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THE .
CAM BRIDGE PLATON ISTS

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK
i
s THE
CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS
BEING SELECTIONS FROM THE writings of
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, JOHN SMITH
}* AND NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
. WITH INTRODUCTION BY
sº
K. tº .
º E.S.T. CAMPAGNAC, M.A.
r:-- SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD
- - ASSISTANT-LECTURER IN CLASSICS IN
& UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, CARDIFF
*~
wº
‘.
OXFORD
x: AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
§ .
I 90 I
\
}• * . .| }, .f
OXFORD
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HoRACE HART, M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

&k
;
PREFACE
I HAVE tried to gather from the works of Which-
Cote, Smith, and Culverwel extracts which should
illustrate as fairly as possible the teaching and style
of each, and the relation in which they stood to one
another. The passages chosen are, most of them,
quite complete, and the rest very nearly complete, in
themselves; and, though they lose something no
doubt by being detached from the books in which
they were first printed, it is to be remembered that
they formed separate lectures or sermons, and—with
the exception of those taken from Culverwel—were
not intended by their authors to be parts of a nicely
articulated series of discourses, or of a connected
treatise.
For Introduction, I have set down summarily such
few facts as have been preserved in the history of
these writers, and have sketched their characters in
outline. But I have essayed no criticism except what
Selection involves. That was a task for which I knew
myself to be ill equipped ; and it would have been
Superfluous to undertake it, since Principal Tulloch's
chapters on the Cambridge Platonists in his Rational
Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the
Seventeenth Century are as widely known as they
are justly admired. There seemed to be a need for
a fresh edition of some part at least of the writings of
these long neglected men, and this I have attempted
to supply.

vi PREFACE
*
s
I have not thought it necessary to modernize the
spelling, though here and there I have made slight
changes for the sake of clearness: and I have some-
times substituted for a word which seemed certainly
to be wrong another (enclosed in Square brackets).
Two corrections of the text which I saw were required
I unfortunately passed over at the last moment:-on
p. 94, line I 8 ; and on p. 121, line 21, for Plato,
Plotinus ought to be read.
My thanks are due to the readers of the Clarendon
Press, but for whose care many errors, which had
escaped me, would have remained uncorrected ; to
Mr. Sutton, Chief Librarian of the City of Manchester,
who has put at my Service some old and rare books to
which I could hardly have had access without his aid;
to Mr. Charles Russell, who read through the proofs
of the Introduction for me ; and most of all, to one of
my teachers at Oxford, whose lectures upon another
writer of this school first led me to the study of these,
and whose name, had my own part of this book been
better done, I should have asked leave to put upon it;
—to whom I will even now offer it, a stealthy gift,
in token of my gratitude.
E. T. C.
CARDIFF,
October I, I90I.
f
* ~.f.
;
wº-
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION . tº wº tº º * * e . ix
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE–
THE GLORIOUS EVIDENCE AND POWER OF DIVINE
TRUTH . ge e * e ſº te c I
THE VENERABLE NATURE, AND TRANSCENDANT
BENEFIT OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION . • 29
THE WORK OF REASON . e e ge e - 49
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS APHORISMS g * . 65
JOHN SMITH-
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE TRUE WAY OR
METHOD OF ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOW-
LEDGE . * º tº e e e . 77
A DISCOURSE DEMONSTRATING THE IMMORTALITY
OF THE SOUL ſº gº tº gº wº . 99
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE EXISTENCE AND
NATURE OF GOD . Q e tº {e . I 59
THE EXCELLENCY AND NOBLENESS OF TRUE
RELIGION . gº tº º e tº . 177
NATHANAEL CULVERWEL–
A DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE . . 2 II
INDEX . gº e g tº tº 4, tº • 323
ſ
rº#
i
fy
x-
f
-
..
INTRODUCTION
THE Selections which make up this volume are taken
from Benjamin Whichcote's Select Sermons and Aphorisms,
from John Smith's Select Discourses, and from Nathanael
Culverwel's Discourse of the Zight of Mature. These authors
are little known now, and though, within the narrow limits
by which their lives were bounded, they exercised a powerful
ay. Not one of them actually published his own work.
ulverwel, who left materials which could easily be gathered
\º they enjoyed little vogue even in their own
into a book, may perhaps have intended to publish; but
2there is no reason to suppose that Whichcote or Smith
ever contemplated such a step. At any rate, at their death
their writings were found to be in so fragmentary” and
* I have used for the first two sermons of Whichcote the text of
Wishart's edition, Edinburgh, 1742, and for the third that of Jeffery's
edition (the fourth volume, London, 1707), and for Whichcote's
4?horisms Salter's edition, London, 1753; for the selections from Smith,
Worthington's edition, London, 1666; and for those from Culverwei
an edition, published at Oxford in 1669, a reprint of Dillingham's
edition of 1652, into which I have introduced occasional corrections
borrowed from Brown's edition, Edinburgh, 1857.
* The basis of the text of Whichcote's Sermons was in part his own
brief manuscript notes, and in part the fuller memoranda of those who
heard him preach and lecture. The difficulties encountered by John
Worthington, the first editor of Smith's Select Discourses, are illustrated
by some correspondence which passed between him and S. Hartlib.
Thus Hartlib writes on May 5, 1659, ‘I am very glad you are employed
in publishing those excellent pieces which Mr. Smith of worthy memory
hath left behind him,” and later, on February 13, 1659 (= 1660), ‘I am
Very glad that you have overcome those Herculean labours about
Mr. Smith's book.’ And so Worthington, writing to commend himself
to the favour of Lord Lauderdale in 1670, urges as one of his claims
to promotion, “Heretofore I have endured and gone through some
toilsome labours for the public good in preparing the elaborate discourses
of Mr. Smith and Mr. Mede for the Press, wherein I consulted the
advantage of others more than mine own.’ Worthington's edition is
|
X INTRODUCTION
disordered a state as almost to baffle the patient and
enthusiastic care of those who thought that they deserved
such permanence as print might give them.
Why then should these passages be now revived? That
the inquiry was pertinent was felt by the earliest editor'
of Whichcote's Select Sermons, whose preface, written in
I698, begins with an apology: ‘Amongst those many things
which are made public, it may be thought perhaps, of
Sermons, that they are of any the least wanted; and, for the
future, the least likely to be found wanting. Since to that
rich and inexhaustible store, with which the learned and
orthodox divines of England have already furnished us,
there is daily fresh addition from worthy and able hands.
Neither have we cause to fear a cessation in this kind;
or that so great a blessing is likely to fail us for the future;
having such security, not only from the unwearied zeal
of present Divines (of whom we may always hope a worthy
succession), but from the just esteem which the publick
never fails to show for such pious Discourses. Upon which
account, we find that many of these are every day made
publick, and, as it were, forced into the world; notwith-
standing the great modesty of their authors, whose humble
thoughts and devoutly occupied affections lead them not
towards eminence and advancement in the world.
‘It may seem strange, therefore, that, in such an age as
this, any one should be so officious as to search after and
publish the sermons of a man long since dead, who (himself)
never meant to publish any ; or thought so highly of himself
as that he could benefit the world by such a publication.’
indeed admirable, and gives evidence of the pains which he declared he
bestowed on it. It deserved the praise of Hartlib, who commending
author and editor at once, said, ‘Really I am transported with ravishing
joy, when I consider it by myself alone, or have occasion to show it
to other discerning and judicious friends, who all seem to be as much in
love with the publisher as with the author,’ February 22, 1659 (= 1660),
cf. Worthington's Diary, in Chetham Society's Publications, vol. i.
188, 189, &c.
* The Earl of Shaftesbury; cf. Wishart's edition, Edinburgh, 1742.

|.--
INTRODUCTION xi
Two centuries have increased the cogency of these
words; for though Sermons which may be ranked as litera-
ture have never been numerous, and are perhaps rarer at
the present time than they were even fifty years ago, there
has been no cessation in this kind of writing.
The passages here collected must of course be their own
justification, but some claims may be put forward for them
in advance. It may be urged that they deserve remembrance
for the teaching which they embody, for their style, and
most of all, for the revelation which they give of characters
of very unusual charm, and perfection.
These authors belong, with Cudworth and More among
the greater names and Worthington, Rust, and Norris
among the lesser, to the School of the Cambridge Platonists,
or as they were called by some of their contemporaries,
the Latitude men. The latter title, which has been less
Commonly used, was, on the whole, more fitly chosen, than
the other; for it grants the breadth of view which was never
denied them, and yet has a flavour of disapproval which is
significant of the estimation in which they were held. The
name was first thrown out in gentle censure and afterwards
branded upon them in reproach. The former title has sur-
vived, though it is not much more than a name now, and
is indeed more than a little misleading. Platonism was
brought against them as a serious charge, which they were
Sometimes anxious to rebut. Whichcote defended himself
On the ground that he read very little, and owed more to
his own “invention’ than to any books. There is no doubt
that his idealism, which he imparted to Smith and Culverwel,
.
was deeply inspired by Plato. But they, all three, appro-
priated Plato's teaching in what, if a choice must be made,
may, after all, be the better way, by meditation rather than
by a minutely critical study, and they coloured what they
borrowed in the rich and mystical light of their own
imagination. To Plotinus they owed not a deeper, but
a more obvious debt. They seized eagerly upon passages
w
xii INTRODUCTION
º:
which allowed a tolerably clear interpretation, and turned
them to their own uses; and they were content to brood
over the more numerous passages which defy an exact
rendering so long and so lovingly, but again so uncriti-
cally, that the mist which lies thick upon his pages spread
itself into their own minds, and lent a hazy obscurity which
is not without its charm to their own writings.
It may be that they were all indebted (as Culverwel
certainly was) in some measure to Bacon for the open-
mindedness with which they were prepared to receive
whatever science might have to teach ; but this obligation,
where it existed, may very easily be exaggerated. It must
be borne in mind that the traditional scholastic training
had not been discarded in Cambridge in the days even
of the two younger men. And it is remarkable that (unlike
the later writers of the same school, Cudworth and More)
they seem to be unacquainted with Hobbes.
Smith was familiar with the work of Des Cartes, and
we are told * that it was largely due to his influence that
this philosopher began to be studied at Cambridge; but
Culverwel” alone shows himself generally conversant with
the philosophical writing of the time.
But we should miss what is most characteristic if we
tried to estimate their position simply in the light of such
influences as these. For they were essentially children
of their own time. They saw England divided into two
great conflicting parties, but, while they were strongly
affected by both, maintained a serene detachment, and
were never soiled by the dust of battle. They cherished
practical ambitions and took more note of what the many
* Cf. Worthington's Diary, i. 3oo. .
* Cf. Tulloch, Rational Theology in England in Seventeenth Century
(of which I have made free use), vol. ii. 420, second edition, “He deals
familiarly with all the great writers of the time, Bacon and Des Cartes
(Hobbes had scarcely yet emerged), Selden, Grotius and Salmasius;
and amongst smaller philosophers Sir Kenelm Digby and Lord Brooke.
He is especially just to the speculations of Suarez and Lord Herbert in
the preceding age.” Cf. Hamilton's Reid, p. 782.
-
-
INTRODUCTION xiii
were doing than of what the few were writing; but yet
stood in the attitude of students and were intent upon
Seeing what was really needed for themselves and their
Country—for, as they believed, to see was in some sort to
possess—instead of fighting blindly in an ill-considered
Cause and hurrying to an imperfectly conceived goal.
What was most remarkable in this group of men was the
union of original speculative activity with eager and sym-
pathetic, yet always discriminating, interest in the political
and ecclesiastical" struggles in which their contemporaries
were hotly engaged—an interest which was very noble in its
Scope and not wholly unfruitful in its result, though it never
prompted the men whom it inspired to enter into the lists
as combatants on this side or on that. -
Their efforts were directed towards the discovery of
a middle course between the party which was dominated by
the ecclesiastical statesmanship of Laud on the one hand,
and, on the other, the party which was encumbered by the
subtle and formal and all too complete theology of the
Puritans. Against the first they urged that conduct and
morality were of more moment than Church polity; against
the latter they claimed that reason must not be fettered;
and against both, that in the conscience” of the individual,
governed by reason, and illuminated by a revelation which
could not be inconsistent with the reason, itself a ‘seed of
Deiform nature,” lay the ultimate seat of authority in religion.
But they were allied to both of these opposing parties.
* They were not concerned with merely paper controversies, and had
nothing to say of Milton. He did not, however, escape the notice of
Tuckney, Whichcote's tutor (see p. xx), who speaks of him briefly as
‘infamis, et non uno laqueo dignus.’
* They were thus mystics as well as rationalists; for the foundation
of mysticism is the claim of the individual to possess a revelation which
is convincing to himself though it may not be capable of demonstration
to others. Strictly a School of Mystics is an impossibility; each mystic
has his own secret and is sui generis. Whichcote's common sense (as we
shall see) kept him from making the mystical element in his philosophy
into a principle of estrangement and dissociation: and his immediate
followers were equally wise.
xiv INTRODUCTION
Puritans" by training, they professed loyalty to the Church
from which they never alienated themselves. Men who
take a via media between noisily conflicting sects may exert
a great influence without attracting general notice.
They attempted to effect a union between philosophy
and religion, and formulated a kind of “moral divinity,’
which found little acceptance at the moment, but which
like a stream running underground has, though seldom
detected, given a freshness and life to the ground subse-
quently trodden by those who have pursued either
, theological or philosophical inquiries.
The question with which all three writers were mainly
i concerned was that of the relations which subsist between
* reason and faith. It is a question which had not then,
and now still less has, any newness, except that of perennial
interest. It has ever called for and eluded an answer; and
those who, like the Cambridge Platonists, have been most
strongly fascinated by the problem, and most intent upon
its solution, have been the readiest to admit to themselves
and to others that they must content themselves not with
discovery but with continual search. But they have been
contented” with this, and there is no tone of dull resig-
nation, still less of painful disappointment in their language;
on the contrary, they have rather delighted in what they
perceived to be the necessary conditions of such inquiry.
And they approach this question from a Christian stand-
point, though their language was amosaic of Hebrew, Platonic,
Neoplatonist, as well as of Christian elements. In the
younger men the several strands of thought were not
always harmoniously mixed, though they lent a picturesque
and sometimes bizarre distinction in their manner; in
* Cf. Inge, Bampton Zectures, 1899, p. 285, footnote; and p. xxi
below. -
* Cf. Plotinus, Emm. IV. iii. I wept puxºis, Šga &mophoravras Set els
eūtropiav karao rival, j kal év airaſs rais diroptals arávras rooro yotiv
képêos éxeiv, eiðéval rôlév rotºrous āmopov, Öp6&s àv éxol rºv trpayuareſaw
trouhoao 9at.
INTRODUCTION XV
Whichcote's work there is more unity, and a more complete,
if a simpler perfection.
He speaks as a religious teacher, and his constant theme
is that religion is a temper of the mind, a condition in which
all the faculties of man are in health' and in just relation
to each other. No faculty must be mutilated to give an
unnatural development to any other. Of all the powers
of man reason is most characteristic. It cannot therefore
be antagonistic to religion. On the contrary, it must be an
essential part of religion; for it gives a man sobriety in
belief, and vigour in the performance of duty. On this
point Whichcote insists. It is not his belief, and it is not
his performance of duty which makes a man's religion;
though conduct and belief are both requisite. A man's
religion is himself, the sum of his powers, his nature in its
ideal perfection. To be religious, a man must realize
himself. Reason gives his individuality to a man. But
Whichcote does not neglect the social force of religion.
He who best realizes himself also best realizes human
nature. It is not religion” but prejudice which divides
men. Healthy people are alike in what is essential; they
all have vitality, they all have a fullness and roundness of
development, and the fact that their vitality expresses itself
in different modes is the condition of their usefulness to
society. The unhealthy are differentiated from one another
by every variety of disease, and from the healthy by their
maimed condition. " ' ' ' ". . . . ~~~~... . . . . . . .
‘A man should take care,’ he says, “to be always the same.
I know there is some difficulty in this because of our
bodies. Every man is solicited by his body; and our
bodies are overruled by the very temper and variation
of the air; and no man can overcome his bodily temper
but by great wisdom. Yet this is attainable. For if Reason
* Cf. Plotinus, Emn. VI. ix. I ka? § bytela dé, 3ravels ēv avvrax0ſ,
73 ºpia, kal icóAños, &ray ºf rod Évès rê uépia karaoxi, pilots' kai éperº
*Wuxās, &ravels tº ka? eis uſav ćpoxoyſay śva,0ñ, and Whichcote, p. 58.
* Cf. Culverwel, p. 312.
xvi INTRODUCTION
were (as it ought to be) the settled Law of life and action,
it would then be easy; for Reason is regular, uniform, and
always self-consistent. It is Humour that is various and
unconstant, that drives a man from himself.’ And again,
‘Rectitude and Uprightness are the health and purity of
a man's Soul. A man is then right and straight; he is
whole within himself, and all things are as they should be.
There should never be any transporting imaginations; no
discomposure of mind, for that is a failure in the government
of a man's spirit. There ought to be no eagerness or
inordinacy towards the things of this world. We should
not be borne down towards the objects of sense. There
ought to be serenity and calmness and clear apprehensions,
fair weather within ; that that the noble Platonist calls
Steadiness of mind or understanding, an intellectual calm-
ness; a just balance; an equal poise of a man's mind;
no perplexity of Soul; no confusion; no provocation; no
disturbance; no perturbation. A man should not be borne
off from himself, or put out of himself, because things
without him are ungoverned and disordered ; for these
disturbances do unhallow the mind; lay it open ; and make
it common.’
Many of Whichcote's Aphorisms illustrate his doctrine
even more clearly, as well as more succinctly. For
example: ‘They do not advance Religion who draw it
down to bodily acts; or who carry it up highest, into what
is mystical, symbolical, emblematical, &c.’
‘Christian Religion is not mystical, symbolical, enigma-
tical, emblematical ; but, uncloathed, unbodied, intellectual,
rational, spiritual.”
‘It is usual in Scripture to sum up all Religion sometimes
in a single phrase; other while in one word. The reason
may perhaps be because never any of these is alone.’
“Those that differ upon Reason may come together upon
Reason.’
‘He that gives Reason for what he saith, has done what
-
iiſ-
INTRODUCTION xvii
is fit to be done; and the most that can be done. He that
gives not Reason, speaks nothing, though he saith never
So much.”
‘It is better for us that there should be Difference of
Judgment, if we keep Charity; but it is unmanly to quarrel
because we differ.” (50.9)
These are characteristic passages, and it is unnecessary
here to add to their number. Everywhere Whichcote
shows the same keenness of spiritual insight, the same
Strong CommonSense, the same shrewdness, and almost
always the same terse felicity of expression.
The question naturally arises why so powerful and so
acute a thinker as Whichcote exercised an influence so
narrow in its range and so short-lived.
The late Bishop of Durham' offers an answer. ‘The tran-
sitoriness of Whichcote's influence,’ he says, “may be due
in some degree to political causes; but it is not difficult,
I think, to indicate defects in his teaching which contributed
to his partial failure. He had an imperfect conception
of the corporate character of the Church, and of the Divine
life of the Christian Society. The abstractions of Plotinus
had begun to produce in his case the injurious effects which
Were more conspicuous in his followers. He had little or
no sense of the historic growth of the Church. His teaching
on the Sacraments is vague and infrequent.’
This is, no doubt, all true. But it is also true that some
of Whichcote's limitations were deliberately chosen. He
distrusted ordered systems and elaborately articulated forms
of belief, and never attempted to impose them on himself or
on his pupils. But what it was in him to do he did.
Under the pressure of the strong feeling which governed his
thoughts he was able to throw out separate dicta, in each of
which his whole philosophy lies implicit—and his philosophy
Was his character—he made aphorisms, which were parables
in brief, of a picturesque quality to charm the imagination,
* Westcott, Religious Thought in the West, pp. 393, 394.
CAMPAGNAc . b
i
xviii INTRODUCTION
TVN
arresting the attention of the listener by their force, pro-
voking thought by their pregnant suggestiveness, and yet
ever baffling the analysis of those who might wish to
transmute them into mere formulae. His skill as a teacher
was shown precisely in this, that he made men think for
themselves; he had not a little of the Socratic irony; he
was unwilling to instruct, and would rather pursue an
inquiry with, and by the help of, his pupils; and, if from
time to time he uttered a phrase which lived in their
memory, they found that its vitality was due to the fact that
it called for an interpretation which they must get for
themselves as they tested his words in the work of life,
not from any added words of his, given by way of explana-
tion. His teaching was religious because of practical
import; and, because it was religious, necessarily veiled
in metaphor; and his sayings remained isolated and
fragmentary for his pupils, until they like himself welded
them into a synthesis, all the more valuable because never
final, by the fire of their imagination and the fervour of
their piety.
It may be said that Whichcote's best sayings were, after
all, only commonplace. And so they were. He repeated
what had been said before ; but always in his own way and
upon his own conviction; and even when his thought was
new, more strictly original, it was so true as to be self-
evident’, and, put into words, looked like what is called
a commonplace. But these commonplaces, to borrow
Coleridge's apt word, never wanted ‘lustre”: for the man
who used them was himself their living illustration.
Few words were enough, for he held that the really vital
and operative part of all that mass of sentiments and ideas,
to which we vaguely give the names of religious and moral,
is something simple, and had best be expressed simply and
* Cf. Culverwel, p. 288.
* Coleridge, Aids to Æeffection, 3. ‘To restore a commonplace truth
to its first uncommon lustre, you need only translate it into action. But
to do this you must first have reflected upon its truth.'
ſ
-
INTRODUCTION xix
with that reserve which better suits deep feeling than more
Copious utterance. This clear simplicity and this austerely
Controlled passion give Whichcote's sentences their poetic
rhythm. They reveal their author, a man who was what he
taught', and whose teaching, being alive, was incapable
of formal completeness.
He believed that a system woven by one man could
be nothing but a shroud for another, and would only
Continue to fit the maker, if he never grew. -
How well Smith had learnt this lesson may be seen from
a passage” in his Discourse concerning the True Way or
Method of attaining to Divine Knowledge. -
‘Divine Truth is better understood,” he says, “as it
unfolds itself in the purity of men's hearts and lives, than
in all those subtil niceties into which curious wits may lay
it forth. And therefore our Saviour, who is the Great
Master of it, would not, while He was here on earth, draw
it up into any System or Body, nor would his disciples after
Him; He would not lay it out to us in any Canons or
Articles of Belief, not being indeed so careful to stock and
enrich the world with opinions and notions as with true
Piety, and a Godlike pattern of Purity, as the best way to
thrive in all spiritual understanding. His main scope was
to promote a Holy life, as the best and most compendious
Way to a right Belief. He hangs all true acquaintance
with Divinity upon the doing God's Will; If any man
will do His Will he shall know of the doctrine, whether
it be of God.”
Again, it may be worth while to note that for popularity
and wide renown, a price must be paid which Whichcote
was very loth to pay. “To drudge in the world,” he says,
“is not the adequate employment of an intellectual nature;
this is not that which doth employ the highest and noblest
part of man.’ It must not be supposed that he was of
Cf. Nettleship, Lectures and Remains, vol. i. pp. 88 and Ioff.
* Cf. Smith, pp. 86-7.
|
b 2
XX INTRODUCTION
what is called an unpractical disposition; on the contrary,
he was a diligent tutor, and had aptitude not only for
government and discipline but for affairs. But for making
a name he had neither care nor skill, and was unwilling to
be burdened by those sordid occupations which encumber
men who have the art of ‘getting on,' a réxvm Xpmuatuorrukſ,
for which quite special qualities of character are needed,
qualities in which he was signally and beautifully deficient.
And the value of a man’s work may be at least as well
measured by its intensity and finish as by its range. The
sphere in which Whichcote moved was not wide; his work
was first that of a college tutor, and afterwards that of
a parish priest, and it is no disparagement to his powers
of mind to admit that they were wholly engrossed in his
work, or to his courage and strength of purpose that he
never allowed himself to wander from his own province into
wider fields. Whichcote held the belief, untainted by
morbid self-consciousness, that a man's first concern is
himself; and his life was his work. He found “fit audience,
though few.’
Happily, we are able from the funeral sermon preached
upon Whichcote's death by Archbishop Tillotson, from one
or two passages in Burnet's History of my own Time, and
from the preface written (1753) by Dr. Salter, Prebendary
of Norwich, for an edition of Whichcote's Aphorisms, and
his correspondence with Tuckney, to gather a pretty com-
plete account of his career, and a clear and vivid picture
of his character.
Benjamin Whichcote was born on March 11, 1609, at
Whichcote Hall, in the parish of Stoke in Shropshire. We
are told by Salter rather vaguely that he came of an ‘ancient
and honourable family, but directly we can learn nothing
of interest or importance concerning his ancestors, and
of his boyhood nothing distinct is to be had. Indirectly
we may find an indication as to the traditions in which
INTRODUCTION xxi
he was reared from the fact that he was entered in 1626
at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Here, during his first year of residence, he was the pupil
of Antony Tuckney; and when Tuckney left Cambridge
(1627) he had Thomas Hill, afterwards Master of Trinity,
for his tutor. To both of these men Whichcote owed
much, and he was very ready to acknowledge his obligation.
To Tuckney, though he enjoyed his society and his teaching
for so short a time, Whichcote was particularly indebted.
Tuckney was ten years older than Whichcote, and had
Come up to Efmmanuel as a scholar, when he was barely
fourteen years old, in 1613; which shews, so Salter writes,
‘that he had been educated hitherto in a dislike to the
Church Establishment; for that College, though it abounded
for many years in most excellent scholars, and might
therefore very justly be esteemed, and flourish on their
account, yet was much resorted to for another reason, about
this time; viz. its being generally looked on, from its first
foundation, as a Seminary of Puritans.” Whichcote was an
apt pupil, and read widely, though not always in Tuckney's
judgement with a wise choice of authors. There was, from
, the earliest day of their association, a divergence, which
became more strongly marked with time, between the
interests and tendency of the two men. But this divergence
Would appear only to have served to give emphasis to the
Strong sympathies which united them : certainly, nothing was
ever able to damage the respect and affection which each
had for the other.
Tuckney possessed in rare combination, humour and
piety, scholarship and common sense, caution and vigour.
And, what seems to go with these qualities, he had a faculty
of condensed and pregnant speech, which would quickly
and deeply stamp itself on the memory of an eager disciple.
It cannot be doubted that Tuckney encouraged, perhaps
quite unconsciously, the development of some of Whichcote's
most Salient characteristics. Tuckney was later elected
xxii INTRODUCTION
Master of St. John's. In his election there “when the
President, according to the Cant of the times, would call
upon him to have regard to the godly; the Master answered,
no one should have a greater regard to the truly godly than
himself; but he was determined to choose none but scholars;’
adding (very wisely Salter confirms his judgement) they
may deceive me in their godliness, they cannot in their
scholarship.’
Whichcote had a like shrewdness. Again, Tuckney
was at once very zealous in the maintenance of his principles,
and yet tolerant towards those who differed from him.
We learn that as Vice-Chancellor and Master he was
‘resolutely disregardful of the arbitrary and irregular com-
mands of those in authority.’ He was willing to run risks,
and to pay the price of his independence in judgement
and action; and yet he was never headstrong, and never
lost his balance.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Whichcote, who
himself exemplified some of these qualities in his own
career, should have felt that he owed much to his first tutor.
In 1629, Whichcote became B.A., and M.A. in 1633,
in which year he was appointed to a fellowship at Emmanuel.
In the next year, Hill left Cambridge, and Whichcote took
up his work as tutor. In this office he continued for nine
years—the most important and fruitful of his life. He
found little time for reading during this period, and what
leisure his engagements with his pupils allowed him he gave
rather to meditation than to books.
He had an unusual power of continuous thinking—a gift
of intellectual activity accomplished in repose, and yet he
was studious to fulfil the duties which his station imposed
upon him. So it was rather by what he was than by what
he taught that he gained the allegiance and admiration
of his pupils, by example more than by instruction, and
by stimulus more than by coercion. And yet, like all men
whose influence is wholesome, he was diffident of his own

INTRODUCTION xxiii
value, and never sought power. He was anxious to get the
best out of those with whom he had to do, and to offer
them the best of himself; his modesty and his humour
helped him in both attempts. He encouraged conversation
not only by his own, rich and apposite speech, but also
by his listening, without condescension or weariness, to
those who were quicker to speak, though they might have
less to say, than himself. Only of quite idle talk was he
impatient. He never took offence, and was able to reprove
Or Censure others without causing it. Tillotson, in the
funeral sermon which he preached over Whichcote, gives
us a beautiful portrait of the man.
“His conversation was exceeding kind and affable, grave
and winning, prudent and profitable. He was slow to
declare his judgment, and modest in delivering it. Never
passionate, never peremptory; so far from imposing upon
others that he was rather apt to yield. And though he had
a most profound and well poised judgment, yet was he
of all men I knew the most patient to hear others differ
from him, and the most easy to be convinced when good
reason was offered ; and, which is seldom seen, more apt
to be favourable to another man's reason than his own.”
Tillotson drew the portrait at a rather later age than that
at which we have arrived in this outline of Whichcote's
life. But the sketch which he supplies is quite trustworthy
as a guide to Whichcote's character during the years of
his tutorial work at Emmanuel. So he continues: ‘Studious
and inquisitive men commonly at such an age (at forty
or fifty at the utmost) have fixed and settled their judg-
ments in most points, and, as it were, made their last under-
standing, supposing they have thought, or read, or heard
what can be said on all sides of things; and after that, they
grow positive and impatient of contradiction, thinking it
a disparagement to them to alter their judgment. But
our deceased friend was so wise as to be willing to learn
to the last; knowing that no man can grow wiser without
:*
xxiv. INTRODUCTION
some change of his mind, without gaining Some knowledge
which he had not, or correcting some error which he had
before.’
These words recall one of Whichcote's own aphorisms,
and show how these, and indeed all his dicta are to be
estimated. They are not the fruit of mere speculation;
they are the canons by which he ruled his own life. ‘He
that never changed any of his opinions never corrected any
of his mistakes; and he, who never was wise enough to
find out any mistake in himself, will not be charitable
enough to excuse what he reckons mistakes in others.’
To complete the picture, Tillotson adds: ‘He very
seldom reproved any person in company otherwise than by
silence, or some sign of uneasiness, or some very soft and
gentle word; which yet from the respect men generally
bore him did often prove effectual; for he understood
human nature very well, and how to apply himself to it
in the most easy and effectual ways.”
It is easy, then, to believe what we are told by Tillotson,
and Salter after him, that Whichcote was an excellent
tutor.
In 1636 Whichcote was ordained deacon and priest by
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and immediately began a
labour in which he persevered for nearly twenty years, with
little interruption; he ‘set up” a Lecture in Trinity Church
on Sunday afternoons. In these lectures and by the
sermons which he delivered as a select preacher before
the University, he became more widely known in Cambridge.
His addresses, from the outset, attracted attention. His
aim was, according to Salter, ‘ to preserve a spirit of sober
piety and rational religion in the University and town
: of Cambridge in opposition to the fanatic enthusiasm and
senseless canting then in vogue, and we are informed
that ‘ in those wild and unsettled times he contributed
more to the forming of the students of that University to
a sober sense of religion than any man in that age.’
INTRODUCTION XXV
Burnet's* testimony is in the same sense: ‘Whichcote
was a man of rare temper; very mild and obliging. He
had great credit with some that had been eminent in the
late times; but made all the use he could of it to protect
good men of all persuasions. He was much for liberty
of conscience, and, being disgusted with the dry systematical
Way of those times, he studied to raise those who conversed
with him to a nobler set of thoughts, and to consider
Religion as a seed of Deiform nature (to use one of his
own phrases). In order to do this he set young students
much on reading the ancient philosophers: chiefly Plato,
Tully and Plotin; and on considering the Christian religion
as a doctrine sent from God both to elevate and sweeten
human nature; in which he was a great example, as well as
a wise and kind instructor.”
In 1640 he took the degree of B.D. Three years later
he went down to North Cadbury in Somerset, where he had
been presented to a living in the gift of the college, and
about the same time he married. He continued to hold
this preferment until 1650, when he was succeeded in it
by Ralph Cudworth. But he was quickly recalled to
Cambridge and, much against his inclination, was (March 19,
I644) made Provost of King's College in the place of
Dr. Collins, who had been ejected by the Parliament.
It was characteristic of him to propose an arrangement,
which was agreed to by the fellows of the college, for
paying half the revenues of his new office to his predecessor
as long as he lived : an arrangement, of course, which was
not well calculated to recommend him to those to whom
his own promotion was due. Moreover, he himself never
took the covenant, and secured the same liberty for most
of the fellows, while to the few who were ejected with
Collins he contrived that their emoluments should be paid
for a year after their expulsion.
In 1650–1 he was Vice-Chancellor in succession to
* History of my own Time, i. 186—7.
xxvi INTRODUCTION
\
|
Tuckney, who had returned to Cambridge and been elected
to the Mastership of Emmanuel' in 1645. To this year
belongs the equally interesting and important correspondence
between Whichcote and Tuckney. It has been said that there
were from the first days of their connexion some differences
between the two men. These differences had swelled, and
in 1651 Tuckney felt himself bound to expostulate with
Whichcote upon the dangerous tendency of his teaching.
The letters are valuable for the light they throw upon the
character of the two disputants, and still more for the
information they give as to the different currents of thought
along which men were being carried in Cambridge at
that time.
Whichcote wrote throughout with exemplary moderation
and gentleness; firmly maintaining his own ground, he was
careful to show, both by the general tone of his letters
and by repeated expressions of respect, the regard which
he entertained for Tuckney; he was always on the defensive,
and, though he guarded himself strongly and nimbly, never
yielded to the temptation, if he felt it, of taking the offensive
against his opponent. Tuckney's attitude was, of course,
that of an expostulating critic; he was making an attack
upon a position which he held to be very dangerous both for
Whichcote himself, and for the University in which Which-
cote's influence was now powerful; but, except for a few
passages in which he shows some heat, and seems to be
irritated by the fearless, though modest, defence made by
his former pupil, he rivals Whichcote in dignity and good
temper. It is difficult in a word or two to describe the
nature of the controversy; in a summary of the letters
it would be impossible to reproduce anything but the
tediousness of the argument (for some parts of it are tedious).
But in brief Tuckney's complaint was that in Whichcote's
teaching Plato and Plotinus were being set above the
Gospel, and the reason above the spirit. Whichcote's
* Tuckney was elected Master of St. John's in 1653.
INTRODUCTION xxvii
f
-:3.
--
-
reply to the first part of the accusation has already been
named ; to the second he said, ‘I oppose not rational
to Spiritual, for spiritual is most rational '.' Neither, of
Course, convinced the other.
At the Restoration he ‘was removed from the Provostship
by especial order of the King; but, though removed, he
was not disgraced or frowned upon.” In 1662 he was
appointed to the cure of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, which
he held till the church was burnt down in the Great Fire.
He then retired to Milton in Cambridgeshire, to a sinecure
rectory which Collins had held from his deposition until
his death in this year. This preferment Whichcote held
as long as he lived. But his migrations were not yet ended.
After some years of seclusion at Milton he was presented to
the vicarage of St. Lawrence, Jewry, where he regularly
preached to a ‘small but judicious auditory,’ and busily
engaged in the work of his parish. He found time, how-
ever, to pay occasional visits to Cambridge, and died there
in Cudworth's house, at Easter, 1683.
Of the lives of Smith and Culverwel very little can be
said with certainty.
Smith-was-born in 1618, at Achurch, near Oundle in
Northamptonshire, and was sent in 1636 to Emmanuel
College. In 1640 he took the degree of B.A., and that
of M.A. in 1644, when he was appointed to a fellowship
at Queens' College. He would no doubt have been chosen
a fellow of Emmanuel, but for a regulation forbidding two
natives of the same county to hold fellowships at the same
time in that college, and Culverwel had already been
elected to one. He died on August 7, 1652.
Of Smith's character we are able to learn much from the
funeral sermon preached upon him by Patrick”, a fellow
of Queens’ College. This sermon is a remarkable piece
Cf. pp. 55 and 57. e g
* Afterwards Bishop of Chichester and of Ely successively.
xxviii INTRODUCTION
|
º - –
of English writing. It is very difficult for us, whose language
is at once more direct and more reserved, to understand how
a man could write and speak with so much elaboration and
artifice about a friend whom he loved, and a teacher whom
he venerated. And yet the sermon is sincere and natural.
There is a long catalogue of virtues which Smith is said
to have possessed in a high degree of perfection. We are
told of his eminency, sobriety and worth, of his learning,
of his wisdom and prudence ; his skill in the management
of affairs, his humility, his courtesy, gentleness, and meek-
ness, the quiet and tranquillity of his soul, his faith and
its effects on his character and life.
‘For this indeed was the end of his life, the main design
which he carried on, that he might become like to God.
So that if we should have asked him that question in
Antoninus, ris oroú téxvi); what is thy art and profession, thy
business and emploiment? He would not have answered,
To be a great Philosopher, Mathematician, Historian, or
Hebrician (all which he was in great eminency). To be a
Physician, Lawyer, General Linguist, which names and many
more his general skill deserve. But he would have answered
as he doth there, dyaffov cival, my Art is to be good.’
In a strain like this Patrick continues his panegyric
through page after page, only pausing here and there to
exclaim that his own powers are wholly unequal to his high
theme, and his words inadequate to express his reverence
and affection for a man for whom he claims, ‘that he was
truly a Father, that he wanted age only to make him
Reverend, and that, if he had lived many generations ago,
and left us the children of his mind to posterity, he might
by this time have been numbered among the Fathers of the
Church.”
“The memory of so great a man,” Patrick urges, “might well
be preserved by some annual ceremonial in which his
College should express, “all these three, our Respect,
Affection, and Sense of our Loss,” but,’ he goes on, “let me
º
INTRODUCTION xxix
|i
tell you, in conclusion of all, that herein would be shewn
Our greatest love and affection which we bare to him, this
would be the greatest honour of him, if we would but
express his life in ours, that others might say when they
behold us, there walks at least a shadow of Mr. Smith.’
This sounds almost like an anti-climax in our ears ; for
indeed the name of Smith lends itself uncomfortably to
long-sustained encomium. But there is no anti-climax in
the thought. The portrait which Patrick gives is consistent.
It is the portrait of a man of power and learning, and
of peculiar skill in teaching, who impressed those who knew
him, more than by these gifts, by the purity and quiet
strength of his character. This personal influence, due to
pre-eminent goodness, is what stands out most clearly.
It has been said that the Oration is full of interest to the
student of English prose ; it is equally valuable as a piece
of character-drawing.
The records of Culverwel's career are very bare. He
Came, as we have already said, of a Northamptonshire
family, and was entered as a pensioner at Emmanuel
College in 1633. We do not know how old he was at this
time, but may safely conjecture that he was not more than
eighteen years of age, and not less than fourteen. He may
well have been nearer the lower limit, for in the seventeenth
century academic life began for most students at an age
at which in our own day school life has yet several years to
run. He became B.A. in 1636, and M.A. in 1640, and was
elected shortly afterwards (though it is not known precisely
in what year) to a fellowship at the same college. It would
appear that he died in 1650 or 1651.
These meagre outlines are coloured and enlivened by
a short but valuable paragraph which closes Richard
Culverwel's preface to his brother's treatise on The Zight
of Mature. The several sections of the discourse formed,
it must be remembered, so many lectures or sermons given
XXX INTRODUCTION
to academic audiences. ‘These exercises,’ writes Richard
Culverwel”, “suit well with the place where, and the audience
to whom they were delivered, but, like Aristotle's Physical
Zectures (äkpodorets ºbvarukot) they are not for vulgar ears.
Their lucubrations are so elaborate that they smell of the
lamp, “The Candle of the Lord!”.' The criticism, so play-
fully put, is just. And he adds, “As concerning the author
of this treatise, how great his parts were, and how well
improved, as it may appear by this work, so they were fully
known, and the loss of them sufficiently bewailed by those
among whom he lived and conversed ; and yet I must say
of him he suffered a misfortune incident to man (āvěpoTwów
tº traffev). And as it is hard for men to be under affliction,
but they are liable to censure, so it fared with him, who
was looked upon by some, as one whose eyes were lofty,
and whose eyelids lifted up, who bare himself too high
upon a conceit of his parts, although they that knew him
intimately are willing to be his compurgators in this par-
ticular. Thus prone are we to think the staff under water
crooked, though we know it to be straight.”
What this affliction was, we do not know, but it seems,
in the last few years of Culverwel's life, to have become
almost a mental estrangement.
The undergraduate days of both men fell in the earlier
part of the period during which Whichcote was actively
occupied with tutorial work in the college. Culverwel was
probably, and Smith was certainly, a pupil of Whichcote's,
and both came under his influence and caught something
of his spirit. .
Each of them had originality; and yet nothing is more
remarkable in their writing than the intimacy of their
connexion with their teacher, and the extent of their in-
* Culverwel did not forget that he was addressing an academic
audience, ‘You that are genuine Athenians,’ he says to his listeners,
fill yourselves with noetical delights. . . . Happy Athenians, if you
knew your own happiness.” Light of Mature, chap. xvii, ‘The Light of
Reason a pleasant Light.” -
INTRODUCTION xxxi
3
º
-
debtedness to him. They added their own to his words;
they threw his sentences into a fresh context, and illustrated
them with the wealth of their wider erudition and their
finer scholarship; but just as, through all the movements
of Some composition in music, which becomes more and
more complex in its successive developments, the ear can
Catch the simple melody on which the whole is based ; so,
in all that the younger men wrote, whether they are intent
upon their elaborate (and often quite unconvincing) dialectic,
or whether they indulge their curious, but fertile and natural
imagination in passages of delicate workmanship and fascina-
ting beauty, or give themselves up to the freer and more
passionate oratory, in which, for all the silence of print, one
Seems to be listening to the eloquent voice of living speakers,
the reader can hear, as it were in an undertone, the plain,
moderate speech of their master. -
Verbal resemblances are not uncommon.
So Whichcote writes, “Heaven is first a Temper, and
then a Place,’ and again, more fully, ‘For we cannot ascend
higher in our acting, than we are in our Beings and
Understandings; and these men, that think our happiness
lies in the sensual objects of Delight, are not capable of
understanding either the Reason or necessity of mortification,
inward Renewal and Repentance, in order to admittance
into Heaven. For they do not look upon Heaven as
a State and Temper of mind, which is requisite to be
reConciled to the nature of God and to be according to His
mind and will;" or once more, ‘It is not possible for a man
to be made happy, by putting him into a happy place,
unless he be in a good state.’
And the echo in Smith is, “As the Kingdom of Heaven
is not so much without men as within, ... so the tyranny
of the Devil and Hell is not so much in some external
things as in the qualities and dispositions of men's minds.
And as the enjoying of God and conversing with Him
Consists not so much in a change of place as in the
xxxii INTRODUCTION
participation of the Divine Nature, and in our assimilation
unto God; so our conversing with the Devil is not so much
by a mutual local presence, as by an imitation of a wicked
and sinful nature derived upon men's own souls.”
Or again, when Whichcote says, “Sure it is, there is no
genuine and proper effect of religion where the mind of
man is not composed, sedate and calm,’ and, “The longest
sword, the strongest lungs, the most voices are false measures
of Truth.' Smith amplifies the idea thus:
‘There is a pompous and popular kind of tumult in the
world which sometimes goes for zeal to God and His
Kingdom against the Devil; whereas men's own pride and
passions dignify themselves under the notions of a Religious
fervency. Some men think themselves the greatest cham-
pions for God and His cause, when they can take the
greatest liberty to quarrel with everything abroad and without
themselves, which is not shaped according to the mould
of their own opinions, their own self-will, humour and
interest; whereas, indeed, the spiritual warfare is not so
much maintained against a foreign enemy, as against those
domestick rebellions that are within ; neither is it then
Carried on most successfully, when men make the greatest
noise and most of all raise the dust. . . . As Grace and
true Religion is no lazy or sluggish thing, but in perpetual
motion, so all the motions of it are soft and gentle; while it
acts most powerfully within, it also acts most peacefully.”
And the text of Culverwel's whole discourse ºpós kvptov,
Tvoj čvépôtrov, might with as much propriety have been the
text of Whichcote's sermons. It is a sentence which he
uses in One of his Aphorisms, and his paraphrase contains
in little what Culverwel wrote out at length, ‘The spirit
of a man is the Candle of the Lord ; lighted by God
and lighting to God—res illuminata, illuminans.’ It is not
necessary to give numerous instances of a likeness which
may be traced continually between Culverwel's chapters.
and the passages of Whichcote which he had got by heart;

