Exposition on the Ten Commandments, Commentary on commandments · Commandment 1 (2 of 3)
A nineth Rule is this, Whatsoever is forbidden in any Command, both all the signs and symptoms of it, and likewise all the effects and consequents of it, are forbidden in the same. Thus under the Prohibition of Idolatry falls the Prohibition of the feasting in the Idol-Temples, and eating Meats sacrificed to them, as being too evident a sign and tessera of our Communion with them. So in the same Command wherein Pride is forbidden, (which is chiefly the first and second, for a proud Man sets up himself for his God, is his own Idol, and is his own Idolater,) in the same are forbidden all the signs and effects of Pride, as a lofty Look, and a mincing Gate, an affected Behaviour, and vain fantastique Apparel; against which the Prophet largely declaims, Isai. 3. the 16 to the end; because although Pride doth not formally consist in these things, yet they are signs and effects of Pride, and contrary unto that Modesty and Decency which God requires.
The tenth and last Rule is this, The Connexion between the Commands is so close and intimate, and they are so linkt together, that whosoever breaketh one of them is guilty of all: Now that Bond which runs thorough them, and knits them thus together, is the Authority and Soveraignty of God injoyning their Observance; so that whosoever fails in his due Obedience to any one, doth virtually and interpretatively trangress them all. Thus we find it expresly affirm'd, James 2.10. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all Not as though the Violation of one Precept were actually the Violation of another, (for many may Steal, and yet not actually Murder; many again may Murder, and yet not actually commit Adultery.) But this place of the Apostle must be understood of violating that Authority which passeth thorough them all, and by which all the Commandments have their Sanction: For since the Authority of the great God is one and the same in all these Laws, he that shall so far disrespect this Authority, as wilfully to break one of them, evidently declares, that he owns it not in any: And although other considerations may restrain such an one from those Crimes which are forbidden by some Commandments, yet his Observance of them is no part of Obedience; nor can it be interpreted to be performed out of Conscience and Respect towards God, for were it so, the same Authority which with-held him from Murder, or Theft, or Adultery, would likewise restrain him from Lying, or taking the Name of God in vain: and he that is guilty of these Offences, is likewise guilty of all, because the same Authority is stampt upon them all alike, and is alike violated in the transgression of each; and this very reason the Apostle subjoyns to his assertion, Verse 11. He that said, Do not commit adultery; said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no Adultery, yet if thou Kill, thou art become a Transgressor of the Law; yea, of the whole Law, as breaking that Fence which God had set about his Law, even his soveraign and absolute Authority.
These are the Rules which may direct your Understandings to a right Knowledge of the Latitude and Comprehensiveness of the Law. As for the Application of them to particular Cases, I must leave that to the Judgement of Christian Prudence; only in the ensuing Treatise you will meet with sundry Examples of it.
It will be now requisite that I speak something (and that chiefly because others have spoken so much) concerning the Order of these Commands; the Number of them is no way questioned, for God himself hath determined them to be Ten Commandments, Exod. 34.28. but the Method and Disposition of them is much controverted; and I think with more Heat and Contention than the Cause deserves; for if all that God hath spoken be intirely delivered to us, what great concern is it, whether this or that Command be reckoned the second, third, or fourth? This certainly tends but little to Piety; and we had need rather to imploy our Care how to keep them, than how to reckon them.
And therefore, waving all other Differences, (as that of Hesychius, Thom. Aquinas, 1. 2. q. 100. Art. 4.making the first Command to be this, I am the Lord thy God; which we with good reason affirm to be only a part of the Preface; and leaving out the fourth concerning the Sanctification of the Sabbath; and that of the seventh, placing, Thou shalt not Kill, after, Thou shalt not commit Adultery; Thou shalt not Steal; whereas we according to the Hebrew Verity place it before;) all that I shall remarke is, the Difference between the Papists and us in the Enumeration of the Ten Commandments: They generally hold, that there are but three Commands in the first Table; and therefore make seven in the second: and to compleat this number, as they joyn the first and the second into one, so they divide the tenth into two. Concerning this Division, or Union, we would not be much contentious with them, were there not a Sacrilegious and Idolatrous Design coucht under it; for finding the second Commandment to strike so directly at their Image-Worship, they thought it expedient to deny it to be any distinct Precept of itself, but only an Appendix or Exposition of the former, Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me; that so they might with the better colour omit it, as generally they have done in all their Books of Devotion, and for Instruction of the People. So that of those few among them that can rehearse the Decalogue, you shall find none that will repeat, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, thou shalt not bow down thy self unto them, nor serve them; as not knowing that any such thing is forbidden them by God. And yet that they may make up the full number of the Commandments, they divide the tenth into two; one forbidding the coveting of our Neighbour's Wife; and the other, the coveting of any other of his Possessions.
The only Authority they produce from Antiquity, for this Order of the Decalogue, is that of St. Austine; and it is very true,Aug. Ep. 209. ad Januar. Sermon 148. de tempore. Lib. 15. contra. Faust. Manich. Tract. 3. in Johan. that he doth in many places of his Works so conjoyn and divide them: but far from any design of promoting Idolatry, or keeping the People in Ignorance, that the worshipping of Images was forbidden: Yet in this particular he went contrary to the current of all former Antiquity; yea, contrary to the very order of the Scripture, for whereas they say that the ninth Commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife; and the tenth, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House, nor his Servant, &c. If we consult Exod. 20.17. we shall find that the Command runs thus: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, &c. from which it certainly follows, that they cannot make two Precepts, but appertain to one.
But enough of this, which I had not mentioned, had it not been concealed out of such an impious Design.
And now I think my way is clear to the Words themselves.
In them we have the Preface, and the Precepts.
The Preface in these words: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
The Precepts are ten; whereof the first and chief is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
The Preface carries an equal Respect and Reverence to all the Commandments, and contains a strong Argument in it to enforce the Obedience of them.
And as Kings and Princes do usually prefix their Names and Titles before those Laws and Edicts which are set forth by them, to gain the more Attention, and the greater Veneration to what they publish; so here the great God, who is the King of Kings, being to proclaim a Law to his People of Israel, that he might affect them with the deeper Reverence of his Authority, and make them the more afraid to transgress those Laws that were enacted by so mighty a Potentate, and so glorious a Majesty, He displays and blazons his Name and his Stile before them, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage; that they might learn to fear his glorious and fearful Name, The Lord thy God; as we find it, Deut. 28.58.
Now as all Arguments that are prevalent and cogent, are adapted to work upon one of these two Passions by which we are swayed in all the actions of our Lives, either our Fear or our Love, so here likewise God hath accommodated himself to our Temper, and proclaims,
First, His Authority to beget Fear, I am the Lord thy God.
Secondly, His Benefits and Mercies to ingage Love, The Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
And both these, that having so strong an Obligation upon our very Natures, as the Motives of Love and Fear, he might the more readily work us unto Obedience. For what Motives can be urged more enforcing than these, which are drawn both from Power and Goodness; the one obliging us to Subjection, the other to Gratitude?
