vt I' r ^ LIBKARY OF THK PRl]\€ETO]¥, THi.J. Letter No. IXPNATIOX liF S A M U K I. A Ci N K \V , r ' I K P a I i. A i • K L P H I A . P A . »@»^^^«c -Mo 0VS»* • THE S C H E M E O F CHRISTIAN AND PHILOSOPHICAL NECESSITT ASSERTED. In Oppofition to Mr. John Wejefs Traft on that Subjefl. WITH A DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE S E^N S I B L E Q^U A L I T Y S O F MATTER: AND THE DOCTRINE OF COLOR IN PARTICULAR. By AUGUSTUS ' TOPLAD Y, VICAR OF BROAD HEMBURY. " Adeo flat et permanet invifla Sententia, O/mkw Necessit ATE^er/, Nee eft hic uUa Obfcuritas, aut Ambiguitas. In Efaia dicit [DeusJ, Conjilium Meumjiabit, et Voluntas Meajiet. Quis enim Pucr non intelligit quid velint hac Vocabula, Cunftlium, Voluntai, fict, fiahitf" Luther. de Servo Arbitrio, Seifl. 19, " Quae nobis videtur Contingentia, _/eo«///w Dei Itnpuljum fuiffe agnofcet Fides." Calvin. Inftitut. L. i. C. 16. " Quid igitur, inquies, Nullane elt in Rebus, ut iftorum Vocabulo utar, Contingentia ? Nihil Cafus? Nihil Fortuna? — Oia/iia necessario cvenire Scripturae docent." Melancthon. Loc.Com. P. 10. 'Eih.Argentor, 1523. " There is not a Vly, i>ut has kad Ik F ifiiT t. Wisdom covccrncd, not eniy 7« zVj Structure, but in it's Destination." Dr. Young's Cent, not fab. Letter II. LONDON: Printed for VALLANCE and SIMMONS in CH^AFSins. M,I>CC,I.XXV. CONTENTS. P RE FACE Page i. CHAPTER I. Necejfity defined. — Short Account of Fate^ and the Order ohferved in the Chain of Things. — Neceffity ferfe^ly compatible with Voluntary Freedom. P. 9, CHAPTER II. iV/tf« a corn-pound Being, -»- Senfation the only Source ef his Ideas, — "The SouVs extenfive Dependence on the Body, during their prefent State ofConnec-^ tion. — An Argument > drawn from thence^ for. A 2 • ths CONTENTS. the Ncceffjy of Human Volitions. — ^larySt propofed to the JJfertars of Self-Determination. Page 1 8. CHAPTER III. Probable Equality of Human Souls. — Brutes them- f elves not merely Material. — NeceJJity confijient with the Morality of Anions : — and with Re- laard and Pimifiornent^ Praife and Blame : — and with the Retributions of the Judgement Day. — No Certainty, nor Pojfibility, of a final Judgement y on the Armiman Principles of Change and Self- Determination. — Anti-Necejfitarians unable to . cope with Infidels. — Co-incidence of Chriftian Predefiination with Philofophical Necefiity. P-33. CHAPTER IV. Specimen of Scripture- Atteftations to the Do5lrine of Nccefiity. — Probable, that Men are, by Nature^ uncivilized Animals. — "Total Dependency of All ^yentSy and of All Created Beings ^ on God. P. §6. CHAPTER CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Proofs that Christ Himfelf was an abfolute Ne^ cejfitarian. — 'This argued from feveral Paffages in His Sermon on the Mount : — from His Mira- cles : — from His Fore-knowledge : — frdm His Prophecy s: — from His occafional Declarations: — and from the whole Hijiory of His Life and Death recorded in the Gofpels. Page 71/ CHAPTER VI. Neceffity, in the Moral World ; analogous to Attrac* tion^ in the Natural. — Prodigious Lengthy to which Des Cartes is faid to have carry ed his Idea of Free-will. — y[Qxs,^and¥2tX.um,why reciprocated by the antient Romans. — God the fole Determiner of Human Life arid Death. — Shocking Attempts of fome modern Pree-willers to divefi the Divine Being t not only of His Decrees and Providence ^ hut of His Prafcience alfo. P. 98^ CHAPTER Vlt. fhe fuppofed Gloominefs of Necefftty, refuted. —^ Origin of Doctrinal Necejfity. — Concife Hifiory, A 3 and CONTENTS. and Summary y of Manichasifm. — Methodijls more grofs Manichaans, than Manes himjelf. — Remarkable Converfation-Pieces of Three modern Philofophizers. — The Weftminfter and other Affemhlys of Divines ^ vindicated. — Arminianifm itfelf, when hard pufhed^ compel' d to take Refuge in Necejftty, — Conclusion of this EJfay. Page 119. APPENDIX. Conjifiing of a Dissertation on the Sensible Q^PiLYiY% of Matter, P. 1^3 — 205*' PREFACE. t i ] PR E F A C E. YESTERDAY'S Poll brought me a Packet from London, including, among Other Papers, a fmall Trad, recently publilhed by Mr. John Wejley, entitled, " Thoughts upon " Neceflity." I had no fooner perufed thofc *' Thoughts," than I refolved to bring them to the Teft : and am now fetting about it. During fome Years paft, I have, for the moft part, flood patiently on the Defenfive, againft this Gentleman. 'Tis high Time, that I take my Turn to invade •, and carry the Arms of Truth into the Enemy's own Territoiy. Mr. Wefley's Tra6l, above-mentioned, was fent to me, by a w«li-knowrt, and very deferving, London Clergyman. So much of whofe Letter, A 4 ** ' , [ H 3 as relates to the faid Trafl, fliall, for the Amufe- ment of my Readers, be fubmitted to their View. " I went, lafl: Night, to the * Foundery -, ex- " pefting to hear Pope John : but was difap- " pointed. After hearing a Welfliman, for an " Hour and twenty Minutes, on Pfalm Ixxxiv. *' II. preach up all the Herefys of the Place ; a " Man, who fat in the Pulpit, told him to ' Give " over' : For he feemed to bid fair for another " Half Hour, at lead. Bu: he came to a Con- " ckifion, as defired. Then this Man, who " feemed to be a local Preacher, flood up, with " a Pamphlet in his Hand, and addrelTed the *' Auditory in the following Manner : ' / am defired, to puhliJJj a Pamphlet upon Ne- ' CESSiTY and Free-will ; the lejl extant, that I < kno-iv of, in the * Englidi Tongue : hy Mr. John ' WeQey, PnV^ Three-Pence. — I had purpofed ' to have faid a good deal upon it : hut the time ' is elapfed. — But, in this three-penny Pamphlet ' you have all the Difpules that have been handfd ' about fo latdy. Aud you will get your Minds more * Mr. Weflev's principal Mceiing-honfe in London. * Quxry : Does the faid L^y Preacher, whoever he may be, kaow aiighc of any ot'.er Tongue ? ejiahlijhed [ iii ] * ejiahliped, hy this three-penny Pamphlet^ • than by reading all the Books that have been ' written for and againji. It is to be hady at both ' Doors, as Tou go out. " I beg Leave" (adds my Reverend Friend), " to tranfmit you this here faid fame three-penny " Wonder." Upon the Whole, this muft have been a droll Sort of Mountebank Scene. Attended, how- ever, with one moil melancholy and deplorable Circumftance, arifing from the unreafonable and unfeafonable Prolixity of the long-winded Holder- forth : which cruelly, injudicioully, and defpite- fuily, prevented poor Zany from puffing off, with the Amplitude he fully intended, the multi- plex Virtues of the Doctor's three-penny free- will Powder. Never do That by Delegation, fays an old Pro- verb, which you can as well do in propria Per- fond. Had Doftor John himfelf got upon the Stage, and fung, " Come, buy my fine Powders ; come buy dem " of Me ; " Hare be de beft Powders dat ever you fee :" « Who [ i* J Who knows, but the three-penny Doles might have gone oflF, " at both Boors^'' as rapidly as Peas from a Pop*-gun ? My Bufmefs, for a few fpare Hours, (hall be* to amufe myfelf, by analyftng this redoubtable Powder. The chemical Refolution of fo ineftimable a Specific into its component Parts (a Specific, ** ^ht like whereto was never feen, ** Nor will again, while Grafs is green*'), may, moreover, be of very great and fignal Use. 'Twere Pity, that the Materia medica, of which it is made up, (hould remain a Secret. Efpecially, as the good Doftor defigned it for general Benefiti To make which Benefit as univerfal as I can, I do hereby give Notice, unto all Philofophers, Di- vines, and others, who have poifon'd their In- trails, by unwarily taking too deep a Draught of Necessity ; that they may, at any Time, by Help of the following Decompofition, have it in their Power to mix up, for their own immediate Recovery, a competent Quantum of the famous Moor-fields Powder : whofe chief Ingredients are, An equal Portion of grofs Heathenifm, Pelagid- nifm, Mahometifm, Popery, Manichteifm, Rante- rifm^ I V ] tifm, and Antinomianifm -, cull'd, dryed, and pul- veriz'd, fecundum Artem : and, above all, mingled with as much palpable Aiheifm as you can pofiibly fcrape together from every Quarter. Ha tihi erunt Artes. Follow the above Pras- fcription, to your Life's End ; and you'll find it a moft pleafant, fpeedy, and infallible Antidote againft every Species and Effed of the banc- full Neceflitarian Nightlhade. 'Tis the Felin •^0 non ■prafent'ius ullum (Poculaji quando fav<£ infecere Noverca, Mifcueruntque Hsrbas^ et non innoxia Verba) Auxilium venity ac Memhris agit atra Venena*. But tho' Mr. John Wefley is the Vender, and the oilenfible Proprietor, of this efficacious ihree- peny Medicine-, the original Difcovery of the Noftrum is by no Means his own. He appears to have pilfer'd the Subflance, both of his Arcana medendi^ and of his Cavils againft the true Philo- fophy of Colors, from the refuted Lucubrations with which a certain North-Britifli ProfefTor hath cdify'd and enriched the Literary Public. Let the fimple, however, be on their Guard, left Mr. * Georgic. L. 2. 127. Wefley's i ^i ] Wefley's fpiritual Medicines have as pernicious influence on their Minds ; as the quack Remedy^ which he * recommends for the Gout, had on the • In Mr. Wefley's Book of Receipts, entitled Primiti've Thyjicy he advifes Perfons, who have the Gout in their Feet or Hands, to apply ranit lean Beef Steaki to the Part afFefted,- frefh aud frefli every twelve Hours. Somebody recom-^ mended this dangerous Repellent, to Dr. T, in the Year 1764, or early in 1765. He tryed the Experiment. The Gout was, in confequence, driven up to his Stomach and Head. And he dyed, a few Days after, atBaib: where I happen'd to fpend a confiderable Part of thofe Years ; and where, at the vei'y Time of the Dean's Death, I became acquainted with the Particulars of that Cataftrophe. I am far from meaning to infinuate, becaufe I do not know, that the Perfon, who perfuaded Dr. T. to this fatal Recourfe, derived the Recipe immediately from Mr. Wef- ley's medical Compilation. All I aver, is, that the Recipe itfelf is to be found there. Which demonftrates the unfkil- full Temerity, wherewith the Compiler fets himfelf up as a Phyfician of the Body. Should his quack Pamphlet com« to another Edition, 'tis to be hoped that the Beef Steak Re- medy will, after fo authentic and fo melancholy a frohatum ejly be expunged from the Lift of Specifics for the Gout.— 'Tis, I acknowledge^ an efFedlual Cure. Cut off a Man's Head, and he'll no more be annoy'd by the Tooth-ach.— * Alas, for the Ingenium rjehx, and for the Audacia perdita, with which a ra(h Empiric, like Juvenal's Graculus efuriensi lays Claim to univerfal Science ! Grammaticus, Rhetor., Geometres, PiSlor, Aliptes, Augur i Schanobatesj Medicuit Magus .' Omnia novit ! Life- [ vii ] |L,ife of Dr. ^ d, the late worthy Dean o{ ;v — ch. By Way of diredl Introduflion to the following Sheets, allow me to prsemife an Extradt from the Commentary of a very great Man on thofe cele- brated Lines of Juvenal : Nullum Numen habes Ji fit Pudentia -, fed te Nos facimus. For tun a, Deam, C^loque locamus, " Dicit autem hoc Poeta, ob Fortunam: quae non *' folum nullum numen eft, fed nufquam et nihil eli, " Nam, cum fciamus omnia in Mundo, maxima ^' et minima, PRoviOENTia DEI gubernari ; quid " reftat de Fortuna, nifi vanum et inane No- *> men ? Unde, rede dicitur, Tolle Ig- *' NORANTiAM 6 Perfonis, FoRTVN AM de Rebus fuf *' tuleris. Quia enim Homines Rerum omnium *' Caufas non perfpicimus, ut eft mortalium " CcEcitas : Fortunam nelcio quam vagam, irri- " tam, inftabilem, nobis fingimus. Quod fi " Caufas Rerum latentes & abditas nobis infpi- " cere daretur j non modo nullam effe talem For- *' tunam videremus, verum etiam omnium mini- *' ma, fingulari Dei Providentia, regi. Et fic For- *.' tuna nihil aliud eft, quam Dei Providentia, fed " nobis non perfpet^ia. Et rede divinus ille .S^- i^' neca : Fortuna, Fatum, Natura, omnia J* EjuspEM DEI Nomina, varie sua Potes- ^' TAT? r viii ] ^'^ TATE uTENTis *." i. c. ' The Poet, in this PlacCy levels his Arrow «/ Fortune, or Chance ; which is not only no Goddess, but a mere no- thing, and has no Exijlence any where. For Jince it is certain^ that All Things in the World, both little and greats are conducted by the Provi- dence of GOD; what is Chance, but an empty y unmeaning Name F Hence it has been rightly ob- ferved,Takt away Man's Ignorance, and Chance vanifhes in a Moment. The true Reafon, why any of us are for fetting up Chance and For- tune^ is, our not being always able to discern and tv trace the genuine Caufes of Events : in confe- quence of which, we blindly and abfurdly feign t& ourfelves a fuppofed random, unreal, unjleady Caufe, called L.VCK, (?r Contingency. Whereas, were we endued with fufficient Penetration to look into the hidden Sources of Things -, we (houldnot only fee that there is no fuch Power, as Contingency, or For^ tune-, but, fo far from it, that even the smallest and mofi trivial Incidents are guided and governed by; GOD'j own exprefs and Jpecial Prowidehce. If, therefore, the Word, Chance, have any determi- nate Signification at all ; it can mean neither more nor lefs than the unseen Management (?/"G<7e}rlERESYS among*Men-y it is no iefs mcejjary^ on the other, that thofe Herefys fhould be differed and expofed. Mr. Wefley imagines, that, upon my own Principles, I can be no more than " a Clocks And, if fo, how can I help Jirikin^F He himfelf has, feveral Times, fmarted, for coming too near the Pendu- lum. Mr. Wefley*s Incompetence to Argument is never nnore glaringly confpicuous, than when he paddles in MetaphyJIa. And yet, I fuppofe, that the Man who has modeftly termed himfelf, and in Print too, ** ^he greatejl Minijler in the «« Worlds* does, with equal Certainty, confider himfelf as the ablejl Metafhyftdan in the World. But his Examinations are far too hafty and fuper- ficial, to enter into the real Merits of Subjects fo extremely abftrufe, and whofe Concatenations are (though invincibly ftrong, yet) fo exquifitly nice and delicate. One Refult of his thus exercifing himfelf in Matters which are too high for him, is, • I Cor. xi. 19. that. in] that, in many Cafes, he decides peremptorily, without having difcern'd fo much as the true Hate of the Quellion ; and then fets himfelf to fpedk evil of Things which, it is very plain, he does not underjiand. Or, (to borrow the language of Mr, Locke), he " knows a little, praefumes a " great deal, and fo jumps to Conclufions." I appeal, at prefent, to his " Thoughts upon " Necessity." Thoughts, which, though crude and dark as Chaos, are announced, according to Cuftom, with more than Oracular Fofitivenefs : as though his own Glandula Pinealis was the fingle Focus, wherein all the Rays of Divine and Humart Wifdom are concentred. His Thoughts open thus. I. " Is Man a Free-agent^ or is he not?*^ — » Without all Manner of Doubt, he is % in a vaft Number and Variety of Cafes. Nor did I ever, in Converfation, or in Reading, meet with a Per- fon, or an Author, who deny'd it. But let us, by defining as we go, afcertain what Free-agency is. All needlefs Refinements apart, Free-agency, in plain Englifh, is neither more nor lefs, than voluntary Agency. Whatever the Soul does, with xh^ full Bent of Preference and Deftre ; in That, the Soul ads freely. For, Ubi Confenfus^ ihi Voluntas : Cs?, uU Voluntas^ ihi Li- bertas, B 2 I own [ 12 ] I own myfelf very fond of Definitions. I there- fore prasmife, what the Necessity is, whofe Caufc I have undertaken to plead. It is exacflly and diametrically oppoftte, to that which Cicero delivers concerning Fortuna, or Chance^ Luck^ Hap, Accident ality, and Contingent cy ; invented by the Poets of fecond Antiquity, and, during many Ages, revered as a Deity, by both Greeks and Romans. " Quid eft aliud ** Sors^ quid Fortuna, quid Cafus, quid Eventus j " nifi quum fic aliquid cecidit, fic evenit, ut vel '* NON cadere atque evenire, vel aliter cadere " atque evenire, potuerit * ?" i. e. Chance, For- tune, Accident, and Uncertain Event, are then faid to take place, when a 'Thing so comes to pafs, as that it either might not have come to pafs at all-^ or might have come to pafs, otherwise than it- does. On the contrary, I would define Neceffity tp be That, hy which, whatever comes to pafs cannot BUT come to pafs (all Circumftances taken into the Account) -, and can come to pafs in no other Way or Manner, than it does. Which co-incides with Ariftotle's Definition of Neceffity (though, by the Way, he was a Freewiller himfelf) : To • Cic. De Divinat. L. 2. + Apud Frommttmm, Lib, 2. Cap. 9. I 13 ] We call that Necejfary^ which cannot be otherwife than it is. Hence the Greeks termed NecelTity, Ai/aHcTj: becaufe avottra-n^ it reigns^ without Exception, over all the Works of God ; and becaufe avocv-xth it retains and comprizes all Things within the Limits of its own Dominion. The Romans called it Necesse, & Necessitas ; quafi ne Cajfitas^ be- caufe it cannot faiU or be made 'void : & quad ne ^ajfitas^ becaufe it cannot be moved, or Jhaken^ by all the Power of Men *, I ac- * The immediate Parent, or Cau/a Proximay of Neceffity, is Fate; called, by the Greeks, fi^a^/xecy? : becaufe it in- vincibly dijiributei to every Man his Lot. They termed it ftlfo ff67r§a;/iAt»»), becaufe it bounds ^ limits, marks out, adjujls, 4tterminest and prsecifely a/certains, to each Individual of the human Race, his afligned Portion both of aflive and paffive Life. Fate was likewife fometimes metonymically ftyled (^.oi^a, or the Lat, i. e. the Res ipjiffimas, or very Anions and Felicitys and Sufferings, themfelves, which fall to every Man's Share. The Latins called Fate, Fatum: either from /«/, i.e. from God's faying. Let fucb and fuch a Thing come to pei/s : or, fimply, afando-, from God*s pronouncing the Exiftence, the Continuance, the Circumftances, the Times, and what- ever elfe relates to Men and Things. If we diftinguifh accurately, this feems to have been the Order, in which the moll judicious of the Antients confi- der'd the whole Matter. Firft, God : — then. His Will:— then, Fate; or the folemn Ratification of His Will, by B 3 paffing [ 14 ] I acquiefce in the old Diftiniflion of NecefTity (a Diltin(5lion adopted by Luther*, and by molt of, not to fay by all, the found Reformed Divines), into a Neceffity the Holy Spirit's Operation ! Crcdat Judccusy &c. C 3 perfcded. r 30 ] perfeded. There would be, pr^cifely, the fame Quantity of folid Subftance, which there now is, without the Lofs of a corpufcular Unit ; were all the Men, and Things, upon the Face of the Earth, and the very Globe itfelf, reduced to Allies. Confequently, Matter is abfolutely and folely dependent on God hitnfelf. Thus have we, briefly, traced the winding Current to it's Source, The Soul, or Intelleft, depends on it's Ideas^ for the Determinations of its Volitions: elle, it would will, as a blind Man walks, at aVenture and in theDark. — Thofe Ideas are the Daughters of Senfation -, and can deduce their Pedigree from no other Quarter. The embody'd Soul could have had no Idea of fo much as a Tree, or a Blade of Grafs, if our Dif- tancefrom thofe Bodys had been fuch, as to have prsecluded their refpeclive Forms from occurring to the Eye. — The Senfes^ therefore, are the Chan- nels of all our natural Perceptions. Which Senfes are entirely corporeal: as is the Brain alfo, that grand Centre, to which all their ImprefTions are forwarded, and from whence they immediately a6b upon the Immaterial Principle. — Thefe cor- poreal Senfes receive their ImprefTions from the Prefence, or Impulfe, of exterior Beings (for all our Senfations are but Modes of Motion). — And every one of thofe exterior Beings is dependent, for C 31 J for Exiftence, and for Operation, on GOD Mofl: High. Such is the Progreffion of one Argument (and 'tis but one among many), for the great Doftrine of Philosophical Necessity : A Chain, con- cerning which (and, efpecially, concerning the Determination to Aflion, by Motives arifing from Ideas) Mr. Wejley modeftly affirms, that " It has not one good Link belonging to it." Serioufly, I pity the Size of his Underftanding. And I pity it, becaufe 1 verily believe it to be a "Fault which he cannot help : any more than a Dwarf can help not being Six Feet high. Lame iadeed are all his Commentations : " But better he'd give us, if hettenhe had.^^ I fliall clofe this Chapter, with fubmitting a few plain and reafonable Qucerys to the Reader. 1. How is that Suppofition, which afcribes a Self-determining IVill to a created Spirit-, lefs ab- surd, than that Suppofition, which afcribes Self- Exiftence to Matter .'' 2. In what Refpe(5l, or Refpedls, is the Ar- minian Suppofition of a fortuitous 'Train of Events \ lefs Atheistical, than the Epicura^an Suppofition oi z. fortuitous Cone our fe of Atoms? C 4 . 3, 1/ t 32 ] 3. If Man be a Self-determining Agtn\.