INTRODUCTION xxxiii
a single example may here stand for many. “To go against
Reason,’ wrote Whichcote, ‘is to go against God; it is the
Self-same thing to do that which the Reason of the case
doth require, and that which God Himself doth appoint.
Reason is the Divine Governor of man's life; it is the very
voice of God.’ “So that to blaspheme reason'—so Cul-
verwel repeats the same thought on the very first page of his
Discourse—‘is to reproach heaven itself, and to dishonour
the God of reason, to question the beauty of his image, and,
by a strange ingratitude, to slight this great and royal gift
of our Creator.’ These fundamental similarities must engage
the notice of every reader who makes a comparative study
of the three authors. But Smith and Culverwel did more
than echo Whichcote's thoughts; they amplified them, and
pursued them in directions which their master did not
himself take.
Smith attempted a philosophy of Religion, and inquired
what were the elements of Religion and how to be appre-
hended. The answers which he offered to these questions
may be sufficiently seen in the Extracts". His general
position may be summarized here in a sentence or two
of his own : “To seek our Divinity merely in books and
writings, is to seek the living among the dead; we do but
in vain seek God many times in these, where His truth too
often is not so much enshrined as entombed: No, intra
He quaere Deum, seek for God within thine own soul:
He is best discerned, as Plotinus phraseth it, by an in-
tellectual touch of Him; we must “see with our eyes,
and hear with our ears, and our hands must handle
the Word of Life,” that I may express it in St. John's
words.” { -
He postulates and appeals to a spiritual sense, and in
the arguments which he uses in support of his position,
exhibits a faculty of psychological analysis, the results of
* See especially the Z)iscourse concerning the True Way or Method
ºf attaining to Divine Knowledge (pp. 77–98).
CAMPAGNAc # C
.
\**
xxxiv. INTRODUCTION
which anticipate in a remarkable way much more modern
speculations.
It would appear that Culverwel's discourse is only a
fragment of a much larger treatise which he meant to write.
In what we have, we find out not a Christian philosophy
such as Smith essayed, but an introduction to it, confined
almost entirely to more directly philosophical questions.
Culverwel inquires what nature is, and in his answer
maintains the view that nature includes the realm of spiritual
things, as well as that of physical phenomena; then, in
order to prepare himself to meet the question of what
the law of nature is, he deals with the nature of law in
general, and of the eternal law.
‘There are,” he says, “stamped and printed upon the
being of man some clear and indelible principles, ‘some
first and alphabetical notions, by putting together of which
it can spell out the law of nature”; and he adds, “Now
these first and radical principles are wound up in some such
short bottoms as these: “We must seek good and avoid
evil,” “We must seek happiness,” “Do not do to others
what you do not wish to have done to yourself.” And
reason, thus, by warming and brooding upon these first and
oval principles of her own laying, it being itself quickened
with a heavenly vigour, does thus “Hatch the law of
nature.” . . .
‘You must look, in the next place, to that light of nature,
that candle of the Lord by which this law of nature is
manifested and discovered.' '
He lays in metaphysics the foundations for the system of
ethics and religion which he hoped to build, but never
accomplished. The result is that what is most interesting
to his readers is his theory of knowledge, developed simply
by way of preparation for what mainly interested himself.
He insists, as we have seen from the passages just quoted,
upon the existence of some primitive elements of knowledge
in the mind; but he shows that these principles, though

INTRODUCTION XXXV
present, have no true life until they are called into activity
by experience. Contact with the world does not create
them, but gives them the opportunity for showing themselves.
These elements of original knowledge are universal, and
self-evident, and, he urges, it is impossible to think at all
without admitting them.
From this he advances to the doctrine that the perception
of moral distinctions is also universal; and he goes on to
show that the moral law is founded upon the nature of God,
and that moral obligation depends upon the will of God.
In the remainder of his treatise he proceeds to discuss
the origin and character of this light of nature or reason.
His doctrine on each of these topics is exhibited in the
Selections which follow.
The selections from Culverwel's work have been arranged
here after those from Smith, for though Culverwel, senior
certainly in academic standing, and probably also in years,
may have written his treatise earlier, he yet carries their
common principles on to a more purely philosophic de-
velopment than his friend, just as Smith advanced further
in this direction than Whichcote; and the logical order
in which the three writers are to be placed is plainly
Whichcote, Smith, Culverwel. If we regard the style of the
three writers, as well as their matter, this order is confirmed.
That Whichcote had the gift of clear and succinct utterance
is clear from his Aphorisms; but the Sermons, pieced to-
gether as they are partly from his own scanty notes, and
more largely from the notes of his hearers, have less literary
excellence than the work of his pupils, though they probably
give a quite inadequate representation of the eloquence
which is ascribed to him as a preacher. Smith is an
elaborate writer, annoyingly pedantic at his worst, too often
oppressed by his own learning, and confused by the length
and multitude of his quotations—his practice of quotation
is a strange lapse upon the traditionalism against which
he struggled—but at his best, capable of rising to a very
l

xxxvi INTRODUCTION
high plane of genuine oratory, always indeed showing the
marks of labour, and calling upon the reader for close
attention, but strong, pure and richly ornamented.
Culverwel writes best of all. After the unhappy subtilties
of his early pages, he is always lucid and vigorous; he
is more orderly than Smith, and far more modern in tone;
the language which he uses is well in his command, and he
passes smoothly and easily from his more sedate passages to
those in which he gives his imagination a loftier flight.
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*
BENJAMIN whichCOTE
THE GLORIOUS EVIDENCE AND POWER
OF DIVINE TRUTH
Awever Man spake like this Man.—John vii. 46.
BECAUSE there are amongst us, those who are bold to
call into question DEITY; those who dispute against the
main and principal Matters of Christian Faith, under
pretence of Reason (the Excellency of God's Creation, by
which I will be concluded ;) therefore I make choice of
these Words to deal with them, with their own Instrument.
Awever any Man spake as our Lord and Saviour.
I will not lay the Stress of my Argument upon the Credit
of those who spake these Words; for they were I know
not whom : And I will make no more Advantage than
I will give to the Devil himself, who is related to speak
many things that are reported in Scripture: But I will
dº 7
found my Argument on the Quality of the Matter.
Yet, it is considerable, that they who are engaged in the
contrary [Party] are declared Enemies, and have a contrary
Interest; that even they are over-born, and so far subdued,
as to make an Acknowledgment. -
There are, among us, Persons, that are sensual, and"
Out-right brutish ; that put off human Nature, and discharge
themselves of Principles of Reason and Understanding. .
I think no Man doubts of this. It seems to be evident
and undeniable. Yea, they themselves are self-condemn’d
in what they do: And Men that do distemper themselves,
and put themselves out of the Use of their Reason; when
they do recover; they wish they could do otherwise.
CAMPAGNAC B
re,
f
! } .* A. \
2 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
But, then, there are those that pretend to dispute against
Deity ; and, under Excuse of Reason, pretend to be
Atheists. These make a great Bluster and Noise in the
World, and undertake to defend themselves with Show and
Colour of Reason and Argument.
And again : There are those who will admit of Principles
of Reason to the full, and all the immediate necessary
Results and unavoidable Deductions from it; and yet they
stick at Reveal’d Truth ; pretending Want of Evidence,
and a Failure in point of Assurance, and of infallible
Conviction and Confirmation. These Men avoid Atheism :
But stick in Infidelity. [Now] with him that pretends to
Atheism, or [who] if he doth acknowledge Deity, is an Infidel
and sticks at Reveal’d Truth; these two last I will deal
with, from this Scripture: For, [as for] the first sort; they
being self-condemn'd, are easily convinc'd.
Among other Excellencies of Divine Truth, this is none
of the smallest Weight; that when it is declared, it doth
recommend itself to, and satisfies the Mind of Man con-
cerning its Reality and Usefulness. Men are wanting to
\{ themselves, that they do not see with their own Eyes; that
they do not make a particular Search ; that they do not
examine; that they do not consider; or, in a word, that
they do not use the Judgment of discerning. ( For we that
are of the Reform'd Religion, who deny the infallible visible
Judge, we do allow to every Christian a private Judgment
of discerning; not [only] as his Privilege that God hath/
granted him; [but] as his Charge.) Where People are of no
Education, have no Liberty or Advantage in respect of
Leisure, or other Opportunities; we do advise them to use
|
|
|
Modesty and Humility, and to be rather Learners than for-
ward to teach. For it is good Counsel, and it is that which
is done in all other Affairs: Whosoever he be that hath not
the Opportunity to acquaint himself with the Mystery; it is
safer for him to make use of other Expedients, than for him
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 3
to be peremptory in a Resolution. But this, for certain,
Men are wanting to themselves, if they do not see with their
own Eyes; if they do not search and use a Judgment of
discerning. For Men attain to no settled State in Re-
ligion, no Heights or Excellency of Spirit, who do not make
a Discernment by their Judgments: But they run away with
Presumptions, Suppositions; with conceited Imaginations,
with received Dictates; are Light of Faith, credulous; do
Comply with others in Sense, in Judgment, in Practice:
And it is their Necessity so to do ; if they will not make
Matters of Knowledge their Business : There cannot be
receiving of Truth in the Love of it, and consequently
in the certain Obedience of it, where there is not receiv-
ing of Truth, in the particular Judgment of the certain
Verity of it, and the Sense of the Goodness of it. This
Advantage Truth hath: It hath so much of Self-evidence, it
is so satisfactory to the Reason of an ingenuous Mind, that
it will prevail, unless there be an Indisposition in the Re-
ceiver. This I take for the certainest Matter of Experience Ž
All Things are according to the Disposition of the Receiver;
One Man will interpret into a Courtesy, that which another
turns into an Injury. According as Men are in Preparation
and Disposition of Mind, so will Things be entertain'd that
are offered to Consideration, and proposed. But Truth, if
it doth appear, if it be represented and fairly proposed; it
will find Entertainment in a Man's Mind; if a Man's Mind
be not by contrary Indisposition made in an incapaciº
Truth is the Soul's Health and Strength, natural and true"
Perfection. ; As increated Wisdom speaks to God; (Prov./
viii. 30) so Truth speaks the same Language to Man's Soul:
Z was by him, as one brought up with him, Z was daily his
2elight. Truth is so near to the Soul; [so much] the very
Image and Form of it; that it may be said of Truth; that
as the Soul is by Derivation from God, so Truth by Com-
*unication. No sooner doth the Truth of God come to our
B 2
4 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Soul's Sight, but our Soul knows her, as her first and old
Acquaintance: Which, tho’ they have been by some Acci-
dent unhappily parted a great while ; yet having now,
through the Divine Providence, happily met, they greet one
another, and renew their Acquaintance, as those that were
first and ancient Friends. V
Truth is of a different Emanation (for I cannot distinguish
Truth in itself; but in way of descent to us:) Truth either
of first Inscription, or of After-revelation from God.
The Truth of first Inscription is connatural to Man, it is
the Light of God's Creation, and it flows from the Principles
of which Man doth consist, in his very first Make : This is
the Soul's Complexion.
And Truth of After-revelation is the Soul's Cure, the
Remedy for the Mind's Ease and Relief. The great Expec-
tation of Souls, is the Promise of God's Messiah : They
wait for the Consolation of Israel. For this hath been the
State of the World: Man, in Degeneracy and Apostacy,
disabled himself, prejudiced his Interest in God: Losing
his Interest, by his Degeneracy and Apostacy, he is in Hope
and Expectation of some Revelation from God, concerning
Terms of Reconciliation and Recovery : And when these
did appear, then [was it] said; Zord now lettest thou thy
' ' --
****
***
Servant depart in Peace. Here comes Truth of After-
revelation, for the Recovery of Man, when he was Aposta-
tized from the Truth of first Inscription.
The former of these, is of things necessary in themselves,
in their Nature, and Quality; so, immutable and indispen-
sible. The latter, is the voluntary Results and Determina-
tions of the Divine Will. Things that are of an immutable
and indispensible Nature, we have Knowledge of them by
the Light of first Impression. The voluntary Results of the
Divine Will, we have by Revelation from God.
Man's Observance of God in all Instances of Morality; .
- these are Truths of first Anscription ; and these have a
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 5
deeper Foundation, greater Ground for them, than that
God gave the Law on Mount Sinai ; or that he did after
ingrave it on Tables of Stone; or that we find the Ten
Commandments in the Bible. For God made Man to ,
them, and did write them upon the Heart of Man, before
he did declare them upon Mount Sinai, before he ingraved
them upon the Tables of Stone, or before they were writ in
Our Bibles; God made Man to them, and wrought his Law
upon Mens Hearts; and, as it were, interwove it into the
Principles of our Reason; and the things thereof are the
Very Sense of Man's Soul, and the Image of his Mind: So
that a Man doth undo his own being, departs from himself,
and unmakes himself, confounds his own Principles, when
he is disobedient and unconformable to them; and must
necessarily be self-condemn'd. The Law externally
given was to revive, awaken Man, after his Apostacy and
Sin, and to call him to Remembrance, Advertency, and
Consideration. And, indeed, had there not been a Law?
Written in the Heart of Man; a Law without him, could be
to no Purpose. For had we not Principles that are Con-
*éaſed; did we not know something, no Man could prove
any thing. [For] he that knows nothing, grants nothing.
Whosoever finds not within himself, Principles suitable to
the Moral Law, whence with Choice he doth comply with
it; he hath departed from himself, and lost the natural
Perfection of his Being : And to be conformable to this, is
the Restitution to his State. -
Things of Natural Knowledge, or of first Inscription in
the Heart of Man by God, these are known to be true as
Soon as ever they are proposed : And he hath abused him-
Self, and forc’d himself from his Nature, and deformed the
Creation of God in him, whosoever doth not take Acquaint-
ance with, subscribe to, make acknowledgment of these
great Things, The great Principles of Reverence of Deity. Of
Soºriety in the Government of a Man's own Person: Moderate
6 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
use of the Pleasures and Contentments of this Zife: The great
Instances of Righteousness and Justice in Mens Transactions
one with another: For they are Connatural to Man.
Then, for Truth of Gospel-Revelation, that, speaks for
itself, recommends itself, and shews itself to be of God. In
this Case, we may say as the Samaritans to the Woman :
They were brought to take Cognizance of our Saviour, by
the credible Report of the Woman : But after they had had
converse with him ; AVow, say they, we believe in him, not
for thy Words (but we credited thee so far forth as to come
and see him :) but because we have seen, and heard, Joh. iv.
42. Such are the Declarations of Faith in God by Jesus
Christ, of Remission of Sins, of God’s accepting of Sinners
upon Repentance, that any Man that is awake to any true
Apprehensions of God, he will readily believe them, and
embrace them, when they are declared to him by any
Instrument. The great Things of Reveal’d Truth, tho’ they
be not of Reason's Invention, yet they are of the prepard
Mind readily entertain’d and receiv'd : As for Instance:
Remission of Sins to them that repent and deprecate God's
Displeasure; it is the most credible Thing in the World:
For God made us Creatures fallible, at the best. Now here
is finite and fal/ible; failing and miscarrying ;
repenting and reforming, upon a Declaration from God. —
So false is it that the Matter of our Faith is unaccountable;
or that there is any thing unreasonable in Religion; that
there is no such Matter of Credit in the World as the
Matters of Faith ; nothing more intelligible. It was a
Mystery before ; God in Christ reconciling the World: Mow
all the World is taken into a Possibility of receiving Benefits
hereby. Tho' there be nothing of Merit on the Creature's
side ; nothing that we can do that can deserve; yet it is
a Matter of very fair Belief, that the Original of all Beings,
the Father of all our Spirits, the Fountain of all Good, will,
One way or other, pardon Sin, and do what behoves him, for
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 7
the Recovery of his laps'd Creation : And any probable
Narration made in the Name of God, of the Way and
Means, and the particular Circumstances whereby God will
do it, will fairly induce Belief with sober, serious, and con-
siderate Minds: And what have we to do with others, upon
the Account of Religion ? If they be not serious and con-
siderate, they are not in a Disposition towards Religion.
That Promise of the Seed of the Woman breaking the
Serpent’s Head : God hath been speaking this out further
and further, by his various Revelations in the several
Successions of Time: He has represented it in divers
Shapes: But now we have it expounded. For the Seed of
the Woman is, God manifested in the Flesh: And break-
ing the Serpent’s Head is, destroying the Work of the Devil.
The Anti-type doth exactly answer the Variety of the Types.
All foretold of our Saviour was fulfill'd in him.— We have
many things in prophane Stories in several Ages that give
Testimony and Light to Parts of Reveal’d Truth. Many
of their Stories are in Imitation of Scripture History: As
A7sus's Hair in Imitation of Sampson's : ZXeucalion's Flood
in Imitation of Noah's : Hercules in Imitation of Joshua,
&c.—Many of the Heathens that were not corrupted by
Education, or Interest, or the Strain of the Time, do relate
many things that are consistent with those that are in the
Bible. St. Austin tells us, he found the Beginning of the
first Chapter of St. John's Gospel among the Platonists.
Zºusebius read in the Commentaries of the Heathens those
Circumstances and Matters of Fact that the Evangelists do
mention, and also the Signs at our Saviour's Crucifying, as
the Eclipse of the Sun, and an Earthquake, and other Acci.
dents. Tertullian speaks of sundry things which Pilate
Writ to Złberius, suitable to what the Evangelists relate con-
Cerning our Saviour. Yea, Mahomet himself, who is the
last great Impostor, doth mention the Soldiers apprehend.
ing our Saviour with an Intention to put him to Death:
8 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Acknowledging him to be a great Prophet; but he tells us,
when those Soldiers were stricken down, God took him
away, and they lighted upon another something like him,
and crucify’d him. Plutarch, an eminent Author, gives us
an Account of Pan, the great Daemon of the Heathens, who
was heard greatly to complain, that a Hebrew Child was
born, and they never heard him after ; all the Oracles then
ceasing. Porphyry, tho’ of no great Credit, says, that after
one whom they called /esus, came to be worshipp'd, they
never could receive any more Benefits by any of their Gods,
One of the Roman Emperors was so possess'd with what
was related concerning a Kingly Race among the Jews, and
was so startled with the Credibleness of the Report, that he
set himself to destroy all of the Family. Publius Zentulus
gives the Senate an Account, that he saw, himself, and was
an Eye-witness of the Man Jesus among the Jews, who cured
all Diseases and raised from the Dead: Insomuch, that
Tertullian bids the Heathen Emperor search their Records:
For your own Kalender [says he] recites the Things that are
done by our Saviour. This, in the Days of Julian, who was
turn'd off, by the Feuds and Exasperations, by the Factions
and Divisions among those that were call’d Christians: In-
somuch, that he hated Christianity; but otherwise, a Man
of eminent Justice, and good to the Common-wealth : One
who was a Philosopher gives an Account of the Christian
Religion: “The Christian Religion (says he) consisting in
“Spiritual Worship and Devotion to God, Purity of Mind,
“holy and unblameable Conversation; of all things that are
“call’d Religion, it is the most Entire, the most Pure ; but
“only mightily hurt by some who have fill'd it with super-
“stitious Things.” Am. Marcel.
So that we may resolve, that the Difficulty of Faith arises
from the wicked State of the Subject, rather than from the
Incredibility of the Object. It is hard to act otherwise than
the State from within doth dispose a Man. It is not
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 9
imaginable, that any Man can believe contrary to the Life
he lives in : When he lives in the State of eternal Death ;
to believe eternal Life: Or to believe the Pardon of Sin,
when he lives in it, and slights the Sin he lives in. For our
Saviour says, You cannot believe because of your wicked
Æearts. It cannot stand together: To live in Sin; and to
look for Pardon of Sin. For God doth not give to any one
that is impenitent, the Power of Faith. Be not conform'd to
this wicked World, but be ye transform'd by the renewing of }
Jour Mind, that you may prove what is the good and accept.
able Will of God, Rom. xii. 2. Intimating, that if a Man
lead a wicked and ungodly Life; if a Man in respect of
State, Complexion, and Constitution of Soul, be in Contra-
diction to the Principles of Religion, the Principles of God's
Creation; he cannot prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect Will of God. They that were in a Religious
Disposition did readily believe and entertain our Saviour,
and acknowledge him to be the Messiah that was promis'd
of old: But those that were perfectly obstinate, in the
Pharisaick Disposition, they rejected him. And this is
clearly true, that Men cannot believe while they live in Sin,
and are in Impenitency, and are under the Commands of
their Lusts. For we find that an ingenuous Mind, and onej
that is a true Penitent, he doth with more Difficulty forgive !.
himself, than God doth. He that is truly affected, and
Cordially turns to God, he is truly sensible of the Deformity
and Impurity of Sin: Though Repentance give Heart's
Ease and Satisfaction, and tend to the Quiet of his Mind;
yet he doth more hardly excuse himself, than God doth.
But a Man that is wedded to the World, that is under the
Power of his Lusts, that applauds and magnifies himself in
Self-will, is given up to Affectation, Arrogancy, and Self-
assuming, how can this Man give himself Satisfaction con-
Cerning Pardon of Sin, when he is in a contrary Spirit,
in a contrary Disposition? He cannot believe that God
Io BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
will pardon Sin; because he himself doth not pardon
any other Offender. God's Goodness well consider'd, speaks
him to be propitious and inclinable to Compassion: But
Impenitency speaks a Man's Incapacity of being pardon'd.
This is the Sum. All Divine Truth is of one of these two
Emanations: Either it flows from God, in the first
Instant and Moment of God's Creation; and then it is the
Light of that Candle which God set up in Man, to light
him ; )and that which by this Light he may discover, are all
the Instances of Morality; of good Affection, and Submis-
sion towards God; the Instances of Justice and Righteous-
ness to Men, and Temperance to himself: Or else, it
is of an after Revelation and Discovery. Man being out
of the Way of his Creation, by his Defection from God, is
recover'd by this Revelation. Upon this Consideration, that
Man was never better than finite and fallible, and consider-
ing that we have given an Offence; and [considering] the
Relation that God stands in, to his Creatures; and that he
is the first and chiefest Goodness; it is [what] may be fairly
supposed, that God will recover his Creation, one way or
other. Wherefore, that which the New Testament doth
discover, is that which was in general Expectation.
Now the Terms of the New Covenant are possible to
Sinners : They are Just and Fit, Reasonable and Equal:
- They are to us (who are departed from Truth) Resto:
rative : They are satisfactory to our Mind, and quiet-
ing to our Conscience.— For if I have offended against
the Rule of Right, I ought to repent of it, confess it, be
sorry for it, and do my Endeavour to commit it no more.
/And there is Reason to think that God can pardon. For
every one's Right is in his own Power. Every one doth
dispose of his Right in that way which he will. Since there.
fore it is God's Right, upon the Failure of Obedience, to
reduce the Creature by Punishment; it is in his Power to
abate of Punishment if he pleases, or to remit it. And it is
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH I I
most reasonable to think, that God should be allow'd to do
this in what way he would.
Therefore we conclude, that all the Instances of Christian
Doctrine, either they are fairly knowable, if we use our
Faculties and Understanding [(and these are the great
Instances of Morality and Principles of Reason;)] or else,
if we do consider those Things that are considerable in the
Case; the Things of Reveal’d Truth, are of fair and easy
Belief. The former of these, the great Principles of Reason, S.
they are [by] awakened Minds easily and readily found out.
The latter are, [by] prepar'd Minds, fairly admitted and enter-
tained. This I say against the Atheism of the prophane
World, and those that do affect to be Infidels, because they
pretend they have not the Assurance of former Times, [nor
of] powerful Miracles.
I will now instance in those Assurances that we have, to
Settle us in the Entertainment of Divine Truth. And they
are these Five :
I. They are concurrent with the Sense of the Heathens.
and Strangers, who do agree with us in all the Instances of
Morality; in these we cannot speak beyond them, they
Speak and act so as to shame us: For how many of us do
act below them in these Particulars? and as to many Things
of the New Testament concerning Christ, we have great
Testimony from them; as was shew’d.
2. The Representation that is made to us by Truth con-
Cerning God. He is represented worthy himself, and so as
We may credit what is said of him.
3. The ingenuous Operation that Divine Truth hath upon
Mens Minds.
4. Its Fitness to Man's State.
5. The Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance of it.
I. As to Morals; we have the full Concurrence with us
of Heathen Authors, all those that are any whit reform'd.
And for the rest, we have a good Rule in Philosophy, which
I 2 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
tells us, that he is incompetent to give Testimony upon
account of Morality, that is himself vicious. For he that is
vicious, is himself a Moral Monster. And upon a Moral
Consideration, every Man is vicious that either is stupidly
ignorant, or dissolute or profane ; and their Judgment in
point of Truth is inconsiderable. In Morals, all those of
the Heathens that have attain'd to any Reformation, either
to the Improvement of their Intellectuals, or the Refine-
ment of their Morals, they all concur with these immutable
and indispensable Verities. And as to those reveal’d ; the
several Parts of History concur in all the Things that the
Evangelists do declare concerning Christ. It is very true,
there have been in the World several Persons that have
grOsly neglected the Materials of Natural Knowledge ; SO
that Men have suffered their Faculties to lie asleep: The º
Mind and Understanding have been in most Men useless
and unemploy'd : And there hath been invincible Ignorance
as to the great Points of Reveal’d Truth in several Ages and
Places of the World: But this I dare assure you; that there
never was any considerable Opposition against the main
Principles of Natural or Reveal’d Truth, by those that
have any Knowledge of it. No Man of any Competency
of Knowledge, or Proportion of Goodness, hath risen up
against any of these great Instances of Morality, or the main
Articles of Christian Faith: But these have had (as I may
say) Universal Acknowledgment. For if any have risen up
against them ; they have been incompetent; and so of no
Moral Consideration: The Universal Acknowledgment of
a Thing for Truth doth not ly in every individual Person's
receiving it (for then you have nothing that is of Universal
Acknowledgment;) but in the due and even Proportion it
bears to the Universal Reason of Mankind. This Principle
no Man in his Wits will deny, That it is impossible that the
same thing should be, and not be, at the same time; yet some
were so perverse and cross, absurd, and degenerate from
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH I3
Sober Reason, that they did deny it : And Plutarch saith,
That nothing yet was ever in the World so absurd, but some
have held it. Therefore we may entertain that which any
Sober Man in the due Use of Reason hath entertain'd, and
proposed, upon Terms of Reason, for the Satisfaction of
others. And we may conclude, that the Universal Acknow-
ledgment of a Thing as Truth, it doth not depend upon
every individual Person's receiving of it; but upon the even
and true Proportion that things bear to the Universal/
Reason of Mankind. This is all that can be said, when
Men pretend to prove any thing by Universal Reason.
Thus the Being of a God is proved by Universal Reason:
For except only Monsters (those that are, upon the Account
of Morality, very Monsters; Persons that have grosly neg-
lected their Understandings, and lived like Beasts;) none
else but have acknowledged Deity. Men improved in their
Intellectuals, and refin'd in their Morals, have received and
entertain’d it on Grounds of Reason.
that the great Differences that have been between Men in
the several Ages of the World, they have not been about
any necessary and indispensable Truth, nor any thing that
is declared plainly in any Text of Scripture: But all the
Differences have been either in Points of very curious and
nice Speculation, or in Arbitrary Modes of Worship. Now,
notwithstanding these Differences, I dare say, and give
assurance, that God gives Men leave, with a safe Con-
Science, to live in Peace, and to keep the Communion of
the Church of God in the World, and to submit to the
Government. Whosoever hath professed himself a Christian
doth acknowledge Christ to be the Head. The Christian
World scattered into particular Ways, and multiplied into
Sects and Parties, yet do agree in the great and bright
Truths of Reason and Christianity, such as are fixed, and
of the greatest Magnitude. The Mahomelans themselves
did never charge Moses, or Christ, as being Impostors:
It is observable,
(, . 1 * ,
$.
- A.
d
I4 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
For they acknowledge Moses, as we do, for a true Prophet;
and go along with us in the History of Christ, till the
Fourteenth of John, and Vers. 16. and there is their first
Departure. They acknowledge all that is related concern- :
ing Christ: Only they tell us that what Christ said of send
ing the Spirit, and another Comforter, is meant of Mahomet:
and they tell us that our Saviour set down his Name; but
afterwards his Disciples put it out. They acknowledge
Christ to be a true Prophet, and beyond Moses; and out
of respect to him, they deny all that is said about his Death
and Crucifixion. -
Reason doth suppose two things by which we may be
further confirm'd in the Truth of our Religion.
(1st) That if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture, it
would have been deprehended in length of Time; being
often told, and in several Ages and Companies, sometimes
by parts, sometimes together, and under several Circum-
* ~stances, and upon several Occasions; there would have
been some Differences in the Relations. Had there been
anything false in our Religion, [or that were] not solid, true
and substantial ; it having past through Sixteen Ages, being
above Sixteen hundred Years old, those Men that lived
before us being inferiour to none of us for Parts; they would
have deprehended it as guilty, and forewarn'd us of it.
Therefore we may take it for granted that the great Matters
of Natural Knowledge and Faith, that have pass'd through
so many Ages and Generations are solid, true, and substan-
tial; and that the Book call'd the Bible, which hath run
down, from the time of our Saviour and his Apostles, to
this Day, may be received with double Assurance, Credit,
/and Advantage. For Error and Falshood is never long.
liv'd : but Truth is Eternal, and that which will continue
for ever. -
(2dy.) I do suppose another thing with great Reason;
and that is, considering the Goodness of God, the Care he
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 15
has of his Creatures, his Love to Truth, and the Respect
that he bears to those that worship him ; that he would not
Suffer the Good Intentions of such to be abused by any
Imposture, nor suffer that which is false to take such place
in all Times and Ages of the World, without the least
Check or Controul. But some may object; if this be
So, what say you to the Mahomelans, and the great Factions
that have been in the World and prevailed P Are not these,
Testimonies against the Truth of our Religion ? As for
Mahomet; he had only the Assistance of an Apostate Monk
who taught him to compound a Religion out of Gentilism
and Judaism, and in the Composition that he hath made,
So far as he hath added any thing of his own, it is so con-
temptible to sober Reason, and so contrary to those things
that he hath taken out of the Old Testament, that it is not
hard to detect him for a Cheat and an Impostor. For
devest him but of those things which he stole out of the
Bible; and that which is his own will appear base, vile, and
Contemptible to the Reason of Mankind, and most ridi-
culous. Now if God had given Testimony to his Religion;
it would have been in a way of Reason, and most agreeable
to the Understandings of Men; and not in a way of stupid.
Ignorance: but in such a way as might challenge the
greatest Opposers to find any thing contrary to those
Principles of Reason and Understanding which he hath
planted in Man's Mind. But as to Mahomet; History doth
declare him to be a Person of a debauch'd Life; and one
that had not Credit in the time of his Life. As to the
great Factions that have been in the several Ages; tho’
they have been many Persons; yet they have been but one
Party: and one Party is to be consider'd but as one
Opinion : for if there be a thousand Men in a Party, it is
but one Opinion; and one single Person is as much as
a whole Party. All those of a Party are bound up to one
Opinion, [and to believe as their Party believes.] Therefore
I6 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
I except against those that have blindly gone on without
Consideration. For these have not acted by the Guidance
of Humane Reason.
II. Now I shall give you some Intrinsick Arguments, by
which I shall convince those of their Wickedness, and Folly,
that affect either Atheism, or Infidelity. The first is this,
(which is the second Assurance we have of Divine Truth)
The Representation that Religion makes to the Mind of
Man concerning God, even such a Representation as the
Mind of Man, if duly used, and well informed, would con-
ceive concerning him. For God is represented lovely,
amiable, and beautiful, in the Eyes of Men ; and what is
said of God, is worthy of Him, and is consistent with what
Man is made to think, or know, concerning him : For this
is truly Divine, and God-like, to do Good, to relieve, to
compassionate; and on the contrary it is Diabolical, and
most opposite to the Divine Nature, to destroy, to grieve, to
oppress. And what a relation doth the Bible make of God,
to be Merciful, Gracious, Long-suffering, Full of Compas-
sion ?— So, [on the other side], how is the Devilish Nature
describ’d and represented to us? The Devilish Nature
is hurtful, given to Malice, Hatred, and Revenge; but the
Divine Nature is placable, and reconcileable ; ready to
forgive, full of Compassion, and of great Goodness, and /
Kindness.
This, for the Representation that both Old and New
Testament make of God, and this is agreeable to the Sense
of every awaken'd Mind. All that the Gospel requires, is,
Repentance from Dead Works, and Faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is the Sum of all that is declared
and superadded; and nothing in all the World can be
declared or required upon Terms of greater Justice, Reason,
and Equity. For will not any one acknowledge, that if
an Inferior give Offence to a Superior, he ought to humble
himself, and ask Forgiveness; Can any Man's Reason in
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 17
the World be unsatisfied in this P
Then, for Faith in
Our Lord Jesus Christ; is it not very equal, and fit, that
if God will pardon Sin, he should do it in what way he
thinks fitting? that if we go to him for Cure, he should
take that way to recover us which he thinks best ?
So that these [Terms] which are superadded to the
Principles of God's Creation, are such, that there were
never more equal, fit, and reasonable, proposed to Men:
neither is this all; but they are satisfactory to the Reason
of our Mind: For this is found to be true upon Experience,
that the Mind of an Impenitent cannot receive Satisfaction
nor Consolation in any other way. Should all the Men in
the World, or an Angel from Heaven speak [Pardon] to an
Impenitent; the Sense of Repentance would be better
Satisfaction to his Mind; beyond any foreign Testimony
Whatsoever. Though God should tell me, my Sins were
pardon'd; I could not believe it, unless I repent and
deprecate God's Displeasure. For Repentance is satis-
factory to the Reason of my Mind; is necessary to quiet
my Conscience; and I should not be rational or intelligent
in Religion unless I satisfied my Mind; which is to do
What I can to revoke what I have done amiss, and to
deprecate God's Displeasure; and then apply to him for
his Grace, in that way which he has declared.
Therefore these [Terms] are not only just and equal in
themselves; but tend to the Quiet and Satisfaction of a
Man's Mind; [and] are restorative to our Natures. Now \
the Representation that is made to us by Divine Truth,
either natural, or reveal’d, is that which is satisfactory and
consonant to the Reason of our Mind: it is that which
doth justly represent God, as he stands in opposition to the
Cruel, Devilish, and Apostate Nature, as being Placable,
Compassionate, and Reconciling; and so, in the use of
true Reason a Man would have thought and imagin'd con-
Cerning him; that he would not be wanting to afford unto
CAMPAGNAC C
I8 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Men fitting Aid and Assistance for their Recovery. And
thus is God represented Lovely, Beautiful, and Amiable, in
the Eyes of the whole Creation.
III. [Another] Intrinsick Argument (which is the Third
Assurance of Divine Truth) is, the ingenuous Operation that
Divine Truth, both Natural and Reveal’d, hath upon the
Mind and Understanding of Man. For these Truths call
Creatures to Self-resignation, to commit themselves to God,
to depend upon him. And how doth this tend to the
Heart's Ease, [and to the Quiet, and Satisfaction of a Man's
Soul? For we know by Experience that even the best, and
wisest of us, are oft times transcended by our Occasions,
and at a loss. The Affairs of the World do transcend the
Capacities of our Mind and Understanding: Now Religion
both Natural, and Reveal’d, doth teach us, that in respect
of God we are but Instruments assumed, determin'd, and
limited, (and it is no Disparagement to an Instrument if it
fail) that we are but Creatures, and have our Dependence
upon him. And how doth this tend to the Satisfaction of
our Minds ! because we know that God is wiser than we,
and that he is greater, and every way better than we; [so
that if any thing succeed ill]; which either the Honour of
God, or the Good of his Creatures, [seemed to] require;
then, we being but God’s Instruments, and subservient to
him, ſmay] know that we should not have failed, unless
God would. Thus our Religion teaches us Submission
to God, Acknowledgment of him, Dependence upon him:
It assigns to Man his proper place respectively to his true
Center; and so lays a Foundation of Heart's Ease, Quiet,
Content, and Satisfaction. The Grace of the Gospel,
whereby we hope to be saved, doth not only give Con-
tinuance, Help, real Furtherance, and Assistance to Natural
Truth, (which lost much by Man's Apostacy from God, and
so needed a hand to help it up;) but it also doth its own
proper Work; by emptying the Mind of Man of Wilfulness,
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH I9
Presumption, and Self-conceit, which is incident to his
Nature; and so making room for the Help of Grace, and
Divine Assistance, and Forgiveness. But to pursue this
Argument a little further.
A Gospel-Spirit doth excel in Meekness, Gentleness,
Modesty, Humility, Patience, Forbearance; and these are
eminent Endowments, and mightily qualify Men to live in
the World. This is that which makes Men bear universal
Love and Goodwill ; and overcomes Evil with Good.
This I dare say, had we a Man among us that we could
produce, that did live an exact Gospel-Life; were the
Gospel a Life, a Soul, and a Spirit to him, as Principles
upon Moral Considerations are ; this Man, for every thing
that is excellent, and worthy, and useful, would be miraculous
and extraordinary in the Eyes of all Men in the World:
Christianity would be recommended to the World by his
Spirit. Were a Man sincere, honest, and true in the way
of his Religion; he would not be grievous, intollerable, or
unsufferable to any Body; but he would command due
Honour, and draw unto himself Love and Esteem. For
the true Gospel-Spirit is transcendently, and eminently
remarkable every way, for those things that are Lovely in
the Eyes of Men; for Ingenuity, Modesty, Humility, Gravity,
Patience, Meekness, Charity, Kindness, &c. And for
all this that I have said, I will refer you but to that of the
Apostle, where he doth set out the Fruits of the Spirit, and
the Works of the Flesh: He tells you, that the Works of the
Plesh are Hatred, Malice, Emulation, Strife, Sedition, and
Such like, Gal. v. 20. all of a kind; and all of them do speak
Hell broke-loose, and come in upon us in the World: For
these are from Hell, and tend to Hell, and represent to us
in this World the Hellish State that we dread to meet with
hereafter—But on the other side; the Fruits of the
Divine Spirit in Men, they are Zove, Joy, Peace, Long-
suffering, Meekness, Gentleness, and such like, Gal. v. 22.
- C 2 +
2O BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
And all of these are such lovely things that they make
Heaven, in a degree, where they are found. [Whereas] the
former turn the World into a kind of Hell.
Such is the Nature of Religion, that it keeps the Mind
in a good Frame and Temper; it establishes a healthful
Complexion of Soul, and makes it fit to discharge itself
duly in all its Offices towards God, with itself, and with
Men. Whereas the Mind of a wicked and profane Man,
is a very Wilderness, where Lust and exorbitant Passions
bear down all before them ; and are more fierce and cruel
than Wolves and Tygers. So the Prophet, Isaiah lvii. 20.
The Wicked is like the raging Sea, always casting forth Mire
and ZDir? : and Prozy. xvii. ver. I 2. One had better meet
a Bear robbed of her Whelps, than a Foo/ in his Fol/y : and
you all know who is Solomon's Fool; even every wicked
Man.—The Heavenly State consists in the Mind's
Freedom from these kind of things. It doth clear the
Mind from all impotent, and unsatiable Desires, which do
abuse a Man's Soul, and make it restless and unquiet: It
sets a Man free from eager impetuous Loves; from vain
and disappointing Hopes; from lawless and exorbitant
Appetites; from frothy and empty Joys; from dismal
presaging Fears, and anxious Cares; from inward Heart-
burnings; from Self-eating Envy, from swelling Pride, and
Ambition; from dull and black Melancholly; from boiling
Anger, and raging Fury; from a gnawing, aiking Con-
science; from Arbitrary Presumption; from rigid Sowrness,
and Severity of Spirit: for these make the Man that is not
biass'd and principled with Religion, inwardly to boil; to
be Hot with the Fervours of Hell; and, like the troubled
Sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up Mire and
Dirt, Isa. lvii. 20.
But on the other side; Things that are connatural in
the way of Religion, the Illapses, and Breakings in of God
upon us; these require a Mind that is not subject to
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 2 I
Passion; but in a serene and quiet Posture; where there
is no Tumult of Imagination. It is observed among the
Rabins that if a Prophet fall into a Rage and Passion,
the Spirit of Prophecy leaves him. They say that Moses
did not prophesy, after the Spirit of Passion moved him.
But sure it is, there is no genuine and proper Effect of
Religion, where the Mind of Man is not composed, sedate,
and calm. I find among the Philosophers, that they never
had Expectation of any Noble Truth, from any Man that
was under the Power of Lust, or under the Command of
Fancy and Imagination; or that lived in the common
Spirit of the World; they thought that God did not com-
municate himself to such. But this is certain ; that no
Man that is immers'd in a sensual brutish Life, can have
any true Notion of Heaven, or of Glory: These things
must signify no more to him, than a local Happiness, and
Sensual Enjoyment; than the highest and greatest Gratifica-
tion of the Animal Principle: all that he can think of
Heaven is, that it is a Place of great Enjoyment; some
local Glory; something that is suitable to the sensual
Mind. For we cannot ascend higher in our Actings than
We are in our Beings, and Understandings: And thes
Men that think our Happiness lies in the sensual Objects
of Delight, are not capable of understanding either the
Reason or Necessity of Mortification, inward Renewal,
and Regeneration, in order to admittance into Heaven.
For they do not look upon Heaven as a State and Temper
of Mind, to which it is requisite to be reconciled to the
Nature of God, and to be according to his Mind and
Will.—But Religion is the Introduction of the Divine .
Life into the Soul of Man: and Man cannot possibly
be really happy in the separate State, but by these things;
by having a Divine Love ruling in their Hearts; by Self.
resignation, and Submission to the Divine Will, and by
being like unto God. ./
}
22 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Things are very well known, what they are in being,
by what they are in working; what the Principle of them
is, by the Effect that flows from them : Now I may say
of Divine Truth, whether Natural, or Reveal’d, that these
do satisfy the Mind of Man, and keep him from being
barbarous, cruel, and inhumane. Religion doth give such
Evidence and Assurance of itself, that if you put it in
competition with any thing that any Natural Man, whether
Atheist or Infidel doth ever rest upon; it will appear to
have a greater Foundation in Nature, and [on] the Grounds
and Principles of common Reason, Equity, and Justice,
than any thing which can be set up against it, to counter-
~balance it. And Reveal’d Truth superadded to Natural,
doth not only give Assurance to it, and helps to recover
that which we know by the Light of God's Creation, (which
is weaken'd by Man's Sin, and [his] Apostacy from God)
but it doth also do its own proper Work, and teach a Man
to return to his own Place, to acknowledge God, depend
upon him, and be subservient to him : [It teaches him]
to empty his Mind of all Presumption, Pride, Arrogance,
and Self-assuming: So that a Man is fit to receive the
Grace of Pardon and Forgiveness of Sin, together with all
Divine Influence, Concurrence, and Assistance.
But since I have laid so mighty a Weight, and so great
a Stress upon this Acknowledgment in the Text ; I must
needs here prevent an Objection which may be raised;
and it is this. Some may object, and say, you have no
Divine Authority for these Words; for tho’ they are in the
Bible, they are but here related. I confess I have no more
Authority from these Words, (being spoken by these Persons
of whom they are related) than if they were clean the con-
trary to what they are. For I do find concerning our Lord
and Saviour, that some Persons of like Disposition, say,
that he did do his Miracles by Belzebub the Prince of
Devils: and if we lay stress upon the Sayers; we must
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 23
as well credit them, as these. Therefore I will grant you,
that I have no Authority for ought I have said, from these
Words materially consider'd, or as related and put down
here: Neither do I lay any Weight or Stress on the Sense
of these Reporters; for I will grant that it might be hap-
hazard what these Men said; for as much as they did not
Speak out of any Purpose or Intention, or out of any settled
Principle: and such Men have, upon the like Occasion,
given a clean contrary Report. Now I will give you
a profitable Observation from hence: Take care how
you quote Scripture; for that is Scripture for which you
have Divine Authority, not that which is barely related in
the Text. For you have the Speeches of the Devil, and
the Advice of the worst of Men related in Scripture.
Scripture is only consider'd in the Truth of Matter of Fact,
and that these things were done; but it doth not follow
from hence that they are materially Good: No Man must
pretend to do as Ehud did ; because his Action is recorded
in Scripture: No Man must pretend to borrowing without
Intention of paying, as the Israelites did; for if they had
not extraordinary Warrant, they were [to be] condemn’d
in their Practice. So, for us, to curse our Enemies, as we
read in the Psalms the Prophet did, not knowing in what
., Spirit it was done; [it] is not warrantable for us to do the
like from thence: Neither must we hate any, because
the Jews were to hate and to destroy the Seven Mations;
which they interpreted a Commission to hate all Mankind
ðut themselves. Therefore in like case, we cannot certainly
prove that any thing in the Book of Job is certainly Divine,
that was spoken by Joë's Friends; because God himself
declares, that they had not spoken that which was right
Concerning him, as his Servant Joã had done. Therefore
if you will have Divine Authority, see what is said; and
think it not enough that it is barely related in the Book:
Neither is it enough to pretend to a single Text, nor the
24 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
*"
~"
Practice or Perswasion of any Man whatsoever; nor to
any thing accidentally spoken, that can amount either
to Matter of Faith, or Divine Institution : It must be
express Scripture; it must be Scripture in conjunction
with Scripture: For Scripture, as a Rule of Faith, is not
one Scripture but all. And therefore, tho' I have taken
Advantage from these Words, yet all along, I have laid
such certain and such infallible Grounds, tending to give
Satisfaction in the Matters of Reason and Faith, as the
several Points are capable of.
And now I proceed to a fourth Argument, which is
this,
IV. The Suitableness of natural Truth to Man in the
State of his Creation ; and the Suitableness of Reveal’d
Truth to Man in his lapsed and fallen Condition, in order
to his Restitution and Recovery.
And first, for the Suitableness of that which we call
AWatural Religion. Natural Religion was the very Temper
and Complexion of Man's Soul, in the Moment of his
Creation; it was his natural Temper, and the very Dis-
position of his Mind; it was as connatural to his Soul,
as Health to any Man's Body: So that Man forc’d himself,
offered Violence to himself, and his Principles, went against
his very Make and Constitution, when he departed from
God, and consented to Iniquity.—It is the same thing
in moral Agents, to observe and comply with the Dictates
of Reason, as it is with inferior Creatures, to act according
to the Sense and Impetus of their Natures. It is the same
thing with the World of intelligent and voluntary Agents,
to do that which right Reason doth demand and require,
as it is in Sensitives, to follow the Guidance of their Senses,
or in Vegetatives to act according to their Natures. It is
as natural for a Man, in respect of the Principles of God's
Creation in him, to live in Regard, Reverence, and Observ-
ance of Deity; to govern himself according to the Rule
•
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 25
of Sobriety and Temperance; to live in Love, and to carry
himself well in God's Family; this, I say, is as natural
for him, as for a Beast to be guided by his Senses, or for
the Sun to give Light.—How far therefore are we de-
generated and fallen below the State in which God created
us; since it is so rare a thing for us to comply with the
Reason of things Nothing is more certainly true, than
that all Vice is unnatural, and contrary to the Nature
of Man. All that we call Sin, that which is naught, and
Contrary to the Reason of Things, is destructive of Human
Nature; and a Man forceth himself when he doth it: So
that, to comply with those Principles of natural Light and
} Knowledge which God did implant in us, in the Moment
of our Creation; and exactly to be obedient to the Ducture
of Reason, is connatural to Man, in respect of the State of
God's Creation: And it may be as well expected from an
intelligent Agent, to observe God, and to live righteously,
and soberly, as from any sensitive Agent, to follow its
* Appetite. Humility, Patience, Meekness, and such like
Virtues, they do favour Nature; whereas Passion, Pride,
and Envy do waste and destroy Nature. AWature's
Desires are all moderate, and limited; but Zust is violent
and exorbitant. Nature is content with a very few things;
but if a Man give way to inordinate Desires, then there is
* no Satisfaction to be obtain'd. Lust is not a thing that
will be satisfied by adding and adding; but he that would
be Satisfied, must abate and moderate his Desires, and
undue Affections. It is certain, that all Matural Truth, \
all that is founded in Reason, and that derives from the
Principles of God's Creation; that all of these do agree
With Man's Constitution in the State of Innocency. /
And for Reveal’d Truth; that fits and supplies Man
in his lapsed State. Every Man that knows his State, N
feels Want in himself of Health and Strength: And
reveal’d Truth is that which doth supply this Want; and 2

