
the Cherubim were exhibited; he will readily.
admit, that the pofition of the two Cherubs,
with their faces looking towards each other,
and at the mercy-feat, where the blood for
atone-
{
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 251
atonement was to be ſprinkled, might repre-
fent the Elohim, as parties in the act for making
a covenant, looking and relying on each other
for the performance, and regarding the blood,
which was the emblem of the confideration for
which man was to be redeemed and this
opinion he will the more readily give into,
when he recollects that the ark, which fup-
ported the Mercy-Seat and the Cherubim, the
principal emblems of the Jewiſh religion, is
moſt commonly called the Ark of the Cove-
nant.
As the Jews cannot be pardoned the lofing
the ſenſe of the word Elohim, they can hardly
be forgiven their plain endeavour to hide the
original meaning of the word tranflated co-
venant.
THAT Berith, the word fo tranflated, does
not, in its original fenſe, ſignify covenant, is
evident from this; that the formal phraſe
made uſe of to fignify the making a covenant
is, precifely, to cut off, or flay, Berith; much
in the fame way as icere, percutere, ferire,
fœdus, is, amongſt the Romans, to fignify the
making a covenant.
BERITH, therefore, in its original fignifica-
tion, denotes fomething that was to be cut off
to be ſlain; and Mofes, Exod. xxiv. 8. after
having
252 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
having, as the fymbol of the covenant conclu-
ded between Jehovah and the People, divided
the blood of the facrifice into two equal parts,
and after having ſprinkled the one half on the
altar, fprinkled the other half on the people,
faying, Behold the blood of Berith, which Feho-
vah hath cut off with you, concerning all theſe
words. And, Zech. ix. 11. priſoners are ſet
free by the blood of the covenant, Berith.
THE Latin Literati very truly affign the
rife of the phraſe ferire fœdus, when they ſay,
that in all leagues, covenants, and agree-
ments, it was the antient and original cuſtom
to flay fome victim, to facrifice; whence,
mentioning the folemn act, the flaying the vic-
tim, in common uſage, came to fignify the
whole act of making a league, to which it was
applied but they fail in affigning an adequate
reaſon for the ceremony of flaying any ani-
mal, at treaties; which again muſt have given
rife to the form of ſpeech in queſtion.
IT has been already obferved, that the blood
of the Redeemer, who, in due time, was to be
cut off, was the confideration of the original
covenant between the Elohim, and between
them and man; and the cutting off, and ſprin-
kling the blood of a type, a creature fubfti-
tuted in the room of the Redeemer, till his
real
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 253
real advent, was the Symbol of that Covenant,
ufed, even by Jehovah, in making Covenants
with men, as in the inftance at Sinai; and,
therefore, uſed by all men, when they entered
into folemn agreements with each other. Cut-
ting off a creature, then, in a particular man-
ner, or under a particular character, being the
Symbol of that important covenant, it is no
great wonder that men, in their folemn en-
gagements with each other, fhould make uſe
of that facred act; and that faying, fhortly,
that fuch creature, by fuch name or character,
was cut off, fhould, in common uſage, fignify
that a covenant was made.
THOUGH theſe reflexions may give ſome
reaſonable ſatisfaction why cutting off, or flay-
ing, a victim was uſed in making covenants §
yet it is ftill neceffary to inquire what parti-
cular character the thing, called Berith, bore,
to diſtinguiſh it from common victims in or-
dinary facrifices, and to appropriate it to the
ufe of binding covenants; fince there is no ap-
pearance, after the most accurate ſearch, that
Berith was the name of any ſort of animal
uſed in facrifice.
IN examining carefully the Old Teftament,
two paffages, and no more, are to be met with,
where the Jews have not ventured to tran
late
254 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
late the word Berith, covenant, but have been
neceffarily obliged by the context to give it
its true, original fignification; though, to di-
vert the reader's attention, and to prevent his
making any inferences from the fenfe of the
word, in theſe texts, they have, in an arbitra-
ry manner, pointed the letters ſo as to make
the fame letters, which, in every other paffage,
found Berith, to be in theſe texts pronounced
Borith.
Mal. iii. 2. THE Angel of the covenant,
of Berith, is faid to be like the refiner's fire,
and like fuller's Berith, foap, and comes to
purge and to purify. And,
Fer. ii. 22. REPROACHING Ifrael for their
wickedness and uncleannefs, Jehovah faith,
For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take
thee much Berith, foap; yet thine iniquity is
marked before me.
THESE paffages, evidently, fhew, that the
Berith has in it the notion of cleanfing, puri-
fying; and the root from which, in that ſenſe,
it muſt riſe, is Bar, Barar, which fignifies pure,
to purify; and the word Berith, formed from
that root, may fignify properly purification, a
purifier, a perſon or thing fit to purify.
KEEPING in view this notion of the word,
and recollecting that every thing was, under
the
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 255
the Law, even the most holy things, to be
cleanſed, to be expiated, to be fanctified,
by blood; that the pollutions of mankind
were to be waſhed away by it; and that the
blood, which thus cleanfed, was but typical
only of the blood of the real purifier, who,
in the New Teftament language, is to wash
us in his blood from all our iniquities: who can
help concluding, that the great facrifice, to be
cut off, in due time, was called Berith, the
purifier, to fignify the end of fhedding his
blood; that the reprefentative beafts, the types,
were called by the fame name; that, to flay,
or cut off, Berith, or the beaſt repreſenting
Berith, the purifier, being the very fign, or
Symbol, of the great, the original covenant
for the falvation of mankind, which was to
be repeated for confirmation of folemn cove-
nants amongſt men, the term or expreffion
of cutting off Berith, or the purifier, came in
proceſs of time to fignify the act to which,
amongſt men, it was applied, the making a
covenant; the word Berith retaining, never-
theless, its original fignification, and being to
be taken in that fenfe, when the ſcope of the
text requires it ſhould?
UNDERSTANDING the matter thus, many
paffages, that otherwife are extremely ob-
fcure,
2
256 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
obſcure, if at all fenfe, become clear and fig-
nificant. Ifa. xlii. 6. I Jehovah will give thee
for a Berith, covenant, of the people, and for a
light of the Gentiles. xlix. 8. I Jehovah will
give thee for a Berith, covenant, of the people,
to establish the earth. If what is tranſlated co-
venant, were rendered, as it ought to be, puri-
fier, nothing could be more clear and com-
fortable than thoſe texts.
UPON the fame principle, the blood of Be-
rith, the covenant, will fignify the blood of
the purifier, without excluding the notion of
that blood being the feal, and Symbol, of the
covenant.
AND, in like manner, in many paffages
where Jehovah, inſtead of uſing the word
tranflated to make a covenant, ufes other words,
which fignify, eſtabliſhing, giving, placing, his
Berith, covenant, to, or with, any one, the
word Berith may more properly mean the pu-
rifier, than the covenant.
Gen. vi. 18. WHEN Jehovah acquaints Noah
that he is to deſtroy the earth, with all its in-
habitants, he affures him, at the fame time,
that he is to eſtabliſh his Berith with him,
and his family. Now, if Berith be taken, in
that place, for the purifier, the promiſe a-
mounts to this, that the great purifier was to
come
I
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 257
+
.
come of his Line; which happened accord-
ingly.
IN the fame way, Gen xvii. 2. Jehovah
fays to Abraham, I will give my Berith be-
tween thee and me. And v. 4. As for me, be-
hold my Berith, covenant, is with thee. And,
if by Berith, in thofe expreffions, is meant
the purifier, then theſe are formal declarations
that the Meſſiah was to come of Abraham :
which explains the other declarations, that in
bis feed all the families of the earth ſhould be
bleffed.
AND that declaration in which David fo
much exults, in what is called his laft words,
2 Sam. xxiii. 5. yet he hath placed with me an,
or the everlaſting Berith, will fignify that Je-
hovah had decreed the purifier, the Meſſiah,
ſhould ſpring out of his houſe, though his
houſe was not ſo right with God, as he could
have wiſhed it.
MANY more paffages will appear in a very
different light, from what they did formerly,
upon taking the word in this fenfe; which
may be the reaſon why the Jews, who mistook
the true Berith, when he came in accompliſh-
ment of the Law, and the Prophets, have uſed
much ſkill to hide the true meaning; which
moft undoubtedly was underſtood by their
VOL. I.
fore-
S
258 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
forefathers, after the death of Gideon, when,
Judg. viii. 33. they went a whoring after
Baalim, and made Baal Berith their God, to
whom there was a houſe, or temple, at She-
chem, chap. 9. under the title of El Berith,
or the God Berith.
WHETHER the Ifraelites or the Canaanites
built this temple, is not material; the God was,
furely, of the manufacture of Canaan, who
ſpoke the ſame language with the Jews, and
expected purification as well as they, though
perhaps after a ſtrange manner. Baal, or El,
Berith, tranflated the Lord, or God, the cove-
nant, will hardly make fenfe; but the Lord,
or God, the purifier, might be a proper object
of worſhip, for thoſe who were fo fond of
purification, as to cauſe their children to paſs
through the fire to purify them, and even to
facrifice their children, by fire, to atone for
crimes, and avert wrath.
HAVING faid fo much for explaining the
Hebrew phraſe for making a covenant, it may
not be improper to inquire a little into the
origin of the Latin phraſe ferire, icere, percu-
tere, fœdus, which evidently is of the fame
kindred.
1
WAVING
1
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 259.
1
WAVING the conjecture of the Gramma-
rians, that fœdus might, in the old Tuſcan lan-
guage, have been uſed for hædus, a kid, which
again might be the animal accuſtomed to be
flain, or cut off, at concluding treaties; be-
cauſe it neither appears that hædus was anti-
ently written foedus, nor that a kid was the
regular facrifice: I think it moſt probable that
fœdus, in the phraſe in queſtion, meant origi-
nally what the adjective fœdus -a -um, means,
at this day, vile, abominable, polluted.
Now, it is certain that in the Hebrew lan-
guage the facrifice gained its name, from the
end for which it was offered; a fin-offering is
called, briefly, Sin; a treſpaſs-offering, a Tref-
pass; wherefore the victim, brought for a
fin-offering, is called, without any addition,
a Sin. Hence a man is directed to bring his
fin, if a creature, the type of that Perſon who
was to ftand in the place of the finner, to the
door of the tabernacle, to lay his hand upon
the head of his Sin; the Priest is to kill the
Sin, to pour out the blood of the Sin, &c. with-
out adding at all the word offering, to explain
the meaning.
As, then, all religious rites flowed from the
ſame ſource, and were inſtituted in the fame
language, it is very natural to conclude, that,
S 2
upon
260 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c»
·
upon the formation of a new language, the
expreffions concerning thoſe facred rites would
be framed in ſome conformity to the original
language. Now, if, in the firſt language, that
which was offered for fin, which was to atone
for it, and to purge it away, was, by thoſe
who expected that effect from it, called fin:
why may not we believe, that what was offer-
ed to purge what was termed fedity, pollution,
abomination, might be called fœdus, if fœdus, in
the language of the country, fignified fedity,
pollution, uncleanness!
AND, if it is allowed that fœdus might
fignify the creature offered to atone for fin, or
uncleanness, then ferire, percutere, fœdus,
would be the very act of offering for fin, and
muſt come to fignify making a covenant, in the
very fame way that cutting off, or flaying, Be-
rith does.
To theſe obſervations, which tend to fhew
the antiquity, and authority, of Revelation,
and the true end and meaning of the emblema-
tical, and predictive inftitutions, as well as of
the terms in which the written will of God is
conveyed, many more might be added; and
theſe, already offered, might be ſupported by
producing the paffages from Authors facred
and prophane, by which they are to be vouch-
ed:
Thoughts concerning Religion, &c. 261
2
ed: But as, on the one hand, this would ex-
ceed the defign of theſe fheets; fo, on the
other, it would be but doing, over again, what
is already infinitely better done by the inge-
nious Mr. HUTCHINSON, author of Mofes's
Principia, in that and his other ſurpriſing
works, from whence all the thoughts concern-
ing the antiquity of, and manner of interpre-
ting Revelation are borrowed, and which are
fraughted with diſcoveries, as uſeful as they
are new.
THIS Author has been complained of for
writing in a manner that has been called abf-
truſe and dark, and, perhaps, with ſome rea-
fon; but, if he is not altogether to be acquit-
ted from that charge, fure there is no excuſe
for thoſe, who, pretending to admit Revela-
tion as Divine, will not give themſelves the
trouble to examine, with due attention, his
Works, which make the Old Teftament fpeak a
language understood by our Saviour and his
Apostles, and which hardly any body appears
to have underſtood fince their days.
fcarce poffible to pay too dear, in labour, and
ftudy, for ſuch diſcoveries; and, if regard for
Revelation were out of the queſtion, it is ama-
zing that curiofity does not prevail with men
of leiſure, and learning, to look into books
It is
that
262 Thoughts concerning Religion, &c.
that are ſtored with fo much entertainment.
in that way.
IF
Ir any unprejudiced perfon, acquainted
with the Scriptures, who has looked into the
antient heathen learning, fhall examine, with
tolerable care, thofe thoughts; it is to be
hoped, he will find a ready anſwer to all the
productions of modern, as well as antient, In-
fidels; and remain, to his great comfort, fa-
tisfied, That Christianity is, indeed very near,
as old as the Creation.
The END of the First Volume
7
1
The Whole
WORKS
Of the Right Honourable
DUNCAN FORBES,
Late Lord Preſident of the Court of Seffion.
Now firft Collected.
Containing,
I. Thoughts on Religion, Natural and Revealed.
II. A Letter to a Bifhop, concerning fome important
Diſcoveries in Philoſophy and Theology.
III. Reflexions on the Sources of Incredulity with regard
to Religion.
In Two VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
Printed for G. HAMILTON and J. BALFOUR,
in Edinburgh;
And D. WILSON and T. DURHAM, in London.
Á
LETTER
TO A
BISHOP,
Concerning Some
IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES
I N
Philoſophy and Theology.
A
LETTER
TO A
&c.
BISHOP,
MY LORD,
A
THEISM, Deiſm, and the whole
train of opinions that attend what is
commonly called Freethinking, flow
from a ſettled disbelief and contempt of
Revelation.
THIS difbelief is in a great meaſure owe-
ing to the want of a fair and unprejudiced
examination of the numerous and various
proofs and evidences, that fupport the truth
and authority of the Scriptures.
VOL. II.
B
BUT
2
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
BUT it is chiefly grounded on a firm per-
fuafion, that human understanding is a fuffi-
cient guide to man, and the teſt and mea-
fure of all matters of belief; fo that we are at
liberty, nay indeed bound, to reject what-
ever does not anfwer thofe notions, which,
by what we call reaſoning, we have fixed.
THAT modern difcoveries, the fruit of
genius and application only, have fixed and
determined to a certainty the laws and cauſes
of the principal operations, and phænomena
of Nature, which were wholly unknown to
the antients, and miſtaken by the authors
of the books which are received as Revela-
tion.
THAT therefore theſe books, fo far as
they give accounts of Nature, contrary to
experience, and demonftration reſulting from
it, are falſe; and confequently can, in no
other point, paſs for infallible.
THAT the Scriptures relate a great many
marvellous, improbable, nay incredible tranſ-
actions, which do not feem to be directed to
any purpoſe, fuited to fovereign Wiſdom and
Goodneſs; and to contain a world of Infti-
tutions, laws, obſervances, and ceremonies,
which to Freethinkers appear abfurd, frivo
lous, and ridiculous; unworthy the fuppofed
Author,
1
1
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
3
+
Author, and improper to attain the propoſed
end.
WHEN any apparent miſtake in Natural
Philofophy is objected to the Scriptures, the
anſwer commonly given is, in my opinion,
ftronger than the objection, according to the
views of the difputants on either fide; that
theſe things, being incidental only, are ſpoken
ad captum humanum, and accommodated to
the underſtandings of thofe, to whom they
were delivered; though, I confefs, it would
be a much more comfortable anfwer, if it
could be ſaid, and proved, that the things
objected to are true.
WHEN Freethinkers ground themſelves
upon any improbable, or, as they will call it,
incredible or abſurd relation, there is no an-
fwering them without bringing together, and
laying before them, the whole evidence that
ſerves for fupporting Revelation; which, when
poiſed in the ſcale againſt all objections of
this kind that ever have been made, in my
opinion, may certainly outweigh them: but,
the misfortune is, the objection glares, can
be taken in by a very moderate capacity,
and requres no learning, and but little at-
tention to comprehend it; whereas, without
long
B 2
4
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
long ſtudy, great learning, cloſe attention,
and a difpaffionate and unprejudiced exami-
nation, the evidence for Revelation cannot
be collected and weighed. Whoever there-
fore lets in the strength of the objection,
and, for want of learning or attention (not
to ſpeak of natural prejudices) either cannot,
or will not give himſelf the trouble to col-
lect and weigh the proofs on the other fide,
muſt neceffarily give it againſt Revelation,
and fortify himſelf in his incredulity.
AND to this it is owing that all thofe,
who, in this indolent and luxurious Age,
pretend to politeneſs, and aim at knowledge,
and the reputation of underſtanding and
ſcience, without any expence of learning or
labour, and without any interruption to
their pleaſures or purſuits, take up with ob-
jections againſt Revelation, without the pain-
ful examination of the evidence. that fup-
ports it, look down with contempt on be-
lievers, as a parcel of prejudiced Enthuſiaſts,
and inlift themſelves with Freethinkers, as
the honefteft, wiſeſt ſet of men living.
AND when men, carried by pleaſures, or
funk in indolence, fettle once upon theſe
notions, every inftitution, ordinance, or
ceremony,
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
5
ceremony, appointed in Scripture, for which
Chriſtians cannot, or do not, affign an ade-
quate uſe or end, becomes freſh matter of
objection, and tends to rivet and confirm In-
fidelity.
THIS facility of receiving and taking up
with objections, and the criminal indolence
and neglect of thoſe who do not give them-
ſelves the trouble to examine, with due care,
the merits of the anſwer, has been long com-
plained of, and lamented by all who wiſh
well to mankind, but hitherto in vain: ſome-
thing more than argument muft intervene to
cool them in the purſuit of pleaſures, to rouſe
their attention to their real intereft, and to
determine them to ſearch with care and in-
duſtry, before they will let in ſo much as a
ſuſpicion that their objections are ill-founded;
or thoſe objections must be overthrown by
fome other and fhorter mean than the com-
plicated evidence for the authority of Reve-
lation, elſe the objectors will never give them-
ſelves the trouble to diſcover their miſtakes.
SOME time ago, as my thoughts were
employed in theſe diſagreeable reflections, a
ſet of books were ſent me by my bookfeller
to look over; the titles were odd, and pro-
voked my curiofity: Mofes's Principia, parts
B 3
ift and
1
6
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
1st and 2d; An Effay toward a Natural Hiftory
of the Bible: Mofes's fine Principio; A
new Account of the Confufion of Tongues, and the
Names and Attributes of the Trinity of the Gen-
tiles ; were inſcribed at the head of theſe ſe-
veral Tracts, all publiſhed fucceffively, in
different years, from the year 1724: And
thefe are followed by another Work, that was
publiſhed very lately, entitled, A Treatise of
Power, Effential and Mechanical.
RUNNING Over theſe books curforily, I
readily perceived the Author propoſed to
prove that the Hebrew fcriptures had never
been, and are not now, truly tranflated, or per-
fectly understood by thoſe who pretend to be
learned that, rightly tranſlated and under-
ſtood, they compriſe a perfect ſyſtem of Na-
tural Philoſophy, as well as a complete body
of Theology and Religion: that they no where.
affert any of thoſe heterodoxes in philoſophy,
which modern obſervations fhew to be fuch;
but, on the contrary, teach and aver every
thing that has been truly gathered from ob-
ſervations or experiments, recent or antient ;
and propoſe, and explain mechanical princi-
ples different from, nay in many things dia-
metrically oppofite to, thofe now received ;
by which all the various operations in nature
?
are
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
7
are performed, and which tally with, and can
be ſupported by, every obfervation and ex-
periment that hath been truly taken and
made; that the ſeeming abſurdities, with
which the Scriptures are charged, either are
not in the original, and are therefore owing
to the ignorance or perverfe defign of the
tranſlators; or are, when rightly underſtood,
no blemiſhes, but beauties in the Revelation :
and that the many inftitutions, declarations,
and obfervances, which appear frivolous to
thoſe who do not underſtand them, are the
product of perfect Wiſdom and Contrivance,
neceffary to explain and preſerve the religion
inculcated in the Old Teftament, and fit to
prepare for that which afterwards was deli-
vered in the New.
BUT, though I eafily gathered this to be
the Author's propoſal and intention; yet, upon
looking into particulars, I found the proofs
depended fo much on the true conſtruction
of the Hebrew language, to which I was very
much a ſtranger; and on an exact knowledge
of the experiments and obfervations that have
been made on the works of Nature, with
which I am but very little acquainted; that
his reafoning, almost every where, appeared
B 4
to
8
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
to me intricate and arbitrary; and I was not
without fome doubts that the obfcurity I
complained of proceeded partly from deſign,
for reaſons that I could not penetrate.
FINDING, from my own want of know-
ledge, ſuch difficulty in examining the proofs
offered to ſupport propofitions of ſuch univer-
fal import to mankind, and which I wiſhed
ſo earneſtly to diſcover to be conclufive and
true; I reſorted to ſeveral learned men of my
acquaintance, ſkilled in the antient language,
on which the Author grounds himſelf; and
converfant in the obſervations and experi-
ments, on which the modern philoſophy of
Nature is built, not doubting but they had
confidered, and framed a certain judgment of
his works but, to my great furpriſe, though
all of them had heard of, and feen fome part
of thoſe tracts, yet not one of them had given
himſelf the trouble to examine them. They
complained of the intricacy and abftrufeneſs
of the Author's way of writing, and conclu-
ded him fo, certainly, to be half-learned, vi-
fionary, and in the wrong, becauſe his notions
were contradictory to what they, by long
ſtudy, had adopted and made their own; that
they laid afide his books without any farther
enquiry,
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
9
enquiry, as what did not deſerve, or would
not anſwer the trouble of an examination.
THOUGH I could have relied on theſe
gentlemen's judgment, if they had confider-
ed the Author's opinions and arguments with
any care; yet, finding that they had cenfured
without examination, and not being able to
meet with any perfon whatever, who had
given himſelf the trouble of canvaffing with
due attention his arguments, on a matter of
ſo general concern; I rubbed up the little
Hebrew I had, and addreſſed myſelf to a more
careful peruſal of the books; not with any
hopes of being able finally to judge of the
certainty of his fuppofed diſcoveries, but with
a defign to collect the general drift and ten-
dency of his reaſoning, to the end I might
lay it before thoſe who are infinitely better
able to judge than my felf; and who, from
ſeeing ſcattered hints brought together, might
be invited to confider the matter more feri-
ouſly; to condemn and refute any thing that
is falſe, and to approve, fupport, and propa-
gate every thing that is true. For I cannot
help thinking it fome reproach to the curio-
fity, as well as religious zeal of the Clergy of
this nation, that fentiments fo new and fur-
prifing, in matters of religion, ſhould have
been
10 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
}
been ſtalking about for fo many years, with-
out meeting with any examination, approba-
tion, or confutation.
To give your Lordſhip, then, (from whoſe
great proficiency in the Eaſtern learning, the
only foundation of Scripture-knowledge; and
your thorough knowledge of natural things,
from whence all ideas of beings and things
invifible are conveyed; your known readi-
nefs to forward any work in favour of reli-
gion; eſpecially a work of this kind to efta-
blish the true meaning of the Scriptures, much
wanted, I expect a folution of my doubts ;)
an account of theſe things that have made the
greatest impreffion on me, in the order in
which I have been able to comprehend them.
THE author affirms (what I think moft of
the learned world, at prefent, agree in) that
pointing in the Hebrew writings is a modern
invention, fome centuries later than the days
of our Saviour, contrived, after the language
ceaſed to be commonly ſpoken, by the Jews,
to favour their own conftructions, and there-
fore of no authority to determine the ſenſe
of any word, but for that reaſon to be
avoided.
THAT, as the underſtanding, ſo the proper
and original ſenſe of many of the Hebrew
words
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
11
་
words uſed to express matters of importance
in philoſophy and theology, was, in ſome
degree, altered or loft, when the children of
Ifrael made defections from the true religion,
before the Babylonish Captivity; fo, in the dif-
perfion that attended that Captivity, the pure
Hebrew was altogether beat out of common
uſage,and the knowledge of it remained only
amongst the few that were learned, and at-
tentive to the true religion and philofophy
that was delivered by Mofes, and the other
inſpired writers.
THAT the Greek tranflation, commonly
called the Septuagint, being made long after
return the from the Babylonish Captivity, when
the genuine ſenſe of the Hebrew words was,
in a great meaſure, loft, is extremely imper-
fect; partly, as the Greek language is deſtitute
of words to convey the full and proper mean-
ing of the Hebrew expreffions; partly, as the
tranflators might have been ignorant, and
might have accommodated their interpreta-
tion to their own views, in philofophy and
theology, which were corrupted; and partly,
as they durft not (had their underſtanding
been better) tranflate, in ſome points, truly,
for fear of provoking the Egyptians, in whoſe
country they compoſed their tranſlation; and
whoſe
12
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
whofe Gods, had they given a faithful tranſ-
lation, they muſt to the laft degree vilify
and affront.
THAT, nevertheleſs, this and other tran-
flations fo fully difcover the genius of the
Hebrew language, and fo certainly tranflate
words, when employed about matters that
the interpreters were under no byafs to ren-
der falfly, that a key from thence may be
made for conftruing, with certainty, the
whole Hebrew fcriptures.
THE Author avers that the Hebrew lan-
guage (from which, it ſeems pretty certain,
the Phænician, the Chaldee, the Syriack, the
Arabick, the Greek, the Latin, and divers
other branches were derived) was the original
one; framed in Paradiſe, and with this par-
ticularity, that each root is taken from fome
particular beaft, bird, plant, flower, or fome
other fenfible object, and employed to repre-
fent fome very obvious idea of action or
condition raiſed by fuch fenfible object,
from whence it is further carried to fignify
fpiritual or mental things, of which we can
frame ideas only by the help of material or
bodily things.
He denies that any one root in the whole
language conveys ideas of a different mean-
•
ing;
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
13
ing; and affirms that one, and but one,
leading ſenſe runs through all the formation
of the ſame root; contrary to the eſtabliſhed
doctrine of the Jews, who, by variety of ar-
bitrary pointings, afcribe different and con-
tradictory ſenſes very often to a word com-
poſed of the very fame letters; with defign, as
our Author fuggefts, to darken the fenfe of the
Scriptures, chiefly, if not altogether, in thoſe
points, which contain the knowledge of the
Chriſtian ſyſtem, and the religion of the
Heathens.
AFTER obferving that there is not one
line of authentick Hebrew left in the whole
world, but what is compriſed in the books of
the Old Teftament, our Author infifts that
there is one, and but one, certain way of
decyphering it, that is, by comparing every
word in all the various combinations and
fentences in which it appears, and gathering
from thence the leading or original idea it
was intended to raiſe; which is ever, from
fuch compariſon, with certainty to be col-
lected.
HE fays, that, though all the modern
Hebrecians had the uſe of very accurate con-
cordances, that might have helped them for-
ward in this inveſtigation, yet their progreſs
Tyas
I
14
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
/
was marr'd by the blind reſpect they paid
to the falſe or fraudulent pointings of their
adverfaries the Jews; and that he, fhaking
himſelf loofe from thofe fetters, has been
able to ſettle the genuine meaning of every
important word in the whole Old Teftament.
AND, from the fix'd and perpetual mean-
ing of the words fo explained, he fays he
is able to fhew that the Scriptures, however
diſguiſed and disfigured by the tranſlation,
are written with the utmost accuracy, pro-
priety, and truth; that they contain a per-
fect fyftem of Natural Philofophy, and, upon
that grafted, a complete fyftem of Theology,
fo far as mankind, is capable of receiving
that ſublime knowledge, and unerring rules
for all religious ſervice and belief.