First, He is the Lord God, the great Creator, the onelyonly Proprietor, the absolute Governour and Disposer of all things: and therefore upon this account we owe an awful Observance to all his Laws and Injunctions. It is but fit and just that we should be subject unto Him that created us, and who hath infinite Power for our Contumacies and Rebellions eternally to destroy us. He is the Lord God, the great and glorious One whose Kingdom is from Everlasting to Everlasting, and whose Dominion hath no Bounds, either of Time or Place: Behold, saith the Prophet, the nations are but as a drop of the backet, and are accounted but as the small dust of the ballance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are accounted unto him less than nothing and vanity, Isai. 40.15, 17. His Voice shakes the Heavens, and removes the Earth out of its place; his Way is in the Whirlwind; Storms and Tempests are his Harbingers; and the Clouds are the Dust raised by his Feet; the Mountains quake at his Presence; at his Displeasure the Hills melt away; the World and all the Inhabitants of it are dissolved: His Fury is poured out like Fire, and the Rocks are thrown down by him: His Hand spans the Heavens, and he holds all the Waters of the Sea in the hollow of it. Heaven is the Throne of his Glory, and the Earth his Foot stool; his Pavilion round about him, dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Skie; ten thousand times ten thousand glorious Spirits stand alway ministring before him; they flie on his Errands, and are ready prest to execute his Soveraign Will and Pleasure: Who is like unto thee O Lord, glorious in Holiness, fearful in thy Praises, doing Wonders, and therefore who would not fear thee O King of Nations, and tremble and be astonisht when once thou art angry? Wilt thou then, O vile and wretched Sinner, despise the Authority and Majesty of the great God, before whom all the Powers of Heaven and Earth lye prostrate? Darest thou infringe his Laws, and violate his Commands, who is so great and terrible a God, that he can destroy thee by the very breath of his Nostrils? By the breath of his nostrils they are consumed, Job 4.9. Yea, he can look thee to death: They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance, Psal. 80.16. Art thou able to contend with this God; art thou a fit match for the Almighty? Can thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong, in the day when the Lord shall deal with thee, and come to recompence Vengeance upon thee for all thy Transgressions? Who among you can dwell with the devouring Fire? who among you can dwell with everlasting Burnings?
Certainly, did we but frequently thus over-awe our hearts with the serious consideration of the dread Majesty and supreme Authority of the great God, we should not dare so presumptuously to provoke him, as we do. Fear is a most excellent Preservative from Sin; and a strong Fence that God hath set about his Law, to keep us from breaking those Bounds which he hath prescribed us. And therefore the wise Man gives us this Advice, Eccles. 12.13. Fear God and keep his commandments. And the Psalmist, Psal. 4.4. Stand in awe and sin not.
Secondly, As the Authority of God is set forth to move us to Obedience by working upon our Fear; so his Benefits and Mercies are declared to win us to it from a Principle of Love and gratitude: The Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And indeed this, though it be a soft, yet is a most powerful and effectual Argument: Hath God surrounded thee with Blessings, and loaded thee every day with his Benefits; hast thou received thy Life, thy Being from him, and so many Comforts in which thou takest delight, and he allows thee so to do; hast thou been delivered by his watchful Providence from many Deaths and Dangers, restored from Sickness, or preserved in Health; doth he feed thee at his Table, and cloath thee out of his Wardrobe; nay, what is infinitely more, hath he given thee his onelyonly Son, and his Son given thee his Life and most precious Blood; hath he sent thee his Gospel, and in it the exceeding great and precious Promises of eternal Glory, a Glory which Hope durst not behold enough to exspect, nor is Imagination large enough to conceive; hath he sent thee his Spirit to seal and ratifie all these Promises to thee; hath he crown'd thy head with many rich Blessings here, and will he crown it with Joy and Blessedness hereafter, and canst thou, O Soul, be so unkind and disingenuous as to deny any thing to that God, who hath denied nothing to thee? Canst thou refuse him the only thing he requires of thee, the only Testimony which thou canst give, that thou hast any sence of his Favour? and especially considering he requires it only that he may reward it with farther Blessings. Canst thou wrong that God who hath been so kind and gracious unto thee, and is continually doing thee good? Canst thou despise his Precepts, who hath regarded thy Prayers? Wilt not thou hear him speaking unto thee, who hath often heard thee when thou hast cryed unto him, and hath helped and saved thee? Certainly the Ingenuity of Humane Nature forbids it, the Love of God constraineth otherwise, especially since he hath required Obedience from us as the evidence and expression of our Love to him; Joh. 14.21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And in the Second Epistle of St. John, v. 6. This is love, that we walk after his commandments. And that which is a most cogent Motive, thine own Interest and eternal Concernments engage thee to it: For what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to love him, and to keep his commandments, which I command thee this day for thy good, Deut. 10.12, 13. God might have required from us the very same Obedience which now he doth, without promising us any Reward for it; for we owe him all that we can possibly do, as he is the Author of our Beings; and every power and faculty of our Souls ought to be imployed for him who gave them unto us. But when the great God hath been so far pleased to condescend from his Prerogative, as to command us nothing but what hath already brought us very great advantages, and will for the future bring us far greater, when His hands shall be as full of Blessings, as His mouth is of Commands; when he enjoyns us a Work that in itself is Wages, and yet promiseth us Wages for doing of that Work; when the Mercies he hath already given us do oblige us, and the Mercies he hath promised yet to give us do allure us; certainly we must needs be the most disingenuous of all Creatures, and the greatest Enemies to our own Happiness, if these Considerations do not win us to yield him that Obedience which redounds not at all to his profit and advantage, but our own.
Thus you see how God hath inforced the Observation of his Law upon us, both by his Authority and by his Mercy; the one to work upon our Fear, the other upon our Love, and both to engage us to Obedience.
Now here it is observable, that in the rehearsal of those Mercies which should oblige unto Duty, mention is made only of those which seem to concern the Israelites, and no other People, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: From which some would infer, that the Decalogue only respects them; and that the Commands then given, do not at all appertain unto us, no more than the Benefits commemorated.
But the Answer is easie: For this Mercy here mentioned of Deliverance from Egypt, and the House of Bondage, is to be understood either Literally or Typically.
If we understand it Literally, so indeed it refers only to the People of Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt with a mighty Hand, and with a stretched out Arm; and such a series of Miracles, that they were almost as ordinary as the common effects of God's Providence.
But if we understand this Typically and Mistically, so it is true, that God hath brought us also out of Egypt, and out of the House of Bondage: and therefore the inforcement of the Commandments upon this account and consideration, belongs to us Christians, as well as it did belong to the Church of the Jews; for should we run up the Allegory to the Spiritual sence of it, we shall find a wonderful Agreement betwixt them, and a near Representation of our State in the State of the Israelites; let it suffice to compare them together only in a few remarkable Instances: As they were kept in Bondage under the rigorous Tyranny of Paraoh, who sought both by Policy and Power to destroy them; so were we kept in Bondage under the Tyranny of the Devil, of whom Paraoh was a black Type and Shadow; and as God delivered them from his hand by a Temporal Salvation, so hath he delivered us from the power of the Devil by a Spiritual Salvation, redeeming us from the slavish Imployment of lading ourselves with thick Clay, and leading us through the Red Sea of his Son's Blood, in which all our Spiritual Enemies are destroyed, and conducting us thorough the Wilderness of this World, unto the promised Canaan, that Land that floweth with Milk and Hony, the Seat of Rest, and Eternal Joy, and Felicity, even Heaven itself: and therefore if the consideration of a Temporal Deliverance were so powerful a Motive to ingage the Israelites unto Obedience; how much more effectually should we be obliged unto it, whose Deliverance is far greater than theirs was; for God hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, Coloss. 1.13. He hath delivered us from the Wrath to come, 1 Thes. 1.10. He hath abolished Death for us, and brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel, 2 Tim. 1.10. And therefore as our Deliverance is Spiritual, so ought our Obedience to be; that being delivered from the Justice of God, the condemning Power of the Law, the reigning Power of Sin, the Sting of an accusing Conscience, the Rage and Malice of the Devil, and the intolerable Torments of Hell, we might with all Love and Thankfulness chearfully serve that God, whose Mercy hath been extended towards us in those things which are of highest and most precious concernment.