26 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
is that which he would have wish’d for from God. In this,
he hath Terms proposed to him of Pardon and Reconcilia-
tion, upon Repentance, and returning to God. Never did
Patient and Physician meet more happily; Disease and
Physick; than Man in a lapsed Condition, and the Pro-
posals that are through the Grace of God in the Gospel.
In the one there is Man full of Misery; in the other the
Grace of God for Mercy and Forgiveness. Man's Language
in that State is, O wretched Man, who sha/Z deliver me from
this Body of Death / Rom. vii. 24. The Grace of the
Gospel puts these Words into his Mouth; I thank God
through Jesus Christ my Zord, that he hath delivered me.
And he is bid to have no evil Heart of Unbelief. There
is a State of Guilt on the one side, a State of Justification
on the other: A State of Sin, and a State of Holiness:
Fear of eternal Death, and a Promise of eternal Life.—
So that the Grace of the Gospel is fitted to Man in his
lapsed State and Condition, in order to his Restoration
and Recovery. -
V. The fifth and last Argument is, the Agency of the
Pivine Spirit, in pursuance of what God hath done in
the Way of ZXivine Truth. For God sends not his Truth
into the World alone; but having done one thing, will also
do another, to make the former effectual. Now they that
have not the Divine Spirit, want the great Commentator
upon Divine Truth in the World. And therefore let such
Men look after it: For this is a great and a certain Truth;
that God, in his Grace and Goodness, will give his Spirit
to guide, and teach, and assure the Minds of good Men;
tho' none know it but those that feel him. But they who
have the Spirit of God, know nothing more certain : For
they have Satisfaction, and inward Peace, and Joy in
believing; they perceive such Operations of God in them-
selves, whereof the World cannot receive any Account:
The Divine Spirit doth open their Understandings, as it
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH 27
did the Apostles; brings Things to their Remembrance;
makes them consider the Inwards of Things; and calls
them to Advertency and Consideration. The great Work
of the Divine Spirit is to lead Men into right Apprehen-
sions, and stay a Man's Thoughts in Consideration, till the
Principles do receive Admittance, and become a Temper
and Constitution, till they infuse and instil themselves,
and make a lasting Impression. Tho' for my part, I do
believe, that the Scripture is clear and full of Light, as
to all Matters of Conscience, as to all Rules of Life, as
to all necessary Matters of Faith; so that any well-minded
Man that takes up the Bible and reads, may come to
Understanding and Satisfaction. And hence it is that we
have Sufficiency from God, to preserve us from Cheats of
all Sorts. So that a well-minded Man, that hath this
Instrument of God, need not be mistaken in any necessary
Matters of Faith. For the Bible is sufficient and intelligible
in the Way of Religion, and for all the Purposes thereof,
as any other Book, for the Learning of any other Art or
Science. And upon this account God hath done that
which will justify him; and at our Peril be it, if we be
found ignorant, or have been deceived: For we needed
not ever have been ignorant, or mistaken in any thing that
is vital in Religion. And to this Purpose there is also the
divine Spirit still to attend upon this Instrument of God:
So that they who do acknowledge God, and pray unto him
for his Help and Assistance, have the Advantage of being
taught by the Spirit, and by means thereof, are in a sure
Way of Knowledge, with the consequent Effects of Holiness
and Goodness.
By these Five Arguments, a Man may be resolved
against the Atheism, Infidelity, and Prophaneness of the
World. And from this Discourse, about which I have
been long, I do infer,
That Atheism and Infidelity are the most unaccountable
28 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
{; * , * - ;
!; , ;",
A
~ *
Things in the World, and inexcuseable. The Atheist must
be every where self-condemned ; and the Infidel within the
Aale of the Church. There is nothing that God hath done
more in any way whatsoever, than he hath done for the
Security of Men against Atheism; for I dare say, if any
Man do but think, and use Reason, he may know all
natural Truth. And what can a Man do less? How is he
a Man, if he do not either of these? Doth any Man
know any thing but by Thinking and Considering P Yea,
perhaps, this is all that we pretend to ; for we are born
to nothing else. All Habits and Dispositions, all actual
Knowledge, is our own Acquisition (with respect to the
Grace of God). No Man is born to any actual Knowledge
(in the World, or to speak a Word, or understand a Notion;
but all Habits and Dispositions are acquired. And there.
fore an Atheist shall be self-condemned: as one that never
used his Reason, nor so much as exercised his own
Thoughts. And for the Infidel within the Pale of the
Church; if he will but search, and consider, he may find
that which will beget Faith and Belief. And therefore
the Atheist and the Infidel are the most unaccountable and
unexcuseable Persons in the World ; for they have done
nothing themselves; they have not so much as thought Or
considered; they have not seen with their own Eyes.—
If a Man living in the World, or in the Church, be either
an Atheist, or an Infidel; he hath been an idle Person
in the World, and a Sluggard: His Understanding hath
received no Culture or Care; he hath made no Improve-
ment of himself, nor done any thing worthy of a Man.

THE VENERABLE NATURE, AND TRAN-
SCENDANT BENEFIT OF CHRISTIAN
RELIGION
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. For it is
the Power of God unto Salvation, to every one that
believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.-
ROMANs i. 16.
I HAVE declared several Assurances we have of divine
Truth, Natural, and Reveal’d in Scripture; against Atheists,
Infidels, and the Prophane: As,
I. The great Acknowledgment it hath met with, in the
Several Ages of the World. -
2. The Representation that is hereby made of God,
[which] is agreeable to what Man is made to know. The
Proposals made to us by God, the Invitations made by
him, the Prohibitions, Commands, and Promises, all these
testify of God, and declare worthily concerning him.
3. The ingenuous Effects and Operations of Divine
Truth, upon Mens Spirits, and in their Lives.
4. The Suitableness of Matura/ Truth ‘to Man in his
State of Institution; and of Reveal’d Truth, to Man in
his lapsed State, in order to his Restitution and Recovery.
5. The Agency of the Divine Spirit in pursuance.
Now if [this be] so, we may concur, in sense and
Resolution with the Apostle. I am not ashamed of the
Gospel, &c.
2 am not ashamed. This intimates, that there is some
Where Matter of Shame, within the Compass of the Business.
Now here Man's Apostacy, and Sin; these are shameful
things, which was the Occasion of the Gospel-Revelation.
3O BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
The Grace of the Gospel, which comes to repair and to
restore, puts us in mind of our ruinous and necessitous
Condition : So that there is cause of Shame in the
Case; though Cause of Glory and Triumph in the Grace
of God.
It is the Power of God unto Salvation. POWER, not
strictly, as limiting to one Perfection; but eminently, to
attribute to the Efficacy of Divine Grace [these two Things],
ziz. Regeneration, Nativity from above (which is the Salva.
tion of this State ;) Glorification, and consummating us in
Holiness; which is the Salvation of the Future.
To advance this Grace, and to raise our Apprehensions
of it, consider the Author of it; (it is the Effect of the
divine Wisdom, the Fruit of the Divine Love:) what it is
in itself; and of what Benefit to us. -
There must be Greatness of Power to erect such
a Fabrick and Structure as the World is ; and Excellency
of Wisdom to administer the Affairs of it, in all Variety
of Cases. Now it is pity any should do the like, that
cannot also recover, and restore, if Necessity require:
For so should finite and fallible (as we are) if in any Error
or Mistake, be under an Impossibility of Redemption.
It is according to Nature's Sense, rather never to have
been, than for ever to be irrecoverably miserable: Where:
fore, if I believe God made me, I will also believe God
Can restOre me.
Nothing is clearer in Reason, nothing is fuller in Scripture,
than that God is the first and chiefest Good. In respect
of his Relation to his Creatures, earthly Parents do but
resemble him : /ohn iii. 16. God so loved the World, that
he gave his only begotten Son, &c. It must be attributed
to his Goodness and Compassion; because it was that
which we cannot say he was at all bound to do : It was
that which he could not be constrained to do: It was that
which he was no Gainer by : For our Righteousness is not
*
|

CHRISTIAN RELIGION 3 I
-V.
.
-
*-
profitable to him. The Gospel of Christ is no Invention
of Human Reason: Man neither prevented God, nor
recompenced him after : Only the Necessity of Man's
State required it; and God's Goodness afforded it: The
Excellencies of Infinite Wisdom, Goodness, and Power,
are displayed in it.
'Tis not a Mystery now ; though formerly it was hid
Jrom Ages and Generations, Col. i. 26. But now it is the
Council of God’s Will declared. He that dazkens Words
without Knowledge, brings us back again to the Infancy
of the World. It was the Imperfection and Shortness of
the Mosaical Dispensation that it was Typical, Mystical,
Ceremonial, Symbolical; full of Shadows, things that did
Vail and darkly represent. Obscurity is Imperfection, as
Darkness in comparison with Light. Life and Immortality,
and all [the] Principles of it are brought to Light through
the Gospel.
The Gospel is admirable Speculation; excellent Matter
of Knowledge: For here is the Revocation of an insolent
bold Act of Usurpation upon God, by Christ's full Sub-
mission and entire Self-resignation. A Prince and a Saviour
is raised up by God, sent into the World, not to make
Havock, to ruin and destroy; not as it is 2 Sam. xii. 31.
Where the People were put under Saws and Harrows of
Iron, made to pass through Brick-kilns; a thing intolerable
to behold; dreadful to read of; (though in this impotent
incompetent World, many great Warriours are made famous
for such things, even in unjustifiable War:) But he came
to give Repentance and Forgiveness of Sin; He came to
Seek and to save that which was lost.
The Gospel is a Vital Principle, not of Natural Life, but
Divine; as it satisfies the Reason of our Minds by Removal
of Fears and Doubts, by the Life of Faith, Affiance, and
Trust in God;—and, as it reforms our Spirits and Lives,
as conveying and communicating Principles of Goodness
32 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
and Righteousness; [by which] we are made Partakers of
the Divine Nature.
The Substance of the Gospel is, Repentance from dead
Works, and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These do go
together, and encourage each other ; in as much as no
Man repents, who doth not believe ; nor can any believe,
who doth not repent. To believe, there is requisite an
internal Disposition and Preparation of the Subject, as well
as a Divine Promise to build upon. Joh. v. 44. Can you
believe who receive Honour one of another, and seek not
Aonour from God? The same is in all Cases of Inordinacy
and Sin. Repentance and Faith in the Gospel are indiffe-
rently used : He that believeth on the Son hath eternal Zife,
Joh. iii. 36. Now he doth not really believe, who doth
not truly intend to do answerably. The Scripture calls
believing on Christ, receiving of him, Joh. i. 12. If we
receive him, then we receive him such as he is, and to such
Effects and Purposes as God sent him for: Now God sent
him to bless us, in turning us from our Iniquities. The
Scripture useth Synecdoches: Sometimes Believing is put
for the whole of Religion; sometimes Repenting; some.
times Fearing; sometimes Love. If we would not be
partial, nor deceive our selves, we must always take in all
concomitant Acts. Scripture, as the Rule of Faith, is not
one single Text, (which may be short, and intend another
thing) but the Fulness of Scripture. In all other Cases, he
that believes doth according as he thinks. Faith includes
an Intention of new Obedience. .
* I may with great Reason say, that the Matter of the
Gospel is a Vital Principle; as it satisfies the Reason of
our Mind, [and] so sets us at Rest and Quietness.within
ourselves, as thereby seeing and knowing that we are out
of danger.—
Knowledge, as to the Understanding, is vital; as well as
an habitual Disposition, as to the Will. What more Satis-
In the intellectual Nature, a Principle of
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 33
faction can there be to the Reason of our Minds, [what
more] tending to the Quiet of our Consciences, than to
be assured, in a Matter of such Importance to us, that
God, to whom we are so obnoxious by Transgression and
Sin, is most placable and reconcileable of himself, through
the Perfection of his own Nature; and that he is absolutely
resolv’d and engaged, by his voluntary Determination and
Promise, to pardon Sin, in and through Christ, to all who
repent and believe the Gospel: And this, and nothing less
than this, is the Matter of the Gospel: This is to be accepted
in and through Christ, and is the real Explication of
Justification by imputed Righteousness. For this being
Suppos'd, and proving true; We are sure of God, We
know his Terms.——The Terms are fair and equal in
themselves; fit and just : For should not an Offender do
what is in him to undo what he hath done amiss P The
Terms are good for us; for we cannot be happy by God,
in a way of opposition to God, but by Submission and
Reconciliation to him.—They are such as are possible,
through the Grace and Assistance of God. So that
there is nothing in the whole World that we have more
Reason to desire and pray for, than that they be verified,
fulfilled and accomplished in us.
There are no two things more inward to us, than
Satisfaction to our Reason, that we may be at quiet; and
the settling of our Minds in Frame and Temper, that
We may enjoy ourselves. In these two the Life of Man
Consists; and these depend on the Knowledge of the
Gospel.
[Now], the Matter of the Gospel is [also] a vital Principle,
as it is a Byass upon our Spirits, an habitual Temper and
Disposition constantly affecting us, and inclining us God.
ºard, and to ways of Goodness, Righteousness and Truth.
For it is inwardly received, so as to dye and colour the
Soul; so as to settle a Temper and Constitution: And so
CAMPAGNAc D
34 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
it is restorative to our Natures. That which we do but
indifferently by our Ability, we are able to do dexterously
and easily by Custom. Through the Divine Grace and
Assistance we are both able and freely willing. The Law
of the Spirit of Life in Christ frees us, from the Law of Sin
and Death. The Principles of the Christian Religion do
not only controul intemperate and exorbitant Acts, but
regulate the inward Frame and Temper of Mind, the
Inclinations, elicit Acts, and first Motions. As Christ said
to God, not my Will but thy Wil/; so we must, through
Participation of Christ, be let into a Temper of Meekness
and Gentleness to our Fellow-Creatures, and a submissive
self-denying Frame in respect of God. Hence our Lives
and Manners are of another Fashion. By the Spirit of
the Gospel we are transformed into another Nature, Life
and Temper. Neither do I terminate the Ultimate Issue
of Christ in the happy Effects of Renovation in ourselves,
and Reconciliation to God; (tho' these are Benefits
transcendent to all worldly Wealth, Greatness and Power;)
but it doth not now appear, neither can we now bear the
thought of it, what we may be when God shall be all in all;
and all Enmity subdued.—These are two things, and
'very different; what Man may come to, by the Improve.
ment of himself, in the right use of himself, his natural
Power and Faculties, directing himself by his ordinary
Rules, [as] he is God's Creature, and may attain his
Natural State and End; and what Man may come to,
as he is endued with Power from above; as he is assumed
into a Relation to God, by Jesus Christ; as he is a Member
of that Body whereof Christ is the Head, as the Adoption
of God by Jesus Christ; and as he is so enliven’d by the
Divine Spirit, as did not belong to Man in the State of
Innocency.
Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
- But these are not things of our present
State; for even Adam, as he was made, was not fit. For
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 35
The Application now only remains.
Having made appear to you that the Doctrine of the
Gospel, both in respect of its proper Vertue and Efficiency,
as also in respect of Divine Intention, is effectual to the
bringing of Men to Salvation; then are you, first to
acquaint yourselves throughly with the Terms of the
Gospel, to pass [Judgment] upon it, to consider well all
the Circumstances that make up the Case; Our contracted
Impotency and great Deformity by our Fal/; the AVecessity
of Recovery and Restoration ; the Efficacy and the Freemess
of the Grace of God to Conversion. So that we may resolve
Our Minds; tho’ our Case be very forlorn, because of our
Defection and Apostacy from the Innocency of our Creation,
and self-contracted Misery; yet nothing is desperate,
nothing is impossible in the Case; but our Recovery,
through the Grace of God, is fairly easy.
And being thus prepar’d by such Knowledge and
Apprehensions; pursue the Intent of the Gospel in your
Own Spirits, and in Conjunction of yourselves with others,
by free Communication in Converse; for this is certain,
and found by Experience, that the only way to do a Man's
self good in Intellectuals and Spirituals, is to do good
to others. No Man gains so much as by Teaching. No
Man so Improves in Intellectuals, as by Communication;
Which doth much commend Intellectuals, that they increase
*y Expence. If a Man hath brought himself to some
Perfection by Consideration, he will make himself much
more, by free Communication; and in free Communication,
you will have another suggest that which, it may be, you
did not think of : So he will put you upon further
Consideration, or else preserve you from Presumption.
None are of such modest Spirits as [they] who live in free
Communication and Converse. This I subjoin, for the
improving of a Man's self in the way of the Gospel, and
answering the vigorous Spirit of the Gospel; be com-

D 2
36 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
municative. And this is the Purpose of all our Meetings:
Free Communication, to answer every Man's Doubts ; to
give every one Satisfaction. It is the highest Service, and
greatest Courtesy we can do one another, freely to tell
what we have conceiv'd ; and we do ourselves most effectual
Good, when we carry on others with us, when we do Good
unto others.
- The first thing in Religion is to teach a Man's own
Mind; to satisfy a Man's self, in the Reason of things;
to look to the Grounds and Assurance that a Man hath
for his Thoughts, Apprehensions and Perswasions: But then
it is prodigious and monstrous if that wherein my Reason
is resolv’d and satisfied, should not have such an Influence
upon my Mind, as to establish me in Life accordingly,
and to be a Rule both in Temper and Practice. That
sº we call in Morals against the Order of Reason, is
so much more horrid, unnatural, and prodigious than in
inferiour Nature, for Sensitives to go against the Guidance
of Sense, [or] for Inanimates against the Force of Nature;
[it is, I say], so much more unnatural; as Intelligent
Agents transcend, in Perfection, Sensitives, and Inanimates: :
Reason being as proportionable to its Effects, as any;
Principle in inferior Nature.
There are two Orders or Ranks of Creatures in this
visible World ; the Order of Sensitives, and of Znanimates:
The World of Sensitives, they are true and infallible;
they are true to that which is their predominant Principle;
that is, Sense; and they never vary: And Inanimates,
they certainly tend according to their Nature. Now the
‘Principle in the higher Order of Creatures, viz. of Rational
- X* and Intelligent Agents, is Apprehension of the Reason of
Q9 things. Now the Reasons of things are Eternal; they are
9 & not subject to any Power; we practice not upon them:
jº It is our Wisdom to observe them ; and our Goodness
sº . . . to comply with them: But they are as much our Rule,
W.' ..."
©"

CHRISTIAN RELIGION 37
as Sense to Sensitives, and the Impetus of Nature to
Inanimates. Now you would think it monstrous, pro-
digious and unnatural, for the Sun to give over shining,
for heavy things to ascend, for light things to descend,
for Fire not to burn : Yet it is more prodigious for any
one that is an Intelligent Agent and voluntary, not to
comply with the Reason of things; because he is a
Creature of a higher Order, and his Principle is more
excellent. By which you may see the Degeneracy of us
Mortals; in that the State below us remains in the same
Principle it was created in ; but we Men do neither find
out the Reasons of things, nor comply with them. Our
- Deformity is more; because our Perfection is more, and
the Order of our Being is higher; and we were made
more sufficient to our Con-natural Acts, than either
Sensitives, or Inanimates to their proper Acts ; and we
# use to say, the Fault is greater in him that is in a higher
# State.
§: This is to awaken Men to understand the Reason of
# the Gospel, and to consider it; that it may become the
... Reason of our Mind: And if it be the Reason of our/
ºMind, it will be a vital Principle of Life.
B. The Intent of the Gospel being such as it is, (viz. the
# greatest Good possible;) and it being the Enquiry of all
Mortals, Who will shew us any Good? it is matter of
§ great Astonishment, that it should be so neglected; so
# much being done on God’s part towards Man's Salvation,
and so much Reason for it on Man's part.
#. 1st, So much being done on God's part. For, Man's
# Salvation doth import Man's Happiness. Salvation from
# first to last, doth include the several Stages and Pro-
# gressions in the passing from the Death of Sin, from the
| Carnal Mind, from the Corrupt Nature, into a Spiritual
: State and Divine Life. This is the Salvation of this State:
# And the Consummation of this is the Salvation of the














38 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
other. Do but consider how much God hath done upon
this Account. Consider the many Promises and pathetical
Invitations God hath made to Sinners; Promises to receive
them ; Promises to enable them ; Promises to reward
them. How did our Saviour mourn over Jerusalem
How did God by the Prophets every where complain, upon
Man's Remissness P
2d/y, Considering there is so much Reason for it on
Man's part; that it is not only just, and fit in itself; but
good for us. It is just and fit, to reſent : For can any
one think that it is reasonable, by an After-Act, to justify
an Act of Arrogance P If he doth not, he must repent:
For whosoever commits a Sin, and doth not repent of
it, he lives to justify it. Repentance is good for us;
“for without it, we are self-condemn'd, and in an Incapacity
of Happiness. Self-condemnation I take to be the very
Life of Hell: And a Man must be self-condemn'd, unless
he repent, after the committing of Sin.— Repentance
… doth ease a Man's Mind. He that doth repent, would
make Satisfaction, and doth recal it, what he can. It is
a not possible for a Man to be made happy, by putting him
\ into a Happy Place, unless he be in a Good State. A Man
is not happy in the State wherein he is not qualified.
We are not capable of Happiness, unless we be restored
to Innocency by Repentance. The Gospel is the Restitu-
tion of us to the State of our Creation, to the use of our
Principles, to our healthful Constitution, and to Acts
con-natural to us ; and, under the Grace of God, is not
only possible, but a thing of easy and fair Performance:
For though without God, we are insufficient to do any
thing; yet through the Grace of God, we are enabled
to do all things that the Gospel requires. In this way,
the Mind of Man may have Assurance and Satisfaction.
It is a compassionable Case for him that is Supreme and
Sovereign, to pity an unavoidable Necessity and Misery,
!
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 39
and to pardon so far as the Case is compassionate. Now
we are in the Hands of him that is primarily and originally
good : And he will certainly commiserate every Case, so
far as it is compassionable. Now the Case of a Sinner
is compassionable, if he be penitent; because he was
never better than finite and fallible. Nothing is more
Credible than that the first and chiefest Goodness will
save to the utmost Extent of Disposition in the Subject.
On the other side, consider we God as the first and
chiefest Goodness; it is worthy of him, and in itself good,
that Evil be controuled : Therefore I cannot conceive, but
that the Goodness of God must engage him to punish
obstinate Sinners. Parents think it becoming, to punish
an obstinate Child. Consider we him also in a relative
Capacity, as he is the Governor of the World : He is
engaged to maintain Order, so it is not comely in God
to pass over Contumacy in Sin without challenging or
Controuling. So that as I do easily see, that the Case
of a Sinner that is penitent is compassionable; so on
the other side, I cannot conceive that a contumacious)
impenitent Sinner can be pardoned; since it is in itself
good, and also worthy God (either considered absolutely
in himself, as the first and chiefest Good; or relatively, as
the Governor of the World) to controul and challenge.
Wilful and pertinacious Transgressors. -y
Consider we, the Unreasonableness of Sin in Three v.
Particulars. . -
Ist, In Acts of Impiety against God. Can any Reason-
be imagined for these ? For, God being the Original of
Man's Being; the Center of his Soul; his ultimate End,
and every Way well deserving of him; Can any give a
Reason why any Man should be rebellious against him P
Is there any Temptation to sober Reason unto Impiety P
What can be alledged to induce Men to affront and offery
Contempt to God? .

4O BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
2dly, What can be alledged for Intemperance; since
Nature is content with very few things? Why should any
one over-do in this kind P A Man is better in Health and
Strength, if he be temperate. We enjoy ourselves more in
a sober and temperate Use of ourselves. What Aches,
Diseases, Pains, and Sicknesses doth a Man bring upon
himself, if he be intemperate? How many of these are
founded in Excess P
3dly, Sins of Unrighteousness; —whosoever doth an
"unrighteous Act, he doth justify all the Villanies in the
World, even Highway-men and Robbers: For it is the same
thing; you are Sinners in the same kind; for all is Un-
wrighteousness; there is Difference only in Degree. One
may offend more in human Laws: But the Offence is the
same in righteous Laws. Besides, what Confidence can
we ourselves have in respect of others? For no man will
think better of others than of himself. He that is guilty
of Unrighteousness, cannot but be jealous, and think the
same of others: So that he can have no Confidence in
others.
Thus you see the Unreasonableness of Sin. Yet because
of ill Use, Custom, and Practice, Difficulty is pretended
[and it is thought hard], to be vertuous. Do not Beasts
observe the Rules of their Nature? That which Religion
requires, is to find out the Reason of Things, and to comply
with it; to move according to the Dictates of Reason; and
to observe the Order of the End; to avoid such things
as will do us harm; in short, to live according to the
Difference of Good and Evil; to do the one, and to avoid
the other; which are not positive and arbitrary Impositions;
but they arise from Conveniencies, and from Inconveniencies
of our Natures, States, and Relations. So that the Sinner
is a Person of violent Practice, and one who doth unnatural
Acts. And an Impenitent is one of a senseless and stupid
Mind.
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 4 I
The Things that are the Bane of Mankind, and that do
alienate us from God, are Sensuality, World/y-mindedness
and Wickedness. The two former of these do sink the
Creation of God below itself; so that it doth not continue ,
the same that God made it. A Man, by these, is rendred
utterly unfit for Converse and Communication with God.
For, by these, he sinks himself below his Kind, and makes
himself equal to the Beast that perishes. And by the latter
(viz.] Wickedness) Man passeth into a clean contrary nature,
becomes an Enemy to God, and makes God an Enemy
to him.
Against Sensuality and Worldliness, I propose for Remedy,
the Application of the Principles of Reason and Vertue,
and the applying of our highest Faculties to their End and
Object. For while the Mind is employed in heavenly
Meditation, or in extracting spiritual Notions from material
Things; it is employed worthy of intellectual Nature: And
Our proper Business is to be thus employed : By which the
Concerns of the Body will be either laid aside, or moderately
engaged in, and regarded. Whereas this Power of our
Souls is, as it were lost, where Men use themselves as if
they had no Spirits, but were altogether Body; or as if the
Body were the principal or governing Part. And in such
a Condition are they, who cannot understand what we mean
when we bid them lift up their Hearts to God. For the
Candle of God's lighting within them, whereby they are
Qualified to find God out in his Works, and to follow him
in his Ways, either it burns so dim that they cannot see by |
it, or it is quite put out. For it is found by Experience,
that the Malignity of the Heart doth blind the Under-
Standing: And true Wisdom will never abide in a malicious y
and wicked Soul.—There are indeed Souls that are [so]
active and so well acquainted with heavenly Meditation;
that they very well know what is the Food of Souls, and
have the Fore-taste of the Delight and Pleasure of the other
**



42 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
World. And certainly, these Men have the greatest Satis-
faction in their Lives of any other Persons. For there is
more Satisfaction in Meditation, in Reading, in Conference
about Divine Things, in Application to God by Prayer, and
other holy Exercises, than in any bodily Pleasure whatsoever.
For all bodily Exercise comes off with Disquiet of Spirit:
Whereas in the other Way there is Refreshment every
Moment; there is new Acquisition: For if there be any
thing like Infinite in the Creation under God, it is in .
Invention, and the Power of Thinking. This is the Advan-
tage of Intellectual Exercise, above Bodily Exercise. The
one works inwardly, is still on the getting hand, and is still
in use; for what this Man gets, he hath still in Store; and
that which is got in this way of intellectual Employment,
will still improve by Use ; and what we get, we always keep ;
for Knowledge is no burden: whereas in things of the
Body, use, and Want : Spend, and be ever after without.
But it is no wonder, that they who never acquainted them.
selves with retiring from the World, know not what these
Things mean ; who mind only worldly Things, and know
no more than what belongs to the animal Life. But, on
the other Side, if a Man make Application to God, he acts
with all his Might; he recollects himself, and gathers him-
self into himself, that he may receive from God, what God
hath to communicate. And the Things that God hath and
doth offer, are so great and glorious, that our narrow Vessels
had need be wholly emptied to make room for them.
Therefore the Minds Substraction from the World is
necessary, by way of Preparation and holy Meditation,
to beget in us such a Disposition, by which we may receive
from God. A Man that can enjoy himself alone, by
Consideration, and exercising his Faculties, may run thro'
as it were, all times: For a Man may live before he lives,
and after, in this way: He may, by reading, acquaint
himself with what was in former Times; and by what
t
..)
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 43
Things are, he may guess what are to come. If he reflect
upon Things past, and view Things that are present, and
take a Prospect of Things to come, as the Effect of Causes
that are in being; in this way rational Faculties have
sufficient Employment; whereas they that are always
drudging in the Affairs of the World, and never enjoy
themselves alone; will find little Satisfaction in these
Things. -
It is the proper Work of Reason in Man, to find God out
in his Works, and to follow him in his Ways.
It is the proper Employment of our intellectual Faculties,
to be conversant about God, to conceive aright of him ;
and then to resemble and imitate him. Religion is an
Obligation upon us to God. The first Motion of Religion
is to understand what is true of God: And the second is to
express it in our Lives, and to copy it out in our Works.
The Former is our Wisdom; and the Zatter is our Good-
ness. In these two consist the Health and Pulchritude
of our Minds. For Health to the Body, is not more, than
Vertue is to the Mind. A depraved and vicious Mind
is as really the Sickness and Deformity thereof, as any foul
and loathsome Disease is to the Body. And as really
as these tend to the Death and Dissolution of the Soul and
Body; so the Vices of the Mind tend to the Separation
of God and the Soul.
What is short and inferior to Converse with God, doth
require a Recess from worldly Business and Employment.
A Man can hardly compose an ordinary Poem without this:
But for the noblest Employment receiving from God, and
*aking Acknowledgement to him; is a Man fit for this, in the
Hurry of Business, and Confusion of Things? It is also
observed, that this Life of Privacy, and Retirement is either
the best, or the worst Life: For, in it, we do as God doth;
or we imitate the Devil. He who can be alone to his own
Content, in Measure and Degree, is as God is: For what

44 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
other Employment had God from Eternity, but satisfying
himself in his own Goodness? But as [this] may be the
&est; so it may be the worst Life: For a Man may be
employed in contriving Mischief as the Devil is, whose
Work is said to be to bring Men into Condemnation.
If therefore [we are] alone to ill Purposes and Designs;
then, Solitariness and Retirement do make the worst Life.
[But] if [Man] be retired and alone, and not intellectually
employed; then through Stupidity and Dulness, he sinks
down into the State of a Beast : For take it for a certain
Truth, to be Well and Unactive do not consist together,
No Man is well without Action; nothing is more irksome
than Idleness. A Man must use his Faculties, and put
himself upon Action. Therefore, if he be alone and unactive,
he cannot be well. In all honest Labour there is Satis-
faction; whereas Sluggishness and Neglect are unaccount-
able, and unsatisfactory.
The Mind diverted from God, wanders in Darkness and
Confusion: But being directed to him, soon finds its Way,
and doth receive from him in a Way that is abstracted
from the Noise of the World, and withdrawn from the Call
of the Body; having shut the Doors of our Senses, to
recommend ourselves to the Divine Light, which readily
enters into the Eye of the Mind that is prepar'd to receive
it. For there is Light enough of God in the World, if the
Eye of our Minds were but fitted to receive it, and let it in.
It is the Incapacity of the Subject, where God is not; for .
nothing in the World is more knowable than God. God
only is absent to them that are indisposed, and disaffected:
For a Man cannot open his Eye, nor lend his Ear, but
every thing will declare more or less of God. It is our
Fault that we are estranged from him: For God doth not
withdraw himself from us, unless we first leave him : The
Distance is occasioned through our unnatural Use of our
selves.
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 45
They who live the Life of Sense, are apt to be beaten off
from all Regard to God, by those Occurrences that dis-
compose their Minds. [But] they who are separated from
Body, who sit loose to earthly Things [which] obstruct the
Mind, do easily receive the Divine Light. Whereas those
that are in Prison in gross Bodies, need the Fire of Divine
Affection to quicken them. And this I understand in the
Language of the Scripture, to be Baptizing with Fire,
Mat. iii. 11. when Divine Affection burns up all contrary
Principles in the Soul, and brings the Soul into a Likeness
and Similitude to God. For, the Divine Light received
into the Mind, doth first irradiate and clear the Mind from
its gross and thick Darkness, whereby it was unexercised
and unemploy'd about God: And this is the first Work;
Mental I//umination; raising right AWotions of God, and
Things in our Minds; [scattering] the Mists of Darkness.
[Yet] Light alone works not a Change: But there must
be holy Affection. Knowledge is the first Step to Virtue 3/
But [Goodness] is not but by Delight and Choice.
It is a mighty unequal and unaccountable Distribution
of Time, for a Man to lay out himself for his Body; and to
neglect his Mind, to feed the Beast (for so the Body [is], in
respect of the Mind: [It] is but the Beast that carries the
Soul:) And this for these Reasons: Because the Mind is so
much annoyed and disturbed by Body: I speak not now
of the Body, As sinning and distemper’d: But in ordinary
L. Cases, take the Body in all its Advantages, ’tis an Incum-
brance to the Mind: For when the Mind raiseth itself to
Contemplation of immaterial Things; the Imagination doth
Suggest the Management of corporeal; which are things
of an inferior Nature. Bodily Sense reacheth but a little
Way, whether by the Eye, or by the Ear, or any other Sense.
That which is equal, just, [and] fit; [that] wherein we are
most concerned, in point of Goodness, Wisdom, and
Happiness; these are all imperceptible Notions to every

46 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Thing of Body. What is fit, what is just, what is equal,
what is good and excellent, what is reasonable: of these no
bodily Sense doth judge. And, yet, these are the Things
that we are most concern’d in, upon account of our
Happiness.
A Mind subdued and subordinate to God, in all its
Actions and Motions, is as the sublunary Bodies here
below, which are subject to the heavenly Bodies above;
as Wax under the Seal, or Clay in the Potter's Hand. The
Motion is a great deal more noble and generous, because it
is in a higher Order, by Illumination and Conviction, by
Perswasion and mental Satisfaction ; but it is not less
effectual to [its] Intent and Purpose. Religion puts the
Soul in a right Posture towards God; for we are thereby
renew’d in the Spirit of our Minds. The Soul of Man
to God is as the Flower to the Sun; it opens at its
Approach, and shuts when it withdraws. Religion in the
Mind is as a Biass upon the Spirit, inclines it in all its
Motions; tho’ sometimes it be jogg’d and interrupted, yet
it comes to itself. It is a Rule within, a Law written in
Man's Heart; it is the Government of his Spirit. We say,
Men shew their Spirit, by their Carriage, Behaviour and
Words; and it is true. The good Man is an Instrument in
Tune; Excite a good Man, give him an Occasion, you
shall have from him savoury Speeches out of his Mouth,
and good Actions in his Life. Religion contains and com-
prehends in it ăll good Qualities and Dispositions of Mind;
it doth take in all the Virtues that human Nature is capable
of, which are the Qualifications and Ornaments thereof,
and which are the Mind's Instruments for good Actions.
Religion is rational, accountable, and intelligible: The
Difference is not more sensible between a Man that is weak
and strong, a Man that is sick and in Health, [than between
a Man that is truly Religious, and one falsly so], You may
* observe it, if you put them upon Action. So, a Man that is
CHRISTIAN RELIGION 47
º
truly Religious, if you put him in Motion, he will acquit
and approve himself so: If he be false in his Religion,
you will see it by his Failing and Miscarriage of Life.
Such is the Christian Religion, in respect of the Nature
and Quality of it, all the Principles of it, all the Exercises
and Performances that it puts Men upon ; it is so sovereign
to Our Natures; so satisfactory to the Reason of our Minds;
So quieting unto, and of such Security against the Moles-
tations of our Consciences; so sanatory, so full for our
Recovery, that none who knows, or doth seriously consider,
Would chuse to have his Obligation to Religion either
released, cancell’d, or discharged.
To conclude, How inexcusable, how unaccountable are
they who have turn'd the Doctrine of the Gospel, or the
Grace of God into Lasciviousness; and to use St. Paul's
Phrase, have made void the Zaw through Faith. He repre-
Sents it as the most sad Miscarriage, to disoblige a Man
in Morals; to set a Man at Liberty [as] to those things that
are reasonable and necessary. For the Law of God's
Creation is no way damnified, but restor'd, and secured
by the Doctrine of the Gospel; yet these excuse themselves
from strict Morality, and conscientious Living, which the
better Sort of Heathens thought themselves obliged unto.
- We prejudice ourselves miserably by Mistakes. Some
think that the hellish State is the Product of Omnipotency
and Sovereignty, the Effect of God's Power; and they think
of God, that he useth his Creatures as he wil/; giving no
Account of any of his Matters to Principles of Reason and
Righteousness. But certainly the Ways of God are most
accountable of any thing, to Rules of Righteousness. These
are injurious Apprehensions of God, and dishonourable to
him; and are disclaimed by him every where in Scripture;
and God owns no such Power; neither doth he look upon
it as a Privilege; nor doth he clothe himself with such
a Prerogative. Here is the Truth of the Case: Misery
48 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
doth arise out of ourselves; and Misery and Iniquity have
the same Foundation. Hell (for the main of it) is our
Guiltiness and Conscience of it : So that a Sinner is in
a self-condemned State, without Relief. These two are
the Ingredients of the hellish State; Self-condemnation
from the Guilt of a Man's Conscience, that is not removed
by Repentance; and God’s Refusal upon a righteous Cause,
because the Sinner would not come within the Latitude
of a compassionate Case.