THROUGH the whole of his works, he
attempts to define, and determine the true
ſenſe of a great many words used by Mofes
and the Prophets, in the deſcription of the
formation of the world, and the preſervation
and fupport of all the operations that are
carried on in it; he avers that the defcrip-
tions, by them given in theſe words, con-
tain a mechanical account of all the powers,
and of the operations carried on in, and by
this material ſyſtem; and he infiſts that all
the
1
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
15
the phænomena in Nature can be accounted
for by the principles laid down by them.
BUT, to give you as clear a view, as I
am able, of the further defign of our Au-
thor; He ſuppoſes it will not be denied to
him, that Man, a compound of foul and
body, cannot frame to himſelf, or compare
ideas, but fuch as are taken from fenfible
objects what powers or faculties the foul
might have, if detached from the body, we
cannot know; but, as we are now made, we
upon moderate reflection diſcover, that the
foul of man, in this ftate, has not power to
frame to itſelf, or to receive any idea that
does not come from the fenfes, at leaſt
from fome feeling or fenfation communicated
to it by, or through the body.
THE fun, the light, the air, the earth,
the body of man, we can frame ideas of, as
we can of the manner of their acting, and being
acted upon; but the foul, which perceives
and compares thofe ideas, we can frame no
manner of idea of, nor of its manner of
acting, or being acted upon.
AND we, who know that we have no
capacity to conceive any idea of any thing
that does not affect our fenfes, muft con-
clude that our not perceiving is no proof
that
16
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
that there may not be millions of different
beings and ſubſtances round us, befides thoſe
that affect our fenfes, of which, and of
their powers or actions,
nothing.
we can know
leaft idea of the
As man has not the
matter or ſubſtance of his own ſoul, or of
its manner of acting, or being acted upon;
fo he has no capacity of reaſoning about it,
by comparing it with things 'perceived he
cannot, for example, compare it with ſpace
or figure; he cannot fay it is, or is not,
comprehended within limits of any kind; he
cannot ſay it moves, or does not move, or
at all imagine how it is ſupported,
acts.
or
WE perceive how a folid body is moved
by the impulſe of another folid body, or of
a fluid, and is continued in motion fo long
as the impulſe lafts; and we can conceive
how a plant, or animal, may be ſupported,
may grow, or decay, mechanically, by the
operation of different material agents: but
we can have no conception how the foul acts
on itſelf, or on matter, how it is acted upon,
or how it is fupported.
AND, being ſo much in the dark concern-
ing the principal part of ourſelves, the only
know.
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
17
t
knowing thing in us, it is no wonder we
ſhould be incapable of framing any juſt idea
of that inviſible ſpiritual Being, by which
we, and every other created thing, were
made.
?
OUR Author thinks that, by the light of
nature only, men could not poffibly have
diſcovered whether this material fyftem,
which, he ſays, is fo framed, as to be a felf-
moving machine, exifted from eternity, and
was the cauſe and fupport of itſelf, and of
every thing in it; or whether it was con-
trived, and the parts of it put together, by
an higher hand. But, be that as it will,
and were it even to be ſuppoſed that man,
by thorough obfervation, and by a juft in-
duction, could difcover à pofteriori the ex-
iftence of fome eternal felf-exiftent caufe,
whoſe work this creation is; our Author
ſeems to be well warranted, when he affirms
that it is preſumptuous in man, becauſe it is
impoffible, to frame fuch an idea of this in-
viſible agent, from his own fcanty notions
and apprehenfions, as fhall be the ſtandard
and teft, by which to try every thing that is,
or may be, in queftion concerning the Firſt
Caufe.
C
MAN
78 A Letter to a, Biſhop, &c.
MAN may, for example, be in the right
to attribute all poffible perfections to this
Being; but, 'till he can determine what is ab--
folute perfection (taking in the circle of all
poffible beings, their actions and attributes)
it is impoffible for him with juftice to con-
clude, that, becauſe this or that feems to him
to be perfection, it therefore, according to
the meaſure which he conceives of it, belongs
to the Author of Nature.
AND though it fhould be admitted that
man, by the light of nature, could difcover
the dependence of this created ſyſtem on a
felf-exiſtent Creator, yet it is certain he can-
not frame to himſelf any idea of that Being,
his nature, ſubſtance, powers, or manner of
existing or acting; and that, if there is any
knowledge of fuch things amongſt men, it
must come from fome other fource than that
of nature and obfervation.
FROM this ftate of man's nature the Au-
thor infers one indifpenfible neceffity for
Revelation; if God intended that man fhould
know him, his goodneſs, power, wisdom,
and mercy; ſhould make returns of grati-
tude, love, adoration, and obedience; and
ſhould conform himſelf to that order, which
by the divine will was eſtabliſhed: and
1
that
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
19
that the knowledge of every thing that was
to be known, and believed, was revealed,
our Author infifts, will demonftrably be
proved, when what is revealed, is underſtood
and confidered.
A REVELATION therefore, our Author
infifts, was made by God to man, at two
different periods; the firft juſt after the
Creation, and upon the Fall; the ſecond in
the wilderneſs to the Ifraelites, and on various
occafions afterwards, by different methods
of communication, not to mention the ap-
pearances to the Patriarchs: to reſtore the
knowledge of the firſt revelation, which had
been pretty much loft, or miſunderſtood,
and to fix and afcertain it by writing (a
method, as the Author will have it, then
firft revealed) fo as it fhould never after be
obliterated or left dubious.
To begin with the laft. The first thing
that is met with in the books of Mofes is an
affertion that God created the heavens and
the earth, which is followed by a particular
account of the order and manner of the
formation of all that was created, 'till the
work was perfected. After which, God is
faid to have refted; and our Author afferts,
that it is alfo faid, the perfect machine, then
C 2
left
20
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
left to itſelf, carried on all the operations
in this fyftem, by certain known laws of
mechaniſm, explained by Mofes, and through-
out the Scriptures by the other inſpired
penmen.
THE fum of what our Author avers to be
the doctrine of the Scriptures, on this head,
is, that, befides the differently formed parti-
cles, of which this earth, and the feveral
metals, minerals, and other folid fubftances
in it, and in the other folid orbs, are com-
pofed, God at firft created all that fubtile
Aluid which now is, and from the Creation
has been, in the condition of fire, light, or
air, and goes under the name of the Heavens.
THE particles of this fluid, (which our
Author calls atoms) when they are fingle and
uncompounded, are inconceivably minute,
and fo fubtile as to pervade the pores of all
ſubſtances whatever, whether folid, or fluid,
without any great difficulty or refiftance:
when they are pushed forward in ftraight
lines, by the action of fire, or are reflected
or refracted in ftraight lines, they produce
light, and are ſo called; but, when the inter-
pofition of any opaque body hinders their
progreſs in ſtraight Lines, they paſs, but ceaſe
to produce light.
THESE
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c. 21
THESE particles or atoms, which, when
moving in ſtraight lines, produce light, and, if
collected and put into another fort of motion,
would produce heat and fire, are, as our
Author infifts, when the force impelling
them ceaſes to act with vigour, and when
their motion is retarded, fo made, that they
are apt to adhere in ſmall maffes or grains,
which the Author calls fpirit or air; and is
of the fame kind and texture with that air,
which we daily breathe, and which we feel in
wind when it blows.
THE fun, which our Author places at
the centre of this fyftem, is an orb included
in a vaſt collection of this fubtile matter in
the action of fire, which continually melts
down all the air that is brought into it by
the powerful action of the firmament or
expanfion, hereafter to be explained, into the
fubtile matter juft mentioned; and with an
immenfe force fends forth, in perpetual
ftreams of light, this fame fubtile matter, ſo
melted down, to the circumference of this
fyftem, which the Author fays is bounded, as
he avers the ſpace comprehended within it is.
abſolutely full.
THE matter thus melted down at the orb
of the fun into light muft, as every thing is
C 3
full,
22 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
full, either ſtand ſtill, or make its way out-
wards to the circumference, being forced by
the particles, which are concreted into air at
the utmoſt extremities; and return towards
the fun, where the fluid being moſt fubtile
gives leaſt reſiſtance, and take up the place
that the light left.
AND therefore this endleſs uninterrupted
Aux of matter from the fun in light, in
place of being an expence that ſhould de-
ſtroy that orb (which our Author takes to
be an inſupportable objection to Sir Isaac
Newton's fcheme) is the very means of pre-
ferving it, and every thing elſe in this ſyſtem,
in its action and vigour, by preffing back
perpetual fupplies of air to be melted down
into light, and thereby produces a continual
circulation. Theſe perpetual fluxes or tides
of matter outwards and inwards, in every
point, from the centre to the circumference,
mechanically, and neceffarily, as our Author
infifts, produce that conftant gyration in the
earth and the planets round their own centres,
and round the fun; and he avers, though
he has not yet thought fit to explain it, that
the fame principle, with fome circumſtances,
arifing from the fituation and fluxes of light
coming
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
?
23
coming from the other orbs, will account
alſo for the motions of the moon.
BESIDES the rotation of the orbs, the
Author affirms that the adverfe motions of
the light puſhing towards the circumference,
and the air puſhing towards the centre with
immenfe force, form a general expanſion
(as he tranflates the word rendered firma-
ment) which brings that ftrefs or compref-
fure on all bodies it meets with, that binds
together folids, keeps fluids as they were,
cauſes the variation of times and feafons, the
raifing of water, the production of vegetables
and animals, and in fhort produces all the
effects falfly afcribed to gravity or attraction;
continues motion without the affiftance of
the unmechanical principle of projection;
produces, fupplies, and fupports vegetables,
fruits, and animals; in fhort, produces
almoſt all the effects and phænomena in
nature.
THESE are fome of the out-lines of
our Author's philofophy, very repugnant,
indeed, to the notions commonly received;
but the authorities, by which he avers he can
fupport them, are two, and they are pretty
confiderable.
C 4
"FIRST,
24 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
FIRST, He fays that Mofes and the Pro-
phets, who, by divine authority, were to
reveal and explain to mankind how the ope-
rations in this fyftem were carried on, have
in plain terms faid fo. And,
SECONDLY, He affirms that he can, by
comparing every true obfervation and expe-
riment that have at any time been made by
the Royal Society, or its members, or by any
foreign ſocieties of learned men, and by a
great many obſervations and experiments
made by himſelf, to which the curious have
hitherto very little attended, with the ſyſtem
of philofophy revealed in the Scriptures, fhew
that all the various phænomena of nature are
to be accounted for mechanically thereby;
and that the modern ſyſtems, as well as all
others not taken from the Scriptures, are falſe,
abfurd, and unmechanical.
It is becauſe this looks highly improbable,
if not impoffible, to moſt men, that an exa-
mination of our Author's notions is neglect-
ed; but, as, in proportion as it is improba-
ble, it would confirm the Scriptures, ſhould it
be found true; I confefs my defire is the
greater that the men qualified to judge would
examine it.
As
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
25
As it is extremely new, ſo, at firſt ſight, it
feems odd that our Author fhould fuppofe it
neceffary for the Creator to give to mankind
a courſe of philofophy, fo to speak; but,
to remove this difficulty, he reaſons to this
effect.
THE end to which a rational difcerning
foul was given to man, was, that by the or-
gans of the body he might perceive the beau-
ty, the order, the harmony of nature; and
thence receive ideas of the infinite wiſdom,
power, and goodneſs of its Author, which
ſhould lead to admiration, love, duty, depen-
dence, adoration, acknowledgment, and a
defire of further knowledge, and vifion of
what in this world man can take in by bor-
rowed ideas only.
IF the mechaniſm of nature had not been
revealed to man, he poffibly never would have
diſcovered it to any certainty; at leaſt, would
not have diſcovered it, for ages: and fo long
thoſe incentives to admiration, love, fervice,
and adoration, would have been wanting.
IF the mechaniſm could have been un-
derſtood, without the further diſcovery that
this ſelf-moving machine is no more than an
inanimate piece of clock-work, created, as
well as put together, by the fupreme, intel-
ligent,
26 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
ligent, beneficent Being, it might have led
man to place his admiration and worſhip on
the machine, in place of him that made it,
as the miſtaken part of mankind always did.
AND therefore, if, before man could
know the obligations he had to the fupreme
intelligent Being as his Redeemer, that is, be-
fore the Fall, the fole light he could view him.
in, to produce admiration, love, duty, fer-
vice, and defire of further union, was that of
the infinitely wife, powerful, and beneficent.
Creator, and Supporter; it ſeems neceffary to
conclude that thoſe diſcoveries, which he
could not make of himſelf, certainly were
made to him.
AND this the rather, that, as man was the
laft piece formed of the creation, and as even
his body was framed, before the foul, with-
out which it could not perceive, was breath-
ed into it, he could not have any mean to
know how, where, or by whom or what,
this world and all its tenants were produced;
and, by the nature of the thing, could not in
many ages, if at all, arrive at any knowledge
of what was certainly intended to be the ob-
ject of his meditation, and the cauſe of his
love, duty, and ſervice.
WHERE-
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
27
WHEREFORE, as it was neceffary he ſhould
ſpeedily be inftructed, our Author thinks,
Mofes has intimated to us that he was, in
telling us that God was pleaſed to plant a
garden for him, which he was to cultivate
and keep. Our Author obſerving that gar-
dens, amongst the antient nations, and plant-
ed groves were facred, and places of worſhip;
reflecting that it was but a poor employment
for the chief of the creation to cultivate a
garden, whilst the earth, not being yet curfed,
nor man doom'd to hard labour, might pro-
duce ſpontaneouſly fruits fit for him, eſpeci-
ally the trees, being of God's own planting;
and obferving that the words tranſlated to till
and to keep, alſo properly fignify to worship
and obferve; and taking in a great many other
circumſtances, too numerous to be here re-
cited, concludes that this garden was planted
and dreffed in the form of a plan or ſcheme,
to fhew the fituations, motions, and actions
of the heavenly bodies, and the powers in
this ſyſtem, picture-ways or hieroglyphically,
for man's comprehending and remembering
more certainly the pofitions, motions, and
influences of the heavenly bodies, and the
actions of fire, light, and air, or, as our Au-
thor calls it, fpirit, in circulation; feveral of
thofe
28 A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
thoſe bodies, or of the effects flowing from
their motions or fituations, and from the
circulation of light and air, might be repre-
fented by trees of different forms, or growths;
and the circulation might itſelf be repre-
fented by ſome of thofe trees, or perhaps by
the waters in Eden, which, by the four ri-
vers, were plentifully furniſhed.
AND as the Author underſtands this garden
to have been for inſtruction, and the intent
of Mofes's recording that circumſtance to be,
to let us know that man was ſo inſtructed;
fo he lays a pretty deal of weight upon an-
other matter, related in the fame hiſtory, of
God's bringing the feveral animals before
Adam, to the end he might give them proper
names.
As the names Adam gave to animals were
expreffive of the chief talents or inftincts of
thoſe animals, and afterwards in the Hebrew
language came generally to be roots for words
to fignify the paffions, actions, or inclina-
tions, which thoſe inſtincts or talents raiſed
the ideas of; our Author concludes that God
cauſed theſe animals to exhibit to Adam, for
his information and inftruction, their feveral
qualities, particularities, and inſtincts, to help.
him
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
29
him forward in the knowledge that was to be
communicated to him.
OUR Author then perceiving clearly, that
a fyftem of Natural Philoſophy, or a deſcrip-
tion of this machine, was publiſhed by Mofes,
when Revelation was, as he terms it, repub-
liſhed in writing; obferving that there was
full as much occafion, or rather more, for a
diſcovery of this fyftem to Adam, before he
had opportunities to make obfervations, than
afterwards; and diſcovering the true fenfe and
meaning of thoſe intimations, that Moſes gives,
concerning the tranſactions in the garden of
Eden; concludes that Adam was by God in-
ſtructed in the knowledge of the powers and
operations of this fyftem, and of the duty
and regard owing to the Author of it, as well
as of fo much of the nature, powers, and at-
tributes of the Author and Creator of it, as
the children of Ifrael were acquainted with,
by the republication of Revelation by Mofes,
in writing.
As to the manner of this firft Revelation,
our Author, proceeding upon the principles
already mentioned, that man is incapable of
any ideas but what are taken in by the fenſes,
concludes that God could not give to man,
whilft clogged with a body, the true idea of
himfelf,
30 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
himſelf, or any otherways repreſent himſelf
than by referring for a fimilitude to that thing
in this material fyftem, that bore the neareſt
refemblance in perfection, power, nature, and
operation; and therefore he ſuppoſes (what
he afterwards affirms he has proved) that,
to give man fome image or likeneſs of him-
ſelf, he pointed to the machine by which this
ſyſtem is fupported; the heavens conſiſting
of matter in three different conditions, fire,
light, and air, or ſpirit, as the Author calls it,
which mutually fupport each other, and ne-
ceffarily concur in the joint action of that
powerful machine, by which every material
thing is moved, fupported, and preſerved;
exhibiting thereby fome fimilitude, from
whence an idea might be taken of his effence,
perfonality, power, and manner of action.
As Adam gave names to all living crea-
tures, and the uſe and intent of a name is to
raiſe, in the hearer, an idea of the thing
named; our Author fuppofes that every other
creature that came within the cognizance of
the firſt man had alſo a name given to it;
and inſiſts that the heavens, or the machine,
deſcribed as above, was by Adam called The
Names, by way of eminence, to fignify that
they were the reprefentatives of the Deity,
that
I
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
31
שמים
that from which the idea of him was to be
taken:
Shem in the Hebrew language
fignifies Name; and he avers that She-
mim is the maſculine plural of that noun, and
fignifies properly Names; and by this he un-
derſtands that the heavens, or Shemim, were
always thought of, and fpoken of, by thoſe
who were rightly informed by Revelation,
as the repreſentation, or material object ex-
preffive of the Deity.
IF mankind was thus inftructed in the
powers and operations of Nature, the leffon
would not foon, or eafily, wear out; becauſe
every obſervation, every ſymptom in nature
would, day after day, juſtify it; but the fact,
that this knowledge was revealed, might foon
be forgotten by the fucceeding generations
of men, or be difbelieved, and with it the
knowledge of the invifible Author of all.
Men who ſaw this machine perfect and felf-
moving might doubt whether it had not ſelf-
exiſtence in it; and whether, as it was the
immediate cauſe and producer of all their
comforts, it was not the only powerful Being
to which they had any obligations, and owed
duty and ſervice; whence, by degrees, wor-
ſhip might be misplaced, being transferred
from the true invifible God to the vifible re-
prefen-
32
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
preſentation of him, in which all power and
perfection might be lodged, by the opinions
of vain imaginary men, who forgot or dif-
regarded Revelation.
THAT this in fact was the cafe, that the
early deferters of the true God placed their
worſhip and ſervice on the heavens, the Au-
thor proves at great length, and with great
ftrength of evidence, as a good deal of his
reaſoning depends on it.
If the Scriptures are to be decifive in this
point, it is put beyond doubt, by the many
formal declarations that the crime of the na-
tions, and of the apoftate Ifraelites, was their
ferving the heavens, the Hoft of heavens, the
Queen of Heaven, as it is tranſlated; the Sun,
Moon, and Stars; and falfe Gods, Baal, Mo-
loch, &c. which our Author fhews were repre-
fentations of fome of the powers or attributes
of the heavens; and by the many miracles
wrought to convince mankind, that they
miſplaced their worſhip, and that the inviſible
God had thoſe powers under his command.
AND, were their credit in any degree que
ftionable, fuch remains as we have of the an-
tient heathen worship would fhew with abun-
dant evidence, that, till they loft the know-
ledge of their philoſophy, (which happened
2
by
1
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
33
甲
​by accidents largely deſcribed by our author)
they continually retained the powers or attri-
butes of the heavens for the objects of their
religious fervice.
OUR Author admits that the more modern
Heathens (by theſe he means the Greeks and
Romans, and their fucceffors in point of time)
who had loft the knowledge of nature, loſt
alfo the knowledge of the object of their wor-
ſhip, and the ſenſe of the very names, by
which their gods were called or diſtinguiſhed;
ſo that, though they adored the air, they knew
not for what: but then he avers, that the
antients (that is, all the nations that preceded
the change of language, by which knowledge
was retained) adored the heavens, or fome
powers in them, or attributes of them.
To this end he has collected the names of
all the gods of the nations mentioned in Scrip-
ture, together with the names or titles of
their temples, in his treatiſe of the names and
attributes of the Trinity of the Gentiles, and has
offered an examination and analyſis of thoſe
- names, together with fome account of the
fervices paid to thofe fuppofed deities, and the
many reproaches made by the Prophets to
their votaries and worshippers; which, with
great evidence, feems to fhew that theſe gods
VOL. II.
D
were
34 A Letter to a Bishop, &e.
were indeed none other than the heavens, or
ſome ſuppoſed powers in them.
THE very general adoration paid by the
antients to the heavenly bodies, the worship
of the fun, of fire, of light, &c. that prevaik
ed in the earlieſt times; the conjectural phi-
lofophy of the late Heathens, the Greeks, and
Romans, which centred in opinions, that by
their Jupiter, Apollo, &c. was meant either
the ather, or the fun, or the active force of
nature in general, juſtifies, to thoſe who value
fuch authorities, our Author's fentiments.
OUR Author is out of humour with thoſe
who fancy the antients fuch idiots as to have
worshipped brutes, reptiles, infects, or any
inanimate things.
LET the worſhip in Egypt be an inſtance;
the reſpect they had to Apis, to a bull or cow,
was not at all paid to that animal. All man-
kind knows in relation to Egypt, becauſe their
monuments were better preſerved than thoſe
of other nations, that they wrote by hiero-
glyphicks; that is, that they expreffed their
ideas by repreſenting the figures of animals,
or of inanimate things, of circles, triangles,
&c. in fuch feries and order, as to convey
their meaning; in fo doing, they muſt fix
upon fome things eafily diftinguiſhed, to re-
preſent
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
35
preſent what could not ſo eaſily be painted,
or by figure expreſſed. And, if their fancy
led them to expreſs the fire at the fun by the
front or head of a bull or heifer, the refpect
ſhewed to that animal was evidently meant to
the fire at the fun, and the Egyptians did not
worſhip the bull or heifer, but the fun; no
more than in their hieroglyphical writing a
bull or ferpent was meant, when the figures
of thoſe animals were repreſented.
OUR Author goes through a great many
miſtakes of the moderns in this particular,
which are diſhonourable to the underſtand-
ings of the antients, and amongſt theſe takes
notice particularly of one, viz. the reproach
to the Egyptians, that they worſhipped an
onion; and indeed the Scripture upbraids the
Ifraelites with their ſtrong lufting after the
onions of Egypt.
BUT our Author fays the moderns will
ceaſe to abuſe the antients on this ſcore, when
they take the trouble to cut up the common
onion, and to fatisfy their own eyes that it
confiſts of ſeven different ſpheres, or involucra,
one within another, in the way that the an-
tients underſtood the feven ſpheres in this
ſyſtem; and was therefore more proper than
any other thing, that can be thought of, to
repreſent
D 2
36
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
repreſent the folar fyftem in their hierogly
phical writings, and religious repreſentation.
He takes notice, that from the hierogly-
cal repreſentation of the heavens, or, perhaps,
of fire, amongst the Egyptians, by Apis, the
Ifraelites calf of gold in the wilderness, and
the brace of calves of Jeroboam, who had his
education in Egypt, fprang: not that the Ifra-
elites at first, or Jeroboam afterwards, dream-
ed of any powers or vertues in thoſe calves;
but that they imagined, they put themſelves
thereby under the protection of the heavens,
of which they took that iḍol to be the ap-
proved emblem.
To all their hieroglyphical repreſentations
of their Deity, he obſerves, they added a
crown, by way of ornament or diſtinction,
(as for much the fame reaſon, though in an-
other reſpect, which he elſewhere explains,
they did to their prieſts ;) this crown was a
circle of gold, the moſt precious metal; from
which arofe, quite round the circumference,
plates of gold, formed like pyramids, imita-
ting rays of light; and in the intervals, be-
tween thoſe ſhining rays, fpaces of the fame
pyramidal form, but pointed inwards, to re-
prefent, as our Author fays, the irradation or
flux of the light outwards from the fun, and
the
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
57
the preffure or return of the air or ſpirit
inwards, by which he infifts this machine is
fupported.
AND in a great many more of their
ornaments and emblems he finds evident
traces of what their ſervice and religion
pointed at, to wit, a recognition of the
powers in the heavens, as that from whence
all their bleffings flowed, and on which all
their dependence was ſettled.
As this miſtaking, which, in effect, is
denying the true God, was evidently the
crime of thoſe heathens, who were contem-
porary with the Ifraelitish ftate; fo, our Au-
thor thinks, it was the offence of the ante-
diluvian world, for which men merited to be
cut off, all but one family. His reaſons for
fo thinking are numerous, but what to me
appears the ſtrongeſt, is drawn from the pu-
niſhment, which was, as our Author infifts,
the controuling the fettled operations of the
powers that were ſuppoſed to be indepen-
dent and omnipotent; the deſtroying the
earth, and with it rebellious man, the re-
forming the earth after that diffolution, and
preſerving thoſe perfons, by whom it was to
be repeopled, from the general ruin, to be
witneffes for God of the power by him ex-
D 3
erted,
38 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
erted, and to inftruct their pofterity in the
fervice of that Being, by whom they were
preſerved.
OUR Author talks of deftroying the
earth, which, he fays, is in formal words
affirmed by Moſes; he ſpeaks of forcing up
the waters of the abyss through apertures,
which, he ſays, were left for a communica-
tion with the waters above; diffolving the
thell, reforming it with new apertures and
fiffures, and fending back thoſe waters again
through cracks and fiffures in the ſhell of
ftone, that environed the abyss, to their
former refidence; he ſpeaks alſo of great
quantities of terreſtrial matter carried down
through thoſe fiffures and openings along
with the waters into the abyss; that matter
formed at the centre of the hollow fphere
into a folid orb, like to a kernel floating in the
waters, and very many effects in the mo-
tion of the waters, and of this earth, to be
accounted for by that collection of waters,
and this floating orb; all which, he afferts,
are to be gathered from what the Scripture
reveals, and will account mechanically for
the many various appearances, which hi-
therto have been only gueffed at, from
fchemes
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
39
fchemes founded on falfe and impoffible
principles.
As an inftance of the perfection of the
natural knowledge that is to be met with in
the Scriptures, and of the abfurdity of thoſe
who charge the writers of them with igno-
rance; he avers, that the loadſtone and its
effects are frequently, at leaſt fix times, di-
rectly ſpoken of; that the reaſon and cauſe
of the myſterious phænomena of magne-
tiſm are clearly to be gathered from the re-
vealed philofophy.
AND, however Freethinkers may make the
ftory of the flood an objection to the vera-
city of the Scriptures, and may laugh at
the account, which our Author gives of it
from the facred writers; he affirms, that, as
he has had the curiofity to make collections
of most of the different forts of things,
and each of the fame fort differently form-
ed, under ground, and numerous obferva-
tions on the fituation of things in the
bowels of the earth; he can, by evidence
to the eye, convince any rational man, that
the account he gives of the deſtruction at
the flood, and reformation of the earth,
from the Scriptures, is graphically true.
D 4
NOAH,
40 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
NOAH and his family, who had remain-
ed in dutiful allegiance to the invifible God,
were, doubtleſs, by this powerful piece of
vengeance over the rebellious world, con-
vinced of the ſupremacy of the Deity over
his rival the heavens, whofe power they had
ſeen ſuſpended and baffled; and their pofte-
rity continued dutiful 'till the time of build-
ing the tower of Babel, when nature and
imagination began to work again.
་
ALL tranſlations have made a very odd
ſpot of work of this piece of hiftory. They
have fuppofed it fays that, before this acci-
dent, all men ſpoke the fame language; that,
afraid of another deluge, they ſet about
building a tower, whofe top fhould reach to
the heavens; that they did this to get them
a name; and that God became fo jealous of
this attempt, that it was worth his while to
work a very extraordinary miracle, to con-
found their language, fo as one could not
underſtand what the other faid; and to dif
perſe them over the face of the earth; and
from this notable event the birth of many
languages, and the first peopling of many
nations, is fought.
OUR Author, who infifts that a perfect
knowledge of the Hebrew language will de
liver
2
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
41
liver the Scripture from many abſurdities,
with which it is by the tranflations faddled,
fays;
IN the first place, the text does not bear
that all the earth was of one language, or
that their language was confounded. It ſays
indeed, that all the earth was of one
[new Shaphah] lip; and afterwards that
God faid he would confound their lip.