And thus you see the reason of this Preface, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; and how it is both applicable and obligatory to us Christians, as well as to the Jews; containing a Declaration of God's Authority to inforce, and of his Mercy to oblige us to the Obedience of those Laws which he delivers.
I come now to the Precepts themselves; whereof the first and chiefest is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me: Which because it is Negative, and all Negatives depend upon, and must be measured by the Truth of their contrary Affirmative, therefore I shall first consider what Duties are commanded in this Precept; and then, what Sins are prohibited.
Four Things are here required:
First, That we must have a God: Against Atheism.
Secondly, That we must have the Lord Jehovah for our God: Which forbids Idolatry.
Thirdly, That we must have the only true God the Lord Jehovah alone for our God: And this forbids Politheism, or the worshipping of many Gods; and Samaritanism, or the worshipping of false Gods together with the True, like those Samaritans spoken of, 2 Kings 17.33. who feared the Lord, and yet served their own Gods; making a strange Medly in Religion, and blending those things together that were utterly irreconcilable: as if they intended not only to be Partakers themselves with Devils, but to make God so too: which is the greatest Gratification that can be given to that proud and wicked Spirit, whose Ambition it is to Emulate and Rival God in Worship. The Apostle hath told us, That those things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God, 1 Cor. 10.20.
Now thus to joyn any other thing with God, as the Object of our Worship, is infinitely to debase and desparage him; since it intimates, that something besides God is excellent, and perfect as Himself. And therefore Zephan. 1.5. God severely threatens to cut off, and to destroy those that worship and swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.
Fourthly, It requires that all these Services and Acts of Worship which we tender unto the true and only God, be performed with sincerity and true Devotion: This is implied in that expression before me, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, or in my sight: And this forbids both Prophaneness on the one hand, and Hypocrisie on the other. For because the most secret and retired Apartments of the Heart, are all naked and bare in the sight of God, and our very Spirits are as it were dissected, and so exposed to his view and observation; therefore to have no other God before him, denotes that our serving and worshipping of him ought to be sincere and affectionate. It is not enough to have no other God before Men, not to fall down prostrate before any visible Idol set up in a Temple; but the Law is Spiritual, and searcheth the very thoughts and inward parts of the Soul, and if there be any Idol set up in the Heart, although it be in the darkest corner of it, any secret Lust, or hidden Sin, which is the Soul's Idol, and keeps it from being chast and true to its God; any crooked ends and sinister respects in the Worship of God, this is to have another God in the sight of Jehovah, and before him: Indeed we are very apt to rest contented if we can but approve ourselves before Men, and carry a fair shew of Religion and Godliness. But consider how weak and foolish this is: For first, we cozen them with our Appearances; and then we cozen ourselves with their Opinions of us. It is not only before Men (whose sight is terminated in the bark and outside of things) that we offer up our Services, but before that God who is the Searcher of the Heart, and the Tryer of the Reins, who looks quite through us, and judgeth not according to outward appearance, but judgeth righteous Judgment: For us to regard Men, and seek to commend ourselves to them in the Service of God, is as great a Folly and Irreverence, as it would be for one who is to treat with a mighty Prince, to regard and reverence only the Images in the Tapstry and Hangings: Alas, Men are but as so many blind Images, in respect of God, they cannot see the heart, nor the affections; and those outward Acts of Worship which they do see and commend without the heart, are despised by God; he requireth truth in the inward Parts, and is not delighted with the ostentation of Performance, but with the sincerity of Intention: for every one is delighted with that which doth most of all declare some singular excellency that is in him. But now it is God's Excellency and Prerogative, to contemplate the Heart, to weigh and consider the Spirits of Men… and therefore he is chiefly delighted in the unfeigned desires and breathings of the Heart after him, because by these we own him to be an all-knowing God: But when we perform Duties of Religion only to be seen and applauded of Men, we make God only our Pretence, but Men our Idols; and set up as many Gods before him, as we have Spectators and Observers.
And thus we have seen what positive Duties are required of us in this Precept: That we should Worship a God, and him the true God; and the true God only, and that in Truth and Sincerity, as doing all our Services before Him. So that you see this first Command respects Worship.
It would be too long, and indeed almost endless, to insist particularly on all the Duties that are included in the true and sincere Worship of the true and only God: I shall therefore speak only of the three chief and most remarkable ones,
First, The Love of God.
Secondly, The Fear of God.
Thirdly, Invocation of, and rendring Praise unto Him.
In these three especially doth consist the having the Lord for our God.
First, In this Command is required of us the most supream and indeared Love of God; yea, indeed, the Love of God is not only the Sum of this, but of all the Commands of the first Table: And therefore (as I lately told you) when our Saviour would give an Abridgement of the Law, he compriseth all the ten under two great Commands, Matth. 22.37, 38, 39. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. From whence the Apostle deduceth that great Conclusion, Rom. 13.10. That Love is the fulfilling of the Law. It is so, if not formally▪ yet vertually and effectively; for it will powerfully and sweetly sway us to yeild a ready Submission and Obedience to what is required of us; and that not only as it is the Dictate of Divine and Sovereign Authority, but from the free spontaneous Tendency of the Soul itself, which when it is once toucht with this celestial and serene Flame, must rebel against its own Inclinations, as well as against God's Commands, if it be not carried out towards that Object in which alone it can find full acquiescence and satisfaction.
Now this Love of God hath in it three Acts or Degrees, Desire, Joy, and Zeal:
First, An earnest and panting Desire after God, Psal. 42.1, 2. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: oh when shall I come and appear before God? As the poor imboss'd Deer that is closey pursued, faints and melts with the heat of the Chace, and hasteth to the known River where it was wont to quench its thirst, to find both safety and refreshment there; so doth the holy amorous Soul reach and breathe after God; he thirsteth after the Water-books, the streams of his Ordinances, wherein God doth pour out his Grace and his Spirit to refresh the longing desires of this holy Impatience: But not being satisfied with this, he still makes up to the Fountain, and never rests contented, till he hath ingulpht and plung'd himself into God, and is swallowed up in Beatitude.
Secondly, From the fruition of the beloved Object springeth Joy: for Joy is nothing else but the rest and acquiescence of Desire. And therefore according to the measures of God's communicating himself to our Souls, such proportionably will be the increases of our Joy. Something we enjoy of God in this life, whilst we are absent from him in the Body; he is pleased to give us transient Glances of himself when he fills his Ordinances, and our Duties with his Spirit: and yet these reserved Communications are so ravishing, that the distended Soul is often forced, by the Agony of Sweetness, to cry out with holy Simeon, Now Lord let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. How over-flowing then will our Joy be, when we come to Heaven, where our fruition of God shall be intire and eternal; where we shall see him as he is, and know him as we are known by him; where the unveiled Glories of the Deity shall beat full upon us, and we for ever Sun ourselves in the Smiles of God. Certainly the Joy of such a State would be intolerable, but only that God who fills us, will then likewise enlarge and support us.