THE WORK OF REASON
Think on these Things.-PHILIP. iv. 8.
I HAVE treated (as you know) of the several Perfections
and Accomplishments that are charged upon us here by
the Apostle upon account of Religion, and have given you
an account what those things are that the Apostle doth
recommend, as the necessary Qualifications and due En-
dowments of a Christian Spirit.
In the first place we had, Whatsoever Things are true.
Religion requires Simplicity, Ingenuity, Sincerity, Integrity,
Uprightness in our Profession.
2. Whatsoever Things are grave, venerable, seemly, comely
honourable, unto the Person. Religion requires good Be-
haviour, fair Deportment of our selves, such demeanour
and carriage as may gain Reverence and Esteem, and bear,
off all Contempt and Disrespect.
3. Whatsoever things are just or equal. Religion holds
us to Rules of Right; and if Equity require that which
is better and exceeds Right, we are to do the thing that
is equal, to consider all compassionable Cases as God
does, to make allowance as far as Reason may require.
4. Whatsoever Things are pure or holy. A Person of
Religion is truly devout ; affected towards God, and the
things wherein he may observe him and shew his regard
towards him : He is no trifler nor dallier with God, nor f
a prophaner of holy Things. r
5. Whatsoever Things are lovely. A Person of Religion
is for the nobler and worthier part, in all competition of
Things and Actions.
CAMPAGNAc E
5o BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
{
6. Whatsoever Things are of good report. A Person of
Religion approves himself to all Rules and Laws of Reason
and of Righteousness ; is irreprovable in the judgment of
sober and impartial Men.
7. If there be any Virtue. Whatsoever Virtue there is,
in account, or esteem, amongst Men; A Person of Religion
is prepared to all good Offices, he is for all good Purposes,
he is a Person exercised in all the several Virtues and
Accomplishments of Humane Nature ; he is baptized into,
and sanctified by the Virtues, as the Moralist speaks.
8. And lastly, If there be any Praise. A Person of
Religion employs himself in things that are commendable
and praiseworthy. Of all these I have given you some
Account.
And now here, upon the whole Matter he doth enjoyn
them all together by superadding these Words, Think on
these Things. The English Translation abates of the
Emphasis that is in the Greek; for if you read them
according to the Greek, it is, In the use of your Reason
and Understanding think these things to be reasonable ; use
your own Faculties; use Mind and Understanding, and
you will be satisfied that all these things are worthy of you,
and becoming you ; they will be suitable to your Reason.
A Person of Religion is, First, all this in his Judgment
and internal Sense.
2dly, He is all this in his Temper, and the disposition
of his Mind, the settled complexion and constitution of
his Soul.
3dly. He is so in his Life and Practice, and in his
whole Conversation with Men ; he is not only so now
and then, and as we say, by fits and starts, on occasion,
when he is specially engaged; but the very Reason of his
Mind is reconciled to the Rule and measure of Things
and Actions. {
Now this is that which I am to recommend to you, not
THE WORK OF REASON 5 I
only that these things should have an Obligation upon you
at Some times, (for that is but dull), but that you should
be reconciled to all these things in the Reason of your
Minds, that these things should become natural to you,
a Frame and Temper, a Complexion and Constitution of
Soul. Apply these things to the Reason of your Minds,
and you cannot but be convinced of the reasonableness
of them ; for the Materials of Religion do exercise, teach,
and satisfie.
That which is the Height and Excellency of Humane
Nature, viz. our Reason, is not laid aside nor discharged,
much less is it confounded by any of the Materials of
Religion; but awakened, excited, employed, directed, and
improved by it: For the Mind and Understanding of Man,
is that Faculty, whereby Man is made capable of God,
and apprehensive of him, receptive from him, and able
to make returns upon him, and acknowledgments to him.
Bring that with you, or else you are not capable Receivers:
Unless you drink in these Moral Principles; unless you \
do receive them by Reason, the Reason of Things by the
Reason of your Mind, your Religion is but shallow and 2.
Superficial. For this you are to understand, that Man is
a Compound of different things, hath several sorts of
Faculties, above any Creature in this visible World. He
hath an immortal Spirit, as well as a bodily Substance:
And though the Spirit of Man in this State be joyned to
a Body, and made a Member of this material visible
World, yet it self doth belong to another Country. I say,
a Man is a Compound of different and several things; he
hath several sorts of Faculties, which we are wont in our
Philosophy to call his upper and his lower Powers; and
by these he doth converse with things of a very different
order. By the higher Powers, he is able to converse both
With God and things Spiritual and Coelestial; and by the
lower Powers, with Terrene and Earthy. As to Instance:
E 2
52 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
By Mind, and Understanding, and Will, he hath intercourse
and communion with God, and things invisible; and by
these he is fitted to the improving all the lower Objects
to Heavenly Ends and Purposes. But then, by Sense,
Imagination and bruitish Affection, we can only maintain
Acquaintance with this outward and lower World. But
by this Principle of Reason and Understanding, we are
made capable of Religion. So that Man's peculiar Object
and proper Business, is in things of the Mind; and there.
fore he ought to use those high Faculties of his Soul, to
enquire after God, and find out Truth, and the Reason of
Things ; and consequently after such enquiry, to determine
himself in his Resolution and Choice, to Things according
to their intrinsick worth and value.
Two things here I say. 1st, No Man is born to be idle
in the World: For tho' it is the privilege of some particular
persons, that they who were born before them have pro-
vided for all Comforts, Necessities, and Conveniences of
Life; so that they have enough to enjoy, with a Superfluity
and abundance: Yet this I will say of all Men, and
indifferently of all our Ancestors, that though they might
acquire Inheritances and worldly Conveniencies, yet they
could not acquire for, or leave to any of us, mental
Endowments, no habitual Dispositions: But in respect
of these 'tis true, that every body is Master of his own
Fortune under God; Every Man hath himself, as he useth
himself. He that by Motion upwards contemplates God,
converses with things Spiritual and Immaterial, he doth
fit himself more for attendance upon God, and converses
with Angels and separate Souls; but he that through
Bruitishness and Sensuality sinks into this lower World
and lives to grow less, he will finally shrivel up and come
to nothing.
Now here is that, which I recommend to you all ; Work
for the Mind; and this is that which is most peculiar and
THE WORK OF REASON 53
proper to Humane Nature. No one is born to this, more
than another: But if you will be intellectually improved,
if you will be refined in your Spirits, refined in your
Morals; if you will be more than the vulgus Hominum ;
you must set your selves in the ways of Reading, Medita-
tion and Conference, and Self-reflection, and awaken your
Intellectuals; or else you shall come to nothing. -
2. That which in the second place I superadd, is this :
That the first Operation in Religion, is Mental and Intel-
lectual, (viz.). Consideration, Discussion, Examination,
Self-reflection, approving the Reason of Things to the
Reason of our Minds as the proper. Rule. This is a
Notion worthy of your Consideration. In all Things of
Weight, in the great Points of Conscience, in the great
Materials of Religion, there is a Reason in the Things,
that doth enforce them, and enjoin them upon us, and
require them of us. As, if I be God's Creature, stand
in relation to him, am capable of him ; I am naturally
f and unavoidably under an obligation of Duty and Affection
| to him ; and I am bound to serve him, honour, and live
in regard of him. Here is the Reason of the Thing;
, And the Reason of your Mind is to find it out; which
t a Beast cannot do; therefore is uncapable of Religion.
But this is that which you are to do; and there is no
Religion but in this. I say, if so be a Man doth not
admit what he receives, with satisfaction to the Reason
of his Mind; he doth not receive it as an intelligent
* Agent, but he receives it as a Vessel receives Water; he/
is continens rather than recipiens. But this is the peculiarity)
of Humane Nature, that through the Reason of his Mind
he may come to understand the Reason of Things: And
this is that you are to do; and there is no coming to,
Religion but this way. Wherefore they begin at the wrong
* end, who do not set themselves at first thus to work ; and
50 are not at all likely to hold out, or go on; or if they
º
ſ


54 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
|
|
do continue to retain a certain Mode or way of Religion,
they are not likely to bring any thing in Religion to
perfection; For the Mind's Satisfaction and Resolution
is the first and principal : And if we leap over this, and
jump into a profession of Religion without this Considera-
tion, Discussion, Examination, Self-reflection, and approv-
ing the Reason of our Minds to the Reason of Things
as the proper Rule; we shall be ever lame in our way,
and slight in our business. We shall not build upon a
Rock ; we shall not lay a solid Foundation. Our Saviour
therefore bids us, before we engage to build a Tower, to
sit down, consider, and recount whether we shall be able
to finish it, Zuke 14, 26, to the 32. For, assure your
selves, whatsoever is rashly begun, it uncertainly goes On,
and foolishly deceives, either in Religion or any thing else.
Of all Impotencies in the World, Credulity in Religion
is the greatest. This Solomon hath observed, that simple,
weak, shallow Heads are foolish, and believe that which
any one saith ; sail with every Wind that blows. Prov. 14,
15. The Simple believeth every word; but the prudent
Man looketh well about him. When a Man hath made
a deliberate Act of Judgment in a Case, upon consideration
of Reason, Grounds and Principles; he hath always ever
after within him, whereby to encourage him to go on, and
answer all Objections as they shall arise. Whereas he
that begins not thus ; upon all contrary appearances, he
will be unsettled and unstable in all his ways: But the
Person of Examination and Consideration, that begins
upon Discussion, &c, and so comes to well-grounded
Resolution; he is encouraged from the memory of the
Motives that made him begin, the Motives that set him
at work; and the prospect of the End at which he did
aim, and which he did design, and which he hath also
constantly in his Eye. But he that begins inconsiderately,
he is so weak in his way, that there is little expectation
THE WORK OF REASON 55
of his holding out. And truly this is a just account of
all the shameful and horrid Apostacy of all formal Pro-
fessors; they did never weigh and examine, they did never
reconcile their Religion to the Reason of their Minds;
So that really they have but an external Denomination
from their Profession.
Man is not at all settled or confirmed in his Religion,
until his Religion is the self-same with the Reason of his
Mind; that when he thinks he speaks Reason, he speaks
Religion; or when he speaks religiously, he speaks
reasonably; and his Religion and Reason is mingled
together; they pass into one Principle; they are no more
two, but one : just as the light in the Air makes one
illuminated Sphere; so Reason and Religion in the Sub-
ject, are one Principle.
To hold this forth more fully, I will lay it out in four
Propositions.
Airst, It is Lowness and Imperfection in Religion, to
drudge in it; and every Man drudges in Religion, that
takes up Religion as a Task, carries it as a Burden; and
doth it, because he must do it, or because his Superiours
require it of him, or because time, and place, and custom
Calls for it; because the Day requires it, or because it
is such an Hour, because he is now up, or because he
must now go to bed. If this be the best Motive a Man
hath, his Religion is but a Burthen. But they who are
come to any growth in Religion, are free spirited in it,
and do it with inward Satisfaction, Pleasure and Content:
They harmonize with it: They understand it is in it self
best, and fit so to do; and that it is also good in it self,
and good for them ; worthy in respect of God, and be-
Coming them in the relation they stand in to him; tends
to their Perfection, and will bring them to Happiness.
A Man hath this at least by his Religion, that if by
accident he admits of Sin, he never does it with pleasure;


56 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
he doth not, like the Ox, drink Iniquity like Water, as
Eliphas elegantly expresses it; But this is his Temper,
and he hath Joseph's Resolution, How can / do this great
Wickedness and sin against God? I say again, he hath
this advantage by his Religion, that if by Temptation,
by Surprize, or violent Assault, he happens to admit any
evil, he doth it with displacency, he offends himself as
well as God: And he hath a Principle within him of Self-
recovery, ziz. that which St Pau/ speaks of Rom. 7, 23,
the Zazy of his Mind: So that, as Water, if it chance to
be sullied, hath in it a Principle to work the Dregs to the
bottom ; so will this Man by Repentance and Ingenuity
recover himself to his Innocency; And this is that which
our Saviour means by pure in Heart; and in this he hath
a convinced, satisfied Judgment, because he hath an in-
ternal Principle. The reason of his Mind is taught and
illuminated; he is in this condemned in his own Con-
science, and he will hasten to make his Peace with himself
as well as with God.
And indeed I tell you by the way, it is a harder matter
for a truly good Man, of honest Principles, to forgive
himself, than to obtain forgiveness of God; though I make
no question but that God, according to his Promise, doth
presently forgive every true Penitent, if he go to God
according to his direction.
I say in this case he is condemned of himself, and
therefore he will hasten to set all things right and streight
within himself, and be at peace with his own Mind; and
that is by revocation of what was done amiss; by depre-
cating God's Displeasure, by asking God forgiveness, by
crying him Mercy, by double Diligence and Watchfulness
and Resolution never to do the like again.
2 Secondly, The Seat of Religion is the inward Man; it
is first the sense of a Man's Soul, the Temper of his Mind,
\ the Pulse of his Heart. You have always in intellectual
\,
THE WORK OF REASON 57
Nature, the elicit Acts, as we call them ; that is, mental
and internal Acts; and they always precede and go before
| imperate Acts, that is, external Acts. The elicit Acts of
| the Mind, they are first. It lies first within the Mind;
after that, it doth appear externally, in Speeches, Gestures,
Actions, and the Effects of all good Self-government.
In rational and in all intellectual Nature, you have first
that which we call the speech of a Man's Mind with it
self; the Mind doth parly with it self, debates the thing
throughly ; then you have the Overt-Acts, and afterwards
you have the Mind's Sense put into Language. This is
the way of Operation in intellectual Natures, to speak
with our selves before we speak with others; and it doth
, not become us to make too much haste with the latter,
ſ before the former be over; it is just as Solomon hath
observed it, Eccl. Io, 14. The Fool is full of Words, but
the Wiseman is not so ; at least he thinks before he
Speaks.
} My Third Proposition is this, That in the state of
Religion, Spirituals and Naturals joyn and mingle in their
Subjects; so that if a Man be once in a true State of
; Religion, he cannot distinguish between Religion and the
Reason of his Mind; so that his Religion is the Reason
of his Mind, and the Reason of his Mind is his Religion,
l They are not two things now ; they do not go two several
Ways, but concur and agree; they both run into one
i Principle, they make one Spirit, make one Stream. Theº
* Effects and Products of his Reason and Religion are the
Same, in a Person that is truly religious; his Reason is
[ sanctified by his Religion, and his Religion helps and,
k makes use of his Reason: So that in the subject it is
! but one thing; you may call it, if you will, religious-
# Reason, and Reason made religious; they are not divided’
or separated; but the Union is more intimate and near,
as these Principles are more Immaterial and Spiritual;

58 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
whereas gross and material things keep at a distance,
because of the impossibility of penetration.
Fourthly and lastly. Religion doth us great Service,
great Pleasure both for Mind and Body.
1. For our Mind, immediately by its formal Presence
and Residence.
2. For our Body, by the good Consequences that follow
upon the Minds good Government.
In particular. Your Religion is the Mind's Health and
good Temper, and it doth help to conserve the Bodies
Strength: As for instance, Sobriety, Gentleness, Temperance,
Meekness, Modesty, Humility, which are the materials of
Religion; all these do spare and favour the Body: On
the contrary, Pride, Arrogance, Haughtiness, Presumption,
Fierceness, Intemperance, which are things contrary to
Religion, these waste and spoil the Body. Also Faith
and Affiance in God, Love of God, Goodness and Com-
placence with God, harmony with him, delight in him ;
these do maintain and keep up Mens Spirits; and you
know Mens Spirits do strongly resist all manner of Disease:
On the contrary, Male-content, Distrust, Despair, Diffidence,
Sowerness, Peevishness, Wrathfulness, Anger, Displeasure;
these do hurt our Minds, spoil all our Mettle, and abate
our Courage. Wherefore you see God hath given us
"Religion altogether for our advantage, not only for the
future Estate, but also for the present: The Souls Safety,
Sthe Bodies better Security.
To go on further: How doth Malice, Envy, and purpose
of Revenge, prey upon the Body, spend Mens Spirits?
whereas they who live in Love and Good-will, are of gentle
and quiet Spirits, they favour their Bodies; the Body is
wasted under the former, but bodily strength is maintained
under these. Psal. 55, 23, The bloody and deceitful Men
do not live out half their days. And it is observed by
Solomon, Prov. 3, 13. Happy is the man that findeſh
THE WORK OF REASON 59
Wisdom . Wisdom is Religion in his Sense. And verse 16,
Length of days are in her Right-hand, and in her Zeft-Hand
A'iches and Honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are Peace. Farther; in ways of Tem-
perance there is Health, Strength, and long Life: Whereas
the Licentious and Exorbitant Livers, they do load them-
selves with Distempers, and often die before the time.
Wherefore Solomon advises, Eccl. 7, 17. Be not over-much
wicked, neither be thou foolish; why shouldest thou die before
thy time / Wherefore you see Religion is good for the
Purposes of this Life, as well as for the State of Eternity.
- I hasten now to a Conclusion, and will conclude with a
double Exhortation.
- Ist. If you love your selves, either Bodies or Souls,
acquaint your selves with Religion.
2dly, if you would be religious, be intelligent and rational
in your Religion; or else your Religion may be only a
denomination, and not sovereign to you.
Ist. If you love your selves, either in respect of the
present or future State, acquaint your selves with Religion.
. 2dly. If you meddle with Religion, be intelligent and
} rational in your Religion; study Religion till the Reason
of your Minds receive Satisfaction ; for till then you
Cannot account it your own, neither call it your own ;
neither hath it security and settlement in its Subject.
And till this be, Men will not be friendly to their
Religion, they will not make it their Choice; but rather
# look upon it as their Exactor, their Tormentor, the Con-
| trouler of their Liberty: It will be a Taskmaster, they
will carry it as their Burthen, which a Man will throw off
as Soon as he hath opportunity. .
- Now I dare undertake to shew, that all true Reason
| is for Religion, and nothing of Truth against it; and this
I will shew thus. There are but two things that are
sincere and solid, real and substantial in the World, The

6o BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Reason of the Thing, for the Rule; and the Reason of the
Subject, for the discerning Faculty. Now the Reason of
the Thing, that is certainly for Religion; and the Reason
of the Thing is as infallible a Rule, and as certain as the
'Law of Heaven. For the Reason of the Thing, if it be
in Institutes, it is according to the Revelation of the
|Divine Will; and if it be in Necessaries, it is according
to the Nature of God himself. In things depending upon
Will and Pleasure revealed from God, it is according to
the Divine Will; In things that are in themselves necessary,
it is according to the nature of God. Therefore the
# Reason of the Thing, that is certainly for Religion. Now
the Reason of the Subject, either it is blind or byassed,
| prepossest or corrupted, if it be against it; that for certain.
|Now if it be so, here is our great Challenge; The Reason
of the Thing, That is made to our hands; the Use of our
iFaculties, that is to find it out. The Reason of the Thing,
it is a Rule to the Reason of the Subject; if it varies, it
is to be rectified, corrected by the Rule. The Reason of
the Thing is always for Religion ; if the Reason of the
iSubject is to comply with the Rule, then a Man's Reason
and his Religion will accord and meet. If we be in the
itrue use of Reason, we may see cause for what we do
in the way of Religion; but if we be ignorant, we are
| neither rational nor religious.
Where a Man hath not weighed and considered, searched
and examined, he is no body. If he be rational, then he
discerns the reason of the thing; and the reason of the
thing, if he comply with it, is Religion. Blind Presump-
tion and Suspicion, are very sorry things, and have no
place any where; for Prepossession and Anticipation shew
Men to be of a Party, but no true Discerners of Truth.
In the close of all, let me advise you to clear Under-
standing, true Perception, and right apprehensions of
Things, that you charge your selves with upon account
THE WORK OF REASON 6 I
of Religion: I would never advise a Man to be light of
Faith in matters of Religion, or to run away with Supposi-
tions, or dully to refer himself or compromise with any
Party; but so far as he thinks Religion concerns him, let
him take to himself leisure and opportunity; let him weigh
and consider, and let him use his Faculties, as he may do:
This is the direction in Religion; use your Reason so far
as you may have perception of these things, and such a
Sensation of them that you may receive satisfaction. If
you do not do so, really you do not come within the
compass of Religion. A Man may admit that which is
a true Principle upon account of Religion ; yet because
he doth not receive it upon account of its own Evidence,
Light and Truth, he doth not entertain that of Religion
as a point of Religion; but he believes it as he believes
a Story that he hears a Man tell, but never considers it .
whether it be true or false.
Religion is not a thing that can be made up of ignorant
Well-meanings, or of fond or slight Imaginations, credulous
Suspicion, or fond Conceit; such are the Suppositions of
all Superstition; But of deliberate Resolutions, and diligent
Searches into the Reason of Things, and into the rational
Sense of Holy Scripture.
We have cause to give God thanks, that so far as
Revelation is necessary to convey any thing by way of
Superaddition to the Light of God's Creation; to the
Principles whereof, God made us in the moment of his
Creation; God hath not left us to vain Supposition, nor
to the ungrounded guesses of fond Minds; but you have
it clearly plainly, fully, satisfactorily laid down in Holy
Scripture; so that Religion is the clearest and most self.
evident thing in the World; But if a Man do not enquire
into the Reason and Grounds of his perswasion; if he
gives himself up to drudge in the World, and refer himself
in his Religion to other Mens Sense, delivering himself


62 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
to a Party; I will assure him he is not religious, not
in that which he receives, though it may be materially
true in Religion: For he doth not receive it as becomes
a Disciple of Reason, much less of Religion; for it might
have been false, or the contrary, for any thing he knows ;
and for the selfsame Reason that he admitted this as
Truth, he might have admitted the contrary, if so be the
Party, with which he doth compromise, had offered it.
The truly religious are not idle Bodies, but they do
exercise themselves in the highest and noblest Employ-
ment; and their work is to affect the inward Man ; and
we are wont to say, that in competition the Body is
nothing, it is but the Souls Mansion-House ; every Man's
Mind is the Man.
I will conclude all in a few Words, to recommend
Religion to the reason of your Minds.
1st. It doth relieve us in the case of the greatest Evils
that we are in danger of ; and the greatest Evils we are
exposed to, are the guiltiness of our Consciences, and
malignity in our Minds.
2dly. Religion doth possess us of the truest inward
Good.
3dly. It restores us to the object of our Happiness, and
to our ultimate end.
First, Religion doth relieve us in respect of the greatest
inward Evils that we are liable to, viz. guiltiness in our
Conscience, and Malignity in our Minds ; which, if not
removed, we must of necessity be miserable, as a Man
must be miserable tho’ he lie upon a Bed of Down, if
he be sick and distempered, and cannot be cured of
internal Malady. Now these two are internal Evils, that
are greater than any other internal Evils in the World:
A wound in the Conscience, guiltiness in the Mind ; the
worm of Conscience, the sting of Sin; these two are the
Life of Hell. And then the other great Evil is Malignity,
THE WORK OF REASON 63
Rancour, Malice and Poyson in the Mind; And this marrs
our Natures, spoils our Dispositions and Tempers, and
puts us at a distance and abhorrence of God and Goodness,
and makes us harmonize with the Devil and Sin. Now
there is no way to be relieved in respect of these internal
Evils but in the way of Religion, and by the Blood of
sprinkling, for the cleansing our Consciences by way of
attonement, and by the Operation of the Spirit, for the
renewing, repairing and restoring our Natures : That's
the first.
Secondly. It possesses us of the truest inward Good, and
that in three Particulars.
I. Satisfaction to a Man's Mind; and content, all the
World will say, is one of the greatest Goods; What is
better to a Man, than his Mind's satisfaction P And in
the way of Religion, a Man's Mind is satisfied; for he
understands upon what Grounds and in what way; And
he sees before him, and knows what he is to trust to.
2. Religion is restaurative to the Nature of Man ; And
what is more to any Man than to be internally whole?
If a Man hath an internal Disease, an internal Wound,
Or any inward Ulcer in his Mind ; to restore him to perfect
health and strength, this is done in the way of Religion.
3. It is pacifying to a Man's Conscience: For what
is more dreadful than the Torments of a Man's own
Breast P When a Man's Heart akes, though he be ap-
plauded and adored by By-standers, yet his Heart akes
because of his Guilt; he finds internal Wounds. He
may fly from the World, but he cannot fly from himself;
The wicked flees when no Man pursues: And it is observed,
That Guilt in a Man's Breast, is a Prophet that foretells
future Evils; Art thou come to call my Sins to remembrance 2
But Innocency is stout, rises up in its own defense: But
When a Man is faulty, his Heart will not serve him.
Thirdly and lastly, Religion restores us to the Object


64 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
of our Happiness, to our ultimate End. So saith the
Psalmist, Psalm 17, 15. I will behold thy Face in Righteous-
ness: I shall be satisfied when Y awake with thy Zikeness.
We must be reconciled in Temper and Disposition, to
the Nature, Mind and Will of God, and the Law of
everlasting Goodness, Righteousness and Truth ; or else
it will come to what Solomon saith, Can two walk together
that are not agreed £
Thus have I given you an account of this full and
pregnant Scripture, that doth contract and epitomize our
Religion, comprehends the Moral part of Religion, that
which in part will make us like God; and if these things
be received into a Temper, Complexion and Constitution
of Soul, we shall become God-like, and partakers of the
very Nature of God.



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS APHORISMS
IF there be no Knowledge, there is no Beginning of
Religion; if there be no Goodness, there is no Sincerity
of Religion; but a Contradiction to it; by ‘holding the
|
y
Truth in Umrighteousness.’
A nowledge alone doth not amount to Virtue; but cer-
tainly there is no Virtue, without Knowledge. Knowledge
is the first Step to Virtue and Goodness: but Goodness
is not without Delight and Choice.
t It is the work and business of Religion, and of our
Lives, to Reconcile the Temper of our Spirits to the Rule
of Righteousness; and to incorporate the Principles of our
f Religion, into the Complexion of our Minds.
This is to be done, 1. By searching into the Nature
of Things, and the Reason of our Duty; that our Judgment
may be such, as to approve the Laws of our Religion:
2. By practising according to our right Apprehensions of
things; till it becomes easy and delightful to us: 3. By
Persisting in this Course all our days; ever designing and
meaning Righteousness; and ever retracting and correcting
i what is Unrighteous.
s Did Christians live according to their Religion; They
# would do nothing, but what Truth, Righteousness, and
| Goodness do; according to their Understanding, and
{ Ability: and then one man would be a God unto another.
! When the Principles of our Religion become the Temper
of our Spirits, then we are truly religious; and the only
Way to make them become so, is, to reason ourselves into
an Approbation of them : for nothing, which is the Reason
CAMPAGNAc F


66 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
| of Things, can be refused by the Reason of Man; when
understood.
| The Rule of Right is the Reason of Things; the
| Judgment of Right is the Reason of our Minds, perceiving
the Reason of things.
Men have an itch rather to make Religion, than to use
it: but we are to use our Religion; not to make it.
To use Power, to controul the Principles of Human
Nature; (the Use of Reason, the Exercise of Ziberty) is
as strange a Phaenomenon, as to cross or pervert the common
Course of Natural Agents; to bring the Sun back again,
or to make it fill the world with darkness. God does not
this : if he did, he would contest with himself; his Power
would rise-up against his Wisdom ; and he would disparage
and frustrate his own workmanship. Why should We think
to do that, which God will not do—to over-bear Aðeason
\ with Violence /
There is no solid Satisfaction; but in a mental Recon-
ciliation with the Nature of God, and the Law of righteous-
Y16SS.
He that never changed any of his opinions, never corrected
any of his Mistakes; and He, who was never wise enough,
to find out any mistakes in Himself; will not be charitable
enough, to excuse what he reckons mistakes in Others.
A man must cultivate his Mind, by enquiries after the
Measures and Reasons of his duty; by Reconciliation of
his Temper to those Measures, upon those Reasons: and
he must cultivate his Life, by acting according to the
Improvement of his Mind.
We are only so Free ; that Others may be free, as
well as We. -
Those that differ upon Reason, may come together by
Reason. - |
, Conscience, without Judgment, is Superstition; Judg
ment without Conscience, is Self-condemnation. . . .
e
t
$
&
y
APHORISMS 67
Every man is Born with the Faculty of Reason, and the
Faculty of Speech: but why should he be able to Speak,
before he has any thing to say? .
It is not to be expected, that another man should Think
as I would, to please me ; since I cannot think as I would,
to please myself; it is neither in His nor My power, to
think as we will; but as we see reason, and find cause.
To go against Reason, is to go against God: it is the self
Same thing, to do that which the Reason of the Case doth
require; and that which God Himself doth appoint:
Reason is the Divine Governor of Man's Life; it is the
Very Voice of God.
When the Doctrine of the Gospel becomes the Reason of
our Mind, it will be the Principle of our Life.
If Reason may not command, it will condemn.
Reason discovers what is Natural; and Reason receives | ‘. .
what is Supernatural. -
. Nothing is worse done than what is ill done for
Religion. That must not be done, in the Defence of
Religion, which is contrary to Religion.
I will not make a Religion for God: nor suffer any
to make a Religion for me.
Nothing spoils human Nature more than false Zeal.
The Good-nature of an Heathen is more God-like than the
furious Zeal of a Christian.
Our Fallibility and the Shortness of our Knowledge
should make us peaceable and gentle: because I may be
Mistaken, I must not be dogmatical and confident, peremp-
tory and imperious. I will not break the certain Laws
of Charity, for a doubtful Doctrine or of uncertain Truth.
Certainly our Saviour accepts of no other Separation
of His Church from the other part of the world than what
is made by Truth, Virtue, Innocency, and Holiness of Life.
- Religion itself is always the same; but Things about
£eligion are not always the same. These have not in them
Y-—
***** * *
)

F 2
68 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
the power or virtue of Religion, they are not of a sanctifying
nature; they do not purify our Minds, as the things of
a Moral nature do; so that Religion may stand without
them.
A Rule in Practice is a Notion incarnate, made like
to us.
Obligation to divine Truth is Religious Ziberty; Obliga-
tion to the contrary error is Superstitious Vassalage.
There cannot be Receiving Truth in Zove, where there
is not receiving it in Judgment.
Vice is contrary to the Nature of Man, as Man ; for it is
contrary to the order of Reason, the peculiar and highest
Principle in Man: nor is any thing in itself more unnatural
or of greater Deformity in the whole world than that
an Intelligent Agent should have the Truth of Things in
his Mind, and that it should not give Law and Rule to his
Temper, Life and Actions.
The first act of Religion is to Know what is True of
God; the second act is to Express it in our Lives.
The Moral part of Religion never alters. Moral Laws
are Laws of themselves, without Sanction by Will; and the
Necessity of them arises from the Things themselves. All
- º: things in Religion are in Order to These. The Moral
Part of Religion does sanctify the Soul; and is Final both
to what is Instrumental and Instituted.
Bypocrites, and men of carnal Spirits, desire Abatement in
Morals; though they Allow for it in Rituals.
Truth is connatural to a man's Soul; and, in Conjunction
with it, becomes the mind's Temper and Complexion and
Constitution.
j Religion doth not destroy Nature; but is built upon it.
. Religion in the Suðject is not a Notion; but the Frame
and Temper of our Minds, and the Rule of our Lives: a man
is not well settled in his Religion until it is become the
#
}
t
$
self-same with the Reason of his Mind. .*
APHORISMS 69
|
*
Truth, upon which the Universe depends.
Ignorance is no Principle of any Action. No Ignorance
can excuse Immorality, in any Instance whatsoever: but
invincible Ignorance doth excuse Inſidelity, in the chiefest
Point.
Ignorance of mere Institutes may be invincible: because \
Institutes must be declared, by some Instrument of God;
[by Revelation] whereof the party may have no notice: but,
in Morals, we are made to know and judge and determine;
and the light of God's Creation is sufficient thereto: So; .*
that here there is no invincible and consequently inculpable %
Ignorance.
It is the chiefest of Good Things for a Man to be
Himself.
The first operation of Truth, in any Subject, is upon the
Subject itself. , ſ ,
If you only say, you have a Revelation from God; I must aſ /.4 tº
have a Revelation from God too, before I can believe you : -----------~~~~
i
as St. Peter and Cornelius.
Heaven is first a Temper, and then a Place. v/
The longest Sword, the strongest Lungs, the most Voices,
are false measures of Zyuth.
Let all Uncertainties lie by themselves, in the catalogue
of Disputables; matters of farther inquiry: Let the Certains ...”
of Religion settle into Constitution; and issue in Life and 2 :
Practice.
Truth is first in Things, and then the Truth is in our
Onderstanding. Things give Zaw to Notion, and Appre-
hension. -
Morals are inforced by Scripture; but were before Scrip-N
ture: they were according-to the nature of God.
He that is full of him-self, goes out of company as wise as
2"
he came in.
Sin is an Attempt to controul the immutable and unalter-
able Laws of everlasting Righteousness, Goodness and


7o BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
} Fair construction and courteous Behaviour are the
greatest Charity.
There is nothing more Unnatural to Religion than
Contentions about it.
Things are greater than we, and will not comply with us;
l. who are less than Things, must Comply with them.
Reverence God in thyself: for God is more in the Mind
*: lº Man than in any part of this world besides; for we (and
A we only here) are made after the Image of God.
That Faith, which is not a Principle of Zife, is a Nullity
in Religion. -
That action is ill, wherein we lose our selves: and there
is no Recompense for the loss.
The Laws of God are not Impositions of Will or Power
and Pleasure; but the Resolutions of Truth, Reason and
& Justice. -
x. God is to us, according to our Capacity. Objects affect,
- as Suðjects are capable. º
| That is good, as a Means, which doth promote the End.
| There is the Religion of the Means; and there is the Religion
of the End. There is in Religion, what is Instrumental;
i and what is Final. * .
, Nothing without Reason is to be proposed; nothirg
against Reason is to be believed: Scripture is to be taken in
a rational sense.
Fallibility is a Reason for Modesty.
A great Faction is many Persons, yet but one Party;
and that is but one Opinion : such a Faction is but one
man, in point of Judgment: one free-spirited man is, in this
particular, equal to a whole Faction. - A ſº
* Ҽ.
*.x.
The Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Zord; Lighted º
by God, and Lighting us to God. Res illuminata, illumº
720, --~~~~~~~ *
The Sense of the Church is not a Rule ; but a t ing .
Ruled. The Church is bound unto Reason and Settp:




APHORISMS 71
ture, and governed by them, as much as any particular
3 Person. g
ſ Where there is a Principle of Mature, there will be
| Progress to Perfection; unless there be the Impediment
of Violence.
As great a mind as God hath to Convert Sinners, He
never did Force them ; but doth Persuade, and deal with
them according to the Principles of their Make.
To Zmpose what is Unreasonable is to Usurp upon the
Creation of God.
Our moral actions are the foundation of our future
Condition.
Nothing is more Spiritual than that which is Moral.
* He that believes what God saith, without Evidence that
| God says it, doth not believe God, while he believes the
Thing, which comes from God. \
Then you have hear'd a thing often enough, when what
you have heard is pass'd into a Principle, and makes a
Constitution of Mind, and is seen in Practice.
Determinations, beyond Scripture, have indeed enlarged
Faith; but lessened Charity, and multiplied Divisions.
Some are the worse for their Religion; but such Religion
is certainly bad. If this Notion be not understood and
admitted; “that Difference of Opinion, in some matters
about Religion, shou'd not make Difference in Affection;’
We shall All be the worse for our Religion.
Religion is not a Hear-say, a Presumption, a Supposition;
is not a customary Pretension and Profession; is not an
Affectation of any Mode; is not a Piety of particular
Fancy ; consisting in some pathetic Devotions, vehement
Expressions, bodily Severities, affected Anomalies and
Aversions from the innocent Usages of others: but con-
sisteth in a profound Humility, and an universal Charity.
... Several Forms of words in Scripture express the same
State, and so vary only the notion; and axérets differ not







72 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
materially; but in Substance are the same. To stand upon
nice and accurate Distinctions of them is needless; useless;
since Scripture uses them indifferently. [Regeneration &c.]
This is fit to be known ; to avoid troublesome multiplicity
in Religion, and the possessing the minds of men with
thoughts, that Religion is more intricate and voluminous
than indeed it is : whereas Truth lies in a little compass,
and narrow room. Vitals in Religion are Few.
It is not Moral/y good to forbear the Use, or abandon
the Possession, of what is Maturally good : Mortification
is not denying our Bodies; but denying our Lusts : Con-
tempt of the World is not Piety; but Contempt of those
that have the World, is Pride. And indeed, Pride and
Humility are not distinguished by Wealth and Poverty.
| As Sin is a Vitiating the Reason of Man ; the Restaura-
| tion must be by the Reason of God; by Christ, 6 Aóyos.
How much Easier is it quietly to enjoy, than eagerly
to contest How vastly wiser/
Allow for difference of Temper, before you consider the
Religion of the party. The activity of Choler shou'd not
have the esteem of Divine Zeal; the mild Sanguine com-
plexion shou'd not have the honor of Christian Meekness;
the black Melancholy shou’d not be condemned, for the
heart of Unbelief; the dullness of Phlegm shou'd not fall
under the censure of Dead-heartedness towards God.
It is a great Performance, Hoc agere; to mind and
attend-to what we are about: He, who hath not a certain
mark in his Eye, will shoot at Rovers. Anima, quae ubiqué
est, nullibi est: He, that thinks of every thing, thinks of
no thing. The most Buisy men make the least Riddance
of Work. It is not within our measure and proportion
to be good at every thing.
The Materiality of Vice is in the Complexion of the
Body; the Formality of Vice is in the Consent of the
Mind.
APHORISMS 73
*
\
|
|
|
|
SA
The self-same thing in man is the Matter of Virtue and
of Vice ; when the Consent of the Mind is the Form of
Vice, the Dissent of the Mind is the Form of Virtue; and
wice versa. There was in Man's Nature, at the Creation,
the Matter of Vice, as well as of Virtue ; the one cou’d
not have been, without the other: for the same thing is
the Matter of either. And as this was in Man, so it was
in the World: and the Matter of Evil is not Evil.
Conscience is God's Vice-gerent; 0eos évoukos the God,
dwelling within us. -
To lessen the number of things lawfull in themselves
brings the Consciences of men into Slavery, multiplies Sin
in the world, makes the way Narrower than God has made
it, occasions Differences among men, discourages Comers
to Religion, rebuilds the Partition-Wall, is an Usurpation
upon the Family of God, challenges successive Ages back-
Ward and forward, assigns New Boundaries in the world,
takes away the opportunity of Free-Will Offerings.
It is a thing of the greatest Importance, upon what
Authority we Believe.
Among Politicians the Esteem of Religion is profitable:
the Principles of it are troublesom.
Weigh every matter of Religion, till the mind receives
Satisfaction about it: God gives this Allowance; and will
Stay for Observance, in that particular, till it be done.
If you See not well, Hear the better; if you see not far,
hear the more: the Consequence of Truth is great; there-
fore the Judgment about it must not be negligent.
The state of Religion, in it's Subject, consists of three
parts; 1. the due Composure of the mind; it's calm and
quiet Temper, it's settlement in Peace through the estab-
lished Government of sober principles of Reason and
Understanding over Sense and brutish Affection. 2. an
universal Reconciliation with the whole Creation of God;
Particularly, a living in Concord and good Will with those





74 BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
e ſº A •e * •
º/
g
made in our Image and Likeness; a hearty and true
Endeavor to promote and advance the general good of
Mankind. 3. the Mind being united to God, by Faith
and good Affection.
In worldly and material things, what is Used is spent:
in intellectuals and spiritual things, what is not Used is
not Had. -
Men are in Thought and Apprehension such, as they
are in Temper and Affection.
It is a wonder, any shou'd think; That might be done
by Sacrifice, which cou’d not be done by mental Devotion.
Nothing in Sacrifice cou’d be acceptable to God, but the
meaning of the Sacrificer. -
God hath rejected His own Institutions; when they have
been made Final, put in competition with Morals, or made
compensations for Morals—Isa. i. 11–17. lxvi. 3. Mic. vi.
7, 8. Jer. vii. 4, 5. Amos v. 21. Isa. lxiv. 6. Rom. xii. I.
Eph. v. 27. Rev. xix. 8. I John iii. 7, 8, 9. Rom. viii. 2.
Institutes have their foundation in the Will of God; and
the matter of them is alterable : Morals have their founda-
tion in the Nature of God; and the matter of them is
necessary and unalterable. .
Take-away the Self-conceited; and there will be Elbow-
room in the world. The Lesson given by Wisdom is
Twóði oreautów, and none have learned it, but the Wise.
Platonists' principle of Creation, "Epos and IIevia the
Activity of divine Love; the Non-entity of all Creatures.
The grossest Errors are but Abuses of some noble
Truths.
Some run abroad, to fetch nothing home: some are so
ever a-doing, that nothing is done: some can not Do, for
want of Thinking; and can not Think, for Thinking.
Some speak, only because they will not hold their Tongue:
making Speech an End, not a Means. If we cannot Govern
our tongues, we may Imprison them. "Epkos Óðávrov.
APHORISMS 75
He, that neither knows himself, nor thinks he can learn
of others, is not Fit for Company.
No Sign can warrant our Belief, unless it be in con-
junction with a Doctrine worthy of God.
Enthusiastic Doctrines—good things strained out of their
Wits. Among Christians, those, that pretend to be Inspired,
seem to be Mad: among the Turks, those, that are Mad,
are thought to be Inspired.