Now our Author obferves, what, upon
comparing all the texts, holds very truly,
that the Hebrews had two words of nearly.
the fame fignification, to thofe that did not
advert to the diftinction; 1 Lehun, which
fignifies tongue, and Shaphah, which fignifies
lip; but which, in the propriety of their ex-
preffion, they never confounded; ufing
Leſbun, perpetually, to fignify language, and
Shaphah to fignify religious fervice, or con-
feffion, and never to fignify language. All
therefore the text fays is; that, before the
building of Babel, the whole earth had one
and the fame religious fervice or confeffion;
and that, upon that attempt, the new con-
feffion, which the projectors of this building
intended to ſet up, was to be confounded,
which begun in the difperfion of the under-
takers.
IN
42
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
IN the next place, the tranflators render
the text, as if it faid, Let us build us a tower,
whoſe top ſhall reach to the Heavens, that we
may make us a name, left we be difperfed, &c.
And furely, befides other improprieties in
this ſuppoſed deſign, it muſt appear a very
ridiculous project to build a tower, that
fhould defend againſt deſtruction by a flood,
in fo very low a ground as the valley of
Shinar; or from difperfion, which want of
provifion would force them to.
But our
Author obferves, that the Hebrew text fays
nothing of reaching to the Heavens that
word is a meer fupplement from the tranf-
lators fancy, who were ignorant that the
word render'd Tower fignifies Temple, and
therefore did not perceive the obvious
meaning of the whole, which is, that theſe
wicked men, who lived in a country where,
'till then, there was no difference of religion,
the whole earth being of one confeffion,
apoſtatiſed to the fervice and worſhip of the
Heavens; and encouraged one another to
build a city and temple, the top whereof
ſhould be facred to the Heavens; and that
God, to check this early relapſe into the re-
ligion of their antediluvian forefathers,
thought fit to confound, not their language,
but
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
43
but their confeffion, or liturgy, that is, to
make them differ about the manner and form
of the intended fervice and worship, which
had the effect, at that time, of marring
their irreligious project; of making them
fall out amongſt themſelves, of making them
defift from their enterpriſe.
TAKING the thing thus, and fuppofing
theſe men mistook the Heavens for a deity,
there was fenfe in their building a temple,
and on it an altar to that being that could,
according to their fuppofition, prevent their
deſtruction and difperfion; and it was well
and mercifully done, on the part of God, to
make them differ about their intended fervice,
and thereby to fall out amongſt themſelves,
and relinquiſh the undertaking. But, tranf-
lating the text as our expofitors have done, a
moft abfurd and impracticable attempt is fup-
pofed to call upon the interpofition of the
Deity, in a very unneceffary miracle, which,
at the fame time, our Author avers, appears
not to have been wrought; becauſe the ſame
Scriptures fhew the whole earth was of one
language, though not of one lip, or religious
confeffion, for ſeveral ages after.
As our Author has delivered the Scriptures,
by his acquaintance with Hebrew, from this
noto-
44
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
notorious abfurdity, with which the igno-
rance of the tranflators had ftained it; he,
on an infinity, almoft, of other occafions, in-
terpoſes to ſet their falſe interpretations to
rights. According to his conftruction of the
language, it is no where in the text ſaid,
that the earth ftands ftill, and that the fun
goes round it; but on the contrary it is, on
every proper occafion, inculcated that the
fun ftands ftill, fixed, and that the earth
runs round.
AFTER the flood God did not put the
rainbow firſt in the cloud, as a fign to man;
but he conſtituted or gave (which is the
Hebrew word) that bow, which naturally
was in the cloud, as a memorial of his
promiſe not to deftroy the earth again by
water.
AND in multitudes of other cafes our
Author brings, as he ſays, from the genuine
conftruction of the text, a very commodious
ſenſe, where the tranflation is, not to ſay
worfe, hardly intelligible.
As our Author's general propoſition, that
the mechanical powers in the Heavens was
the deity ſet up by the Heathen, againſt the
God of Nature and of Ifrael, is a key to the
underſtanding a vast number of expreffions,
expoftu-
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
45
expoftulations, and claims, uſed throughout
by the writers of the Scriptures, which paſſed
unheeded, or were thought trivial, and ac-
commodated to the miſtaken notions of ig-
norant men heretofore; fo the fame poſition,
as he manages it, is of very great ſervice in
fhewing the propriety and perfect intention
and uſe of very many miracles, miraculous
appearances, and religious inftitutions,
which no man hitherto has pretended to
fhew the adequate reaſon, ufe, or occafion
for.
If the religion of the rebellious Heathen
was to aſcribe all power to the machine of
the Heavens, in the conditions of fire,
light, and air, or ſpirit, but principally in that
of fire, on the acting whereof all the reſt
ſeemed to depened; then it was proper for
the Deity, when a new revelation and reli-
gious œconomy was to be eſtabliſhed in
the family of Abraham, to paſs between the
parts of the creatures, appointed to be di̟-
vided, in the appearance of fire, light, and
fmoke.
纛
​It was proper to fhew his fuperiority over
the gods of Sodom and Gomorrah, by puniſhing
them, who worſhipped fire, by fire ſent from
Heaven: It was proper, when Mofes was to be
fent
46
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
fent upon his miffion, to appear to him in
the bush in the form of fire.
It was proper, when the conteſt was be-
tween the prieſts of Baal and the prophet
Elisha, and when the formal trial was to be,
whether Baal or Jehovah was the true God,
by this teſt, whether the offering of the one
or of the other fhould be first confumed by
fire fent from Heaven; it was proper, I fay,
on that cafe, for Jehovah to give proof of his
power, by fending down fire, and conſuming
the facrifice, water, &c. And,
Not to mention a great many other in-
ftances, when the captains of fifty were fuc-
ceffively fent out by the King of Ifrael,
who then fell in with the worship of the
Heavens, in defiance of the true God, to
bring Elijah to him a priſoner; it was proper,
to puniſh their prefumption, and to manifeſt
the power of Jehovah over the Heavens, to
confume thoſe captains by fire fent from
Heaven.
AND, though the many miracles wrought
in Egypt, and in the wilderneſs, to which,
for evidence of the power and fupremacy of
Jehovah, there are many references and ap-
peals made by the later writers of the Scrip-
tures, feem to our modern wifemen, who
think
1
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
47
think that God might have done the buſineſs
a much ſhorter way, very unneceſſary - and
fuperfluous, and as ſuch are diſbelieved; yet
our Author apprehends they were abfolutely
neceſſary to the defign of Jehovah, and of
the utmoſt importance to mankind, for ſet-
tling the point in difpute between the fol-
lowers of the true and thofe of the falſe
God.
THE intent of thefe various miracles, our
Author fays, was, in the face and ſeeing of
the most powerful and populous, the moſt
learned, the moſt fuperftitiouſly addicted na-
tion then in the world to the ſervice of the
Heavens, to fhew the power of Jehovah over
their pretended gods in all their attributes and
powers, and over their priests; and, in fo
doing, to convict that people, and all that
fhould hear of thofe tranfactions, and ftill
remain in the fame error; and to convince
the people, that he was about to ſeparate to
himſelf, ſo fully of his authority, that they
ſhould never (bearing theſe things in mind)
apoſtatiſe.
FOR theſe ends, after the magicians or
prieſts of the fictitious gods were foiled,
Jehovah permitted Pharaoh to harden his
heart, or to reſiſt; until by repeated miracles
he
I
48
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
he had, to the fight of all men, afferted his
fuperiority over his rivals, in controuling all
the actions and powers, for which they were
falfly thought gods, and making them afflict
their votaries. The fun and light were turn-
ed into a palpable darkneſs, for three days.
The air was turned peftilential; the very duft
of the earth was turned noxious; the river,
which was emblematically ſacred, in whoſe
waters they purified themſelves, and on whoſe
banks they worſhipped, was turned into blood;
the wind brought locufts to deſtroy the vota-
ries of the wind. All theſe plagues, and
many more, which our Author explains the
propriety of at length, in his Eſſay towards a
Natural History of the Bible, were ſo directed
as to leave the Ifraelites unhurt, witneffes of
the fuperiority of their God, of the obedi-
ence of the Heavens, and of the diſtraction
and folly of thoſe who worshipped them.
HITHERTO miracles have been looked
upon, generally, by mankind as ſo many
prodigious, unnatural, and therefore wonder-
ful events, furpaffing the power of man to
compaſs; brought about by divine power,
to vouch the miffion of the perfon, by whofe
hands they were wrought, and to gain credit
to what he ſhould reveal, or deliver. But, if
our
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
49
our Author is to be followed, they are to be
confidered as tending to an higher purpoſe,
and are ſo many manifeftations of the power
of the true God, to gain credit to himſelf,
in contradiction to the pretended powers of
the heavens, that were fet up in oppoſition:
and are ſo forted and chofen, as beft to prove
that there is no inherent effential powers in
the machine, the Heavens; but that all inhe-
rent and effential power is in Jehovah` alone,
whoſe ſervants, at his command, could alter
or fufpend the courſe of nature.
IT was, according to our Author, to con-
firm the children of Ifrael in this faith, that
the wind (in Hebrew, the fpirit) ſeparated the
waters of the Red Sea, and made them, con-
trary to the ordinary courſe of nature, ftand
on either fide in heaps: That by Mofes Je-
hovah fhewed, in miniature, the ſame power
that was exerciſed in deftroying the earth at
the flood, by cracking the ftrata of ſtone, and
and making a ſpring of water guſh out of a
rock, upon the touch of a rod: That the
God of the nations, in the appearance of fire,
light, and cloud, or fpirit, which the Author
fays (as fhall be hereafter explained) was the
emblem of the true God, was forced to at-
tend, to lead, and to protect the camp of
VOL. II.
E
Ifreel:
L+
50
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
Ifrael: That the air was made to rain down
food upon the armies of Jehovah: And that
Jehovah was pleafed miraculouſly, and at an
appointed time, to fhew himfelf in the ap-
pearance of fire on Sinai, and from thence
to deliver the law, and offer a covenant to the
Ifraelites.
IF all theſe things fhall be underſtood to be
done to ſettle the conteft, and establish the
authority of Jehovah over the Heavens, his
rivals at that time, and all other pretended
deities that thereafter might, by the madneſs
or ignorance of men, be fet up:
THEN the fcope and intent of the law,
given in the ten commandments, will be
better understood; and the meaning of the
religious œconomy, ceremonies, and ſervices,
that thereafter were eſtabliſhed, will be more
fully comprehended.
THE first four commands, by the con-
feffion of every body, are intended to affert
and inculcate the fovereignty of the Deity,
and the feclufive title to fervice, that is in
Jehovah, the Creator and Preſerver of all
things; in contradiction to all other pretend-
ed gods, whofe fervice is prohibited and
guarded againſt in the most exprefs manner;
prohibitions that do not ſeem neceffary to be
K
autho-
J
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
51
authoriſed and introduced with fo much
pomp, and by fo many miracles, if the wor-
ſhip of a ſtock or a ftone, a red heifer or a
calf, taken in themſelves, and not confidered
as the repreſentation of that being (the Hea-
vens) in which all material power in this fy-
ſtem was known to refide, had been the only
thing to be dreaded.
THE other commands are generally called
the moral law, and it is commonly thought
that they were intended for a ſyſtem of ſocial
law, as they ſeem to prohibit trefpaffes againſt
fociety.
BUT in this our Author differs, and fays,
that when men are fatisfied, as they may
eaſily be from Scripture and from hiſtory,
that the worshippers of the heavens called
their gods their fathers and mothers, and
worſhipped them as fuch; that they held it a
religious and acceptable fervice to immolate
human facrifices, nay to offer their first-born
to fire; that they held it lawful, nay pleafing
to ſome of their gods, to fteal and rob for
facrifice; that proftitution of their wives
and daughters, in honour of their gods, was a
flagrant part of their religion, &c. the rea-
fons for giving thefe commands, commonly
called moral, will appear to be the fame, as
E 2
for
1
52
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
for giving the reft, to wit, to ſettle and efta-
bliſh the worſhip of the true, though invifible
God, and to reftrain from the worſhip of the
heavens, and the chief abominations practifed
in that worſhip.
As to the moral or focial law, according
to our Author, it was not the immediate view
or purpoſe of God, in the law given from the
mount, to eſtabliſh or explain it. The com-
petition for fuperiority with the falſe god,
the heavens, was the point to be ſettled; and
the abominations of the prophane worſhip of
that fictitious god were to be prohibited, and
eradicated out of the fervice of the children
óf Ifrael.
THE focial law required no publication,
no authority from Jehovah by miracles to
confirm it; except in thoſe points in which the
abfurd ſervice of the heathens had encroached
upon it.
It was no queſtion amongſt the
heathens, no more than it was amongſt the
children of Abraham, whether it was unlaw-
ful to kill, or to commit adultery, on any other
occafion, except for the honour of their pre-
tended deities in religious fervice; and there-
fore, according to our Author, there was not
occafion for fettling theſe focial duties, except-
ing
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
53
ing ſo far as the miſtakes in worſhip made it
neceffary.
As the principal view of the decalogue, and
all the pomp and train of miracles, with
which it was introduced, was to fettle the fu-
periority of Jehovah over his rivals, the hea-
vens; ſo our Author obſerves, that all the me-
morials of theſe miracles, the fervices, feafts,
fabbaths, rites of facrifice, ceremonies, the
tabernacle, the temple, their ornaments and
furniture, the inftitution of priesthood, with
the ordinances relating thereto, the prieſts
garments, &c. were intended to commemo-
rate, to acknowledge, and for ever to keep in
view the evidence of the fuperiority then ſet-
tled; and to explain by emblems, a fort of
language then well understood, the nature,
refidence, and manner of acting of God, in
oppofition to that of his rivals; and his mer-
ciful difpofition and purpoſe towards his crea-
tures; all which the Author has in a great
meaſure explained, and applied in a very new
and furprifing manner, and promiſes, on a
proper occafion, fully to explain and ſhew the
application of the reſt.
THOUGH a ſyſtem of philoſophy, reli-
gion, and religious fervice was thus revealed
in writing by the hand of Moſes in the wilder-
E 3
nefs,
54
A Letter to a Bifhop, &c.
neſs, as our Author affirms; yet he is far from
thinking that the world was left without in-
formation, or direction in theſe matters, 'till
this time; on the contrary, he afferts, that the
inftruction and law, given by Mofes, was no
more than a republication in writing of that
law, originally given to Adam before, and up-
on the fall.
FROM the goodneſs, the wiſdom, and the
juftice of God; from the neceffities of the
new-made creature man, and from the hints,
above mentioned, of God's planting a garden.
in Eden, and bringing all living creatures be-
fore Adam; our Author concludes, that na-
ture, its operations, and dependence on Je-
hovah, was fully explained to the firſt man;
and thence his duty, as well as chief good,
diſcovered to him, in admiring, adoring, and,
with love and gratitude, ſerving the Author
of his being.
WHETHER any, and what ſervices, by way
of acknowledgment, were at this time requi-
red of Adam, does not appear; but it does
appear that he was prohibited, under the pe-
`nalty of death, from eating of the fruit of a
certain tree in the middle of the garden,
which is called the Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil
OUR
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
55
OUR Author fuppofes that this tree, faid to
ftand in the middle of the garden, was in the
plan of that garden intended to repreſent the
fun in the centre of this ſyſtem, which keeps
it all a going; and that the prohibition to eat
the fruit of it emblematically forewarned
Adam from truſting to its fupport in any thing,
but what, as a machine without knowledge,
it was appointed to do; and he fufpects that
this very forbidden fruit was the Malum Per-
ficum, famed amongſt the heathens; in Greece,
afterwards, taken to be the laurel, facred
to Apollo the god of wiſdom, and which was
fuppofed capable of giving knowledge and
wiſdom.
He obſerves that this command was firſt
broken by Eve, who had it but at fecond hand
from Adam, and who did not know the na-
tures, and ſeveral qualities and capacities of
brute creatures, as Adam did, at the inftigation
of the devil, by a ferpent, who as a bait pro-
poſed improvement in knowledge; a very
laudable motive, had not the method of gain-
ing it been prohibited.
He imagines that Adam was not deceived
as Eve was; but that, feeing her loft, his
paffion for her made him defperately reſolve
to fhare the fame fortune with her, and to be
E 4
joined
។
56
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
!
joined with her in the crime, and the puniſh-
ment; and that this was the reaſon why,
when their eyes were opened, they not only
became aſhamed of their crime, but at the
fight of thoſe parts, which raiſed in each mu-
tual defires; the violence of which induced
woman to feduce man into a participation of
her guilt, and induced man to yield to ruin
and death, rather than be divided from her.
THOSE, who are delighted with ſearching
into the origin and ufage of words, will not
be diſagreeably entertained by a reflection or
two our Author makes, on this occafion.
He fays that ny aven, which properly figni-
fies the act of cohabitation with woman, is
in the Hebrew language made the root for
iniquity or wickednefs. And that D Pe-
tah, which principally fignifies that part of
the body that Eve is ſuppoſed to have, hid,
in the fame language is made expreſſive of
feducing, overperfuading, deceiving.
AND Our Author thinks that, to keep up
the memory of this crime, and of the prin-
cipal motive that induced man to fall into it,
as alſo to be a caveat againſt being carried
too far by that motive, on future occafions,
circumcifion was inftituted; which took place
amongst the nations before Abraham's days,
and
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
57
and was revived only in his family; and re-
enacted in the law of Mofes, as ſeveral other
antient inſtitutions were.
OUR Author infifts, that man could not
have fuftained his life any confiderable time
after the fall, though God had not been plea-
fed by any act to inflict death upon him. The
conſciouſneſs of the diſpleaſure of God, the
remembrance of felicity loft, and the appre-
henfions of the juft vengeance of the offend-
ed Deity, muſt have produced ſtrange diſtrac-
tions in the mind of unhappy Adam: That he
lived then, is a demonftration that he re-
ceived fome comfort, fome hint of the poffi-
bility of a reconciliation; and that he actually
had promiſes that comforted him, the Scrip→
tures in formal words reveal. The feed of the
woman shall bruife the head of the ferpent.
•
THOUGH the account of this promife,
and thoſe hopes of peace, is very ſhort, yet
our Author thinks that, at this time, a pro-
per and intelligible account was given to
man of the manner and means of his recon-
ciliation, and reftitution to the protection of
God; and that rites, obfervances, and fer-
vices were inftituted, to keep in mind, and
acknowledge the fovereignty of the Creator;
the
58
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
Q
the crime of man, and his forfeiture; and
the promiſe and means of peace and ſalva-
tion.
THE foundations of his opinion, befides
what is already faid, are in general: That
from the Scripture it appears, before the pub-
lication of the law in Sinai, believers and un-
believers were in the practice and poffeffion
of many, or moft of thofe rites and infti-
tutions, which muſt have depended on fome
antecedent authority, that was common to
all. And by the univerfal confent of all pro-
phane authors it appears, that, after the æra
of Mofes, the fame inſtitutions and obfer-
vances had taken place over all the known
world; though no body ſuppoſes they owed
their origin to the laws of a nation, that the
reft of the world held in diflike and con-
tempt..
To inftance in a few: Offering facrifice,
and that by fire, was in ufe before the writ-
ten law; Abel offered; Noah facrificed; Abra-
ham and his contemporaries did fo; Job prac-
tifed it; it was uſed by Balaam; it was praç→
tifed for thankſgiving; for atonement; for
binding covenants: at the fame time it is
obvious, that naturally it had no tendency to
either of thoſe ends; and, as it was univer-
fal,
•
*
}
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
59
fal, muſt needs owe its beginning to an in-
ftitution, that was authoritative over all.
-
THAT facrifice was held propitiatory
among the heathens cannot be denied by
any, that is converfant in their writings;
their hiſtories, their poems are full of it;
and, if there could remain any doubt,
Balaam's repeated attempts to placate the
deity, and the over-warm zeal of thofe, who
gave the fruit of their body for the fin of
their foul, who facrificed their firft-born to
Moloch, to atone for themſelves, their family,
and people, and to procure his favour and
protection, are abfolute proofs.
OUR Author, on this ſubject, takes no-
tice, that God is faid to have clothed our
firſt parents with the ſkins of beaſts, that part
of the offering, that by the written law ap-
pears to have fallen to the prieſt's fhare; and
thence concludes that the beafts, from which
thoſe ſkins were taken, had been facrificed.
ANOTHER inftance is in firſt-fruits,
which appear amongst all the heathens to have
been offered as an acknowledgment to their
ſeveral deities. This practice is as old as the
days of Cain and Abel, who cannot be fup-
pofed to have begun it without inftitution for
their authority.
A
бо
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
A THIRD inftance is in the inftitution of
priesthood, or giving, to the firſt-born, or
-eldeft of the family, a right to approach the
altar, and to offer facrifice, which in the
Jewish difpenfation was changed from the
firft-born to the family of Levi. If the
prieſt was, in one confideration, a reprefenta-
tion of the fame perfon, that the facrifice
repreſented in another, it is reaſonable to
conclude, that the inftitution of priesthood,
and of facrifice, bore the fame date.
FROM the expreffion, Gen. iv. 3. our
Author collects, that there were appointed
times, perhaps new moons, and fettled feafts,
from the beginning, for facrifice, fervice,
and acknowledgment.
AND from Mofes's account of the creation,
and what followed it, nothing is more clear
than that the rest of the fabbath was from
the beginning appointed, for preſerving a
perpetual memorial of the creation, com-
pleted by Jehovah; and for yielding to
man a fit opportunity, free from labour, toil,
and care, to contemplate the high and bene-
ficent attributes of God in his works; and to
diſpoſe the mind to acknowledgment, duty,
love, praiſe, and adoration, the only tribute
that is truly ſuited to the nature of that per-
fect
"A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
61
fect being; and the only exerciſe that ſeems
proper for qualifying man to defire, and to
enjoy a nearer union with his God.
As our Author finds, in the written law,
ſeveral particular forts of wood, diftinguiſhed
by their uſes in the tabernacle; and ſeveral.
forts of boughs and branches of trees, ap-
pointed to be carried and uſed in the feaſt
of tabernacles; he concludes, that thoſe
trees were in the days of Adam, ſo to ſpeak,
confecrated as emblems or memorials of
particular perfons, actions, or things, that they
were to repreſent.
A GARDEN was planted in Eden; and I
have hinted at the uſe, for which our Author
thinks it was dreffed there. The patriarchs,
particularly Abraham, facrificed under oaks,
nay, planted oaks for the end of facrifice
and religious fervice under them. The
antients planted gardens, groves, &c. upon
religious accounts, and very likely held par-
ticular trees in refpect, as repreſenting parti.
cular powers or actions.
Elak,
THE oak, which is in Hebrew
our Author fays, was appointed the memo-
rial of a covenant confirmed by oath.
THE tree of knowledge of good and evil
repreſented the powers in this ſyſtem. The
fiuit
62
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
fruit of the laft, as our Author fays, with
boughs of the firft; branches of the palm-
tree, and twigs of ſeveral other trees, were to
be held in the hands of the children of
Ifrael at the feaft of tabernacles, their grand
feftivity for mirth and rejoicing; and he
infifts, that the carrying thoſe ſeveral boughs
and fruits had a religious, emblematical
meaning, then very well underſtood; as it
was the only way, before writing, of com-
municating knowledge; and as intelligible,
very near, as writing was afterwards. Be
cauſe theſe emblems were then fo fully un-
derſtood, the meaning of them is not by
Mofes explained; but our Author feems to
think it poffible ftill to decypher and ex-
plain them; only thus much he apprehends
is plain from the reflection made, that, the
uſe of thoſe ſeveral forts of trees being pre-
ſcribed, without any explication of the
reaſon or purpoſe, theſe purpoſes muſt have
been univerſally known at the time, and the
trees themſelves muſt have been conſtituted
emblems, as early as the planting the firſt
garden.
As hieroglyphicks, or emblems, were the
firft method of conveying and continuing
knowledge, which was fucceeded by the more
2
perfect
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
63
perfect invention of writing; and as all re-
ligious ſervice was originally performed, in
an emblematical way, which carried the
mind from the emblem, type, or emblema-
tical or typical act, to the perfon or thing re-
preſented; our Author thinks, that, after
writing was invented, for the more certain
preſervation of divine knowledge, the ſervices
were ſtill continued, and performed in the
old way, and types and emblems were of the
fame uſe and effect as ever; hence facrifice,
&c. were continued: and at the ſame time
that God defcribed the powers of this ſyſtem,
as dependent upon himſelf, in writing, he
cauſed the fame fort of account of them to
be repreſented, and hung up hieroglyphically
in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the
temple. The lamp in the temple, the pil-
lars, and their ornaments before the porch,
our Author infifts, were an hieroglyphicat
deſcription of the powers of this fyftem, of
the deities the heathens adored, which
Jehovah willed to be nailed up in the place
of the refidence of his prefence, to bear in
mind their inferiority and dependence on
him; and that they were to be confidered
in no other view than as emblems of him-
felf, and his fervants.
As
64
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
As our Author, by this new and very
furpriſing manner of interpretation, gives
light to an infinite number of inſtitutions,
prohibitions, declarations, claims, and fer-
vices; fo, by accurately examining the force
and propriety of the original language, and
comparing it with the inftitutions and fer-
vices, when rightiy underſtood, he thinks
he has made a world of very important dif
coveries.
VARIOUS are the gueffes that have been
made by learned men, concerning the ſenſe
and meaning of the word in Jehovah,
the ineffable name of God, as the Jews call
it our Author has fixed on that conftruc-
tion, which makes it the effence exifting;
that effence or fubftance, which has being
in itſelf neceffarily, without dependence up-
on any other, and in diftinction to all other
effence or ſubſtance whatever. Jab fig-
fies the effence, by eminence; and (if I
reach the Author's meaning, which feems
to be wholly new, and uncommon on this
article) by the addition of the other word
Hovah, fignifying actual being with
powers and faculties, gives an idea of that
fufficient all-perfect being, that has existence.
it itſelf, or by the neceffity of its own nature
exifts.
<
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
exifts. Something like to this ingenious mo-
derns have ſtruck out by the light of nature,
as they fay, for the idea of the fovereign
being; and it will be no great reproach to
their notion, if it falls in with the fentiment
-contained in the name given by God to him-
ſelf in the Scripture; nor a flight confirma-
tion of the accuracy and perfection of the
Scripture, if, when it is fairly examined, it
is found to expreſs ſentiments ſo juft, fo lofty,
and fo difficult, if at all poffible, to be come
at by the light of nature only.
EL is another name, which the Scrip-
ture gives to the Deity; it commonly is
tranflated the strong, or powerful, fortis. But
our Author infifts, that it fignifies properly
the irradiator. An idea borrowed from that
irradiation or emiffion of light and influence
from the fun to move, fupport, and preferve
in being and action every thing in this ma-
terial fyftem; from whence it is applied to
the Deity, to exprefs fomething of that in-
conceivable power, influence, and manner.
of acting, by which the Deity acts uncon-
troulably, where it is not locally prefent. As
the Author from Scripture avers the proper
refidence of God is without this fyftem, fo
that, by this name, that irradiation, which,
VOL. II.
according
F
66 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
according to our Author's philoſophy, is in
a great meaſure the ſupporter of nature, is
attributed to Jehovah; and fuch a power of
irradiation in a ſpiritual fenfe, as we ſee per-
formed by the fun in a material way, is
afcribed to the invifible God.
To confirm this fentiment, and indeed a
very confiderable branch of our Author's
ſcheme, he obſerves that the word '177
Hallelu-jah, which is the burden of almoſt all
the pſalms of praiſe and thankſgiving, the first
word frequently and the laft, and which
is tranſlated fometimes, praise ye the Lord,
fometimes is tranfcribed, without tranflating,
Hallelu-jah, fignifies properly and undoubted-
ly irradiation to Jah, or aſcribe ye irradia-
tion to the effence. Now, if the utmoſt ho-
nour the believing Jews could expreſs for
their God, in their moſt devout and thank-
ful praiſes, was to afcribe irradiation to his
effence; it, on the one hand, renders our
Author's opinion of the ſenſe of El very
probable; and, on the other hand, very
strongly proves, that the Scripture-ideas of
the Deity, and of its powers and action,
were borrowed from viſible operations of the
fun, the light, and air, and their actions in
the heavens in all this material ſyſtem.