Thirdly, If our fruition of God be hindred and obstructed, our love to him will then express itself in an holy Zeal: Zeal is the Indignation of the Soul, and a Revenge that it takes upon whatsoever is an impediment to the obtaining its desires. The earnest desire of a true Saint, is the Enjoyment of God, and the Glory of God; and of both these Sin is the only let and hindrance. And therefore a Soul that is passionate for God, hath not so great an Indignation against any thing as against Sin: Can he endure to see that God whom he loves dearer than his life, daily provoked and injured; to hear his Name blasphemed, to see his Ordinances despised, his Worship neglected, his Servants abused, and the most sacred Truths of Religion denied, and the sacred Mysteries of it derided? He is the most meek and patient Man on Earth in his own concerns; unwilling to observe the Wrongs that are done him, and much more to revenge them: but when God is injured, the dear Object of his Love and Joy, he can no longer refrain, but whatsoever befals him, riseth up to vindicate his Honour, and thrusts himself between to receive those strokes which were aimed at God; and what he cannot prevent, or reform, that he bitterly bewails.
This is true Zeal; and he that saith he loves God, and yet is not thus zealous for him, is a Lyar.
Now trie your Love to God by these things: Are your desires fervent and affectionate after him? Do you find an holy Impatience in your Spirit till you enjoy him? Will nothing else content you but God? Can you say, That there is none in Heaven nor in Earth that you desire in comparison with him; and if the whole World were thrown into your bosoms for your Portion, you would pluck it thence, and cast it at your feet, resolving that you will not be put off with such Trifles? Do you find a joy springing and diffusing itself through your hearts when you are engaged in Communion with him? a sweet and potent Delight, to which all the Pleasures of Sin are but flat and insippid. Are you jealous for the Lord of Hosts? Are your Anger and Grief never so much kindled for any Wrongs that are done unto you, as they are for the Provocations that are daily committed against the great Majesty of Heaven? Canst thou mourn and weep for these in secret, and if thou hast power and authority to do it, punish and avenge them openly? thou maist for thy comfort conclude, that certainly God hath kindled this heavenly flame of Love in thy breast; a flame that aspires Heaven-ward, and will at last carry up thy Soul with it, and lodge it there where the Desire of Love shall be satisfied, the Joy of Love perfected, and the Zeal of Love eternally rewarded.
So much for the first principal Duty required in this first Precept, The Love of God.
Secondly, In this Command is required of us the Fear of God; for certainly we cannot have the Lord for our God, unless we supreamly Fear and Reverence him, yea, as Love; so the Fear of God is made the Sum of all the Commandments, and indeed the Substance of all Religion: For although it be but one particular Branch and Member of that Worship and Service which we owe unto God, yet it is such a remarkable one, and hath such a mighty influence upon all the rest, that often times in Scripture it is put for the whole; and generally the Character of a true Worshipper and obedient Servant of God, is given by this Periphrasis, That he is a Man fearing God.
Now the Fear of God is either servile or Filial; and both are a strong Bond to Duty and Obedience. Those who are acted only by a slavish Fear, will beware how they stir up the dread Wrath and severe Justice of God against themselves, by any wilful Neglects or known Transgressions. And how much more those who are acted by a Principle of filial and reverential Fear of God, who fear as much to offend, as to suffer for it; and to whom Mercy and Goodness proves as powerful motives of Fear, as Wrath and Fury: yea, there is no Attribute nor Perfection in God, but is very justly the Object of our Fear;Timor reverentiae est resilitio ab altitudine Dei ad vitatem propriam par Altisiod l. 10. Tract. 5. for where this Grace is true and genuine, it works in us rather a sedate Awe and Respect of God, a profound Reverence and Resilition of the Soul, than any turbulent and tempestuous Passions of a Fright and Horrour. And certainly, if we acknowledge that there is a God, it is but reason that we should thus fear him according to his essential Greatness and Glory: For take away the fear of a Deity, and a supream Power, which is able to reward and punish the Actions of Men, and you open a Floud-gate for all Villany and Wickedness to rush out and overflow the whole World. And where this restraint of Fear is taken off from the Spirits of Men, all Laws given to curb their Licentiousness, are of no more force, than Fetters of Air to chain up Mad-men: and therefore very fitly doth God injoyn the Fear of Himself in this first Command, as that which will season and dispose the Heart to obey Him in all the rest.
Thirdly, Another principal Part of Worship required in this first Precept, is, The Invocation of the Name of God in our Prayers and Praises. The two former, viz. Love and Fear, respect the inward Worship of God in our Hearts, but this appertains to his outward Worship, and by it we give express Testimonies we both Love and Fear him: for Prayer and Praises are the Tribute and Homage of Religion; by the one we acknowledge our dependance upon him; by the other we own all our blessing and comforts to be from him; and to one of these two, all of external Worship may be referred. Certainly such as neither pray unto God, nor praises him, cannot be said to have a God; for they acknowledge none, but are Gods unto themselves. For wherefore do we affirm, that there is a God, if we make no Addresses unto him? if we have recourse only to our own Power or Policy to accomplish our Designs; and when they succeed, ascribe the success of them only to our own Wisdom and Conduct, we make these our Idols, and give them the Honour which is due unto God only. And therefore the Prophet Habak. 1.16. speaks of these who sacrifice to their Net, and burn Incense to their Drag, because by them their Portion is fat, and their Meat plenteous.
Now as the Love and Fear of God are often used in Scripture for his whole Worship and Service, so likewise is this Invocation of his Name. So we find it Gen. 4.26. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. That is, (as many learned Expositors understand it, although some take another way) then began Men solemnly and publickly to worship God in their Assemblies. And Jer. 10.25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: i. e. those who do not worship nor serve thee. And the like we may observe in very many other places.
There is but one thing more that I shall remark to you, and that is, That as this first Command requires in the general, that the true God should be truely worshipped; so the three next following Commands prescribe the means and branches of his Worship, and the way and manner how he would have it performed. For the second Commandment requires us to worship God who is a Spirit, without any visible Image or Representation of the Deity: for as it is impossible that there should be any true Resemblance made of a Spirit; so it is most impious to give any part of Divine Honour and Reverence unto dumb Idols; which as to their Materials, are but the Creatures of God, as they are Statues are but the Creatures of Art, and as they are Images, are but the Creatures of Fancy and Superstition. The third Commandment requires that we should never mention the Name of the great God slightly and impertinently; but whensoever we have occasion to utter it, we should do it with all prostrate Veneration, and serious Affection. The Fourth, prescribes us the time which God hath set apart and sanctified for his solemn Worship. So that you see each Command of the first Table is concerned in giving Rules for Divine Worship; but the first, which injoyns it in the general, is the ground and foundation of the other three.
And thus much shall suffice concerning the Duties required in this first Command, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
In the next place let us see what is forbidden in it.
It forbids us four Things:
First, Atheism, or the belief and acknowledgement of no God.
Secondly, Ignorance of the true God.
Thirdly, Prophaneness, or the wretched Neglect of the Worship and Service of God.
Fourthly, Idolatry, or the setting up and worshipping of false Gods.