**.
i
|
|













;
A
D / S. C. O Z) R. S. E
Concerning
The true WAY or METHoD
of attaining to
DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
Pſal. 3. Io.
The Fear of the Zord is the Beginning of ſºiſ.
dºme: a good Underſtanding have all they that doe
his Commandments.
John 7. 17.
Zf any man will doe his Will, he ſhall know of
the do&rine, whether it be of God———
Clem. Alexandr. Strom. 3.
IIós 3; irri Guyaróv, ºrtnºśvra. Tøy toº rºuaros
ºwº, #ouciózſa, ró Kupíº, hyvorºv šćew Osotſ; --
Osoſ; ): 'yvärly Aa3iv réis firl dro Tøy Taflºv
*Yºuévois, 3.9%aror——
N ºw A > < 2/ zºº N > z
N T2 ths, zºrias àºzē. zabes rows yokoras
Tº wroxás. &r, räy zapyrów to diveboy, oùx &ro Tây
*& kai reráxor, yopičeral. A yºri, cºw in roº
**p/row zai Tàs roxireias, oùx fix tº Aéyov zai toº
&%vs. -





A PRAEFATORY DISCOURSE
CONCERNING
THE TRUE WAY OR METHOD OF ATTAINING
TO
DIVINE KNOWLEDGE
Section I. That Divine things are to be understood rather
by a Spiritual Sensation then a Verbal Description, or
meer Speculation. Sin and Wickedness prejudicia/ to 7%ue
Anowledge. That Purity of Heart and Zife, as also an
Ingenuous Freedome of Judgment, are the best Grounds
and Preparations for the Entertainment of Truth.
Sect. II. An Objection against the Method of Knowing
laid down in the former Section, answered. That Men
generally, notwithstanding their Apostasie, are furnished
with the Radical Principles of True Knowledge. Men
want not so much Means of Knowing what they ought
to doe, as Wills to doe what they know. Practica/ Know-
'edge differs from all other Knowledge, and excells it.
Sect. III. Men may be consider'd in a Fourfold capacity
in order to the perception of Divine things. That the Best
and most excellent Knowledge of Divine things belongs
onely to the true and sober Christian ; and That it is
but in its infancy while he is in this Earthly Body.
SECTION I.
IT hath been long since well observed, That every Art
and Science hath some certain Principles upon which the
Whole Frame and Body of it must depend; and he that
Will fully acquaint himself with the Mysteries thereof, must
Come furnisht with some Praecognita or Tpoxiftlets, that
I may speak in the language of the Stoicks. Were I indeed

8o JOHN SMITH
to define Divinity, I should rather call it a Divine life,
then a Divine science; it being something rather to be
understood by a Spiritual sensation, then by any Verbal
description, as all things of Sense and Life are best known
by Sentient and Vital faculties; yuāorts &Káorrow 8. §potórmtos
yàeral, as the Greek Philosopher hath well observed, Every
thing is best known by that which bears a just resemblance
and analogie with it: and therefore the Scripture is wont
to set forth a Good life as the Prolepsis and Fundamental
principle of Divine Science; Wisdome hath built her an house,
and hewen out her seven pillars: But the fear of the Lord
is mºſ, nº's, the beginning of wisdome, the Foundation
of the whole fabrick.
We shall therefore, as a Prolegomenon or Preface to what
we shall afterward discourse upon the Heads of Divinity,
speake something of this True Method of Knowing, which
is not so much by Wotions as Actions; as Religion it self
consists not so much in Words as Things. They are not
alwaies the best skill'd in Divinity, that are the most studied
in those Pandects which it is sometimes digested into,
or that have erected the greatest Monopolies of Art and
Science. He that is most Practical in Divine things, hath
the purest and sincerest Knowledge of them, and not he
that is most Dogmatical. Divinity indeed is a true Efflux
from the Eternal light, which, like the Sun-beams, does not
only enlighten, but heat and enliven; and therefore our
Saviour hath in his Beatitudes connext Purity of heart with
the Beatifical Vision. And as the Eye cannot behold the Sun,
#Atoetēs pºlywópevos (Plotin. En, 1.6.9), unless it be Sunlike,
and hath the form and resemblance of the Sun drawn in it; SO
neither can the Soul of man behold God, 6eoetőspº, yuropévil,
unless it be Godlike, hath God formed in it, and be made
partaker of the Divine Nature. And the Apostle S. Paul,
when he would lay open the right way of attaining to
Divine Truth, he saith that Knowledge puffeth up, but it
...,.
ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 81
is Zove that edifieth. The knowledge of Divinity that
appears in Systems and Models is but a poor wan light,
but the powerful energy of Divine knowledge displaies it self
in purified Souls: here we shall finde the true reëſov
ãAmfletas, as the antient Philosophy speaks, the land of
i Truth.
To seek our Divinity meerly in Books and Writings --
is to seek the Ziving among the dead: we doe but in vain
Seek God many times in these, where his Truth too
often is not so much enshrin'd, as entomó'd: no ; intra te T
i
quare Deum, seek for God within thine own soul; he is
best discern'd voepá čirabſ, as Plotinus phraseth it, by an
Antellectual touch of him: we must see with our eyes, and
hear with our ears, and our hands must handle the word T.
of life, that I may express it in S. John's words. "Eart ka?
f livX's alo 6 morts ris, The Soul it self hath its sense, as well
| as the Body: and therefore David, when he would teach
- us how to know what the Divine Goodness is, calls not
| for Speculation but Sensation, Zast and see how good the -"
Lord is. That is not the best and truest knowledge of God
which is wrought out by the labour and sweat of the Brain,
| but that which is kindled within us by an heavenly warmth
in our Hearts. As in the natural Body it is the Heart
i that sends up good Blood and warm Spirits into the Head,
whereby it is best enabled to its several functions; so
i that which enables us to know and understand aright in
# the things of God, must be a living principle of Holiness
} Within us. When the Tree of Knowledge is not planted
f by the Tree of Life, and sucks not up sap from thence,
f it may be as well fruitful with evil as with good, and bring
| forth bitter fruit as well as sweet. If we would indeed have
º our Knowledge thrive and flourish, we must water the
}. tender plants of it with Holiness. When Zoroaster’s
} Scholars asked him what they should doe to get winged
Souls, such as might soar aloft in the bright beams of
CAMPAGNAc - G


82 JOHN SMITH
Divine Truth, he bids them bathe themselves in the zwaters
of Zife: they asking what they were ; he tells them, the four
Cardina/ Vertues, which are the four Rivers of Paradise.
/It is but a thin, aiery knowledge that is got by meet
Speculation, which is usher'd in by Syllogisms and Demon-
strations; but that which springs forth from true Goodness,
is 6evörepów TL Tráorms âtroëet{e0s, a.S Origen speaks, it brings
such a Divine light into the Soul, as is more clear and
convincing then any Demonstration. The reason why,
notwithstanding all our acute reasons and subtile disputes,
Truth prevails no more in the world, is, we so often disjoyn
Zºuth and true Goodness, which in themselves can never
be disunited; they grow both from the same Root, and
Slive in one another. We may, like those in Plato's deep
pit with their faces bended downwards, converse with
Sounds and Shadows; but not with the Zife and Substance of
Truth, while our Souls remain defiled with any vice or lusts.
These are the black Zethe-lake which drench the Soules
of men: he that wants true Vertue, in heavn's Logick is
blind, and cannot see afar off (2 Pet. I. 9). Those filthy mists
that arise from impure and terrene minds, like an Atmo.
$ffheare, perpetually encompass them, that they cannot see
that Sun of Divine Truth that shines about them, but never
shines into any unpurged Souls; the darkness comprehends
it not, the foolish man understands it not. All the Light
and Knowledge that may seem sometimes to rise up in
unhallowed mindes, is but like those fuliginous flames that
arise up from our culinary fire, that are soon quench'd
in their own smoak; or like those foolish fires that fetch
H
their birth from terrene exudations, that doe but hop up
and down, and flit to and fro upon the surface of this earth.
where they were first brought forth ; and serve not so much
to enlighten, as to delude us; nor to direct the wandring
traveller into his way, but to lead him farther out of it
While we lodge any filthy vice in us, this will be perpetually

ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 83
ºf . ,
3,
s.
#s
* *
§
is:
#s.
A.
twisting up it self into the thread of our finest-spun Specu-
lations; it will be continually climbing up into the rô
"Hyepovuków, the Hegemonical/ powers of the Soul, into the
bed of Reason, and defile it: like the wanton Ivie twisting
it self about the Oak, it will twine about our Judgments
and Understandings, till it hath suck'd out the Life and
Spirit of them. I cannot think such black oblivion should
possess the Mindes of some as to make them question that
Truth which to Good men shines as bright as the Sun
at noon-day, had they not foully defil'd their own Souls
with some hellish vice or other, how fairly soever it may be
they may dissemble it. There is a benumming Spirit,
a congealing Vapour that ariseth from Sin and Vice, that
will stupifie the senses of the Soul; as the Naturalists
Say there is from the Torpedo that smites the senses of those
that approach to it. This is that venemous Solanum, that
deadly Mightshade, that derives its cold poyson into the
Understandings of men.
Such as Men themselves are, such will God himself seem
to be. It is the Maxim of most wicked men, That the
Deity is some way or other like themselves: their Souls
doe more then whisper it, though their lips speak it not;
and though their tongues be silent, yet their lives cry it upon
the house-tops, and in the publick streets. That Idea
which men generally have of God is nothing else but the
Picture of their own Complexion: that Archetypall notion
of him which hath the supremacie in their mindes, is none
else but such an one as hath been shap'd out according
to some pattern of themselves; though they may so cloathe
and disguise this Idol of their own, when they carry it about
in a pompous Procession to expose it to the view of the
World, that it may seem very beautiful, and indeed any
thing else rather then what it is. Most men (though it
may be they themselves take no great notice of it) like that
dissembling Monk, doe aliter sentire in Scholis, altter in

G 2
84 JOHN SMITH
Musaeis, are of a different judgment in the Schools from
what they are in the retirements of their private closets.
There is a double head, as well as a double heart. Mens
corrupt hearts will not suffer their notions and conceptions
of divine things to be cast into that form that an higher
Reason, which may sometime work within them, would put
them into.
I would not be thought all this while to banish the belief
of all /nnaie motions of Divine Truth : but these are too
often smother'd, or tainted with a deep dye of mens filthy
lusts. It is but lux sepulta in opaci materia, light buried
and stifled in some dark body, from whence all those
colour'd, or rather discolour'd, notions and apprehensions of
divine things are begotten. Though these Common notions
may be very busie somtimes in the vegetation of divine
Knowledge; yet the corrupt vices of men may so clog,
disturb and overrule them, (as the Naturalists say this unruly
and masterless matter doth the natural forms in the forma-
tion of living creatures) that they may produce nothing
but Monsters miserably distorted and misshapen. This
kind of Science, as Plotinus speaks, tº i\lkó TroXX® ovvoi ga,
Kai eis airãv eigõečapévm, etőos érepov #AAdéato kpáoret ti
Tpós to xeipov, companying too familiary with Matter, and
receiving and imbibing it into it selfe, changeth its shape by
this incestuous mixture. At best, while any inward lust is
harboured in the minds of men, it will so weaken them,
that they can never bring forth any masculine or generous
knowledge; as Ælian observes of the Stork, that if the
Night-owſe chanceth to sit upon her eggs, they become
presently as it were iruvéua, and all incubation rendred
impotent and ineffectual. Sin and lust are alway of an
hungry nature, and suck up all those vital affections of mens
Souls which should feed and nourish their Understandings.
What are all our most sublime Speculations of the Deity,
that are not impregnated with true Goodness, but insipid .
|t


ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 85
things that have no tast nor life in them, that do but swell
like empty froath in the souls of men P. They doe not feed
mens souls, but onely puffe them up and fill them with
Pride, Arrogance and Contempt and Tyrannie towards those
that cannot well ken their subtile Curiosities: as those
Philosophers that Tully complains of in his times, qui disci-
Altnam suam ostentationem scientia, non legem vitae, putabant,
which made their knowledge onely matter of ostentation,
to venditate and set off themselves, but never caring to
Square and govern their lives by it. Such as these doe
but Spider-like take a great deal of pains to spin a worthless
Web out of their own bowels, which will not keep them
warm. These indeed are those silly Souls that are ever
!earning, but never come to the Ånowledge of the Truth.
They may, with Pharaoh's lean kine, eat up and devoure
all Tongues and Sciences, and yet when they have done,
still remain lean and ill-favour'd as they were at first. Jejune
and barren Speculations may be hovering and fluttering
up and down about Divinity, but they cannot settle or
fix themselves upon it: they unfold the Plicatures of Truth's
garment, but they cannot behold the lovely face of it.
There are hidden Mysteries in Divine Truth, wrapt up one
within another, which cannot be discern'd but onely by
divine Epoptists.
We must not think we have then attained to the right
*nowledge of Truth, when we have broke through the
*ward Shell of zwords and phrases that house it up ;
or when by a Zogical Analysis we have found out the
dependencies and coherencies of them one with another;
9r when, like stout champions of it, having well guarded
it with the invincible strength of our Demonstration, we
dare stand out in the face of the world, and challenge
the field of all those that would pretend to be our Rivalls.
- We have many Grave and Reverend Idolaters that
; Worship Truth onely in the Image of their own Wits; that
\
|

86 JOHN SMITH
could never adore it so much as they may seem to doe,
were it any thing else but such a Form of Belief as their
own wandring speculations had at last met together in,
were it not that they find their own image and superScription
upon it.
There is a knowing of the truth as it is in Jesus, as it
is in a Christ-like nature, as it is in that sweet, mild,
humble, and loving Spirit of Jesus, which spreads itself
like a Morning-Sun upon the Soules of good men, full of
light and life. It profits little to know Christ himself after
the flesh; but he gives his Spirit to good men, that searcheth
the deep things of God. There is an inward beauty, life
and loveliness in Divine Truth, which cannot be known
but onely then when it is digested into life and practice.
The Greek Philosopher could tell those high-soaring
Gnosticks that thought themselves no less then /ovis alies,
that could (as he speaks in the Comedy) depoſłateſv Kai
treptºpovéïv row #Atov, and cried out so much 3Aére trpós
tov Oeóv, look upon God, that àvev ćperms Oeos évopa pévov,
Without Vertue and real Goodness God is but a name, a dry
and empty Notion. The profane sort of men, like those
old Gentile Greeks, may make many ruptures in the walls
| of God's Temple, and break into the holy ground, but
yet may finde God no more there then they did.
Divine Truth is better understood, as it unfolds itself
in the purity of mens hearts and lives, then in all those
subtil Niceties into which curious Wits may lay it forth.
And therefore our Saviour, who is the great Master of
it, would not, while he was here on earth, draw it up ;
into any Systeme or Body, nor would his Disciples after
him; He would not lay it out to us in any Canons of
Articles of Belief, not being indeed so careful to stock
and enrich the World with Opinions and Notions, as with
true Piety, and a Godlike pattern of purity, as the best Way
to thrive in all spiritual understanding. His main scope
)



ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 87
was to promote an Holy life, as the best and most com-
pendious way to a right Belief. He hangs all true acquain-
tance with Divinity upon the doing Gods will, If any man
will doe his will, he sha/Z Know of the doctrine, whether
it be of God. This is that alone which will make us, as
S. Peter tells us, that we shall not be barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. There is an
inward sweetness and deliciousness in divine Truth, which
no sensual minde can tast or rellish: this is that puxukös
ãvijp, that natural man that savours not the things of God.
Corrupt passions and terrene affections are apt of their own
nature to disturb all serene thoughts, to precipitate our
Judgments, and warp our Understandings. It was a good
Maxime of the old Jewish Writers, sº asyn my sº wipm nin
tºyon the Holy Spirit dwells not in terrene and earthly
passions. Divinity is not so well perceiv'd by a subtile wit,
&otep aloffael kekaðappévu as by a purifted sense, as Plotinus
phraseth it.
Neither was the antient Philosophy unacquainted with
this Way and Method of attaining to the knowledge of
Divine things; and therefore Aristotle himself (Eth. Nic. l. 1)
thought a Young man unfit to meddle with the grave pre-
, Cepts of Morality, till the heat and violent precipitancy of
his youthful affections was cool'd and moderated. And it is
observed of Pythagoras, that he had several waies to try
the capacity of his Scholars, and to prove the sedateness
and Moral temper of their minds, before he would entrust
them with the sublimer Mysteries of his Philosophy. The
} Platonists were herein so wary and solicitous, that they
thought the Mindes of men could never be purg'd enough
from those earthly dregs of Sense and Passion, in which
they were so much steep'd, before they could be capable
of their divine Metaphysicks: and therefore they so much
* Solicite a xopiapôs àrà roi oróparos, as they are wont to
Phrase it, a separation from the Body, in all those that

88 JOHN SMITH
would kaffapós (buxooroºbeiv, as Socrates speaks, that is indeed,
sincerely understand Divine Truth; for that was the scope
of their Philosophy. This was also intimated by them
in their defining Philosophy to be pºexérm 6avárov a Medi-
tation of Death; aiming herein at onely a Moral way of
dying, by loosening the Soul from the Body and this
Sensitive life; which they thought was necessary to a right
Contemplation of Intelligible things: and therefore besides
those àpetai kaffaptukai by which the Souls of men were
to be separated from sensuality and purged from fleshly
filth, they devised a further way of Separation more accom-
modated to the condition of Philosophers, which was their
Mathemata, or Mathematical Contemplations, whereby the
Souls of men might farther shake off their dependency
upon Sense, and learn to go as it were alone, without
the crutch of any Sensible or Material thing to support
them; and so be a little inur’d, being once got up above
the Body, to converse freely with Immaterial natures, with-
out looking down again and falling back into Sense,
Besides many other waies they had, whereby to rise out
of this dark Body; &vaſ?dorets k too orirm Maſov, as they are
wont to call them, several steps and ascents out of this
miry cave of mortality, before they could set any sure
footing with their Intellectual part in the land of Light
and Immortal Being.
And thus we should pass from this Topick of our Discourse,
upon which we have dwelt too long already, but that before
we quite let it goe, I hope we may fairly make this use
of it farther (besides what we have openly driven at all
this while) which is, To learn not to devote or give up
our selves to any private Opinions or Dictates of men
in matters of Religion, nor too zealously to propugne the
Dogmata of any Sect. As we should not like rigid Cen:
surers arraign and condemn the Creeds of other men which
we comply not with, before a full and mature understanding


ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 89
y -
of them, ripened not onely by the natural sagacity of our
own Reasons, but by the benign influence of holy and
mortified Affection: so neither should we over-hastily credere
in ſidem alienam, subscribe to the Symbols and Articles
of other men. They are not alwaies the Best men that
blot most paper; Truth is not, I fear, so Voluminous,
nor Swells into such a mighty bulk as our Books doe.
Those mindes are not alwaies the most chast that are most
parturient with these learned Discourses, which too often
bear upon them a foule stain of their unlawfull propagation.
A bitter juice of corrupt affections may sometimes be
strain’d into the inke of our greatest Clerks, their Doctrines
may tast too sowre of the cask they come through. We
are not alwaies happy in meeting with that wholsome food
(as some are wont to call the Doctrinal-part of Religion)
which hath been dress'd out by the cleanest hands. Some
men have too bad hearts to have good heads: they cannot
be good at Theorie who have been so bad at the Practice,
as We may justly fear too many of those from whom we are
apt to take the Articles of our Belief have been. Whilst
We plead so much our right to the patrimony of our Fathers,
We may take too fast a possession of their Errors as well
as of their sober opinions. There are Zdola specus, Innate
Prejudices, and deceitfull Hypotheses, that many times
Wander up and down in the Mindes of good men, that may
fie out from them with their graver determinations. We
Can never be well assur’d what our Traditional Divinity is ;
nor can we securely enough addict our selves to any Sect
of men. That which was the Philosopher's motto, 'EAeë6epov
tival Se: tfi yuápm row pºéAAovra buxooroºbeiv, we may a little
enlarge, and so fit it for an ingenuous pursuer after divine
Truth: He that will finde Truth, must seek it with a free
Jºment, and a sanctified minde: he that thus seeks, shall
finde ; he shall live in Truth, and that shall live in him ;
* Shall be like a stream of living waters issuing out of

90 JOHN SMITH
his own Soule; he shall drink of the waters of his own
cisterne, and be satisfied; he shall every morning finde
this Heavenly Manna lying upon the top of his own Soule,
and be fed with it to eternal life; he will finde satisfaction
within, feeling himself in conjunction with Truth, though
all the World should dispute against him.
SECTION II.
AND thus I should again leave this Argument, but that
perhaps we may all this while have seemed to undermine
what we intend to build up. For if Divine Truth spring
onely up from the Root of true Goodness; how shall we
ever endeavour to be good, before we know what it is
to be so? or how shall we convince the gainsaying world
of Truth, unless we could also inspire Vertue into it? .
To both which we shall make this Reply, That there are
some Radical Principles of Knowledge that are so deeply
sunk into the Souls of men, as that the Impression cannot
easily be obliterated, though it may be much darkned.
Sensual baseness doth not so grosly sully and bemire the
Souls of all Wicked men at first, as to make them with
Aliagoras to deny the Deity, or with Protagoras to doubt
of, or with Diodorus to question the Immortality of Rational
Souls. Neither are the Common Principles of Vertue so
pull'd up by the roots in all, as to make them so dubious
in stating the bounds of Vertue and Vice as Epicurus was,
though he could not but sometime take notice of them.
Neither is the A’etentive power of Truth so weak and loose
in all Scepticks, as it was in him, who being well scourg'd
in the streets till the blood ran about him, question'd when
he came home, whether he had been beaten or not.
Arrianus hath well observed, That the Common Motions
of God and Vertue imprest upon the Souls of men, are
more clear and perspicuous then any else; and that if they
have not more certainty, yet have they more evideº,
A
º|

ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 91
and display themselves with less difficulty to our Reflexive
Faculty then any Geometrical Demonstrations: and these
are both availeable to prescribe out waies of Vertue to
mens own souls, and to force an acknowledgment of Truth
from those that oppose, when they are well guided by
a skilfull hand. Truth needs not any time flie from Reason,
there being an Eternal amitie between them. They are
onely some private Dogmata, that may well be suspected
as spurious and adulterate, that dare not abide the tryall
thereof. And this Reason is not every where so extinguish'd,
as that we may not by that enter into the Souls of men.
What the Magnetical virtue is in these earthly Bodies, that
Reason is in mens Mindes, which when it is put forth,
draws them one to another. Besides in wicked men there
are sometimes Distasts of Vice, and Flashes of love to
Vertue; which are the Motions which spring from a true
Intellect, and the faint struglings of an Higher life within
them, which they crucifie again by their wicked Sensuality.
As Truth doth not alwaies act in good men, so neither doth
Sense alwaies act in wicked men: they may sometimes
have their lucida intervalla, their sober fits; and a Divine
Spirit blowing and breathing upon them may then blow
up some live sparks of true Understanding within them;
though they may soon endeavour to quench them again,
and to rake them up in the ashes of their own earthly
thoughts.
All this, and more that might be said upon this Argument,
may serve to point out the Way of Vertue. We want
not so much Means of knowing what we ought to doe,
as Wills to doe that which we may know. But yet all that
Knowledge which is separated from an inward acquaintance
With Vertue and Goodness, is of a far different nature from
that which ariseth out of a true living sense of them, which
is the best discerner thereof, and by which alone we know
the true Perfection, Sweetness, Energie, and Loveliness

92 JOHN SMITH
M
of them, and all that which is otre fºrów, oùre yparróv, that
which can no more be known by a naked Demonstration,
then Colours can be perceived of a blinde man by any
Definition or Description which he can hear of them.
And further, the clearest and most distinct Notions
of Truth that shine in the Souls of the common sort of
men, may be extreamly clouded, if they be not accompanied
with that answerable practice that might preserve their
integrity: These tender Plants may soon be spoyl'd by
the continual droppings of our corrupt affections upon
them; they are but of a weak and feminine nature, and
so may be sooner deceived by that wily Serpent of Sen-
suality that harbours within us.
While the Soul is TAffpms toº orđpatos, full of the Body,
while we suffer those Motions and Common Principles of
Religion to lie asleep within us; that yeweavoupyös Siſwapus,
the power of an Animal life, will be apt to incorporate
and mingle it self with them ; and that Reason that is
within us, as Plotinus hath well express'd it, becomes more
and more otpºvros Kakaſs rais étuyvouévals 66éas, it will
be infected with those evil Opinions that arise from our
Corporeal life. The more deeply our Souls dive into our
Bodies, the more will Reason and Sensuality run one into
another, and make up a most dilute, unsavourie, and
muddie kinde of Knowledge. We must therefore en-
deavour more and more to withdraw our selves from these
Bodily things, to set our Souls as free as may be from
its miserable slavery to this base Flesh: we must shut
the Eyes of Sense, and open that brighter Eye of our
Understandings, that other Eye of the Soul, as the
Philosopher calls our Intellectual Faculty, àv čxel pºv tás,
xpóvrat 8° 3Åtyot, which indeed all have, but few make *.
of it. This is the way to see clearly; the light of the
Divine World will then begin to fall upon us, and those
sacred AAépapets, those pure Coruscations of Immortal and

ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 93
}
Ever-living Truth will shine out into us, and in Gods own
light shall we behold him. The fruit of this Knowledge
will be sweet to our tast, and pleasant to our palates,
Sweeter then the hony or the hony-comb. The Priests
of Mercury, as P/utarch tells us, in the eating of their holy
things, were wont to cry out y\vkö àAj6eta, Sweet is Truth.
But how sweet and delicious that Truth is which holy
and heaven-born Souls feed upon in their mysterious
converses with the Deity, who can tell but they that tast it?
When Reason once is raised by the mighty force of the
Divine Spirit into a converse with God, it is turn'd into
Sense: That which before was onely Faith well built upon
Sure Principles, (for such our Science may be) now becomes
Vision. We shall then converse with God tº vø, whereas
before we convers'd with him onely til 8tavotº, with our
Discursive faculty, as the Platonists were wont to distinguish.
Before we laid hold on him onely A6).9 &roëeukrukº, with
a strugling, Agonistical, and contentious Reason, hotly
combating with difficulties and sharp contests of divers
Opinions, and labouring in it self, in its deductions of
One thing from another; we shall then fasten our minds
upon him Aéye āropavrukº, with such a serene Under-
.Standing, ya)\ffvil voepá, such an Intellectual calmness and
Serenity as will present us with a blissful, steady, and
invariable sight of him.
SECTION III.
AND now if you please, setting aside the Epicurean herd
of Brutish men, who have drowned all their own sober Reason
in the deepest Zethe of Sensuality, we shall divide the rest
of Men into these Four ranks, according to that Method
which Simplicius upon Epictetus hath already laid out to
us, with a respect to a Fourfold kinde of Knowledge,
which we have all this while glanced at.
The First whereof is "Avôporos avpire$vppévos Tā yewéore,
t
}
\
\
\

94 JOHN SMITH
or, if you will, àvóporos 6 troXi's, that Complex and Multi-
farious man that is made up of Soul and Body, as it were
by a just equality and Arithmetical proportion of Parts
and Powers in each of them. The knowledge of these
men I should call épºvöpöv 86éav, in Plutarch's phrase;
a Knowledge wherein Sense and Reason are so twisted
up together, that it cannot easily be unravel’d, and laid
out into its first principles. Their highest Reason is
ôp.68očos taſs ato 6%reori, complying with their senses, and
both conspire together in vulgar opinion. To these that
Motto which the Stoicks have made for them may very well
agree, 8tos intóAmbus, their life being steer'd by nothing else
but Opinion and Imagination. Their higher notions of
God and Religion are so entangled with the Birdlime of
fleshly Passions and mundane Vanity, that they cannot
rise up above the surface of this dark earth, or easily
entertain any but earthly conceptions of heavenly things.
Such Souls as are here lodg’d, as Plato speaks, are &Two 60-
Bapels, heavy behinde, and are continually pressing down
to this world's centre: and though, like the Spider, they
may appear sometime moving up and down aloft in the
aire, yet they doe but sit in the loome, and move in that
web of their own gross fansies, which they fasten and
pin to some earthly thing or other.
The Second is "Avôporos kará ràv Aoyukºv Čorºv otoriopévos,
The man that looks at himself as being what he is rather
by his Soul then by his Body; that thinks not fit to view
his own face in any other Glass but that of Reason and
Understanding; that reckons upon his Soul as that which
was made to rule, his Body as that which was born to obey,
and like an handmaid perpetually to wait upon his higher
and nobler part. And in such an one the Communé"
notitia, or common Principles of Vertue and Goodness,
are more clear and steady. To such an one we may allow
tpaveotépav kai épºqaveorépav 86éav, more clear and distinct
ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 95
;
|
;
|
Opinions, as being already čv kaffdporet, in a Method or
course of Purgation, or at least fit to be initiated into the
Mysteria minora, the lesser Mysteries of Religion. For
though these Innate motions of Truth may be but poor,
empty, and hungry things of themselves, before they be
fed and fill'd with the practice of true Vertue; yet they
are capable of being impregnated, and exalted with the
Rules and Precepts of it. And therefore the Stoick
Suppos'd 6tt Towtºrº Tpoorákovortv aijówkai kai troXtrukai äperat,
that the doctrine of Political and Moral vertues was fit
to be delivered to such as these; and though they may
not be so well prepared for Divine Vertue (which is of
an higher Emanation) yet they are not immature for
Humane, as having the Seeds of it already within them-
Selves, which being water'd by answerable practice, may
Sprout up within them.
The Third is "Avôporos #3m keka9appévos, He whose
Soule is already purg’d by this lower sort of Vertue, and
S0 is continually flying off from the Body and Bodily
passion, and returning into himself. Such in S. Peter's
language are those who have escaped the pollutions which
are in the world through Just. To these we may attribute
a vóón étuarium, a lower degree of Science, their inward
Sense of Vertue and moral Goodness being far transcendent
to all meer Speculative opinions of it. But if this Know-
ledge settle here, it may be quickly apt to corrupt. Many
of our most refined Moralists may be, in a worst sense
then Plotinus means, TXmpo6évres tú avròv bögel, full with
their own pregnancy; their Souls may too much heave
and swell with the sense of their own Vertue and Know-
ledge: there may be an ill Ferment of Self-love lying at
the bottome, which may puffe it up the more with Pride,
Arrogance, and Self-conceit. These forces with which the
Divine bounty supplies us to keep a stronger guard against
the evil Spirit, may be abus’d by our own rebellious Pride,


96 JOHN SMITH
enticing of them from their allegiance to Heaven, to
strengthen it self in our Souls, and fortifie them against
Heaven: like that supercilious Stoick, who when he thought
his Minde well arm'd and appointed with Wisdome and
Vertue, cry’d out, Sapiens contendet cum ipso Jove de felicitate.
They may make an aiery heaven of these, and wall it about
with their own Self-flattery, and then sit in it as Gods,
as Cosroes the Persian king was sometime laughed at for
enshrining himself in a Temple of his own. And therefore
if this Ánowledge be not attended with Humility and a deep
sense of Selfpenury and Se/femptiness, we may easily fall
short of that True Knowledge of God which we seem
to aspire after. We may carry such an Image and Species
of our Selves constantly before us, as will make us lose
the clear sight of the Divinity, and be too apt to rest in
a meer Zogical life (it's Simplicius his expression) without
any true participation of the Divine life, if we doe not
(as many doe, if not all, who rise no higher) relapse and
slide back by vain-glory, popularity, or such like vices,
into some mundane and externall Vanity or other.
The Fourth is "Avôporos 6eopmtikós, The true Meta-
physical and Contemplative man, Ös rºv čavroſ, Aoyukºv Čov
itéptpéxov, ÖAos éivat 8otſ\etal rôv Kpeltrávov, who running
and shooting up above his own Zogical or Self-rational
life, pierceth into the Highest life: Such a one, who by
Oniversal Zove and Hody affection abstracting himself from
himselfe, endeavours the nearest Union with the Divine
Essence that may be, kévrpov kévrpº ovváilas, as Plotinuº
speaks; knitting his owne centre, if he have any, unto
the centre of Divine Being. To such an one the Platoniº
are wont to attribute 6eſav ćrtortiumv, a true Divine wisedomé,
powerfully displaying it self v voºpſ (off in an Intellectual
life, as they phrase it. Such a Knowledge they say is
alwaies pregnant with Divine Vertue, which ariseth out
of an happy Union of Souls with God, and is nothing
!

ATTAINING TO DIVINE KNOWLEDGE 97
§
s
. -,”
s
l
else but a living Imitation of a Godlike perfection drawn
out by a strong fervent love of it. This Divine Knowledge
KaNobs kai épao robs totel &c as Plotinus speaks; makes
us amorous of Divine beauty, beautifull and lovely; and
this Divine Zove and Purity reciprocally exalts Divine
Ænowledge ; both of them growing up together like that
"Epos and 'Avrépos that Pausanias sometimes speaks of
Though by the Platonists leave such a Zife and Knowledge
as this is, peculiarly belongs to the true and sober Christian
who lives in Him who is Ziſe it self, and is enlightned
by Him who is the Truth it self, and is made partaker
of the Divine Unction, and knoweth all things, as S. John
Speaks. This Life is nothing else but God's own breath
Within him, and an Infant-Christ (if I may use the
expression) formed in his Soul, who is in a sense ătrașyaopa
Tâs 86&ns, the shining forth of the Father's glory. But yet
We must not mistake, this Knowledge is but here in its
Infancy; there is an higher knowledge or an higher degree
of this knowledge that doth not, that cannot, descend upon
us in these earthly habitations. We cannot here see
m"No Ninºpepsi in Speculo lucido ; here we can see but
* a glass, and that darkly too. Our own Imaginative
Powers, which are perpetually attending the highest acts
of our Souls, will be breathing a grosse dew upon the pure
Glasse of our Understandings, and so Sully and besmear
it, that we cannot see the Image of the Divinity sincerely
in it. But yet this Knowledge being a true heavenly fire
kindled from God's own Altar, begets an undaunted Courage
in the Souls of Good men, and enables them to cast a holy
Scorn upon the poor petty trash of this Life in comparison
With Divine things, and to pitty those poor brutish Epicureans
that have nothing but the meer husks of fleshly pleasure
to feed themselves with. This Sight of God makes pious
Soulsbreath after that blessed time when Mortality shall be
*allowed up of Life, when they shall no more behold
CAMPAGNAc H






98 JOHN SMITH
the Divinity through those dark Mediums that eclipse the
blessed Sight of it.
The two discourses which follow next are entitled ‘ Of
Superstition' and “Of Atheism.” They are not unimpor-
tant, though tedious. Space could be found for them here
only at the sacrifice of passages which seem to be at once
more characteristic of the author and more interesting,
Smith's analysis of his arguments on these subjects is,
however, worth notice.
OF SUPERSTITION.
The true Motion of Superstition well express'd by Aetotbalpovía, i.e. an
over-timorous and dreadful apprehension of the Deity.
A false Opinion of the Deity the true Cause and Rise of Superstition.
Superstition is most incident to such as Converse not with the Goodness
of God, or are conscious to themselves of their own unlikeness to him.
Right apprehensions of God beget in man a Wobleness and Freedome of
Soul.
Superstition, though it looks upon God as an angry Deity, yet it counts
him easily pleas'd with flattering Worship.
Apprehensions of a Deity and Guilt meeting together are apt to excite
A'ear.
Hypocrites to spare their Sins seek out waies to compound with God. .
Servile and Superstitious Fear is encreased by Ignorance of the certain
Causes of Zerrible Effects in Nature, &c. as also by frightful
Apparitions of Ghosts and Spectres.
A further Consideration of Superstition as a Composition of Fear and
Alattery.
A fuller Definition of Superstition, according to the Sense of the Ancients.
Superstition doth not alwaies appear in the same Form, but passes from
one Form to another, and sometimes shrouds it self under Forms
seemingly Spiritual and more refined.
A SHORT DISCOURSE of ATHEISM.
That there is a near Affinity between Atheism and Superstition.
That Superstition doth not onely prepare the way for Atheism, but
£romotes and strengthens it.
Zhat Epicurism is but Atheism under a mask.
A Confutation of Epicurus his Master-motion, together with some other
pretences and Dogmata of his Sect.
* Z'he true knowledge of Mature is advantageous to Religion.
Zhat Superstition is more tolerable then Atheism.
That Atheism is both ignoble and uncomfortable. 9
What low and unworthy Motions the Epicureans had concerning Maº
Happiness; and What trouble they were put to How to define, and
Where to place true Happinesse. s g º º
A true belief of a Deity supports the Soul with a present Tranquiſ”
and future Hopes.
Were it not for a Deity, the World would be unhabitable.

-
w§
A Diſcourſe demonſtrating
T H E.
IMMORTALITY
O F
T H E S O U L.
Phocylides.
-A ºv ^ y A 3/ \ / …) 3 N.
Xawa yap fix yaing #xoptev, Kai Tøyre, is cºrhy
A / º / * N 9 3 N av f
Auguevol xévis a wºv' &mp 9 &va 7TVeupoo, 94%xrai.
Epicharmus apud Clem. Alex. Strom. 4.
3. \ av 2 / SN \ N
Eva's 3% vº zrepuxºs, où Tºols y &y où9ey Kazov ×ar-
{ ‘... 3/ N aw 9. / º 3. /
Q Vºy Cº, V&) T0 7TVeupta. toºpoevel 3CC,7" oupovoy.
º Plotin. Ennead. 4.1. 4. c. 45.
O &yoffs of 9;i &reiri, Kai yudaxe, rºw &riśval,
of awayan airá šaffévri oixáiv, kai sãºzis irriv,
&s were, Geów iroiro.
Hierocl. in Pythag. aur. carm.
3. / c \ º º N c aw A
O Sočaera 3 ×axes &#dyarov sival rºy tavroſ, boxºv.


$
A DISCOURSE OF THE
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
CHAPTER I.
The First and main Principles of Religion, viz. I. That God
is. 2. That God is a rewarder of them that seek him :
Wherein is included the Great Article of the Immortality of
the Soul. These two Principles acknowledged by religious
and serious persons in all Ages. 3. That God com-
municates himself to mankind by Christ. The Doctrine
of the Immortality of the Soul discoursed of in the first
Alace, and why Ž
HAVING finish'd our two short Discourses concerning
those two Anti-Deities, viz. Superstition and Atheism; we
shall now proceed to discourse more largely concerning the
maine Heads and Principles of Religion.
And here we are to take Notice of those two Cardinal
points which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews
makes the necessary Foundations of all Religion, viz.
Zhat God is, and That He is a rewarder of them that seek
*m. To which we should adde, The Immortality of the
£easonable Soul, but that that may seem included in the
former and indeed we can neither believe any Invisible
*ward of which he there speaks, without a Prolepsis of the
Soul's Immortality; neither can we entertain a serious
belief of that, but the notions of Poena and Praemium will
naturally follow from it; we never meet with any who were
PerSwaded of the former, that ever doubted of the latter :
and therefore the former two have been usually taken alone
for the First principles of Religion, and have been most
\



I O2 JOHN SMITH
insisted upon by the Platonists ; and accordingly a novel
Platonist writing a Summary of Plato's Divinity, intitles his
book, ZXe Deo et Immortalitate Animae. And also the
Stoical Philosophy requires a belief of these as the Pro-
leſses of all Religion, of the one whereof Epictetus' himself
assures us, torów Śrt to kvptºratov, &c. A now that the main
Foundation of Piety is this, to have Óp6&s intoxijipets right
opinions and apprehensions of God, viz. That he is, and that
he governs al/ things kaxós kai Šukatos. And the other is
sufficiently insinuated in that Cardinal distinction of their
tº èq, pºv, and tâ pº) éq, juiv, and is more fully express'd
by Simplicius. For however the Stoicks may seem to lay
some ground of suspicion, as if they were dubious in this
point, yet I think that which Tully and others deliver con-
cerning their opinion herein, may fully answer all scruples,
viz. That as they made certain Vicissitudes of Conflagrations
and Inundations whereby the World should perish in certain
periods of time; so they thought the Souls of men should
also be subject to these periodical revolutions; and therefore
though they were of themselves immortal, should in these
changes fall under the power of the common fate.
And indeed we scarce ever finde that any were deem'd
Religious, that did not own these two Fundamentals. For
the Sadducees, the Jewish Writers are wont commonly to
reckon them among the Epicureans, because though they
held a God, yet they denied the Immortality of mens Souls,
which the New Testament seems to include, if not especially
to aime at, in imputing to them a deniall of the Résurrect
tion; which is therefore more fully explained in the Acts',
where it is added that they held there was neither Angel hø/
Spirit. And these two Principles are chiefly aimed at in
those two Inscriptions upon the Temple at Delphos, the
one, EI, referring to God, by which Title those that came
in to worship were supposed to invoke him, acknowledging
* Cap. 38. * Chap. 23. 8.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 103
his Immutable and Eternal nature; the other, TNQ0I
XEAYTON, as the admonition of the Deity again to all his
worshippers, to take notice of the dignity and Immortality
of their own Souls, as Plutarch and Tu//y, as also C/emens
Alexandr expound them.
But if we will have the Fundamental Articles of Christian
Religion, we must adde to the former, The Communication
of God to Mankind through Christ; which last the Scripture
treats of at large, so far as concerns our practice, with that
plainness and simplicity, that I cannot but think, that
whosoever shall ingenuously and with humility of Spirit
addressing himself to God, converse therewith, will see the
bright beams of Divinity shining forth in it, and it may be
find the Text it self much plainer then all those Glosses
that have been put upon it; though it may be it is not so
clear in matters of Speculation, as some Magisterial men are
apt to think it is.
Now for these three Articles of Faith and Practice,
I think if we duly consider the Scriptures, or the Reason of
the thing it self, we shall easily find all Practical Religion
to be referr'd to them, and built upon them : The Nature
of God and of our own Immortal Souls both shew us what
Our Religion should be, and also the Necessity of it; and
the Doctrine of Free grace in Christ, the sweet and com-
fortable means of attaining to that perfection and Blessedness
which the other Belief teaches us to aime at.
In pursuing of these we shall first begin with 7%e
Immortality of the Soul, which if it be once cleared, we can
neither leave any room for Atheism (which those I doubt
are not ordinarily very free from that have gross material
notions of their own Souls) nor be wholly ignorant what
God is: for indeed the chief natural way whereby we can
climbe up to the understanding of the Deity is by a Con-
templation of our own Souls. We cannot think of him but
according to the measure and model of our own Intellect,

IO4 JOHN SMITH
or frame any other Idea of him then what the impressions
of our own Souls will permit us: and therefore the best
Philosophers have alwaies taught us to inquire for God
within our selves ; Reason in us, as Tully tells us, being
participata similitudo rationis internae : and accordingly
some good Expositours have interpreted that place in
S. John's Gospel chap. I. He is that true light which
enlightens every man that cometh into the world; which it
I were to gloss upon in the language of the Platonists,
I should doe it thus, Xóyos éori (bós Juxóv, the Eternal
Word is the light of Souls, which the Vulgar Latine referr'd
to in Signatum est supra nos /umen vultus tui, Domine', as
Aquinas observes. But we shall not search into the full
nature of the Soul, but rather make our inquiry into the
Immortality of it, and endeavour to demonstrate that.
CHAPTER II.
Some Considerations preparatory to the proof of the Soul's
Immortality.
BUT before we fall more closely upon this, viz. the
demonstrating the Soul's Immortality, we shall premise
three things. .
1. That the Immortality of the Soul doth not absolutely
need any Demonstration to clear it by, but might be assumed
rather as a Principle or Postulatum, seeing the motion of it is
apt naturally to insinuate it self into the belief of the most
vulgar sort of men. Mens understandings commonly lead
them as readily to believe that their Souls are Immortal, as
that they have any Existence at all. And though they be
not all so wise and Logical, as to distinguish aright between
their Souls and their Bodies, or tell what kind of thing that
is that they commonly call their Soul; yet they are strongly
inclined to believe that some part of them shall survive
* Psal. 4. 7.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 105
another, and that that Soul, which it may be they conceive
by a gross Phantasm, shall live, when the other more
visible part of them shall moulder into dust. And there-
fore all Mations have consented in this belief, which hath
almost been as vulgarly received as the belief of a Deity;
as a diligent converse with History will assure us, it having
been never so much questioned by the Idiotical sort of men,
as by some unskilful Philosophers, who have had Wit and
Fancy enough to raise doubts, like Evil Spirits, but not
Judgment enough to send them down again.
This Consensus Gentium Tully thinks enough to conclude
a Law and Maxim of Nature by, which though I should not
universally grant, seeing sometimes Errour and Superstition
may strongly plead this Argument; yet I think for those
things that are the matter of our first belief, that Notion
may not be refused. For we cannot easily conceive how
any Prime motion that hath no dependency on any other
antecedent to it, should be generally entertain'd; did not
the common dictate of Nature or Reason acting alike in all
men move them to conspire together in the embracing of
it, though they knew not one anothers minds. And this it
may be might first perswade Azerroes to think of a Common
Antellect, because of the uniform judgments of men in some
things. But indeed in those Notions which we may call
notiones oriae, there a communis motitia is not so free from
all suspicion; which may be cleared by taking an Instance
from our present Argument. The notion of the Immortality
of the Soul is such an one as is generally owned by all
those that yet are not able to collect it by a long Series and
Concatenation of sensible observations, and by a Logical
dependence of one thing upon another deduce it from
Sensible Experiments; a thing that it may be was scarce
ever done by the wisest Philosophers, but is rather believed
*... . with a kind of repugnancy to Sense, which shews all things
is to be mortal, and which would have been too apt to have


Ioé JOHN SMITH
deluded the ruder sort of men, did not a more powerful
impression upon their own Souls forcibly urge them to
believe their own Immortality. Though indeed if the
common notions of men were well examined, it may be
some common notion adherent to this of the Immortality
may be as generally received, which yet in it self is false;
and that by reason of a common prejudice which the
earthly and Sensual part of man will equally possesse all
men with, untill they come to be well acquainted with their
own Souls; as namely a notion of the Souls Materiality,
and it may be it's Traduction too, which seems to be as
generally received by the vulgar sort as the former. But
the reason of that is evident, for the Souls of men exercising
themselves first of all Kivijoret rpoSatukň, as the Greek
Philosopher expresseth, meerly by a Progressive kind of
motion, spending themselves about Bodily and Material
acts, and conversing onely with Sensible things; they are
apt to acquire such deep stamps of Material phantasms to
themselves, that they cannot imagine their own Being to be
any other then Material and Divisible, though of a fine
Aethereal nature: which kind of conceit, though it be
inconsistent with an Immortal and Incorruptible nature,
yet hath had too much prevalencie in Philosophers them:
selves, their Minds not being sufficiently abstracted while
they have contemplated the highest Being of all. And
some think Aristotle himself cannot be excused in this
point, who seems to have thought God himself to be
nothing else but péya Öov, as he styles him. But such
Common Notions as these are, arising from the deception*
and hallucinations of Sense, ought not to prejudice thos”
which not Sense, but some Higher power begets in all mem.
And so we have done with that. -
The second thing I should premise should be in placº
of a Postulatum to our following Demonstrations, or rath"
a Caution about them, which is, That, to a right conceiving
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL fo?
the force of any such Arguments as may prove the Souls
Immortality, there must be an antecedent Converse with our
own Souls. It is no hard matter to convince any one by
clear and evident principles, fetch'd from his own sense of
himself, who hath ever well meditated the Pozwers and
Operations of his own Soul, that it is Immaterial and
Immortal.
But those very Arguments that to such will be Demon-
Strative, to others will lose something of the strength of
Probability: For indeed it is not possible for us well to
know what our Souls are, but onely by their kuwijorets KukAwkai,
their Circular and Reſex motions, and Converse with them-
Selves, which onely can steal from them their own secrets.
All those Discourses which have been written of the Soul's
Heraldry, will not blazon it so well to us as it self will doe.
When we turn our own eyes in upon it, it will soon tell us
it's own royal pedigree and noble extraction, by those sacred
Hieroglyphicks which it bears upon it self. We shall
endeavour to interpret and unfold some of them in our
- following Discourse.
3. There is one thing more to be considered, which may
Serve as a common Basis or Principle to our following
Arguments; and it is this Hypothesis, That no Substantial
and Indivisible thing ever perisheth. And this Epicurus
and all of his Sect must needs grant, as indeed they doe,
and much more then it is lawful to plead for ; and therefore
they make this one of the first Principles of their Atheistical
Philosophy, Ex nihilo fieri nil, et in nihilum nil posse
*ēverti. But we shall here be content with that sober
Zhesis of Plato in his Timaeus, who attributes the Perpetua-
*on of all Substances to the Benignity and Liberality of
the Creatour, whom he therefore brings in thus speaking
to the Angels, those véot 6eot, as he calls them, pets oëk
tort 364varot oë8: àAvrol, &c. You are not of your selves
”ortal, nor indissoluble; but would relapse and slide back