\ will it not neceflarily follow, that there are as many rirfl Caujes (i.e. in other Words, as many GODS), as there are MEN in the World ^ 4. Is not Independence effentially pra^requifit to Self-determination ? 5. But is it true in Fact, and would it be found Philosophy to aidmit, that Man is an inde- pendent Being ? 6. Moreover, is the Suppofition, of Human In- dependence and Self-determination^ found The- ology ? At lead, does it comport with the Scrip- tural Account of Man .? For a Specimen of which Account, only caft your Eye on the Paffage or two that follow. — The JVay of Man is not in him- felf: it is not in Man that walketh to ddre£l his own Steps ^\ — Without Me [i. e. without Chrift;, ye can do nothing ■\. — In Him [i. e. in God j we live, and are moved {y-ivufj^i^x), and have ourExiftence"^,—^ It is He who worketh All in All%. — It is God, ■ who worketh in you both to will and to do \\. — Of Him, and to Him, and through Him, are all Things ^. 7. May we not, on the whole, foberly affirm; that the Scheme of Neceffity is Philofophy in her * Jer, X. 23. f John xv. 5, t X Ads xvii. 28. § I Cor. xii. 6. II Phil. ii. 13. t\ Rom, xi. ^6. right r 33 ] right Mind? And, that the Scheme of Contin- gency is Philofophy run mad ? CHAPTER in. Several Objections, to the Scheme of Necessity, anfwered, IT feems mofl agreeable to the radical Simpli- city, which God has obferved in His Works j to fuppofe, that, in themfelves^ All human Souls are eo[ual. I can eafily believe, that the Soul of an Oyller-woman has, naturally, the (unexpand- ed) Powers of Grotius, or of Sir If aac Newton : and that what conduces to raife the Philofopher, the Poet, the Politician, or the Linguift, fo much above the ignorant and ftupid of Mankind -, is, not only the Circumftance of intellefbual Culti- vation, but (ftill more than That) his havino- the Happinefs to occupy a better Houfe, i. e. a Body more commodioufly organized^ than They. The Soul of a Monthly Reviewer^ if imprifon*d within the fame mud Walls which are tenanted by the Soul of Mr. John Wefley \ would, fimilar- ly circumftanced, reafon and a6l (I verily think) exadly f 34 ] cxa<5lly like the Billiop of Moor-fields. And I know ibme very fenfible People, who even go fo far, as to fuppofe, that, was an Human Spirit Ihut up in the Skull of a Cat j Pufs would, not- withftanding, move prone on all four, purr when ftroaked, fpit when pinched, and Birds and Mice be her darling Objeds of Perfuit. Now, tho' I can, by no means, for my own Part, carry Matters to fo extreme a Length as this ; yet, 1 repeat my Opinion, that Much, very Much, depends on corporeal Organization. Whence the ufual Remark, that a Man is (I would rather fay, appears to be) fenfible and in- genious, according to his Dimenfion and folid Content of Brain. That is, as I apprehend, the Soul is more capable of exerting it's Powers, when lodg'd in a capacious and well- conltru6led Vehicle. I dare believe, that the Brain of Dr. Thomas Nowell is, to That of Mr. John Wejley^ as 2 to i, at the very leafl. And yet, all this is the Refult of abfolute Necejfity. For, what is Brain, but Matter peculiarly modify'd ? And Who is the Modifyer ? Not Man, but God. I juft now hinted the Conjedure of fome, that an human Spirit, incarcerated in the Brain of a Cat; would, probably, both think and behave, as that Animal now does. But how would [ 35 ] would the * Soul of a Cat acquit itfelf, if in- clofed in the Brain of a Man ? We cannot re- folve this Qusefdon, with Certainty, any more than the other. We may, however, even on this Occafion, addrefs every one of our human Brethren in thofe Words of that great philofo- phic Neceflitarian, St. Paul ; and afl<, JVho mak- etb thee to differ from the lowed of the^Brute Creation? Thy Maker's Free-will, not thine.— - And what Prse-eminence hajl thou, which thou didji not receive from Kim ? Not the leaft, nor * Let not the Reader ftart, at that Expreffion, < The Sotd * of a Cat.' For the' the Word, fo apply'd, may feem Grange to thofe who have not weighed both Sides of the Qu^llion (it would have feemed very ftrange to me, about 15 Years ago); yet, on giving the Caufe an impartial Hearing, the Scale of Evidence will, in my Judgement, ftrongly decide for an hnmaterial Principle in Brutes. I mean not, here, to difcufs the Argument. But let me hint, that one principal Hinge, on which the En ] the contrary, fay, that it both can^ and does. Mr. Wefley does not confider the tremendous con- fequences, which unavoidably flow from his Po- lition. For, \f necejfary Virtue be neither moraly Tiox -praife-worthy \ 'twill follow, That God Him- felf (who, without all Doubt, is necejfarily and unchangeably Good) is an immoral Being, and not Praife-worthy for his Goodnefs ! On the fame horrible Arminian Principle, 'twould alfo follow, that Chrift's moft perfe6t Obedience (which was necejfary : for He could not but obey perfetftly) had no Morality in it, was totally void of Merit, and entitled Him to neither Pr^i?y>, nor Reward! The Axiom, therefore, which dares to affirm, that " Neceflity and Moral Agency are irrecon- " cilable Things •," lays, at once, an Axe to the Root both of natural and revealed Religion, and ** Idea of Virtue and FicCy as implying Prai/e and Blame ; •• may be fully retorted upon it's Opponents, For, as to '• their boafted Self-determining Ponver (were the Thing ^o/^ ** fble in itfelf, and did not imply unJhfurdityJy by which •* they pretend to have a Power of afting independently of *i every Thing that comes under the Defcription o( Moti'vey *' I fcruple not to fay, that it is as foreign to every Idea of «' Virtue or Vice, Praife or Blame, as the grofleft Kind *' of Mechanifm that the moft blundering Writer in De- << fence of Liberty ever afcribed to the Advocates for moral ♦• Neceflity." Pr. Prief ley' sExzm. of Beattie, &c. f. 178. P ough; f 4' 1 ought to be hifled back again by all Mankind to the Hell from whence it came. The Crucifyers of the Son of God perpetrated the moji immoral A^^ that ever was, or ever will be, committed. And yet, I am exprefsly afilired, by the written Teflimony of the Holy Ghoftj enter'd on a Record which will continue to the End of Time, that Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the People of the Jews, were gather'd together againjl Jeftis, for to do whatfoever God'j Hand and God'j Counfel had fore-determined to he done *. So that, upon Chriftian Principles at leaft. Necessity and moral Evil (by the fame Rule, alfo, Necessity and Moral Good) may walk -f- hand in hand together. If Mr. Wefley prefers Ariftoile and the other Gentlemen of the L.yc<£um, to the Infpired Writers •, and chufes the peripatetic Scheme of Free-will, rather than the Bible Scheme of Neceflity -, he muft, for me, go on to hug an Idol that cannot fave. The whole Cavil amounts to prsecifely this, Jf God is the alone Author and Worker of all Good \ Virtue ceafes to be Virtue: And, If God is the free Permittor of Evil, Vice ceafes to be Vice. Can any Thing be, at once, more impious, and more • A£ts ii. 33. and iv. 28. f I have largely canvafs'd this Point, in a former Tra£t, entitled, More Work for Mr. John Wejley. irrational, [ 43 ] irrational, than the Letter and the Spirit of thefc two Propofitions ? In one Word : thofe Modes of Aclion, called Virtue and Vice^ do not ceafe to be moral, i. e. to affeft our Manners, as Creatures of God, and as Members of Society ; be thofe Modes occa- fion'd by what they may. A6ts of Devotion, Candor, Juftice, and Beneficence, together with their Oppofites; are, to all Intents and Purpofes, as morally good or evil, if they flow from one Source, as from another : tho* no Works can be evangelically good and pleafing to God, which do not fpring from His own Grace in the Heart, But this latter Circumrtance is entirely oifpiritual Confideration. It has nothing to do, off or on, with the mere * Morality of AcSlions. Good is morally, i. e. religioufly excellent, or focially be- neficial ; and Evil is morally, i. e. religioufly bad or focially injurious ; whether Men be felf- determining Agents, or not. Light is Light, and Darknefs is Darknefs ; flow they from the right hand, or from the left. * Morality is, I think, ufually, and very juftly, defined ttj be. That Relation, or Proportion, "which ASlions hear, to a given Rule. Confequently, neither Neceflity, nor Non-Neceffity, has any Thing to do with the Morality of Adion. I D 2 2. Wc [ 44 ] 2. We are told, that, on the Hypothefis of Necessity, Man is " neither rewardahle, nor " puni/hable; nekher praife-, nor ^/^w^ worthy." No Objeftion can be more unphilofophical than this, becaufe it quite lofes fight of the very Point in Debate ; viz. of NeceJJiiy itfeif : by which, certain Caufes inevitably produce certain Effefls, and certain Antecedents are inevitably concatenated with certain Confequences. 'Tis fufficient, therefore, to anfwer : that the Will of God has eftabliflied a natural Connection between Virtue and * Happinefs, Vice and Mifery. This divinely eltablifli'd Connexion is fo indilToluble, that, even in the prefent State of Things, Hap- pinefs never fails to enter at the fame Door with Virtue ; nor does Mifery ever fail to tread upon the Heels of Vice. Some Senfualifts, however, profefs otherwife ; and affirm, that their own Deviations from the moral Path are neither attended, nor followed, by any pungent Briar, or grieving Thorn. Their Draughts are all balmy and ne<^areous5 without a Drop of Wormwood or of Gall, to allay the Sweetnefs, or to embitter the Remembrance. Thofe Gentlemen muft, however, cxcufe mc from taking their Word for this. I don't believe * I here fpeak of i/itel/e^nal Hzpp'mefs or Mifery. one t 45 3 one Syllable of it Co be true. Both Scriptufej and the Nature of the Cafe, and the Obfervations I have made ; unite to render me quite pofitive^ that The Way of 'Tranfgrejfors is hard * ; thatj even in the midst of Laughter, they have a Tinge of Sorrow in their Hearts •, as well as that the End of their Mirth is Heavinefs^. They may, for a Time, like the Lacedsemonian Boy, conceal the Wolf that is eating out their very Intrails ; and fet the Glofs of an outward Sardo- nian Smile, on the inward Pangs they endure : hut the Great Law of Necessity, from which neither the Virtuous nor theLicentious are exemptj afTures me, that this pretended Eafe is mere Diflimulation and Grimace. One of the mod fenfible Men 1 ever knew, but whofe Life, as well as his Creed, had been rather excentric \ returned me the following Anfwer, not many Months before his Death, when I aflied him, ' Whether his former Irre- * gularitys were not both accompany*d, at the * Time, and fucceded, afterwards, by fome * Senfe of mental Pain ?' Tes, faid he • hut I have fear ce ever owned it, 'till now. We [mean- ing. We Infidels, and Men of fafhionable Mo- rals] dorCt tell You all that pajfes in our Hearts, • Prov. xiii« 15. f Prov. xlv. 13, D 3 .The [ 46 ] The FaB, then, plainly /j, that Reflitude of Manners faves People from much Uneafmefs of Mind ; and, that the Perpetration of moral Evil involves in it a Trojan Horfe, whofe hidden Force puts their Comforts to the Sword. I have iten Inftances of this, in very high, as well as in more humble, Life : notwithftandirfg all the La- bor and Art, which have been obtended, to vail it from the Eye of Man. T'hey zvho plough Ini- quity, and foiv T'Vickednefs, reap the fame* \ the Crop is always, more or lefs, fimilar to the Seed. "The wicked Man travelleth with Pain, all his Days ; and a dreadfull Sound is in his Ears -j- ; let him fay what he will to the contrary. So that we may almoft aflert, with || Seneca, " Prima • Job iv. 8. t Job XV. 20, 21. II Epift. Lib. 16. Ep. 2.— When St. Paul fpeaks (Eph. iv. 19.) of feme who were ar^iAf-jy-olEj, which we render, faj} Feeling (tho' it may better be render'd, quite funk in In- dolence and Idlenefs ; totally enervated, and diflipated ; Ene- mys to all honed, manly, and laborious Employ :) there is no Neceflity for fuppofing even the Englifh Phrafe to im- port, that thofe wretched People were void of inward Hor- ror and tormenting Anguifh ; but that they were quite void of outward Decen,cy, and had no Feelings of Delicacy : for there is a Sort of Refinement (the' bad is the bell)^ which even Vice itfelf is capable of. When the fame Apofile fpeaks, elfewhere (i Tim. iv. 2.), ef the x!x«Jl»5iaKr^.i:ia, V, or Perfons whofe Confciences have been feared [ 47 ] *•* Prima & maxima peccandum Poena cfl:, pec* ** cafTe :'* i. e. the very CommiJJion of Sin is it^s own primary and capital Punijhment. God Himfelf has joined the Chain together : no Wonder, therefore, that it's Links cannot be put afunder. Hence, I conclude, that, let what feeming Confequences foever flow from the Po- fition of Neceflity -, God would not have ty'd moral and natural Evil together, into one Knot, if moral Evil were not juftly punifiiable. And, while Facts, indifputable Facts, fay, Aye ; F'adts I will ftill believe, tho' ten T4ioufand imaginary Inferences were to fay. No. I mufh likewife add, that, if we fliut out the Do^lrine of Neceflity, which aflferts the infepa- rable Connexion of moral Evil with intelledlual (and, often, with external) Infelicity ; Men will want one of the mofl: rational * Motives, which can feared as nvith an hot Iron ; the Word (not to canvafs, here, the feveral critical Senfes which it will admit of) may be fairly confider'd, as importing neither more nor lefs than This, that they carry a fearfuli Brand, or Mark of Condeni' nation, in their own Minds ; tho' they may endeavor to tofs off Matters, outwardly, with an Air of feeming Un- concern. * Should Any be fo pitiably undifcerning, as to afk, *• What can NeceJJity have to do with rational Motives?" — I anfwer : that there are numberlefs Cafes, wherein certain D -f, Moti-ves I 4S 3 can poITibly induce them to an Hatred of Vice. ' — And fo great is the Depravation of Human Nature, that, were it not for the Thing Necef- fity, Virtue neither would nor could have any Sort of Exiftence in the World. As for that Mixture (or, rather, Interfperfton) of Good and Evil, which obtains throughout our fublunary Planet •, this, likewife, I acknowledge to be the Confequence of aflual and reigning Keceffity. But this, in a philofophic Eye, re- fieds no more Blame on Neceflity itfelf ; than the two contrary Powers of Attraction and Re- pulfion can reflect Diihonor on the Wifdom of Him, who, for good Reafons, endu'd Matter with thofe oppofite Propertys. Mot'fvei appear fo very rational to the Pilind, as to be abfo- lutely co/W, Thoufloalt perfuade him, and prevail alfo : go forth^ and do fo. — Now, therefore, the Lord hath put a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all thefe, l^c. i Kings xxii. 22, 23. E Both [ 58 ] J^oth Riches and Honor come of ^hee^ and Thou reigneft over all. i Chrori. xxix. 12. Then rofe up the Chief of the Fathers of Judah and Benjamin^ Sec •, whofe Spirit God had raifed to go up, to build the Houfe of the Lord. Ezra i. 5. T'he Lord gave^ and the Lord hath taken away. Job i. 2 1 . Man is horn unto Trouble, as the Sparks fly up' ward (Job v. 7.) And, I'm apt to think, Sparks afcend by Neceffity / He difappointcth the Dcuices of the Crafty, fo that their Hands cannot perform their Enterprize. (Job V. 12.) Be Men ever fo fhrewd, their ut- moft Dexterity will not avail, unlels the Great Superintending Creator ftamp it with Efficiency. Behold, He taketh away. Who can hinder Him ? Who will fay unto Him (i. e. who has a Right to fay unto God], What doji thou? Job ix. 12. — For He is not a Man, as I am, that Ifloould an- fwer Him, and that we fhould come together in Judgement. Ver. 32. Vain Man would be wife [and the puny Pri- foner of a Clod would be an independent, felf- determining Freev/iller !J, tho^ Man be born as a wild Afs's Colt. Job xi. 12. — What a Thunder- bolt to human Pride ! To the to c(,\jli^s(riov. To wJlo^is-TrajtiX. To the T« ?(p ^y-iv. To avlox^pclo^ioc. To i 59 i To Liherum Arhitrium. To Ipfeitas. To the Arminian Herb called. Self-heal. To Indepen- dency, Self- Authority, Self determination. Self -Sal- vation, innate Ideas, and other pompous No- things, with which Man's Ignorance and Con- ceit feek to plat a Wreath for the Enrichment of his Brows. Vain Man, born as a wild Jfs's * Colt! " How • And we fliould remain, to our dying Day, nearly on a Level with the Animal to which we are comparedj were ic hot for the Care of thofe about us^ and did we not 7iecejjari^ ^vbecome Parts of a Society antecedently formed to oar Hands. In what a State would the prefent Generation be, had they not dropt (if I may ufe the Expreffion) into an Houfe ready built ! i. e. if we had been cut off from all Means of profiting by the Wifdom, the Experience, the Difcoverys, the Inventions, and the Regulations^ of thofe who lived before us. 'Tis a Circumftance of unfpeakable Convenience, to be the Children of Time's Old h^z. Our mental Powers, like Chicken in their Shell, or a Plant in it's Semen, are no mOre than virtual and dormant, 'till elicited by Cultivation, and ripen'd by Experience, Attention, and Reflexion. Civil Society, Drefs, articulate Language, with all other ufefull and ornamental Polifliings which refult from domeftic and political Connexion, are, in thcmfelves. Things purely artificial and adventitious. If fo, will it not follow, that (ever fince the Fall) Man is, naturally, a wild Animal ? Some very able Reafoners have gone fo far, as peremptorily to pronounce him fuch. The late Dr. Toung, in his '• Centaur not fabulous," appears to have thought, that the greater Part of the Human Species profit fo little by their acceflbry Opportunitys of Improve- E 2 ment. [ 6o ] " How keenly," fays a fine Writer, *' is this " Comparifon pointed ! — Likjc the Afs^s : an " Animal, ment, as to go off the Stage, Semi Savages, at laft ; notwith- •ftanding the inexhauftible and omnipotent Deluge of Free- will, which that ingenious Writer imagined every Man to bring into the World with him. Strange, that fo im- menfe a Refervoir, inherent in the Soul, fhould yet leave the Soul fo dry ! With Regard to the natural Wildnefs of Man, fuppofed and afferted by fome Philofophers ; thus much, I think, muft be fairly admitted : that the Hypothefis derives much fubfidiary Force, from various pertinent and well-authenti- cated FaSs. For, if any Credit be due to human Tefti- mony, there have been Inllances of expofed Infants, who were nurfed by Foreft Animals ; and, when grown up, went prone on all-four, with a Swiftnefs greatly fuperior to that of the nimbleft Running-Footman : but totally unable (and no Wonder) to form the leaft articulate Sound. 'Tis added, that, like any other wild Creature, they would fly from the human Sight (i, e. from the Sight of their own Species refined), with a Roar of Fear and Hatred, into the thickell Recefles of the Woods. Civilization, tho' a very poor Succedaneum for that Di- vine Image, originally imprefs'd on our immortal Part, and loft by Adam's Tranfgreffioa ; is, however, of very great ftccular Importance. Nay, it's Importance is, with Regard to Millions of us, more than fscular : for it is often a Pro- vidential Means of qualifying us to receive and underlland that bleflTed Gofpel, which, when made the Vehicle of Divine Power to the Heart, ifTues in our Recovery of God's Image, and in the Salvation of the Soul. After f 6> ] ** Animal, remarkable for it's Stupidity, even " to a Proverb. — Like the Afs's Colt : which " muft be ftill more egregioudy ftupid than the " Dam. — Like the wild AlVs Cok: which is " not only blockifli, but ftubborn and intradl- *' able; neither pofiefles valuable Qualitys by " Nature, nor will eafily receive them by Dif- " cipline. — The Image, in the Original, is yet *' more (trongly touched. The comparative " Particle like, is not in the Hebrew. Boj-n a " wild Jfs''s Colt. Or, as we Ihould fay in "^Englifh, A mere wild, &c." (Hervey's Theron and Afpafio, Dial. 13.) He [i. e. God J is in one Mind, and who can turn Him ? .and what His Soul defireth, even That He doth. He performeth the Thing that is ap- pointed for me. And many fuch Things are with Him. Job xxiii. 13, 14. — Qujery : Who is Self- After all, let the Inftruments of our Refinement, and of our Knowledge (whether in Things temporal, or in Things facred), be Who or What .they may; and let us profit e\'ar fo deeply by our Intercourfe with the living, by Converfe with the recorded Wifdom of the dead, by the Perceptions we receive from external Objeds, and by Refleding on the Ideas of which thofe Perceptions are the Source: Still, no Advantages are any Thing more to us, than Divine Provi- dence makes them to be. Let him, therefore, that glorys, glory in the Lord. For, it is God, ijjho teacheth Us more than the Beajis of the Earth, and maketh Us ivifer than the foiv/s of Heaven, i Cor. i. 31. Job xxxv. 11. E 3 Determiner? \ I 62 ] J^efermlner? Man, or God ? Surely, God. Nor is He only the Self-Determiner, but the All-De-r tenniner likewife •, throughout th6 Whole Univerfe both of Spirits and of Matter. For He looketh to the Ends of the Earthy and feeth under the whole Heaven : To make a Weight for the IVinds ; and He weigheth the Waters by Meafure. He made a Decree for the Rdin^ and a Way for the Lightening of the 'thunder. Job Xxviii. 