First, Atheism, or the acknowledging of no God, is forbidden and condemned by this Command: And well may this be reckoned the first Sin forbidden, for certainly Religion and Worship will be found to be one of the most foppish Vanities that ever was imposed upon the credulous World, if either there be no God, to whom we might direct our Devotions, or only a God of Epicurus and Lucretius's stamp, that sits unconcern'd in Heaven, and loaths the Fatigue of Business, taking no thought nor care of Humane Affairs. For if there be no God, or onelyonly such an one, what difference is there whether we Pray or Blaspheme; whether we lead holy and pious Lives, or let loose the Reins to all manner of Lewdness and Riot, and wallow in all the impure Delights that Vice and Sensuality can recommend to our corrupted Appetites? For if there be no God, there can be no future Cognizance taken of either, no Rewards nor Punishments proportioned to either. And therefore it will be here necessary to shew the Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism, and to convince Men that there is a God, without which all Religion and Worship is but Folly and Madness.
Some perhaps may judge it altogether needless to insist upon such a Subject as this, among those who all acknowledge and worship the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. I heartily wish it were both unnecessary and impertinent; but truly if we consider that usually the Practices of Men are guided and influenced by their Principles, we shall find reason enough to suspect that there are some Notions of Speculative Atheism that lies at the bottom of all that Practical Atheism which we may observe so generally to prevail in the World: For any considerate Person would think it impossible that Men should so daringly rush into all those Prodigious Crimes and Villanies, that every-where rage and reign, were it not that they entertain loose and wavering Apprehensions of the Existance of a Deity, and incourage themselves in their Vices by some unform'd and callow Thoughts, that perchance all that Religion teacheth concerning God and a future State, are only politick Devices and Fictions.
Nay, indeed our Age hath too many, who, not only with the Fool, say in their hearts, but are arrived to that height of desperate impudence, as to avow it in express words, yea, to dispute and argue it, that there is no God.
I shall therefore confirm this great and primary Truth, upon which depends all our Religion, and all our Hopes, by some convincing and demonstrative Arguments, which I intend to make as plain and obvious as the matter will permit.
First then, The universal Consent of all Nations strongly proves the being of a Deity: For that which all agree in, must needs be accounted a Dictate of Nature; and what is such must needs be acknowledged to be a Maxim of Truth. Next to the Report of our Senses, we may credit the Reports that Nature and all Mankind give concerning the Truth and Existance of Things. Now if we should Impannel all the Nations of the World upon this Tryal, not only the more civilized, where Custom, or the Authority of Laws might be suspected to introduce this Belief, but those that are the most Rude and Savage, they would all with one Consent return this Verdict, That there is a God. Nay, although one part of Mankind hath so strangely dissented from another, about all other things, as concerning their Laws, Government, and Customs, yea, and Manner of Worship; yet these that differ in all things else, seem only to agree in these two, Humane Nature, and the Belief of a Deity.Nulla gens est, neque tam immansueta, nec tam fera, quae etiamsi ignoret velem habere Deum deceat, tamen habendum sciat. Cicero. Never was there any Nation so wild and barbarous that acknowledged no God; but their great Fault and Folly was, that they acknowledged too many. And it is strange to think, that the whole Race of Mankind in so many Generations as have successively followed one another since the beginning of the World, (yea and if there were no God from all Eternity) should not they have grown wise enough to free themselves from so troublesome an Opinion as that of the Existance of a God: an Opinion that crosseth their worldly Interests, contradicts their sensual Desires, damps their Joys, torments their natural Consciences, and which, those who are wicked, would give whatsoever is dearest to them, to have it utterly rooted out of their minds: It is strange (I say) that they should not all this while be able to deliver themselves from the Tyranny and Fetters of this Fancy, were it only imposed upon them by false Reports and Surmises.
How could the World be so easily drawn into such several Shapes and Forms of Religion (which among the Heathen were almost infinite; and among others, too various and different,) were there not a natural Inclination in the Souls of Men to imbrace some Religion or other, and an indelible Character of a Deity imprinted on their Minds? Insomuch, that in the Times of Darkness, when the Truth was not clearly revealed to the World, because they knew neither the true Object, nor the right Way for Worship, this restless Notion of a Deity, put them upon inventing divers vile, uncouth, and ridiculous Superstitions. But yet this is so far from invallidating, that it strongly confirms to us their Belief of a Deity, in that they submitted themselves to Observances not onelyonly unreasonable,Porrum & caepe nefas violare aut frangere morsu O sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis Numina. Juven. but many times barbarous and inhumane, if they thought them acceptable to the Gods they worshipt; yea, rather than they would be without a Deity, they would dig them Gods out of their Gardens; or consecrate Dogs, and Serpents, and any Virmin that first met them in the morning, and had the good luck thereby to creep into Honour.
What then, is it likely that the World received this Notion first by Tradition, whereas before Men generally believed there was no God? This cannot be: for would they in reason quit their former Perswasion, to receive this new false one, especially when it is the only thing that fills them with Fears and Torments, and a thousand Afrights and Horrours; yea, those who would fain wear off this Notion of a God, and perswade themselves to be Atheists if they could, what violence have they offered to themselves to do it? And when they thought they had prevailed, yet this Impression hath still returned, when they have been startled with Thunder, or Earthquakes, or Sickness, and the dreadful Apprehensions of approaching Death.
Possibly some few may have been found in the World, who have dissented from the rest of Mankind in this Belief of a Deity; yet their Dissent is not sufficient ground for us to conclude that therefore it is not a Dictate of Nature. For how many are there that violate the Laws of Nature, and do those things which the innate Light and Reason of a Man abhor and abominate? Yet none will from thence infer, that there are no such things as Natural Laws; so neither, though some might have utterly razed out of their minds the Notion and Belief of a God, yet it will not hence follow, that this Belief of a Supream Being is not an Impression of Nature.
But suppose the number of Atheists had been never so great, is it not far more probable that it should rather be a Dictate of Nature, that there is a God, than that there is not; since the dis-belief of his Being would open a wide Gap to all manner of Lewdness and Licenciousness, yea, and to the bold commission even of those Sins which are against Nature itself? Shall such Men be thought to speak the sence of Nature, whose Opinion so directly tends to bring in Sins contrary to the Light and Laws of Nature? For take away the Belief of a Deity, and it is as much to be doubted, whether the refined Discourses of Reason, and the consideration of Decency, and the intrinsical Rewards of Vertue, will be of force sufficient to restrain Men from the most enormous and unnatural Vices. That therefore must needs be a Dictate of Nature, which is almost the onelyonly thing which gives Authority to the Law of Nature; and such is the Belief of a God.