Io8 JOHN SMITH
from that Being which Z have given you, should Y withdraw
the influence of my own power from you : but yet you shall
hold your Immortality by a Patent of meer grace from my
self. But to return, Plato held that the whole world, how-
soever it might meet with many Periodicall mutations,
should remain Eternally ; which I think our Christian
Divinity doth no where deny: and so Plotinus frames this
general Axiom, où8&v ék too &vros &moxetrat, that no Suðstance
sha/Z ever perish. And indeed if we collate all our own
Observations & Experience with such as the History of
former times hath delivered to us, we shall not find that
ever any substance was quite lost; but though this Proteus-
like Matter may perpetually change its shape, yet it will
constantly appear under one Form or another, what art
soever we use to destroy it: as it seems to have been set
forth in that old Gryphe or Riddle of the Peripatetick
School, Aelia Zaelta Crispis, nec mas, mec foemina, née
androgyna, mec casta, nec meretrix, mec pudica; sed omnia,
&c. as Fortunius Zicetus hath expounded it. Therefore it
was never doubted whether ever any piece of Substance was
lost, till of latter times some hot-brained Peripateticks, who
could not bring their fiery and subtile fancies to any cool
judgment, began rashly to determine that all Material
Forms (as they are pleas'd to call them) were lost. For
having once jumbled and crouded in a new kind of Being,
never anciently heard of, between the parts of a Con-
tradiction, that is Matter and Spirit, which they call
Material Forms, because they could not well tell whence
these new upstarts should arise, nor how to dispose of them
when Matter began to shift herself into some new garb,
they condemn'd them to utter destruction; and yet lest
they should seem too rudely to controul all Sense and
Reason, they found out this common tale which signifies
nothing, that these Substantial Forms were educed *
£otentia Materiae, whenever Matter began to appeare in

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 109
;:
any new disguise, and afterwards again returned in gremium
Materiae; and so they thought them not quite lost. But this
Curiosity consisting onely of words fortuitously packt up
together, being too subtile for any sober judgment to lay
hold upon, and which they themselves could never yet tell
how to define; we shall as Carelesly lay it aside, as they
boldly obtrude it upon us, and take the common distinction
of all Substantial/ Being for granted, viz. That it is either
Body, and so Divisible, and of three Dimensions ; or else it
is something which is not properly a Body or Matter, and
So hath no such Dimensions as that the Parts thereof
should be crouding for place, and justling one with another,
not being all able to couch together or run one into
another: and this is nothing else but what is commonly
called Spirit. Though yet we will not be too Critical in
depriving every thing which is not grosly corporeal of all
kind of Extension.
CHAPTER III.
The First Argument for the Immortality of the Soul. That
the Soul of man is not Corporeal. The gross absurdities
upon the Supposition that the Soul is a Complex of fluid
Atomes, or that it is made up by a fortuitous Concourse
of Atomes : zwhich is Epicurus his Motion concerning Body.
The Principles and Dogmata of the Epicurean Philosophy
in opposition to the Immaterial/ and Incorporeal nature
of the Soul, asserted by Lucretius; but discover'd to be false
and insufficient. That Motion cannot arise from Body or
Matter. Nor can the power of Sensation arise from
Matter: Much ſess can Reason. That al! Humane &nozº-
ledge hath not its rise from Sense. The proper function
of Sense, and that it is never deceived. An Addition of
Zhree Considerations for the enforcing of this first Azgu-
ment, and further clearing the Zmmateriality of the Soul.
That there is in man a Faculty which I. controlls Sense:
and 2. collects and unites all the Perceptions of our several
Senses. 3. That Memory and Prevision are not explicable
*Pon the supposition of Matter and Motion,

I IO JOHN SMITH
WE shall therefore now endeavour to prove That the
Soul of man is something really distinct from his Body,
of an Indivisible nature, and so cannot be divided into
such Parts as should flit one from another; and consequently
is apt of it's own Nature to remain to Eternity, and so
will doe, except the Decrees of Heaven should abandon
it from Being.
And first, we shall prove it aſ absurdo, and here doe
as the Mathematicians use to doe in such kind of Demon-
strations: we will suppose that if the Reasonable Soul
be not of such an Immaterial Nature, then it must be
a Body, and so suppose it to be made up as all Bodies
are: where because the Opinions of Philosophers differ,
we shall only take one, viz. that of Epicurus, which
supposeth it to be made up by a fortuitous Concourse of
Atomes; and in that demonstrate against all the rest: (for
indeed herein a particular Demonstration is an Universal,
as it is in all Mathematical Demonstrations of this kind.)
For if all that which is the Basis of our Reasons and
Understandings, which we here call the Substance of the
Soul, be nothing else but a meer Body, and therefore be
infinitely divisible, as all Bodies are ; it will be all one
in effect whatsoever notion we have of the generation or
production thereof. We may give it, if we please, finer
words, and use more demure and smooth language about
it then Epicurus did, as some that, lest they should speak
too rudely and rustically of it by calling it Matter, will
name it Efforescentia Materiae; and yet lest that should
not be enough, adde Aristotle's Quintessence to it too:
they will be so trim and courtly in defining of it, that
they will not call it by the name of Aer, Ignis, or Flamma,
as some of the ancient vulgar Philosophers did, but Fº
flammae; and yet the Epicurean Poet could use as much
Chymistry in exalting his fansy as these subtile Doctors
doe; and when he would dress out the Notion of it more


THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL III
gaudily, he resembles it to Flos Bacchi, and Spiritus
unguenti suavis. But when we have taken away this dis-
guise of wanton Wit, we shall find nothing better then
meer Body, which will be recoiling back perpetually into
it's own inert and sluggish Passiveness: though we may
think we have quicken'd it never so much by this subtile
artifice of Words and Phrases, a man's new-born Soul will
for all this be but little better then his Body; and, as that
is, be but a rasura corporis alieni, made up of some small
and thin shavings pared off from the Bodies of the Parents
by a continuall motion of the several parts of it; and must
afterwards receive its augmentation from that food and
nourishment which is taken in, as the Body doth. So
that the very Grass we walk over in the fields, the Dust
and Mire in the streets that we tread upon, may, according
to the true meaning of this dull Philosophy, after many
refinings, macerations and maturations, which Nature per-
forms by the help of Motion, spring up into so many Rational
Souls, and prove as wise as any Epicurean, and discourse
as subtily of what it once was, when it lay drooping in
a Sensless Passiveness. This conceit is so gross, that one
Would think it wanted nothing but that witty Sarcasm that
Putarch cast upon Nicocles the Epicurean, to confute it,
# Pºrmp drópous ãoxev čv airfi togačras, otal ovveX6oborat
oo:böv čv éyévvmorav.
But because the heavy minds of men are so frequently
sinking into this earthly fancy, we shall further search into
the entrails of this Philosophy; and see how like that is
to a Rational Soul, which it pretends to declare the pro-
duction of Zucretius first of all taking notice of the mighty
Swiftness and celerity of the Soul in all its operations, lest
his Matter should be too soon tired and not able to keep
Pace with it, he first casts the Atomes prepared for this
Purpose into such perfect Sphaerical and small figures as
* Lucret. lib. 3.

II 2 JOHN SMITH
might be most capable of these swift impressions; for so
he, Æð. 3.
At, quod mobile tantoffere est, constare rotundis
Perquam seminibus debet, perquamgue minutis,
Momine uti parvo possinſ impulsa moveri.
But here before we goe any further, we might inquire what
it should be that should move these sma/Z and insensible
Globes of Matter. For Epicurus his two Principles, which
he cals Plenum and Zname, will here by no means serve
our turn to find out Motion by. For though our communes
notitiae assure us that whereever there is a Multiplicity of
parts, (as there is in every Quantitative Being) there may
be a Variety of application in those parts one to another,
and so a Mobility; yet Motion it self will not so easily arise
out of a Plenum, though we allow it an empty Space and
room enough to play up and down in. For we may con-
ceive a Body, which is his Plenum, onely as trine dimensum,
being longum, latum et profundum, without attributing any
motion at all to it: and Aristotle in his De Caelo doubts
not herein to speak plainly, Ört ék too oróparos kivmorts oik
ëyyiveral, that Motion cannot arise from a Body. For indeed
this Power of motion must needs argue some Efficient cause,
as Tully hath well observed, if we suppose any Rest
antecedent; or if any Body be once moving, it must also
find some potent Efficient to stay it and settle it in Rest,
as Simplicius hath somewhere in his Comment upon
A pictetus wisely determin'd. So that if we will suppose
either Motion or Rest to be contein'd originally in the
nature of any Body; we must of necessity conclude some
potent Efficient to produce the contrary, or else attribute
this Power to Bodies themselves; which will at last grow
unbounded and infinite, and indeed altogether inconsistent
with the nature of a Body.
But yet though we should grant all this which Zucreţius
contends for, how shall we force up these particles of Małłęr

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 113
->
into any true and real Perceptions, and make them perceive
their own or others motions, which he calls Motus sensiferi P
For he having first laid down his Principles of all Being, as
he supposeth (neither is he willing to leave his Deities them-
Selves out of the number) he onely requires these Postulata
to unfold the nature of all by Concursus, motus, ordo,
£ositura, figurae. But how any such thing as sensation, or "
much lesse Reason, should spring out of this barren soil,
how well till'd soever, no composed mind can imagine.
For indeed that infinite variety which is in the Magnitude
of parts, their Positions, Figures and Motions, may easily,
and indeed must needs, produce an infinite variety of
Phaenomena, which the Epicurean philosophy calls Eventa.
And accordingly where there is a Sentient faculty, it may
receive the greatest variety of Impressions from them, by
which the Perceptions, which are the immediate result of
a Knowing faculty, will be distinguish'd : Yet cannot the
Power it self of Sensation arise from them, no more then
Vision can rise out of a Glasse, whereby it should be able
to perceive these Idola that paint themselves upon it,
though it were never so exactly polish'd, and they much
finer then they are or can be.
Neither can those small corpuscula, which in themselves
have no power of sense, ever produce it by any kind of
Concourse or Motion; for so a Cause might in its pro-
duction rise up above the height of its own nature and
virtue; which I think every calm contemplator of Truth,
Will judge impossible: for seeing whatsoever any Effect
hath, it must needs derive from its Causes, and can receive
no other tincture and impression then they can bestow
upon it; that Signature must first be in the Cause it self,
which is by it derived to the Effect. And therefore the
Wisest Philosophers amongst the Ancients universally con-
cluded that there was some higher Principle then meer
Lib. 1.
CAMPAGNAc I


II.4. JOHN SMITH
§
*
Matter, which was the Cause of all Life and Sense, and
that to be Immortal: as the Platonists, who thought this
reason sufficient to move them to assert a Mundane Soul.
And Aristotle, though he talks much of AWature, yet he
delivers his mind so cloudily, that all that he hath said
of it may passe with that which himself said of his Acroa-
fici Zibri, or Physicks, that they were čköeóopévot kai p'i
éköečopévot. Nor is it likely that he who was so little
satisfied with his own notion of Maſure as being the Cause
of a/Z Motion and Rest, as seemingly to desert it while
he placeth so many Intelligences about the Heavens,
could much please himself with such a gross conceit of
meer Matter, that that should be the true Moving and
Sentient Enſelech of some other Matter; as it is manifest
he did not. -
But indeed Lucretius himself, though he could in a jolly
fit of his over-flush'd and fiery fansy tell us (Zió. 1),
At ridere poſest non ex ridentibu’ factus,
At saffere, et doctis rationem reddere dictis,
AVon ex seminibus sapientibus, atque diserfis:
yet in more cool thoughts he found his own common
notions too sturdy to be so easily silenc'd ; and therefore
sets his wits a-work to find the most Quintessential particles
of Matter that may be, that might doe that feat, which
those smooth Spherical bodies, Calor, Aer and Ventus (for
all come into this composition) could not doe: and this
was of such a subtile and exalted nature, that his earthly
fansy could not comprehend it, and therefore he confesses
plainly he could not tell what name to give it, though
for want of a better he calls it Mobilem vim, as neither
his Master before him, who was pleased to compound the
Soul (as Plutarch" relates) of four ingredients, ék roto?
/ * / CN a /
Truptáčovs, ék trowod depºovs, ék trowoo trvevuarukoč, ćk retáprov
twos ékarovopºdorov 8 ºv airò alo.6mruków. But because this
* Lib. 4. de placitis Philosophorum.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 115
Giant-like Proteus found himself here bound with such
Strong cords, that notwithstanding all his struggling he
could by no means break them off from him, we shall relate
his own words the more largely. I find them lib. 3.
Sic calor, atque aer, et venti caeca potestas
Mista creamt unam naturam, et mobilis illa
Vis, initum motus abs se quae dividit ollis:
Sensifer unde orifur primum per viscera motus.
Mam penitus prorsum late; haec natura, suðestgue;
AVec magis hac infra guidyuam est in corpore nostro;
4tgue anima'st animae proporrö totius ipsa.
Quod genus in nostris membris et corpore toto
Mista latens animi vis est, animaegue potestas,
Corporibus quia de parvis paucisque creata est.
Sic tibi nominis haec expers vis, facta minutis
Corporibus, late:
Thus we see how he found himself overmaster'd with
difficulties, while he endeavoured to find the place of the
Sensitive powers in Matter: and yet this is the highest that
he dares aim at, namely to prove that Sensation might from
thence derive its Original, as stiffly opposing any Higher
Power of Reason; which we shall in lucro pomere against
another time.
But surely had not the Epicureans abandoned all Zogick.
together with some other Sciences (as Zully and Zaertius
tell us they did) they would here have found themselves
too much prest with this Argument, (which yet some will
think to be but levis armaturae in respect of some other)
and have found it as little short of a Demonstration to
Prove the Soules Immortality as the Platonists themselves
did: But herein how they dealt, ' Plotinus hath well
observed of them all who denied Lives and Souls to be
immortal, which he asserts, and make them nothing but
Bodies, that when they were pinch'd with the strength of
* Enn, 4. i. 7, c. 4.







I 2
II6 JOHN SMITH
any Argument fetch'd frü the pºorts 8paorróptos of the Soul,
it was usuall amongst them to call this Body Trvedpa trós
exov, or Ventus certo quodam modo se habens; to which
he well replies, ri to ToxvěpáAmtov airtois Trós exov, eis &
karaºpetºyovoruv čvaykačópevov tíðeoffat àAAmv Tapū to orópa
‘piſotv 8pao tºpwov. Where by this pſorts 8pao Tſipuos seems
to be nothing meant but that same thing which Zucrețius
called wim mobilem, and he would not allow it to be any
thing else but a Body, though what kind of Body he could
not tell: yet by it he understands not meerly an Active
power of motion, but a more subtile Energie, whereby the
force and nature of any motion is perceived and insinuated
by its own strength in the bodies moved; as if these sorry
Bodies by their impetuous justling together could awaken
one another out of their drowsie Lethargie, and make each
other hear their mutuall impetuous knocks: which is as
absurd as to think a Musical instrument should hear its
own sounds, and take pleasure in those harmonious aires
that are plai’d upon it. For that which we call Sensation,
is not the Motion or Impression which one Body makes
upon another, but a Recognition of that Motion; and there-
fore to attribute that to a Body, is to make a Body privy
to its own acts and passions, to act upon itself, and to have
a true and proper self feeling virtue; which 1 Porphyrie hath
elegantly expressed, draw to Öov airóðvura!, totkev # phy
ilvXà éppovia xoptoti čá čavrästäs xopöös kivočom ippoopévos' º
tfi 8& év Taºs xopóats àppovíg. áxoptotip to orópa, Zºº &
sensations of living creatures the Soul moves, as if unbodied
Harmony her self should play upon an Instrument, and
smartly touch the well-tuned strings: but the Body is like that
Æarmony which dwells inseparably in the strings themselves
which have no perception of it.
Thus we should now leave this Topick of our Demon-
stration, onely we shall adde this as an Appendix to it,
* In his Tract, 'Apopual mp3s td v morá.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 117
which will further manifest the Souls Incorporeal and
Immaterial nature, that is, That there is a Higher Principle
of knowledge in man then meer Sense, neither is that the
Sole Original of all that Science that breaks forth in the
minds of men; which yet Zucrețius maintains, as being
afraid lest he should be awaken'd out of this pleasant
dreame of his, should any Higher power rouse his sleepy
Soul: and therefore he thus layes down the opinion of
his Sect",
Invenies primis aſ sensibus esse creatam
AVotitiam veri, megue sensus posse refell: ;
Mam majore ſide debet reperirier illud,
Sponſe sua veris quod possit zincere falsa.
But yet this goodly Champion doth but lay siege to his
own Reason, and endeavour to storm the main fort thereof,
which but just before he defended against the Scepticks
who maintained that opinion, That nothing could be known ;
to which he having replied by that vulgar Argument, That
if nothing can be known, then neither doe we know this
That we know nothing; he pursues them more closely with
another, That neither could they know what it is to know,
or what it is to be ignorant,
Quaeram, quom in rebus veri nil widerit ante ;
Onde sciat, quid sit scire, et mescire vicissim :
AVotitiam veri quae res falsigue crearit.
But yet if our Senses were the omely Judges of things, this
*ºffew knowledge whereby we know what it is to know,
Would be as impossible as he makes it for Sense to have
Annate Ideas of its own, antecedent to those stamps which
the Radiations of external Objects imprint upon it. For
this knowledge must be antecedent to all that judgment
which we pass upon any Sensatum, seeing except we first
know what it is to know, we could not judge or determine
* Lib. 4.


II.8 JOHN SMITH
aright upon the approach of any of these Idola to our
Senses.
But our Author may perhaps yet seem to make a more
full confession for us in these two points.
First, That no sense can judge another's objects, nor
convince it of any mistake,
AVon possumí allos alii convincere sensus,
AVec forró poterunſ ipsi reprehendere sese.
If therefore there be any such thing within us as controlls
our Senses, as all know there is ; then must that be of an
Higher nature then our Senses are.
But secondly, he grants further, That all our Sensation
is nothing else but Perception, and therefore wheresoever
there is any hallucination, that must arise from something
else within us besides the power of sense,
quoniam pars horum maxima fallit
Propter opinatus animi, quos addimus ipsi,
Pro wisis ut sini, quae non sumſ sensiów’ zisa.
In which words he hath very happily lighted upon the
proper function of Sense, and the true reason of all those
mistakes which we call the Deceptions of Sense, which indeed
are not truely so, seeing they arise onely from a Higher
Faculty, and consist not in Sensation it self, but in those
deductions and Corollaries that our Judgments draw
from it.
We shall here therefore grant that which the Epicurean
philosophy, and the Peripatetick too, though not without
, much caution, pleads for universally, That our Senses are
* never deceived, whether they be sani or laesi, sound or
distempered, or whatsoever proportion or distance the
Object or medium bears to it: for if we well scan this
business, we shall find that nothing of Judgment belongs
to Sense, it consisting onely āv aiorónrmpite tréðel, in Per-
ception; neither can it make any just observation of those
Objects that are without, but onely discerns its own

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 119
} passions, and is nothing else but yuá)orts tºw trafföv, and
tells how it finds it self affected, and not what is the true
cause of those impressions which it finds within it self;
(which seems to be the reason of that old Philosophical
maxim recited by Aristotle Z. 3. de Anima, cap. 2. oëre pºéAay
- etvai dvev Šileos, où8éxupèv čvev yeſoreos, that these Simulachra
} were onely in our Senses; which notion a late Author hath
- pursued :) and therefore when the Eye finds the Sun's
circle represented within it self of no greater a bigness
| then a foot-diameter, it is not at all herein mistaken; nor
a distempered Palate, when it tasts a bitterness in the
Sweetest honey, as Proclus a famous Mathematician and
f Platonist hath well determined, in Plat. Tim. ai yüp alo.6%.
orets to Čavröv drayyáA\ovoſt tróðmua, Kai oi Távrm leiſbovtat,
The Senses in all things of this nature doe but declare
their own passions or perceptions, which are alwaies such
| as they seem to be, whether there be any such parallelum
. signaculum in the Object as bears a true analogie with
| them or not ; and therefore in truth they are never deceived
| in the execution of their own functions. And so doth
f Aristotle I. 3 de Anima, c. 3. conclude, That errour is neither-
. in Sense nor Phansy, où8evi inrápxet & pil kai Aóyos, it is
in no Facultie but onely that in which is Reason. Though,
it be as true on the other side, that Epicurus and all his
Sect were deceived, while they judged the Sun and Moon
and all the Starrs to be no bigger then that Picture and
Image which they found of them in their own Eyes; for
which silly conceit though they had been for many Ages
Sufficiently laugh’d at by wise men, yet could not Zucreţius
tell how to enlarge his own fancy, but believes the Idolum
in his own Visive organ to be adequate to the Sun it self,
in despight of all Mathematicall demonstration; as indeed
he must needs, if there were no Higher principle of know-
ledge then Sense is, which is the most indisciplinable thing
that may be, and can never be taught that Truth which






I 2 O JOHN SMITH
Reason and Understanding might attempt to force into it.
algºma is kāv puptákis droën to? Aéyov Aéyovros &rt petſov
ô #Atos tºs yńs, &c. Though Reason inculcates this notion
ten thousand times over, That the Sun is bigger then the
Farth, yet will not the Eye be taught to see if any bigger then
a foot breadth ; and therefore he rightly calls it, as all the
Platonical and Stoical philosophie doth, &Aoyév tº, and it
may well be put among the rest of the Stoicks &Aoya tráðm.
Thus I hope by this time we have found out kpeſtrová
Tuva tºs aiorðjoreos öðvapuv, some more noble Pozwer in the
Soul then that is by which it accommodates it self to
the Body, and according to the measure and proportion
thereof converseth with External Matter. And this is the
true reason why we are so apt to be mistaken in Sensible
objects, because our Souls sucking in the knowledge of
external things thereby, and not minding the proportion
that is between the Body and them, mindless of its own
notions, collates their corporeal impressions with externall
objects themselves, and judgeth of them one by another.
But whensoever our Souls act in their own power and
strength, untwisting themselves from all corporeal com-
plications, they then can find confidence enough to judge
of things in a seeming contradiction to all those other
wisa corporea.
And so I suppose this Argument will amount to no
lesse then a Demonstration of the Soul's Immateriality,
seeing to all sincere understanding it is necessary that it
should thus abstract it self from all corporeal commerce,
and return from thence nearer into it self.
Now what we have to this purpose more generally in-
timated, we shall further branch out in these two or three
Particulars. -
y' First, That that Mental faculty and power whereby we
Ajudge and discern things, is so far from being a Body, that
it must retract and withdraw it self from all Bodily operation
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL I 2 I
whensoever it will nakedly discern Truth. For should our
Souls alwaies mould their judgment of things according
to those traffijuara and impressions which seem to be framed
thereof in the Body, they must then doe nothing else but
chain up Errours and Delusions one with another in stead
of Truth: as should the judgments of our Understandings
wholly depend upon the sight of our Eyes, we should then
conclude that our meer accesses and recesses from any
Visible Object have such a Magical power to change the
magnitudes of Visible Objects, and to transform them into
all varieties of figures and fashions; and so attribute all
that variety to them which we find in our corporeal
perceptions. Or should we judge of Gustables by our Tast,
we should attribute to one and the self-same thing all that
variety weh we find in our own Palates. Which is an
unquestionable Argument That that Pozwer whereby we
discern of things and make judgments of them different
and sometimes contrary to those perceptions that are the
necessary results of all Organical functions, is something
distinct from the Body; and therefore though the Soul,
as Plato hath well observed, be pepworth trept to orépara,
various and divisible accidentally in these Sensations and
Motions wherein it extends and spreads it self as it were
upon the Body, and so according to the nature and
measure thereof perceives its impressions; yet it is év čavri)
ãpeptorm indivisible, returning into it self. Whensoever
it will speculate Truth it self, it will not then listen to
the several clamours and votes of these rude Senses which
alwaies speak with divided tongues; but it consults some
clearer Oracle within it self: and therefore Plotinus, Emm. 4.
l. 3. hath well concluded concerning the Body, Śpiróðtov
toūro, el tis airá, év rais oké!eat ºrpooxpºro, should a man
make use of his Body in his Speculations, it will entangle
his mind with so many contradictions, that it will be
impossible to attain to any true knowledge of things.

I 2.2 JOHN SMITH
We shall conclude this therefore, as Tully doth his Con-
templation of the Soules operations about the frame of
Nature, the fabrick of the Heavens and motions of the
Stars, Animus qui haec intelligit, similis est ejus qui ea
fabricaſus in coe/o est.
Secondly, We also find such a Faculty within our own
Souls as collects and unites all the Perceptions of our several
Senses, and is able to compare them together; something in
which they all meet as in one Centre: which "Plotinus hath
well expressed, §eſ toūro àotep kévrpov etvar Ypappas &
ovXXagoſoras K repubepeias Kūk\ov, tas travtax66ev aiotăgels
Tpös toūro repaivetv, Kai rotoirov to dwrixapſ3avópevov etvai &
övros, That in which all those several Sensations meet as S0
many Zines drawn from several points in the Circumference,
and which comprehends them all, must needs be One. For
should that be various and consisting of several parts, which
thus receives all these various impressions, then must the
sentence and judgment passed upon them be various too.
Aristotle in his de Anima, Aeſ to v Aéyetv 6,ti repov, That
must be one that judgeth things to be diverse; and that must
judge too €v dxoptotº xpóvº, setting all before it at once.
Besides we could not conceive how such an immense
variety of impressions could be made upon any piece of
Matter, which should not obliterate and deface one another.
And therefore Plotimus hath well disputed against them
who make all Sensation Turócrets kai évadpaylores év livXī
which brings me to the Third.
Thirdly, That Knowledge which the Soul retains in it
self of things past, and in some sort Prevision of things tº
come, whereby many grow so sagacious in fore-seeing future
Events, that they know how to deliberate and dispose of
present affairs, so as to be ready furnished and prepared for
such Emergencies as they see in a train and Series 0
Causes which sometimes work but contingently: I cannot
* Enn. 4. l. 7. c. 6.
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 123
think Epicurus himself could in his cool thoughts be so
unreasonable as to perswade himself, that all the shuffling
and cutting of Atomes could produce such a Divine piece
of Wisdome as this is. What Matter can thus bind up Past,
Present and Future time together? which while the Soul
of man doth, it seems to imitate (as far as its own finite
nature will permit it to strive after an imitation of) God's
eternity: and grasping and gathering together a long Series
of duration into it self, makes an essay to free it self from
the rigid laws of it, and to purchase to it self the freedome
of a true Eternity. And as by its xpovukoi Tpóoôot (as the
Platonists are wont to speak) its Chronical and successive
Operations, it unravels and unfolds the contexture of its own
indefinite intellectual powers by degrees; so by this
AMemory and Prevision it recollects and twists them up all
together again into it self. And though it seems to be
Continually sliding from it self in those several vicissitudes
and changes which it runs through in the constant variety
of its own Effluxes and Emanations; yet is it alwaies
returning back again to its first Original by a swift
remembrance of all those motions and multiplicity of
Operations which have begot in it the first sense of this
Constant flux. As if we should see a Sun-beam perpetually
flowing forth from the bright body of the Sun, and yet ever
returning back to it again; it never loseth any part of its
Being, because it never forgets what it self was ; and though
it may number out never so vast a length of its duration,
Yet it never comes nearer to its old age, but carrieth a lively
Sense of its youth and infancy, which it can at pleasure lay
a fast hold on, along with it. -
But if our Souls were nothing else but a Complex of ſluid
4tomes, how should we be continually roving and sliding
from our selves, and soon forget what we once were P The
* Matter that would come in to fill up that Vacuity
which the Old had made by its departure, would never




I 24 JOHN SMITH
know what the Old were, nor what that should be that
would succeed that : Öotep Šēvm livXà airm év dyvota total,
6v répa otöe, Kai čo Trep 6 &AXos &ykos juāv, that new
pilgrim and stranger-like Soul would alwaies be ignorant
of what the other before it knew, and we should be wholly
some other bulk of Being then zwe were before, as Plotinus
hath excellently observed Enn. 4. / 7. c. 5. It was a famous
speech of wise Heraclitus, eis Töv airów Trorapov 8ts oik &v
ép/8atms, a man cannot enter twice into the same River: by
which he was wont symbolically to express the constant flux
of Maſter, which is the most unstable thing that may be,
And if Epicurus his Philosophy could free this Heap of
refined Atomes, which it makes the Soul to be, from this
inconstant and flitting nature, and teach us how it could be
pévipºv tu some stable and immutable thing, alwaies resting
entire while it is in the Body; though we would thank him
for such a goodly conceit as this is, yet we would make no
doubt but it might as well be able to preserve it self from
dissolution and dissipation out of this gross Body, as in it:
seeing it is no more secured from the constant impulses
of that more gross Matter which is restlesly moving up and
down in the Body, then it is out of it: and yet for all that
we should take the leave to ask Tully's question with his
sober disdain, Quid, obsecro, terráne tibi auf hoc nebuloso
et caliginoso coeno auf sata auf concreta widefur fanta wis
memoriae º Such a jewel as this is too precious to be found
in a dunghill: meer Matter could never thus stretch forth
its feeble force, and spread it self over all its own former
praeexistencies. We may as well suppose this dull and
heavy Earth we tread upon to know how long it hath dwelt
in this part of the Universe that now it doth, and what
variety of Creatures have in all past Ages sprung forth from
it, and all those occurrences and events which have all this
time happened upon it.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 125
CHAPTER IV.
Zhe second Argument for the Immortality of the Soul.
Actions either Automatical or Spontaneous. That Spon-
taneous and Elicite Actions evidence the Distinction of the
Soul from the Body. Lucretius his Evasion zery s/ight
and weak. That the Liberty of the Will is inconsistent
with the Epicurean principles. That the Conflict of Reason
against the Sensitive Appetite argues a Being in us superiour
to Maffer.
WE have done with that which we intended for the First
part of our Discourse of the Soul's Immortality : we have
hitherto look'd at it rather in Concreto then in Abstracto,
rather as a Thing complicated with and united to the
Body; and therefore considered it in those Operations,
which as they are not proper to the Body, so neither are
they altogether independent upon it, but are rather of
a mixt nature.
We shall now take notice of it in those Properties, in the
exercise whereof it hath less commerce with the Body, and
more plainly declares its own high descent to us, That it is
able to subsist and act without the aid and assistance of
this Matter which it informes.
And here we shall take that course that Aristotle did in
his Books de Anima, and first of all inquire, Whether it hath
ºlów to some kind of Action so proper and peculiar to it self,
as not to depend upon the Body. And this soon offers it
Self in the first place to us in those Elicite motions of it, as
the Moralists are wont to name them, which though they
may end in those they call Imperate acts, yet have their
first Emanation from nothing else but the Soul it self.
For this purpose we shall take notice of Two sorts of
4ctions which are obvious to the experience of every one
# that observes himself, according to a double Source and
Smanation of them, which a late Philosopher hath very
happily suggested to us. The first are those Actions which




I 26 JOHN SMITH
arise up within us without any Animadversion ; the other
are those that are consequent to it.
For we find frequently such Motions within our selves
which first are, before we take notice of them, and which
by their own turbulency and impetuousness force us to an
Advertency: as those Fiery spirits and that inflamed Blood
which sometimes fly up into the head; or those gross and
Earthly Fumes that disturb our brains; the stirring of many
other Humours which beget within us Grief, Melancholy,
Anger, or Mirth, or other Passions; which have their rise
from such Causes as we were not aware of, nor gave no
consent to create this trouble to us. Besides all those
Passions and Perceptions which are begotten within us by
some externall motions which derive themselves through
our Senses, and fiercely knocking at the door of our Minds
and Understandings force them sometimes from their
deepest debates and musings of some other thing, to open
to them and give them an audience.
Now as to such Motions as these are, it being necessary
for the preservation of our Bodies that our Souls should be
acquainted with them, a mans Body was so contrived and
his Soul so united to it, that they might have a speedy
access to the Soul. Indeed some ancient Philosophers
thought that the Soul descending more deeply into the
Body, as they expresse it, first begot these corporeal
motions unbeknown to it self by reason of its more deep
immersion, which afterwards by their impetuousness excited
its advertency. But whatsoever truth there is in that
Assertion, we clearly find from the relation of our own
Souls themselves that our Soul disowns them, and acknow-
ledgeth no such Motions to have been so busy by her Com-
mission; neither knows what they are, from whence they
arise, or whither they tend, untill she hath duly examined
them. But these Corporeal motions as they seem to arise
from nothing else but meerly from the Machina of the

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUI, 127
!
i-k
Body it self; so they could not at all be sensated but by
the Soul.
Neither indeed are all our own Corporeal actions per-
ceived by us, but only those that may serve to maintain
a good correspondence and intelligence between the Soul
and Body, and so foment and cherish that Sympathy
between them which is necessary for the subsistence and
Well-being of the whole man in this mundane state. And
therefore there is very little of that which is commonly done
in our Body, which our Souls are informed at all of The
Constant Circulation of Blood through all our Veins and
Arteries; the common motions of our Animal spirits in our
Merves; the maceration of Food within our Stomachs, and
the distribution of Chyle and nourishment to every part that
Wants the relief of it; the constant flux and reſºux of more
Sedate Humours within us; the dissipations of our corporeal
Matter by insensible Transpiration, and the accesses of new
in the room of it; all this we are little acquainted with by
any vital energie which ariseth from the union of Soul and
Body: and therefore when we would acquaint our selves
With the Anatomy and vital functions of our own Bodies,
We are fain to use the same course and method that we
Would to find out the same things in any other kind of
Animal, as if our Souls had as little to doe with any
of these in our own Bodies, as they have in the Bodies
of any other Brute creature.
But on the other side, we know as well, that many things
that are done by us, are done at the dictate and by the
Commission of our own Wills ; and therefore all such
Actions as these are, we know, without any great store of
Discoursive inquiry, to attribute to their own proper causes,
as Seeing the efflux and propagation of them. We doe not
by a naked speculation know our Bodies first to have need
of nourishment, and then by the Edict of our Wills injoyn
H ºur Spirits and Humours to put themselves into an hungry


I 28 JOHN SMITH
and craving posture within us by corroding the Tunicles of
the Stomach; but we first find our own Souls sollicited by
these motions, which yet we are able to gainsay, and to
deny those petitions which they offer up to us. We know
we commonly meditate and discourse of such Arguments
as we our selves please: we mould designs, and draw up
a plot of means answerable thereto, according as the free
vote of our own Souls determines; and use our own Bodies
many times, notwithstanding all the reluctancies of their
nature, onely as our Instruments to serve the will and
pleasure of our Souls. All which as they evidently manifest
a true ZXistinction between the Soul and the Body, so they
doe as evidently prove the Supremacy and dominion which
the Soul hath over the Body. Our Moralists frequently
dispute what kind of government that is whereby the Soul,
or rather Will, rules over the Sensitive Appetite, which they
ordinarily resolve to be Imperium politicum ; though I
should rather say, that all good men have rather a true
despotical power over their Sensitive faculties, and over the
whole Body, though they use it onely according to the laws
of Reason and Discretion. And therefore the Platonists
and Stoicks thought the Soul of man to be absolutely freed
from all the power of Astral Necessity, and uncontroulable
impressions arising from the subordination and mutual
Sympathie and Dependance of all mundane causes, which
is their proper notion of Fate. Neither ever durst that bold
Astrologie which presumes to tell the Fortunes of all
corporeal Essences, attempt to enter into the secrets of
man's Soul, or predict the destinies thereof. And indeed
whatever the destinies thereof may be that are contained
in the vast volume of an Infinite and Almighty Mind, yet
we evidently find a to dº juſy, an aircéodorov, a liberty of
Will within our selves, maugre the stubborn malice of all
Second Causes. And Aristotle, who seems to have disputed
so much against that airokiymoria of Souls which his Master

}
ſ
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 129
i
before him had soberly maintained, does indeed but quarrel
with that common sense and Experience which we have of
our Souls; this airokiymoria of the Soul being nothing else
but that Innate force and power which it hath within it, to
stir up such thoughts and motions within it self as it finds
it self most free to. And therefore when we reflect upon
the productions of our own Souls, we are soon able to find
out the first Efficient cause of them. And though the
subtilty of some Wits may have made it difficult to find out
whether the Understanding or the Will or some other
Facultie of the Soul be the Aºrst Mozer, whence the moſus
primb primus (as they please to call it) proceeds; yet we
know it is originally the Soul it self whose vital acts they
all are: and although it be not airó6ev Tp(\rm the First
Cause as deriving all its virtue from it self, as Simplicius
distinguisheth in I. de An, cap. I. yet it is €v roſs trpárous
$vouki, vitally co-working with the First Causes of all. But
on the other side, when we come to examine those Motions
which arise from the Body, this stream runs so far under
ground, that we know not how to trace it to the head of it;
but we are fain to analyse the whole artifice, looking from
the Spirits to the Blood, from that to the Heart, viewing all
along the Mechanical contrivance of Veins and Arteries:
neither know we after all our search whether there be any
Perpetuum mobile in our own Bodies, or whether all the
motions thereof be onely by the redundancy of some
external motions without us ; nor how to find the First
mover in nature; though could we find out that, yet we
know that there is a Fatal determination which fits in all
the wheels of meer Corporeal motion; neither can they
exercise any such noble freedome as we constantly find in
the Wills of men, which are as large and unbounded in all
their Elections as Reason it self can represent Being it
is self to be.
Lucreţius, that he might avoid the dint of this Argument,
cAMPAGNAc K

I3o JOHN SMITH
according to the Genius of his Sect feigns this Liberty to
arise from a Motion of declimation, whereby his Atomes
alwaies moving downwards by their own weight towards the
Centre of the World, are carried a little obliquely, as if they
tended toward some point different from it, which he calls
climamen principiorum. Which riddle though it be as good
as any else which they, who held the Materiality and
Mortality of Souls in their own nature, can frame to Salve
this difficulty; yet is of such a private interpretation, that
I believe no Oedipus is able to expound it. But yet by
what we may guesse at it, we shall easily find that this
insolent conceit (and all else of this nature) destroys the
Freedome of Will, more then any Fate which the severest
censours thereof, whom he sometimes taxeth, ever set Over
it. For how can any thing be made subject to a free and
impartial debate of Reason, or fall under the Level of Free:
will, if all things be the meer result either of a Fortuitous
or Fatal motion of Bodies, which can have no power Or
dominion over themselves? and why should he or his
great Master find so much fault with the Superstition of the
world, and condemn the Opinions of other men when they
compare them with that transcendent sagacity they believe
themselves to be the Lords of, if all was nothing else but
the meer issue of Material motions; seeing that necessiº
which would arise from a different concourse and motion of
several particles of Matter begetting that diversity of Opinions
and Wills, would excuse them all from any blame?
Therefore to conclude this Argument, Whatsoever Essence
finds this Freedome within it self, whereby it is absolved
from the rigid laws of Matter, may know it self also to be
Immaterial; and having dominion over its own actions, it
will never desert it self: and because it finds it self no” ”
alienā sed suá moveri, as Tully argues, it feels it self able tº
preserve it self from the forrein force of Matter, and can
say of all those assaults which are at any time made again"

} THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 131
those sorry mud-walls which in this life inclose it, où8&v Tpós
épé, as the Stoick did, all this is nothing to me, who am yet
free and can command within, when this feeble Carkass is
able no longer to obey me; and when that is shattered and
broken down, I can live any where else without it ; for
I was not That, but had onely a command over It, while
I dwelt in it.
But before we wholly desert this Head, we may adde
Some further strength to it, from the Observation of that
Conflict which the Reasons and Understandings of men
maintain against the Sensitive appetite : and wheresoever”.
the Higher powers of Reason in a man's Soul prevail not,
but are vanquish’d by the impetuousness of their Sensual
affections through their own neglect of themselves; yet are
they never so broken, but they may strengthen themselves
* again: and where they subdue not men's inordinate
Passions and Affections, yet even there will they condemn
them for them. Whereas were a Man all of one piece, and’s
f made up of nothing else but Matter; these Corporeal
motions could never check or controul themselves, these
*aterial dimensions could not struggle with themselves, or
by their own strength render themselves any thing else then
What they are. But this aireéodorios off, as the Greeks call
it, this Selfpotent Zife which is in the Soul of man, acting
upon it self and drawing forth its own latent Energie, finds
itself able to tame the outward man, and bring under those
rebellious motions that arise from the meer Animal powers,
; and to tame and appease all those seditions and mutinies
that it finds there. And if any can conceive all this to be
nothing but a meer fighting of the male-contented pieces
of Matter one against another, each striving for superiority
and preeminence; I should not think it worth the while to
§ teach such an one any higher learning, as looking upon
h him to be indued with no higher a Soul then that which
moves in Beasts or Plants.
if


K 2
I 32 - JOHN SMITH
CHAPTER V.
The third Argument for the Immortality of the Soul. That
Mathematical AVotions argue the Soul to be of a true
Spiritua/ and Zmmateria/ AWature.
WE shall now consider the Soul awhile in a further
degree of Abstraction, and look at it in those Actions which
depend not at all upon the Body, wherein it doth Tºv čavrot.
ovvovortav Čortráčeorðat, as the Greeks speak, and converseth
onely with its own Being. Which we shall first consider
in those Aóyot pathiparukoi or Mathematical notions which
it conteins in it self, and sends forth within it self; which
as they are in themselves Indivisible, and of such a perfect
nature as cannot be received or immersed into Matter;
so they argue that Suðject in which they are seated to
be of a true Spiritual and Immaterial nature. Such as
a pure Point, Linea & Aarós, Latitude abstracted from all
Profundity, the Perfection of Figures, Æquality, Proportion,
Symmetry and Asymmetry of Magnitudes, the Rise and
propagation of Dimensions, Infinite divisibility, and many
such like things; which every ingenuous Son of that Art
cannot but acknowledge to be the true characters of some
Immaterial Being, seeing they were never buried in Matter,
nor extracted out of it: and yet these are transcendently
more certain and infallible Principles of Demonstration
then any Sensible thing can be. There is no Geometrician
but will acknowledge Angular sections, or the cutting of an
Arch into any number of parts required, to be most exact
without any diminution of the whole; but yet no Mechanical
art can possibly so perform either, but that the place of
section will detract something from the whole. If any one
should endeavour to double a Cube, as the Delian Oracle
once commanded the Athenians, requiring them to duplicate
the dimensions of Apollo's Altar, by any Mechanical
subtilty; he would find it as impossible as they did, and