2
THERE
·
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
67
THERE is ftill another name for God,
the moſt commonly uſed of any in Scrip-
ture, and on the true fenfe of which our
Author builds a great deal; it is ba
Elohim, always tranflated Deus, or God.
אלהים
ALL the world, Jews and Chriftians, agree
that this word is plural; feldom, not once in
five hundred times, to be met with fingular ;
almoſt always (a few inftances excepted)
joined with nouns and verbs in the fingular
number.
FROM this word, which the modern Jews,
and, after them, Chriftians have tranſlated
Deus, in the fingular number, when the true
God is meant ; but Dii, in the plural, when
it is applied to the gods of the nations; fe-
veral learned men have drawn arguments for
the Trinity, and have taken it to be a full
proof, at leaſt, of the plurality of perfons.
But, as theſe men did not affert, or undertake
to prove, that the Scriptures were wrote
with perfect accuracy, and were forced to
admit a great many things to be written,
that they could not strictly and philofophi-
cally juſtify; and as they pretended to fix no
certain origin or fenfe for the word, from
the meaning whereof their argument could
be examined or juftified; theſe opinions made
F 2
no
68 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
no great way to induce men to think, that
the doctrine of the Trinity was founded in
the Old Teftament.
BUT, as our Author infifts, that every
word of the facred book is written with the
utmoft accuracy, truth, and perfection; if
that propofition is made good, what he fays
for the word Elohim, for evidence of the
plurality of perfons in the Deity, muſt have
great weight.
NOTWITHSTANDING an infinity of
gueffes made by thofe, who pretended to be
learned in the Hebrew language, none ever
hit on any thing that carried a fenfe, in the
leaft degree, fatisfactory. Our Author has
fixed on the word 7 Elah, an oath or
adjuration (fo tranflated perpetually by the
Jews, wherever it occurs in the Scriptures,.
whether as verb or noun, except where it
is intended to fignify the Deity, and then
they take care to hide that meaning) as the
root from which it is derived; and affirms,
that by the genius of the language
Elobim fignifies, in the plural, Adjuratores,
perfons bound by oath or covenant; refer-
ring this name to that engagement, which
the divine perſons are ſuppoſed to have en-
tered into, for the prefervation and falvation
of
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
69
of man, called the covenant; and averring,
that it is expreffive of that relation, in which
that oath or covenant put God to man.
HE infifts, that, as this was the original
light, in which, after the fall, God was
willing to be known to man, for his com-
fort, and for encouraging him in his duty,
all the apoftate Heathens, who relinquished
the true Elohim, and reforted to their rivals,
the heavens, for protection, retained never-
theleſs this comfortable appellation, applied
it to the heavens, and, as they facrificed
with the utmoſt zeal and ſeriouſneſs to them,
looked upon them as their Elohim; all-power-
ful beings, in covenant with them, for their
good here and hereafter, and expected cer-
tainly from their hands protection and per-
formance of their fuppofed covenants: hence
by innumerable places in Scripture it appears,
that they looked upon themſelves as bound
never to relinquish their Elohim; and verily
believed that their Elohim, in their turn, were
bound never to defert them.
IT is remarkable, that, of the many
names, which the Deity has in Scripture,
this is the only one, which concerns the fal-
vation of man, that the Heathens carried off
with them to apply to their falſe gods; for
F 3
whom
70 A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
whom they coined other additional, or di-
ftinguiſhing names, without number, accord-
ing to their different humours, and the diffe-
rent powers and attributes of the heavens, for
which they worshipped them. But ftill, with
all theſe, they mixed the character or appel-
lation of Elohim, as what expreffed their con-
nexion with, and relation to them.
AND, if this term ſhall be allowed to mean
perfons bound by oath or covenant, then it
will fit kings or governors, who were under
fuch ties and engagements to the people; and
to them it is fometimes applied in Scripture.
AT whatever time the Jews thought fit firft
to tranſlate this word fingular, it is certain
the Heathens retained it in the plural ſenſe;
and the Jews, when tranflating that word
applied to the Heathen gods, render it plu-
ral.
OUR Author obferves, that the word. Elo-
him is generally joined with verbs and nouns
in the fingular number; yet fometimes the
words joined with it determine the fenſe fo
flatly to be plural, that, without impropriety,
fuch as is no where to be met with in the
facred book, the perfons, or things ſpoken
of muft neceffarily be plural.
IN
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
71
IN the confultation that is repreſented to
have been had by the Elohim, for the forma-
tion of man, in the firſt of Genefis, The Elo-
him ſaid, Let us make man in our image, ac-
cording to our fimilitudes.
AND, Genefis iii. 22.
after man had eaten
of the forbidden fruit, the Elohim fays, Be-
hold man is become like one of us. The meaning
of the expreffion, and in what fenſe man was
become like one of the Elohim, our Author,
on another occafion, endeavours to explain:
but from theſe, and fuch-like flat declarations
of more perfons than one in the Elohim, he
infifts it is beyond doubt, that the word is
intentionally uſed plural..
On this fubject he makes great uſe of the
repreſentatives of the Elobim, the Shemim, the
names, the powers in the machine, the hea-
vens, being plural; and thoſe powers being,
according to his apprehenſion, juſt three, fire,
light, and ſpirit, or air: and, if it is fuppofed,
that theſe three powers fupport all the mo-
tions and actions, in this machine, and that
the machine was given for a repreſentation
of the Deity, its nature, manner of exiſtence,
powers and actions, by itſelf it is very diffi-
cult to call in doubt our Author's conclufion,
that the one ſubſtance of the heavens, acting
F 4
in
I
$2
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
in three conditions, or with diftinct powers,
is expreffive of the one effence and perfona-
lity of the Elohim.
AND, indeed, to do our Author's argu-
ment juſtice, fuppofing the received opinion
of a Trinity in the Deity were to be illuftra-
ted, or repreſented, by the fimilitude of any
vifible, or conceivable object; it muſt be
confeffed, that the wit of man has not hither-
to ſuggeſted any thing fo fit, to throw light
upon that high myſtery, as this ſuppoſed ma-
chine; if the Author can make it good, that
nature is actually fupported by the agency of
matter in thoſe three conditions of fire, light,
and ſpirit, or air. The unity of the machine,
the cooperation or joint action of all the three
powers; light the iffue of fire, and yet coë-
val with it, returning fpirit or air to maintain
the joint action, and by it every thing, is fo
exquifite a picture of what hitherto has been
thought to ſurpaſs all imagination, that, if the
Author can maintain that his machine works
by theſe powers, very few will doubt of the
truth of what it was intended to repreſent.
THAT the Deity, and the ſeveral perfons
in it, are, in number leſs expreffions of Scrip-
ture, uniformly reprefented by the machine,
and by these three powers in it, applying the
idea
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
73
idea of fire to the first, the idea of light to
the ſecond, and of air or ſpirit to the third,
the Author endeavours to prove by a world
of quotations.
He does not forget the frequent appear-
ances of the Deity, in the form of fire, often
attended with light, and air, or cloud: he
takes notice of the many deſcriptions of the
firſt perſon as terrible; a jealous God; the
avenger of fin; a flaming, a confuming, a de-
vouring fire to the workers of iniquity: and
has collected a lift of the various temples,
that the Heathens had, to the fun, to fire, or
to the heavens, under that head or attribute.
WITH reſpect to light, he produces nu-
merous paffages, where light, repreſented or
ſpoken of, ſeems properly applicable to that
perfon, who was to be the light of the na-
tions, who was repreſented by irradiation ;
and, perhaps, praiſed or prayed for in the ex-
preffion Hallelujah; and who declared for-
mally of himſelf, that he was the light.
AND; on this fubject, cur Author has one
very uncommon reflexion, as almoſt all his
are; he ſays the word Cohen, tranflated
Priest, and to which no one has pretended to
affix a determin'd meaning, fignifies proper-
ly an interceffor; and, in evidence of this, he
has
74
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
has produced feveral texts, and particularly
two, where the children of David are ſaid to
be his na Cohenim, meaning interceffors
with him, it not being poffible they could be
priefts, fince they were not of the tribe of
Levi.
AFTER eſtabliſhing that the word render-
ed prieſt fignifies interceffor, he proceeds to
obſerve, that the high priest was only fuch,
and employed in offering facrifice, as the re-
preſentative of him, concerning whom Je-
Bovah fwore, that he was a priest, or inter-
ceffor, for ever, after the order of Melchi-
Zedek.
AND then, to make that type or repreſen-
tation more entire, our Author obſerves that
the high priest, in office, was to wear gar-
ments made by divine direction, emblema-
tical in every particular of his office; but
more eſpecially in that they were to be of
white, that is linnen, and gold, and purple,
and ſcarlet; by that collection of colours ex-
preffing light, the badge or repreſentation of
the ſecond perſon of the Deity.
THIs, as well as the crown that the prieſt
wore, expreffing irradiation, as before men-
tioned, our Author thinks, was certainly un-
derſtood at the time of the inſtitution, and by
believers
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
75
believers down till the days of our Saviour;
and, had it been generally then underſtood,
the nation would not have rejected the light.
But, as the Jewish people univerſally apoſta-
tiſed, loft their knowledge with their faith,
and had the remains of it almoſt altogether
extinguiſhed in the captivity; they had leiſure
to frame notions of their Meffiah, different
from what the Scriptures exhibited; and in
the constructions of the Scriptures, which they
did not underſtand, they impoſed on them-
felves, and on all that truſted them.
To the light, our Author fhews, there were
feveral temples amongſt the Heathens.
Ruach,
TOUCHING the third perfon, our Author
produces feveral texts, where he is formally
ſpoken of, under the deſcription of
Ventus, Flatus, Spiritus, the Spirit of Jehovah.
And from the Heathens religion and opinions
he obſerves, that they imputed all their ad-
vices, from their gods, to the ſpirit, to fome
material inſpiration or inflation; all their Si-
byls, the prieſteffes that delivered their ora-
cles, were ſuppoſed, in effect, to be blown up,
and inflated by fome fpirit or wind. And it
may be confidered, whether it is of any con-
fequence, and of what, that they delivered
their answers from tripodes.
BUT
76
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
1
BUT not to purſue, at any greater length,
the numerous and the various authorities that
our Author brings together to fupport his
argument, it merits reflexion, that, when our
Saviour ſpeaks of himfelf, as the light, and
when he and his Apoftles deliver the doctrine
of the Trinity in the New Teftament, they
ſpeak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghoft, without any apology or explication,
as a matter very well known and underſtood
by ſuch as underſtood the Scriptures; a thing,
which it ſeems altogether impoffible they
could have fallen into, if they had not known
that fuch, as really knew the Scriptures, un-
derſtood them; as our Saviour fays, on other
occafions, Matthew xi. 15. He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear.
As our Author has pufh'd his argument for
the Trinity very far, from the notion of fire,
light, and ſpirit; fo he lays great weight on
another argument, not altogether unlike to
that, drawn from the appearance of the Che-
rubim, fet up at the expulfion of Adam from
Paradiſe, and from the defcription of that re-
preſentation or appearance, drawn from the
firſt and tenth chapters of the prophecies of
Ezekiel
FROM
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
77
FROM the vifions of Ezekiel he collects,
that the form of the Cherubim was one figure,
with four heads or faces; the face of an ox,
the face of a lion, the face of a man, and the
face of an eagle.
HAD there been no more joined but the
faces of the ox, the lion, and the eagle, as
the Author can prove that the ox repreſent-
ed fire, the lion light, and the eagle ſpirit, or
air, there could be no doubt, he ſays, that
this would have been a proper repreſentation
of the Trinity in the heavens; and, by con-
ſequence, of the inviſible Trinity by them re-
preſented.
BUT, as the face of a man was added ;
joined, as the prophet takes notice, to the
face of the lion, the reprefentative of light,
the ſecond perfon; our Author infifts, that this
appearance, exhibited to man for his com-
fort, juft when for his fin he was expell'd
Paradiſe, and ſentenc'd to hard labour, repre-
fented the Trinity, with the man Chrift Jefus
joined to the ſecond perfon, and was the moſt
complete emblematical repreſentation of what
our Author ſuppoſes God revealed to Adam,
when he told him, that the feed of the woman
ſhould bruiſe the head of the ferpent.
AGAIN,
78
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
C
AGAIN, this repreſentation in the Cheru-
bim was a thing fo well known and under-
ftood by the antients, though we have defcrip-
tion of it but in Ezekiel's vifion, that, when the
Lord commanded it to be made for the Sanc-
tum San&torum, the workmen made it at once,
without wanting a pattern and our Author
lays no ſmall weight on it, that figures of
theſe Cherubims (and he fays he can fhew
why there were two of them) were, befides
the ark of the teftimony, and the mercy-feat,
the only furniture of the moſt holy place;
into which none but the repreſentative of the
great interceffor durft ever enter; and that
but once a year, clothed with the emblems
of his office, and being fanctified by blood.
As our Author is indefatigably induftrious
in his fearch after the true meaning of em-
blems, inftitutions, and fervices; he is no lefs
fo, in fettling the meaning of words, hitherto
miftaken, or unknown. I fhall give you but
one inftance.
THE word Berith, which we always
tranflate Covenant, Fœdus, occurs in feveral
texts; and is generally coupled with fuch
words, as cannot fuffer a man to believe that
Covenant, Fœdus, is its original fignification.
THE
1
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
79
THE blood of the covenant; the meſſenger
of the covenant; I have given thee for a cove-
nant to the nations, &c. are expreffions that
will hardly go down; and what we tranflate
making a covenant,
Karat Berith,
moſt certainly fignifies to kill, or cut off Berith;
which fhews to conviction that Berith muſt,
at leaſt originally, have had another fenſe than
is now in the tranſlation given it.
OUR Author, fearching to be ſatisfied in
this difficulty, finds two texts, where the very
fame letters that compoſe Berith, but diffe-
rently pointed by the Jews, are tranſlated Soap
[Borith, as they point it] Fullonum; and this
word, again, confeffedly derived from 13
Barar, which fignifies to cleanfe, to purify.
IF then, fays our Author, Berith is taken
from the idea of purifying, it muſt, and may,
from the genius of the language, carry the
fenfe of purifier, purification throughout.
AND, if it is fo underſtood, then all the
texts, in which it occurs, will be intelligible,
and determined to that important fenfe, in
which they were written.
I HAVE given thee for a purifier to the
nations; the blood of the purifier; the meſſenger
of the purifier; will all directly refer to the
great facrifice, the purification to which our
divines,
80 A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
divines, without obferving the rules of con-
ſtruction, and by very hardy figures, apply
them.
AND Karat Berith will fignify, in its pro-
per and primary fenfe, to cut off a, or the
purifier, and not to cut off a covenant.
OUR Author affirms, that, in the uſage of
the Hebrew tongue, nothing is more certain,
or frequent, than that the type or emblem
gets and bears the name of the thing typified
and repreſented, or principally meant: where-
fore, if Chrift was the purifier, the Berith pro-
miſed, every creature, whofe blood was fhed,
as repreſenting him, in facrifice, might have
had the name of Berith. And, when ſuch a
creature was killed or cut off, as an emblem,
it was true that Berith was cut off or killed.
AND as man, entering into covenant, that
is, accepting of terms offered by God for his
purification, in token of his acceptance, was
to kill, and ſhed the blood of a type of the
great purifier; which blood, though but of
the lamb, a type, was deemed holy, and ca-
pable of fanctifying and purifying the altar,
the tabernacle, the prieft, and every thing
that it touched the fame fymbolical act was
repeated for confirming pactions,. covenants,
or agreements between men; a typical Berith
was
I
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
8 1
-
was cut off; and over ſacrifice men confirm-
ed covenants, and accepted of the terms pro-
poſed by each other, as they teftified their
engagements to God, and their faith that he
was bound to them, by the fame typical re
preſentation.
NOR will this conftruction appear ſtrange
to thoſe, who reflect that, in the Latin tongue,
percutere, icere, and ferire foedus, are the terms
uſed for making a covenant or alliance; in
reſpect to which, etymologifts fatisfy them-
felves with faying, that, flaying fome animal
in facrifice being a folemnity that attended
all alliances, at the making whereof, the par-
ties were willing to intimate, by the death of
the victim, the puniſhment they thus con-
ſented to be bound to, if they violated the
agreement, the words ferire fœdus were
brought to be expreffive of the end or pur-
poſe, for which fuch animals were flain at
treaties and alliances; and they ſuppoſe that
foedus, may have been the antient Tuscan word
for hædus, a kid.
BUT, if they will depart from fuppofitions,
without any proof, and mount a little higher
in their antiquity; if they will admit, what
our Author thinks he has proved, that all the
religious fervices of the Heathens were taken
VOL. II.
G
from
82
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
from the inſtitutions and appointments in the
fervice of the living God; though by length
of time, change of language, and imagina-
tions, when men, having loft true knowledge,
began to imagine, they were miſapplied, and,
in part, altered; they will find reaſon to be-
lieve that, even amongst the Heathens, fa-
crifice, as the higheſt and moſt important
act of their religious worſhip, was adhibited
to covenants, as an appeal to their deities; and
putting all they expected, from that ſymbol
of their religion, on the iffue of their faith-
ful performance of their engagements.
IN the Hebrew language, the fame word
WN Ahem fignifies fin, and a fin-offer-
ing, a kid, lamb, or any thing offered for
fin; and the Heathens made it a name or
attribute of one of their Elohim.
IT does not appear, fo far as I know,
that fœdus, in the antient Tuſcan, was written
for hædus; but it does appear, that the
Latin has an adjective of the fame letters,
fœdus, a, um, which fignifies vile, unclean,
abominable, and polluted. Now, if with them,
at the first formation of their language, an
offering for fin or pollution could be called
fin or pollution, as in Hebrew a kid or lamb
offered for
Ahem is called Abem; I
UN
fee
\
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
83
fee no reaſon to doubt, that every offering
for fin or pollution might be called fœdus,
or fœdum, in the ſenſe of that word ad-
jective; and that therefore ferire fœdus, in
its proper and primitive fenfe, was to kill, or
facrifice a fin-offering.
BUT, be this as it will, our Author dif
covers ſeveral temples, amongst the Heathens,
to Berith, and to Baal Berith, by which he
ſays is meant the Lord, the Purifier, the
early Heathens having by no means loft the
idea, or the expectation of a purification.
AND he ſays that falt, a neceffary ingre-
dient in all facrifice, was adhibited and re-
quired in this view only, as an emblem of
purification; falt being one of the most
powerful purifiers known; and of approved
uſe in purging and purifying moſt forts of
metals from their earth, and baſe droſs, that
clofely adheres to them.
WHEN Freethinkers object to the evi-
dence, drawn from prophecies and prophe-
tical inftitutions, for fupporting the Chriftian
religion, that it is ambiguous and uncertain;
the prophecies being dark and obfcure, ca-
pable often of a double meaning; and the
inftitutions being figurative and typical, ap-
plicable only, ex post facta, by compariſon of
G 2
the
$4
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
the figures with the events; and therefore not
fit to communicate, with any certainty, to
thoſe to whom the revelation was made, the
knowledge of the event, which they were to
expect, and in which they were to believe:
the common anſwer is, that we are not,
from our narrow views, and with our dim
lights, to examine and to find fault with the
difpofition of the infinitely - wife being,
purely, becauſe we cannot affign reaſons,
that to us ſeem adequate, for the conduct
he has been pleaſed to hold; that it has
pleaſed God to convey fuch intimations of
the, then future, advent of the Meffiah to
the Ifraelites, in the law, and by the pro-
phets, as were, when the event prefigured
happened, full and diſtinct proof, that
Jefus was the perfon intended, and the
ſyſtem of religion, delivered by him, the
future law and faith to which all mankind
was to be fubject; and that, theſe things
being admitted, it is prefumptuous to en-
quire why the Deity, in infinite wiſdom,
thought fit to convey this knowledge, and
theſe intimations, in prophecies and inftitu-
tions, which, at the beginning, and before
the advent of our Saviour, were wrapt up
defignedly in myſtery and figures. And
fome
A Letter to a Biſhop, &c.
85
fome people even venture to gueſs at pro-
bable cauſes, for the delivering and keeping
this knowledge in this manner, 'till after
our Saviour's paffion.
BUT, if our Author's ſcheme for inter-
preting the Scriptures is true, the whole
objection falls at once to the ground; be-
cauſe theſe emblems and figures, as well as
many expreffions called figurative, though
dark, obſcure, and uncertain to us (who
have loft the knowledge of the language, as
well as of the emblems) yet were not fo
to them, to
to whom the revelation was
made, and who, by thofe emblems, and by
that language, understood as clearly what
was foretold to happen, at the diſtance of
many centuries, and therefore as diftinctly
believed in it, as we, at the diſtance of fo
many ages after the event, upon the rela-
tion in a language we underſtand, know
and believe that Jefus actually came, and
fulfilled the will of God, and the predictions
concerning him.
AND, if this be fo, it will be eaſily un-
derſtood, why the faith of Abraham and
others, who preceded the days of our Sa-
viour, is fo highly commended by St. Paul.
G 3
IF
86
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
IF the Ifraelites, to whom the law was
delivered, underſtood the language, the in-
ftitutions, the emblems, as our Author does,
they certainly must have known that, in
due time, God intended to fend a Meffiah
to the world, under the ſuffering character
that Jefus bore; and they muſt have believed
it would be ſo, becauſe of the marks of di-
vinity attending the revelation, which they
were eye-witneffes to. The language, in
which we are told of that event, after it hap-
pened, is no more precife and diftinct, than
that, formerly ufed, was to them; and, if we
have not feen the miracles with our own
eyes, we ſee thoſe prophecies delivered to
them, and have authentic records of the
completion of them, which does no more
than put us on a level with them, in point of
evidence, or cauſe of belief.
THE Y, indeed, at the publication of the
law could not tell (fo far as we fee) how
many ages, or years, the event was diſtant;
as we, who have come after it, can. But,
when the advent became nearer, and when
the impreffion of the first revelation became
fainter, in the days of Daniel, they were
brought more upon a level with us, even in
that refpect; and were told, to a day, when
they
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
87
they were to look for the completion of their
hopes.
It is not to be denied that this revelation,
however clear in itſelf, became obfcure, be-
fore the coming of the Meffiah: the means,
by which this was brought about, our Au-
thor has explained and very noble ends
may be affigned, for which it may have
been permitted to be fo, by the divine wif-
dom and goodneſs; without impeaching the
certainty of the proof of the Chriftian reli-
gion from prophecies and prophetick inftitu-
tions; and without fuffering the divine good-
neſs to lie under the imputation that would
attend the ſuppoſition, that the revelation of
God was not full, and complete to mankind,
and did not inftruct them fufficiently for
their conduct, their faith, and their com
fort.
I HAVE ſelected theſe few hints from
amidſt an infinity of other very various ob-
fervations and diſcoveries, which the Author
as, without feeming very folicitous about
what is called method or order, brought
together. And I have ranged them in fuch
order, as feemed to me the moſt proper to
let you easily into the Author's fentiments, fo
far as I underſtand them.
G4
IF
88
A Letter to a Bishop, &c.
IF YOUR LORDSHIP will judge of
them fairly, and after due examination, you
muft enquire after them in the original;
where you will find many proofs and argu-
ments, that my meaſure of fearching does not
fufficiently come up to, employed for illu-
ſtrating each particular, befides what I have
curſorily ſtated in theſe pages.
I HAVE loft my labour, if YOUR LORD-
SHIP does not think theſe matters highly
worth looking into; and, from your learning
and candor, I promiſe myſelf that, if you do,
thoſe, who are in the fame low rank of
learning with me, will have great obligations.
to you for letting them know how they are
to form their judgment upon matters that
ſeem to concern them and mankind fo much.
IN the treatiſe, laft publiſhed, of power
effential and mechanical, our Author, amongſt
other very curious and furpriſing things, un-
dertakes to confute Sir I- N-'s principles
of gravity, attraction, infinite vacuity, and
projection, which, he fays, are not only un-
mechanical, but contradictory to the nature
and idea of material fubftance, and impoffi-
ble and abfurd. And he pretends to prove,
by different editions of Sir I-'s works, and
from different paffages in them, that he has
at
A Letter to a Bishop, &c,
89
at different times varied and changed his own
opinions; and, in effect, as our Author calls
it, given up his own principles, which are
untenible. In this laſt treatiſe our Author.
mixes, with his reflexions againſt Sir I-
and the late Dr. C-, a degree of bitterneſs
and ſeverity that muſt be diſagreeable to ma-
ny, and which nothing can excufe, but a
zeal for the honour of religion, which in him
feems to be very ſtrong and fincere.
I am, MY LORD,
YOUR LORDSHIP'S
Moft Obedient,
Humble Servant.
? .
REFLEXIONS
On the SOURCES of
INCREDULITY
With regard to
RELIGION.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE
HE following Treatife was left imperfect
by the author, a late eminent lawyer ; who
was no less confpicuous for his zeal in the
caufe of Religion, than for his fincere love of
justice, and an invariable attachment to the
laws of his country, in the feveral high ſtations
be filled with applaufe. That it is unfinished,
was occafioned by his death, an event univer-
fally lamented that it is now published, is
owing to fome of his friends; who are wil-
ling to believe, that even a fragment by fo
masterly a band may not be an unacceptable
preſent to the publick.
REFLEXIONS
ON
INCREDULIT Y.
I
T is rafh to affirm, that the univerſe, or
even the folar fyftem, was made prin-
cipally for the fake of the earth, or of
man; becauſe, for ought we know, there
may be many more, and more confidera-
ble uſes for it. It is at the fame time
not certain, at leaſt to me it does not ap-
pear to be ſo, that there was any other
uſe for creating theſe immenſe heavenly
bodies, but to regulate the motion of the
earth; to produce the other effects which
fome of them evidently have, and all of
them in a greater or fmaller proportion
may have, on the earth; and to raife in
man
94
Reflexions on Incredulity.
man that idea of the magnificence, power,
and ſkill of the Creator, which the con-
templation of the immenfity, motion, or-
der, beauty, and utility of theſe bodies muft
produce.
IT is becauſe we know not whether thofe
bodies are inhabited, that we cannot pro-
nounce, that the utility they bring us is,
or is not, the only end of creating them.
If they are inhabited, the inhabitants muſt
be of a texture very different from thoſe
of the earth. But we cannot deem it im-
poffible, that beings may have been made,
fit to refide, to act, and to think, in the
very centre, as well as on the furface of
the fun.
BUT, without determining that question,
which the ſcantinefs of our lights will not
permit us to decide; it is obvious, that,
befides the phyfical influence which theſe
bodies may have on the earth, and on us,
it muſt have been one, and that no in-
confiderable end of the making them, to
help man to fuch an idea as has been
mentioned of the Creator.
IT is rafh to fay, that any one part of
the furniture of this earth is ufelefs; that
there is not fome utility in the various
2
foils
Reflexions on Incredulity.
95
fails and metals; or that the different
plants, infects, reptiles, fish, fowls, qua-
drupeds, are not neceffary for certain pur-
pofes, though we have not yet diſcovered
them. Who will deny uſefulneſs to poi-
fonous plants; or dare affirm that moths,
rats, toads, vipers, and other vermin, have
not been intended for proper and fit uſes?
It is bold to affert, that the leaft animalcule
diſcovered by the microſcope has not its
proper uſe in nature.
4
*
IT feems unreaſonable to 'fay, that God
framed all the ornaments of this earth, to
fatisfy himſelf that he could do it; fince
3.
he perfectly knew, that he could do every
thing that does not involve contradiction.
BUT, as the whole frame of this earth,
fo far as we know it, and every plant and
living creature that are fupported by it,
are, to man, ftrict and very obvious demon-
ftrations of the power and wiſdom of the
Creator; as the economy and difpofition of
the whole is of his goodneſs; it ſeems rea-
fonable to conclude, that one, poffibly the
chief end of creating thoſe things, was, to
fhew God to man.
Most of the productions of the earth
äre, one way or another, for the ufe of
animals.