Secondly, Another convincing Demonstration of the Existance of a Deity, is taken from the serious consideration and review of the Frame and Order of the Universe; in which there are as many Wonders, as there are Creatures: and certainly he must needs be very blind and stupid, that reads not God in every one of them. Cast but your eyes upwards, and contemplate the vast Expansion of the Heavens, which are the Canopy of the World, the Roof of this great House the Universe, the Lid or Cover that is put over all the Works of Nature. Behold how gloriously this Canopy is studded; how many glittering Lights are hung up in this Roof to illuminate our inferior World, and to discover to our eyes all visible Objects, and to our mind the Invisible God, who hath guilded the Rays of the Sun, or silver'd the Face of the Moon? Who hath marshall'd the huge Host of Heaven, and set the Stars in such array, that not one of them hath broken its Rank, nor straid out of its Course and Order? Whose Hand is it that turns the great Wheels of Heaven, and makes them spin out Days, and Months, and Years, and Time, and Life unto us? Who hath ordered the Vicissitudes of Day and Night, Summer and Winter, that these run not into one another, and blend themselves and the whole World in Confusion; but with a perpetual Variety observe their just seasons and interchanges? Do not all these wonderful Works proclaim aloud, that certainly there is a great and glorious God, who sits inthron'd on High, and who hath thus paved the bottom of Heaven with Stars, and adorned the inner parts of it with Glories, yet to us unknown? Upon which very Reflection the Psalmist tells us, The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy-works, Psalm 19.1.
But not to carry the Atheist up to Heaven, let us descend lower, through the vast Ocean of liquid Air, and there observe how the grosser Vapours are bound together in Clouds, which, when the drowth and thirst of the Earth calls for refreshment, dissolve themselves into small drops, and are as if it were sifted into Rain: How comes it to pass, and whose Wisdom and Providence hath so ordered it, that there should not fall whole Clouds and Cataracts, but Drops and Showers? that they should not tumble upon us, but distil! An Effect so wonderful, that there is scarce any other Work of Nature that the Scripture doth more frequently ascribe unto God as a demonstration of his Power and Government, than that he sendeth Rain upon the Earth.
Yea, and these Clouds, how often are they charged with Thunder and Lightnings; as though it were so ordered of purpose, that if their Contexture cannot convince, yet their Terrour might affright the Atheist? Who can give any satisfactory account, how that Artillery came there planted? or how those Terrours of Mankind are there generated? Let the Atheist tell me how it comes to pass, that such contraries meet together in one, and that the same Cloud should be both a Fountain of Water, and yet a Furnace of Fire. And therefore the Prophet ascribes this particularly to God's Almighty Providence, Jer. 10.13. He maketh lightnings with the rain: and accounteth it such a remarkable instance of the Divine Operation, that he repeateth it again, Chap. 51.16.
If we descend into the lowest story of this great Building, the Earth; what a Shop of Wonders shall we find there! That the whole Mass and Globe of it should hang pendulous in the Air without any thing to support it; and whereas small Bodies of little weight fall through the Air, yet that this great and ponderous Body should be fixed for ever in its place, having no foundation, no support, but that Air which every Mote and Flie-doth easily cut thorough; that this round Ball of Earth should be inhabited on every part; that the feet of other Men should be opposite to ours, and yet they walk as erect, and be as much upon the face of the Earth as we are; that the middle point of the Earth should be the lowest part of it, and of the Universe, and whatsoever is beyond that is upwards: These and many others are such unaccountable Mysteries to our Comprehension; and yet are found so infallibly certain by Experience, and manifold Proofs, that he must be an Atheist out of meer spight, who shall seriously consider them, and not be induced by that consideration to adore the Infinite Power and Wisdom of the Author of them.
It would be too long to instance in the various sorts of Creatures that we behold; how artificially they are framed; what an excellent Configuration there may be observed in their several parts; what Subserviency of one to another; how they are suited to the Offices of Nature; what secret channels and conveyances for Life and Spirits; what springs of various motions are included in the small body of a Flie, or of a Mite. Certainly there is not the least thing that an Atheist can cast his eye upon, but it confutes him; but especially if he shall seriously consider the wonderful Structure of an Humane Body, the excellent contrivance and use of all the parts, he cannot chuse but after he hath admired the Artifice of the Work, admire also the Infinite Wisdom of the Maker, and cry out with holy David, *Psal. 139.15.I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Yea, not only a David, but Galen an Heathen, (one who it is thought, was not over credulous in Matters of Religion) yet when he had minutely inspected the many Wonders and Miracles that were contained in the Frame of our Body,Bacon's Essay of Atheism. he could not forbear composing an Hymn to the praise of our All-wise Creator.
And therefore as the Lord Verulam observes, God never wrought a Miracle to convince an Atheist, because his ordinary Works may convince him; and unless Men will be wilfully and stubbornly blind, they must needs subscribe to that of St. Paul, Acts 14.17.God hath not left himself without witness, in that he doth good, and gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And Rom. 1.20. The invisible things of God are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. When we see Footsteps evidently imprinted on the Earth, shall we not easily collect that certainly some one hath past that way? When we see a stately Fabrick built according to all the Rules of Art, and adorned with all the riches and beauty that Magnificence can expend about it; must we not presently conclude, that certainly there was some skilful Architect that built it? Truly every Creature is quoddam vestigium Dei; we may observe his Footsteps in it, and see how his Attributes, his Wisdom, his Goodness, and his Power have past along that way. And the whole World, it is a stately Fabrick, an House that God hath erected for himself; the magnificence and splendor of it is suitable to the state of the Great King; it is his Palace built for the House of his Kingdom, and the Honour of his Majesty. And we may easily conclude, that so excellent a Structure, must needs have an excellent Architect; and that the Builder and Maker of it is God.
Now that which makes some proud Spirits backward to acknowledge God in the Works of Nature, is, that they think they can by their Reason alone give a plausible account of those Effects and Phaenomena which we see in the World, by deducing them from Second and Natural Causes. And therefore many of those who are of an inquisitive and searching Genius, when they find such Effects depend upon, and flow from such and such Natural Causes, applaud themselves in the discovery, and look no further nor higher, but neglect the first and chief Cause of all, even God.
Hence some have thought that Reason and Philosophy are great Enemies to Religion, and Patrons of Atheism; but in truth it is far otherwise; and the Atheist hath not a more smart and keen Adversary (since he will not submit his Cause to be tryed by Scripture,) than true Reason and profound Philosophy. But if any who seem to be knowing and learned Men, are less inclined to the Belief of a Deity, it is not their Learning but their Ignorance that makes them so. The same Lord Verulam hath well observed, That a little Philosophy inclines a Man's mind to Atheism, but depth in Philosophy brings it about again to Religion. And I dare challenge the most learned Men in the World, to give a satisfactory account of the most vulgar and common Appearances in Nature, without resolving them at last into the will and disposal of the God of Nature; if I should ask them, What makes the Grass green, or a Stone to fall downwards, or the Fire to aspire upwards, or the Sun to inlighten and warm the World? What answer can they give, but that it is the property of their Natures; or what is altogether as insignificant and unintelligible? But if I should question farther, How came their Natures to be distinguisht with such properties? they must either here be silent, or confess a first Cause which indowed their Natures with such properties and actions: for although a Man may for some few successions of Causes and Effects, find one to depend upon another, yet they must all at last, be resolved into, and terminate in God.
And this is the second Demonstration of the Being and Existance of a Deity.
Thirdly, Unless the Being of a God be presupposed, Hoc qui existimet fieri potuisse, non intelligo cur non idem putet, si innumerabiles unius & viginti literarum formae aliquo conjiciantur, posse ex his interram excussis, annales Eunii, ut deinceps legi possint, effici: quod nescio an ne in uno quidem versu possit tantum valere fortuna. Cic de Nat. Deor. lib. 2.there can no tolerable account be given of the Being of any thing: We see innumerable Beings in the World, different from each other both in kind and particular. Now what rational account can the Atheist give, how these things come to have a being? There are but two ways imaginable: Either that the World was formed by Chance; or else, that it had its being from all Eternity. And accordingly (as if it were still fatal for them to encounter with the same Inconveniencies, for which they disavow Religion) Atheists are divided into two Sects.
