The Existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul, Chapter 5
CHAP. V.Chap. V.
The beginning of the World proved from the uninterrupted tradition of it through all ages. The invention of Arts, and bringing them to perfection, an argument of the Worlds beginning. The weakness of that fancy that the World is in a perpetual Circulation from Infancy to Youth, and to full Age, and a decrepit state and back again, so that Arts are lost and recovered in that change. The consent of Nations a clear Argument that there is a God. The impressions of Nature are infallible. That the most Men are practical Atheists; that some doubt and deny God in words, is of no force to disprove his Existence. There are no absolute Atheists. Nature in extremities has an irresistible force, and compels the most obdurate to acknowledg the Deity.
I Shall now come to the second head of Arguments for the existence of the Deity, drawn from the proofs of the Worlds beginning; from whence it follows that an Eternal intellectual Cause gave it being according to his pleasure. For it implys an exquisit contradiction that any thing should begin to exist by its own power. What ever is temporal, was made by a Superior Eternal Power, that drew it from pure nothing. And the other consequence is as strong, that the Cause is an intellectual Being that produc'd it according to his Will. For supposing a Cause to be intirely the same, and not to produce an effect that afterwards it produces, without any preceding change, 'tis evident that it operates not by necessity of Nature, but voluntarily, and therefore with understanding: As a Man who speaks, that before was silent, according to the liberty of his will.
Now of the Worlds beginning there is a general tradition derived down through the uninterrupted course of so many Ages to us. 'Tis true, the Philosophers renewed the confusion of Tongues, that disunited the Builders of Babel, in their account of the Architecture of the World; Yet they generally agreed 'twas made by a most wise Agent. And this Doctrine is so agreeable to Reason, that you may as soon bridle the current of Nilus, and make it return to its Fountain, as suspend the perswasion of it in the minds of Men, or make it turn back as false. Now what account can be given of this uncontroulable Opinion? 'Tis most rational to conceive that it came from the first Man, (instructed by his Creator) when the Tradition was easy, the World not being numerous. Add to this, the rudeness of former Ages, and the simplicity of living, becoming the new-made World. This account the most antient Histories give of the rise of Common-wealths, that the first Nations were a confused chaos, till the soul of society was infused to regulate them. But that which I shall particularly insist on as a convincing proof, is this; The invention of many Arts beneficial to Men, and the bringing them to perfection by degrees. If the World were without begining, it would have had no age of childhood and ignorance, but being always old, and instructed by infinite study and experience, it would have always known what it successively learnt in the School of the last three thousand years, since the memorials of profane Histories are transmitted to us. Some that asserted the Eternity of the World, were sensible of the force of this Argument, and made a pittiful shift to evade it. They fancied that though the World had no beginning, yet as Animals proceed by different ages, till they arrive at extream and impotent old age; in like manner it happen'd to the Earth, not in all its parts at once: for then in that vast succession of Ages, the World and race of Men had been spent; but sometimes in one part, and after in another. But with this difference, that whereas Man after decrepit age never renews his youth, a Country once wasted with age, returns by vertue of the celestial influences to its former vigor, and is in a perpetual circulation to new infancy, new youth, and so to old age. And from hence it is, that it learns again those things that were well known in former ages, the remembrance of which was intirely lost. But the vanity of this fiction is easily discover'd.
1. Is it possible that in such a number of years, of which Memorials remain before and since this Fiction, that in no part of the World should be seen or heard of this decrepit age and new childhood, which according to this opinion hath innumerable times hapned in the circle of Eternity, sometimes in one, sometimes in another Province? If we fancy Nature were so changeable according to the revolution of the Heavens, we may with equal Reason believe, that by various conjunctions of the Stars, it hath and may fall out, that Water should burn, and Fire cool; that Serpents should be innocent, and Lambs pernicious; that Flys should live an age, and Eagles but a day.
2. Since 'tis affirmed that the whole World doth not sink into this Oblivion at once, it must follow that in some vigorous parts the knowledg of Arts still remain'd, and from thence should be derived two other parts (that were ascending from their ignorance) as 'tis usual in the commerce of distant Regions. So that it will never fall out that Arts and Sciences once invented should be totally lost. 'Tis true, some particular Nation, not by change of Nature, but humane accidents, may lose the Arts wherein it formerly flourish'd; as is eminently visible in the Greek, that is now far more ignorant and unpolisht then in former ages. But this cannot with any pretence of Reason be said of the whole World. 'Tis evident therefore if the World were Eternal, it had always been most wise and civil, and that its gradual attaining the knowledg of things of publick advantage is a sufficient conviction of its beginning in time, by the Counsel and Will of an Intellectual Agent.