25, 26. Wheyi He giveth ^ietnefs, who then can make Trouble? andy when He hideth His Face^ who then can behold Him ? whether it be done againfl a "Nation, or agaiyifl a Man only. Job xxxiv. 29. — ; Abfolute Necejfity ftill. By the Breath of God, Froji is given : and the Breadth of the Waters is Jlraiten'd. Alfo, by Wa- terings He ipedrieth the thick Cloud: He fcattereth His bright Cloud. He caufeth it to come : whether for Corre^ion, or for His Land, or for Mercy. Job xxxviii. 10 — 13. — We fee, from this, as well as from a prseceding and from two or three fubfequent Quotations, that the Air cannot be comprefled into a Current of. Wind-, nor Rain find it's Way to the Earth ; nor Exhalations kindle into Thunder and Lightening; nor 3. River overflow it's Banks ; nor fufpended Vapors con- 4enfe into Snow or Hail 5 nor Water freeze, or, whei) I 63 ] when frozen, ihaw, without the exprefs Ap- pointment of God's Will, and the Hand of His ^particular Providence. Second Caufes are but Effetfts of His Decree : and can operate no far- ther, than He, from whom they derive their whole A(5livicy, condefcends to make Ufe of them as Mediums of His own Agency. *The Kingdom is the Lord's : and He is the Go- n^ernor among the Nations. Pfalm xxii. 28. O Ijord^ 'Thou preferveft Man and Beaft, Pfalm XXX vi. 6. ^ Except the Lord build the Hcufe, they labor in njain that build it. Except the Lord keep the City, the Watchman waketh but in vain. Pfalm cxxvii. I. Whatfoever the Lord pleafed^ that did He \ in Heaven^ and in Earth, in the Seas, and in all deep Places. He caufeth the Vapors to afcend from the Ends of the Earth : He maketh Lighten- ings, for the Rain : He bringeth the Wind out of His Treafurys. Pfalm cxxxv. 6, 7. He cover eth the Heaven with Clouds, He pre- pareth Rain for the Earth, He maketh Grafs to grow upon the Mountains. He giveth to the Beaft his Food ; and to the young Ravens, which cry, He maketh Peace in thy Borders, and fillet h thee with the fine]}. Wheat. — He giveth Snozv, like Wool', He fcatterelh the Hoar Frofl^ like Afues. E 4 ' He [ 64 ] He cajieth forth His Ice^ like Morfeh : who can Jiand before His Cold ? He fendeth out His Word^ and melteth them : He caufeth His Wind to blow, and the Waters flow, Pfalm cxlvii. 8, 9, 14 — 18. — • What fo variable and uncertain, humanly fpeaking, as the Weather ? And yet, we fee, all it's Modes and Changes are adjufted and determined, from Moment to Moment, by Di- vine ImprefTion : i. e. by a Neceffity^ refulting from the Will and Providence of the Supreme Firft Caufe. Fire, and Hail \ Snow, and Vapor -, Stormy Wind, fullfilling His Word! Pfalm cxlviii. 8. Neither is material Nature alone thus " * bound « fafi in Fater All other Things, the «' Hu- " man V/ill" itfelf not excepted, are no lels tightly bound, i. e. effedually influenced and determined. For, 'The Preparations of the Heart, in Man -, and the Anfwer of the Tongue ; are from the Lord. Prov, xvi. I. That is, Men can neither think, nor fpeak -, they can neither refolve, nor a5l j independently of Providence, The herd hath made all Things, for Himfelf ; for the Manifeftation of His own Glory, and for the Accomplilhment of His own Defigns : even * See Pope\ Univerfal Prayer, the [ 65 ] the Wicked^ for the Day of Evil. Pro v. xvi. 4. — If fo, He has endued none of His Creatures with a Self determining Power, which might ifliie in Counter-adling and Defeating the Purpofesof His infinite Wifdom. A Man's Heart devtfeth his Way : but the Lord dire£feth his Steps, Prov. xvi. 9. Yea, There are many Devices in a Man^s Heart : neverthelefsi the Counfel of the Lord, that JJjall Jiand. Prov. xix. 21. The Lot is cajl into the Lap : but the whole Dif- ^ofing thereof is of the Lord. Prov. xvi. 33. Even the King's Heart is in the Hand of the Lord, as the Rivers of Water : and He turneth it^ whitherfoever He will. Prov. xxi. i. — Odd Sort of Self-Determination, this ! Enemys, and evil-minded Men, are under the abfolute Controll of God ; nor can their Enmity, or their Wickednefs, do a Jot more Hurt, than He gives Leave. — JJfyrian, the Rod of my Anger. Ifai. x. 5. — Thou art my Battle-axe and Weapons of War : for with thee will I break in Pieces the Nations, and with thee will I dejlroy Kingdoms. Jer. li. 20. — Very extraordinary De- clarations thefe, if Men are Self -determining Agents! a Self-determining Rod, for Inltance: a Self-determining Battle-Axe : a Self-determin- ing Hammer! Arminianifm does That, which li{hment of a Will which is all-holy, [ 8i ] Mifiake ; is a Link, which draws invincible Ne- cessity after it, whether the Scripture Dodlrine of Prasdeftination be taken into the Account or no. Take a few more Evidences of our Lord's NecefTitarianifm. PFhen they deliver you up [to be try'd as religi- ous Criminals at the Jewifh and Heathen Tri- bunals], take no Thought how or what ye jhall /peak. For it Jhall be given you^ in that fame Hour^ what ye Jhall fpeak. For it is not ye that fpeak^ hut the Spirit of your Fat her ^ who fpeaketh in you. Matt. X. 19, 20. Are not two Sparrows fold for a Farthing? and one of them fhall not fall on the Ground^ without your Father. But the very Hairs of your Head are all numbered. Matt. x. 29, 30. O Fafher, Thou hajl hid theje Things from the wife and prudent., and haft revealed them unto Babes. Matt. xi. 25. It is GIVEN unto Tou^ to know the Myfterys of the Kingdom of Heaven: but to them it is not given. Matt. xiii. u. ^ll-holy, and all-nght, and all-wife. Confequently, could fuch a Will (and his Will is praecifely fuch) be fruftrated, though but in one fingle Inftance ; that Fruftration would neceffarily be a Calamity on God Himfelf, and inilifl efTential and never-ending Pain on the Divine Mind. Another (I think, irrefragable) Proof, that nothing is left to Con- tingency, Without { »^ ] Wst.hmi a Parable [pake He not unto them : that it mght he Fui^LFjLLED^ which was fpoken hy the Prophet. Matt. xiii. 34» 35. FleJIs &nd Blood have not revealed this unto thee, hut my Father who is in Heaven. Matt. xvi. 17. Upon this Rock WILL I huild my Church, and the Gaies of Hell shall jviot prevail againji it. Ver. *The Son of Man must go to Jerufalem, and fuffer many Things^ and be killed, and rife again the third Day. Ver. 2 1 . It MUST NEEDS be [Ai/afjc)) fr», there is a NECESSITY] that Offences come. Matt, xviii. y. — Or, as St. Luke has it, // is Impossible lecietSsKTov, it is not expe^able] but that Offences will come : Luke xvii. i. Our Lord not only afferted the "Things which we mean by necessity ; hut even made Ufe of the IVord itfelf. And fo we find Him doing, in three or four other Parts of tlie Gofpels. Nor is the Senfe, in which He iikd the Term, left ambiguous : as appears from comparing the two above Paflages together. J^eceffity is that, by which, Things cannot, with- out the utmoft Folly and Abfurdity, be expelled to come to pafs any otherwife than juft as they do. But Arminianifm pays very flender Regard to ChriiVs Authority. Go [ «3 i Go thou to the Sea, and cafi an Hook, and take the Fijh that firji cometh up : and, when thou hafi open'd his Mouth, thou jh alt find a Piece of Money ^ Matt. xvii. 27. All Men cannot receive this Saying, fave they to whom it is given. He thai, can receive it, let him receive it. Matt. xix. 11, 12. To fit on my right Hand and on my left, is not mine to give, except unto th^m. for whom it is pre- pared of my Father. Matt. xx. 23. Let no Fruit grow on thee henceforward, forever. And, prefently, the Fig-tree withered away. Matt, xxi. 19. Whofoever fliall fall on this Stone, fhall he broken: hut on whomfoever it fhall fall, it will grind him t9 "powder. Matt. xxi. 44. Many are called, hut few are chofen. Matt, xxii. 14. Fill ye up the Meafure of your Fathers.- — How * can Te efcape the damnation of Hell? Matt, xxiii. 32, 33. I fend ♦ Monfieur Le Clcrc (who would have thought it ?) has a Paflage, fo full to the Senfe of this obfervable Text, that one would almoft imagine he defigned it fqr the very Pur- pofe. " Porito, H ;ininem Peccato deditum efTe; nee per *' totam Vuam id habere, quod necejpirlo poftulatur ad Ha- *• bitum Peccati exuendum ; inde colligimus, NeceJJitafa «» Con/equentifSt Hoininem in Peccato mansurum, nee ulla ** Rations [ 84 ] I fend unto you Prophets, and wife Mcn^ and Scribes : andfome of them ye shall kill and ^crucify ; andfome of them s h a l hyefcourge in your Synagogues ; andferfecute them from City to City •, that upon you may come all the righteous Bloodfhed upon the Earth. Matt, xxiii. 34, 2,5' — Say not, " Where is the " Juftice of this ?" Juftice belongs to another ** Ratione vitaturum Poenas Peccatori dehitas impaBnitenti." Oiitolog. Cap. 13. I really nvonder, at the above Writer's expreffing himfelf thus. But I do NOT ivonder, to hear the excellent LUTHER remark as follows. " Nonne clare fequitur, dum Deus *« Opcre fuQ in nobis non adeft, omnia efTe mala quje ** facimus, et nos necessario operari quas nihil ad Salutem ** valent? Si cnim non nos, fed folus Deus operator Salutem *« in nobis; nihil, ante Opus ejus, operamur falutare, *• velimus noliinus." (De Ser^vo Arbitr. Seft. 43.) i. e. // is clearly e'vldent^ that, 'till God is prefent in us by His oixin gracious Influence^ WHATEVER nve do is ev|l ; and nue ne- cessarily do thofe things only, ivhich have no Tendency to Salvation. For if it is God alone ivho ijoorketh Sal'vatien in Us, and not We in Ourfel'ves ; -voe can do nothing falutary, njcill luf or Kill ixje, 'till He Himfelf actually doth fo luork in us. — Well faid, honeft Martin. To God's Blefling upon the bold and faithfull AfTertion of fuch noble Truths as This, we owe our Reformation from Popery, And nothing will finally preferve us from being carryed captive into the Popifh Egypt again, but the Revival and Pra^valency of the fame noble Truths which at firll led us forth from that Houfe of Bondage, Argument, [ 85 ] Argument. We are not now treating oi Jujlice^ but of Necejfity. Keep to the Point. 'Two Men Jhall he in the Field: one P^all he taken^ and the other left. Two Women Jhall he grinding at the Mill: one Jhall be taken and the other left. Matt. xxiv. 40, 41. This Night., before the Cock crow., thou shalt DENY me thrice. Matt. xxvi. 34. — Might Peter not have deny'd Him \ and might Chrift have proved mifiaken ? If it he POSSIBLE, let this Cup fafs from me. Matt^i Xxvi. 3^. — But it was not poffible. Thinkejl thou that I cannot now pray to my Fa- ther ^ &c i hut how then Jhall the Scriptures be full- filled, that thus it must he? Ver. 53, 54. All this was done, that the Scriptures of the Prophets might he fullfilled. Ver. 56. And they crucify ed Him^ and parted His Garments^ cafling Lots y that it might he fullfilled whicb was fpoken, &c. Matt, xxvii. 35. — Nothing but fhere Neceffity, from Beginning to End ! My Appeals to the other Three Evangelifts fhall be extremely concife. He goeth up into a Mountain., and calleth unto Him whom He would and they * came unto HiM. Mark iii. 13. If * It is praecifely the fame, in the fpiritual Con-verfwn of the Soul to God. None caa come, 'tili effediially'Called : and [ 86 ] If any Man have Ears io hear, let him heat> Mark vii. 1 6. With Men, it- is impossible : but not with God. lb. X. 27, Except the Lord had Jhorten^d thofe Bays, no Flejh Jhould be faved. But, for the Elects' fake, whom arid they, wKo are Galled effeftually, cannot but come. For, as the profound and judicious Mr. Charnock unanfwer- ably argues, " If there be a Counfel [i. e. a Difplay of ** Godlike Wifdom ardDefign] in framing the lowed Crea- *' ture, and in the minuteft Paflages of Providence ; there «* iriuft needs be an higher Wifdom in the Government of •' Creatures to a fupernatural End, and in framing the Soul ** to be a Monument of His Glory." Charnock on the Attri- butes, P. 373. — I have met vi^ith many Treatifes on the Divine Perfedtions : but with none, which any way equals That of Mr. Charnock. Perfpicuity, and Depth ; meta- phyfical Sublimity, and evangelical Simplicity ; immenfe Learning, and plain, but irrefragable, Reafoning; con- fpire to render that Performance one of the moft injeftimable Produftions, that ever did Honor to the fandify'd Judge- ment and Genius of an Human Being. If I thought myfelf at all adequate to the Talk, I would endeavor to circulate the Outlines of fo rich a Treafure into more Hands, by re- ducing the Subftance of it within the Compafs of an Oaavo Volume. Was fuch a Defign properly executed, a more im- portant Service could hardly be rendered to the Caufe of Religion, Virtue, and Knowledge. Many People are frightened at a Folio of more than 800 Pages, who might have both Leifure and Inclination to avail therafelves of a well-digefted Compendium. [ 87 J whom He hath chofen. He hath Jhortened the D^ys, Falfe Prophets Jhould feduce, if it were pos- sible, e^en the Ele5l. Mark xiiL 20, 22. One of you, that eateth with me, shall hetray> me. Jb. xiv. 18. All Te SHALL be offended^ becaufe of Me., this Night. Ver. 27. The Hour is comb : the Son of Man is betYayeiry &c. Ver. 41. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Ver. 4^. Many Widows were in Ifrael, but to none of them was Elias fent, fave unto Sarepta, a City cf Sidon, to a Woman that was a Widow. Andmaiiy Lepers were in Ifrael, in the 'time of Elifeus tbs Prophet : but liOiiE of them was clean fed, fave Naaman the Syrian. Luke iv. 26, 27* 1 MUST preach the Kingdom of God to other Citys alfo : for therefore am I fent» Ver. 43. Not one of them [i. e. not a fingle * Sparrom\ is forgotten before God. lb. xii. 6. All Things that are written by the Prophets^ concerning the Sm of Man, shall be accompli/bed, • " Oh BUndnefs to the future, wifely ^/V», *' That each may fill the Circle marked f-y Hewv^n ! " Who fees f nvith equal Eye^ as God of All, '• Jn Hiro perijh, or a SparrcM fall," Pope. For [ 88 ] Fvr He shall he delivered to the Gentiles^ andjlmll he mocked^ &c. Luke xviii. 31. There Jhall not an Hair of your Head perijh. lb. xxi. 18. — i. e. before the appointed Time. Truly, the Son of Man goeth [to Crucifixion and Death] as it was determined : hut Woe unto that Man, hy whom He is hetrayed. lb. xxii. 22. — What a different View did Chrift entertain of Pr^dejlination and NeceJJity, from that which the Arminians profefs to have I The Son of God connects two Ideas, which thofe Gentlemen are for fetting at an infinite Dijlance : namely, the Determining Decree of His Father, by which Moral Evil is effectually permitted -, and the penal Woe, juftly due to the Perfons, who, in Confequence of that effeftual Permiffion, are, neceffarily, Evil Agents. I fhall juft touch again upon this Particular, when we come to John xix. II. This, that is written, must yet he accomplished in Me, and He was reckoned among the Tranfgrejfors: for the Things concerning Me have an End [i.e. they fhall every one come to pafs]. Luke xxii. ^y. This is YOUR Hour, and the Power of Dark- nefs. Ver. ss- Ought not Chrifi to have fuffer'*d thefe Things ? lb. xxiv. 26. — i. e. Was there not a Necejfity for thofe very Sufferings, and were they not in- evitahk ? t 89 1 evitable? Certainty itfelf is not more certain. The entire chain of His Humiliation proceded juft as it Jhould, without one Circumftance defi- cient, or one redundant. It all fell out, prascifely, as it ought : and ought to have fallen out, pras- cifely, as it did. Why ? Becaufe God had de- creed it, and becaufe Man's Salvation (which was no lefs decreed) required it. It was prsedeftinated, that Chrift (hould be deliver'd up to Death, even to the Death of the Crofs, and there make His Soul an offering for Sin. But he could not have been betrayed, without a Betrayer : nor crucifyed, without Crucifyers. The Means, therefore, no lels than the End, were neceffarily included (as they always are) within the Circle of Divine Prasappointment. But 1 go on. That, which is horn of the Fle/h, is Flejh : and that, which is b'orn of the Spirit, is Spirit. John iii. 6. — What is this but faying ? Man, in. his natural State, is neceffarily corrupt : Man, in a regenerate State, is neceffarily byafs'd to God. If thou kneweji the' Gift of God, and who it is that faith to thee. Give me to drink j thou wouldfi have afked of him. lb. iv. ii. — But fhe did not know Him, and therefore could not fo pray to Him. Our Lord, however, knew her to be one of his Ele6t, and that the Time of her Conver- G fion [ 9° ] fion was very near. And, that Ihe might be converted prascifely at the very Time appointed. He MUST NEEDS go through the Territory of -S"^- maria. John iv. 4. The Hour is comings and now is, when the Dead [eledl Souls, but hitherto unregenerated, and of Courfe dead to God] shall hear the [converting] Voice of the Son of God -, and, hearing, they shall live. lb. V. 25. — Ail true Converfion is wrought by invincible Power. The Dead neceffarily con- tinue fo, 'till they are neceffarily raifed to life. A dead Soul, no more than a dead Body, can nei- ther qiiicken itfelf, nor hinder God from doing it. Whoever goes to Chrift and Heaven, goes thither by gracious Ncceffity : a Neceflity fo powerfull, that it even makes him willing to go. All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me. Chap. vi. ^y. — They come neceffarily : i. e. they cannot but believe with the Faith which is of the* Operation of God. 'This is the Father'' s Will, who fent ?ne, that, of All which he hath given me,Ifhould lofe nothing :, hut fJjould raife it up again 'at the laft Day. Ver, 39. — God's Will, is Necefficy itfelf. No Man CAN, come to Me, except the Father, who hath fent Me, draw him. It is written in the Prophets, And they [i. e. my People] fhall Ifc all taught of God. Every Man, therefo7-e, thai hath ■[ 9' ] l>aih heard and hath learned [i. e. who has been drawn] of the Father, cometh unto Me. John vi, 44, 45. — NecefTity, on both fides ! "Till drawn, none can come : and, when drawn, none can ftay aWay. Therefore faid I unto you, that no Man can come unto Me, except it be given to him of my Father. Ver. 65. They fought to take Him : but no Man laid Hands on Him, because His Hour was not yet come. Chap, vii. 30. — 'Till then, their Hands were tyed and bound with the invifible, but adamantin. Chain of Necefllty. And yet, I fuppofe, becaufe they did not fee nor feel the Chain, they looked upon themfelves as Self- determining Free- Agents ! Whofoever commit teth Sin, is the Servant [Sax^, the Slave] of Sin. Chap. viii. 34. — But, accord- ing to the Arminian View of Things, it is fetch a Slavery as was never heard of before : the Slave is at perfect Liberty all the while ! I cannot be- lieve this. On the contrary, I believe what follows : If the Sonfhall make you free, ye shall be f res indeed. Ver. ^6. — Oblervc, 'till Chrift make us free from the Guilt and Dominion of Sin, we are, neceffarily, in Thraldom to both. If He de- liver us, we are, nece£arily, emancipated from each, G 2 If^hy [ 92 ] Why do ye not underfiand myfpeech ? even becaufi ye CANNOT bear my JVord. John viii. 43. — A plain, pertinent, decifive Reafon. He that is of God, heareth God's Words : ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God^ Ver. 47. — Either not chofen ; or, at kaft, not yet drawn and taught •, of Him. / MUST work the Works of Him that fent Me, while it is Day. Chap. ix. 4. Chrift was under a Necejfty of doing fo. He could not do any other. Jefus faid. For Judgement J am come into this World ; that they, who fee not, might fee •, and that they, who fee, may he made blind. Ver. 39.