96
Reflexions on Incredulity.
animals. Many animals are the food of
other animals; and, to be fure, fo intend-
ed by the Maker. Man, as an animal, has
his fhare of the leguminous, as well as of
animal food. Every living creature wants
nouriſhment, and finds it ready provi-
ded; but all have not eyes to fee the
bountiful hand that reaches it. Man has
his proviſion in common with the other
animals; but then he has eyes that may,
and, if he do not fhut them, muft fee the
hand from which it comes. On the brute,
therefore, who cannot know his benefac-
tor, there is no obligation to duty or
gratitude; on man, who may and ought
to know, there is
then may it not be
one of the chief ends of crowding the
earth with fo many wonders of the vegeta-
ble and animal kind, is, to fill the head of
man with, admiration, and his heart with
gratitude?
and muſt be. Why
fairly concluded, that
IT is rafh to ſay, that the bee knows,
or makes ufe of any geometrical princi-
ples in the formation of its hexagonal
cells; or that it is from any phyfical
knowledge of the properties of flowers,
that it is directed to cull the fweets that
་་
yield
Reflexions on Incredulity.
97
yield its honey from fome, neglecting
others. It is raſh to affirm, that the vari-
ous tribes of ſpiders confider, and, from
reflexion and by mechanical rules, frame
thoſe nets of different forms and fizes,
that catch their vagrant prey. It is rafh
to ſuppoſe, that the ſwallows, the crows,
the magpies, frame their nefts, and make
choice of that fituation, from any antece-
dent reaſoning what is fitteft to be done,
or from any architectonical notions. It
is neither reflexion nor hunger that moves
the cat to lie in wait fo patiently, and ſo at-
tentively, for the mouſe or the rat. Thèfe
actions they exert, probably, becauſe they
are directed by their frame to exert them;
and to that difpofition we give the name of
Instinct.
Ir is falſe to ſay, that men defire to eat
and drink, from knowing that doing fo
is neceffary to preferve their lives; or
that they have a defire for the other fex,
from a defign of propagating the fpecies.
Theſe difpofitions flow from their make:
they hunger, they thirft, they luft, whe-
ther they would, or would not. In theſe
things, and fome others, they are moved by
their frame as brutes are.
VOL. II.
H
BUT,
98
Reflexions on Incredulity.
BUT, laying aſide theſe natural, or rather
mechanical difpofitions,
difpofitions, man compared
with brutes is much at a lofs, except in
fo far as reafon and reflexion come to his
affiſtance. He has no inſtinct to determine
him what to eat, what to avoid eating.
It is but a ſmall part of the globe, if any,
that can afford man fruits or legumens to
fupport him the whole year round. His
make is not fit for catching animals to
live on, were he naturally carnivorous,
No instinct, ſuch as appears in other ani-
mals, directs him to this or that fort of
habitation; and, were he not directed by
experience and reflexion, he muſt quickly
periſh.
MAN comes into the world much more
helpleſs, and continues fo much longer,
than any other animal we know. With-
out the care of his parents he muſt be foon
loft; and without the inſtruction which
their experience enables them to afford
his reaſon, he muft continue miferable,
until his own experience and obfervation
yield matter for his reaſon to work on.
He therefore was evidently fo framed, as
to be obliged to follow reafon for his
guide; whereas all the other animals had
their
Reflexions on Incredulity.
99
*
their guide in their texture and conftitu-
tion.
No animal but man wants clothing, other
than nature has provided for it. Man can
hardly live in any part of the globe, unleſs
he find clothing for himſelf.
No animal but man ftands in need of
cookery, or any other preparation for his
food, but what it has from nature. Man
muſt prepare every thing almoft, except fruits
and legumens, before they are fit for his fer-
vice. Grain muſt be ground and baked; all
fort of meat muſt be altered in its condition
by fire; and I doubt ſalt muſt by induſtry be,
found or made, before the nouriſhment be
proper for man.
No climate yields fpontaneouſly food
fufficient for man, though all do for the
brutes that inhabit them. Man does not
cultivate the ground, nor find fupplies for
his wants, from inftinct, but from obſerva- -
tion and reaſoning.
REASON in him muſt anſwer the end of
inftinct in brutes. He fees trees and all
vegetables fpring from feeds; if he would
have plenty, he muſt plant or fow. He fees
grains and fruits fall and perifh, unleſs
they are gathered and preferved; and
H 2
he
1
100 Reflexions on Incredulity.
he fees the ant induſtriouſly gathering and
laying up ftores. Theſe obſervations muſt
lead him to produce and fave corn, &c.
Cold makes clothing neceffary; the ſpider's
thread and web furniſh matter for his fan-
cy, and ſpinning and weaving are invented.
Floods, and ftorms, and winter make fhel-
ter neceffary. The fwallow makes ufe of
morter, the crow of ſticks, for its neft: man's
invention improves on their inſtinct; at firſt
huts rife, and at laſt palaces.
INSTINCT carries brutes no farther than
to what is fit and neceffary: Reafon carries
man fo far; but then it, or at leaſt it prompt-
ed by vanity, carries him much farther.
In place of warm clothing, which nature re-
quires, vanity will have it rich and gaudy.
The blufh of the rofe, the plume of the
peacock, and the fhining wing of the butter-
fly, muſt be imitated to deck our fine Ladies,
and our much finer young Gentlemen. In
place of convenient manfions, we must have
ſumptuous palaces, cruſted with marble, and
fhining with gold. In place of food fitted
for our ftomachs by roafting and boiling,
we run into the moſt ridiculous gratification
of extravagant tafte, by unnatural mixtures,
that diſtreſs the ftomach. And, in place of
ufing
Reflexions on Incredulity.
ior
ufing wine, and ftrong drink, our own in-
vention, for neceffary purpoſes, if any fuch
there are, we make them the inftruments of
debauch, the means of debafing our under-
ſtanding, and deſtroying our health.
HAPPY brutes! unhappy man! Their in-
ftinct carries them to what is fit and con-
venient for them; but it carries them no far-
ther; it leads them to nothing that undoes
them. His reaſon fupplies in him the lack
of inſtinct, and leads him to every thing
that is neceſſary or convenient; nay, bounds
him to that, when duly made ufe of. His
reafon, befides fupplying the place of inſtinct,
was clearly intended for opening to him a
ſcene of very delightful employment; the
contemplation of the works of God, the re-
flexion on his boundleſs might, wifdom, and
goodneſs, and the enjoyment of his favour.
But unluckily this laft has long ceaſed to be
any part of his bufinefs. His reafon is made
ufe of indeed, by all means, whether right
or wrong, to purchaſe things neceffary and
convenient; but he does not ſtop there. He
ſeldom ever makes uſe of it to prevent the
abuſe of theſe conveniences: on the con-
trary, he employs it in contriving means to
raiſe and to gratify unnatural appetites, by
which
H 3
102
Reflexions on Incredulity..
which his conftitution is hurt. And he ſeems
to have no other view in the conduct of his
life, but to fatisfy thofe vitious and deftruc-
tive inclinations, which he himſelf has raiſed,
and ſubſtituted in the room of thoſe which
reaſon was intended to lead him to.
BRUTES are by nature fufficiently fup-
plied with neceffaries, and with inſtinct to
teach them to make uſe of them; and, if
they had eyes to fee the Author of nature,
they furely would be thankful. Man is rich-
ly ſupplied by nature; and, in place of in-
ftinct, has reaſon to teach him to apply to
his uſe and convenience what nature has pro-
duced. He has befides eyes to ſee the Au-
thor of nature, and of his bleffings, the giver
of that reaſon that helps him to turn the pro-
duct of the earth to his account; and he has
in his make a diſpoſition to gratitude, as well
as he knows, that acknowledgment, thank-
fulneſs, and compliance with the will of his.
maker and benefactor, is his duty. But,
alas! how feldom does he fuffer that difpo-
fition to be brought by reaſon to act? How
little is he employed in thinking on nature,
with a view to diſcover and admire its Au-
thor? and how fmall is his concern for the
will,
Reflexions on Incredulity.
103
will, for the honour of that Being, by whoſe
power and bounty he fubfifts?
BECAUSE he can raiſe plants, and gather
fruits and feeds; becauſe he can convert
theſe feeds and fruits into bread and wine;
becauſe he can manufacture filk, wool, and
flax; becauſe he can ſmelt minerals, and
produce a fort of new ſpecies of metals; and
becauſe he can, by making ufe of his reaſon,
procure a vast variety of gratifications to his
taſte, and to his vanity; he forgets the Be-
ing whoſe gift that reaſon was: he is apt to
look upon himſelf as the creator of all thoſe
things that afford him ſubſiſtence or gratifi-
cation, and on them as his creatures: he
thinks it lawful to make uſe of his own to
any exceſs and he at laſt drops into an opi
nion, that true felicity confifts in the grati-
fication of all appetites, at any expence, with-
out regard to right or wrong; and that eve-
ry thing that may ſafely be done to compaſs
that gratification, is lawful.
WHEN this comes to be the ſettled diſpo-
fition of the mind; when the bias of the
heart is the gratification of all lufts and ap-
petites; when the gratification of theſe lufts
and appetites is directly adverſary to what
right reaſon fays is the will of God, and in-
H 4
con-
104
Reflexions on Incredulity.
confiftent with what it fays would have been
our chief felicity, even in this life, had we
purſued it; no one can wonder, that right
reaſon is not confulted, or its voice liftened
unto; or that the crowd, eſpecially of the
giddy and vitious, fhun all correfpondence
with reaſon, all fort of meditation; and in
place thereof, when they are fatiated with
the gratification of groffer appetitites for the
time, and cannot proceed farther in the en-
joyment, they take up with play, or other
the moſt filly, if not offenfive, amuſements,
rather than be left alone in the hands of their
own confcience and reflexions.
THUS has reaſon, the higheſt gift that
God has been pleaſed to beftow on men, by
the perverfity of fooliſh guilty man, become
the inftrument of his mifery, Reaſon was
given him, in place of inftinct, to direct his
choice, which was left free, that he might
deferve, and be rewarded for doing well;
Reaſon was given, to guard him againſt the
prevalence of luft and appetites, and to lead
him to the chief felicity his nature was ca-
pable of Reaſon was given, to let him
fee the order, the beauty, and the magnifi-
cence of the works of God; and thereby to
diſcover the excellency, the power, the wif
dom,
Reflexions on Incredulity.
105
:
•
dom, and the goodneſs of that felf-exiftent
Being: Reaſon was given, to fhew him his
immediate dependence on his Creator for
every bleffing he enjoyed, as well as the ca-
pacity of enjoying them; and to fill his foul
with gratitude for the overflowing bounty of
his Maker And Reaſon was given him, to
complete and fecure his felicity, by a fettled
confidence in the favour and protection of
the Almighty, ſo long as he made uſe of it
to controul and correct diforderly appetites;
and to anſwer the end of his creation, in ad-
miring, reverencing, and adoring that ſource
of perfection, mercy, and goodneſs. But,
alas! to what miſerable purpoſes has wretched
man employed this mighty boon of heaven!
Reaſon, in place of reftraining, has been made
uſe of to encourage lufts and appetites, by
inventing incentives to them: In place of
leading men to fee their duty, and the true
object of their felicity, it has been employ-
ed in contriving means to divert the atten-
tention from looking at either: Nay, in place
of diſcovering the boundleſs perfections of
God, the abfolute dependence of man, and
the neceffary connexion between right and
wrong and rewards and puniſhments, it has
been fatally made ufe of to hide the Deity
>
from
106 Reflexions on Incredulity.
}
from the fight of men, to erect man into an
independent being, to aboliſh all hopes and
fears of rewards or puniſhments, and to
make felicity confift in what is truly the dif
honour of the human nature.
AMAZING as this phænomenon is, no-
thing is more certainly true; nor has any
effect in nature a more fhameful, a more
pitiful cauſe.
APPETITES were given to man, to prompt
him to preſerve himſelf, and to continue
the fpecies. The natural calls to eat, to
drink, to propagate the fpecies, were ne-
ceffary; elfe man, employed in contempla-
tion, would foon have ceafed to be. The
acts of eating, drinking, copulating, with-
out the natural ftimulus, have nothing in-
viting in them. And it is an inſtance of the
benignity of the Creator, that the gratifica-
tion of thoſe neceffary appetites is attended
with a very fenfible pleaſure, which rewards
the obeying of nature's call; as it is an in-
ftance of his wifdom, that, when the ends of
theſe natural calls are anfwered, fatiety en-
fues, and the objects coveted loſe their charm,
and cannot be ſo much as thought of with
any reliſh, until nature has farther occafion
for them.
THE
Reflexions on Incredulity:
107
THE defire of knowledge, the effect of
diſcerning and reaſoning, was implanted to
prompt man to employ thoſe faculties by
which the Deity, and what is owing to him,
might be diſcovered. And here again the
goodneſs of the Divine Being is manifeft, in
annexing to the gratification of that defire the
calmeſt and moſt lafting fatisfaction, without
that alloy which attends the gratification of
their other, carnal, appetites; and with this
fingularity, that the defire of knowledge is
infatiable, and, like its object, infinite; re-
warding nevertheleſs the feeker after know-
ledge with very ſenſible pleaſure in every ſtep
of his purſuit.
THE defire of preferving life (not to
ſpeak of the natural impulſe to avoid ill) is
the refult of the pleafures and enjoyments
of both kinds provided for man in this
life.
AND the defire of approbation is the in-
centive planted in man by his Maker, to
diſpoſe him to do his duty; which is imme-
diately rewarded by the calm fatisfaction
that warms his heart upon having done it.
The approbation of the Author and Maker
of all things must be of infinite conſequence
to the creature; and the conſciouſneſs of
having
108
Reflexions on Incredulity.
having gained that approbation muſt yield
the purest joy.
THE other difpofitions, or what are cal-
led paffions of the mind, fuch as anger,
fear, love, hatred, &c. have been placed in
man for noble, and for falutary ends; not
only as they reſpect man's duty to the Deity,
but as they regard fociety: though thofe
alfo, as man has unhappily contrived the
matter, in place of promoting the ends for
which they were meant, hurry man on to
miſery, and give birth to many diſorders in
fociety.
Now, thus qualified for happineſs, what
has man done to enjoy, or to preſerve it?
Why, truly, finding an immediate pleaſure
attendant upon the gratification of fenfual
appetites, he is difpofed to place his happi-
nefs in them: Finding that pains and in-
duſtry muſt be uſed to fupply what his ap-
petites crave, he beftows all his time and
action in that purſuit: Finding that, employ-
ing his reaſon, he can refine upon the com-
mon gratification of thoſe appetites, by in-
venting new meats, new drinks, new fauces;
by procuring variety of women; by erect-
ing palaces; by picture; by fculpture; by
mufick; and by numberless arts, to pleaſe
and
Reflexions on Incredulity.
109
and to amuſe; his reaſon is made ufe of to
thofe purpoſes only: And finding that, by
the uſe of reaſon, he can not only arrive at
thoſe things, but that, though he is far from
being the ſtrongeſt of animals, he, by em-
ploying it, is more powerful than they are
all put together; that he is their lord and
mafter, and they fubfervient to his ufes;
that he can blow up rocks, alter the courſe
of rivers, lock up the ſea in baſons, join, in
a manner, diftant continents by fhips; that
he can imitate thunder, and lay whole coun-
tries wafte; and that thoſe things he can do
without any immediate controul or check
from the Author of nature; he is apt to
think he owes all theſe advantages and pre-
rogatives to himſelf, and to that reafon which
diftinguiſhes him from the reft of the viſible
creation; and, on that fuppofal, to con-
clude, that no return of duty or gratitude
is due to that fuperior Being, from whom
his reaſon and all his real enjoyments
flow.
As the firm belief of this conclufion is
abfolutely neceflary towards quieting his
mind, in the career of brutal folly in which
he is engaged, reafon, that unfortunate tool,
is made uſe of on every occaſion to blind
its
110
Reflexions on Incredulity.
its owner. It was given by the Creator to
be his guide; and it ought to be fo: if
duly made ufe of and attended to, it would
be fo. But, as man has contrived to ma-
nage matters, it is liftened to only when it
fuggefts what is fit to footh him in his
fooliſh ſhameful courfes. On fuch occafions
it is the fole and fovereign rule. But, if it
prefumes to check him; if it infinuates,
that he is no more than a poor dependent
creature, debtor to the fupreme Being, and
confequently accountable for every talent,
every bleffing, every enjoyment; that ſug-
geftion is ſtraightway treated as the offspring,
not of manly reaſon, but of mean daftardly
fear; a melancholy conceit, nurfed up in
fickly imaginations; which had its origin in
certain inventions of cunning lawgivers, who,
to keep their people in order, and in obe-
dience to the laws eſtabliſhed by them, pub-
liſhed notions of right and wrong, and of
rewards and puniſhments, which, conveyed
down by tradition, have gained credit with
the weak, to the great difturbance of their
quiet, and pafs for realities with enthuſiaſts.
Unhappy man! Fatal effect of prejudice :
Reaſon, the ſovereign rule, is to be followed,
and allowed that name, or rejected, and
called
I
Reflexions on Incredulity.
III
1
called the fruit of melancholy or enthuſiaſm,
as it does, or does not, conform itſelf to pre-
judices.
BUT what is the moſt amazing on this
article is, that, in proportion as men are,
or imagine they are poffeffed of knowledge,
and of the art of reafoning, in an eminent
degree, their abuſe of that knowledge, and
of the reaſoning faculty, to the prejudice of
the end to which it was chiefly meant, is
the more confpicuous. In antient times,
which are now called times of ignorance,
when men did not pique themſelves on the
deep knowledge, and the profound fkill in
reaſoning, which we boaft of at this time,
there was a general difpofition to reverence
the Creator, and a profeffed infidel was hard-
ly to be met with. But, in theſe our days
of ſuppoſed knowledge, the guife is fadly
changed. Except amongst thoſe called igno-
rant, not many are to be found that do, or
pretend to believe in God.
FROM the beginning, a rational being,
unaided by learning, and the experience of
former ages, could eafily difcern the hand
of an intelligent, wife, powerful, and very
bountiful Creator, in the whole and in eve-
ry part of the fabrick of this ſyſtem that
fell
112
Reflexions on Incredulity.
fell under his ken; and could as eafily dif
cover his own obligations to, and his depen-
dence on that Being. And accordingly we
fee, by the earlieſt accounts of time that
have come to our hands, all mankind, full
of a perſuaſion of their dependence, full of
reverence to the Deity, foliciting his favour
and protection by prayer, by ceremonies,
by facrifices, fometimes human, nay of their
firſt-born; and imputing all their favour-
able or croſs incidents, that happened to
them, to the good-will or diſpleaſure of the
fovereign Being, whom it was their chief
ſtudy to placate.
IT is true, that the notions they general-
ly entertained of the Deity were imperfect,
as well as their manner of ſerving him cor-
rupted; circumſtances that can eaſily be ac-
counted for from the weakneſs and perverfe-
neſs of thoſe who took the lead in directing
their religious opinions and practices. But
ſtill it is undeniably true, that the grofs of
mankind were ſerious in their belief of the
exiſtence of a Deity, of their dependence on
him, and of the occafion they had for his
protection and favour.
To
Reflexions on Incredulity.
113
*
To this general difpofition of mankind
it was in part owing, that the gofpel, up-
on its first publication, made fo rapid and
ſo ſurpriſing progrefs. No man at that
time doubted of the exiftence of a Deity,
or of man's dependence on him. It was
eaſy to fatisfy every one who admitted thefe
propofitions, that mankind, by the corrup-
tion into which they had fallen, ſtood migh-
tily in need of fome interceffor, fome mean
by which they might be faved from the
weight of their fins. And it is no marvel,
that evidence given to men fo convinced,
that falvation might be had through JESUS,
ſhould be received with gladneſs.
AND accordingly we fee, that, in a trifle
of time, the herd of mankind, in defiance
of all diſcouragements, and of the moſt
ſevere perfecutions, from power, greedily
embraced and profeffed this faith; and
continued ftedfaftly in the profeffion of it,
notwithſtanding the monftrous abfurdities
with which the teachers of that faith load-
ed it, and the more monftrous and fhock-
ing lives and manners of the teachers; un-
til of late years, that what ought to have
been improved into a bleffing to mankind,
VOL. II.
I
has
114
Reflexions on Incredulity.
has unfortunately turned out to their de
ftruction.
IN the period juft mentioned, wicked
and voluptuous men purfued wicked and
voluptuous courfes; and many grofs vil-"
lanies and abuſes were daily committed
by profligate men, which the degenerate
condition of mankind produced. But ftill
theſe wickedneffes were diſguiſed, difown-
ed, or ſome how fought to be atoned for..
The villain diffembled at leaft, and was
forced to be fo mean as to become a hypo-
crite. No man dreamed of profeffing open-
ly, that he denied the being of a God, or
his dependence on, and being accountable to
him. And, if any one was indeed ſo fooliſh,
as well as impious, as to entertain ſuch a
notion, (which by the by is with me a
queftion), there was no temptation for ut-
tering it; becaufe there was no chance that
any one ſhould concur in ſupporting ſuch an
opinion.
BUT of late the cafe is furpriſingly, and
fadly altered, by the very mean that ought
to have produced the contrary effect; in-
creaſe in knowledge, from the more care-
ful obfervation of nature, and from the
2
peruſal
Reflexions on Incredulity.
115
peruſal of the works of the learned in all
ages.
WHATEVER degree of acquifition of
knowledge from experience the longe-
vity of the antediluvians might have ren-
dered practicable for any particular per-
ſon, it is certain, that the ſhort period to
which mens lives are now, and have for
ſome thouſands of years been limited, does
not permit any individual to lay in any
confiderable ſtock of knowledge. And, if
he will know much, he muſt profit of
others, his contemporaries; or of thoſe
that went before him, by tradition, or by
writing.
HENCE all arts have been perfected by
degrees. The experience of one age adds
to that of another. And if the diſcoveries
of our forefathers had not been handed
down to us by writing or tradition, we
ſhould be as rude and unlearned as the moſt
barbarous of them were.
AFTER writing became fashionable a-
mong the antients, the experience, the
reaſoning, and difcoveries of one age,
were tranfmitted to, and improved on by
the next. The inquifitive became dili-
gent in perufing the diſcoveries of former
times :
I 2
r16
Reflexions on Incredulity.
<
times : philofophy - became mightily in
vogue; and it was no uncommon thing for
men of parts, to dedicate their whole time
to the contemplation of nature, and to
place their whole felicity in employing all
their mental faculties in the inveſtigation of
truth.
As purſuits of this kind are of all others
the moſt noble, and the moft fuited to a
rational being, they foon became the moſt
honourable. Philofophers were held to be
wife men, and were called fo tout court; as
undoubtedly they held themſelves to be,
though modeftly they contented themſelves
with the appellation of lovers of wisdom only ;.
and the vanity they had in being very much
more knowing than other people, and in
being thought by others wife, was the chief
reward they had for their labour, and con-
tributed not a little to run them into the vain
opinion, that they were in very deed wife,
and that their ſkill and wiſdom could anſwer
all purpoſes.
IN all arts and fciences, fo far as the
obfervations they were poffeffed of afford-
ed materials, they reaſoned accurately.
In morality, and the whole ſyſtem of du-
ties
Reflexions on Incredulity.
117
ties which men owe reciprocally to each
other, and which members owe to the fo-
ciety whereof they are part, they acquit-
ted themſelves well. Brutal appetites and
enjoyments they faw, and reproached the
meanneſs of; the fuperior happineſs which
the right exercife of the underſtanding
yields, they felt and recommended. Rea-
fon, in contradiftinction to appetites and
paffions, was their fovereign guide; and
felicity was to be attained by following its
dictates. Social and publick virtues had,
according to their notions, charms fuffi-
cient to make the poffeffor of them happy,
and to fecure againft all wants, pains, and
diftreffes.
BUT, though their fagacity and attention
diſcovered and defcribed the beauty of
virtue, and the deformity of vice; though
they defined with precifion the limits of
focial and political duty; and though it
was the labour of their lives, to recom-
mend what was good, and to diffuade from
what was evil; yet it unluckily ſo happened,
that the learning and reafon which they va-
lued themſelves upon never once led them
to the reflexions for which they were princi-
pally intended, on the excellencies and mani-
I 3
feft
118
Reflexions on Incredulity.
feſt attributes of the Author of the creation,
on the neceffary dependence of man upon
his favour, and on the duty thence reſulting
to the Deity. Such reflexions would have
been fit to humble their vanity, and to
have checked them in the
in the courſe of
purſuits, which, though not openly vitious,
yet had nothing of that reverence and at-
tention that is due to the Deity mixed with
them.
So foon as theſe wife philofophers had
got that quantity of knowledge which in
their apprehenfions placed them above other
men, and had got into a high opinion of
their own reaſon; they no longer employ-
ed their parts in attending to and inveſti-
gating the wondrous effects of wisdom,
power, and goodneſs, difplayed in the fa-
brick of this univerfe, in order to raiſe high
and honourable ideas of the Almighty, and
becoming notions of man's meanness, fhort-
fightedneſs, and dependence; but, rejecting
fuch poor-ſpirited reflexions, they took it in
their heads to imagine, that the profufion
of wonders in the works of creation was in-
tended only for an exerciſe to their under-
ſtanding, to diſcover how, by what mecha-
nifm, and for what ends fuch things were
brought
Reflexions on Incredulity.
119
explain nature.
brought about. They found out they had
not power fufficient to produce them; but
on the all-fufficiency of their reaſon they
depended; and therefore to work
work they
went, to diſcover, and to
Hence ſo many cofmogonia's, ſo many ſy-
Items for fhewing how the various pha-
nomena are performed. Some fet out on
hypothefes which time has difcovered to be
abfolutely falfe. Some gave only words,
which had no certain meaning, and there-
fore explained nothing; but which the phi-
lofopher and his followers were perfectly ſa-
tisfied with. And all of them agreed in this,
that their reaſon was a match for the un-
dertaking; that is, fit to inveſtigate and
deſcribe all the mysteries of nature, and to
diſcover and determine all the ways and
works of God.
WITH this prepoffeffion in behalf of the
powers of their reaſon, theſe wife Gentlemen
undertook to inquire into the nature of God;
laying it down as a fixed point, to admit no
quality in that Being that their reafon did
not affign him; nor to allow any action to
him, but what they, making uſe of their
reafon and obfervation, could affign the
cauſe and end of.
I 4
ON
120
Reflexions on Incredulity.
:
ON thefe articles the difference of opi-
nion was great.
Some held the world to
be eternal; and the infinite variety and con-
trivance, to be the effect of Nature, eternal
alſo and with this found, in place of fenſe,
they were ſatisfied. Some held the world
to be the work of an intelligent Being: but
the number of them was few ;. and what
regard he had to men in the compofition,
they did not fay. Some held that the Deity
directed events in this world, particularly
thoſe that regarded nations and focieties:
others utterly denied Providence; and ima-
gined, that every thing was left to the go-
vernment of Chance. Few philofophers
allowed of a future ftate of rewards and pu-
niſhments: thofe that did, thought only of
rewarding publick virtues, and puniſhing
vices noxious to fociety. None of them
imagined that God ever minded the inward
difpofition, or heart of man.
As Epicurus and his followers obferved,
that no fignal punishment attended vice in
this world, they denied Providence; as they
could not be fatisfied that the dead could
rife, they denied a future ftate; and, as there
was no puniſhment that actually attended
vitious actions in this world or another, all
actions
Reflexions on Incredulity.
121
actions with them were indifferent.
So that
this fect, which was numerous, diſcarded the
Deity, and made brutes of men.
BUT it is impoffible they could have
dropt into fuch monftrous abfurdities, if
the vain voluptuous courfe, in which they
were engaged, had not given a bias to their
reaſon; and if they had not made reaſon ſo
much the teſt and touchſtone of all things,
as to reject every thing which it could frame
any objection to, if it could not alfo, by its
own light, diffolve that objection.