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 133
be as much laugh’d at for his pains as some of their
Mechanicks were. If therefore no Matter be capable of
any Geometrical effections, and the Apodictical precepts
of Geometry be altogether unimitable in the purest Matter
that Phansie can imagine; then must they needs depend
upon Something infinitly more pure then Matter, which
hath all that Stability and Certainty within it self which
it gives to those infallible Demonstrations.
We need not here dispute with Empedocles, ;
Tain pºv yap yatav Čirótapev, Übatt 6' 580p, &c.
We know earth by earth, fire by fire, and water by water,
that is, by the Archetypal Idea's of all things in our own
Souls; though it may be it were no hard matter to prove
that, as in this case S. Austin did, when in his Book de
Quant, animae, he would prove the Immortality of the Soul
from these notions of Quantity, which come not by any
possible Sense or Experience which we can make of bodily
Being, and therefore concludes they must needs be im-
mediately ingraven upon an Immaterial Soul. For though
We could suppose our Senses to be the School-Dames that
first taught us the Alphabet of this learning; yet nothing
else but a true Mental Essence could be capable of it,
or So much improve it as to unbody it all, and strip it naked
of any Sensible garment, and then onely, when it hath done
it, embrace it as its own, and commence a true and perfect ,
understanding of it. And as we all hold it impossible
to shrink up any Material Quality, which will perpetually
Spread it self commensurably to the Matter it is in, into
* Mathematical point: so is it much more impossible to
extend and stretch forth any Immaterial and unbodied
Quality or notion according to the dimensions of Matter,
and yet to preserve the integrity of its own nature.
Besides, in these Geometricall speculations we find that
9ir Souls will not consult with our Bodies, or ask any leave
ºf our Fansies how or how far they shall distribute their



I34 JOHN SMITH
own notions by a continued progress of Invention; but
spending upon their own stock, are most free and liberal,
and make Fansie onely to serve their own purpose in
painting out not what Matter will afford a copie of, but
what they themselves will dictate to it; and if that should
be too busie, silence and controul it by their own Imperial
laws. They so little care for Matter in this kind of work,
that they banish it as far as may be from themselves, or else
chastise and tame the unruly and refractory nature of it,
that it should yield it self pliable to their soveraign com-
mands. These Embodied Bodies (for so this present
Argument will allow me to call them) which our Senses
converse with, are perpetually justling together, contending
so irresistably each for its own room and space to be in,
and will not admit of any other into it, preserving their
own intervals: but when they are once in their Umbodied
nature entertained into the Mind, they can easily penetrate
one another öAa 8. §xa. The Soul can easily pyle the
vastest number up together in her self, and by her own
force sustain them all, and make them all couch together in
the same space: she can easily pitch up all those Five
Regular Bodies together in her own Imagination, and
inscribe them one in another, and then entring into the
very heart and centre of them, discern all their Properties
and several Respects one to another; and thus easily find
her self freed from all Material or Corporeal confinement;
shewing how all that which we call Body, rather issued forth
by an infinite projection from some Mind, then that it
should exalt it self into the nature of any Mental Being;
and, as the Platonists and Pythagoreans have long since
well observed, how our Bodies should rather be in Our
Souls, then our Souls in them. And so I have done with
that Particular.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 135
º
i
CHAPTER VI.
The Fourth Argument for the Immortality of the Soul. That
those clear and stable /deas of Zºruth zwhich are in Mazī’s
Mind evince an /mmorta/ and /mmateria/ Substance
zesiding in us, distinct from the Body. The Sou/ more
Ánowable then the Body. Some passages out of Plotinus
and Proclus for the further confirming of this Argument.
AND now we have traced the Immortality of the Soul,
before we were aware, through those Three Relations or
oxéorets, or (if you will) Degrees of knowledge, which Proclus
in his Comment upon Plato's Timaeus hath attributed to it,
which he calls róv yogtuköv Švvápeov orelpáv. The First is
aloffmals &Aoyos, a naked perception of Sensible impressions,
without any work of Reason. The Second, 86%a perú A6)ov,
a Miscellaneous kind of knowledge arising of a collation of
its Sensations with its own more obscure and dark Idea's.
The Third, 8távola kai Aóyos, Discourse and Reason, which
the Platonists describe Mathematical knowledge by, which,
because it spins out its own notions by a constant series of
Deduction, knitting up Consequences one upon another by
Demonstrations, is by him call’d vômorts petagarukň, a Pro-
gressive kind of knowledge; to which he addes a Fourth,
which we shall now make use of for a further Proof of the
Ammortality of the Soul. There is therefore Fourthly vónoris
ãperáðaros, which is a naked Intuition of Eternal Truth
which is alwaies the same, which never rises nor sets, but
alwaies stands still in its Vertical, and fills the whole
Horizon of the Soul with a mild and gentle light. There \
are such calm and serene Idea's of Truth, that shine onely
in facate Souls, and cannot be discerned by any troubled or
fluid Fancy, that necessarily prove a pávipov kai oráoupév to
30me Permanent and Stable Essence in the Soul of man,
which (as Simplicius on Epictet. well observes) ariseth onely
*ě drivárov rivés, Kai karū révra tpárov ćperağAfftov airias,

136 JOHN SMITH
T}s dei karū to airã kai Öoraútos éxoſoms, from some immove-
able and unchangeable Cause zwhich is a/wales the same. For
these Operations about Truth we now speak of, are not
Xpovukai évépyewal any Chronical Energies, as he further
expresses it, but the true badges of an Eternal nature, and
speak a tavrörms and orrāorts (as Plato is wont to phrase it)
in man's Soul. Such are the Archetypal/ Zdea's of Justice,
Wisdome, Goodness, Truth, Eternity, Omnipotency, and all
those either Morall, Physicall, or Metaphysical notions,
which are either the First Principles of Science, or the
Ultimate complement and final perfection of it. These we
alwaies find to be the same, and know that no Exorcisms of
Material mutations have any power over them : though We
our selves are but of yesterday, and mutable every moment,
yet these are Eternall, and depend not upon any mundane
vicissitudes; neither could we ever gather them from Our
observation of any Material thing where they were never
sown.
If we reflect but upon our own Souls, how manifestly doe
the Species of Æeason, Freedome, Perception, and the like,
offer themselves to us, whereby we may know a thousand
times more distinctly what our Souls are then what Our
, Bodies are? For the former we know by an immediate
converse with our selves, and a distinct sense of their
Operations; whereas all our knowledge of the Body is little
better then meerly Historicall, which we gather up by scraps
and piecemeals from more doubtfull and uncertain experi-
/ments which we make of them: but the notions which we
have of a Mind, i.e. something within us that thinks, appre-
hends, reasons, and discourses, are so clear and distinct from
all those notions which we can fasten upon a Body, that We
can easily conceive that if all Body-Being in the world were
\destroyed, yet we might then as well subsist as now we doe.
For whensoever we take notice of those Immediate motions
of our own Minds whereby they make themselves known to

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 137
us, we find no such thing in them as Extension or Divisi-
bility, which are contained in every Corporeal essence: and
having no such thing discovered to us from our nearest
familiarity with our own Souls, we could never so easily
know whether they had any such things as Bodies joyned
to them or not, did not those extrinsecal impressions that
their turbulent motions make upon them admonish them
thereof.
But as the more we reflect upon our own Minds, we find
all Intelligible things more clear, (as when we look up to
the Heavens, we see all things more bright and radiant,
then when we look down upon this dark Earth when the
Sun-beams are drawn away from it:) so when we see all
Intelligible Being concentring together in a greater Oneness,
and all kind of Multiplicity running more and more into
the strictest Unity, till at last we find all Variety and
Division suck'd up into a perfect Simplicity, where all
happily conspire together in the most undivided peace and
friendship; we then easily perceive that the reason of all
Diversity and Distinction is (that I may use Plotinus his
Words not much differently from his meaning) perá8aoris àrà
"oi eis Aoytopév. For though in our contentious pursuits
after Science, we cast Wisdome, Power, Eternity, Goodness
and the like into several formalities, that so we may trace
down. Science in a constant chain of Deductions; yet in
Our naked Intuitions and visions of them, we clearly discern
that Goodness and Wisdome lodge together, Justice and
4ercy kiss each other; and all these and whatsoever pieces
else the crak'd glasses of our Reasons may sometime break
Divine and Intelligible Being into, are fast knit up together
in the invincible bonds of Eternity. And in this sense is
that notion of Proclus descanting upon Plato's riddle of the
Soul, [És yevvmt) kai dyévvmtos, as if it were generated and
J'ét not generated| to be understood; Xpóvos épa kai aiou Tepi
* Wvxiv, the Soul partaking of Time in its broken and


138 JOHN SMITH
particular conceptions and apprehensions, and of Eternity
in its comprehensive and stable contemplations. I need
not say that when the Soul is once got up to the top of this
bright Olympus, it will then no more doubt of its own
Immortality, or fear any Dissipation, or doubt whether any
drowsie Sleep shall hereafter seize upon it : no, it will then
feel it self grasping fast and safely its own Immortality, and
view it self in the Horizon of Eternity. In such sober
kind of Ecstasies did Plotinus find his own Soul separated
from his Body, as if it had divorc’d it for a time from it
self: ToMAákis yelpópevos eis Épavrov čk toà oðpatos, Kai
'yevópevos rôv pºv &AAov čo, Épavroſ & eloro, flavpao row Aikov
àpôv kāAXos, &c. Z being often awakened into a sense of my
self, and being sequestred from my body, and betaking my self
from all things else into my self; what admirable beauty did
I then behold, &c. as he himself tells us, En. 4. Z. 8, c. I.
Thus is that Intelligence begotten which Proclus Z. 2. in
Plat. Tim. calls a Correction of Science: his notion is worth
our taking notice of, and gives us in a manner a brief
recapitulation of our former discourse, shewing how the
higher we ascend in the contemplation of the Soul, the
higher still we rise above this low sphear of Sense and
Matter. His words are these, Air) # triotium is piv &
ilvya's évéAeykrós éotiv, Aéyxera, 6’ 3rd voi, &c. that is,
Science as it is in the Soul (by which he means the Dis.
coursive power of it) is blameless, but yet is corrected by the
Mind; as resolving that which is Indivisible, and dividing
Simple Being as if it were Compounded: as Fansy correct
Sense for discerning with passion and materia/ mixture, from
which that purifies its object; Opinion corrects Fansie, because
it apprehends things by forms and phantasms, which it self is
above; and Science corrects Opinion, because it knows with
out discerning of causes ; and the Mind (as was insinuated)
or the Intuitive faculty corrects the Scientifical, because &
a Progressive kind of Analysis it divides the Intelligible
i



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 139
0%;ect, where it self knows and sees things together in their
undivided essence: wherefore this one/y is Immoveable, and
Science or Scientifical reason is inferiour to it in the Ånow- .
(edge of true Being. Thus he.
But here we must use some caution, lest we should
arrogate too much to the power of our own Souls, which
indeed cannot raise up themselves into that pure and steddy
60%femplation of true Being ; but will rather act with some
Aultiplicity or repôrns (as they speak) attending it. But
thus much of its high original may appear to us, that it can
(as our Author told us) correct it self, for dividing and dis.
Joyning therein, as knowing all to be every way One most
entire and simple: though yet all men cannot easily improve
their own Understandings to this High degree of Com-
prehension; and therefore all ancient Philosophers and
4ristotle himself made it the peculiar priviledge of some
men more abstracted from themselves and all corporeall
COmmerce.
CHAPTER VII.
%at it is that, beyond the Highest and most subtile Specula-
#ons whatsoever, does clear and evidence to a Good man
àe Immortality of his Soul. That True Goodness and
Pertue begets the most raised Sense of this Immortality.
Plotinus his excellent Discourse to this purpose.
AND now that we may conclude the Argument in hand,
We shall adde but this one thing further to clear the Soul's
*mortality, and it is indeed that which breeds a true sense
of it, viz. True and reall goodness. Our highest speculations
of the Soul may beget a sufficient conviction thereof within
us, but yet it is onely True Goodness and Vertue in thè
Souls of men that can make them both know and doze,
f
:
{
|
l
}
i
:
i
}
!
|
j
!
t
|
i
i
|
;
i
&elieve and delight themselves in their own Immortality. ,
Though every good man is not so Logically subtile as to be
able by fit mediums to demonstrate his own Immortality, yet


I4O JOHN SMITH
.
|
|
he sees it in a higher light: His Soul being purged and
enlightned by true Sanctity is more capable of those
Divine irradiations, whereby it feels it self in conjunction
with God, and by a ovvaiyeva (as the Greeks speak) the
Light of divine goodness mixing it self with the light of its
own Reason, sees more clearly not onely that it may, if it
please the supreme Deity, of its own nature exist eternally,
but also that it shall doe so: it knows it shall never be
deserted of that free Goodness that alwaies embraceth it:
it knows that Almighty Love, which it lives by, to be
stronger then death, and more powerful then the grave; it
will not suffer those holy ones that are partakers of it to lie
in hell, or their Souls to see corruption ; and though worms
may devour their flesh, and putrefaction enter into those
bones that fence it, yet it knows that its Redeemer lives,
and that it shall at last see him with a pure Intellectual eye,
which will then be clear and bright, when all that earthly
dust, which converse with this mortal body filled it with,
shall be wiped out: It knows that God will never forsake
his own life which he hath quickned in it; he will never
deny those ardent desires of a blissful fruition of himself,
which the lively sense of his own Goodness hath excited
within it: those breathings and gaspings after an eternal
participation of him are but the Energy of his own breath
within us; if he had had any mind to destroy it, he would
never have shewn it such things as he hath done; he would
not raise it up to such Mounts of Vision, to shew it all the
glory of that heavenly Canaan flowing with eternal and
unbounded pleasures, and then tumble it down again into
that deep and darkest Abyss of Death and Non-entity.
*Divine goodness cannot, it will not, be so cruel to holy
souls that are such ambitious suitors for his love. The
more they contemplate the blissfull Effluxes of his divine
love upon themselves, the more they find themselves
strengthned with an undaunted confidence in him; and
. . . . .
* - : "...a

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 141
;
ſ
look not upon themselves in these poor bodily relations
and dependences, but in their eternal alliances, Ös kóorpºol,
às viol rot, 6.e00, (as Arrianus sometimes speaks) as the Sons
of God who is the Father of Souls, Souls that are able to
live any where in this spacious Universe, and better out of
this dark and lonesome Cell of Bodily matter, which is
alwaies checking and clogging them in their noble motions,
then in it: as knowing that when they leave this Body, they
shall then be received into everlasting habitations, and con-
verse freely and familiarly with that Source of Life and
Spirit which they conversed with in this life in a poor dis-
turbed and streightned manner. It is indeed nothing else
that makes men question the Immortality of their Souls, so
much as their own base and earthly loves, which first makes
them wish their Souls were not immortal, and then to think
they are not : which Plotinus hath well observed, and
accordingly hath soberly pursued this argument.
I cannot omit a large recital of his Discourse, which
tends so much to disparage that flat and dull Philosophy
which these later Ages have brought forth; as also those
heavy-spirited Christians that find so little divine life and
activity in their own Souls, as to imagine them to fall into
such a dead sleep as soon as they leave this earthly
tabernacle, that they cannot be awakened again, till that
last Trumpet and the voice of an Archangel shall rouse
them up. Our Authors discourse is this, Enn, 4. Jib. 7, c. 10.
having first premised this Principle, That every Divine thing
* immortall, A480pey & livXīv, pi, Tāv v rá ord part, &c.
Zet us now consider a Soul (saith he) not such an one as is
immerst into the Body, having contracted unreasonable Con-
cupiscence and Anger (ériðupſtav Kai 6vpóv, according to
which they were wont to distinguish between the Irascible
*nd Concupiscible faculty) and other Passions; but such
* one as hath cast away these, and as little as may be com-
*nicates with the Body: such a one as this will sufficiently


I42 JOHN SMITH
manifest that all Vice is unnaturall to the Soul, and some-
thing acquired onely from abroad; and that the best Wisdome
and all other Vertues lodge in a purged Soul, as being al/yed
to it. If therefore such a Soul shall reflect upon it self, how
shall it not appear to it self to be of such a kind of nature as
Pivine and Eterna/Z Essences are 2 For Wisdome and true
Vertue being Divine Effluxes can never enter into any
unhallowed and mortall thing: it must therefore needs be
Zivine, seeing it is fil/'d with a Divine nature Stä ovyyávelav
kai to Öpooiſorwov by its kindred and consanguinity therewith.
Whoever therefore amongst us is such a one, differs but little
in his Soul from Angelical/ essences ; and that little is the
present inhabitation in the Body, in zwhich he is inferiour to
them. And if every man were of this raised temper, or any
considerable number had but such holy Souls, there would be
no such Infidels as would in any sort disbelieve the Soul's
Immortality. But now the vulgar sort of men beholding the
Souls of the generality so mutilated and deform'd with Vice
and Wickedness, they cannot think of the Soul as of any
Alivine and Immortall Being; though indeed they ought to
judge of things as they are in their own naked essences, and
not with respect to that which extraessentially adheres to
them, which is the great prejudice of Ånowledge. Con-
template therefore the Soul of man, denuding it of all that
zwhich it self is not, or ſet him that does this view his own
Soul; then he will believe it to be Immortall, when he shall
behold it v tº vomté kai év tá kaðapó, fixt in an Intelligible
and pure nature ; he shall then behold his own Intellect coſt-
templating not any Sensible thing, but Eternall things, with
that which is Eternal, that is, with it self, looking into the
Intellectual world, being it self made all Lucid, Intellectual,
and shining with the Sun-beams of eternal Truth, borrowed
from the First Good, which perpetually rayeth forth his
Truth upon all Intellectuall Beings. One thus qualifted may
seem without any arrogance to take up that saying of -

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 143
Empedocles, Xalper', yū 3 ipſy %eós àpſ?poros.-Ararewell
all earth/y allies, I am henceforth no mortal/ wight, but an
Immortal! Angel, ascending up into Divinity, and reflecting,
upon that likeness of it which Z find in my self. When true
Sanctity and Purity shall ground him in the Knowledge of }
divine things, then shal/ the inward Sciences, that arise from }
the bottome of his own Soul, display themselves; which indeed |
are the onely true Sciences: for the Soul runs not out of it self;
to behold Temperance and Justice abroad, but its own º
sees them in the contemplation of its own Being, and that #
divine essence which was before enshrined within it self. }
I might after all this adde many more Reasons for a
further confirmation of this present Thesis, which are as
numerous as the Soul's relations and productions them-
Selves are; but to every one who is willing to doe his
Own Soul right, this Evidence we have already brought
in is more than sufficient.
CHAPTER VIII.
4” 4%pendix containing an Enguiry into the Sense and
Opinion of Aristotle concerning the Immortality of the
Soul. That according to him the Rational Soul is separable
Jrom the Body and Immortall. The true meaning of his
Intellectus Agens and Patiens.
HAVING done with the several Proofs of the Soul's
Immortality (that great Principle of Naturall Theology,
which if it be not entertain’d as a Communis Notitia, as
I doubt not but that it is by the Vulgar sort of men, or as
an Axiome, or, if you will, a Theoreme of free and impartial
Reason, all endeavours in Religion will be very cool and
languid) it may not be amiss to enquire a little concerning
Žis opinion whom so many take for the great Intelligencer
of Nature and Omniscient Oracle of Truth; though it be
too manifest that he hath so defaced the sacred Monuments

I44 JOHN SMITH
of the ancient Metaphysical Theology by his profane hands,
that it is hard to see that lovely face of Truth which was
once engraven upon them (as some of his own Interpreters
have long agoe observed) and so blurr'd those fair Copies
of divine learning which he received from his Predecessours,
that his late Interpreters (who make him their All) are
as little sometime acquainted with his meaning and design,
as they are with that Elder philosophy which he so corrupts:
which indeed is the true reason they are so ambiguous
in determining his Opinion of the Soul’s immortality; which
yet he often asserts and demonstrates in his Three Books
de Anima. We shall not here traverse this AWotion through
them all, but onely briefly take notice of that which hath
made his Expositours stumble so much in this point; the
main whereof is that Definition which he gives of the Soul,
wherein he seems to make it nothing else for the Genus
of it, but an Entelechia or Informative thing, which spends
all its virtue upon that Matter which it informs, and cannot
act any other way then meerly by information; being indeed
nothing else but some Material etēos, like an impression
in wax which cannot subsist without it, or else the result
of it: whence it is that he calls onely either Material
Forms, or the Functions and Operations of those Forms,
by this name. But indeed he intended not this for a general
Definition of the Soul of man, and therefore after he had
laid down this particular Definition of the Soul, lib. 2.
cap. 1. he tells us expresly, That that which we call the
A’ational Soul is xopwrtā or separable from the Body, 8tà tê
pnéevös cival oróparos évrexéxclav, because it is not the Entelech
of any Body. Which he laies down the demonstration
of in several places of all those Three books, by enquiring
et érri ti Tôv ràs lux’s pyov # traffmuárov totov, as he
speaks, lib. 1, cap. I. whether the Soul hath any prope?
function or operation of its own, or whether all be com"
pounded and result from the Soul and Body together:

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 145
h
and in this inquirie finding that all Sensations and Passions
arise as well from the Body as from the Soul, and spring
out of the conjunction of both of them (which he therefore
calls ºvvXot Aéyot, as being begotten by the Soul upon
the Body) he concludes that all this savours of nothing
else but a Material nature, inseparable from the Body.
But then finding acts of Mind and Understanding, which
Cannot be propagated from Matter, or causally depend
upon the Body, he resolves the Principles from whence
they flow to be Immortal; which he thus sets down lib. 2.
cap. 2. rept 8& too voi, kai rās 6eopmrukňs 8vvápºeos, où8étro
‘havepôv, &AA toure lºvyºs yévos érepov etval, &c. that is, Mozw
as for the Mind and Theoretical/ power, it appears not, viz.
that they belong to that Soul which in the former Chapter
was defined by évrexéxeto, but it seems to be another kind
of Soul, and that omely is separable from the Body, as that
which is Eternal and Immortal from that which is Corrup-
tible. But the other Powers or Parts of the Soul (viz. the
Vegetative and Sensitive) are not separable, ka94 rep bagi
tives, as some think. Where by these [rivés some] which
he here refutes, he manifestly means the Platonists and
Pythagoreans, who held that all kinds of Souls were im-
mortal, as well the Souls of beasts as of men; whereas
he upon that former enquirie concluded that nothing was
immortal, but that which is the Seat of Reason and Under-
standing; and so his meaning is, that this Rational Soul , -
is altogether a distinct Essence from those other; or else
that glory which he makes account he reaps from his
Supposed victory over the other Sects of Philosophers will
be much eclipsed, seeing they themselves did not so much
Contend for that which he decries, viz. an exercise of any
such Informative faculties in a state of Separation, neither
doe we find them much more to reject one part of that
°omplex Axiome of "his, to pºv alo.6mruköv oëk &vev oréparos,
* Lib. 3. c. 4.
CAMPAGNAc L


I46 & JOHN SMITH
ô 8& vows Xoptorrós, That which is sensitive is not without the
Body, but the Intellect or Mind is separable, then they doe
the other.
The other difficulty which Aristotle's opinion seems to
be clogg’d withall is that Conclusion which he laies down
lib. 3. c. 5. 6 & Traffºrtukös voſs $6aptós, which is commonly
thus expounded, Zntellectus patiens est corruptibilis. But
all this difficulty will soon be cleared, if once it may appear
how ridiculous their conceit is, that from that Chapter
fetch that idle distinction of Intellectus Agens and Patiens;
Imeaning by the Agens, that which prepares phantasmes,
and exalts them into the nature of intelligible species, and
then propounds them to the Patiens to judge thereof:
whereas indeed he means nothing else by his vows traffnturós,
but onely the Understanding in potentia, and by his vois
roumrukós, the same in actu or in habitu, as the Schoolmen
are wont to phrase it; and accordingly thus laies down his
meaning and method of this notion. In the preceding
Chapter of that Book, he disputes against Plato's Connate
species, as being afraid, lest if the Soul should be prejudiced
by any home-born notions, it would not be indifferent
to the entertaining of any other Truth. Where, by the
way, we may observe how unreasonable his Argument is:
for if the Soul hath no such stock of principles to trade
with, nor any proper notions of its own that might be
a kpitáptov of all Opinions, it would be so indifferent tº
any, that the foulest Errour might be as easily entertained
by it as the fairest Truth; neither could it ever know what
guest it receives, whether Truth, or Falshood. But yet out
Author found himself able to swallow down this absurdity,
though when he had done he could not well digest tº
For he could not but take notice of that which was obvio"
for any one to reply, That rās vows éort voºrós, and S0
reflecting upon it self, may find matter within to work
upon ; and so laies down this scruple in a way not much


THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 147
different from his Masters, kai airós & vomrós eart, Čorrep rà
vomté, &c. but the Soul it self is also intelligible, as well
as all other intelligible natures are ; and in those Beings
which are purely abstracted from Matter, that which under-
stands is the same with that which is understood. Thus he.
But not being Master of this notion, he finds it a little
too unruly for him, and falls to enquire why the Soul
should not then alwaies be in actu; quitting himself of
the whole difficulty at once by telling us, that our souls
are here clogg’d with a Hºyle or Matter that cleaves to
them, and so all the matter of their knowledge is contained
in sensible objects, which they must extract out of them,
being themselves onely v 8vváuel or in potentia ad intelligen-
dum. Just as in a like argument (Chap. 8) he would needs
perswade us, That the Understanding beholds all things
in the glass of Phansie; and then questioning how our
Tpóra voijuara or First principles of knowledge should be
Phantasmes, he grants that they are not indeed phantasmes,
*W oik &vev havraopºdrov, but yet they are not without
Phantasmes ; which he thinks is enough to say, and so
by his meer dictate without any further discussion to solve
that knot; whereas in all Reflex acts, whereby the Soul
reviews its own opinions, and finds out the nature of them,
it makes neither use of Sense or Phantasmes; but acting
immediately by its own power, finds it self doºparov kai
Xºptotiv oropºdrov, as Simplicius observes.
But to return, This Hyle or Matter which our Author
Supposeth to hinder a free and uninterrupted exercise of
Understanding, is indeed nothing else but the Souls poten-
ñality; and not any kind of divisible or extended nature.
And therefore when he thus distinguisheth between his
Antellectus Agens and Patiens, he seems to mean almost
nothing else but what our ordinary Metaphysitians doe
in their distinction of Actus and Potentia, (as Simplicius
hath truly observed) when they tell us, that the finest

- L 2
148 JOHN SMITH
created nature is made up of these two compounded
together. For we must know that the genius of his
Philosophy led him to fancy an irokeiuevöv tº a certain
subject or obediential power in every thing that fell within
the compass of Physical speculation, or that had any
relation to any natural body; and some other power which
was eiðomoto'ov, that was of an active and operating nature:
and consequently that both these Principles were in the
Soul it self, which as it was capable of receiving impressions
and species from the Phansie, and in a posse to understand,
so it was Passive; but as it doth actually understand,
so it is troumrukás or Active. And with this Notion he
begins his 5. Chap. Erei Še &rrep v čvárm ti biſore, or:
rt, rô pºv čAm ékáorrº yével, &c. that is, Seeing that in every
nature there is something which as a First subject is all
things potentially, and some Active principle which produceſh
all things, as Art doth in Matter; it is necessary that the
Soul also partake of these differences. And this he illustrates
by Zight and Colours; resembling the Passive power of
the Intellect to Colours, the Active or Energetical to Zight:
and therefore he saies, it is xopwrrós, kai épayás, kai äraffis,
separable, unmixt, and impassible; and so at last concludes,
Xoptorffels öé éott påvov rooff Štrep &orri, in the state of Sºftarø.
tion this Intellect is alwaies that which it is (that is, it is
alwaies Active and Energetical, as he had told us before,
tfi oãorig &v évépyela, the essence of it being activity) kai toir”
póvov 36évarov kai đàov, of pumpovetſopey & 3rt toiro Pº
ăraffés, and this onely is immortal and eternal, but we doe "
remember because it is impassible. In which last words hº
seems to disprove Plato's Reminiscentia, because the Soul
in a state of Separation being alwaies in act, the Pass”
power of it, which then first begins to appear when it is
embodied, could not represent or contain any such Tradi.
tionall species as the Emergeticall faculty acted upon before;
seeing there was then no Phansie to retain them in, "

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 149
Simplicius expounds it, 8to èv rà rept rôv pºvnuovevrów vojoret,
Öeóueffa trávros rod plexpt havrao (as ºrpoióvros Aóyov, because
in all remembrance we must reflect upon our Phansie.
And this our Author seems to glance at, it being indeed
never out of his eye, in these words we have endeavoured
to give an account of 58: traffmrukös vows $6aptós, kai čvev
Totºrov oë6év voeſ, But the Passive intellect is corruptible, and
without this we can understand nothing in this life. And
thus our forenamed Commentator doubts not to glosse
On them.
CHAPTER IX.
4 main Difficulty concerning the Immortality of the Soul
[viz. The strong Sympathy of the Soul with the Body]
answered. An Answer to another Enquiry, viz. Under
what account Impressions deriv'd from the Body do fall
in Morality.
WE have now done with the Confirmation of this Point,
which is the main Basis of all Religion, and shall not at
present trouble our selves with those difficulties that may
Seem to incumber it; which indeed are onely such as
beg for a Solution, but doe not, if they be impartially
considered, proudly contest with it: and such of them
which depend upon any hypothesis which we may apprehend
to be laid down in Scripture, I cannot think them to be
of any such moment, but that any one who deals freely
and ingenuously with this piece of God's truth, may from
thence find a far better ansa of answering, then he can
of moving of any scruples against the Souls Immortality,
which that most strongly every where supposes, and does
not so positively and finrós lay down, as presume that we
have an antecedent knowledge of it, and therefore principally
teaches us the right Way and Method of providing in this
life for our happy subsistence in that eternal estate. And
* for what pretends to Reason or Experience, I think it


I So JOHN SMITH
may not be amiss briefly to search into one main difficulty
concerning the Soul's Immortality: and that is, That strange
kind of dependency which it seems to have on the Body,
whereby it seems constantly to comply and sympathize
therewith, and to assume to it self the frailties and in-
firmities thereof, to laugh and languish as it were together
with that: and so when the Body is compos'd to rest, Our
Soul seems to sleep together with it; and as the Spring
of bodily Motion seated in our Brains is more clear or
muddy, so the conceptions of our Minds are more distinct
or disturbed.
To answer this difficulty, it might be enough perhaps to
say, That the Sympathy of things is no sufficient Argument
to prove the Identity of their essences by, as I think all
will grant; yet we shall endeavour more fully to solve it.
And for that purpose we must take notice, that though
our Souls be of an Incorporeal nature, as we have already
demonstrated, yet they are united to our Bodies, not as
Assisting forms or Intelligences, as some have thought, but
in some more immediate way; though we cannot tell what
that is, it being the great arcanum in Man's nature, that
which troubled Plotinus so much, when he had contemplated
the Immortality of it, that, as he speaks of himself, Enn, 4.
diff. 8. c. I, eis Aoytopov diró voi, kata/3ds, dropó trós Tore kai
vöv kata/3aivo, kai 6tos Toré pou vēov i livX) yeyévrral row
oróparos, rooro ojoſa otov čhávn kaff £avrºv, Kaūrep otoa &y
A orópart. But indeed to make such a Complex thing as
Man is, it was necessary that the Soul should be so united
to the Body, as to share in its passions and infirmities
so far as they are void of sinfulness. And as the Body
alone could not perform any act of Sensation or Reason,
and so it self become a £ºov troAvruków, so neither would the
Soul be capable of providing for the necessities of the Body,
without some way whereby a feeling and sense of them
might be conveyed to it; neither could it take sufficient

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 151
care of this corporeal life, as nothing pertaining to it, were
it not Sollicited to a natural compunction and compassion
by the indigencies of our Bodies. It cannot be a meer
Mental Speculation that would be so sensibly affected with
hunger or cold, or other griefs that our Bodies necessarily
partake of, to move our Souls to take care for their relief:
and were there not such a commerce between our Souls
and Bodies, as that our Souls also might be made acquainted
by a pleasurable and delightful sense of those things that
most gratifie our Bodies, and tend most to the support
of their Crasis and temperament; the Soul would be apt
wholly to neglect the Body, and commit it wholly to all
changes and casualties. Neither would it be any thing
more to us then the body of a Plant or Star, which we
contemplate sometimes with as much contentment as we
do our own bodies, having as much of the Theory of the
One as of the other. And the relation that our Souls bear
to such peculiar bodies as they inhabite, is one and the
Same in point of notion and speculation with that which
they have to any other body: and therefore that which
determines the Soul to this Body more then that, must
be some subtile winculum that knits and unites it to it in
a more Physical way, which therefore Proclus sometimes
Calls Tveuparuköv čxmpa tºs livXàs, a spiritual Åind of vehicle,
whereby corporeal impressions are transferr'd to the Mind,
and the dictates and decrees of that are carried back again
into the Body to act and move it. Heraclitus wittily
glancing at these mutual aspects and entercourses, calls
them 1 āpiouſ?as āvaykaias €k rôv £vavtſov, the Responsals
or Antiphons wherein each of them catcheth at the others
part and keeps time with it; and so he tells us that there is
ööös dvo kai káro, a way that leads upwards and downwards
between the Soul and Body, whereby their affairs are made
known to one another. For as the Soul could not have
1 Plotin. Enn. 4. l. 8. c. I.

I52 JOHN SMITH
a sufficient relation of the state and condition of our Bodies,
except it received some impressions from them ; so neither
could our Souls make use of our Bodies, or derive their
own virtue into them as they doe, without some intermediate
motions. For as some motions may seem to have their
beginning in our Bodies, or in some external mover, which
are not known by our Souls till their advertency be
awakened by the impetuousness of them : so some other
motions are derived by our own Wills into our Bodies,
but yet in such a way as they cannot be into any other
body; for we cannot by the meer Magical virtue of Our
Wills move any thing else without our selves, nor follow
any such virtue by a concurrent sense of those mutations
that are made by it, as we doe in our own Bodies.
And as this Conjugal affection and sympathy between
Soul and Body are thus necessary to the Being of Man-
kind; so we may further take notice of some peculiar part
within us where all this first begins: which a late sagacious
Philosopher hath happily observed to be in that part of
the Brain from whence all those Nerves that conduct the
Animal spirits up and down the Body take their first
Original; seeing we find all Motions that first arise in
our Bodies, to direct their course straight up to that, as
continually respecting it, and there onely to be sensated,
and all the imperate motions of our Wills issuing forth
from the same consistory. Therefore the Animal spirits,
by reason of their constant mobility and swift motion,
ascending to the place of our Nerves origination, move
the Soul, which there sits enthron'd, in some mysterious
way; and descending at the beck of our Wills from thence,
move all the Muscles and joynts in such sort as they are
guided and directed by the Soul. And if we observe the
subtile Mechanicks of our own Bodies, we may easily con-
ceive how the least motion in these Animal Spirits will,
by their relaxing or distending the Nerves, Membranes
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 153
-
and Muscles, according to their different quantity or the
celerity and quality of their motions, beget all kind of
motions likewise in the Organical part of our Bodies.
And therefore that our Souls may the better inform our
Bodies, they must perceive all their varieties; and because
they have such an immediate proximity to these Spirits,
therefore also all the Motions of our Souls in the highest
Way of Reason and Understanding are apt to stir these
quick and nimble spirits alwaies attending upon them, or
else fix them too much. And thus we may easily see that
should our Souls be alwaies acting and working within us,
Our Bodies could never take that rest and repose which
is requisite for the conservation of Nature. As we may
easily perceive in all our studies and meditations that are
most serious, our Spirits are the more fix’d, attending the
beck of our Minds. And except this knot whereby our
Souls are wedded to our Bodies were unloosed that our
Souls were loose from them, they could not act, but
presently some Motion or other would be imprest upon
Our Bodies: as every Motion in our Bodies that is extra-
ordinary, when our Nerves are distended with the Animal
Spirits, by a continual communication of it self in these
Nerves like so many intended Chords to their original,
moves our Souls; and so though we alwaies perceive that
one of them is primarily affected, yet we also find the other
Presently by consent to be affected too.
And because the Soul hath all Corporeal passions and
impressions thus conveyed to it, without which it could
not expresse a due benevolence to that Body which
Peculiarly belongs to it; therefore as the Motions of these
Animal Spirits are more or less either disorderly and
Confus'd, or gentle and compos'd, so those Souls especially
who have not by the exercise of true Vertue got the
dominion over them, are also more or less affected pro-
Portionably in their operations. And therefore indeed

I54 JOHN SMITH
to question whether the Soul, that is of an Immortal
nature, should entertain these corporeal passions, is to
doubt whether God could make a Man or not, and to
question that which we find by experience in our selves;
for we find both that it doth thus, and yet that the Original
of these is sometimes from Bodies, and sometimes again
by the force of our Wills they are impress'd upon our
Bodies.
Here by the way we may consider in a moral way what
to judge of those Impressions that are derived from our
Bodies to our Souls, which the Stoicks call &Aoya tráðm.
not because they are repugnant to Reason, or are aber-
rations from it; but because they derive not their original
from Reason, but from the Body, which is &Aoyáv rv and
are by Aristotle, more agreeably to the ancient Dialect,
called évvXot Aéyou material or corporeal Idea's or impressions.
And these we may safely reckon, I think, amongst our
Adiaphora in Morality, as being in themselves neither
good nor evil, (as all the antient Writers have done) but
onely are form'd into either by that stamp that the Soul
prints upon them, when they come to be entertain’d into
it. And therefore whereas some are apt in the most
severe way to censure ràs irpéras karū diſow Śppás, all
those Commotions and Passions that first affect our Souls;
they might doe well more cautelously to distinguish between
such of these motions as have their origination in Our
Bodies, and such as immediately arise from our Souls
else may we not too hastily displace the antient termini,
and remove the land-marks of Vertue and Vice? For
seeing the Soul could not descend into any corporeal act,
as it must doe while it is more present to one body then
another, except it could partake of the griefs and pleasures
of the Body; can it be any more sinful for it to sensate
this, then it is for it to be united to the Body? If our
Soul could not know what it is to eat or drink, but onely
-
-

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 155
3.
by a meer ratiocination, collecting by a drie syllogisticall
discourse [That meats and drinks preserve the health and
fabrick of the Body, repairing what daily exhales from it]
without sensating any kind of grief in the want, or refresh-
ment in the use, of them ; it would soon suffer the Body
to languish and decay. And therefore as these Bodily
infirmities and passions are not evil in themselves; so
neither are they evil as they first affect our Souls. When
Our Animal Spirits, begot of fine and good blood, gently
and nimbly play up and down in our Brains, and swiftly
flie up and down our whole Bodies, we presently find our
Phansies raised with mirth and chearfulness: and as when
Our Phansies are thus exalted, we may not call this the
£nergy of Grace; so if our Spleen or Hypochondria, swell-
ing with terrene and sluggish Vapours, send up such
Melancholick fumes into our heads as move us to sadness
and timorousness, we cannot justly call that Vice; nor when
the Gall does degurgitate its bitter juyce into our Ziver,
which mingling it self with the blood, begets fiery Spirits
that presently fly up into our Brain, and there beget
impressions of Anger within us. The like we may say
of those Corporeal passions which are not bred first of all
by any Peccant humours or distemperatures in our own
bodies, but are excited in us by any External objects
which by those idola and images that they present to our
Senses, or rather those Motions they make in them, may
Presently raise such commotions in our Spirits: For our
Body maintains not onely a conspiration and consent of
all its own parts, but also it bears a like relation to other
mundane bodies with which it is conversant, as being
* Part of the whole Universe. But when our Soul, once
mov’d by the undisciplin'd petulancy of our Animal spirits,
º, . shall foment and cherish that Irrational Grief, Fear, Anger,
Love, or any other such like Passions contrary to the
dictates of Reason ; it then sets the stamp of sinfulness

I56 JOHN SMITH
upon them. It is the consent of our own Wills that by
brooding of them brings forth those hatefull Serpents,
For though our Souls be espoused to these Earthly Bodies,
and cannot but in some measure sympathize with them,
yet hath the Soul a true dominion of its own acts. It is
not the meer passion, if we take it in a Physicall sense,
but rather some inordinate action of our own Wills that
entertain it : and these passions cannot force our Wills,
but we may be able to chastise and allay all the inordinacy
of them by the power of our Wills and Reasons: and
therefore God hath not made us under the necessity of
sin, by making us men subject to such infirmities as these
are which are meerly £oal oropºdrov, as the Greek Philoso-
pher hath well called them, the blossomings and shootings
forth of bodily life within us ; which is but rô divöpóTwow
or Humanity.
And, if I mistake not, our Divinity is wont sometimes
to acknowledge some such thing in our Saviour himself,
who was in all things made like to us, our sinfulness
excepted. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
griefs, as the Prophet Esay speaks of him : and when he
was in bodily agonies and horrours, the powerfull assaults
thereof upon his Soul moved him to petition his Father,
that if it were possible, that bitter Cup might pass from him ;
and the sense of death so much afflicted him, that it bred
in him the sad griefs which S. Peter expresseth by Óðivas roi
6avárov Act. 2. the pangs or throes of death, and that fear
that extorted a desire to be freed from it, as it is insinuated
by that in Heb. 5. 7, he was delivered from what he feared;
for so the words, being nothing else but an Hebraism, are
to be rendred, eigakovorffels árà Tâs eixageſas. And we arº
wont to call this the language and dictate of Wature which
lawfully endeavours to preserve it self, though presently an
higher principle must bring all these under a subjection to
God, and a free submission to his good pleasure : as it
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 157
ſ
was with our Saviour, who moderated all these passions by
a ready resignment of himself and his own Will up to the
Will of God; and though his Humanity crav'd for ease
and relaxation, yet that Divine Nature that was within him
would not have it with any repugnancy to the supreme
Will of God.