First, There is the Epicurean Atheist, who affirms, that the World indeed had once a beginning, but it was meerly by Chance: for there having been from all Eternity infinite Particles of Matter moving too and fro in an infinite Space, at last meeting casually, they linked one in another; and so by meer chance formed this World which we now see. A Fancy so grosly ridiculous, that were it not now again taken up by some who pretend to be great Lights in Reason and Philosophy, I would not condescend so much as to mention it.
*Si in Scythiam, aut in Britaniam Sphaeram aliquis tulerit, hanc quam nuper familiaris noster effecit Posidonius, cujus singulae conversiones idem efficiunt in sole, & in lunâ, & in quinque stellis errantibus quod efficitur in coelo singulis diebus & noctibus, quis in illâ barbarie dubitet, quin ea Sphera sit perfecta ratione. Hi autem dubitant de mundo, ex quo oriuntur & fuint omnia, casunè ipse sit effectus, aut necessitate aliquâ, an ratione, an mente divinâ: & Archimedem arbitrantur plus voluisse in imitandis sphaere conversionibus, quàm naturam in efficiendis; praesertim cum multis partibus sint illa perfecta, quàm haec simulata solertiùs. Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 2.But as Cicero saith, both judiciously and ingeniously, As soon shall they perswade me that an innumerable company of loose and disordered Letters, being often shaken together, and afterwards thrown out upon the ground, should fall into such exquisit order as to frame a most ingenious and heroick Poem, as that Attoms straying too and fro at random, should ever casually meet together to make a World consisting of Heaven, and of Air, and Sea, and Earth, and so many sorts and species of living Creatures, in the frame and composure of which we see such wonderful and inimitable Skill. Had Archimedes, or*Quod si Mundum efficere potest concursus atomorum, cur porticum, cur templum, cur domum, cur urbem non potest, quae sunt minios operosa & multo quidem faciliora. Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. Posidonius's Sphere, in which were imitated all the motions and conversions of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, been presented to the most ignorant or illiterate Nations under Heaven, they could not be so grosly stupid as to think such a Piece, a Work of meer Chance, but of accurate Art and Study. And shall any doubt when he sees the great Machine of the World, the same and many other Conversions made in a more perfect manner, than they can be represented in any such Type, whether it be a Work of uncertain Chance, or else the Product of a most perfect Mind, and comprehensive Understanding? For certainly if a strong and mastering Reason be required only to imitate the Works of Nature, much more then to produce them.
And why had not those Atoms that could thus fortuitously frame a World, why had they not built Houses too, and Cities, and woven us Garments, that so by very good Chance we might have found these Necessaries ready provided to our hands, and saved the trouble and labour of making them? Did ever any Atoms fall into such exact order, and knit so artificially together, as to frame a Clock or a Watch, or any other piece of ingenious Mechanism? And will the Atheist then be so silly as to believe that these little dusts of Beings, should by meer hazard meet and joyn together to frame the whole World, and bestow such various forms and motions upon Creatures, as we daily see and admire? Look but upon the most contemptable Worm that crawls, we shall find it a far more excellent piece of Machanism, a far more curious Ingine, than any that ever the Art or Wit of Man could frame. And shall Chance make these! yea, Creatures of a more wonderful composure, which yet could never make a Watch or a Clock, or any of those Ingines which we have contrived for the use and service of life? And what will they say to the accurate Operations of Sense and Reason? Is it possible that one small Dust should see or feel another? and if not one, then not ten thousand put together. Shall their Configuration give them this Faculty, which their Being and Substance doth not? Which I shall then believe, when I shall be convinced that a Statue carved the most exquisitly that Art can perform, can any more see, or taste, or feel, than it could whilst it was rude and unformed Wood. But suppose that sence could be caus'd by meer matter put in motion; yet what shall we say to the refined Speculations, and profound Discourses of Reason? Is it likely, or indeed possible, that little Corpuscles should reflect, and argue, that Atoms should make Syllogisms, or draw up Parties between Pro and Con? Or will the Atheist grant, that there is no other difference between himself and a meer senceless Block, but only configuration of Parts? and that when he disputes most subtilly for his Cause, all his Reasons and Arguments are but a little Dust that flies up and down in his Brains? But that the agitation of material Particles, should produce any sprightly acts of Wit and Discourse, is so monstrously abhorrent to true Reason, that I doubt I shall never be perswaded to believe it, until some cunning Man convince me, that the High-way too is in a deep Speculation, and teeming with some notable Discourse, whensoever the Dust is stirred and flies about it.
And yet, forsooth, Men must now-a-days be Atheists, that they may be rational; and think it an high demonstration of their Parts and Ingenuity, to doubt of a Deity, and call all Religion into question. Whereas, were any thing in the Belief of a God, and the most misterious Points of our Religion, half so absurd and ridiculous, as there is in Atheism, I should most readily explode it, and count it altogether unworthy to be entertained by any Man that is ingenious and rational.
Secondly, Therefore, others being prest with the huge and monstrous Absurdities of this way of giving an account of the Appearances of Nature, they hold, That the World is from Eternity, and never had any beginning at all. And these are the Aristotelian Atheists.
But first, It is altogether unreasonable to deny a God, and yet grant that very thing for which alone they deny him. The only reason that tempts Atheists to deny a Deity, is because they cannot conceive a Being infinite and eternal; and therefore when they yield the World to be so, what do they else but run into the same Inconveniency which they would avoid; and that they may not grant one Eternal Being, grant innumerable? So fatal it is for Errour to be inconsistent with itself, and to trip up its own Principles.
Secondly, If the World be Eternal, there must of necessity have been past an infinite succession of Ages. Now, our understanding is as much non-plust to conceive this, as an infinite Being that should create the World: for if the World had no beginning, then an infinite number of Days, and Years, yea, of millions of Years and Generations of Men, are already actually past and gone. And if they are past, then they are come to an end: and so we shall have both a number that is actually infinite, and likewise somewhat infinite and eternal that is come to an end. A very proper Consequence for one that avoids the Belief of a Deity, because he would be Rational, and cannot conceive a Being that is Infinite.
Again, thirdly, If there have already been infinite successions of Generations in the World, certainly those which are yet to come, will make them more; and so we shall find a Number greater than that which is allowed to be actually Infinite. Or if to avoid this Contradiction, the Atheist should affirm, That the Generations to Abraham, and the Generations to David were both equal, because both infinite; he will thereby fall into two other gross Contradictions: the one, That a Number added to a Number should make no addition; the other, That since the Generations to Abraham were but a part of the Generations to David, the part should be equal to the whole.
Fourthly, There is no one moment in succession which was not once present: and consequently imagine a Duration as long as you please,Mori Metaph. part 1. cap. 10. yet in it of necessity there must be some one moment, which when it was present, all the rest were future; and if all the rest were future, this moment was then the beginning. So that it is impossible there should be a successive Duration without a beginning, and therefore impossible it should be from Eternity.