HAD they duly attended to the popular
opinions which prevailed in their days,
that the gods regarded the actions of men;
that good actions were pleafing, and evil
diſpleaſing to the Deity; that fins, unleſs
expiated, were to be punished; and that
rewards and punishments were to be met.
with in another ſtate: had they with care
confidered the effential difference between
good and evil actions; the monstrous ab-
furdity which attends the fuppofal, that
wickedness can go unpunished, or virtue
unrewarded; and the neceffary confe-
quence from thence, that there must be
another time for thoſe rewards
niſhments, as they do not happen
and pu-
in this
life:
122 Reflexions on Incredulity.
life and had they permitted themſelves to-
fee, without prejudice, the numberlefs obli-
gations, unacknowledged and unreturned, un-
der which man lies to his Creator and Pre-
ferver, and the infinite diſproportion there is
between our weak ſcanty reaſon and his
boundleſs wiſdom; it is impoffible the ycould
have fallen into a ſet of ſuch childiſh opini-
ons as they maintained.
BUT they were too much bewitched with
the chimerical notions they had of their own
excellency; too fond of the character they
had carved out for themſelves, after driving
the Deity from their thoughts, of being lords
of the creation, the chief of beings, ac-
countable to none, happy in themſelves, in-
titled to gratify every appetite, and fubject to
no law but that of their own good-will and
pleaſure, to ſubmit to the mortification that
muſt reſult from the difcovery of their real
ftate. The miſery into which folly had plung-
ed human nature, muſt be a diſagreeable ob-
ject of contemplation to a vain man who
had got himſelf into poffeffion of the feat
of God. The neceffity of humiliation, re-
pentance, amendment, interceffion, and of a
total alteration of views and purfuits, was
a pill of no eafy digeſtion. And therefore
it
Reflexions on Incredulity.
123
it is no great wonder, that, though, on the
firſt publication of the gospel, the good
tidings were greedily received by the unlearn-
ed, and confequently lefs prejudiced, the
philoſophers, and their ſcholars, the pretend-
ed learned men of the world, refifted it with
the greateſt warmth and bitterneſs.
IT was however lucky, that, though the
infidelity of the antient philofophers was
almoſt as ſtrong as that of the modern, it
was by much leſs extenfive; and therefore
leſs mifchievous. Learning in thoſe days
was confined to a few heads; books were
fcarce, and the purchaſe of them coft a great
deal of money: every body did not meddle
with philofophifing, as they do at prefent;
and, of confequence, knowledge of the
philoſophical kind was only to be met with
amongſt philoſophers who taught, and ſuch
of their hearers as had leifure, genius, and
books, to enable them to proſecute their
ftudies. The herd of the people remained
ignorant and undebauched; and the Chriſtian
doctrine, which took root amongst them,
when it called in unprejudiced reaſon, and
learning, to affift it, proved at laft too
ftrong for the few fantaſtick proud philo-
fophers.
THUS
"
124
Reflexions on Incredulity.
THUS was infidelity, that is, in theory
and opinion, banifhed from the Chriftian
world, till of late, that a falfe opinion has
prevailed, that, with the reſtoration of learn-
ing, the knowledge of mankind has enlarged
itſelf infinitely; that this is the effect of ge-
nius and reaſon; and that, making a proper
uſe of this reaſon, every thing that is, or ap-
pears to be myfterious in nature, may to a
certainty, at leaſt to a very high degree of
probability, be diſcovered. And this falſe
opinion has unfortunately become ſo preva-
lent and extenſive, that, except amongst the
meaner and the lefs conceited part of man-
kind, it is not eaſy to meet with any one that
is not tainted with it.
THIS miſchief is however by no means
to be charged upon learning, but on the
weakneſs and prejudices of mankind; who,
conceiving too high an opinion of the
powers of their own underſtanding, pre-
fume to meaſure every thing, divine as well
as human, by it. For, when firft the fub-
verfion of the Greek empire drove learned
men, with their books, into the Weft,
which fell in with the time of the inven-
tion of printing, whereby knowledge was
circulated, and could be come at much
cheaper,
1
I
Reflexions on Incredulity.
125
cheaper, and with leſs labour, than former-
ly, great numbers of men of genius applied
themſelves to ſtudy, and in a trifle of time
acquired fo much knowledge, as difpofed
them to throw off the yoke, as well as the
abfurdities of the church of Rome; which
would have had a thorough effect, but for
the paffions and intereſts of ſelfiſh princes.
But, in this attack on the reigning church,
infidelity had no fort of hand. Learning had
warmed the piety, as well as it improved
the knowledge of the reformers: a thorough
examination of the Scriptures, of hiſtory,
and of antiquity, independent of the tradi-
tion of the church, fecured and defined their
faith and piety in thoſe days was the com-
panion of knowledge and learning; as it
muſt ever continue to be, where knowledge
and learning are lodged in fober minds.
:
THE quick and eafy conveyance of know-
ledge by the prefs foon produced in alf
foils fwarms of men of real or pretended
learning. Curiofity, genius, or the faſhion,
(for it was the mode then to ftudy), filled
Europe with men of letters. Sciences of all
forts were purſued by people of all coun-
tries, as their taftes feverally led them; all
the antient learning was expofed to view;
in
126
Reflexions on Incredulity.
in theology, the progrefs juft afcribed was
made; the Roman law was ftudied, and
taught with great accuracy; the Greek and
Roman oratory and poetry became the ſtand-
ards of performances of that kind; the Greek,
particularly Ariſtotle's philofophy, reigned in
the ſchools; Hippocrates, Galen, Celfus, &c.
gave lights to phyſicians which they had not
before; and the works of the antient aftro-
nomers and mathematicians which remain,
revived thoſe ftudies; in which, by the affi-
duous application of ingenious men, very
great progreſs has been made.
IT must be owned, that, in almoſt every
branch of learning, knowledge has been car-
ried to a higher pitch, fince the revival of
learning, than it appears to have been by
the antients, from the remains of their works
that have come to our hands. But that is
not to be ascribed to the fuperiority of ge-
nius of the moderns; fince the true cauſe
of it can eaſily be affigned, i. e. That mul-
titudes are at work on the fame ſubject; and
that the preſs affords ſo quick a conveyance
of their conceptions and obfervations to
each other, that they are thereby vaftly aid-
ed in their lucubrations. Befides that many
accidental diſcoveries, by men not always
of
Reflexions on Incredulity.
127
of the brighteſt parts, have given hints, and
ftruck out lights to the ingenious, which have
led to confiderable improvements, and have
baniſhed many falſe ſyſtems.
ACCIDENT gave birth to the invention
of teleſcopes, and of microſcopes; and yet
to the firſt is owing the confirmation of the
Copernican, and the ruin of the Ptolomean
ſyſtem; and to the fecond, the confirma-
tion of Dr. Hervey's diſcovery of the circu-
lation of the blood, as well as the produc-
tion to view of numberlefs tribes of animals,
hitherto hid from mortal fight. Accident gave
birth to the invention of gun-powder, and
of the air-pump; and experiments made on
theſe have diſcloſed many unknown proper-
ties of the air. Experiments, to which men
have been led by accidents, have made
furpriſing diſcoveries in chymy, and many
parts of natural philofophy, to the great im-
provement of phyfick, and other branches
of uſeful knowledge. And the accidental.
diſcovery of the Weft-Indies, and the inter-
courſe by trade with it, and with the Eaft-
Indies, have brought numbers of particulars
to light, to which the antients were utter
ftrangers.
4
POSSESSED
128
Reflexions on Incredulity.
opinion they enter-
POSSESSED of the learning of the anti-
ents, with the vaft addition of later difco-
veries, it is not to be wondered at, if the
moderns exceeded the antients as much in
vanity, and the good
tained of their own capacity, as they did in
knowledge. Hence they employed, with
great induſtry, their time and their talents
in ſearches after the fecrets of nature, and
in diſcovering and affigning the phyfical
cauſes of the effects that fhine forth in the
univerſe. Descartes's new Cofmogonia beat
Ariftotle's, and all the other antient fyftems,
out of the ſchools. The artifice employed
by the Creator, in the formation of the
univerſe, in the direction, and the prefer-
vation of it, was defcribed, and laid open
to the comprehenfion of the meaneſt capa
city; the phyfical cauſes of the ebbing and
flowing of the fea, of magnetiſm, of the
formation of metals, and of all the other
ſeeming myſteries of nature, were affigned;
and, to the conviction of the inventers,
and of almoſt all Europe, for about half a
century, nothing was wanted but the ap-
plication of his principles, to account. for
every phænomenon, how furprifing foever,
that
Reflexions on Incredulity.
129
that ſhould at any time make its appear-
ance.
WHILST the world was drunk with this
conceit, no marvel they fhould entertain
a very high opinion of the fagacity of man.
If his power was not to be compared with
that of the Omnipotent, yet his wifdom
and knowledge did not feem to fall far fhort
of that of the Omniſcient. A well-inftruct-
ed and well-convinced Cartefian would not
think himſelf hard put to it by the queſti-
ons about the formation of natural things
which the Almighty put to Job, to hum-
ble his pride, and to convince him, that he
was not a competent judge of the ways and
views of God. And thence it naturally fol-
lowed, that they looked down, with ſome
contempt, upon fuch parts of the Scripture
as appeared to them unphilofophical, enter-
tained a poor opinion of the writers of them,
and laughed at the fimplicity of ſerious Chri-
ſtians, who believed feveral articles, in mat-
ters of religion, which thoſe wife men could
not account for fo well, as they could for
the formation of the univerſe, and the va-
rious phænomena of nature.
To this way of thinking their maſter's
firſt principle led them. Quicquid clarè &
VOL. II.
K
diſtinctè
لند
130
Reflexions on Incredulity.
diſtinctè percipio, eft verum, was the founda-
tion on which he built, and a good one.
He furely run no rifk in admitting whatever
was founded on it. In all the parts of ma-
thematicks, in which he excelled, the con-
verting the propofition, and admitting no-
thing to be true but what one clearly per-
ceives to be ſo, is the rule which has guided
fuch as followed it to that degree of certain-
ty which has diftinguiſhed thofe fciences
from all others. The object of them admits
of the application of the rule. Linès, an-
gles, numbers, the creatures of man's ima-
gination, defined by him, and receiving their
nature from that definition, he may clearly
conceive all the properties of; and is in the
right to deny to any line, angle, or num-
ber, what he does not clearly perceive to
belong to it. But, if he carries this rule to
other ſciences, where the diſcovery of truth
depends upon a different ſpecies of evidence:
if he applies it to the works or ways of the
Moft High, which his knowledge does not
reach to, as it does to the properties of
lines and numbers, beings of his own crea-
tion; and of which he cannot poffibly know
any thing but what he gathers from con-
jecture,
Reflexions on Incredulity.
131
jecture, founded on the appearances in na-
ture, or from what the Deity may have
been pleaſed to reveal; monſtrous miſtakes
may, and muſt grow. A thouſand impro-
bable, nay almoft inconceivable things, in
natural philofophy, are true. The tefti-
mony of the ſenſes confutes all objections
from improbability, or inconceivability, if
one may uſe the expreffion; and credible
evidence ſhort of that of feeing or feeling,
from unſuſpected witneffes, creates that cer-
tainty on which men may ſafely depend
and act. And, if it has pleaſed the Almigh-
ty to diſcover to mankind any thing rela-
ting to himſelf or to his ways, it is but
of little conſequence, whether that falls in
with the philofophers notions or concep
tions; and the only fenfible queſtion can be,
Whether there is fufficient evidence that in
fact ſuch things were revealed?
NOTWITHSTANDING theſe obvious re-
flexions, Monf. Defcartes and his followers,
and the other fects of philofophers who
have fucceeded him, not content with
world-making, have proceeded to god-
making. They have prefumed to define
him, his attributes, and powers; nay, they
have
K 2
13:2
Reflexions on Incredulity.
have determined what he is and muft be,
and what he is not and cannot be, with fuch
precifion and certainty, that, if any thing, ſaid
to be revealed by himſelf, does not conform
directly to the character and qualities they
have given this god, they ſtraightway conteſt,
and, right or wrong, reject the evidence
for fuch revelation.
DESCARTES's romance kept entire
poffeffion of men's belief for full fifty years.
If ſome croſs experiment ſhocked it in ſome
particular, the fyftem was pieced up and
mended by his followers, and accommo-
dated to the new-diſcovered phænomena; till
at laſt the tide of contrary obſervations and
experiments was too strong to be refifted.
All the invention of his countrymen the
French could not prop the theory that ex-
periment demonſtrated to be falſe: and what
was worst of all for France, it was cruſhed
under the weight of another theory, built on
the diſcoveries of Sir Ifaac Newton, an Eng-
liſhman.
THE fagacity of Sir Ifaac was admired
by all, and adored by his countrymen. His
genius puſhed him to diſcoveries in the moſt
abftrufe parts of the mathematicks, that have
cauſed
Reflexions on Incredulity.
133
cauſed the aſtoniſhment of the learned; and
at the fame time, from accurate obſervati-
ons made on nature, he has given hints,
which, though by him flung out in the form
of queries only, his countrymen have con-
verted into ſo many certain propofitions;
and upon them have founded what they
pretend to be a complete theory or fyftem,
which future experiments and diſcovery
must try the folidity of. But it must be
owned Sir Ifaac's modefty was much great-
er than that of his followers, not only in
the title he gave to his notions, but in the
reſpect with which, notwithſtanding his vaſt
genius and fuperior knowledge, he treated
the Deity and the Scriptures.
IT is truly amazing, that the ſeries of
blunders which the moſt exalted geniuſes
who applied themſelves to fyftem - making
have by late diſcoveries been found to have
dropt into, one after another, has not cured
the philofophers of our time of the high
conceit they have entertained of the com-
paſs and all-ſufficiency of the human under-
ftanding, and of the madneſs of the under-
taking, to trace, with the organs which we
have got, the hidden wonders of the ma-
terial
K 3
134 Reflexions on Incredulity.
terial creation; efpecially fince the more
light we gain into natural things by acci-
dental diſcoveries, the thicker the difficul-
ties pour themſelves on us, and the more
inexplicable theſe myſteries appear to be.
ABOUT the beginning of the last cen-
tury, natural philofophers had nothing to
exerciſe their talents on, but ſuch phæno-
mena as fell within their ſenſes, unaided by
inftruments, and fuch obfervations as were
without very great care or accuracy made
accidentally on fuch things as gave ſurpriſe
on account of their fingularity. But, fince
that time, the microſcope has unveiled a
fort of new creation, at leaft a very remark-
able part of it, till then unknown; the tele-
fcope has difcovered new worlds in the
fkies; and improvements in mathematicks
and aftronomy have fhewed the fize and
diftance of thofe worlds. The inconcei-
vable minuteness of the microſcopick ani-
mals, of the parts whereof they are com-
poſed, of their juices and nutriment, and the
delicacy of the artifice that has produced
and ſupports them, ftrikes the mind with as
ftrong a ſenſe of the plenitude of fkill and
power of the Creator, as the grandeur and
magni-
Reflexions on Incredulity.
135
magnificence of the new diſcoveries in the
ſkies does of his immenfity; and both are
equally fit to give to man the moſt humbling
view of his own knowledge and penetration,
as well as of his power, when compared with
thoſe of the Almighty.
THE air-pump, experiments made there-
in, and others to which theſe gave riſe, have
diſcovered many properties of the air, here-
tofore unknown, which fhew the admirable
fagacity of that Being, by whoſe aſtoniſhing
contrivance that fluid is ſo adjuſted and tem-
pered, as in effect to fupport the animal as
well as the vegetable world, and to maintain
this part of the creation in the condition in
which it is.
CHYMY, purſued with attention, has dif-
covered many effects of fire, and of mix-
tures, and general properties in metals, mi-
nerals, and other bodies, that give daily fur-
priſe; Anatomy has to a certain pitch laid
open the aſtoniſhing artifice of the Creator,
in the texture of the body of man, as well as
of other animals; a prifm in Sir Ifaac New-
ton's hand has difcloſed many qualities in
light, which never had entered into the heart
of man to think of; and fome accidental
expe-
K 4
136
Reflexions on Incredulity.
riments in Electricity have preſented to the
fenſes appearances which fhew that there
are ſome powers and properties in matter not
hitherto dreamed of, and which no theory
as yet hatched can account for.
THE natural effect of thoſe diſcoveries
upon minds rightly diſpoſed ought to be,
to mortify ſelf-conceit, and to exalt our idea
of the infinite power and perfection of the
Creator; fince, the greater progreſs we make
in diſcovering, the more wonders of contri-
vance, wiſdom, power, and goodneſs we
meet with, which though our reaſon can
fometimes fee the end of, it is too ſcanty
to trace the mechanical caufe of; and for
that muſt reſort to the will and pleaſure of
the Deity, unleſs we will be fo abfurd as to
fay, that nature, without any meaning or
contrivance, has beſtowed thoſe properties
and powers upon certain parcels of matter.
THAT denſe bodes gravitate in propor-
tion to their mafs, and that projected bo-
dies continue in motion until obftructed,
are appearances fo common, that no one
is ſurpriſed with the obfervation; and the
crowd do not trouble their head in in-
quiring after the cauſes. But it is
not fo
with
Reflexions on Incredulity.
137
They
with the clear-fighted philofophers.
muſt puzzle their brains with affigning the
mechanical cauſes for thoſe effects; and,
when they have done their beſt, they muſt
confefs their ignorance, or riſk error, by
averring that there is no mechanical caufe;
and that the effect depends on a law of na-
ture, which thoſe who are difpofed to be
civil to the Deity fay, flows from the mere
will of the Deity.
IN the fame way, every man living is
fenfible of the intimate connexion between
the foul and the body; he feels the fenfa-
tion raiſed in the one by the action of the
other, and knows the ready obedience which
ſuch parts of the body as are intended for
action yield to the will of the foul: but
how the one acts upon the other, is not
only not known, but, one may venture to
ſay, not knowable or conceivable by us,
until we acquire fome degree of know-
ledge of what we are at preſent mere
ftrangers to, the nature of Soul, and the na-
ture of Body.
:
A body fit to reflect light and colours,
when placed in light, not only returns the
rays of light that fall upon it, to the lumi-
nous body that enlightened it, but fends
the
138 Reflexions on Incredulity.
the picture of itſelf quite round the hemi-
fphere in all directions, and to every
point placing a thouſand, a million of
fuch bodies near one another, each per-
forms the fame operation; the rays of
light and colours come inftantaneouſly to the
fpectator's eye from each, without being
diſturbed or diverted in the paffage by the
numberless rays returned, in different and
contrary directions, by the other contiguous
bodies. That the Being who contrived this
mechanifm, and created the machine, can
explain it, and can give us capacity to com-
prehend it, is not to be doubted: but, until
it ſhall be his good pleaſure to do fo, all we
have to do is, to admire his power and ſkill,
and thankfully to acknowledge the bleffing
he has beſtowed upon us by this aftoniſhing
machinery.
WHY then, what has man got by the
numerous experiments and difcoveries of
later years? Why, furely, a more accu-
rate and certain knowledge of many pha-
nomena of nature, of many of the works
of God, than the antients had, and a
more diftinct view of the ends and uſes of
many pieces and parts of the creation than
men were formerly poffeffed of: difcove-
ries
Reflexions on Incredulity.
139
ries fit to raiſe the moſt high and honou-
rable notions of the Creator, and of his
goodneſs to his creatures; and to convince
man of his ſhort-fightedneſs, dependence, and
duty.
BUT has man made this improvement
of thoſe diſcoveries? Nothing lefs! He
makes a pompous mufter to his own vain
mind of his knowledge; he looks upon it
as his property, acquired by his own in-
genuity and induſtry; he prides himſelf
on his fagacity, and hopes by its affiftance
to be ſtill richer in wiſdom; and he feels
fo much pleaſure in the purſuit of more
knowledge, and takes fo much joy upon
every trifling diſcovery which adds to his
ftore, that he cannot think with patience.
on the evidence which his increafe in
knowledge gives of his real ignorance
and weakneſs, nor on the infinite perfec-
tion and goodneſs of the Deity, which
that knowledge demonftrates. Such re-
flexions would fhock his vanity; would
convince him he had paffed his life un-
profitably; and might determine him to
quit his beloved courfe of philofophizing,
or other courſes ftill more foolish; or elſe
to perfift in them, under a load of anxious
doubts
140
Reflexions on Incredulity.
doubts which might pall the taſte of his en-
joyments.
He must be a ftranger to the exerciſe
of the rational faculty, who does not
know, that the purſuit of knowledge in
any fcience is attended with very fenfible
pleaſure; or who doubts, that a philofo-
pher, if bleffed with health, and means,
and temperance, may reaſonably propoſe
to drive on in the career of life, till nature
decay, with as much fatisfaction as any
man who does not confidently look for a
happy hereafter. And, as this is the caſe,
fuppofing a philofopher engaged in this
pleaſurable courfe, it is not to be imagi-
ned, that he would quit it willingly, or
liften, without fome reluctance, to doctrines
that ſhould make him uneafy in it. With
fuch prejudice does almost every philofo-
pher of our days attend to what he daily
hears preached, and what the voice of all
nature proclaims, of the duties which men
owe to their Creator, of the regard which
he expects from them to his will, and of
the certainty of rewards and punishments;
and is therefore fertile in objections, to pre-
vent his own and other people's believing
theſe truths.
AND
Reflexions on Incredulity.
141
AND what puts our age in a much more
lamentable cafe than thoſe that were before
it is, that, whereas the number of philofo-
phers formerly was but very ſmall, the
number of preten ded philofophers is now
immenſely great; and, whereas books and
learning were then in a few hands, at pre-
fent almoſt every body can read.
The preſs
circulates books very cheap; philofophers
from opinion, and wits for bread, publiſh
Atheiſm; and the half-learned and vitious
read. With theſe the authority of the learn-
ed, as well as the objections againſt doctrines
which men's vices may induce them to wiſh
not to be true, go far; and thoſe of inferior
learning or rank are glad to follow the opi-
nions, as well as the vices, of their betters:
fo that a man that truly fears God, is at
this day almoſt as great a curiofity as an
Atheiſt was heretofore.
WHAT makes the truth of thoſe re-
flexions the more fenfible, is, that, though
thoſe philofophers called Freethinkers con-
trovert the duties owing to the Deity, and
dream of no puniſhment attendant on the
neglect; yet they all pretend to be, and
generally are fenfible of the focial duties,
and act up to them better than others do
who
142
Reflexions on Incredulity.
who in other refpects think more juftly
than they. And this comes from the mo-
ral fenfe in them; which they rather en-
courage than ftifle on that article, from
the vanity of having the good opinion and
approbation of mankind, which they court;
and from this confideration, that it is no
obftruction to their purſuits. Whereas,
brought up with doubts of the very exift-
ence of the Deity; ripening into years,
under a total neglect of all duties that may
be owing to him; immerged in purſuits
and courfes, whereof the objects are pretty
much incompatible with thoſe duties;
and confcious, that fuch duties neglected,
if there is any real obligation to them,
muſt be highly offenfive to the Deity, and
attended with certain puniſhment; it is
natural for them to wish they may have
made no mistake in that article, and that
they may not be found debtors to the di-
vine juftice. And it imports them very
much, in refpect to the future quiet and
tranquillity of their lives, if they refolve
to purſue the pleaſures wherein they are
engaged, to convince themſelves, if they
can, that all apprehenfions of danger from
neglect of duties to the Deity are but vain
terrors
Reflexions on Incredulity.
143
terrors, the device of priests, or the dreams
of melancholy men.
BUT, if there be ſuch a thing as an intel-
ligent Being, that has employed and dif
played infinite wisdom, power, and good-
neſs, in the creation of this univerſe; that
has with ftupendous artifice ftored this
globe with every thing neceffary, not on-
ly for the ſupport, but for the felicity of
man; that on all his works has ftamped
characters of the infinite perfections and
overflowing goodneſs of the Author; that
has given to man, and to him alone of all
the vifible creation, that ſhare of his good-
nefs, eyes to be entertained with the mag-
nificence, the beauty, the harmony, and
the order of the univerfe; to ſee the per-
fection of the Creator in his works; and
to diſcover the infinite obligations he lies
under to, and the dependence he has on
the goodneſs of his beneficent Maker; that
has fo moulded his heart and ſpirit, as to
make pleaſure attendant on admiration,
and love and gratitude the neceffary com-
panions of the fenfe of favours received;
and that has joined to the idea of ingrati-
tude the fenfation of horror; and to con-
ſciouſneſs of gratitude, an inward fatisfa-
ction,
I
144
Reflexions on Incredulity.
ction, that even adds to the reliſh of the fa-
vour received: what could have been the
view of the Creator in beftowing thoſe
eyes, and that difpofition of heart and
fpirit? Was he, or was he not, to be difco-
vered, admired, adored, loved, and reve-
renced ; or was it indifferent to that per-
fect and beneficent Being, which way his
creature employed his eyes, or difpofed
of his heart? And, on the other hand,
how grofs must be the folly and guilt of
man, who, mifemploying his eyes, and
mifapplying his heart, has refuſed to fee
the perfection of God in his works; and,
in place of acknowledging with gratitude
his obligation and dependence, chufes to
be indebted to nothing but what he calls
Nature and Chance, fubftituted by him in
the room of God; and beſtows his heart
upon vanity, upon the creature in place
of the Creator ?
IF neglects and breaches of the ſocial and
moral duties are criminal even in the eyes
of Freethinkers, what muſt be the guilt of
neglecting the only duty, properly ſpeak-
ing, to God, of denying him the only re-
turn which he expects, becauſe it is the on-
ly return he has qualified us to make, re-
verence,
Reflexions on Incredulity.
145
verence, love, and gratitude? Ingratitude
to men is marked with the blackeſt ſtain ;
what must then that vice be when it has for
its object the fource of all goodneſs? and
what chance is there that it fhall pass un-
puniſhed? It is aftonilhing, that men who
juſtly look with fuch horror and detefta-
tion on murder and parricide, fhould
think fo coolly on the abnegation of the
Deity; which denying him his tribute of
reverence and gratitude is. But the in-
ſtances of puniſhment which the magiftrate,
for the preſervation of the fociety, inflicts,
help to keep up the idea of horror that at-
tends the firft; and the forbearance of ven-
geance in the latter is by weak pretenders to
reafon made an argument to conclude, that
no offence is given.
IT is a ſtrange imagination, to admit,
that men are formed with ideas of right
and wrong, with a fenfe of duty and the
contrary, and with full phyfical liberty to
act as they ſhall beft like; and yet to main-
tain, that it is abfolutely indifferent to the
Deity, who gave them that rule of conduct,
whether they conform to or tranfgrefs it,
whether they do right or wrong; and, con-
fequently, that it is indifferent to them, if
VOL. II.
L
they
146
Reflexions on Incredulity.
t
1
they eſcape puniſhment from their fellow-
creatures, whether they have or have not
conformed themſelves to the rule of their
Creator and Sovereign Lord.
THE excellency of the body, the capa-
city of the underſtanding, the extent of the
knowledge of the most perfect of the hu-
man fpecies, cannot poffibly make any im-
preffion on the Deity, other than the gene-
ral complacency that reſults from the fur-
vey of his works, and feeing that they are
good. What a poor figure muſt the parts,
the fagacity, and the knowledge of the ad-
mired Sir Isaac Newton make in the eye of
the Omniscient? And how few Newtons
can mankind boaſt of? Theſe are there-
fore not the qualities that claim the Dei-
ty's regard. But, if a rational creature,
however limited in underſtanding, or im-
perfect in body, fhall have his heart and
ſpirit right difpofed; fhall fee, and, in afl
his thoughts and actions, acknowledge his
dependence on the God that made him;
fhall maintain in his heart a grateful fenſe
of the numberlefs obligations he lies under
to that bountiful Being, and fhall be tho-
roughly difpofed to make the Will of that
Being the rule of his actions, during the
whole
2
Reflexions on Incredulity.
147
whole courſe of his life; regardleſs of the
pleaſures and fenfual enjoyment which
following this rule may deprive him of, and
of the dangers and inconveniences to
which purſuing it may expofe him; in full
confidence, that the fincerity of his heart
will be acceptable to, and rewarded by the
Creator, who endued it with fuch difpofi-
tions: we muſt neceffarily conclude, either
that the Omnifcient does not know the dif-
pofitions and inward actings of the ſpirits
of all his creatures, or that the grateful and
dutiful heart of fuch a creature is pleafing
and agreeable to him.