3. To the still voice of Reason, the loud voice of all Nations accords in confirming this Truth. The Civil, the Barbarous, those who by their distance are without the least commerce, and are contrary in a thousand fashions and customs that depend on the liberty of Men that is mutable, yet‖Omnes duce natura eo vehimur, ut Deos esse dicamus. Cic. lib. de nat. Deor. Arist. lib. 1. de Coel. Plat. lib. 10. de Leg. Plut. cont. Cole in fine. all consent in the acknowledgment of a God, being instructed by Nature that is always the same, and immutable. 'Tis as natural to the humane understanding by considering the frame of the World, to believe there is a God, as 'tis the property of the Eye to see the light. The assent to this truth is unforc'd, but, without offering extream violence to the rational faculties, none can contradict it. Indeed in their conceptions of him, few have the glass of the mind so clear and even as to represent him aright. Some divide what is indivisible, and of one make many Gods. Some attribute corporeal parts to a pure spirit; some figure him in Statues to make the invisible seen; and in other manner deform him. Yet no errour, no ignorance has absolutely defac't the notion of him. And that no societies of Men are without the belief of a first Being, superiour to all things in the World, and of absolute power over them, and consequently worthy of supream Honour from all reasonable Creatures, their Prayers, Vows, Sacrifices, Solemnities, Oaths, are a visible Testimony. The force and weight of the Argument is great: for that which is common to the whole species, and perpetual from its first being through all its duration, is the*Dos animae a primordio. Tertul. Quis quamne est hominumqui non cum istius principii notione diem primae nativitatis intraverit? cui non sit ingenitum, non impressum, non insitum, esse Regem & Dominum, caeterorum que quaecunque sunt moderatorem? Arnob. l. 1. Impression of Nature, which in its universal Principles either of the Understanding, or the Will, is never deceived. Thus the inclination to that good that is convenient to our faculties; the approving as most just to do to another what we desire in the same circumstances should be done to us, are natural principles, whose rectitude and verity are so evident, that no Man is so contumacious as to require a proof of them. If we discredit its authority in this single instance, that there is a God, we may with equal reason suspect its testimony in all other things; that the persons we converse with are phantomes, that the objects that strike our senses are only shadows, that what appears white is black, that what is felt as cold is hot, that what is evident to all Mens minds is false, viz. that the whole is greater than a part. In short, the most rational Discourses would have as little firmness and certainty, as the incoherent Fancies of one that is distracted, or dreams. We must renounce Sense and Reason, having no assurance of such things as are clear and manifest, but the instinct of Nature that determines our assent. Now what account can be given of the sense of the Deity indelibly stamp'd on the minds of Men? If there be no God, from whence comes it that Nature has imprest such a strong belief of a being not only false but impossible? For if there be no God, 'tis impossible there should be. There is no middle between the two Attributes of Being, necessary and contingent. And that an Eternal Being should now begin to exist, is a palpable contradiction. We must therefore conclude that the Author of the Humane Soul has so fram'd it, that by the free use of its faculties it necessarily comes to the knowledg of its original. From hence, 'tis universal and constant. And can there be a testimony of equal authority, clearness and sincerity as this of Nature, understood in every Language, and receiv'd in every place; and where 'tis most simple, 'tis most the same, and therefore more convincing.
To elude the force of this Argument there are several weak evasions.
I. That the most Men are practical Atheists, and live without God in the World; and that some are speculative Atheists, either denying or doubting of his Existence. But the answer is easie.
1. That Men deny God in their Works, is of no validity to disprove the natural notion of him; for by this confession we must cancel almost all the Law of Nature. How many notoriously rebel against the infallible principles of common Reason? How many dishonour their Parents? Yet there is no Precept more clearly natural, and acknowledged by the rudest Nations, than the obligation to the immediate Authors of our lives. How many by fraud or rapine enrich their Estates, or violate the honour of the Marriage-Bed, and do that to others they would not have done to themselves? But though they contradict the Law of Nature in their actions, can they abolish it in their hearts? can they make Conscience dumb, that it shall never reproach their Impieties, because they are deaf to its voice? 'Tis as impossible as to transform themselves into another kind of being, and become Brutes in nature, because they resemble them in their dispositions and practices.