Again, fifthly, In all the Revolutions of Generation and Corruption that can be imagined, yet the Life of Animals must necessarily be before their death.Id. ibid & Place 9. Thes. salme Destatu Adamiante lapsum. For none can die till he hath lived; and none can live, but he must pass sometime before he dies. There was therefore a time before any Animal died; consequently their corruption and death was not from Eternity: neither before their death, had they lived an infinite Time, but only some few Days or Years; and therefore their generation and life was not from Eternity.
These things I do but cursarily mention, to give you a taste of the Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism; nor perhaps would it be proper to insist on them at large. But by these few Arguments you may see how unreasonable it is for an Atheist to boggle at the Belief of a Deity; whereas let him lay down whatsoever Principles he will, he shall find his reason more puzled and intangled by these Absurdities that will necessarily follow upon them, than he shall by any Difficulties that are consequent upon the Belief of a God.
Which Belief unless we entertain, we can give no tolerable account at all of the various Beings that are in the World; for neither are they eternal, neither have they hapned by chance, as I have demonstrated to you. It is therefore absolutely necessary that there be some first Cause of all Things which we behold, which is not it self caused, nor produced by any other: for if every thing were caused by some Pre-existent Being, then there never was a Being before which there was not another; and so this gross Absurdity will follow, that before there was a Being, there was a Being. A fit Consequence for Atheists, who pretend only to rational Speculations, to swallow. Therefore we must necessarily rest in some first Cause from which all other things have their origine, and is it self caused by none; and that is the great God whom we Adore, the great Creator and both Governour of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
This is therefore a third Demonstration of a Deity.
Fourthly, Perhaps it would shrewdly puzzle the Metaphysicks of an Atheist,Bradward. de Causa Dei. l. 1. c. 1. & l. 1. c. 14. to answer the Argument of Bradwardine. It is possible that there should be such a Being as should exist necessarily; since it is no more a Contradiction to exist necessarily, than to exist contingently, and a far higher and more absolute Perfection: But if it be possible that there might be such a Being, then it is certain that there is; because necessity of Existance is included in the very essential conception of it; or else this Condradiction would follow, That it is possible for that not to be, which yet is necessary to be. This Being therefore must needs be Eternal, Independant, and Self-sufficient; and that is the God whom we adore.
But to leave these more Abstruse and Scholastick Notions, in the fifth place, If there be no God, then neither have there been any Miracles performed in the World; nor any Prophesies or Predictions of future Contingencies.
First, There can be no Miracles performed without a Divine and Infinite Power: for certainly if there be no Being above Nature, there can be no Effects either above, or contrary to the course of Nature: for Nature when it is left to itself, cannot act contrary to its own Laws. Now that there have been miraculous Works performed, the Atheist cannot deny, unless he will deny the truth of all Records, and think it reasonable to make all Faith and Credit among Mankind a Sacrifice to his Opiniativeness. All Heathen Authors, as well as the Scritures, give abundant Testimony to this: and although they deny the Doctrine of the Scripture, yet there is no reason they should disbelieve it, when it only relates matter of Fact. In this behalf we desire they would give it as much credit, as they give to the Histories of Livy, or Tacitus, or any other Author of approved Honesty: and certainly it is but reasonable to credit the consonant Depositions of several plain Men, who all profess themselves to have been Eye-witnesses of those things they write: Yea, the Jews and Heathens who lived in those very times, and were most inveterate and cankar'd Enemies against the Name of Christ, would have given whatsoever was dearest to them in the World, could they have proved any Forgery in those Miracles, or Deceit in the Relaters of them: But the Evidence was so clear, that they were forced to confess even in spight of their own Malice, that such strange Works were done and really effected. But yet their spleen against the Truth was such, that they imputed them only to the Power of Magick, and the Operation of evil Spirits. But will our Atheist do so too? If so, he must needs acknowledge a God, by acknowledging a Devil; if not, he hath as little reason to believe any thing in the World which he himself hath not seen, as to believe the truth of those Reports, which we have received from undoubted hands, delivered to us by the unquestionable Testimonies of those who have known and seen what they have reported.
Therefore if ever there have been any such extraordinary Effects, as restoring sight to the Blind, and feet to the Lame, and life it self to the Dead, and that by no other application than only a word's speaking, there must certainly be a God. For these things are not within the power of second Causes, being so contrary to the course of Nature; and therefore must be ascribed to a Supream Deity, an Infinite Power, who is the Author, and great Controller of Nature.
Secondly, As there could have been no Miracles performed, so neither could there be any Prophesies or Predictions made of contingent Events, unless we acknowledge a God, who in his infinite Wisdom and Counsel foresees whatsoever shall come to pass, and revealeth his secret unto his Servants the Prophets.Amos 3.7. We have many Prophesies recorded which have already had their undoubted Effects: not to instance in all, I shall only mention two; the one is that Prophesy of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning the final Destruction of Jerusalem, Matth. 24.2. which received its full accomplishment about forty Years after they had crucified the Lord of Life and Glory. And the other, that Prediction concerning Cirus, that he should Re-edifie Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, Isai 44.28. and to make this Prophesy the more remarkable, it is said, Chap. 45.4. That for Israel s sake God had called him by his name. This was a famous and very particular Prophesy of a Person named near two hundred Years before he was born, and those things punctually foretold of him which he should afterwards perform. The like we have the 1 Kings 13.2. where the Prophet declaims against the Idolatrous Alter and Worship of Bethel, and foretels that Josiah should destroy it; calling him by his very name three hundred and forty Years before he was born, O alter, alter, thus saith the Lord, Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and mens bones shall be burned upon thee; which we read was exactly fulfilled by the same Josiah, 2 Kings 23.20. For he slew all the priests of the high places which were there, upon the altars, and burnt mens bones upon them. Now let any Atheist give a rational account how these future Contingents could be thus certainly and circumstantially fore-known and predicted,Dan. 2.28. were there not a God in Heaven that revealeth Secrets. They could not certainly see such free and contingent events in the Sars, especially so long before they were to be produced; or if they might, yet certainly they could not read Names there, nor spell the Constellations into Words and Syllables. There is therefore a God who giveth knowledge, and declareth things to come according as it pleaseth him to illuminate the minds of his Servants the Prophets, to whom, and by whom he spake.
And this is a fifth Demonstration of the being of a Deity.
The sixth and last is this, There is a Conscience in Man; therefore there is a God in Heaven. Conscience could have no power at all over us, unless it were given it from above. How comes it to pass that wicked Wretches are still haunted with pale Fears and ghastly Horrours, that they are sometimes a terrour to themselves, and to all that are about them; they would, if it were possible, abandon themselves, and run away from their own Being, but only that they have a Witness and a Judge within them of all their Crimes and Impieties, and feel such secret stings, and unseen whips lashing their Souls, that the tortures thy indure, and inflict on themselves, make them sometimes weary of their lives, and put them upon that desperate Curse of Choaking both themselves and their Consciences too with an Halter; whence I say, should this proceed, were there not a God, a Just and Holy Deity whom Conscience reveres? These Torments and Regrets do not always proceed from fear of Shame, or Punishment from Men. No: but Conscience hath a power to put them upon the rack for their most secret Sins, which no eye ever saw, no heart ever knew but their own; yea, and it forceth them sometimes themselves to confess and divulge their own Infamy, and voluntarily to render themselves to Humane Justice: Whence is this, but only from that secret influence of a Supream Being, that hath an awe and authority over Conscience, and makes it review the sins of a Man's life with horrour, because it knows the Just and Holy God will at last review them with Vengeance.