THUS the objects of the complacence of
the Almighty amongſt the children of men
may be as numerous as the individuals of
the ſpecies. He has given to very few
thoſe diſtinguiſhing parts that provoke the
éfteem even of their fellow-creatures ; but
he has given to all hearts fufceptible of re-
verence, gratitude, and love; and they
have no more to do, but to employ thoſe
difpofitions towards the proper object, to
entitle themſelves to the continuation of his
goodneſs and good-will for them. It is
remarkable, that the only thing which God
claims of man in fcripture is the heart;
and,
L 2
£48.
Reflexions on Incredulity.
and it is remarkable alfo, that poffeffion of
the heart of any of our own, or even of
the brute fpecies, is what fecures our af-
fection in return. Perfuafion of the friend-
fhip or love of any of our fellow-crea-
tures determines us to ſentiments of the
like kind for them; and we cannot help,
when a dog, a cat, or any other familiar
creature fhews marks of any particular re-
fpect or fondness for us, to have pleaſure
in that fondnefs, and to cherish the crea-
ture in return. Now, though to limit the
fovereign and ſelf-exiftent Mind, by fuppo-
fing that it has juft fuch qualities and mo-
difications as ours, would be rafh; yet
it would be rafh alſo to affert, that there
are not in it qualities and difpofitions fimi-
lar to fuch as are praife-worthy and com-
mendable in our own. Nay, the contrary
muſt be admitted by all who believe the
fcriptures; which affure, that God made
man after his own image, and in every
page declare his diflike of fin, and regard for
piety.
BUT here lies the misfortune: This
claim of the Creator to the hearts of his
creatures cannot be complied with; be-
cauſe they have already difpofed of their
hearts
I
Reflexions on Incredulity.
149
hearts in another way. Lufts and follies
of very different kinds have got poffeffion
of their fpirits, and the gratification of
thoſe is the object of their purſuit. Mul-
titudes follow the direction of the tempe-
rature of their body, and are flaves to the
appetites that prevail in them; which
chain them to the oar they tug at, by the
immediate pleaſure they tafte in obeying
the call of thoſe appetites; whilſt the very
enjoyment of what they are fo fond of, de-
ftroys the appetite, pulls on difeafes and
peeviſhneſs, with early old-age and decay;
which must be attended with remorfe and
horror, if they do not carefully lock out
from their thoughts all ideas of futurity,
and of what ought to have been the object
of their purſuits. To talk to fuch men of
duty, whether in the career of their enjoy-
ments, or when they are no longer capa-
ble of enjoying what their foul took delight
in, is to preach to the deaf, at leaſt to ſuch as
will undoubtedly ſtop their ears againſt ſounds
that muſt be ſo grating and diſagreeable.
AND, on the other hand, great numbers,
who, from their conftitution, education, or
other circumſtances, have eſcaped the in-
chantments of fenfual pleaſures, and have
reliſhed
L 3
150
Reflexions on Incredulity.
reliſhed the delight that attends the exer-
cife of their mental faculties, by much the
moſt ſubſtantial, manly, and lafting enjoy-
ment of the two, fee, with regret and con-
tempt, the brutish folly in which their fel-
low-creatures are engaged. They pity
and deſpiſe thofe groveling mean fouls,
who never once tafted the refined fatisfac-
tion that reſults from employing the ra-
tional powers in the acquifition of know-
ledge, and the diſcovery of truth. And by
how much foever the ſoul exceeds in excel-
lency the body, by fo much they look upon
themſelves to be better and happier than
their brethren. In this they glory, in this
they are really happy. In their own opi-
nion they are wife, and they hope they are
fo in the opinion of all others. On the
vanity that reſults from fuch an empty
conceit they feed. They are glad to be
thought wiſer and better than they truly
are. To gain the eftimation of their ac-
quaintance, they are charlatans in fcience,
and hypocrites in conduct. The natural
defire of approbation, born with them, they
have transferred from God to their fellow-
creatures. The applaufe of men, deferved.
or undeſerved, blows up their pride. On
that
Reflexions on Incredulity.
151.
that, and on their imagined knowledge,
they value themfelves; and can have no
idea of any ſtate for which they would ex-
change their own, except one in which
they might be more knowing or more
eſteemed.
IN the whole courſe of the lives of fuch
men, the true direction of the heart was
never once minded. Senfual enjoyment it
might not have for its object, but it had
the Creator lefs; and knowledge, with the
reputation of knowledge, it ardently breath-
ed after and exulted in. To bring fuch men
to a fixed belief, that the boaſted acquiſition
of their lives was no more than vanity, and
vexation of ſpirit; that death muſt deliver
them over to judgment, for the abuſe of
thoſe noble talents which their Maker had
beſtowed on them; and that there is no way
to eſcape puniſhment, but by baniſhing thoſe
vanities from their heart, and yielding it en-
tirely to the God that framed it, would be
no eaſy ſpot of work: every power of their
mind would be employed in defence of the
idol they had carved for themſelves. If re-
ligion had preſcribed only prayers, penances,
building of churches, or any other tranfient
act, its language might have been liftened to:
L 4
but
152
Reflexions on Incredulity.
but, as it will be fatisfied with nothing lefs
than the heart, which is already beftowed,
no wonder philofophers are deaf.
To refift the evidence that pours in upon
them, from nature, from revelation, from
all quarters, in behalf of religion; and to
ftifle the apprehenfions which it muft natu-
rally beget, they call in to their affiftance
that boaſted Reaſon, which qualifies them to
judge of God, and of all his works and ways.
Him and them they try by that infallible
touchſtone; and, if ought is propofed to be
believed of either, which they cannot diſtinct-
ly comprehend the manner or cauſe of, the
propofition is immediately rejected, as abſurd
and impoffible; or, if any difficulty or ob-
jection occur to their imagination which can-
not inſtantly be diffolved, the validity of the
objection is ſtraightway allowed, and the pro-
pofition to which it relates is condemned.
But this is not all. If the propofition con-
demned has revelation for its fupport, the
whole of revelation, together with the evi-
dence for it, are damned by the lump; be-
cauſe that cannot be the declaration of God,
but muſt be a palpable forgery, which afferts
any falfhood, or, what is juft the fame, any
thing
Reflexions on Incredulity.
153
thing that does not fall in with the notions of
the learned and the wife.
THUS, becauſe Freethinkers cannot con-
ceive how a ſpirit can exift without a body,
or how a body diffolved into duſt, and diffi-
pated, can be refufcitated, they doubt of a
future ftate, and deny the reſurrection;
though theſe very wife men must admit, they
have no adequate conception of the foul, or
of its manner of exiſtence or acting, or of the
way in which it and the body were brought
together.
IN like manner, what is called the hypo-
Statical union in Chrift, is rejected, becauſe
the manner of it cannot be comprehended by
men; who must admit the union between
foul and body in man, and muſt at the fame
time confefs, they neither do, nor can,
whilft they remain in their prefent condi-
tion, conceive how the one operates on the
other.
THE doctrine of the Trinity ſhares the
fame fate; and with ſome more fhew of
reaſon; as, befides the difficulty of compre-
hending the how and the wherefore, in that
doctrine, as commonly expreffed, there is
fome appearance of contradiction in the
terms, which makes it difficult to conceive
what
154
Reflexions on Incredulity.
what is meant to be believed. But this ap-
pearance of contradiction is owing, not to the
revelation from which the knowledge of that
history is derived, but to the vanity and
folly of the doctors of the church; who,
puffed up, even as the Freethinkers, with too
good an opinion of their own parts, would
take upon them to define what revelation
does not ; and to coin terms not made uſe
of in Scripture, to expreſs their imperfect
conceptions. The words Trinity, and Per-
fon, or Hypoftafis, are terms not to be met
with in the facred book: and yet to thoſe
terms, and the application of them, the re-
volt againſt the doctrine is chiefly owing.
WHAT the Scripture acquaints us with,
is this, and no more; That what it charac-
teriſes the FATHER, the avenger of wrong,
and rewarder of right, is GOD; that what
it characteriſes the SoN, the WORD, the
Creator of the world, the Redeemer of man-
kind, fent for that purpoſe by the Father, is
GOD; that the HOLY SPIRIT, the cor-
reſpondent with, and Comforter of the ſpirits
of men, is GOD; and that nevertheleſs the
DEITY, the SELF-EXISTENT BEING,
is but ONE. That theſe matters are ſo, the
Scripture exprefsly declares; and the man-
ner
Reflexions on Incredulity.
155
ner in which it expreffes the laft propofition,
Deut. vi. 4. is worth attending to. Our
tranflators render it, Hear, O Ifrael, the
LORD our GOD is one LORD. The
original ſays EHOVAH our Gods is one
SELF-EXISTENT BEING; for fo
the word tranflated Lord fignifies. Now,
what is there in our knowledge, in our con-
ceptions, or in our reaſon, that can qualify
us to determine the modus of the exiſtence,
or of the action of the inviſible Deity? That
we have no fort of idea of the fubftance of
that foul which acts in us, or of the manner
of its exiſtence or actions, is an agreed point:
what impudence then muſt it be in us, to
pretend to determine, from our conceptions,
or rather inability to conceive, the condi-
tion, or manner of existence and acting of
the fupreme Being, the leaft of whofe works
are in very deed beyond our comprehen-
fion ?
THE antients, leſs refined than we, dif-
puted about the figure and form of the
Deity; and, knowing none more perfect
or noble, as they apprehended, than that
of man, beſtowed upon the Deity a human
ſhape and figure. The impropriety of this
grofs imagination we fee; as we perceive,
that
156
Reflexions on Incredulity.
that the ideas of extenfion, fhape, and figure,
are not applicable to fpirit, according to the
idea which we have of it. But, though we
have not eyes to diſcover the fubftance or
properties of fpirit, does it certainly follow,
that they have nothing in them analogous to
fhape or figure; no properties by which
they can be diſcerned, and diftinguſhed the
one from the other, by God, or even by
other ſpiritual beings, to whom he may
have given eyes and underſtanding fit to
perceive what we cannot ? And is it not, on
the other hand, clear, that there may be
fomewhat analogcus tò figure, fome parti-
cular modus of existence of the Deity, of
which our want of ideas will not permit us
to form any notion ?
HAD nature produced to our view fuch
living creatures as wild fiction can preſent
to our fancy, compofed of three or more
diftinct bodies, abfolutely ſeparated from
each other, without any bodily connexion,
but actuated by one and the fame principle,
moving by one will, acting with one con-
fent, each affected by the accidents that
touch either, the one wounded by the blow
that wounds the other, and all dying by the
killing of one; we ſhould have had no di-
ftinct
Reflexions on Incredulity.
157
ftinct conception of what the Scripture re-
preſents concerning the Deity. But then,
habituated to the fight of ſuch an extraor-
dinary creation as has been mentioned, the
Scripture - doctrine would ceaſe to be fo
fhocking as it is to our wife men and yet,
from their knowledge of the machinery of
nature, they will hardly take upon them to
fay, that the Deity could not have created
fuch an animal as has been feigned.
If this reflexion wants any further illu-
ftration, let the vifion of Ezekiel, chap. i.
and x. be confidered: Four living creatures,
which he knew to be the Cherubim, actuated
by one ſpirit, moving with one confent whi-
therfoever they would; attended by as many
wheels, moving fpontaneously in the fame
manner, becauſe the ſpirit of the living crea-
ture was in them. This plurality and unity,
expoſed in vifion to the Prophet's view, muft
have leffened his difficulty againſt admitting
the doctrine which fo much offends our Free-
thinkers, because nothing reſembling it has
ever offered itſelf to their imagination. It is
not neceffary at prefent to inquire, how far
the Cherubim was the emblem pitched upon
by the Deity to repreſent the divine nature
with man united to what the lion in that
hiero-
158
Reflexions on Incredulity.
hieroglyphical figure denoted. It is fufficient
to obferve, that, if fuch living creatures had
exiſted in nature, and had been ſeen and
known, as the Prophet faw living and acting
in vifion, the myſtery exploded by philofo-
phers would not have been quite fo incom-
patible with common notions as they pre-
tend. And therefore it is abfurd for wife
men, to declare against a matter of fact affert
ed by the higheſt authority, for no other
reafon, forfooth, but that their obfervation
or experience has prefented them with no-
thing that should furnish an adequate idea
of it.
UPON the fame fort of principles, our
modern reaſoners reject the doctrine of
Christ's fatisfaction. They cannot conceive
how the puniſhment of one who is innocent,
fhould atone for the guilt of another. This
to them appears to be contrary to the effen-
tial juftice of the Deity, which ought not to
take pleaſure in the fufferings of the inno-
cent; and productive of no good effect, fuit-
ed to the character which they entertain of
that exalted Being.
HERE again the temerity of thoſe pre-
fumptuous men is notorious. That juftice,
according to our notions, will not condemn
one
Reflexions on Incredulity.
159
one for the fault of another, is manifeft.
But, if the innocent fhould confent to fuffer
for the guilty, where is the violation of ju-
ſtice in permitting it? If the innocent again
has fome great and noble end in view by
fubmitting to that ſuffering, fit to recompenfe
a thouſand-fold the grief borne, where is the
injuſtice of permitting him to put himſelf in
the place of the guilty? If the innocent per
fon is all mercy, all bowels, all compaffion,
and can ſuſtain the puniſhment which the
broken-hearted repenting criminal cannot ;
what is fhocking in the belief, even accord-
ding to our common notions, that, to com-
ply with the benignity of his nature, he
might ſubmit to bear it? It is true we may
not ſee ſo clearly why the divine juftice
fhould be fatisfied for the offence of one by
the ſufferings of another; and that the light
of nature would not have led us to diſcover,
that we guilty offenders were to be deliver-
ed from puniſhment by the ſufferings of an-
other but is that a reaſon why we ſhould
not take God's word for it, if he has been
pleaſed to affure us that it is fo? Do we
know fo intimately the nature of his effential
juſtice, as to be certain that it will not per-
mit him to accept of a vicarious fatisfaction?
Amongſt
160
Reflexions on Incredulity.
Amongſt men, we know, that debt owing
by one may be diſcharged by payment made
by another; and are we certain, that, in the
court of heaven, one man's obligation to
juſtice may not be cancelled upon another's
voluntary fulfilling of it? He little thinks
on the unmeaſurable difference that is be-
tween the narrowneſs of the human under-
ſtanding, and the immenfity of the divine,
who dares reft on ſuch conclufions.
ANOTHER inftance of men's making
their own confined obſervations and concep-
tions the meaſure and touchſtone of truth, is,
the prevailing opinion that diſcards provi-
dence, denies a future ftate, and confequent-
ly renounces the Deity, at leaſt deprives the
firſt cauſe of all intelligence.
THIS notable opinion is grafted on ob-
ſervation, that the Deity does not interpofe
in any extraordinary manner in the tranfac-
tions of this lower world; that every thing
proceeds in it according to the concurrence
of natural cauſes; that the fame events befal
the wicked as the virtuous, with the advan-
tage most commonly on the fide of the viti-
ous; that the ftrongeft battalions, conducted
by the beſt officers, fucceed in battle; and
that vice and villany is triumphant, when
Y
con-
Reflexions on Incredulity.
161
conducted by fkill, without any appearance
on the part of God in providence to prevent
the effects of the wickednefs, or to correct
the authors of it: and from theſe obferva-
tions the collection is, that all actions are
indifferent, and that a future ftate is a bug-
bear.
Now, fuppofing theſe obfervations pre-
cifely true, and that there is not the leaſt
interpofition of the Deity in this world,
what is the neceffary confequence? Whe-
ther that all actions are indifferent, in flat
contradiction to the cleareft feeling and per-
ception of the foul; or that there muſt be
a future ſtate, in which the actors muſt ſe-
verally be diſtinguiſhed by rewards and pu-
niſhments? If there are fuch things as right
and wrong, if the Deity is intelligent, and
if juſtice is an attribute of that Being, the
laſt muſt neceſſarily be the true conclufion.
But, as the admitting it might be attended
with ſome uneafy apprehenfions, and might
require a change of heart and conduct, the
moral ſenſe, the most intimate conviction,
muſt be fmothered, and intelligence and
juſtice denied to the infinitely perfect Being.
BUT, after all, on what is this important
propofition, That the Almighty has abfo-
VOL. II.
•
M
lutely
162
Reflexions on Incredulity.
lutely abandoned all fublunary things to the
direction of chance, founded? Why juſt on
this, That none of our wife men have ſeen
any miracles wrought of late times; and they
are not diſpoſed to think it poffible, that any
could have been wrought in the more early;
and it is a truth not to be conteſted, that the
unjuſt ſucceed in this world, fully as well as
the juft.
BUT, if they were to be afked, Whether
they are certain, that no caufe has inter-
poſed in the producing any event but what
they have obferved? and whether they are
ſure that there are no fecret ſprings in pro-
vidence, unſeen and unthought of by them,
to which important events are owing? if
they would not be laughed at, they muft
muſt anſwer in the negative; which is
enough to deſtroy the certainty of their po-
fition.
BUT to examine the thing more careful-
ly, they muſt diſtinguiſh between indivi-
duals of the human fpecies, and ftates and
kingdoms; which by us are confidered in
fome fort as individuals, and may be fo by
the Ruler of the univerfe. Though men
be not puniſhed or rewarded here, they may
meet with what they deſerve hereafter. But, if
ſtates
1
Reflexions on Incredulity.
163
ftates and kingdoms are not to meet with any
correction in this world, they cannot be con-
fidered as proper objects of it in another.
Now, it is a certain truth, that all ſtates
and kingdoms, in proportion as they grow
great, wealthy, and powerful, grow wan-
ton, wicked, and oppreffive. And the hi-
ſtory of all ages gives evidence of the fatal
cataſtrophe of all ſuch ſtates and kingdoms,
when the cup of their iniquity was full:
nor is it poffible to fhew, that any one ſtate
or kingdom has been overturned that did
not deferve it at the hand of Providence;
however little they may have deferved it
at the hand of the tyrant or oppreffor who
brought their calamity upon them. In
this argument it is not neceffary to ſay, that .
no unjuſt war ever profpered. Providence
may make uſe of the vitious and wicked dif-
pofition of any prince, or of the ruler of any
ſtate, to execute juftice upon a power fated to
puniſhment. And the only queſtion which
the adverſaries to Providence have to anſwer,
is, How they can be fure, that thoſe deſerved
judgments were the effect of mere fortuity,
without the leaſt intervention on the part of
the Lord of the univerſe?
M 2
THE
164
Reflexions on Incredulity.
THE Courſe of providence with refpect
to individuals of the human fpecies under-
goes a very different confideration, and
ought to be viewed in a light which no Free-
thinker ever thought of. If by happineſs
and profperity in this world is meant, wealth,
and power, and enjoyment of all pleaſures,
and ſucceſs in all purſuits; it may be ſafely
allowed, that the beſt man is not the happieſt
or moft profperous: but, if by happineſs and
profperity is meant, the full and quiet en-
joyment of all the pleaſures that man, con-
fidered as a rational being, is capable of;
and ſucceſs in all the purſuits in which,
as a reaſonable creature, he ought to engage;
there is no doubt, that the good man will
be found to be the most completely happy;
and with that good man as little doubt, that
the Maker and Sovereign Lord of man has
not abandoned the care of him to blind
chance.
THE man who, forgetting all regards for
the Author of his being and happineſs,
centers all his views upon himſelf; who,
born with a vigorous body and keen appe-
tites, fucceeds to, or acquires means to gra-
tify all his brutal defires, and plunges into
the enjoyment of whatever his luft directs
him to, is not, in the eyes even of the moſt
free-
Reflexions on Incredulity.
165
freethinking philofopher, happy. His pur-
fuits, as well as his enjoyments, are mean
and beaftly; furfeits and accidental dif
eaſes interrupt the courfe of his felicity;
age, with its attendant infirmities, diffolve
the charm that bound him; pleaſures of
all forts loſe their relish; and the terrors,
which death unavoidably muſt bring, are
no way to be evited, but by baniſhing all
thoughts of death from the mind. Such a
man's poffeffions and enjoyments cannot de-
note him happy; nor would a wiſe man pray
for theſe bleffings as the portion with which
he was to be contented, unleſs he might ob-
tain this other boon, that he ſhould never
decay nor die.
No philofopher that breathes the air, is
fo filly as to maintain, that the objects of
the purſuits of the avaritious, or of the
ambitious, whether in the political or mar-
tial way, are objects fit for the purſuit of
a rational creature ; or that ſucceſs in
thoſe purſuits is fit to denote fuch a crea-
ture happy. And, if they will take an im-
partial view of their own boafted felicity;
if they will draw up a fair account of the
fum of their learning and knowledge,
and of the happineſs they have taſted in
M. 3
the
166 Reflexions on Incredulity.
the acquifition and enjoyment of thoſe
bleffings; and if they will candidly fet
against it the diſcoveries they muſt have
made of the ſcantinefs of their knowledge,
the weakneſs of their underſtanding, and
their neceffary dependence on ſomewhat
not within themſelves for their exiſtence,
which they never have thought fit to ac-
knowledge; or, however, adding to thoſe
reflexions the certainty of death, and the
uncertainty of what may come after: the
balance of the account will doubtleſs ſtand
on the wrong fide; and will fhew, that
though they have been more happy, or
rather lefs miferable than the profligate of
the higher or lower claſs of mankind, yet
neither their purſuits nor acquifitions can
give them any title to. confider themſelves,
or to be confidered by others, as really
happy.
Now, on the other hand, let the cafe of
that man be confidered, who, delivered from
the flavery of thoſe vices and follies, and
acquainted with the end for which he was
created, endeavours with all his powers to
anfwer the defign, Such a one taſtes the
fame pleaſure in all fenfual enjoyments as the
greatest epicure; and has as quick a reliſh of
all
Reflexions on Incredulity.
167
all mental joys that proceed from the purſuit,
or from the diſcovery of truth, as the great-
eſt philofopher.
BUT then he fees, with the philoſopher,
that thoſe ſenſual enjoyments are mean and
beaftly, unworthy of the purſuit of rational
creatures; that they are annexed to the
performance of the animal functions, to
induce men to do acts neceffary for their
own preſervation, and the propagation of
the ſpecies; but which they never would
think of, but for the appetites implanted
in them, and the pleaſure which attends the
gratification of the appetites; and that
ſatiety and uneaſineſs accompanies the pur-
fuit of thoſe pleaſures any farther than na-
ture requires.
AND he fees, by the exerciſe of his ra-
tional powers, what few philofophers at-
tend to, that the eyes of his mind were
given him to diſcover the immenſity, the
power, the wiſdom, and the goodneſs of
the Creator in his works; to diſcover the
overflowing bounty of that perfect Being
to him, and his conftant dependence on
the Author and Source of his happineſs;
to diſcover the numberless obligations he
lies under, with reverence and gratitude,
M 4
to
168
Reflexions on Incredulity.
វ
to obey and to adore the Sovereign of the
univerfe; to diſcover his duty towards his
fellow-creatures, as well as towards his
Creator; to diſcover, that the favour of
the Almighty muſt attend performance of
duty, as his diſpleaſure must follow the
ungrateful breach of it: to diſcover, that
the favour of God is the only object wor-
thy of the purfuit of the heart of man;
and to diſcover, that the beſtowing that
heart, and all the defires of it, on ſenſual
brutish pleaſures, or any other vanity, to
the exclufion of the Eternal, is the moſt
horrid, as well as the moft foolish crime
that can be imagined.
THE pleaſures of life are enjoyed by
this man with as much, perhaps with more
reliſh, than by the libertine. But then
they do not pervert the heart. The only
motion they are capable of exciting there,
is, gratitude and thankfulneſs to the bene-
ficent Donor. The acquifition of know-
ledge is tafted by him with as much de-
light as it is by the philofopher; though
it produces in them very different effects.
The one it puffs up with pride and prefump-
tion; the other it fills with humility, and re-
verence for the Moft High.
THE
Reflexions on Incredulity.
169
THE man who has fixed his heart upon
the proper object, does not ceaſe to taſte
with pleaſure the common bleffings of this
life; neither does he fail to beſtow the pro-
per induſtry to acquire, and to preferve
them. But then he confiders them only as
fo many fugar-plums given by the Creator
to make his confinement to his priſon of
clay more palatable; which must have an
end, when his enlargement begins. He la-
ments the unhappy condition of thoſe who
ſeek after them as their chief good. He would
neither acquire nor preferve them at the
expence of doing one fingle act that might
forfeit the favour of his Maker and Bene-
factor: neither does he repine at the pri-
vation of them; knowing, that it could not
happen without the will and pleaſure of
his Lord and Mafter, the Sovereign of the
univerſe, to which his heart and will chear-
fully ſubmit.
COMPARE the happineſs of this man
with that of the greateſt favourite of for-
tune, who has fet his heart on other ob-
jects, and who has had the full gratifica-
tion of all his appetites, fo far as the
courſe of humanity will permit; but who
muſt die, and leave thoſe enjoyments, un-
certain
170
Reflexions on Incredulity.
certain what is to happen hereafter. This
man enjoys, in common with the wife and
the voluptuous of his rank in the world,
all the fenfual and mental pleaſures in
which they delight, without the alloy
that muſt torture their minds, when they
think of parting with them. But then
he has in himſelf a conſtant ſource of un-
alloyed joy, to which they are utter ftran-
gers. The abundant goodneſs of the gi-
ver of all thoſe bleffings fills his foul with
gratitude and thankfulness, and difpofes
him with joy to do what appears to him
to be his duty; and confciouſneſs of that
happy difpofition produces the most firm
confidence and reliance on the favour and
good will of his omnipotent Benefactor;
from which he is to look hereafter for joys
of a different nature from thoſe which in
this life he flights, when they ſtand in the
way of his duty. Every act of duty per-
formed fills his foul with a placid, ftill fa-
tisfaction, that is fenfibly felt, though not
eafily expreffed. A mouthful of meat, be-
ſtowed on a hungry beggar, gives the heart
of the donor more real fatisfaction, than
the reliſh of the food gives pleaſure to the
craving ſtomach, or the moft delicious dainty
gives
Reflexions on Incredulity.
171
*
gives to the vitiated palates of the voluptuous.
And the particular excellency of theſe enjoy-
ments is, that no exceſs can furfeit or pall
the appetite, no accident can deprive him of
them.
To a man poffeffed of fuch an incor-
ruptible ſtock of happineſs, the pleaſures
of this life appear but mere baubles; and
the privation of them a trifling lofs. Life
itſelf he is difpofed to refign with willingneſs,
becauſe to him death has no fting.
IF then felicity, even in this life, does
not depend upon what are called the gifts
of fortune, but on the difpofition of foul
that has been deſcribed, with what coun-
tenance can any Freethinker maintain,
that in this world there is no interpofition
of the act of the Deity, no fpecial provi-
dence? It may indeed be true, that wealth,
and honours, and power do not attend the
moſt deſerving; and that halters, and
infamy, and want do not lay hold on the
vitious but will it follow, from our not
being able to ſee the hand of Providence
in the diftribution of thoſe periſhing fa-
vours on which the real happineſs of man
does not depend, that the Framer of the
hearts of men has no communication with
them,
:
I
172
Reflexions on Incredulity.
them, and never interpofes to determine
them to that wherein their chief felicity
confifts?
THE proofs of the goodneſs and juſtice
of God, of the duty and dependence of
man, of the certainty of rewards and pu-
niſhments, of the deſperate condition of
thofe, who, neglecting God and their duty,
purfue fading pleaſures and vanity with
their whole fpirit; and of the real and
permanent happineſs of ſuch as enjoy all
the gifts of God with thankfulneſs, and
gratefully make it the buſineſs of their
lives to obey his will and to obtain his
favour, are fo confpicuous, that nothing
feems to be wanted towards the produ-
cing conviction, but fomewhat that ſhall
turn their eye, and fix the attention upon
them; becauſe, if they are duly confider-
ed and attended to, the evidence is irre-
fiftible. Now, as that attention may be
raiſed by various incidents, fometimes by
fickneſs and diftreffes of different kinds,
ſometimes by a happy education, fome-
times by the converfation of pious per-
fons, and fometimes by reading and me-
ditation, which a thouſand circumftances
feemingly accidental concur to improve;
why
Reflexions on Incredulity.
173
why ſhould we conclude, that all theſe inci-
dents are purely accidental; and that the
perſon transformed, by them, from a mife-
rable brute to a happy man, owes the change
to blind chance? Whatever vain reaſoners
may imagine or babble, the perſon whofe
eyes are opened by thoſe incidents, acknow-
ledges with gratitude the hand of God in
them.