2. Supposing that some are Atheists in opinion, it doth not follow that the belief of the Deity is not a pure universal Principle of Nature. For by all men we must understand those in whom the sense of Nature is not perverted. Things of the clearest certainty have been denied by some. We feel Motion, yet a Philosopher disputed against it. The Argument is convincing that Snow is white, because it appears so to all Mens Eyes; thô to the Eye that wants its native sincerity, and infected with a vicious tincture, it appears of another colour. Now 'tis certain that Atheism is not produced by generation from the natural discourses of the Mind, but from the putrefaction and rottenness of Manners. Those who have lost their Reason in Sensuality, and submit their understandings to the guidance of their corrupt affections, that is the seeing faculty to the blind, are most inclin'd to Atheism. And they can never come to that impious height without obliterating in the guiltiest manner, the lively characters of Reason and Humanity. Such are as prodigiously irregular from the true constitution of the minds of Men in respect of belief, as a‖foreign Max. Tyr. Bird without wings would be from the natural composure of the Bodies of all others, in respect of parts. Monsters cannot dishonour, and are no pattern of the species. And shall the contradiction of a few brib'd by their lusts, disauthorise the consenting testimony of mankind?
3. There is no absolute Atheist, i. e. of such a firm perswasion that there is no God, as excludes all doubts and fears of the contrary. 'Tis true, as a pretext for their licentiousness, and to give boldness to their fearful impiety, some obdurate wretches may desperately deny the Supream Eternal Power, to whom they are accountable: But no violence can intirely choke this natural Principal, it has such deep and strong root in the Humane Spirit. The vital spark will fly in their Faces, notwithstanding all their endeavours to tread it out. Of this we have convincing evidence from some, who in great troubles have been compel'd to acknowledge God, whom they boldly denyed before. I shall produce two instances. The first is recorded by Aeschilus. That the Persian Messenger in his Narrative to the King, of the overthrow of his Army by the Grecians, related that those Gallants who before the Fight in the midst of their Cups and bravery denied God and Providence as secure of Victory, yet afterwards when furiously pursu'd by their Enemies, they came to the River Strymon, that was frozen and began to thaw, then upon their knees they mournfully implor'd the favor of God, that the Ice might hold and give them safe passage over from the pursuers. Nature in extremities has irresistible workings, and the inbred notions of the Deity, though long supprest by imperious lusts, will then rise up in Mens Souls. The other instance is of Bion the Philosopher, a declared Atheist, till struck with a mortal Disease, and then, as a false Witness on the Rack, confest the truth, and addrest himself by Prayers and Vows to God for his recovery. Egregious folly, as the‖foreign Laert. in Bion Historian observes, to think that God would be brib'd with his gifts, and was or was not according to his fancy. And thus it happens to many like him. As a Lamp near expiring shines more clearly, so Conscience that burn'd dimly for a time, gives a dying blaze, and discovers him who is alone able to save or to destroy. But how just were it to deal with them as *Sext. Empir. l. 1.Herofilus with Diodorus Cronus, a wrangler that vext the Philosophers, by urging a captious Argument, against the possibility of Motion. For thus he argued: A Stone, or what ever else, in moving it self, is either where it is, or where it is not; if where it is, it moves not; if where it is not, then it will be in any place, but where it is. While this disputing humour continued, one day he fell, and displac't his shoulder. And sends in haste for Herofilus, of excellent skill in Surgery. But he desirous first to cure his Brain, and then his Shoulder, told him that his Art was needless in that case: for according to your own opinion, this Bone in the dislocation either was where it was, or where it was not, and to assert either, makes the displacing of it equally impossible. Therefore 'twas in vain to reduce it to the place from whence it was never parted. And thus he kept him roaring out with pain and rage till he declar'd himself convinc'd of the vanity of his irrefutable Argument. Now if, according to the vanity of Atheists, there is no God, why do they invoke him in their adversities? If there be, why do they deny him in their prosperity? there can no other Reason be assign'd but this, that in the state of health their minds are disperst, and clouded with blind folly, in sickness they are serious and recover the judgment of Nature. As 'tis ordinary with distracted persons, that in the approaches of Death their Reason returns: because the Brain distemper'd by an excess of heat, when the Spirits are wasted at the last, is reduced to a convenient temper.