— Can any Thin^ be more ftrongly exprefied thap This ? A Stranger will they not follow, but will flee fror^ him : for they know not the Voice of Strangers. Chap. X. 5. — i. e. The converted Elecl difap- prove of falfe Teachers, as neceffarily as Sheep run away from a ft range Man they are afraid of. Other Sheep I have, which are not of this Fold: them alfo /must bring, and they shall hear my Voice. Ver. 16. — I muft : and they fhall. What is this but double Neceflity ? ' Te believe not, because Te are not of my Sheep, o&.nnQoi Free-will (and it's natural Attendent, Scepticifm) debafed and corrupted their Theology ; were yet, in general, lb decent, as to acknowledge, that Death lay at the Dif- iDofal of a Deity, Icfs capricious than Fortune, and [ J03 ] and more powerfull than any created Will. Plence, their occafional Reciprocation of Mors and Fatum. To intimate, that Men cannot dye^ 'till God pronounce their Doom : and that, when He fat us eft^ or ijfues the Word of Summons, the earthly Vehicle can detain it's Gueft no longer. Poor Defcartes, with all his Dreams of Free-will, found himfelf obliged to dye, at the Age of Fifty- four ! I take the Ratio formalism or praecife Nature, of Death ♦, to be neither more nor lefs than the Effed of Separation. The Separation of Spirit from Matter is the immediate Caufe, and feems to exhauft the Idea, of Animal Death. Now, only the fame Power, which at firft joined^ can afterwards fever^ the two Principles. Let the permitted Means of diiTolving the Union be what they may, the Diffolution itfelf is an A61 of God. Whoever confiders the relative Alterations, the domeftic Revolutions, the Circulation of Property, and a Multitude of other negative and pofitivc Confequences, which, either diredly or remotely, follow on the Deceafe of the meaneft Human Individual; muft foon perceive, that, was not the Sceptre of Death fwayed by the De- terminations of Infinite Wifdom, fuch partial Inconveniencev niid cnfue, as would, in their complicated Amount, materially affed, if not entirely [ 104 ] entirely reverfe, the whole Syftem of fublnnary Events. Some People (for Inftance) would live too long. Others would dye loo foon. Some would leave their afligned Work unfinijhed : from whence the Deity would be difappointed of His views, and furprized with a Chafm in His Ad- miniftration of Government. Others would furviv£ to do more than their allotted Bufmefs. From whence, the Divine Plan, would be dif- concerted ; the well-compafled Web become locfe, broken, and entangled •, and the Adminif- tration of Providence degenerate into a Jumble of Confufion, Perplexity, and abfolute Anarchy. In one word : God could not fay, to any one of His Creatures, what he really does fay to all and each of them ; Hitherto shalt thou come^ and NO FARTHER. Our Entrance into Life is determined and ad- jufted, by the fame difpofing Hand, which fixes and regulates our Departure. Necejfity brings us into the World : and Necejfity carrys us out of it. What Man upon earth could help his bein^ born at the very Time and Place he was ? or could hinder himfelf from being the Son of fuch and fuch Parents ? or alter a Thoufand concur- ring Circumflances, by which his fubfequent State, and his very Caft of Mind, were effeftually gnd neceflarily (lamped ? How abfurd, then, rnuft [ 105 ] it be, to imagine that the Line, tho' Jpun at firfi: by the Hand of NecefTity j is afterwards con- duced, and at laft cut off, by the no-Fingers of Contingency ! For it is impoflible to conceive any Thing fo abfolutely contingent and uncer- tain, as the Operations, and the Exit, of a Self- determining A(flor. Efpecially, if we fuppofc him (and the Arminian Scheme does fo fuppofe him) to live in a World, where all about him is as precarious as himfelf; and where the great Sheet of Events, inftead of being let down by ^ the four Corners from Heaven, is only a for- tuitous Complication of flimfy Threads, much of which is flill liable to Unravelment, and the whole of which might never have been woven at all. Might Charles the Firft have been the Son of Cromwell's Parents ? And might Cromwell have been born legal Heir to the Englifh Crown ? Was it poflible for Sir Robert Walpole to have been Prime Minifter to Queen Elizabeth ; and for Sir Francis Walfingham to have been Secretary of State to King George the Second ? Yet, all thefe Impoflibilitys, and Millions of others, might have happen'd, upon the Arminian Scheme of Chance, A Scheme, which, if admitted, turns every Thing upfide down, and knocks ev*ry Thing out of Joint ; H D/V«//, [ io6 ] T)iruiti adijicat, mutat quadrafa rotutidis. Why was Friar Bacon, and not Sir Ifaac New- ton, born in the thirteenth Century ? Why were not the living Ornaments, of the prefent Gene- ration, born an Hundred, or five Hundred, Years back ? or referved to Ages as remotely future ? Arminianifm may tell me, that *' All this is " cafual: and that it was a Chance, not only *' when and where the prefent Race of Men *' might be born, and what Departments they ** (hould filli how they Ihould ad, and how *' and when they fhall dye -, but whether they ** fhould fo much as exijl at firft." I, on the con- trary, difcern fuch inconteftable Traces of Wif- dom. Propriety, and Defign, in the Diftribution of particular Men through fucceflive Periods of Time, and in the whole Connection of Event with Event -, that, for my own Part, I necejfarily conclude, fo regular a Chain could not poflibly be hammer'd in the Cyclopasan Den of Contin- gency : but that every depending Link is fitted and fixed into each other, by the Svpreme In- telligence Himfelfi the Difpofals of whofc Providence, like the Covenant of His Grace, are order* d in all 'Things, and fur e *. As ♦ 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. — Thofe of us, who go to Church, profefs ourfelves to be " Ijedsin^ bound vi'iik the Chain of ** our [ 107 3 As lightly as fome People think of the Bihle^ that Book is the Fountain of true Metaphyfics, A Book, no lefs weighty, with the Treafures of philofophic Wifdom •, than bright, with the heal- ing Beams of evangelical Confolation. To this blefTed Oracle, I now refer the Quaiftioh; Whe- ther Human Birth and Death be not the Effe5fs of Divine Necessitatign ? I fhall not be very prolix. Two or three plain and pertinent Teftimonys will anfwer the fame Purpofe, as two or three Hundred. — Let us be- ■ gin with the Article of Birth. Rachel [aid unto Jacobs Give me Children^ of elfe I dye. And Jacob's Anger was kindled againft Rachel: and he faid^ An I in God^s Jlead P Gen, XXX. I, 2. Jofeph /aid unto his Father, 'They are my Sons^ whom God hath given me in this Place. Gen^ xlviii. 9. Thy Hands have made me, and fajhioned me together, round about. Job x. 8. Thou art He that took me out of the Womh^ Pfal. xxii. 9. Who holdeth [better render'd, JVho putteth] 6ur Soul in Life, and fuffereth not our Feet to be «' our Sins.'* Why, then, fhould we deem ourfelvcs too Grand to be tyed and bounds with the good, the' not always ferceivabky Chain of Providential Neceflity ? H 2 moved. [ io8 3 moved. Plalm Ixvi. 9. — i. e. God gave us Life at firft ; and keeps us alive, 'till it is His Pleafurc to untye the Knot that binds us to the Body. Z.<7, Children are an Heritage of the Lord. Pfalni cxxvii. 3. — Or, as the Liturgy Tranflation reads, i(7, Children and the Fruit of the Womb are an Heritage and Gift thai cometh of the Lord. And the Cafe fpeaks for itfelf. The Birth of every fingle Infant is produftive of no lefs than everlafiing Confequences. Every Infant (even fuppofmg him to dye fuch) is an immortal Being. But, fuppofing he lives to bear an aflive Fart in Life, Society is very materially concerned in his Behavior. Each adult Individual makes im- portant Movements, in the grand Circular Scale of Events. The Alteration of a fingle Birth, or of a fingle Death, from the firft Period of Time *till now, would have occafion'd fuch a Difference, that neither the Vifible, nor the Invifible World, would have been as it is : i. e. fomething would have been wrong, either in Defed, or in Re- dundancy. None of us can tell, what may hang on the Nativity of the meaneft Infant that is born of Woman. But the Creator knows : for He is acquainted with His own Decrees, and or- ders Matters accordingly. Thou haft covered me [i. e. cloathed my Soul ■with a material Body] in my Mothers Womb : — — — //; [ 109 ] In thy Book [of Decree and Providence] all my Members were written. Pfalm cxxxix. 13, 16. I'd every Thing there is a Seafon, and a 'Time to every Purpofe under the fJeaven; [i.e. God has fixed an exadt Point of Time, for the Accom- plifliment of all His Decrees : among which fixed and exadl Points of Time, are] a Time to he BORN, and a Time to dye. Ecclef. iii. i, 2. TVho * formeth the Spirit of Man within him, Zech. xii. i. * This Text, and many others of fimilar Import, feem to intimate, that the Body isfirjt made; and that the 5o«/, commanded into Exiftence for the Purpofe, is united to the Body thus previoufly provided for it's Reception. The direft Source, however, of the Soul, is an Enquiry attended with great metaphyfical Difficultys ; whether we fuppofe it to be of God's immediate Creation, or to originate from parental Tranfmiflion. Much may be faid for each Hypo- thefis : and feveral weighty Objedions lye againft both. It becomes us, probably, to confefs, that Scripture has not clearly decided the Point : and, of Courfe, that we know very little of the Matter. In talibus ^(gjiionibus, as Wits i us fays on another myfterious Occafion, magis mi hi placet hajitmitis In- genii Modejtia, quam mconjiderata determinandi Per^icacia (Diflert. de Michaele). This only we are fure of, that God Himfelf, and not Chance, is (either mediately, or imme- diately, according to the good Pleafure of His own Will) the Formator, and the Governor, of every Spirit, and of every Body, in the Univerfe. H 3 God^ [ no ] God, who feparated me from my Mother'* s Womb, Gal. i. 15. Does it not appear, even from thefe fewPaflfages, that the Do(5lrine oi fortuitous Nativity is as falfe and ridiculous, as that of a^uivocal Generation ? And the Docf^rine of fortuitous Death is like unto it. Witnefs the following Evidence.. 'The Time drew near that Ifrael must dye. Gen. xlvii. 29. Obferve, i. A Time for Jacob's Death was prasfixed of God : and 'tis therefore called, THE Time; meaning, that prsecife Time, and no other. 2. The Time drew near : and the holy Man was like a Racer in View of the Goal, or like a Mariner in Sight of the . Haven where he would be. 3. He muji dye ; which Expreflion does not denote any Unwilling- nefs in Jacob -, but the Certainty of his Departure, when the deftined Moment fhould arrive. Can any Incident be more feemingly fortuitous, than what we commonly call Homicide, or one Man's Undeftgnedly killing of another } And yet this, when it comes to pafs, is according to the fecret Will of God : who is pofitively affirmed to deliver the flain Party into the Hand of the Slayer. Exod. xxi. 31. He [i. e. God] is thy Life, and the Length of thy Days. Deut. xxx. 20. — The Author of That, and the Meafurer of Thefe, [ HI ] The Lord killeth^ and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the Grave^ and hringeth up. 1 Sam. ii. 6. — Which exadly comports with what God fays of Himfelf: /, even /, am He', and there is no God with Me. I kill, and I make alive: I wound, and I heal: neither is there Ar^ that can deliver out of My Hand. Deut. xxxii. 39. Is there not an appointed Time to Man upon Earth ? Are not his Days alfo like the Days of an Hireling? Job. vii. i. — The flipulated Hours, of an Hireling's Labor, are afcertained before- hand : they confift of fo many, and no more. Thou hajh granted me Life and Favor ; and thy Vijitation hath preferved my Spirit. Job, x, 12, In whofe Hand is the Soul of every living Things and the Breath of all Mankind. Job. xii. 10. Man's Days are determined ; the Number of his Months is with Thee : Thou haji appointed his Bounds, which he cannot pafs. All the Days of my appointed Time will I wait, 'till my Change come. Job xiv. 5, 14. Thou prevailefi for ever c^ainfi him [i. e. Man cannot poflibly extend his own Life a fmgle Moment beyond thy Decree] : Thou changeji his Countenance [by Death], and fendeji him away. Job xiv. 20. — Sendeft his Body to the Grave, gnd his Soul to another World. H 4 Lordy I 112 ] Lordi make me to know my End, and the Mea^ pure of my Days\ what it is, Pfalm xxxix. 4.-^ But, unlefs God h2idjixed David's End, and had determi7ied the Measure of his Days j the Pfalmifl: would here have afl^ed a Quseftion, to which God Himfelf could only have anfwered, " O Son of " JeiTe, I know no more of the Matter, than *' You do. You have flatted a Problem, which " I am unable to refolve : for there is no mea- " furing in the Cafe." Thou turnefi Man to DeJlru5lion, Pfalm xc. ^. There is no Man that hath Power over the Spirit, to retain the Spirit [i. e. to retain the Soul in the Body, beyond the Term divinely prjefixedj -, neither hath he Power in the Day of Death. Ecclef, viii. 8. Behold, I will add unto thy Days fifteen Tears. Ifai. xxxviii. 5. — Hezekiah thought, that his Leafe was juft expiring, and that his Soul muft, •almoft immediately, turn out of it's earthly Cottage. No, fays God •, You have fifteen Years to be added to thofe of your Days which are elapfed : and the fiid future Years are of yny adding, no lefs than were the Years that are pafl. *' Oh, but God faid to Hezekiah, / have heard, *' thy Prayer, and have feen thy Tears.^^ True, And what does this prove? Not that God's De- cree t "3 ] cree is a * Weathercock, fhifting, and changing, and veering about, juft as the Breath of Man's Freewill happens to blow : But, that the Scrip- tural Axiom is right, which fays, Lord^ thou haft heard the Deftre of the AfjiiSied: Thou preparest their Heart [to pray for fuch Things as Thou haft decreed to give], and thine Ear hearkeneth thereto. — I muft farther obferve : that, if there be any Meaning in Words, Hezekiah, could not dye, 'till the remaining fifteen Years had run out ; and could not but dye, when they were. Which of you^ by taking Thought, can add one Cubit, 7r^(^ »)At)cj«i/ aula, to his Term of Life ? Matt. vi. 27. Let us hear the Reflections of that learned, pious, and truly refpeftable Arminian, Dr. Hammond, on this Text. After obferving, * '* Prayer moves God, and overcomes Him, not by *' caufing any Change in the Divine Will : for God is im- *' mutable j and what Good He does in Time for his Peo- ** pie. He purpofed before any Time was. But Prayer is ♦' faid to overcome Him, becaufe He then gives, what, from f' Eternity, He purpofed to give, upon their praying to '' Him. For, when God decreed what He would do for ♦' his Saints, He alfo purpofed that they fliould/^r^y for the *• fame: Ezek. xxxvi. 37. Prayer's Midwifry (hall be ** ufed, to deliver the Mercys which God purpofeth and f* promifeth, God's Purpo/e to give, doth not dif- ?' charge us fiom our Duty to aflc." Gurn all's Chriflian /Ifmor, Vol, IV. P. 17, that [ "4 ] that tiXjxKx fometimes denotes " The ^aniity, or Stature i of the Body"; he adds: " So alfo *' doth it ordinarily fignify, Age (and fo doth *' K-HDIp, which the Sy7-iac here ufes) ; and may " poflibly do fo here : i . Becaufe the Dehorta- " tion, which this [ Queftion of ChrilVs ] is •' brought to enforce, was particularly That con- ** cerning Solicitude for the Life : and to That, ** this will be very proper, of our nat being ahk " to ADD, by all our Solicitude, the least Pro- ** portion to our Age, to enlarge the Period of Life ** TTup^ui/ hot, one Cubit, i. e. ona fmalleji Meafurc *' or Proportion, beyond what God hath set us, *' — 2. It will be obfervable, that one Cubit be- *' ing here fet down as a very fmall Meafure ; *' would yet be a very great Proportion, being *' apply'd to the Stature of the Body. Nay, " fuch as are come to their full Growth (as the *' far greatefl: Part of Chrifl's Auditors were) " could not thus hope to add one thoufandth Part '* of a Cubit to their Stature. — On the other ** Side, a Cubit will feem but a fmall Part, to " the many Years of a long Life. And he that " is of xkit fulleft Growth, may yet hope to enlarge " the Period of his Life: and to That, gene- " rally. Men's Solicitude is apply*d ; by Diet, " Phyfic, &c. to acquire long Life, not to in- *^ creafe ih^xx Stature, — 3. The Word7rvi^v?,Cubit^ *« is [ "5 ] *' is ordinarily a Meafure of the Longitude of any " Space: and, particularly, of a Race; to which ** Man's Life is compared. Job ix. 25. 2 Tim. « iv. 7." This Truth may be farther argued, from an- other PalTage, cited alfo in a prasceding Chapter: viz. Matt. X. 29, 30. For, if not a Sparrow can dye, without God's exprefs Commiflion ; much lefs can a Man. And, if the very Hairs of our Heads are number'd, much more our Bays. God giveth, unto all^ Life, and Breath, and all things : and hath made of one Blood all Na- tions of Men, for to dwell on all the Face of the Earth i and hath determined the Times, before ap- pointed ; and the Bounds of their Habitation. — -— — For in Him we live, and are moved, and have our Being. A<5ts xvii. 25, 26, 28. — Obferve : I. God is the Giver of Animal Life, as well as of every Thing elfe. — 2. He has multiply'd us all, from one Stock : viz. Adam. — 3. The Times, i. e. the proper Seafons, of our Birth and Death, and of all that we fhall do or fuffer be- tween the Starting-Poft and the Goal, are deter- mined, or marked out with Certainty and Exad:- nefs, by Him Himfelf. — 4. This Determination^ or Adjuftment, of our Times ; is not a modern Aft of God, arifing e Re natd, or from any pre- fent Emergency of Circumftances and Situation of [ ii6 ] of Affairs : but a Determination^ inconceivably antient. The Times were FOKE-appointed\ even from everlafting : for no new Determination can take Place in God, without a Change^ i. e. with- out the DeJlru5fion^ of His Efience. ^^vis Mu- tatio Mors eji. — 5. The very Places^ which Peo- ple inhabit, are here pofitively averr'd to be determined and fore- appointed of God. And 'tis very right it fhould be fo. Elfe, fome Places might be over-ftocked with Inhabitants, and others totally deferred : which would neceifarily draw after it the mod pernicious Confequences ; as Stagnation of Agriculture, Famine, Peftilence, and general Ruin to the Human Species, "Whereas, by Virtue of God's having fore-ap- pointed and determined the Bounds of our Habita- tions ; we are properly 7{//£'i over the Face of the Earth, fo as to anfwer all the focial and higher Purpofes of providential Wifdom. — 6. If Deity has condefcended to determine^ in what particular Places our Bodys fhall dwell j why fhould it ap- pear flrange, that He fliould alio determine how long our Souls fhall dwell in their Bodys? Adverbs of Time are no lefs important, than Adverbs of Place. Nor, indeed, could Omnipotence itfelf determine the ibi^ without likewife determining the quando, and the diu. — Efpecially, when we confider, [ "7 ] confider, 7. That in Him we, every Moment, live, and are moved, and de exiji. Moreover, if Chrift's own Teftimony will have any Weight with Self-determinationifts, the following Text, exclufively of all others, will kz the Point above Difpute : where our Lord roundly affirms, that He Himfelf keeps ibe Keys of Hell and of Death. Rev. i. iS. Which Declaration holds true, in every Senfe the Words are capable of. He openeth, and no Man can Jhut : andfhut- teth, and no Man can open. Rev. iii. 7. Nor is Divine Providence the Diftributor of Death to Man alone. The very Beajis them- fclves, which are, by many, fuppofed to perifh utterly; are immortal, 'till God cut their Thread. Thou hideft thy Face: they are troubled. Thou takejl away their Breath : they die \ and return to their Dufi. Pfalm civ. 29. — It fhould be remem- ber'd, that this is more directly fpoken, concern- ing xhoiQ fmall and great Beafis, and creeping Things innumerable, which inhabit the Sea. So that Fishes themfelvts, from a Whale to a Periwinkle, have the Creator Himfelf for the Difpofer of their Lives, and the Determiner of their Deaths ! From the Evidence alledged, concife and fu- perficial as my Allegations have been ; we may fairly (and, I think, unanfwerably) conclude : that Contingency has nothing to do with Births, or [ 118 ] «r Burials; and^ confequentlyjthatCHANCH never yet added^ nor ever will add, * " a fingle Unit to " the Bills of Mortality." If, therefore, the initial Pointy from whence we ftart -, and the ultimate Goal, which terminates our Race ; be thus Divinely and Unchangeably fixed: is it reafonable to fuppofe, that Chance, or any Freewill but the Freewill of Deity alone, may fabricate the intermediate Links of a Chain, whofe two Extremes are held immovably fall in the Hands ot God Himfclf? — Impoffible. • For this Phrafe, a Jingle Unit to the Bill cf Mortality, fee Lord Chefteriield's Letters : Lett. 336. CHAP. L 119 3 CHAPTER VII. The fuppofed Gloominess of Necejftty, conftder'd. — The Origin ofDoSfrinalNeceJfity. — Concife View o/Manich^ism — The Nature of Evil enquired into. — Curious Cohyzksatioh -Pieces cf three Modern Philofophizers. — Several As- SEMBLYs c/ Divines vindicated, — Armini- ANs themf elves ultimately forced to make Neces- sity their Refuge. — Conclusion of the ^re* fent Effay. i./^REAT declamatory Pains have been VJ taken, to fet the Syilem of Neceffity in a very ^^ gloomf* Point of View: and to mif- rcprefent it, as made up of nothing but Clouds^ and Shades, and thick Darknefs. The fame has been faid oi Religion at large, and o^ Virtue itfelf. But are Virtue and Religion therefore deformed and black, becaufe their Beauty and Luftre do not ftrike a libertine Eye? No more is the Scheme of Neceffity tinged with real Gloom, on Account of a proud or prejudiced Freewiller's being pleafed to affert it. « I have [ 120 ] " I have fometimes beheld," fays an elegant Writer, " a Ship of War, feveral Leagues off at . ** Sea. It feemed to be a dim^ cloudy Something, *' hovering on the Skirts of the Horizon : con- " temptibly mean, and not worthy of a Moment's " Regard. — But, as the floating Citadel ap- " proached, the Mafts arofe. The Sails fwelled " out. It's {lately Form, and curious Propertys, " ftruck the Sight. It was no longer d^Jhapelefs *' Mafs, or a Blot in the Profpedl : but the " Majler-piece of human Contrivance, and the " »o^/^ Spedlacle in the World of Art." Hervefs Theron and Afpafio, Dialogue 5. Arminianifm, if you pleafe, is a Region of Darknefs : but NecefTity, a Land of * Light. For * The pretended Gloomine/s of Neceffity is urged, with moft Appearance (and 'tis but Appearance) of Plaufibility, againft that Branch of Scriptiire-Metaphyfics, which relates to the Decree of Reprobation. Let me, for a Moment, weigh the pretended Horror of this Principle : a Principle, which occurrs fo pofitively and repeatedly, again and again, in almoll every Page of the Bible ; that the Exiftence of God does not admit of more ftrong and explicit Proof, from the infpired Volume, than does the awfull Reality of Non- Eledlion. What I here mean to obferve on this Subjeft, I fhall give, in the Words of Part of a Letter, which I lately fent to a very eminent Anti-Calvinian Philofopher. " Why are Calvin's Doftrines reprefented as gloomy P Is it gloomy, to believe, that i^iefar greater Part of the Human Race are * made r 121 ] i^'or I %ould be glad to be informed, wherein confifts the ChearfuUnefs of believing, that the greater made for endk/s Happinefs? There can, I think, be no rei fonable Doubt entertained, concerning the Salvation of very young Perfonj. If (as fome, who have verfed themfelves in this Kind of Speculation, aiHrm) about one Half of Man- kind dye in Infancy; — And if, as indubitable Obfervation jJroves, a very confiderable Number of the remaining Half dye in early Childhood; — And if, as there is the ftrongeft Reafon to think, many Millions of thofe^ who live to maturer Years, in every fucceffive Generation, have their Names in the Book of Life : then, what a very fmali Portion, com- paratively, of the Human Species, falls under the Decree of Prasterition and Non-Redemption ! *' This View of Things, I am perfuaded, will, to am Eye fo philofophic as your's, at leaft open a very chearfull /^/yii'/j through the 'Gloom'; if no: entirely turn the ima- ginary Darknefs into Sunfhine. For, with refpedl to the few Reprobate, we may, and we ought to, refign the Difpofal of them, implicitly, to the Will of that only King who caa do no wrong: inftead of Summoning the Almighty to take his Tryal at the Tribunal al tur Speculations, and of fetting up ourfelves as Judges of Deity." I might have added, That the Piirpofe of God according to Eleiiion is not reftrained to Men, either of any particular Country, or Age of Time, or religious Denomination. Un- doubtedly, there are eledl Jei'js, eleft Mahometans, and eledl Pagans. In a Word, countlefs Millions of Perfons, whom Chrilt hath redeemed unto God, by his Blood, out of everX" Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation, Rev. v. 9. I ,OnIy [ 122 ] greater Part, it not tlie Whole, of I'ublunaiy Events, even thole of endlefs Concern not ex- cepted, are deliver'd over to the Management of an imaginary goddefs, called Chance -, the mere Creature of Poetic Fiflion, and the moft un- meaning Sound that was ever admitted into Lan- guage ? " Oh, but we deny Chance^ and maintain Free- " will" Be fo good as to fliew me, hoiv you can maintain felf-determining Freewill, without fetting up the blind Daughter of Oceanus upon her Pedeilak li the Will of Man be free, with a Liberty ai utriimlihet \ and if his Actions be the Offspring of his Will ; fuch of his Aftions, which are not yet wrought, muft be both radically and eventually uncertain: as depending, for their Futurition, on an uncertain Caufe^ viz. on the uncertain Volitions of an Agent, who inay^ or may ;w/, incline himfelf to the Performance of thofe Adions. It is, therefore, a Chance, whether they Ihall ever be performed, or no. For Chance, and Uncertainty, are only two Words for the fame Idea. So that every AlTertor of Self-determina- tion is, in fa<5t, whether he mean it or no, a Only take a fair and difpaflionate Survey of the Matter, as it is ; and the Arminian Outcrys will be found a VcXy et traterea nihil. For, Who can count the Dujl of Jacob, or the Number of the fourth Part o/" God's Eleft IfraelP Worlhipper [ 1^3 ] Worlhipper of the Heathen Lady, named, FoT' lune\ and an ideal Depofer of Providence from it's Throne. Could Providence be really dethroned, v;ith as much Eafe as it's Influence is denyed \ dreadful! indeed would be the State of Things. For my Part, I think, that all the Chearfidlnefs lyes on the Side of NeceJJity. And for this plain Reafon : becaufe, that Infinite Wifdom, which mad-e, or permitted, us to be what we are, and to be cir- cumstanced as we are; knows better, what to do with us, than we could pofllbly know how to difpofe of our own Selves. 'Tis iny Happinefs, to be convinced, that my Times are in God's Harui, Pfalm xxxi. 15. and that His Kingdom ruleih over all. Pfalm ciii. 19. If any Others can extraifl: Comfort from confidering themfelves as Veflcls failins; over a dangerous Ocean, without Pilots without Chart, without Infurance, and without Convoy, to a Coaft un- known ; much good may their Comfort do them.' I defire none of it. Gloomy as the Doflrine of Chriftian Neceflity is ignorantly affirmed to be ; 'tis the only Principle, upon which any Perfon can, truly and confif- tently, adopt that animating Apophthegm, fo per- petually in the Mouch of St. Chryfoftom, Blejfed be Gody for every Thing that comes to-pafsl — I 2 Whereas, [ 124 3 Whereas, the genuine Language of an afflitftetl Freewiller is, Alas! Alas! what an unlucky Accident zvas this! The very Exclamation, which might be expected to ifllie from the Lips of a melancholy, defponding Atherll. If unreferved Refignation^ to the wife and fa- therly Difpofals of God •, if Content ednefs and Complacency^ within our feveral Spheres and Stations; i^Thankfulnefs^ for the Bleffings we en- joy -, if the Exercife of Candor^ Lenity^ and Com- fajjion, toward our miftaken, our offending, and our afflided fellow-Creatures ; if Humility, Sind a deep Senfe of our abfolute Dependence on the Arm of Omnipotent Love, for Prefervation or Deliver- ance from Evil, and for the Continuance or In- creafe of Good -, if the pleafmg Convidion that nothing can hurt us, except God's own Hand firft fign the Licenfe ; if a juft Confidence, that He will never fign any fuch Licenfe, but to anfwer the beft and wifetl Ends ; if an unfhaken Per- fuafion, that whatever He does is, and muft be, abfolutely, and directly, right ; and that whatever Ele PERMITS to be done, is, and muft be, re- latively^ conducively^ 2ind finally, right : — If thelc lovely Virtues, and felicitating Views (Virtues and Views which no Neceflitarian can, confiftent- ly, be without), have any Thing ^/(?£;;;?)' in them; it will follow, ,that the Sun is made up of Dark- nefs. [ 125 ] nels, and that Beauty itfelf is a Complication of Deformity and Horror. When Mr. Pope penned the following Verfes (in which the philofophic Inferences from the Dodrine of Neceflity are fummed up with equal Truth and Elegance), I cannot bring myfelf to fuppofe, that the Poet was in a chearlefs^ melan- choly Frame of Mind. So far from being able to obferve the remotefl: Veftige of Gloom ; I fee nothing in them, but the Luftre of unmingled Light, and the Triumph of exulting Joy. " Submit. — In this or any other Sphere, Secure to be as Bled as thou canft bear. Safe in the Hand of one Difpofing Pow'r^ Or in the natal or the mortal Hour. All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee. All Chance, Diredion which thou canll not fee. All * Difcord, Harmony not underftood. All partial Evil, univerfal Good. And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reafon's Spight, One Truth is clear : Whatever is, h right." If, together with ihz philofophic^ we view Ne- cefiicy through the evangelic^ Medium ; nothing will be wanting to render the Survey complete. * All Difcord., i. e. all the feemingly irregular and con- trarient Dirpenfations of Divine Providence. I 3 Chriltian [ 126 ] Chriftian NeccfTitarians, having fung with Mr, Pope ; can alfo fing, as follows, in thofe chearfull Lines of the lace excellent Mr. Hart : " This God is the God we adore -, Our fuithfull, unchangeable Friend : Whole Love is as great as His Pow'r, And knows neither Meafure, nor End. '* 'Tis Jefus, the Firft and the Laft, Whofe Spirit fhall guide us fafe home I [We'll p'-aife Him, for All that is paft -, And truji Him, for All that's to come." And fo much for the pretended Gloominess of Necefiiry. Or, in other Words, for ihcyErhiopic Compledi^n of that difmaly melancholy Docflrine, which mort dolefully afiferts, that all Tbwgs^ with- out excepting the worft, PFork together for the Glory of God, and/<7r Goot> to them that love Him. Rom, viii. 28- " Dri-plorable News in- deed," as an old Lady once expreffed it. 2. To fhew his fkill in Hiftory and Genealogy, Mr. Wefley traces the Origin of Neceflity. And thus he makeis out the Pedigree. " That Man is not Self-determined ; that the " Principle of Aiftion is lodged not in himfelf, \\ but in fome other Being ; has been an exceed- f 127 ] ** ing antient Opinion : yea, near as old as the " Foundation of the World. It feems, none " that admit of Revelation can have any Doubt " of this. For it was unqueitionably the Senti- " ment of Adam^ foon after he had eaten of the " forbidden Fruit. He imputes what he had " done, not to himfelf, but another : the Woman " whom thou, gavefl me. It was alfo the Senti- " ment of E've : the Serpent^ he beguiled me^ and " / did eat. It is true, I did eat, but the Caufe " of my eating, the Spring of my Adion, was " in another." Waiving all Notice of the grammatical and the logical Inaccuracys, which adorn this Paragraph j I fhall, with it's Author's Leave, carry the An- iiqiiity of Neceflity fomewhat higher up. God Himfelf is a necejfary Being. He exifted, and could not but exift, without Beginning. He cxifts, and cannot but exift, without End. Ne- cejfTity, therefore, is co-£val with, and infeparable from. Deity, i. e. it is, truly and properly, eternal: as all His other Attributes are. I would ternj NecelTity, in this View of it, Neceffitas prima. With regard to Adam., he was fufficiently in- ftrufled in the Dodrine of Neceffity, during: the State of Innocence. He could not but know, that he exifted neceflarily, and that every Cir- I 4 cumrtance [ 128 ] cumflance of his Situation was necefiarily dete-r-« mined by a fuperior Hand. ^ For Lxample. When he was well awoke from that deep Jleep^ into which he had been necejfarily caft, without his own Confent firfl: had and ob- tained ; was not that fingle Incident Tefpecially when he adverted to the important EfeSi of it) more than enough, to imprefs a reflecting Mind with the Idea of NecelTuy ? The very miffing of his Rib^ which he had involuntarily loft on the Occafion ; muft have made him a Neceffitarian, fuppofing him to have been, wliat I make no Doubt he was, a Man of common Underftanding. Eve, like wife, could not but know, that fhe was necejfarily made, necejfarily placed in Eden, and necejfarily configned to Adam. I conclude, therefore, that the firft Man and his Wife v/ere Neccffitarians, antecedently to theip Fall. And if they, afterwards, endeavor'd to ac- count for their Fall, upon the Principle of Ne- ceffity ; I muft declare, that, for my own Part, I fee neither the Impiety of the Attempt, nor the Lamen'efs of the Reafoning. " Oh, but this makes God the Author of *^ their Falling." By no Means in the World. *Tis the Arminian Hypothefis, which reprefents Deity as either unfeafonably abjent^xom the Place, or as looking uncoKcernedly on, while His feeble Creature C 129 ] Creature Eve was chopping unequal Logic with a mightier and more artful! Being than herfelf. 'Tis the Free-will Scheme, which lays Original Sin at the Divine door : by fuppofing, that God ilood neuter throughout the whole Affair; tho' He knew (if Arminianifm will allow Him to have foreknown) that no lefs, than the Ruin of all Mankind, would be the Confequence of that Neutrality. When we fay, that the Fall of Man came ;z^- cejfarily to pafs ; 'tis only faying, that Satan is neither too Jlrong^ nor too wife, for God : and that Satan would not have proved too ftrong, or too v/ife, for Eve herfelf, had it been the Will of God pofuijfe Ohicem, i. e. to have hindered Satan from fuccedin,gr. Now, if 'twas not the Divine Will to bar the Enemy from fucceding ; and if it was really foreknown, that, without fuch Bar, the Enemy would fuccede ; and if God could, , without Injullice, actually forbear, at the very critical Time, to put an effectual Bar in the Way, though He certainly had Power to do it : the In- ference is invmcible, that Adam and Eve fell neceffarily. Nor is God's Decree to permit the Fall, liable to any one Cavil, which will not hold, with equal or with ftronger Force, againft the a5iual '^evmifjion itfelf. — " But why did God decree to " permit [ ^30 ] " permit the Fall, and permit the Fall according *' to His Decree ?" For Reafons, the whole of which He has not thought proper to communi- cate. He giveth not Account^ to Any^ of His Matters. Job. xxxiii. 13. And this is too good an Anfwer to fo daring a Qu^eftion. Let me give our Freev/illers a very momentous Hint : viz. That the Entrance of Original Sin was one of thofe efiential Links, on which the MefTiah's Incarnation and Crucifixion were fuf- pended. So that, if Adam's Fall was not necejfary (i. e. if it was 3. precarious^ or contingent^ Event) ; it would follow, that the whole Chriftian Reli- o-lon, from firft to laft, is a Piece of merfe Chance'^ medley: and, confequently, cannot he of Divine Jnftitution. Arminians would do well, to con- fider, whither t' eir Principles lead them. 3. The true Neceffity is, toto Ccelo, remote and different from Manichaifm : as indifputably appears, on comparing the two Syflems together. Not to obferve, that St. Austin (who, in his earliar Part of Life, had been * entangled in the Manich^Ean * " The Manlchaean Scheme," Tays Mr. Wepy, " was *' formerly efpouied by Men of Renown : St Auguflln in »' particular." But I will do St. Auftin that Juftice which this Gentleman witholds, by adding, that God converted him from Manichsifni, while yet a young Man ; and feveral Years L 131 3 Manich^an Net) was ultimately confirmed in his Refolution to renounce thofe Herefys, by read- ing the Epiftles of that illuftrious Neceflltarian St. Paul. Manes, from whom Manichasifm is (though very inaccurately) denominated, was by Birth a Perfian, and florifhed toward the Clofe of the Third Century. His original Name was * Cubric: which Years, before he was fo much as Baptized into the Chriftian Church. — The Methodift goes on. " Manichaeifm is now " fo utterly out of Date, that it would be loll Labor to con- *' fute it" Herein, he is, to exprefs it as tenderly as I can, utterly mijlaken in his Reckoning. I fhall clearly prove, a page or two hence, that he himfelf is, in one Refped, as much; and, in another Refped, abundantly tnore; z. Mani' cha, than either Scythian, Budda, or Manes, Mr. Wefiey, by a very fmgular Mixture of Manicheeifmy Pelagianiji/i, Popery ^ Socinianifm, Ranter ifm, and Aiheijm; has, I believe, now got to his Ultimatum. Probably, he would go ftill farther, if he could. But, I really think, he has no farther to go. Happy Settlement, after Forty Years Infinity cf Shiftings and Flittings hither and thither ! *' Thus Weathercocks, which, for a while, " Have turn'd about wiih ev'ry Blaft; ** Grown old, and deditute of Oil, •• Ruft to a Point, and fix at laft!" * " Mutato Nomine, deinde Manis, vel Manetis, Nomen adoptavit; Perficum aliis, quod O|0tt^>jl)!i/ dicat, Dijceptatorem, ^gonijiam : [ »32 ] which he afterwards dropped, for That of Manes. One Scythian^ an Arabian Merchant, who had made himfelf Mafter of the Oriental Philofophy and Theology, committed the Stibltance of his Collections to Writing: and bequeathed his Books, which were four in Number, to a Profelyte of his, named Budda-Terebinthus. This Budda, fettling afterwards in Perfia, refided in the Houfe of a Widow, who had bought Manes for a Slave. On Budda's Deceafe, the Books of Scythian fell into Manes's Hands ; from whence he drew the Gene- rality of thofe Tenets which pals under his Name, and molded them into a Syftem. In this odd Manner, did Manes come to diftinguifli himfelf as an Hsrefiarch. The Amount of his Syftem was This. ' There Agonlftam: aliis Chaldaicum >:«d, Grsce war,??, ex f«D, quod, Babvloniorum Lingua, fignificat, Vas, Organum ; quod fecry.E'j>^ ekAekIoi/ dicerat, quo Dens, ad DoclrinffiDivinasPropa- gationem, uti vellet. Hinc videtur fadum, ut falfa; Dodlrinae Auftorein Talmudillar vocarint '«J'D ; quod Elias Levita a »Jli^D Hffiretico derivat. Et revera prius Nomen Cubricus denotafTe videtur p'"i 133, f'as vanum, contemnendum, fiflgilc. Dein Difcipuli, ob Invidiam Grcecse Vocis, qua Mas'-/;; defignabat rov f^aivoUx r:a(; (p^ciici<;, injancntejn, vt\ furen- itm; Litera duplicata, & com polita Voce, quafi effet /xaw» yi'jit. Manna fundens, fecere Manicbauju." Spanhemii Hifl-. Chriilinn. Saec. 3. — Operum Tom. I. Col. 751, 752- [ 133 ] * There are two co-sequal, co-seternal, and in- dependent Gods^ or Infinite Principles : viz, God^ properly fo called -, alias, Light : and Matter \ alias, Darknefs. ' The Firfi is the Author of all Good : the Se- cond, of all Evil. ' The light God infpired the Penmen of the New Teftament : the dark God infpired the Writers of the Old Tercament. Confequently, the Old Teftament is worth nothing. * Thefe Gods are real Subftances : the one, a good Subftance ; the other, a l^ad. ' In the Work of Creation, the good Being wrought Part, and the bad Being wrought Fart. ' The good Being is the Maker of human ' Souls. ' The good Being united himfelf to the Ele- • ments of Air and Fire : the bad Being took • PofTeftion of Earth and Water. ' The evil God made the World, and the ' human Body, ' and Sin, and Magiftracy. * . There is a Trinity : but it confifts of Scythian, ' Budda, and Manes. Scythian's Seat is in the ' Sun: Budda's in the Moon : and Manes's in ' the Air. ' The Sun in the Firmament is Chrift. '.Chrifl [ 134 J ' Chrift did not afTume a real, but only 2ifeem^ * ing Body. * The Ele£f are thofe, in whom the evil Prin- ' ciple is quite done away, ' Matrimony does but unite us more clolely ta * the evil God. ' Wa.ier- Baptifm is worth little. ' The Souls "of my Auditors^ [i. e. of thofe who conftantly attended his AfTemblys, and im- bibed his Doflrines] * are thereby changed into ' Ele6t Souls J and fo return, quite purify'd, to ' the good Being. ' The Souls of other People tranfmigrate, at * Death, into Beajls^ and Trees^ and all Kinds of ' Vegetables. ' Inward Concupifcence is a Perfon. It is nevef * healed, but it may be totally feparated from * Men. In the Day of Judgement, each Con- ' cupifcence fhall be fiiut up in a Globe, and there ' live in perpetual Imprifonment. ' The good God, and the bad God, wage im- ' placable and never ceafing "War againft each * other ; and perpetually clog and difconcert one * another's Schemes and Operations. ' Hence, Men are impelled^ by forcible con- ' (Iraint, to good, or to evil ; according as they ' come under the Power of the good Deity, or the *• bad one.* Such I ^35 :\ Such is a Sketch of what I have been able to collefl with Certainty, of the abfurd and exe- crable Tenets of Manes : which form a Medley of Pythagorifm, Gnofticifm, and almoft every other (/?«, both Pagan and Heretical, which that and prsEceding Ages could fupply. 