BUT, though Freethinkers might be ex-
cuſed for concluding, however rafhly, that
Providence does not interpofe in the govern-
ment of the external tranſactions of this
world, becauſe, after all the obſervations
they can make, they have not complete evi-
dence to the contrary; yet what excuſe can
they have for pretending to judge, that the
merciful and beneficent Spirit of God does
not work upon the ſpirits of men? From
their proper experience they can draw no
obſervation, as they have locked out all re-
gards for the Deity from their heart; and
what paffes in the fpirits of other men they
can have no knowledge of, nor indeed any
idea, as they have fuffered no ſuch tranfac-
tions to take place in their own.
PHILOSOPHERS have talked much of
action and reaction in matter, and imagine
they
174
Reflexions on Incredulity.
they underſtand what they fay; what ſhould
hinder them to believe, that there may be
fuch a thing as action and reaction between
fpirits, even between the infinitely perfect
Spirit and the ſpirits of finite men? If gra-
titude obſerved in a dog produces fome re-
gard and kindneſs in the mind of his maſter,
why may not the gratitude, the warmth of
the heart of man, work fome fimilar effect
in the all-feeing Mind? and who dare pre-
fume to ſay, that it may not act on, and
comfort the ſpirit of man in return? If that
beneficent and all-powerful Spirit does not
fhew his kindneſs in beftowing wealth, and
power, and fading pleaſures, it is becauſe
they are not real goods; becauſe they are not
the object of the heart and wishes of the
party favoured; and becauſe, in place of do-
ing them real good, they might call off the
affections from that exercife wherein his true
felicity confifts. And this is ſo true, that
croffes, difappointments, and diftreffes, may
juſtly be confidered as acts of the greateſt
kindneſs, when they tend to recal the ſtray-
ing mind from vanity, and to fix it on its
proper object.
How then dares prefumptuous fhort-
fighted man deny the interpofition of Provi-
dence,
Reflexions on Incredulity.
175
dence, becauſe he does not fee the fecret
fpring by which it acts, or know the inten-
tions of the Infcrutable? Or how can he,
becauſe a fatisfactory reafon does not appear
to him for the long-fuffering patience and
forbearance of the Moft Merciful, doubt of
the exiſtence or juftice of that Being; deny
a future ftate; or maintain the indifference
of all actions, as to right and wrong? But
fuch is the fatal effect of the corruption of
man's heart, and of the deflection of it from
the true object to vice and vanity.
THE extreme folly of modern Free-
thinkers is much lefs accountable, or excu-
fable than that of the antients. The antients
had no certain lights but thoſe of nature.
Thofe naturally led them to fee the vanity
of the purſuits wherein they were engaged,
the depravity of the human nature, and the
confequences which might attend their cour-
fes hereafter. Thoſe were but melancholy
reflexions, leading to deſpair, and tending to
four every enjoyment; as they had no cer-
tain intimation, that any method was chalked
out by the Deity for the expiation of fin,
and for reftoring offending man to his favour
and protection. And therefore it is not to
be wondered at, that they banished from
their
176 Reflexions on Incredulity.
their thoughts ſuch gloomy uncomfortable
fpeculations. But our modern madmen hear
every day of mercy and pardon offered by
by the offended Deity to offending finners,
if they will receive it thankfully. They are
told, that this is the declared will of God,
and that there is complete evidence of its
being fuch; and they fee, that this is the
belief of numbers of the moft fagacious and
inquifitive of their fellow-creatures. But all
this will not do. Their heart is given to
other objects; and they hear, that theſe
muſt be diſmiſſed before they can ſhare of
the pardon proffered.
To keep however their countenance, and
the character of Freethinkers, they muſt
afſign ſome reaſon for their revolting againſt
revelation. And this they readily do. They
fay, falfely, that they have carefully exa-
mined all the evidence for revelation; and
they ſay, honeftly and truly, that all the
evidence which they have confidered, has
not been ſufficient to fatisfy their objections,
and to convince them, that what is called
revelation is really fuch.
THAT they have carefully examined all
the evidence, is abſolutely falſe. No man
ever did, or can do fo, without receiving
2
perfect
Reflexions on Incredulity.
177
perfect conviction. It is a queſtion, whe-
ther any profeffed Freethinker, who has hi-
therto appeared, had learning or talents fuf-
ficient to examine the evidence. It is cer-
tain, that none who have wrote, have diſco-
vered that they had either.
MEN may ſearch for arguments à priori
for the proof of any propofition that may re-
ſult from the nature of things known to
them. That treachery to our neighbour,
and ingratitude to the God that made us,
are highly offenfive, and ought to be puniſh-
ed by perfect juftice, may be demonftrated
à priori. But, if fovereign goodneſs and mer-
cy, to deliver repenting men from deſerved
puniſhment, has contrived a method of fal-
vation by fending his fon into the world to
ſuffer for them; and if, to prevent their de-
fpair, and to encourage their repentance and
amendment, that beneficent Being has been
pleaſed to publifh his pardon, with the con-
ditions of it, to mankind; this must be ad-
mitted to be a matter of fact not diſcover-
able by any inductions à priori; becauſe it is
in fome fort adverfary to our general no-
tions of right and wrong; and therefore, to
have any effect on the minds of men, muft
VOL. II.
N
have
178
Reflexions on Incredulity.
have been publiſhed with fuch a degrée of
evidence, as muſt neceffarily gain full belief;
and if it was the intention of the Author of
this publication, that it fhould gain belief
in future ages, the evidence muſt be of that
nature that is fit to carry conviction to all
for whom the publication was intended.
ACCORDINGLY this revelation, which
was made foon after the first tranfgreffion,
was renewed from time to time, under cir-
cumftances fo diftinguiſhed, as could not
poffibly leave any doubt, that it was the
declaration of the Deity. And, by wiſdom
and power more than human, fuch a fort
of evidence has been contrived and pre-
ferved for the authority of that revelation,
as far exceeds, in point of certainty, the
proof of any other event that ever hap-
pened. That fuch cities as Babylon and
Carthage exifted; that Cafar won the battle
of Pharfalia, and was murdered in the Ro-
man fenate, no one doubts. But, if all the
documents for the authority of revelation
were brought together, the proof in this laft
cafe is by ſo much ſtronger than that in the
others, as the belief of it is more intereſting
to mankind.
BUT
Reflexions on Incredulity.
179
men.
BUT the different degrees of credit gi-
ven to the one and to the other, arife from
the different difpofitions of the hearts of
There is no prejudice in the mind of
man againſt admitting the firft; againſt the
laft there is this violent bias, that, if it is
admitted, men muſt become in their own
eyes miferable wretches, and muft difmifs
thoſe lufts and vanities on which they doat-
ed. To prevent this difgrace and irre-
parable damage, arms must be taken up
againſt the evidence that infults their quiet;
any objection, (of which there are, and muſt ·
be multitudes), if it cannot eaſily be anſwer-
ed, is a demonftration fuperior to all the
evidence for revelation; and they look into
revelation, and to the evidence for it, only
to arm themſelves with fuch objections.
It is indeed no wonder, that men
whoſe prejudices ftand fo much in the
way of believing, do not give themſelves.
the trouble to ſearch after, and to collect
all the proofs for revelation. It is a labo-
rious work. All the remains of antient
hiſtory, and the compofures of the learn-
ed of thoſe times, muſt be examined; all
the rites, opinions, and practices of nati-
ons, ſo far as they can be diſcovered, muft
N 2
be
180
Reflexions on Incredulity.
be confidered; all the monuments of anti-
quity, now extant, muſt be ſurveyed ; a rea-
fonable knowledge of the languages in which
revelation is recorded, muſt be attained;
and the conſequences that have attended
that revelation fince the advent of Chrift,
muſt be adverted to, before one can ſay
that he is poffeffed of all the evidence, and
before he can form a judgment of many of
the objections which Freethinkers move.
But, that none of them who have wrote
have given themſelves this trouble, is plain
from their writings; which contain little.
more than ſmatterings of learning, to which
the Jews have helped them, and which they
feem, without due examination, to have ta-
ken on truſt.
THOUGH it has pleaſed the merciful wif
dom of God, to fcatter proofs of his re-
velation over all the antient nations, and
to preſerve documents of them down to
our days, for the conviction of obftinate
infidels, and for the confirmation of the
faith of the inquifitive who believe; yet,
happily for the bulk of mankind, who have
neither time nor talents for fuch inqui-
ries, revelation is fo calculated, as to re-
quire nothing of man that his confcious
foul does not fee to be his duty; and to
promife
Reflexions on Incredulity.
181
promiſe him nothing that does not appear
to his most inward fenfe to be the neceſſa-
ry confequence of doing it. By it he is
acquainted with his forlorn condition; which
he needs do no more to diſcover to be
truth, than to turn his eyes inward upon
himſelf. And a remedy is pointed out ade-
quate to the diſeaſe; which tends to magnify
the mercy, the wiſdom, and the goodneſs of
the Creator and to tie the creature to
him, by ftill ftronger bonds of duty and
gratitude.
;
In this ſyſtem there is. fuch harmony be-
tween duty and intereft, and therefore
fuch a propenfity in every fober-thinking
perfon to wiſh it to be true, that, from the
declared opinions of others, better quali-
fied to judge of the evidence, and to de-
termine, it gains belief; and that very
belief, influencing the practice, brings
real tranquillity and happineſs in this life,
ſpringing from confidence of the favour of
the Almighty; a fure earneſt of future feli-
city. But by the debauched and the giddy,
who have delivered themſelves over foul and
body to their lufts, and to their vanity, this
aptitude, this harmony is not discovered.
Their fears make them wifh it may not be
N 3
true
182
Reflexions on Incredulity.
true. Objections are rife in every corner;
and, if any inquiry is made into the proofs,
it is with an intent to object, and to find
them infufficient.
AND one of the main objections is, That
there is place for any objection againſt the
certainty of revelation. Why, fay thoſe
reafoners, if it had been the intention of
the Almighty, that what is called the re-
velation of his will fhould have been be-
lieved by all mankind to be fuch, he
would have accompanied it with fuch evi-
dence as ſhould have been at firft fight
ſuperior to all objections, and muſt have
convinced and converted all infidels: but
fince he has not done fo, but, on the
contrary, room is left for many objecti-
ons, the conclufion is juft, that this pre-
tended revelation is none of his.
muſt be admitted, the inference
be pretty juſt, on ſuppoſal of the propo-
fition, That it was the intention of the
Deity to convince and convert all infidels,
however wicked and reprobate. For it is
not to be controverted, that it was in the
power of the Almighty to have accompa-
nied revelation with conftant ftanding mi-
racles, even as it was in his power to have
And it
would
created
-
Reflexions on Incredulity.
183
created man with a ſmaller ſhare of free-will,
and, by perpetual interpofition of his grace,
to have prevented his actual defection from
his duty. But upon what principle is it
fuppofed, that God intended, or ought to
have intended, to extend his grace alike to
all; to the obftinate and flagitious, as well
as to the fober and the humble finner?
The difcretion of men makes a wide diffe-
rence between thofe characters; and how can
we be fure, that the judgment of God does
not ſo alfo ?
THE mercy of God has provided an a-
tonement fufficient to expiate the fins of all
mankind, who will take hold of it. The
wiſdom of God has contrived evidence fuf-
ficient to convince all mankind, that ſuch
atonement is provided, if they will give
themſelves the trouble to examine it. But
then it is fo contrived, as to reach with con-
viction thoſe only who are diſpoſed to take
hold of it; that is, the meek and the hum-
ble, who are confcious of their diſtreſs by
nature, and defirous to be delivered from it.
And them it reaches, becauſe they think it
worth their while to inquire after, and to
examine it; whilft it does not convince,
nor indeed can it poffibly, the proud and the
ftub-
N 4
184
Reflexions on Incredulity.
ftubborn, who flight the atonement provided
ſo much, and are fo thoroughly averſe to
comply with the condition upon which it
is to be obtained, that, without troubling their
heads with the evidence, they infolently re-
ject the mercy of the Moft High. Who then
can find fault with the divine goodneſs on
this article? The meek furely will not; and
the proud, who have themſelves only to
blame, ought not.
So the fum of the wife objection is this,
That the good and juſt God did not intend,
that falvation ſhould reach thoſe deſperately
wicked finners who refufed to accept of it.
But this objection weighs with thoſe who
have never turned their thoughts upon the
heinouſneſs of their own guilt; and have
formed to themſelves notions of the benig-
nity of the Deity, from the falſe notions of
generofity which they have encouraged in
themſelves, laying entirely afide his juſtice
and his purity.
FROM the fame fource fprings another
objection, of equal validity as to revelation,
founded on the doctrine of the perpetuity
of puniſhment, Here again the incompre-
henfible, the infinitely perfect Being, is
meaſured by the fpan of the low, blind,
groveling
Reflexions on Incredulity.
185
groveling creature that makes the objection;
who, becauſe he cannot comprehend why
this juſtice is ſuited to the divine nature, con-
cludes at once, that the doctrine is impoffi-
ble, and therefore falſe; and, in confequence,
rejects the revelation which is faid to affert
it, without giving himſelf the trouble to
examine the evidence that fupports that re-
velation, or to inquire whether the matter
that thus fhocks him, is really revealed. A
careful inquiry might poffibly fatisfy him,
that the perpetuity of puniſhments is not ab-
folutely affirmed; and that no more is
neceffarily to be inferred from revelation,
than that the mifery of the damned is to
endure for ages. But fuch an inquiry would
give him competent fatisfaction, that the
revelation he wantonly rejects, is in very
deed the word of God; and would diſpoſe
him to believe whatever it clearly declares
concerning the Deity and his ways, without
confidering how far that might or might not
tally with his conceits.
AND herein lies the monftrous, the fur-
prifing folly of the vain philofopher. E-
very new obſervation, every difcovery,
which his fagacity has been accidentally
Jed to make in nature, and which blows.
up
186
Reflexions on Incredulity.
up his pride, becomes to him a freſh proof of
his own weakneſs and fhort-fightedneſs, and
of the immenſity of the Deity, of the per-
fection of his wifdom, and of the infcruta-
bility of his ways to man in his prefent con-
dition and yet, from his narrow notions,
he will pretend to decide what God
ought, or ought not, what he can, or can-
not do.
IN the pittance of the material world
which falls within his ken, the obfervati-
ons of the infinite wiſdom, contrivance,
and power of the Creator, daily grow up-
on him; new and unaccountable proper-
ties in matter, acting by unerring rules, and
tending to the perfection of the whole,
hourly pour in upon him; the magnet,
the microſcope, the teleſcope, the priſm,
the air-pump, the crucible, electricity, &c.
furniſh him with complete evidence, that he
knows nothing of the real nature of matter,
which he fees, taftes, and feels, whereof he
is in part compoſed, and in which he is at
preſent immerſed; and give him undoubted
reaſons to conclude, that there may be, or
rather that there are numberleſs other proper-
ties in matter, and rules of acting which it
fteadily
Reflexions on Incredulity.
187
fteadily purſues, of which he at prefent has
no knowledge, and poffibly, fo long as he is
confinded to clay, never can.
By what means then is he to judge of the
fpiritual world, of which he neither has, nor
can have any adequate idea? A ſpirit acting
in himſelf he feels, and is confcious of its
actings; but what it is compofed of, or how
it acts, is all hidden from him. That there
may be as many different claffes of Spirits,
as there are tribes of animals or plants, he
dare not deny; though he can have no con-
ception of the manner of their difference,
or of the uſes for which they may be in
the creation. That the Creator is fpiri-
tual, he collects with certainty from the
aftoniſhing wiſdom and artifice of fo much.
of the univerfe as is difclofed to him;
that he is good and bountiful in a fove-
reign degree, his works declare; and that
he is poffeffed of all poffible perfections,
his ſelf-exiſtence demonftrates. But
whence comes man to take upon him to
determine, what perfection in any of his
attributes is; that the juſtice of God muſt
go thus far, and no farther; that his mercy
requires he ſhould, or ſhould not do this
or
188
Reflexions on Incredulity.
or that; or that his goodneſs ought, or ought
not to operate on fuch an occafion? This,
fure, is the moſt aſtoniſhing prefumption!
Suppofing him to have an adequate idea of
juſtice, mercy, and goodneſs, as thoſe muſt
be by the Deity exerciſed in fupreme har-
mony, as well as perfection; how dare he
prefume to define, how far the exercife of
either of them may go? Common ſenſe, and
that modefty which ought to attend confci-
ouſneſs of our dimnefs of fight, would di-
rect us, when any thing in the ways or will
of God appears that we cannot account for,
to receive and acquiefce in it with humble
fubmiffion, and to believe that it is right and
just.
WHERE FOR E, when we ſee the whole
brute creation, animate as well as inani-
mate, purſuing conftantly, and without
erring, the intention of God in their for-
mation; and when we obferve, in that
part of the rational creation which is
known to us, the higheſt diſorder and
confufion, rebellion againſt God, injuſtice
towards men, fraud and falfhood triumph-
ant, virtue and fincerity deſpiſed and op-
preffed, and guilt contracted that muſt
neceffarily
Reflexions on Incredulity.
189
neceffarily terminate in puniſhment, all the
confequence of the freedom of will in man;
let us not conclude, as madmen are apt to
do, that all actions are indifferent to the Deity,
or that no puniſhment is to attend guilt, up-
on a ſuppoſal, that it would have been un-
becoming the benignity of God, who muft
have foreſeen the confequence of free-will
in man, to have brought into the world fo
many millions of rational creatures, who, he
foreſaw, muſt become the objects of wrath
and puniſhment.
NOTHING is more certain, than that
free-will has been the cauſe of tranfgreffion
in man; and that the Deity muſt have fore-
known the effects it was to produce. But
are we fure, that, in the fcale of effential
juſtice, it was not right and juft, to have
created man in a ſtate of happinefs, with a
fitneſs and capacity to preſerve that ſtate, and
to acquire one higher, and with a power to
chufe between good and evil; with a fanc-
tion, that, if he preferred evil to good, he
muft bear the difinal confequences of that
perverfe choice? Do we perfectly know the
nature of the fovereignty and right which the
Creator has to diſpoſe of the creatures which
he has made? Or are we acquainted with all
::
2
the
190
Reflexions on Incredulity.
the motives that induced the Moft High to
create man fo qualified? Is it certain, that no
good effect, worthy the divine goodneſs,
to other parts of the unbounded creation,
could have flowed from the fate of man?
Or is it clear, that we are intitled to judge
of the fitneſs or unfitnefs of any part of
God's ways or works, without confidering
the relation it has to, and the effect it has
on the whole? Until theſe queſtions meet
with fatisfactory anſwers, nothing can be
more filly than to conclude as Freethink-
ers do.
A fober man, on the contrary, who ſees
and laments the diſorders of mankind, will
not give up the moral fenfe of his foul as to
the merit or demerit of human actions;
nor will he give up the juftice or goodneſs
of God, becauſe he cannot preciſely affign
the motive that induced the Deity to endue
man with that proportion of free-will with
which he is poffeffed. Full conviction of
the infinite difproportion that is between his
limited underſtanding, and that of the ſelf-
exiſtent Being, leads him to conclude with
certainty, that his not being able to compre-
hend any thing, is not evidence that the
Moſt High cannot. He may entertain him-
felf
Reflexions on Incredulity.
191
felf profitably, at leaſt pleaſantly, in medita-
ting on fuch fubjects: but, though his in-
vention ſhould fail of folving the difficulty,
he will not on that account deny principles,
nor impeach the juftice or goodneſs of his
Maker.
THAT the end of God in creating man,
endued with free-will, and with that pro-
portion of reaſon, and of appetites, where-
with he was poffeffed, was not to diſcover
to himſelf what ufe man was to make of thoſe
talents, muſt be evident to all who admit
the omniſcience and preſcience of the Deity.
But it is not ſo evident, that one of the mo-
tives of the Creator for framing man fo qua-
lified, may not have been, to render his
his juſtice and his mercy confpicuous to
mankind; and to fhew thofe attributes, as
well as the effects of free-will left to chuſe
between the dictates of reaſon and the bent
of appetites, to other claffes of rational be-
ings, to us at prefent unknown.
ང
HAD all the rational creation unerringly
purſued the dictates of reafon, that is, had
they unerringly done their duty, there would
have been no occafion for difplaying the
juſtice or the mercy of God. His immen-
fity, his eternity, his aftoniſhing power,
good-
192
Reflexions on Incredulity.
goodneſs, and wifdom, were legible in his
works; and it ſeems unreaſonable to doubt,
that one of the ends of the creation was, to
exhibit to rational creatures complete evi-
dence of thofe glorious attributes and qua-
lities. But, unleſs ſome rational creature had
offended, there could have been no example
of juſtice, nor any object for mercy.
BEFORE any trefpafs committed, every
rational being that ſuppoſed revolting againſt
fovereign goodneſs poffible, muft have con-
cluded, that the guilty deſerved to be, and
would be purſued by the vengeance of the
Omnipotent. But in what manner juſtice
required that this vengeance fhould be ex-
erted, it could have no comprehenfion of;
far lefs could it have any conception, that
effential juſtice, ungratefully affronted, ſhould
fuffer thoughts of mercy to interpofe in
behalf of the infolent offender, and ſhould
deviſe a method, confiftent with juſtice, to
deliver the criminal from puniſhment, and
reſtore him to his priſtine favour.
BUT the abufe of free-will has given oc-
cafion to the manifeftation of thofe divine
qualities, which otherwife might have re-
mained unknown to men and angels, in a
light ſo diſtinguiſhed, as muſt needs produce
admi-
Reflexions on Incredulity. 193
admiration, with praife and adoration, and
give a more noble and intereſting idea of the
perfection of the Deity.
WE know but too well, that man has
fallen; and the Scripture acquaints us with
the revolt of fome of the angels. Their
crime, we are told, met with inftant con-
demnation and puniſhment, but man's with
a very different ufage. The convicted and
afhamed offender had hopes of mercy im-
mediately given him. Infinite wiſdom found
means to fatisfy effential justice, and to
make way for the diſplay of mercy, that
glorious and adorable attribute of the Moft
High.
THE cauſe of this diverfity we can but
guefs at. The weakneſs of man, and the
temptations he was liable to, we know ;
but the condition and temptation of the
tranfgreffing angels we are not acquainted
with. If we may however conjecture, their
knowledge, capacity, and power was far
beyond that of man; and confequently their
defection lefs excufable: and accordingly we
find their condemnation was by fo much
the more prompt and ſevere. Whereas,
with reſpect to man, the execution of the
VOL. II.
O
fen
194
Reflexions on Incredulity.
?
fentence againſt him was fufpended; mercy
was offered; a method of reconciliation with
the Deity was ſet on foot; repeated inti-
mations were made by the clement Deity
of this purpoſe of grace; repeated and ré-
newed inſtitutions were backed by divine au-
thority, to recal men to their duty; the
ſovereign and effentially juft Lord of the
univerfe was pleaſed to proclaim himſelf
merciful and gracious, long-fuffering and
patient; and, through a long fucceffion of
ages, that declaration has by experience
been found to be ftrictly true. His long-
fuffering, accompanied with continual invi-
tations to accept of pardon, endures to this.
moment, to the inexpreffible joy of thoſe
that love and fear him; though it muft at
leaft turn to the utter confuſion of thoſe
who heedlessly or wilfully reject the proffer-
ed grace.
IN the treatment of the fallen angels,
for whom we know no fhadow of excufe,
nothing but ftrict juftice appears. In the
treatment of man, the feverity of the ju-
ftice of the Eternal is made confpicuous,
chiefly by the atonement which his mercy
has provided to expiate the guilt, and a-
void
Reflexions on Incredulity.
195
void the puniſhment of unhappy creatures."
But that boundleſs pity and compaffion,
that effential mercy, and that unwearied
patience, which has been, and ſtill is exer-
cifed towards ungrateful man, could never
have appeared to men and angels, if the abufe
of free-will had not given occafion for the
diſplay of it.
IT is idle to inquire, becauſe it ſeems
impoffible to diſcover, what gave occafion
to the revolt of the fallen angels. But
it is probable, their fudden and fevere
puniſhment has prevented trefpaffes of the
like nature. That exertion of the juftice
and power of the Eternal muft have made
a deep impreffion upon all ſpirits of the
angelick order. And, if the rectitude of
the remaining choir is owing to the puniſh-
ment of the rebellious crew, who will
preſume to find fault with God, for gi
ving angels fuch a portion of free-will as
to leave them fallible, or for reforting to
rigid juftice for the punishment of their
offence?
HAD man, upon his firft offence, been
treated as he deſerved; had threatened
death immediately followed his crime,
there
Q 2
196
Reflexions on Incredulity.
there would have been an end of the fpe-
cies but there would have been no in-
ftance of the mercy, the tender-hearted-
nefs, the long-fuffering of the Sovereign
Being; none to fing his praiſes, or to
bless him, on account of that divine at-
tribute. As his perfect wisdom and exu-
berant grace has contrived it, millions of
the human race, who have tafted of his
goodness in this refpect, feaſt their fouls
on the contemplation of his amazing con-
defcendence, and with their whole fpirit
adore and bless him.
AND if it cannot be doubted, that the
end of the formation of myriads of varie
ous plants, and other inanimate producti-
ons, is, to give to intelligent minds fome
fort of idea of the wifdom, the power,
and the goodneſs of the Creator; why will
conceited men quarrel with the divine œco-
nomy regarding the human race? fince,
without that part of it to which they object,
there could have been no tolerable idea of
the mercy or the long-ſuffering of the Deity,
nor any heart to rejoice, or tongue to blefs
him, on that account.
BUT
Reflexions on Incredulity:
197
✔
BUT this reflexion goes ftill farther.
We have heard of other rational creatures,
befides ourſelves, nder the appellation of
angels; fome of whom fell, as we have done:
and we know not whether any, or what
diverfity there may be of kinds amongſt
them. Thus much however may be con-
cluded, that we cannot with any certainty
determine, that there may not be between
the fupreme Being and us a vast variety of
rational beings diſtinct from the human ſpe-
cies, and differing from it as to the extent
of underſtanding, affections, and inclinati-
ons; and, confidering the immenſity of the
univerſe, the high probability is, that fuch
beings there are.
Now, if it may be further ſuppoſed,
that thoſe rational beings have any cogni
fance of what happens amongſt the chil-
dren of men, why may we not alfo fup-
pofe, that their information on this grand
article was one of the ends in view with
the Creator, when man was framed with
that capacity to err that brought on the
fall?
THAT angels, who are believed to have
been formed very pure and perfect, were
poffeffed
198
Reflexions on Incredulity.
$
poffeffed of free-will, is plain;
made a bad uſe of it, and fell.
becauſe they
And if there
are various claffes of aels, and different
ſpecies of fpiritual or rational beings between
the higheſt order of angels and us, their
actions muft, at leaſt, according to our con-
ception of the actions of rational beings,
may be determined by choice. And it is
impoffible for us to ſay, what diverſity there
may be in the underſtandings and capacities
of thofe different ranks of creatures; what
propenfities or inducements to perſevere in
purſuing their duty, or what difpofitions or
temptations to err.
Now, who can tell how many myriads
of thoſe creatures may owe the ſtate of
felicity they now enjoy, to the correction
of the lapfed angels, and to the ſcene of
mifery and folly which the conduct of the
vain conceited part of mankind has, almoſt
ever fince the creation of this ſyſtem, pre-
ſented them with?
IF a philofopher views with juſt con-
tempt the fcandalous fprings from which
the actions of the vitious proceed, what
must be the ſenſe of intelligent beings of
a fuperior order? How foolish, as well as
odious,
*
Reflexions on Incredulity.
199
1
odious, muft the notions of wicked men
be in their eyes? And how noble and mag-
nificent muſt their idea be of the mercy
and long-ſuffering of the Eternal, who, for
ſo great a ſeries of ages, has been follow-
ing fuch wretches with perpetual offers of
forgiveneſs and felicity? If in fuch minds
there are any appetites or impulfions fi-
milar to thoſe that lead the vain and the
wicked of the human race aftray, how
careful muft they be to reſtrain fuch de-
fires; and how thankful to their Maker,
for the admonition that has put them on
their guard?
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