'Tis probable, that Budda improved upon Scythian^ and that Manes improved upon both. Tho', in Reality, neither of the Three, nor all the Three together, were Authors of the monfcrous Opinions which Gonftituted the Jumble. The Opinions were taken from a Variety of other Sources : and the pilfer- ing Triumvirate, contrary to the Prat'^ice of Thieves in o-eneral, feemed refolved to Ileal the worji of every Thing they could lay their Hands on. I believe, it is abfolutely impolTible to trace, quite up to it's Source, the Antiquity of that Hy- pothefis, which abfurdiy affirms the Exiftence of two eternal^ contrary^ independent Principles. The other Oriental Nations feem to have adopted it from Egypt. But wheyice the Egyptians had it, and 'tc;/6^/7 they firft entertained it, we know not: at lead, I could never find out. What led fo many wife People, and for fo great a Series of Ages, into fuch a wretched Mif- take -, were, chiefly, I fuppofe, thefe two Confidc- rations : (i). That ZivV, both moral and phyfical, are [ '36 ] ^re pojitive Things, and fo mufl have a pofitiv^ Caufe. — (2.) That a Being, perfectly good, could not, from the very Nature of His Eflcnce, be the Caufe of fuch i^ad Things. But (i.) Evil, whether phyfical or moral, does not, upon a narrow Infpedlion, appear to have fd much of Pojitivity in it, as 'tis probable thofe Antients fuppofed. A Man breaks his Leg : 1. e. the Continuity^ or Co-haefion of Parts, natural to that Limb,- ceafes to be integral. This is followed by the Evil of Pain. And what is Pain ^ the Abfence, or Privation, of fenfible Eafe antecedently enjoy'd. — A Man's Houfe is burned down. The Confe- quence is, a Lofs, or Privation, of Property. He does not poflefs as much as he poffefs'd before. — Thus (not to multiply needlefs Inftances), Sicknefs is a Privation of Health : and is, from thence, very properly termed, Difeafe. Poverty is a Deficiency of Wealth and Conveniences. Death iifelf, a CeJJation of animal Life. God forbid, that I Iliould even wifh to exte- nuate the Malignity of Sin. The omniprefent Reader of Hearts and Hearer of Thoughts knowSj that, next after His own awefuU Difpleafure, I dread and deprecate Sin, in all it's Forms, as the greateft of poflible Calamitys. — Let us, however, with [ m ] with cautious and timid Hand, put Moral Evil itfelf into the philofophic Scale. When I was a Boy, and began to read Watts's Logic, I well remember the Surprize it gave me, to find, that fo good a Man (hould venture to treat of Sin^ in the 6th Section (Pt. 1. Chap. 2.), under the Title Of Not-Beihg. And, I confefs, I partly wonder at it llill. But let the Dodor fpeak for himfelf. " The SinfuUnefs of any human Aclion " is faid to be a Privation : for Sin is that Want " of Conformity to the Law of God, which ought " to be found in every Adion of Man. I *' think," adds the Dodor, and in Troth I think fo too, " we muft not reduce fuch pofitive Beings " as Piety^ and Virtue^ and Truths to the Rank " of Ncn-entitys^ which have nothing real in " them. Though Sin^ or rather the SinfuUnefs " of an Action, may be properly called a Not- " Being : for it is a JVant of Piety and Virtue. " This is the molt ufual, and perhaps the mod ** juft, Way of reprefenting thefe Matters." Very happily, we have a Definition of Sin, given lis by a Logician who could not err. Ua; iroim rnv oc^xolnxv^ yton tw ccvoy.ioci^ Trotet' xtxi vi AMAPTIA friv \ ANOMIA. I John iii. 4. Every Man^ who commit teth Sin^ doth alfo commit Illegality : for Sin' is Illegality. — Whence I conclude, in ihtfiyji place : that Sin, ftridly confider'd, has more of K Negation [ '38 ] Negation in it, that of Pofitivity -, elfe, it could not have been properly defineable by a merely ne- gative Term. For, Illegality imports no more, than a Non-Commenfuration to the Law, as a Rule, or Meafure of Length and Breadth. — But, .S"^- condly^ I infer, that, unlefs Sin had fomething of Pofitivity in it, the Illegality of it could not be faid to be commijfable : " Every Man, who com- " mittetb Illegality." And yet, after all, I do not clearly difcern, how that can be, v/ichout the Affiftance of Dr. ^atts's Diftindion (a Diftinc- tion which is, I believe, admitted by mod, if not all, metaphyfical Writers) between Anions them- felvcs, and the SinfuUnefs of them. Critics explain pt^3, one of the Hebrew Words for Sin^ by the Greek Word ahTix ; which im- ports Unfettlednefs^ and, in particular, a not fiand- ing to Articles before agreed upon. KtOn, the moft ufual Word for Sin, properly fignifys, a not walking in the right Road, and a not hitting the propofed Mark. \y\y is Obliquity^ or Crookednefs : i. e. Want of Straitnefs. The Greek dixocfioc, moft certainly, conveys a negative Idea : and fignifys, like the fecond He- brew Word abovemention'd, a falling Jloort of the Mark. The 'LztmPeccatu/n (which fome are for deriv- ing from >*tt?3) is alfo explained by Deli^um, i. c. a Failure [ ^39 ] 1^ Failure in Duty. Iniquitas, Culpa, Noxa, In- juftitia, Impietas, Seeks, Viiium, and a Multitude of others j are, in Stridlnefs, Terms of Ne- gation. But (2.), in what Light foever we confidef thofe Modes of Being and of Aftion, called na- tural and moral Evil ; whether we view them as pofitive Qualitys, or as negative, or as mixed ; Hill the Qu£eftion returns. Whether the Great First Cause, who is infinitely and merely Good^ can he, either efficiently, or deficiently, the Author of them ? In my Opinion, the fingle Word Permijfwn folves the whole Difficulty, as far as it can be folved in the prefent beclouded State of human Reafon. Certainly, God is not hound to prasclude Evil from among His Works. 'Tis equally certain, that He can permit it, not only to obtain, but even to reign. And 'tis as certain, that He aftually does fo permit it. Why ? Not for Want of Knowledge, to perceive it. Nor for Want of Power, to hinder it. Nor for Want of Wifdom^ to counterad it. Nor for Want of Goodnefs, to order all for the beft. But becaufe it was and is His unfearchable * /F/// (and the Will of God is Rectitude • And a Step, or an IncK, beyond thh, we cannot go. That God nvilled to permit Evil, cannot be doubted,' but at K 2 the [ HO ] Rectitude itfelf ), to allow the Entrance and the Continuance of that feemingFoil to the Lovelinels of His Works. Arminianifm the Expence, either -of His Wifdom, or of His Power. The Reafons nxjhy He willed it, are, perhaps, among thofe Arcana,^ -which Angels themfelves have not yet been allowed to fee into. I think, I may venture to afiert, that the Scripturas throw hardly any Degree of Light upon the Divine Motinje, or Moiives, to this Permiffion. And it appears inconteftably plain, from the Writings, and from fuch authentic Memo- rials, as remain, of the moft fagacious Philofophers of prae- ceding Ages, and of every civilized Clime, the Chiuefe themfelves included ; that all their various Hypothefes (feme cf which were extremely fubtil and ingenious), by which they {trained both Judgement and Imagination, to account Jbr the primary Exigence and Introduftlon of moral and phyfical Ataxy ; terminated, univerfally, in the Point from whence they fat out: viz. We cannot tell. Whoever defires to fee, at one View, as much as needs to be known, concerning the Speculations of the greateli Sages among the Antients, on this inextricable Subjeft ; will enjoy a moil refined Amufement (but attended, I think, with na feafible Solution of the Difficulty immediately in Point), by perufing the lecond Part of that concife, elegant, judi- cious, and faithfull Sketch of antique Philofophy, entitled',. A Df/courfe upon the Theology and Mythology of the Antients^ Written by the Chevalier Ram/ay : an Author, who, tho', in my Opinion, extrerricly fancifull and erroneous on fome metaphyseal QuaeRions ; yet deferves to be lov'd and ad- mired, as one of the moft ingenious, polite, candid, and en- tertaining L HI ] Arminianifm (which reprefents moral and na- tural Evil as entering and as reigning in Defiance and tertaining Reafoners, that ever added the Enchantments of Beauty to the Dignity of Virtue and to the Riches of Learning. But ftill, our utmoft Inveftigations leave us, praecifely, where they began. We know fcarce any of the Views, which induced Uncreated Goodnefs to ordain (for, where Infinity of Knowledge and of Power and of Wifdom unite in the Permittor, I fee no very great Difference between permitting and crdaining) the Introgreflion, or, more properly, the In- tromiflion, of Evil. For my own Part, I can, with unre- pining Chearfullnefs, give God Credit (and that to all Eter- nity, fhould it be HisPIeafure to require me) for doing every Thing well. •' I know but this, that He is je;ood, " And that myfelf am blind." Can any body bring the Matter to a more fatisfadory Iffue? Si non, hcc utere ?necum. It might have been happy for that fine, but too excurfive Theorid, Dr. Cofiyers Mid.'/Ieton ; if he had not, with more Ralhnefs than good Speed, endeavor'd to overleap that Boundary, which God Himfelf has fixed, to the prefent Ex- tent of human Knowledge. Were we even to grant the Dotlor his favorite Hypothefis, viz. that the iv/:>o/e Mofaic Account of the Fall is mere/y allegorical; the Origin of Evil would llill remain as dark, and as deep at the Bottom of the Well, as ever. For to what does this boafted Allegory a- mountr Dr. Middleton fhall give it us, in his own Words (/^V^/, Quarto. Vol.11. P. 149). " By Adam, we are to K •? " underftand [ 142 J and Contrariety to the Will and JViJIj and Endeavors of the Divine Being) co-incides fa patly < underftand Rea/on, or the Mind of Man. By Eve, the ' Flejh, or outward Senfes. By the Serpent, LuJ}^ orPIea- ' fure. In which Allegory, we fee clearly explaned the • true Caufes of Man's Fall and Degeneracy : that, as foon • as his Mind, thro' the Weaknefs and Treachery of his ' Senfes, became captivated and feduced by the AUure- ' ments of Luft and Pleafure; he was driven by God out * of Paradife, i. e. loft and forfeited the Happinefs and * Profperity, which he had enjoy'd in his Innocence." With all theRefpeft due to fo very fuperior a Pen, t would offer an Obfervation or two on this Paflage. — i. If Adam, and E-ve, and the Serpent, and the Trees of Knowledge and of Life, and the very Paradife where they grew, were all allegorical (i. e. fabulous and unreal) ; might not an Atheift fuppofe, with equal Reafon, that the adorable Creator, whom this fame Hiftory terms God, is as allegorical a Being as the reft? — 2. If the /"fl// itfelf, as related in Scripture, be no more than a Piece of moral Fidion ; what Security have we, that the fcriptural Account of Redemption, is not equally fidlitious ? Indeed, where is the NeceiTity, or fo much as the Propriety, and Reafonablenef?, of imagining, that an allegorical Ruin requires more than an allegorical Refto- ration ?— 3. Among a Multitude of other Objeftions, which clog the Wheel of this unfatisfaclory Scheme; the following is one : that the Difficulty oi account ing for the Rife of Evil, fiill fubfifts in all it's primitive and impenetrable Obfcurity. For, (i.) How came the " Allurements of Luft and Plea- *' fure," to exift at all ? efpecially, in a State of abfolute Jnpocency? — (2.) How came Man's ** outward Senfes" to be [ 143 ] patly with the Manichaan Dream of two almighty confii5ling Principles^ who reign in fpight of each other, and catch as' Catch can ; that I really wonder at the reverfed modefty of thofe Free- willers, who are for Ihifting off the Charge of Manichseifm, from themfelves, to other Folks. be fo very eafy of Accefs, as to fly open, like the Doors of an enchanted Caftle, at almofl: the firft Appearance of this faid gigantic Lady, called " Allurement"? — (3.) How came the Human Mind to yield itfelf fo tame a " Captive" to thofe feducing fenfes ? Not to alk, (4.) Why the Senfes themfelves were originally indued with that " Weaknefs, " and Treachery," and Power of *' Seduflion," which the DoiSlor fo freely places to their Account ? — ■! think myfelf warranted to conclude, that this mafterly Allegorizer has NOT " clearly explaned", nor fo much as thrown the leaft Glimmering of Explanation upon, *' the true Caufes of ** Man's Fall and Degeneracy". What, then, do we gain, by reading Mofes through theDodlor's allegoric Spedacles ? So far from gaining, we lofe the little we had. The Man who pulls down my Houfe, and builds me a better in it's Place; deferves my thanks. But the Man who takes down my Dwelling, under Pretence that it is not fufficiently ample and elegant for a Perfon of my Dignity to inhabit ; and, after all this Parade, leaves me to fleep in the open Air, unflielter'd by any Roof at all : does me a material Injury, When Infidels can raifc a more commodious Fabric (i. e. propofe a more unexceptionable Syflem of Principles), than That the Bible prefents us with ; we'll chearfully remove from our old Houfe. But, 'till then, let thofe Gentlemen (leep fub Dio by themfelves. K 4 ' Nay, [ 144 ] Nay, were I difpofed to make the moft of my Argument, I might add, and very fairly too. That the old Manichasifm was a gentle Impiety, and z /lender Abfurdity ; when contrafted with the modern Arminian Improvements on that Syftem. For, which is worfe ? To aflert the Exiftence of two independent Beings, and no more ; or. To alTert the Exiftence of about One Hundred and Fifty Millions of independent Beings, all living at one Time, and moft of them waging fuccefs- full War on the Defigns of Him that made them ? Moreover, if fo very minute a Crumb of the Creation, as this terraqueous Planer, which we at prefent occupy, can furnifti out fuch a formid- able Army of independent Principles (i. e. of Self- determiners : in which Number, Infants and Children themfelves muft be virtually included, which will fwell the Catalogue with about Seventy Millions more) -, the aggregateT>Jumber of inde- pendent and poftibly-confli(5ling Agents, con- tained in the Univerfe at large, may excede the Powers of all the Angels in Heaven to compute. But, even confining ourfelves to our own World j it will follow, that Arminian Manichaeifm excedes the paltry Oriental Duality, at the immenfe Rate pf 150000000 to 2 ! And this, at the very loweft and moft favorable Computation, i. e. without taking: [ 145 ] * taking Infants into the Account ; and without reckoning the adult Self-determiners of /j^T? Gene- rations, nor of thofe Generations which are yet to come. Poor Manes ! with how excellent a grace do Arminians call ibee an Heretic ! And, above all, fucb Arminians (whereof Mr. John Wejley is one) as agree with thee, in believing the Attain- ability oijinlefs Perfe5fion here below : or, to ufe the good old Manichaan Phrafe, who aflert that The Evil Principle may he totally separated from Man in the prefent Life ! " Oh, but Manes held Neceffity alfo." But what Sort of Necelfity ? Such a Neceflity as a Child would be under, if the Dragon of Wantley was pulling him by one Arm, and Moore of Moore-hall by the other. Chriftianity and Philo- fophy have nothing to do with this Neceflity, ex- cept to laugh at it. 4. Mr. Wefley feems much difpleafed with a Brace of Gentlemen, whofc Names he has not communicated to the Public ; but who appear, from his Account of 'em, to be in no very fair Way x.Q)\szx<\ finlefs Perfe^ion. One of thefe, we are told, deliver'd his Mind, to this EfFed : ** I frequently feel Tempers, and " fpeak many Words, and do many Aflions, ^' which I don't approve of. But I cannot avoid " it. [ 146 ] " it. They refult, whether I wiil or no, from " the Vibrations of my Brain, together with the " Motion of my Blood, and the Flow of my *' animal Spirits. But thefe are not in my own " Power. I cannot help them. They are inde- " pendent on my Choice." Thus far, I totally agree with the Gentleman unknown. Every one of his Prsemiffes is true. But the Conclufion limps, moft miferably. Which Conclufion (if Mr. Wefley have reprefented it fairly) is this : " Therefore I cannot apprehend myfelf to be a " Sinner" And pray, what does the Gentleman apprehend himfelf to be ? A Saint^ I prefume. Should this Traft ever fall into his Hands, let me intreat him to cry mightily to God, for that fiipernatural Influence of Grace, which alone is able to convince him of his Sinnerfhip ; to bring him to Chrift ; and to fave him from the evil Effefls, which muft, orherwife, continue to refult from " the Vibrations of his Brain, the Motion " of his Blood, and the Flow of his animal " Spirits." The other anonymous Gentleman, according to Mr. Wefley's Hiftory of him, believes the Omnipotence^ but doubts the Wifdorn^ and flatly denys the Gcodnefs^ of God. From the peculiar Completion of this Creed, I fhould have imagined, that it's Compiler had picked up the two [ H7 3 two lafl: Articles of it at the Foundery : but Mr. Wefley pr^ecludes this Surmife, by giving us to underftand, that the Gentleman is not a Free- wilier. For thus the Creed goes on : " All the " Evil in the World is owing to God. I can " afcribe it to no other Caufe. I cannot blame " that Cur, for barking or biting : it is his " Nature : and he did not make himfelf. I feel *' wrong Tempers in myfelf. But that is not " my Fault : for I cannot help it. It is my ^' Nature. And I could not prevent my having " this Nature : neither can I change it." No Man in the World is more prone to put Things in People's Mouths, which they never faid, or thought of, than Mr. J. W, I there- fore lay very little Strefs on the Teftimony, which fupports the Authenticity of this Creed. It may be genuine. But 'tis more probable, that 'twas forged^ and drefTed up, for the Occafion. However, I will beftow a few concife Annota- tions on this ConfefTion of Faith, be it real, or be it fiditious. ' All the Evil in the World is owing to God* Nothing can be more falfe. For, as the great and good Mr. * Edwards obferves, " It would be " Itrange * Viz. the late Rev. Mr. Jonathan Ed-war Js, of North America, Whofe Enquiry into the Freedom of the Will is a B00I5 [ 148 ] " ftrange arguing indeed, becaufe Men never " commit Sin, but only when God leaves them " to Book which God has made the Inftrument of more deep and cxtenfive Ufefullnefs (efpecially among Deifts, and Perfons of Science), than almoft any other modern Publication I know of. If fuch of my Readers, as have not yet met with it, wilh to fee the Jrmhnan Sophiftry totally unravel'd and defeated ; let 'em add that excellent Performance to their literary Treafures. A more nervous Chain of Reafoning it would be extremely difficult to find, in the EngUjh Language. Confequently, it is not one of thofe Treacifes, that can be run through in an Hurry. It muft be read deliberately, and weighed with Attention : elfe, you'll lofe half the Strength of the Connexion. A fpruce Maccaroni was boafting, one Day, that He had the tnoji happy Genius in the World. Every thing, faid he, is eafy to ?ne. People call Euclid'x Elements an hard Book : but I read it, Yejlerday, from Begin- ning to End, in a Piece of the Afternoon, betnueen Dinner and Tea time. *' Read all Euclid," anfwered a Gentleman pre- fent, " in one Afternoon ? How was that poffible ?" Upon my Honor, I did : and never read tnore fmoother reading in my Life, " Did you mailer all the Demonflrations, and folve " all the Problems, as you went ?" Demonflrations ! and Problems ! 1 fuppofe you mean the a'^, and Ws, and c'j ; and the I'j, and 2'j, and ^'s ; and the Pidures of Scratches and Scra'wls. No, No. I fkipt all they. I only read Euclid ^itnfelf; and all Euclid I did read; and in one Piece of the Afternoon too. — Mr. Edward's mull not be read fo genteelly. There are, it feems, two eminent Defences ofNeceffity, ^hich I have never yet feen ; viz. Dr. Hartley's Obfer'va- tions [ H9 J " to themfehes^ and ncceiTarily Sin, when He " does fo ; that therefore their Sin is not from *' themfehes, but from God : and fo, that God " mult be a fmfuil Being. As ftrange, as it " would be, to argue, becaufe it is always dark " when the Sun is gone, and never dark when " the Sun is prefent -, that therefore all Darknefs " is from the Sun, and that his Difk and Beams " muft needs be black." {Enquiry^ P. 364, Mr. Wejlef% Neceflitarian adds: ' I cannot * BLAME that Cur for harking and biting* But did the Gentleman never, fo much as once in his Life time, heat a Cur for barkino- and biting ? 1 dare fay, he has : and would again, if a Cur was to fly at him with open Mouth. It fhould feem, therefore, that a Cur, tko' he bark and bice neceffarily^ is liable ftill 10 Blame : elfe, how could he be juftly entitled to Blows ? ' // is his Nature* Moft certainly. And yet you'll heat him for it ! ' He did not make himfelf* Who thinks he did ? tiofis on Man ; and an anonymous Ej/ay on Liberty and Ne- cejjityy publiOied, feme Years fince, at Edinburgh. I hope, I have a Feaft, of Pleafure and Inftruftion, in Referve. And it Ihall not be my Fault, if I do not fcon enjoy it. ' Ifeel [ ISO ] * / feel wrong tempers in inyfelf* I dare fay^ You do. ' But that is not my Fault.* Certainly, the Fault's in Yourfelf j and, confequently, the Fault hyour's. How you came by it, is another Matter: and belongs to the Quaeftion of Original Sin. * / cannot help it.* Right : you cannot. But there is One that can. Apply to Him. ' It is my Nature* Very true. — ' Jnd I could * not PREVENT my having this Nature* I never imagined you could. ' Neither can /change ' //,' I am very clear, you cannot. The Ethiopian might as foon change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots, Jer. xiii. 23. And yet, what will become of you, if you dye unchanged ? May the Almighty put that Cry into your Heart, 'Turn Thou me., and /shall he turned; for Thou art the Lord my God. Jer. xxxi. 18. Then will you know what This meaneth : We all, with open Face, beholding, as in a Glafs, the Glory of the Lord; ARE CHANGED into the fame Image, from Glory to Glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. iii. 18. 5. Mr. Wefley's Wrath is not confined to the two Gentlemen abovemention'd. It ftrides back into the laft Century, and profecutes " The " Jffembly of Divines who met at Wefiminfier** For what Offence, are they thus dug out of their Graves I [ 'S- ] Graves ? For faying, that " Whatever happens " in Time, was unchangeably determined from " all Eternity." — I beg Leave to acquaint the Court, that there's a Flaw in the Charge. Mr. Wefley cannot quote even a finglc Propofition, without mangling and allermg ! In the Confeflion, drawn up by thofe Divines, they exprefs the Matter thus : God, from all Eternity, did, by the mojl wife and holy Counfel of His own Will, freely and unchangeably ordain what- foever comes to pafs. Tet fo, as thereby neither is God the Author of Sin, nor is Violence offered to the Will of the Creatures, &c. *. — In their larger Catechifm, they phrafe it, with no Alteration of Senfe, as follows : God's Decrees are the wife, free, and holy A£ls of the Counfel of His Will; whereby, from all Eternity, He hath, for His own Glory, unchangeably fore-ordained whatfoever comes to pafs in 'Time : efpecially, concerning Angels and Men. — In the fhorter Catechifm, they fay : The Decrees of God are. His Eternal Purpofe according to the Counfel of his Will-, whereby, for His own Glory, He hath fore- ordained whatever comes to pafs. God executeth His Decrees, in the Works of Creation and Providence. — I fhall only obferve, * Humble Advice of the Affembly, &c. P. lo, ii. — Edit. Lond. 1658. Quarto, concernins [ 152 ] concerning all and each of thefe Paragraphs, that if they be not true, the whole Bible is one grand firing of Falfehood, from the firil Verle to the lall. While Mr. Wefley*s hand was in, I wonder he did not arraign another Aflembly of Divines ; Ibme of whom were Mitred. I mean, the famous Aflembly of Bifhops and others, who met toge- ther, not naany Bow-fhots from Weftminfter, on the Surrey Side of the Thames, in the Year 1595, at a certain Place of Rendezvous, called Lambeth Palace : where, fays Dr. Fuller, " Arch- " Bifhop Whitgifty out of his Christian Cars " to propagate the Truth, and fupprefs the " oppofite Errors, caufed a folemn Meeting of " many grave and learned Divines." Among whom, befides the good Arch-Bilhop himfelf, were Bancroft^ Bp. of London ; Vaiighan, Bp. of Bangor ; 'Tindal^ Dean of Ely •, M^hitaker^ Divi- nity Profeflbr of Cambridge ; &c. Which faid JJfembly of Divines drew up the celebrated Lambeth Articles: whereof I Hiall here cire but one, for a Specimen ; having treated, at large,. of this Aflembly, and it's Determinations, * elfe- where, " Praedeltinatorum prasfinitus et certus * In a Traft, entitled, The Church of England •■vindicated from the Charge of Arminianifm ; and in my Hijioric Proof of the Dodrinal Cal~jim/?n of the Church of England. eft t i5^ ] *' eft Numerus : qui nee augeri, nee miniiij ^* poteft." i. e. The Number of the Tradeftinated is fore-determined^ and certain : fo that it can neither be increafed, nor diminijh'd. There have aHo been ftili larger Aflfemblys of Divines: eompofed of all the Biihops, Deans, and Delagates of the Clergy, in England. Witnefs the Affembly^ who drt;w up the 39 Articles. Articles, to which Mr. IVefley has, indeed, ovei: and over again, fat his Hand : but with the fame 6'implicity a.nd godiy Sincerity (2 Cor. i. 12.), which feem to have aftuated Dr. Reid, Dr. Ofzv^ald, and Dr. Beattie, when they fubfcribed The Con- feflion and Catechifni of the Weftminfter Af- fembly. There^s fuch a "Things as holy 'Tricking, Tejis are but Fye criifl^ made for breaking. Our own Conveniency^ and Gains, Are Sweetmeats, which that Crufi contains^ 'To come at thefe, what Man fo foolifUy But would a thoufand Crujis demolifh ? Moreover, what fiiall we fay, concerning that Mod Reverend, Right Reverend, and Reverend, Affembly ; who put that woefull Collect into the Liturgy, beginning with, O God, whofe L never- [ i54 ] fievef-failing Providence ordereth all Things^ both in Heaven and Earth ? Can any Thing breathe, more ftrongly, the whole of what we mean by Necessity ? — A Providence — a never-failing Providence — that ordereth, not only fome, but all Things — Yea, all Things both in Heaven and Earth ! In that one Paflage (and the Church lias very many others, quite like unto it), " See " Necejfity drawn at full Length, and painted in " the mod lively Colors" ! 6. 'Tis curious, to behold Arminians themfelves forced, by Strefs of Argument, to take Refuge in the Harbor of that Necejfity which, at other Times, they fo vehemently feek to deftroy. " It " is necejfary,'' fay they, " that Man's Will fhould " he free: for, without Freedom, the Will were " no Will at all." I pity the diftrefsfull Dilemma, to which they are driven. Should, they fay, it is not neceffary for Man's Will to be free •, they give up their whole Caufe at once. If they fay (and fay it they doj, that it is ncceflary, yea abfolutely necef- fary, for the Will to be free ; and that, in it's very Nature, it cannot but be free ; — then, fay I, upon that Principle, thefe good People are free, with a Liberty of Necejfity, and fbere NecelTity ilfelf is the Root and Sap of all their boafted Free- [ '^55 1 f'ree- Agency. In other Words, F^-ee-Agejicy^ themfelves being Judges, is only a Ramification tf Necessity ! 7. The' I have mention'd the following Ariec" dote, in a prsecedlng Publication •, yet, by way of recompenfing Mr. Wefley, for the Amufe- ment he has afforded me, in publifliing the Converfations of the two yiecejfitarian Gentlemen-^ whereof I have jufb given the Reader an Ac- count ; I alfo, in my Turn, fhall refer him to a very remarkable Converfation, which pafTed be- tween a Free-will Gentleman and myfelf, June 21, 1774, in the Neighborhood of London, and in the Prefence of my Friend, the Rev. Mr, Ryland. " God does dl He possibly can", faid the Arminian Philofopher, " to hinder moral " and natural Evil. But He cannot prevail. " Men will not permit God to have His Wifli." ■ — 'Then the Deity, anfwer'd I, mufi certainly he a very unhappy Being. — " Not unhappy in the " leaft." — What ! meet with a confiant Series of crojfes ; THWARTED in his daily Endeavors ; disap- pointed of his Wijhes ; disconcerted in his Plan of Operations \ defeated of his Intentions ', em- barrass'd in his Fiezvs ; and a5Iually over- power'd, every Moment of every Day, by number- L 2 lefs { 136 ] lej'j of the Creatures He has made, and yet he HAPPY under all this incejjant Series of perplexing and MORTIFYING Circunijlanccs ? — *' Yes: for *' He knows, that, in Confequence of the Free- " WILL, with which He has endu'd his rational " Creatures, He Himfclf must be difappointed " of his Wifhes, and defeated of his Ends \ and " that there is no Help for it^ unlefs He had *' made us mere Machines. He therefore sub- *' MiTS to Nccefpjy : and does not make Himfelf *' uneafy about it *." Can any Thing be more fhockingly execrable, than fuch a degrading and blafphemous Idea of the Ever Bleffed GOD ? And, confequently, is not the Do(fl:rine of Human Self-T)eterminability the moft daring, the moft inconfiftent, the moft falfe, the moft contemptible, and the moft athe- iftical Tenet, that was ever fpawned by Pride and Ignorance in conjunction? A Do6lrine, which, in running away from the true Neceflity, coins an impofjible Neceffity of it's own inventing •, and, * See a Nate, fubjolned to P. 5. of a Sermon lately pub- lifhed by me, entitled, Freeivill and Merit brought to the T3^-f\c;\<;., well-nigh every Thing (I fpeak cf Matter only) becomes every Thing, in it's Turn. So thoroughly perfuaded am I, in my own Mind, that all the Atoms, l!*articles, and larger Portions, of Matter, are primarily and intrinfecally and elTentially homogeneous ; that I make no Doubt, but a Mill/lone is phyfically capable of being rarefyed into Light, and Light phyfically capable of being condenfed into a Millftone. — By the way, Light is, perhaps, no more than melted Air : and Air is, perhaps, the never-failing Refervoir, which fupplys the Sun with Materials for it's Rays. Air is, inconteftibly, a necciTary Pabulum oi/uLlunary, and why not oi/olar, Fire? I Ihall conclude this excurfive Note, with a pertinent Paffage from Mr. Boyle : in which that profound and judici-' ous Naturalill informs us, on the Authority of an Experi- ment made by himfelf, that even Water is ultimately con- vertible inlo Oyl, and into Fire. *' Since the various Manner of the Co-alition of feveral *' Corpufcles into one vifible Body, is enough to give them '• a peculiar Texture, and thereby fit them to exhibit divers fenjibh [ i89 ] Color. — I. There muft be the Prefence of a vifible Objedl : — 2. The Surface of that Objedt muft " fenjihle ^alitys, and to become a Body, fometimes of one " Denomination, and fometimes of another; it will very •' naturally follow, that, from the various [but Providential] *♦ Occurfions of thofe innumerable Swarms of little Bodys " that are moved to and fro in the World, there will be *' many fitted to ftick to one another, and fo compofe Con- " cretions: and many (tho' not in the felf-fame Place) dis- " joined from one another, and agitated apart. And Mul- *' titudes alfo, that will be driven to aflociate themfelves, '• now with one Body, and prefently with another. " And if we alfo confider, on the one Side, that th? ** Siz.es of the fmall Particles may be very Hjarioiis ; their ** Figures almoft innumerable ; and that if a Parcel of Matter •' do but happen to ftick to one Body, it may give It a neav *' t^iahty ; and, if it adh^ere to another, or hit agalnft fome ** of it's Parts, it may conftitute a Body of another Kind; or •' if a Parcel of Matter be knock'd oiFfrom another, it mayj^ •' barely by That, leave it, and become, itfelf, of another " Nature than before : If, 1 fay, we confider tliefe ThlngSj^ *' on the one Side; and, on the other Side, that (to ufe " liUcretius's Comparlfon) all the innumerable Multitude " of Words, which are contained in all the Languages of ** the World, are made of the various Combinations of the *' 24 Letters of the Alphabet ; 'twill not be hard to con- " ceive, that there may be an incomprehenfible variety of ** JJJociations and Textures of the minute Parts of Bodys, and " confequently a vaft Multitude of Portions of Matter en- " dued with Store enough of differing Qualitys, to deferve <« diftlncl Appellations, tho', for want of Heedfullnefs an4 N 1 ' ♦' fit r 190 1 mud have a certain Difpofition, Texture, or Con^ ftruflion, of Parts : — 3. Rays of Light muft fall towards, *? fit Words, Men have not yet taken fo much notice of ^' their lefs obvious Varietys, as to fort them as they defervcj, '* and give them dillind and proper Names. " So that^ though I u'ould not fay, than any Thing can ♦ ' immediately be made of every Thing; as a Gold Ring, of a «' Wedge of Gold; orOyl, or Fire, of Water ; yetfinceBodys, " having but one common Matter, can be differenced *' but by Accidents [i.e. by Modes and Circumflances. *' 7iot effential to their Nature as Parts of Matter at large], «' which ieem, all of them, to be the Effeds and Confe- *« qiients of local Moiion : I fee not, why it Ihould be ab- *' furd to think, that (at leaft among inanimate Bodys), by *' the Intervention of fome very fmall Addition or SubtraSion *« of Matter (which yet, in moll: Cafes, will not be needed), *' and of an orderly Series of Alterations, difpo/ing, by De- *' grees, the Matter to be tranfmuted, almoft of any Thing ** may at length be made any Thing. " So, tho' Water cannot, immediately, be tranfmuted into ^' Oyl, and much lefs into Fire; yet, if you nourifli cer- *• tain Plants with Water alone, as [ have done, 'till they f have affimilated a great Quantity of Water into their own *« Nature, You may, by committing this tranfmuted Water ^* (which you may diilinguifh and feparate from that Part of ** the Vegetable you firll pat in) to Diilillation in conve- ** nient Glaffls, obtain, befidcs other Things, a true Oyl, *' and a black combujitbk Coal (and confequently fire): *' both of which may he/o copious, as to leave no juft Caufe «' to fufpeft, that thfy could be any thing near afforded by «' any little Spirituous Parts, which may be prefumed to *^ hav* L 191 3 cowards, and be returned from, that Surface : — 4. My Organs of Sight mud (i.) be of fuch a Strutlure^ and (2.) be in fo found a State^ as duly to admit the ImprelTion naturally refulting from the above Complication of Circumftances. Who, that confiders all this, can doubt, a Moment, whether the Idea of Color, with which my Mind is afFe6led, on it's Perception of an Objed ; de- pend, as abfolutely, on the Struifture and on the State of my Eyes, as on the fuperficial Difpofi- tion and Illumination of the Object itfelf? Yea, it depends much more on the former, than on the latter. For, as it has lately been well argued, " If all Mankind had jaundiced Eyes, they mufl " have been under a NecefTity of concluding, that " every Objedl was tinged with Yellow : and, *' indeed, according to this new Syftem" [viz. the Syftem which fuppofes that Bodys are of the Colors xhty feem to be of J, " it would then have " been fo; not in Appearance only, but alfo /« « Reality f *» Befides : was it to be granted, that * Color is a * real, material Thing' ; fuch Conceffion would *' have been communicated, by that Part of the Vegetable ** that is firll put into the Water, to that far greater Part of •* it which was committed to Diftillation." Origin of Forms, Sec. P. 6i — 63. * Dr. Priejllefi Examination oi Bsattiey &c. P. 143. N 4 naturally [ '92 ] naturally engender a farther Miftake, vjz. that at lead thcfe feven Colors, which are denominated original ones, and which appear lb very different from each other, are in fad fo many different Eflences. But as this Conclufion, tho' forcibly deducibie from the Pr^mife, would be fraught wich Abfurdit)S neither few nor fmall ; we may fairly fufpe^l the Praemife irfelf to be untrue. An Objedion was lately darted, in private Company, againfl: the Doctrine which maintains the univerfal Samenefs of Matter ; as if, upon thi^ Hypothefis, it would follow, that *' All Bodys, and "■ all Qualitys of Bodys, are equally eftimabk." iSiothing, however, can be more frivolous than fuch a Suppofition. It might as plaufibly be al^' Icdged, that, ' Bccaufe all A(51ions, confider'd a4 ' Alliens, are Exertions of Power •, therefore, all ' Aftions are equally good.' XVhereas the Modes and Efe^s of Adion occafion fuch vaft relative Piffertnces in Acftions themfelves; that a Marj of common Underllandmg and Virtue cannof Jong hasfitate, v/hat fpecies of Adion to approve. Thus it is, with regard to BoJys, and Semblances, For, " Tho' the fame Sun, with all-diffufive Rays, Blufh in the Rofe, and in the Diamond blaze; We prize the ftronger Effort of his Pow'r, And juflly fet the Gem above the Elow'r.'* If F 193 ] If a philofophlc Lady vifit a Mercer's Shop, with a View to ieleft the brighteft Silk it affbrdsi the Fair Cuftomer will be naturally led to fix her Choice on That, wh fe Colorings appear, to Her, the molt elegant and vivid : tho' (he knows that thofe Colorings are iilurive, and that, in reality, there is no fuch Thing as abfolute Color at all. In Ihortj we are fo conflituted, as to receive much more delegable Ideas, from fome Sem- blanices, and from fome Combinations of Sem- blances, than from Oihers. And we, with very good Reafon, like or diflike accordingly. Though, ^ere our Organs contrarily fabricated to what they are j the fame Objeds, which now give us Pleafure, would be Sources of Pain : and what we now relifli as defireable, and admire as beau- pfuU, would ftrjke us as difguftfull and de- form>ed. How often are Pleafures and Pains generated by imaginary Confiderations ! And yet thofe Pain? and Pkafures are as reah and fometimes 7?///- MORE poignant and exquifu, than if they were juftly founded. Dr. Dodderidge has fome concife Obfervations, on the fecondary Qualitys of Body, much to the purpofe of my general Argument. " The fame " external [ 194 ] " external Qualitys, in Objefls, may excite dif- " ferent Ideas in different Perlbns. " I. If the Organs of Senfation be at all dif- " ferent, the Ideas of the fame Objed muft be " proportionably fo, while the fame Laws of " Nature prevail. " 2. It is probable, there may be feme Degree " of Difference, in the Organs of different Per- " fons. For Inflance: in the Diftance of the " Retina and chryjiallin Humor of the b ye •, in " the Degree of Extenfion in the Tympanum of ^' the Ear -, in the Acrimony of the Saliva , &c. *' And the Variety, which is obfervable in the *' Faces, the Voices, and the Bones, of Men ; " and almoit through the whole face of Nature^ ^' would lead us to fufpedl, that the fame Variety " might take place here, " 3. Thofe Things, which are very pleajing to " One, are extremely difagreeahle to Another. " 4. Thofe Things which are, at one Time, ** very agreeable ; are, at another, very difa- " greeable •, to the same Perfon : when the Or- ** gans of his Body are indifpofed, or when other " difagreeable Ideas are affociated with thofe that •' had once been grateful! *." &' Dodderidgi's, Ledlures, P. 15. Thus, C ^95 ] Thus, as Mr. Boyle remarks, " Some Men, *' whofe Appetites are gratified by decayed Cheefe^ " think it then not to have degenerated^ but to " have attained it's beft State^ when, having loft *' it's former Color and Smell and Tafte, and, " which is more, being in great Part turned into " thofe Infefls called Mites ; 'tis both, in a phi- " lofophical Senfe, corrupted, and, in the Efti- *' mation of the generality of Men, grown *' putrid*" 'Tis well known, that fome Perfons have lite- rally, fainted, not only at the continued Sight of the above-mention'd Viand, whether decayed or found J but (which evinces the Antipathy to be unafireded) even when the offending Subftance has been totallv concealed, from the View of the un^ fufpedling Gueft, by thofe who have purpofely tryed the brutal and inhofpitable Experiment. — Others will be convulfed, at the Approach of a Cat. — -And I have heard of a Gentleman, who would fwQon, at the Prefence of a Cucumer pro- perly cut and prepared for the Table. Now, whence is it, that what eminently gratifys the Senfes of One Individual, fhall thus have a reverie Effeft on thofe of A.nother .? Certainly, |)0t from any Difference in the Object : for both ^ Ojigin of Forms, &c. P. 59. the [ 196 ] the Subilance and the Attributes of That remain prcecifely the fame, whether the Perceptions, ■yvhich they occafion in Us, be pleafmg, or of- fenfive. Confequently, if one and the fame Ob- je5i operate in fo contrary a Manner on the Senfi- tive Organs of various People •, the Diverfity of ;^ffe(51:, where it really obtains, muft be owing to a modal Variation in the mechanical Strudurc of the fenfitive Organs themfelves. I confider it, therefore, as equally ungenerous arid abl'urd ; when particular Averfions, feem they everjb odd, are haftily blamed and ridiculed. They may be, and very frequently are^ conftitu- tional, and infupcrable. The elegant Sex, efpecially, are often favagely cenfured, on thefe Accounts. If a Lady turn pale, when it thunders ; or ftart from a Spider ; or tremble at a Frog; or fhriek at the nigh Ap- pearance of q Moufe ; I cannot, in pommon Juftice, laughingly exclame, with Dean Swift, "^ If chance a Moufe creep in her Sight, She finely counterfeits a Fright : So fweetly fcreams, if it come near her, Ic ravifnes all Hearts to hear her." Such Antipathys are not, always, to be clafTed under the Article of Affeftation, nor even of Prejudice t 197 ] l*tejudice. They frequently arife, more parti- cularly in Females, and in very young Peribns, from the extreme Delicacy of their nervous and organic Syftems. I fmiled, indeed, on a Lady's oftce faying to me, / have juji payed a morning Vifit to Mrs. G ; and really thought I Jhould have fainted away^ on feeing the Cloth laid for Dinner ^ at fo jhocking an Hour as One o'clock. This, I confefs, ftruck me, at firft, as the Language, not of real, but aflumed, Elegance : and 1 treated it accordingly i by hoping, that, ' in all her future * Vifits to Mrs. G •, fhe would previoufly armi ' herfelf with a Smelling-bottle, for Fear of * Confequences'. I will not, however, be too pe- remptory in denying, that the Sight of a Table- cloth, difplayed at an Hour deemed fo " fhock- " i'^g^y" unfeafonable, might literally excite: fome, tho' not an infupportable. Degree of pain- full Vibration, in the Nerves of i^o refined a Perfort. A few other familiar Illuftrations of our main Point fhall clofe the prefent Difquifition. We'll imagine a Gentleman to be, as we com- monly phrafe it, violently in Love. That is : the Charms, or AfTemblage of fenfible Qualitys, in a particular Lady, are cxaftly adapted to ftrike with Rapture a Syftem of Senfes fo fabricated as his'y [ '98 ] Ms', andj of courfe, to fall in with his Ideas of Beauty, Merit, and Accomplifhment. — What is the Confequence ? He becomes her Captive ; and can no more avoid becoming fuch, than an Afpin Leaf can refift the Impulfe of Zephyr. Hence, fhe is neceflarily confider'd, by him, as an Helen, a Venus, a Pansebia. " Grace is in all her Steps : Heav'n in het Eyei In ev'ry Gefture, Dignity and Love." And yet this fdf-fame Lady may appear far lefs attrafting -, or but barely paflable ; or, perhaps,- in fome refpefts, even homely and difagreeable 5 to the Eyes of another Man, — Why ? Becaufe our Ideas depend upon ouf Senfes : and our Senfes depend upon their own interior Conformation^ for the particular Caft and Mode of every Perceptiori which is imprefied upon them from without. Hence, 'tis a common Phrafe, concerning a Man who has never been in Love, that he has not yet feen the right Obje5f. And nothing can be more philofophically true. A Lady, too, may be totally and inextricably captivated. When this is the Cafe, the happy Swain (hines, in her Eftimation, a Narcissus, ani Adonis, a Phoebus. Nor are the Virtues of his Mind diftanced by the Charms of his Perfon. Other [ ^99 ] Other Gentlemen may have their moral Excel lencys : but he, the incomparable be, is (( Morejuft, more wife, more learn'd, more ev'ry thing." While, perhaps, a great Part of her Acquaint- ances Ihall unite to wonder, very ferioufly, what Ihe could poflibly fee in this imaginary Sans- pareiil ; and even lift up their Hands, at her monflrous Indelicacy of Tafte. Parental Affection, likewife, affords ob- vious and ftriking Proof of the Theory for which I have been pleading. <' Where yet v/as ever found a Mother, Who'd give her Booby for another ? No Child is half fo fair and wife ! She fees Wit fparkle in it's Eyes." Very probably. And 'tis alfo pofiible, that fhe may be the only Perfon in the World, who is able to difcern any fuch Thing. An Acquaintance, or an occafional Vifitant, fo far from agreeing with the enraptur'd Parent, would, perhaps, cry out, if Politenefs did not prohibit, concerning the fweet little Dear, who pafles for the * very Image of his Papa and Mamma' •, " Where t 2^^ 1 " Whefe are the Father's Mouth and Noie r And Mother's Eyes, as black as Sloes ? See here a (hocking, awkward Creature, That fpeaks the Fool in ev'ry Feature !'* Different People fee the fame Things differ- ently. And thus, as Mr. Melmoth writes to h?s Friend^ *^' Tho* we agree in giving the fame " Names, to certain vifible Appearances -, aS " Whitenefs, for Indance, to Show : yet it is *' by no means Demonftration, that the particu- *' lar Body, which affefts us with that Senfation, **^ faifes the fame prascife Idea in any two PerfonS " who fhall happen to contemplate it together. *' I have often neard you mention your youngeft " Daughter, as being the exa(5t Counterpart of " her Mother. Now, (he does not appear, to " me, to referable Her, in any fingle Feature. " To what can this Difagreement in our Judg- " ments, be owing ; but to a Difference in the " Strudture of our Organs of Sight * ?" What Hiall we fay of Self-Love ? How many ftoble and delighLtiil Senfible Qualitys does a Man of this Caft really /^^/zVi;? himlelf to poflefsj moft, if not all, of which, are abfolutely invifible to every oiher Being ! - • Fitz-Ofljorne's Letters, Vol. i. Lett. 34. What [ 201 ] What fine Fingers I have ! faid a Lady, once, in my hearing:- How beautifully the Joints are turned! Undoubtedly, J^e thought fo. But Doflors differ. Not only the Articulation of her Fingers, but the Conftrudiion of her whole Hand, feemed, to me, rather clumfy, than ele- gant. The fame Lady (by the Way) a^lually thought herfelf sinless. But herein, likewife, I could not help dilfenting from her Judgement. A vam Man is, generally, ftill vainer, than the vaineft Female. Mr. John WeQey, for Ex- ample, declares himfelf to be " The greatcft " Minifier in the World.''* 1 do him the Juftice to believe, that, in permitting this Declaration to pafs the Prefs, his avowed Vanity was the honeft Trumpeter of his Heart. Bat how few Others will fabfcribe to his Opinion ! — There is more Learnings in one Hair of my Head^ faid the felf-enamor'd Paracelfus, than in all theUniverJitys together. Who ever queftioned, herein, the Sin- cerity of that pratling Empiric } But who does not more than queflion the Reality of thofe great Qualitys, on v^hich he fo extravagantly and fo ri- diculouQy valued himfelf ? — When a Bookfeller, defirous to priefix an Engraving of Julius Scaliger to one of that Critic's Publications, requefled him to fit for a Likenefs ; Julius modeftly an- O Twef'd, [ 202 ] fwer'd, If the Artift can colle5i the feveral Graces o/"Massinissa, o/Xenophon, and of Plato, he may then be able to give the World feme faint Idea of MY Perfon. — iJ: Scaliger was in Love with his own outward Man, Dr. Richard Bentley was no lefs fo with his own intelle(ftual Improvements. Mr. Waffe (faid the Do6lor, very gravely; will he the greateji Scholar in England, when I am dead. — Peter Aretin had a Medal ftruck, at his own Expence, exhibifing his own Profile ; encircled with this humble Infcription: il divino aretino, i. e. The divine Aretin *. — When 1 refleft on fuch Inftances of Sdf-ldolatry, as thefe ; they re- mind me of Congreve's Obfervation : D' " If Happinefs in -f Self-Content is plac'd, The Wife are wretched, and Fools only bleft." We * In fetting Mr. Wcf.e^) at the Head of thefe felf-admiring Gentlemen, 1 by no means intend to infinuate, that he Hands on a Level wiih the loweft of them, in any one Arti- cle; that of /^fl«/{y and Ci?;zre?V, alone, excepted. Miltake me not, therefore, as iho' I meant to put him, abfoiutely, into the Company of fuch Men as Paracelfus, Scaliger, Bentley, and Aretin. f True Happinefs, however, is not placed in " Self- " Content :'''' but arifes from a comfortable Apprehenfion of our [ 203 ] We have taken a Survey of Love, in more ot it's Terminations than One. Let us, for a Mo- ment, advert to it's Oppofje. In revolving the Defcription, which the cele- brated Dr. John Ponet, Bp. of Winchcfter, has given us of his popifh Praideceffor in that See; I have been prone to furmize, that the latter might really appear as hideoufly frightfull, in the Eyes of the former, as the following written Pidlure reprefents him to have done. " This " Do6tor," fays Bp. Ponet, fpeaking of Stephen Gardiner^ " has a fwart Color : hanging Look: " frowning Brows : Lyes, an Inch within his *' Head: a Nofe, hooked like a Buzzard: Noftrils " like an Horfe, ever fnuffing into the Wind : a " fparrow Mouth : great Paws, like the Devil's . " Talons on his Feet, like a Gripe [i. e. like a *' Gryphon |, two Inches longer than natural " Toes i and fo tyed to with Sinews, that he " cannot abide to be touched, nor fcarce fufFer *' them to touch the Stones. And Nature, having our Reconciliation to God by the Blood and Righteoufnefs of His Son. Hence, a good Man Jhall be fattsfyed [not ivith, but] FROM him/elf: Prov. xiv. 14. \\7.. from njoithm : or from the inward Tellimony of the Holy Spirit, wit- nefiing to iiis Confi-ience that he is a Child of Gcd, Rom, viii. 16. O 2 " thus [ 204 ] *' thus fhaped the Form of an old Monfter, gave " him a vengeable Wit, which, at Cambridge, *' by Labor and Diligence, he made a great " deal worfe : and brought up many in that " Faculty *." — Such was Bp. Gardiner^ accord- ing to Bp. Ponet''s View of him. Notwithftand- ing which, this identical Gardiner might feem, in his own Eyes, and in the Eyes of Queen Mary and Others of his Friends, a portly, perfonable Prelate. To be ferious. Let me, by Way of ncedfull and fincere Apology, for a Difquificion which has extended to an unexpe6led Length, obferve ; that, in fifting the Quasilion, it was neceffary to recur to firft Principles, and to furvey the Argu- ment in various Points of View. Let me, more- over, add: that, in all I have deiiver'd on the Subjefl, I GO but exprefs my own Senfe of it, without the leaft Aim of didating to Others : or of prasfjmptucufly f^eking to obtrude my philofophic (any more th.m my religious^ Creed, on fuch Perfons as may honor thefe Pages with Perufal. Upon the V/hole,I conclude, with Mr.Locke *•, that " The Infinitely V/ife Contriver of Us, * Biogr. Dift. Vol. 5. P. 307. — Article GAn.DiN2R.. f Effay on Und. Bock 2, Chap. 23. " and [ '^os ] " and of all Thins-s about us, has fitted our " Senfcs, Facultys, and Organs, to the Con- " vcniences of Life, and to the Etifinefs we have " to do. Such a Knowledge as this, which is *- fuited to our prefent Condition, we want not *' Facultys to attain. But, were our Senfcs *' aker'd, and made much quicker ?.nd acuter; *' the Appearances and outward Sclicme of *' Things would have quite another Face to us : " and, I am apt to think, would be inconfiflent " with our Being, or at leall V/eil-being, in this *' Part of the Univcrfe which We inhabit." J^' I N 1 S, A B L E O F T H E TEXTS, More or lefs Explaned. Chap. Verse Page. Chap. Verse P ACE. xxiii. 13,14. 61 ,62. Genesis xxxii. 8. 21. xlvii. 29. Exodus UO. xxxviii. 10—13. Psalms 6 2,63. xxi. 31- no. xxxix. Ixvi. 4- 9- 112. 108. Deut. civ. 29. 117. XXX. 20. I Sam. no. cxxxix. cxlvii. 13, 16. 8, 9, &c. 108 109. 64. ii. 6. in. xiv. Proverbs ».3- 45- Job xiv. 14. 203. iv. 8. 46. xvi. I. 64. V. 12. 58. xvi. 4- 64 ,65. vii. I. n I. xxi. I. 65. ix. 12. 58. xi. 12. 58 59,60. Eccles. xiv. 20. in. iii. I, 2. 109. XV. 20, 21. 46. viii. 8. 112. Isaiah [ 207 ] Chap. Verse Page. Chap. xvii. Verse, I. Page, 82. Isaiah xxi. 18. 88. X. 5- 65. xxii. 22. 88. X. 15. 66. xxii. 37- 88. XV. 24, 26, 27. 66. xxiv. 26. 88,89. xxxviii. 5. 1 12, 1 13. xlvi. 9,10,11. 75.76. John iii. 6. %g. Jeremiah iv. 4- 90. li. 20. 65. iv. 34. 16. V. 25. 90. Lam. vi. 37- 90. iii. 37- 67. vi. 44. 45- 91. vii. 30. 91. JOBL viii. 34. 36. 91. ii. 25. 67. viii. 43. 47- 92. ix. 4- 92. Amos x. 5, 16, 2 6, 28, iii. 6. 67- 92, 93. xiv. 19. 94. Zech. xvii. I. 94- xii. 1. 109. xviii. 1 1. 94. xviii. 31. 32- 95- Matthew xix. 10. 95, 96. vi. 13- 72. xix. 33. 36, 37- 96. vi. 27. 72,ii3,iH- vi. 34- 72. Acts vii. 25, 73- ii. 23. 42. viii. 3- 73- iv. 28. 42. X. 29, 30. 38,115. XV. 18. 76. xviii. 7- 82. xvi. 6, 7, 68. xxvi. 34- 85. xvii. 25, 26 28. xxvii. 35- 85. 115, ! 16. Mark Rom. iii. 13- 85. vii. 14, &c. 68. xi. 2—6. Luke 78.79- viii. 28. I Cor. 126. vi. 48. 73- iv. 7' 35' 36. xii. 50. «7- xi. 19- 10. 2 Cor. r 2C.8 ] Chap. Ver'E. Page. III. 5- 39- iv. Ephes. 19. CoLOSS. 46. i. 17- 28. iii. I Thess. 3* Sg. iv. I Tim. 2. 46, 47- i. Hebrews 3- i8. Chap. Vhrse. Page. Ja mes iv. 14, 15, tj. I Pet. ii. 5. 70. I I Pet. I JoH^f iii. 4. 137, 13! Ver. 4. JUDE 70. Rb-v. i. 18. 117. INDEX. INDEX. y^DAM and Eue, Neceffi- tarians antecedently to their Fall; 127, 128. AyaWvi, 13. Aro/.:ia, 137' Antlpathys, often founded in Nature; 195 — 197. A7r*)A^/,x;o^£?, 46. Note, Aretin, Peter ; his extreme Vanity: 202. Arifiotk, his Definition of the Word Necessary; 12. Suppofed Freewill to be the Source of Virtue; 39. His Inconfillency ; Ibid. Note. Armrniani/tn, fuppofes it pof- iible that Chrirt Hinifelf might have finned and pe- rifhed everlallingly ; 16, Note. A very unphilofophical Scheme; 29, Note. Sup- pofes God and Chrift to be immoral Agents; 41. Reprefents Man as an i ft Jepen Jen f Being; 52. 155, 156, 157. It's Principles incompa- tible with the Scripture Dodrine ofa future Judge- ment ; 5 I — 53. And with Miracles, Pro- phecys, and Foreknow- ledge; 73—8 1. 97, 98. Subverfive of Divine Pro- vidence; loi. 105. 128, 129. How far it co-incides with Maiiich^FiJm, 1 40 — 143 ; And how far it improves upon that Herefy, 144. Arminianifm a Syllem of Atheifm; 31, 32. 98. J05, 106. I 55, 156, 157. The Bane of Morality and Good Works; 158, Note. Arminians, very lame De- fenders of Chriftianity ; 54' 55- Not fond of St. Paul; 68, 69. Are verging faft toward an avow'd Denial of God's Foreknowledge; ,97, 98. Augiijlint [ 210 ] Augujlht., St. converted from Manichsifm to Chriitiani- ty ; 130, 131. AviooiffvoUiu, ~i mere Sounds Avloy.^cP.a^ia., > withoutSeure; 5«' 59- B. Baxter, Mr. (the Philofo- pher), quoied ; 24, 25, Beniley, Dr. Richard ; his high Opinion of himfelf : 202. Boyle, Mr. his maflerly Ob- fervations concerning the Senfible Qualitys ; 179 — 184. 188 — 191, Ncte. 195. Brain, fibrous Commotion of, the grand Medium by which an embodied Spirit perceives; 22. Confequence of its diffe- rent Dimenfion in different Men ; 34. Brutes, do not confift of or- ganized Matter only ; 35, Note. Divine Providence the Dif- pofer of their Lives and Deaths; 117, Chance, the mere Creature of Fancy ; 122. If it mean any Thing, it means Uncertainty of E- vent ; 122. A very comfortlefs Doc- trine; 123. Charnock, Mr, Stephen, quo- ted ; %6, Note. io\, Note. His admirable Treatlfc on the Divine Attributes; 86, Note. Chryjofioyn, St. a frequent and favorite faying of his ; Cicero, his Definition of For- tune, or Chance ; 12. Cclcr, not a real Property in Matter ; 107, i6?5. 176. From whence our icea of itrefults; 170. l8S — 191. Compul/ion, diltiiiguifhable and different from Cer- tainty of Event ; 14. Con-verjion, fpiritual, an Ef- feft of necefTitating Graqe; 85, 86, Note. go. D. Death of Chrift; infallibly Decreed: 17, Note. 42. 88. 95. Death, human, defined; 103 Why the Romans called it Fat urn; Ibid. The Aft of God's particu- lar Providence; 110 — 118. DesCartes, remarkableAnec- dote of; 102. Dodderidge, Dr. his Obferva- tions on the fenfible Quar litys; 193, 194. E. Echo, Theory of ; 180, 181. Edivards, the late Rev. Mr. Jonathan, his maflerly Treatife on Free-will; 147, 148, Note. [ 211 ] I.t/iA«§)aEv»?, 13. Note. Ekciion. appears to take in a vail Mijonty of the Hu- man Race ; 121, Note. Elements., the Four corrmon- lyfo called, not tfTentially diiF:rent from each ether; 185. And 1B6, 187, Note. 'KXtxios, 72. 114, 115. E no; AND, Church of; her Doftrine concerning Grace : 40. Afierts Mankind to be, nor in a State of Arminian Liberty, but ryEo and BOUND v\ith the Chain of Sir ; 106, Note. Holds that God'h rrovidence extends to every Thing without Fxception ; 154 E'vlU moral and per ,i, not contravened by the Doc- trine of NectiTity ; 42. Are rather negative, than abf lutcly pofitive. Ideas ; 136—138. Voluntarily permitted of God; 129. 139. The Divine Motives, to that Permiffion, unfearch- able; 130.140, 141, Note. F. Fate., Etymology of the Word ; 13, Note. Fore- Knoivledge, of God, in- fers Neceffity ; 74 — 81. Sufceptible neither of Im- provement, nor of Mif- take; 79, 80. Extends to every Thing ; 76, Note. For tune J defined; 12. Pedigree of, according to the grofler Heathens; ico. Exploded by the Wifer Antients; Ibid, and Pref. vii. viii Free- Agency, defined; 11. Perieftly compatible with Neceflity ; 15 — \-j . G, Gardiner, Stephen, the Po- pifli Bifhop of Winchefter; defciiption of his Perfon by Bp. Ponet: 203, 204. Goodnefs of God ; moral and praife-worthy, though ab- folutely neceflary : 41 . Grace, interna! Operation of, abfoiutely requifu to all Holinefs of Heart and Life; 39, 40. 84, Note. 146. 150. H. Habitation., every Man's Place of. Divinely decreed and fixed; 116. Hammond, Yit. quoted ; 113, 114. Happinefs, Intelleftual ; ne- ceflarily conneded with Virtue: 44. In what true Happinefs confifts; 202, 203, Note. Hart, late Rev. Mr. John, fome fine Lines from; 126. Heat, our Idea of, from whence ; 183, 184. Her-uey, late Mr. qubted ; 26, Note, 60, 61. 120. n«£on, 138. Homicide, an EfFeft of God's fecret Will; no, I. Ideas, [ 212 ] I. Ideas, not innate; 20. 59 — 61. Ideots, not to be cntifider'd as irrational D^-ings; 24. Hote. Independency, not an human Attribute; 32. 52. Infidels, their Objections not conquerable by Arminian Reafonings ; !J4 — 56. IntelleSiual Excellencys, God the Diftributor of them ; 35, 36, 37. 61, N(jte. Judgement-Day, Certainty of, can be maintained only on Neceffitarian Principles ; 49—51. K. Yiotv^cco^ui, 36. KiK.aj/ljiPiao'^iVGj, 46,47- Note. Lambeth A^Uc]^; 152, 153. Le Clerc, Monfieur, remark- able Quotation from; 83, 84, Note. Life, human, it's Durarinn determined by God's De- cree ; 1 10 — 1 17. Locke, Mr. his Defcription of prascipitateReafoners; 11. His judicious Theory of the fenfible Qu:ilitys; 173— «78- His jull Remark on the Human Senfes ; 205. Lave ; Theory of that Paf- iion: 197, 198. Luther, hi? two-fold Di/Iinc- tion of Neccflity ; 14, Nothing iin f hi i( { h- cal in what he relates con- cerning Appariuoub ; 26, Note. His Idea concerning the Necfliity of Grace; 84, Note. M. Madnefs, metaphyiical The- ory of, according to Mr. Baxter, 24, 25. Note. Man, an An;mal made up of Matter and Spirit; 18, 19. Seems to be, naturally, wild and uncivilized; 59, 60. Nbte. Manicha-ifm; '-Hill-ory., and Out lines, of that Syftem : 131 — 135; tnters into the Bafis oi Metbodifm : 141 — -143. 145. flatter, one o{ the two uni- vcrfal Efiences; 18. 185, Note. Abfolutely incap;ible of feeling, or perceiving; 19. Totally dependent on God; 28, 2q. Has no effective Influ- ence on the Divine Pur- pofes and Operations; 49, 50. I- efientially the fame in allBodys; 185 — i go, Note. Means, Ufe of, not made void by NecefTity; 72. 89. 1 13. Mechanifm : See, ORGANI- ZATION. Mtlmotht [ 2'3 ] Mehnoth, Mr. his Remark concerning tiie feuiible Qualitys ; zoo. Methvdijm : See, Armini- ANisM, and Manich^e- ISM. Middleton, Dr. Conyers j his allegorical Interpretation, of the Human Fall, con- fider'd: 141, tS;c. Note. Miracles, of Chrifl, fupply an Argument in Favor of Necellity ; 73, 74.. Mijery, infeparable from Vice; 44—47. Mcii^a, 1 3 . Note. Moor-fields, BiOiopof; 33, 34 Morality, defined; 43, Note. Not inconfiUent with the moll abfolute Neceffity ; 16. 41. Moti'ves, Intelligent Beings neceflarily determined by them ; 47, 48, Note. N. NeceJJtty, defined; 12. Etymology of the Term; DiftinguiQied into two Sorts ; 14. Has Place in the Di- vine Nature ; 41. Moil harnionioufiy con- fillent with thj Morality ©f Atlion ; Hid. The Daughter of Pra;- dellination; 54, 55, iVo/^. The Doftrine of the Bi- ble at large; 56 — 70. And of Chriil in particu- lar ^ 70—95. Effential to the Happi- iKit of God; 80, 8 J, Note. Life and Death entirely governed by it; jo6 — Not a glconiy Syftem ; 1 19 — 126. But the only chearfuU Scheme of any ; 37. 121 — 126. Calculated to imprels the Heart with the Love of every Chrillian and moral Virtue ; 124. The Dodrine of the Church of England ; 154. God Himfelf a neceffa- ry Being ; i 27. The Chriitian Neceffity does not fuperfede the Ufe of ' rational Means ; 72. 89. 113. 146. 150. Nor make God the Au- thor of Sin; 147 — 149. Differs from the Necef- fity of the antient Hea- thens ; 100. And from That of the Manichasans; 145. Arminians themfelves forced to mak? Neceffitj their akimateRefuge; 154. General Remark on the prefeirt rapid Progrefs of Domanial Neceffity ; 158. O. Obedience, of Christ ; at once moral, and merito- rious, and praife-worthy, and NecefTary : 16. 41. Objects, external ; fupply the Soul with all it's Rudi- ments of Knowledge : 27. Organixatioa, f 214 ] Orgamzatlof!, corporeal ; of vaft Inipoitance to men tal Exertions; 25,, 24, ^'ote. 33, 34. Original Sin, co\i\dL not have taken place without Di- vine Permiflion; 129. 139, 140. The Reafons of that Per- miflion not to be daringly enquired into; 130. 140, 141, Note. To deny that our firft Pa- rents fell necrjfarily, is to annihilate the Divini y of the Chriftian Religion ; 130. Dr. Middleton's Scheme confider'd; 141, 143, Note \^^v, 138. P. ParaceJ/us, his Self-Opinion ; 201. nETrpw/xEi/*!, 13* Note. Perfeaion, Dodlrine of, flatly contrary to Scripture ; 68, A Branch of Manichasifm ; 145. Perfe'-jerance, final ; a Doc- trine ftriflly philofophi- cal : 29, Note. yiTD, 138. Philofophers, Antient ; the Order in which they feem to have confider'd the Chain of Events : 13, 14. Note. Utterly unable to ac- count for the Origin of Evil; 135, 136. 140, Note. Philofophers, fome Modern ones, feem to overlook the Agreement of Necef- fity with Praedeftination ; 54, 55, Note. The odd Manner, in which Three of them lately rea- foned;i45 — 147.155,156. Pontius Pilate, an Aflertor of ree - will For which Chrilt reprimanded him ; I hid. Pope, Mr. quoted ; 36. 64. 87. 101, Note. 125. 192. Pradejiination, harmonizes witliNeceffity; 54, 55, A'Wf, Prayer, an appointed Mean to appointed Ends ; 113. Priejiley, Dr. quoted ; 40, 4 1 , Note. 191. His complete Viftory over the Drs. Reid, Beattie, and Ofwald ; 52, Note *. Prophecy, a Proof of N^cef- fity ; 74 — 81. Pro'vidence, extends to every Thing ; 38. 62. 67. 69. 101, Note. 117. 123. 154. Neceflity another Name for it; 55, Note. Particu- larly concerned in the Births and Deaths of Men; 106 — 117. And of infe- rior Animals, 1 17. Qc Reality.', fenfible, of Matter; what they are : 164. From whence they re- fult; 165. 174, 175. 191. 200. Would be totally re- verfed, if our Organs of Perception were oppofitely conftituted to what they arc; 177, 178. 193. 205. R. liam/ajf r 215 ] R. Ramfay, Chevalier; colledls the ConjediAes of the An- tients c