***




j
c_4.
D I S C O U R S E
Concerning
THE EXISTENCE
A ND
NATURE OF GOD.
Agapetus ad Juſtinianum.
t N t / A / \ \ e /
O yap tavroy yo's, yyárera, Geów' fley 9 8 yyoºs,
êuoioſha eral (sº duolo.ºrera, 9: §só, 3 &tos
yerºusyos (soſ, 3%ios dº yiveral Gedº, 3 and v
&ážov zrpárrow (soº, 3ÅA& ºppovºv učy tº abroſ,
Aaxºv 33 & ºppové, Totòy 3: 3 XaXái.
M. T. Cicero 1. I. De Legibus.
A tot generibus mullum eſt animal praeter hominem
quod habeat motitiam aliquam Zei : ipſ/?ue in
Áominibus mulla gems eſt me?ue tam immanſaeta,
heque tam fera, Žuae mon, etiamſ, ignoret 7aalem
Aabere Zeum deceat, tamen habendum ſciat.
*—

|
| OF THE EXIST ENCE
AND
N AT U R E OF GO D
f
\ CHAPTER I.
Zhat the Best way to know God is by an attentive zefteåcion
| %0m our own Souls. God more clearly and lively pictur'd
#. the Souls of Men, then upon any part of the Sensible
orld.
WE shall now come to the other Cardinal Principle of
all Religion, and treat Something concerning God. Where
We shall not so much demonstrate That he is, as What
he is.
Both which we may best learn from a Reflexion upon our
* Souls, as Plotinus hath well taught us, eis avròv
*Torpéhov, eis dpxºv ćirwortpéqel, He which reflects upon him->
*% reflects upon his own Originall, and finds the clearest
Impression of some Eternali Nature and Perfect Being /
*amp'd upon his own Soul. And therefore Plato seems
Sometimes to reprove the ruder sort of men in his times for
their contrivance of Pictures and Images to put themselves
"mind of the Ocot or Angelicall Beings, and exhorts them
to look into their own Souls, which are the fairest Images
*9t onely of the Lower divine Natures, but of the Deity
**f; God having so copied forth himself into the whole
* and energy of man's Soul, as that the lovely Characters
Of Divinity may be most easily seen and read of all men
Within themselves : |as they say Phidias the famous Statuary,
after he had made the Statue of Minerva with the greatest
CAMPAGNAc M


I62 JOHN SMITH
.
exquisiteness of Art to be set up in the Acropolis at Athens,
afterwards impress'd his own Image so deeply in her
buckler, ut memo delere posset auf divellere, qui totam statuam
non imminueret. And if we would know what the Impresse
of Souls is, it is nothing but God himself, who could not
write his own name so as that it might be read but onely in
! Rationall Natures. Neither could he make such without
imparting such an Imitation of his own Eternall Under-
standing to them as might be a perpetual Memorial of him.
self within them. And whenever we look upon our own
Soul in a right manner, we shall find an Urim and
Thummim there, by which we may ask counsel of God him.
:
self, who will have this alway borne upon its breastplate.
There is nothing that so embases and enthralls the Souls
of men, as the dismall and dreadfull thoughts of their own
Mortality, which will not suffer them to look beyond this
short span of Time, to see an houres length before them, or
to look higher then these materiall Heavens; which though
they could be stretch'd forth to infinity, yet would the
space be too narrow for an enlightned mind, that will not
be confined within the compass of corporeal dimensions.
These black Opinions of Death and the Non-entity of
Souls (darker then Hell it self) shrink up the free-born
Spirit which is within us, which would otherwise be dilating
and spreading it self boundlesly beyond all Finite Being:
and when these sorry pinching mists are once blown away,
it finds this narrow sphear of Being to give way before it;
and having once seen beyond Time and Matter, it finds |
then no more ends nor bounds to stop its swift and restless
motion. It may then fly upwards from one heaven to
another, till it be beyond all orbe of Finite Being, swallowed
up in the boundless Abyss of Divinity, irspávo ris oigtaº,
beyond all that which darker thoughts are wont to represent
under the Idea of Essence. This is that 6:ſov gráros which
the Areopagite speaks of, which the higher our Minds soarº
|- |
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 163
into, the more incomprehensible they find it. Those
y dismall apprehensions which pinion the Souls of men to
f mortality, churlishly check and starve that noble life thereof,
- which would alwaies be rising upwards, and spread it self in
a free heaven: and when once the Soul hath shaken off
i these, when it is once able to look through a grave, and see
| beyond death, it finds a vast Immensity of Being opening
it self more and more before it, and the ineffable light and
beauty thereof shining more and more into it; when it can
rest and bear up it self upon an Immaterial centre of
Immortality within, it will then find it self able to bear
it self away by a self-reflexion into the contemplation of an
Eternall Deity.
For though God hath copied forth his own Perfections in f
this conspicable and sensible World, according as it is
capable of entertaining them ; yet the most clear and
distinct copy of himself could be imparted to none else
but to intelligible and inconspicable natures: and though the i
} whole fabrick of this visible Universe be whispering out
the notions of a Deity, and alway inculcates this lesson to the
- Contemplators of it, Ös épè tre+otmke 6 6.eós, as Plotinus
| expresseth it; yet we cannot understand it without some 4-
| interpreter within. The Heavens indeed declare the glory, of :
| God, and the Firmament shews his handy-work, and the
# Tö Yvoorov rod 6eoë, that which may be known of God, even
| his eternal power and Godhead, as S. Paul tells us, is to be
seen in these externall appearances: yet it must be some- ºi
*ing within that must instruct us in all these Mysteries,
and we shall then best understand them, when we compare |
that copie which we find of them within our selves, with #
that which we see without us. The Schoolmen have well
Compared Sensible and Intelligible Beings in reference to
the Deity, when they tell us that the one doe onely repre-
Sent Westigia Dei, the other Faciem Dei. We shall therefore
here enquire what that Knowledge of a Deity is which


M 2
I64 - JOHN SMITH
a due converse with our own naked Understandings will
lead us into.
CHAPTER II.
Płow the Contemplation of our own Souls, and a right
A'effexion upon the Operations thereof, may lead us into
the Ånowledge of 1. The Divine Unity and Omniscience,
2. God’s Omnipotence, 3. The ZXivine Love and Goodness,
4. God’s Eternity, 5. His Omnipresence, 6. The Divine
Afreedome and Liberty.
IT being our design to discourse more particularly of that
Ánowledge of the Deity that we may learn immediately from
our selves, we shall observe,
1. First, There is nothing whereby our own Souls are
better known to us then by the Properties and Operations of
Reason : but when we reflect upon our own Idea of Pure
and Perfect Reason, we know that our own Souls are not it,
but onely partake of it; and that it is of such a Nature that
we cannot denominate any other thing of the same rank
with our selves by ; and yet we know certainly that it is, as
finding from an inward sense of it within our selves that
both we and other things else beside our selves partake of
it, and that we have it kará pá6ečtv and not kar’ oioia,"
neither doe we or any Finite thing contain the source of it
within our selves: and because we have a distinct Notion
of the most Perfect Mind and Understanding, we own our
deficiency therein. And as that Idea of Understanding
which we have within us points not out to us This or That
Particular, but something which is neither This nor That,
but Totall, Understanding; so neither will any elevation of
it serve every way to fit and answer that Idea. And there.
fore when we find that we cannot attain to Science but by
a Discursive deduction of one thing from another, that out
knowledge is confined, and is not fully adequate and com"
mensurate to the largest Spheare of Being, it not running
quite through it nor filling the whole area of it; or that ou"

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 165
knowledge is Chronical and successive, and cannot grasp all
things at once, but works by intervals, and runs out into
Division and Multiplicity; we know all this is from want of
Reason and Understanding, and that a Pure and Simple
Mind and Intellect is free from all these restraints and
imperfections, and therefore can be no less then Infinite.
As this Idea which we have of it in our own Souls will not
suffer us to rest in any conception thereof which represents
it less then Infinite : so neither will it suffer us to conceive
of it any otherwise then as One Simple Being : and could
we multiply Understandings into never so vast a number,
yet should we be again collecting and knitting them up
together in some Universal one. So that if we rightly
reflect upon our own Minds and the Method of their
Energies, we shall find them to be so framed, as not to
admit of any other then One Infinite source of all that
Reason and Understanding which themselves partake of, in
which they live, move and have their Being. And there- *
fore in the old Metaphysical Theology, an Originall and
Uncreated Movás or Unity is made the Fountain of all
Particularities and Numbers which have their Existence
from the Efflux of its Almighty power.
2. And that is the next thing which our own Under-
standings will instructus in concerning God, viz. His Eternal/
Power. For as we find a Wł// and Pozwer within our selves
to execute the Results of our own Reason and Judgment,
So far as we are not hindred by some more potent Cause:
so indeed we know it must be a mighty inward strength and
force that must enable our Understandings to their proper
functions, and that Life, Energy and Activity can never be
separated from a Power of Understanding. The more
unbodied any thing is, the more unbounded also is it in its
Effective power: Body and Matter being the most sluggish,
inert and unwieldy thing that may be, having no power
from it self nor over it self: and therefore the Purest Mind









I66 JOHN SMITH
:
-
--
.g-
must also needs be the most A/mighty Life and Spirit; and
as it comprehends all things and sums them up together in
its Infinite knowledge, so it must also comprehend them
all in its own life and power. Besides, when we review our
own Immortal Souls and their dependency upon some
Almighty Mind, we know that we neither did nor could
produce our selves; and withall know that all that Power
which lies within the compass of our selves, will serve for
no other purpose then to apply severall praeexistent things
one to another, from whence all Generations and Mutations
arise, which are nothing else but the Events of different
applications and complications of Bodies that were existent
before : and therefore that which produced that Substantial
Life and Mind by which we know our selves, must be
something much more Mighty then we are, and can be n0
less indeed then Omnipotent, and must also be the First
architect and 8mpuoupyós of all other Beings, and the per-
petuall Supporter of them.
3. We may also know from the same Principles, That an
Almighty Love, every way commensurate to that most
Perfect Being, eternally rests in it, which is as strong as
that is Infinite, and as full of Life and Vigour as that is
of Perfection. And because it finds no Beauty nor Love-
liness but onely in that and the issues thereof, therefore
it never does nor can fasten upon any thing else. And
therefore the Divinity alwaies enjoies it self and its own
Infinite perfections, seeing it is that Eternall and stable Sun
of goodness that neither rises nor sets, is neither eclipsed
nor can receive any encrease of light and beauty. Hence
the Divine Love is never attended with those turbulent
passions, perturbations, or wrestlings within it self, of Fëa',
Desire, Grief, Anger, or any such like, whereby our Zºº”
is wont to explicate and unfold its affection towards its
Object. But as the Divine Love is perpetually most in
finitely ardent and potent, so it is always calm and seré!”
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 167
unchangeable, having no such ebbings and flowings, no
such diversity of stations and retrogradations as that Love
hath in us which ariseth from the weakness of our Under-
Standings, that doe not present things to us alwaies in
the same Orient lustre and beauty: neither we nor any
other mundane thing (all which are in a perpetual flux)
are alwaies the same. Besides, though our Zove may
Sometimes transport us and violently rend us from our
Selves and from all Self-enjoyment, yet the more forcible
it is, by so much the more it will be apt to torment us,
while it cannot centre it self in that which it so strongly
endeavours to attract to it; and when, it possesseth most,
yet is it alwaies hungry and craving, as Plotinus hath well
express'd it, trówrote TAmpoſſrai kai Trávrote ékpet, it may
alwaies be filling it self, but, like a leaking vessel, it will
be alwaies emptying it self again. Whereas the Infinite
ardour of the Divine Love arising from the unbounded
perfection of the Divine Being, alwaies rests satisfied within
it self, and so may rather be defin'd by a gráris then
a kivmots, and is wrapt up and rests in the same Centrall
Unity in which it first begins. And therefore I think some
men of later times have much mistaken the nature of the
40ivine Love, in imagining that Love is to be attributed
to God, as all other Passions are, rather secundum effectum
then affectum: whereas S. John, who was well acquainted
With this noble Spirit of Love, when he defin'd God by it,
and calls him Love, meant not to signifie a bare nothing
known by some Effects, but that which was infinitely such
as it seems to be. And we might well spare our labour,
When we so industriously endeavour to find something
in God that might produce the Effects of some other
Passions in us, which look rather like the Brats of Hell
and Darkness then the lovely offspring of Heaven.
4. When we reflect upon all this which signifies some
Perfect Essence, as a Mind, Wisdome, Understanding,
*- a- * , .
* *
*
*
*
an
* * ~ , , " " -
a *
- * ºw ºw
*
* * -



I68 JOHN SMITH
Omnipotency, Goodness, and the like, we can find no such
thing as Time or Place, or any Corporeal/or Finite properties
which arise indeed not ex plenitudine, but ex inopia entitatis;
we may also know God to be Eternal/ and Omnipresent,
not because he fills either Place or Time, but rather because
he wanteth neither. That which first begets the Notion
of Time in us, is nothing else but that Succession and
Multiplicity which we find in our own Thoughts, which
move from one thing to another, as the Sun in the
Firmament is said to walk from one Planetary house to
another, and to have his several Stages to pass by. And
therefore where there is no such Vicissitude or Variety, as
there can be no sense of Time, so there can be nothing
of the thing. Proclus hath wittily observ'd that Saturne,
or (as the Greeks call’d him) Kpévos, was the first of the
6eoi èrukóopuot or Mundane Gods, 3rt árov yeverts, éré
Tpomystral xpévos, because Time is necessarily presuppos'd
to all Generation, which proceeds by certain motions and
intervalls. This World is indeed a great Horologe to it self,
and is continually numbring out its own age; but it cannot
lay any sure hold upon its own past revolutions, nor can it
gather up its infancy and old age, and couple them up
together. Whereas an Infinitely-comprehensive Mind hath
a Simultaneous possession of its own neverſitting life; and
because it finds no Succession in its own immutable Under
standing, therefore it cannot find any thing to measure out
its own duration. And as Time lies in the Basis of all
Finite life, whereby it is enabled by degrees to display
all the virtue of its own Essence, which it cannot doe at
once: so such an Eternity lies at the foundation of the
Divinity, whereby it becomes one without any shadow ºf
turning, as S. James speaks, without any Variety or Mulº
plicity within himself, which all created Beings that are
S carried down in the current of Time partake of And
therefore. the Platonists were wont to attribute Aićv or
*
* ~,
*
*
- * ~
*

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 169
Eternity to God, not so much because he had neither
beginning nor end of daies, but because of his Immutable
and Uniform nature, which admits of no such variety of
Conceptions as all Temporary things doe: And Time they
attributed to all created Beings, because there is a yéveats
or constant generation both of and in their essence, by
- reason whereof we may call any of them, as Proclus tells us,
by that borrowed expression, êvnv kai véav old and new,
being every moment as it were re-produced, and acting
Something which it did not individually before. Though
otherwise they supposed This World, constantly depending
upon the Creatour's Omnipotency, might from all Eternity
flow forth from the same Power that still sustains it, and
which was never less potent to uphold it then now it is:
notwithstanding this piece of it which is visible to us, or
at least this Scheme or fashion of it, they acknowledged to
have been but of a late date. *.
5. Now thus as we conceive of God’s Eternity, we may
in a correspondent manner apprehend his Omnipresence;
not so much by an Infinite Expanse or Extension of
Essence, as by an unlimited power, as Plotinus hath fitly
express'd it, Amirréov 8: Kai &repov airów oi ră ă8tečvrijrø
ſX
# Toi peyðows 3) rod óptóuoi), āXXà rô direplAijirrº tºs
ºváueos. For as nothing can ever stray out of the bounds)
or get out of the reach of an Almighty Mind and Power;
So when we barely think of Mind or Power, or any thing
else most peculiar to the Divine Essence, we cannot find
any of the Properties of Quantity mixing themselves with it: /
\ and as we cannot confine it in regard thereof to any one
| point of the Universe, so neither can we well conceive
it extended through the whole, or excluded from any part
i of it. It is alwaies some Material Being that contends for
# Space: Bodily parts will not lodge together, and the more
bulky they are, the more they justle for room one with
*nother; as Plotinus tells us, råpºv čvraúða peyúAa v 3)ke,




I7o JOHN SMITH
rà. 88 kei čv Švvápel, Bodily Beings are great onely in bulk,
but Divine Essences in virtue and power.
6. We may in the next place consider that Freedome and
Miðerty which we find in our own Souls, which is founded
in our Reason and Understanding; and this is therefore
Infinite in God, because there is nothing that can bound
the First Mind, or disobey an Almighty power. We must
"not conceive God to be the freest Agent, because he can
doe and prescribe what he pleaseth, and so set up an
Absolute will which shall make both Law and Reason, as
some imagine. For as God cannot Know himself to be any
other then what indeed he is ; so neither can he will him.
self to be any thing else then what he is, or that any thing
else should swerve from those Laws which his own Eternall
Nature and Understanding prescribes to it. For this were
to make God free to dethrone himself, and set up a Liberty
within him that should contend with the royall prerogative
\of his own boundless Wisdome.
To be short; When we converse with our own Souls,
we find the Spring of all Liberty to be nothing else but
A'eason ; and therefore no Unreasonable creature can par-
take of it: and that it is not so much any Indifferency in
our Wills of determining without, much less against, Reason,
as the liberall Election of, and Complacency in, that which
our Understandings propound to us as most expedient; And
our Ziberty most appears, when our Will most of all con-
s gratulates the results of our own Judgments; and then
shews it self most vigorous, when either the Particularméº
of that Good which the Understanding converseth with, or
the weak knowledge that it hath of it, restrains it not.
Then is it most pregnant and flows forth in the fullest
stream, when its Object is most full, and the acquaintance
with it most ample: all Liberty in the Soul being a kind
of Liberality in the bestowing of our affections, and the
want or scarce measure of it Parsimoniousness and M&

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 171
p
!
ſ
4.
i
gardise. And therefore the more the Results of our
Judgments tend to an Indifferency, the more we find our
Wills dubious and in suspense what to chuse; contrary
inclinations arising and falling within enterchangeably, as
the Scales of a Ballance equally laden with weights; and
all this while the Soul's Ziberty is nothing else but a
Aluctuation between uncertainties, and languisheth away
in the impotency of our Understandings. Whereas the
Divine Understanding beholding all things most clearly,
must needs beget the greatest Freedome that may be ;
which Freedome as it is bred in it, so it never moves
without the Compass of it. And though the Divine Will
be not determin’d alway to this or that particular, yet it
is never bereft of Eternall Light and Truth to act by ; and
therefore though we cannot see a Reason for all Gods
actions, yet we may know they were neither done against
it nor without it.
CHAPTER III.
£ow the Consideration of those restless motions of our Wills
qfter some Supreme and Infinite Good, leads us into the
&nowledge of a Deity.
WE shall once more take a view of our own Souls, and
observe how the Motions thereof lead us into the know-
ledge of a Deity. We alwaies find a restless appetite within
Our Selves which craves for some Supreme and Chief good,
and will not be satisfied with any thing less then Infinity,
it self; as if our own Penury and Indigency were com:
mensurate to the Divine fulness: and therefore no Question
has been more canvas'd by all Philosophy then this, De
summo hominis bono, and all the Sects thereof were antiently
distinguish’d by those Opinions that they entertain'd De
Jinibus Boni et Mali, as Tully phraseth it. But of how
Weak and dilute a Nature soever some of them may have
Conceived that Summum Bonum, yet they could not so
N


I 72 JOHN SMITH
satisfie their own inflamed thirst after it. We find by
Experience that our Souls cannot live upon that thin and
spare diet which they are entertain'd with at their own
home; neither can they be satiated with those jejune and
insipid morsels which this Outward world furnisheth their
Table with. I cannot think the most voluptuous Epicurean
could ever satisfie the cravings of his Soul with Corporeal
pleasure, though he might endeavour to perswade himself
there was no better: nor the most Quintessential Stoicks
find an airápkela and drapačía a Self-sufficiency and Tran-
quillity within their own Souls, arising out of the pregnancy
of their own Mind and Reason; though their sullen
thoughts would not suffer them to be beholden to an
Higher Being for their Happiness. The more we endeavour
to extract an Autarchy out of our own Souls, the more We
torment them, and force them to feel and sensate their
own pinching poverty. Ever since our Minds became 50
dim-sighted as not to pierce into that Original and Primitive
Blessedness which is above, our Wills are too big for our
Understandings, and will believe their beloved prey is to
be found where Reason discovers it not: they will pursue
it through all the vast Wilderness of this World, and force
our Understandings to follow the chase with them : nor
may we think to tame this violent appetite or allay the
heat of it, except we can look upward to some Eternal and
`Almighty goodness which is alone able to master it.
It is not the nimbleness and agility of our own Reason
which stirs up these hungry affections within us, (for then
the most ignorant sort of men would never feel the sting
thereof) but indeed some more Potent nature which hath
planted a restless motion within us that might more forcibly
\carry us out to it self; and therefore it will never suffer
it self to be controll'd by any of our thin Speculations,
or satisfied with those aierie delights that our Fancies
may offer to it: it doth not, it cannot, rest it self any

|
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 173
where but upon the Centre of some Almighty good, some
Solid and substantial Happiness; like the hungry childe
that will not be still'd by all the mother's musick, or
change its Sower and angry looks for her smiling counten-
ance; nothing will satisfie it but the full breasts. * ..
The whole work of this World is nothing but a perpetuall
contention for True Happiness, and men are scatter'd up
and down the world, moving to and fro therein, to seek
it. Our Souls by a Naturall Science as it were feeling
ſ their own Originall, are perpetually travailing with new
designs and contrivances whereby they may purchase the
Scope of their high ambitions. Happiness is that Pearl
of price which all adventure for, though few find it. It
is not Gold or Silver that the Earthlings of this world seek
after, but some satisfying good which they think is there
; treasur'd up. Neither is it a little empty breath that
Ambition and Popularity soars after, but some kind of
Happiness that it thinks to catch and suck in with it. *.
| And thus indeed when men most of all ſlie from God,
they still seek after him. Wicked men pursue indeed after
a Deity in their worldly lusts; wherein yet they most/
blaspheme; for God is not a meer empty Name or Title,
but that Self-sufficient good which brings along that Rest
and Peace with it which they so much seek after, though
they doe most prodigiously conjoyn it with something
which it is not, nor can it be, and in a true and reall strain
| of blasphemy, attribute all that which God is to something
| else which is most unlike him, and, as S. Paul" speaks of
#
those infatuated Gentiles, turn the glory of the uncorruptible
God into the image of corruptible man, of birds and four-
{ Joſed beasts and creeping things. - N
# God is not better defin'd to us by our Understandings
i then by our. Wills and Affections: He is not onely the
|
Eterna/ Reason, that Almighty Mind and Wisdome which
* Rom. I.


I 74 JOHN SMITH
our Understandings converse with ; but he is also that
unstained Beauty and Supreme Good which our Wills are
perpetually catching after : and wheresoever we find true
Beauty, Zove and Goodness, we may say, Here or there
- is God. And as we cannot understand any thing of an
Intelligible nature, but by some primitive Idea we have of
God, whereby we are able to guess at the elevation of its
Being and the pitch of its Perfection; so neither doe our
Wills embrace any thing without some latent sense of Him,
whereby they can tast and discern how near any thing
comes to that Self-sufficient good they seek after : and
indeed without such an internal sensating Faculty as this
is we should never know when our Souls are in conjunction
with the Deity, or be able to relish the ineffable sweetness
of true Happiness. Though here below we know but little
what this is, because we are little acquainted with fruition
and enjoyment; we know well what belongs to longings
and languishment, but we know not so well what belongs
to plenty and fulness; we are well acquainted with the
griefs and sicknesses of this in-bred love, but we know not
what its health and complacencies are.
To conclude this particular, pleyāAas ºxei Kivijarets à lux:
the Soul hath strong and weighty motions, and nothing
else can bear it up but something permanent and immu-
, table. Nothing can beget a constant serenity and com:
posedness within, but something Supreme to its own
Essence; as if having once departed from the primitive
Fountain of its life, it were deprived of it self, perpetually
contesting within it self and divided against it self; and
all this evidently proves to our inward sense and feeling,
That there is some Higher Good then our selves, some-
thing that is much more amiable and desirable, and ther&
\fore must be loved and preferred before our selves, as
Plotinus hath excellently observ'd, röv čvrov ºkarrow #
uevov too dyadov, BočAera ékéïvo påAAov # 3 orw cival, &c.
.-

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF GOD 175
}
Every thing that desires the enjoyment of the First good,
would rather be That them what it is, because indeed the
nature of that is much more desirable then its ozon. And
therefore the Platonists, when they contemplate the Deity
under these three notions of to v, to Šv and rô dyadév, and
question which to place first in order of understanding,
resolve the preeminence to be due to the rô dyafföv, as
Simplicius tells us, because That is first known to us as
the Architect of the world, and, we may adde, as that
which begets in us this poruköv ráðos, these strong pas-
sionate desires whereby all sorts of men (even those that
are rude and illiterate) are first known to themselves, and
by that knowledge may know what diminutive, poor and
helpless, things themselves are, who can never satiate
themselves from themselves, and what an Excellent and
Soveraign goodness there is above them which they ought
to serve, and cannot but serve it, or some filthy idol in
stead of it; though this mental Idolatry be like that gross
and external in this also, that howsoever we attend it not
(and so are never the more blameless) yet our worship
of these images and pictures of Goodness rests not there,
it being some all-sufficient Good that (as we observed
before) calls forth and commands our adorations.






T H E.
ExCELLENCY and NobleNESS
O F
T R U E R E LIGION,
I. In its Riſe and Original.
| 2. In its Nature and Eſſence.
3. In its Properties and Operations.
4. In its Progreſ.
5. In its Term and End.
7°ſalm 16. 3.
To the Saints that are in the earth, and to the excel-
lent, in whom is all my delight.
Greg. Nazianzenus in Orat. I 1.
3 / e aw 5 & \ V /*
Bºyásia 9; tº * sixávo; thenais, x2) # 7pos to 3px;é.
Tvrov šowoíoats, my spy&@ral Aéyos x2, &psrh.
* Divinae Imagints.
Idem in Orat. 23.
- 2 / \ A •N & 3/
Rºyévelay J: Aéyo, oùx, ºvoi Toxxol youſova w ozroye.
3. 3 N 5 * A ^ / ~ *
&AW ºv eta Ceia zapaxtupſet x&i Tpózros, x&i º
\ \ * º N 3/
7pos to 7porov &yoffey Cº.)000%.
. Hieronymus ad Celantiam Ep. 14.
# Asſºit Religio moſtra perſonas accipere, mec conditiones
| homimum ſedanimos inſpicit ſingulorum; Servum
& Nobilem de moribus pronunciat. Sola apud
20eum. /ibertas eſt mom ſervire peccatis: Summa
apud Zeum eſt AMobilitar clarum eſſe virtutibus.
CAMPAGNAC N


x）_-_-）->-*）***----





---
THE
EXCELLENCY AND NOBLENESS
OF
TRUE RELIGION
CHAPTER I.
I
. The Nobleness of Religion in regard of its Original
and Fountain: it comes from Heaven and moves towards
Jäeaven again. God the First Excellency and Primitive
Aerfection. All Perfections and Excellencies in any kind
are to be measured by their approach to, and Participation
0ſ, the First Perfection. Religion the greatest Participation
of God: none capable of this Divine Communication but
the Highest of created Beings: and consequently Religion
is the greatest Excellency. A twofold Fountain in God
whence Religion flowes, viz. I. His Nature. 2. His Will.
Qf Truth Watural and Revealed. Of an Outward and
Inward Revelation of God's Will.
We begin with the First, viz. True Religion is a Wołle
thing in its Rise and Original, and in regard of its Descent.
True Religion derives its pedigree from Heaven, is 3A4, rmugº
tº otpavoi, it comes from Heaven, and constantly moves
toward Heaven again: it's a Beam from God, as every good,
*4 perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow
ºf turning, as S. James speaks. God is the First Truth
*nd Primitive Goodness: True Religion is a vigorous Effux
*nd Emanation of Both upon the Spirits of men, and
therefore is called' a participation of the divine Mature.
Indeed God hath copyed out himself in all created Being,
having no other Pattern to frame any thing by but his own ,
*sence; so that all created Being is umbratilis similitudo
* 2 Peter i.
}

N 2
I8o JOHN SMITH
entis increati, and is, by some stamp or other of God upon
it, at least remotely allied to him : But True Religion is
such a Communication of the Divinity, as none but the
Highest of created Beings are capable of. On the other
side Sin and Wickedness is of the basest and lowest Original,
as being nothing else but a perfect degeneration from God
and those Eternal Rules of Goodness which are derived
from him. Religion is an Heaven-born thing, the Seed of
God in the Spirits of men, whereby they are formed to
a similitude and likeness of himself. A true Christian
is every way of a most noble Extraction, of an heavenly
and divine pedigree, being born ávoffew from above, as it
is express'd Joh. 3. ſº e tº ſº g e
Thus much for a more general discovery of the Nobleness ºf
Religion as to its Fountain and Original; We may further and
more particularly take notice of this in reference to that
Twofold fountain in God, from whence all true Religion flows
and issues forth, viz. I. His Immutable Mature. 2. His Will.
1. The Immutable Wature of God. From thence arise
all those Eternal Rules of Truth and Goodness which are
the Foundation of all Religion, and which God at the first
Creation folded up in the Soul of man. These we may
call the Truths of Natural inscription; understanding
hereby either those Fundamental principles of Truth which
Reason by a naked intuition may behold in God, or those
necessary Corollaries and Deductions that may be drawn
from thence. I cannot think it so proper to say, That God
ought infinitely to be loved because he commands it, *
because he is indeed an Infinite and Unchangeable Good”
God hath stamp'd a Copy of his own Archetypal Loveliness
upon the Soul, that man by reflecting into himself might
behold there the glory of God, intra se videre Deum, Sºº
within his Soul all those Ideas of Truth which concer"
the Nature and Essence of God, by reason of its ow"
resemblance of God; and so beget within himself the mº"
ſ’

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION I81
free and generous motions of Love to God. Reason in
man being Zumen de Zumine, a Light flowing from the
| Fountain and Father of Lights, and being, as Tully phraseth
it, participata similitudo Rationis aeternae (as the Law of
Nature, the vápos yparrós, the Law written in mans Heart,
is participatio Zegis aeternae in Rationali creatura) it was
to enable Man to work out of himself all those Notions
of God which are the true Ground-work of Love and
Obedience to God, and conformity to him: and in molding
the inward man into the greatest conformity to the Nature
of God was the Perfection and Efficacy of the Religion
of Nature. But since Mans fall from God, the inward
virtue and vigour of Reason is much abated, the Soul/
having suffered a Trepoppºmoris, as Plato speaks, a deſuvium
£ennarum; those Principles of Divine truth which were
first engraven upon mans Heart with the finger of God
are now, as the Characters of some ancient Monuments,
less clear and legible then at first. And therefore besides \
the Truth of Matural inscription,
2. God hath provided the Truth of Divine Revelation,
which issues forth from his own free Will, and clearly
discovers the way of our return to God, from whom we/
are fallen. And this Truth, with the Effects and Pro-
ductions of it in the Minds of men, the Scripture is wont
to set forth under the name of Grace, as proceeding merely
from the free bounty and overflowings of the Divine Love.
Of this Revealed Will is that of the Apostle to be under-
St00d, tº rod Oeoſ, obôeis otöev, Mone hath known the things of
God”; otöeſs, None, neither Angel nor Man, could know the
Mind of God, could unlock the Breast of God, or search
Out the Counsels of his Will. But God out of the infinite
riches of his Compassions toward mankind is pleas'd to
unbosom his Secrets, and most clearly to manifest the way
into the Holiest of al/*, and bring to light life and immortality”,
* I Cor. ii. 11. * Hebrews ix. * 2 Timothy i.



182 JOHN SMITH
2^
and in these last ages to send his Son, who lay in his bosom
from all Eternity, to teach us his Will and declare his Mind
to us. When we look unto the Earth, them behold darkness
and dimness of anguish, that I may use those words of
the Prophet Esay: But when we look towards Heaven,
then behold light breaking forth upon us, like the Eye-lids
of the Morning, and spreading its wings over the Horizon
of mankind sitting in darkness and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
But besides this Outward revelation of God's will to men,
there is also an Inward impression of it on their Minds and
Spirits, which is in a more special manner attributed to
God. We cannot see divine things but in a divine light:
God only, who is the true light, and in whom there is
no darkness at all, can so shine out of himself upon Our
glassy Understandings, as to beget in them a picture of
himself, his own Will and Pleasure, and turn the Soul
(as the phrase is in Job 38.) Dºn Yºhº; like wax or clay
to the Seal of his own light and love. He that made
our Souls in his own image and likeness, can easily find
a way into them. The Word that God speaks having found
a way into the Soul, imprints it self there as with the point
of a diamond, and becomes Aóyos éyyeypappévos év tá roi.
pav6évovros luxā, that I may borrow Plato's expression.
Men may teach the Grammar and Rhetorick, but God
... teaches the Divinity. Thus it is God alone that acquaints
**,
the Soul with the Truths of Revelation: and he also it
is that does strengthen and raise the Soul to better appre-
hensions even of Matural Truth : God being that in the
Intellectual world which the Sun is in the Sensible (örep &
roſs aiorómroſs 5 #Atos, rooro èv roſs vonroſs 6 @eós) as some of
the ancient Fathers love to speak, and the ancient Philo"
sophers too, who meant God by their Intellectus Age”,
whose proper work they supposed to be not so much to
enlighten the Object, as the Faculty.
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 183
CHAPTER II.
The Nobleness of Religion in respect of its Nature, briefly
discovered in some Particulars. How a man actuated by
A'eligion 1. lives above the world; 2. converses with him-
self, and knows how to love, value and reverence himself, in
the best sense ; 3. lives above himself, not being content to
enjoy himself, except he may enjoy God too, and himself in
God. How he denyes himself for God. To deny a mans
seff, is not to deny Right Reason, for that were to deny
God, in stead of denying himself for God. Self-love the
only Principle that acts wicked men. The happy privileges
of a Soul united to God.
WE have done with the first Head, and come now to dis-
course with the like brevity on another (our purpose being
to insist most upon the third Particular, viz. The Nobleness
of Religion in its Properties, after we have handled the
Second) which is The Excellency and Nobleness of Religion
in regard of its Wature, whether it be taken in abstracto or
* concreto; which we shall treat of promiscuously, without
any rigid tying of our selves to exact Rules of Art: and so
We shall glance at it in these following Notions, rising as it
Were step by step.
I. A good man, that is actuated by Religion, lives above the
World and all Mundane delights and excellencies. The Soul
is a more vigorous and puissant thing, when it is once
restored to the possession of its own Being, then to be
bounded within the narrow Sphere of Mortality, or to
be streightned within the narrow prison of Sensual and
Corporeal delights; but it will break forth with the greatest
vehemency, and ascend upwards towards Immortality: and
When it converses more intimately with Religion, it can
Scarce look back upon its own converses (though in a lawfull
Way) with Earthly things, without a being touch'd with an
holy Shamefac'dness and a modest Blushing; and, as Porphyry
*Peaks of Plotinus, egret pºv aloxvvopévº 3rt v ord part sin,

184 JOHN SMITH
it seems to be ashamed that it should be in the Body. It
is only True Religion that teaches and enables men to dye
to this world and to all Earthly things, and to rise above
that vaporous Sphere of Sensual and Earthly pleasures,
which darken the Mind and hinder it from enjoying the
brightness of Divine light; the proper motion of Religion
is still upwards to its first Original. Whereas on the
contrary the Souls of wicked men üTogpúxual orvpareptºpépovral,
as Plato' somewhere speaks, being moistned with the Exuda-
tions of their Sensual parts become heavy and sink down
into Earthly things, and couch as near as may be to the
Centre. Wicked men bury their Souls in their Bodies: all
their projects and designes are bounded within the compass
of this Earth which they tread upon. The Fleshly mind
never minds any thing but Flesh, and never rises above the
Outward Matter, but alwaies creeps up and down like
Shadows upon the Surface of the Earth: and if it begins at
any time to make any faint assays upwards, it presently finds
it self laden with a weight of Sensuality which draws it
down again. It was the Opinion of the Academicks that
the Souls of wicked men after their death could not
of a long season depart from the Graves and Sepulchers
where their Mates were buried; but there wandred up and
down in a desolate manner, as not being able to leave those
Bodies which they were so much wedded to in this life.
2. A Good man, one that is actuated by Religion, lives in
converse with his own Reason; he lives at the height of his
own Being. This a great Philosopher makes the Property
of a Good man, póvos é tºv ćperºv exov čavrò ovyyived?”
8övara, kai orépyew tavrév, He knows how to converse with
himself, and truly to love and value himself: he measures
not himself, like the Epicure, by his inferior and Earthly
part, but by an Immortal Essence and that of him which is
from above; and so does éri Tºv čv Šavré, épxºv čvagaive",
* Phaedr. 248 A. -

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 185
| climbe up to the height of that Immortal principle which is
within him. The Stoicks thought no man a fit Auditor of
their Ethicks, till he were dispossess'd of that Opinion, That
i Man was nothing but ovatAoki, livXīs Kai göparos, as
r professing to teach men how to live only karū Xóyov, as they
speak. Perhaps their Divinity was in some things too
rigid; but I am sure a Good man acts the best of this their
| doctrine in the best sense, and knows better how to reverence
| himself, without any Self-flattery or admiration, then ever
| any Stoick did. He principally looks upon himself” as
being what he is rather by his Soul then by his Body: he
values himself by his Soul, that Being which hath the
| greatest affinity with God; and so does not seek himself in
the fading Vanities of this life, nor in those poor and low
delights of his Senses, as wicked men doe; but as the
Philosopher doth well express it, Öorm Śivapus ºbeiſyev drö
Toi Gºparos BoöAeral, Kai ärö rôv oroparuków Trafföv eis éavrov
Ovvveſſeuv' and when the Soul thus retires into it self, and
views its own worth and Excellency, it presently finds
a chast and Virgin-love stirr'd up within it self towards it
Self, and is from within the more excited and obliged els
tiv $v\akºv roſ, oikeſov détéparos, as Simplicius speaks, to
mind the preserving of its own dignity and glory. To con-
clude this Particular, A Good man endeavours to walk by-
Eternal and Unchangeable Rules of Reason; Reason in
a Good man sits in the Throne, and governs all the Powers
of his Soul in a sweet harmony and agreement with it self:
whereas Wicked men live only £orºv Šoćaorukºv, being led
up and down by the foolish fires of their own Sensual
apprehensions. In wicked men there is a Democracy of
Wild Lusts and Passions, which violently hurry the Soul up
and down with restless motions. All Sin and Wickedness
is a régis Kal 38pts tºs buxºs, a Sedition stirred up in the
Soul by the Sensitive Powers against Reason. It was one
* Karā Tºv Aoyukºv (wºv oëquapévos, Simplic. in Apict.









I86 JOHN SMITH
of the great Evils that Solomon saw under the Sun, Servants
on horseback, and Princes going as servants upon the ground".
We may find the Moral of it in every wicked man, whose
Souls are only as Servants to wait upon their Senses.
In all such men the whole Course of Nature is turned
upside down, and the Cardinal points of Motion in this
little world are changed to contrary positions: But the
Motions of a Good man are Methodical, Regular and
Concentrical to Reason. It's a fond imagination that
Religion should extinguish Reason; whenas Religion makes
it more illustrious and vigorous; and they that live most
in the exercise of Religion, shall find their Reason most.
enlarged.' I might adde, that Reason in relation to the
capacitating of Man for converse with God was thought by
some to be the Formal Difference of Man. Plutarch after
a large debate whether Brutes had not Reason in them as
well as Man, concludes it negatively upon this ground,
Because they had no knowledge and sense of the Deity, oſs
oùk éyyiveral Oeoû vómoris. In Tully's account this Capable-
ness of Religion seem'd to be nothing different from
A’ationality, and therefore he doubts not to give this for the
most proper Characterism of Reason, That it is Vinculum
Pei et Hominis. And so with them (not to name others
of the same apprehensions) animal Rationale and animal
capax Religionis seem'd to be of the like importance;
Reason as enabling and fitting Man to converse with God
by knowing him and loving him, being a character most
'unquestionably differencing Man from Brute creatures.
3. A Good man, one that is informed by True Religion,
lives above himself, and is raised to an intimate Converse with
the Divinity. He moves in a larger Sphere then his own
Being, and cannot be content to enjoy himself, except he
may enjoy God too, and himself in God.
This we shall consider two ways.
* Eccles. x.
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 187
1. In the Self-denial of Good men; they are content and
ready to deny themselves for God. I mean not that they
should deny their own Reason, as some would have it; for
that were to deny a Beam of Divine light, and so to deny
God, in stead of denying our selves for him. It is better
resolved by some Philosophers in this point, that ºteoróat
Aóyº to follow Reason is reorðat Oeº to follow God; and
again, Aóyº 8° àp6% reiffeoffat kai Oeº, Tairóv čott. But by
Self-denial I mean, the Soul's quitting all its own interest in
it self, and an entire Resignation of it self to him as to all
points of service and duty: and thus the Soul loves it self
in God, and lives in the possession not so much of its own
Being as of the Divinity; desiring only to be great in God,
to glory in his Light, and spread it self in his Fulness; to
be fill'd alwaies by him, and to empty it self again into
him; to receive all from him, and to expend all for him;
and so to live not as its own, but as God's. The highest
ambition of a Good man is to serve the Will of God: he
takes no pleasure in himself nor in any thing within himself
further then he sees a stamp of God upon it. Whereas,
Wicked men are imprisoned within the narrow circum-
ference of their own Beings, and perpetually frozen into
a cold Self-love which binds up all the Innate vigour of
their Souls, that it cannot break forth or express it self in
any noble way. The Soul in which Religion rules, saies as
S. Paul did, I live; and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
On the contrary, a Wicked man swells in his own thoughts,
and pleaseth himself more or less with the imagination
of a Self-sufficiency. The Stoicks, seeing they could not
raise themselves up to God, endeavour to bring down God
to their own Model, imagining the Deity to be nothing else
but some greater kind of Animal, and a Wise man to be
almost one of his Peers. And this is more or less the
‘Sapiens cum Diis ex Aari vivit, Deorum socius, non supplex, Sen. in
*P. 52 and 31.
l**.
ls'


I88 JOHN SMITH
Genius of Wicked men, they will be something in them-
selves, they wrap up themselves in their own Being, move
up and down in a Sphere of Self-love, live a professed
Independency upon God, and maintain a Meum et Tuum
between God and themselves. It's the Character only
of a Good man to be able to deny and disown himself, and
to make a full surrender of himself unto God; forgetting
himself, and minding nothing but the Will of his Creator;
triumphing in nothing more then in his own Mothingness,
and in the A//ness of the Divinity. But indeed this his
being Nothing is the only way to be all things; this his
having nothing the truest way of possessing all things.
2. As a Good man lives above himself in a way of Self
denial, so he lives also above himself as he lives in the
Enjoyment of God: and this is the very Soul and Essence
of True Religion, to unite the Soul in the nearest intimacy
and conjunction with God, who is try) (offs, Trny) voi, fiía
Juxºs, as Plotinus speaks. Then indeed the Soul lives
most nobly, when it feels it self to live and move and have
its Being in God; which though the Law of Nature makes
the Common condition of all created Being, yet it is only
True Religion that can give us a more feeling and com:
fortable sense of it. God is not present to Wicked men,
when his Almighty Essence supports them and maintains
them in Being; &AA tort tº 8vvapiévº 6-yeſv trapóv, but he
is present to him that can touch him, hath an inward feeling
knowledge of God and is intimately united to him ; tāº ?
38vvaroëvrt of trópeari, but to him that cannot thus touch him
he is not present. • . -
Religion is Life and Spirit, which flowing out from God
who is that Airočoff that hath life in himself, returns to him
again as into its own Original, carrying the Souls of Good
men up with it. The Spirit of Religion is alwāies ascending
upwards, and spreading it self through the whole Essence
* Plotin, in En. 6. l. 9. c. 7.

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 189
of the Soul, loosens it from a Self-confinement and narrow-
ness, and so renders it more capacious of Divine Enjoyment.
God envies not his people any good, but being infinitely
bountifull is pleased to impart himself to them in this life,
So far as they are capable of his Communications: they
stay not for all their happiness till they come to heaven.
Religion alwaies carries its reward along with it, and when
it acts most vigorously upon the Mind and Spirit of man, it
then most of all fills it with an inward sense of Divine
Sweetness. To conclude, Zo walA with God is in Scripture
made the Character of a Good man, and it's the highest
perfection and privilege of Created Nature to converse with
the Divinity. Whereas on the contrary Wicked men con-
Verse with nothing but their Zusts and the Vanities of this
fading life, which here flatter them for a while with
unhallowed delights and a mere Shadow of Contentment;
and when these are gone, they find both Substance and
Shadow too to be lost Eternally. But true Goodness
brings in a constant revenue of solid and substantial
Satisfaction to the Spirit of a good man, delighting alwaies
to sit by those Eternal Springs that feed and maintain it:
the Spirit of a Good man (as it is well express'd by the
P hilosopher) ākwiſtos évíðputaw v Thoëoríg tºs 6etas āyaôórntos,
and is alwaies drinking in Fountain-Goodness, and fills
it self more and more, till it be filled with all the fulness
of God.
CHAPTER V.
The Zhird” Property or Effect discovering the Nobleness of
£eligion, viz. That it directs and enables a man to
* In ce. III and IV two other ‘properties’ of Religion have been
discussed:— *
* “Religion enlarges all the Faculties of the Soul, and begets
* true Ingenuity, Liberty and Amplitude, the most Free and Generous





I90 JOHN SMITH
propound to himself the Best End, viz. The Glory of
God, and his own becoming like unto God. Low and
Aarticular Ends and /nterests both debase and streighten
a mans Spirit: The Universal, Highest and Zast End
both ennobles and enlarges it. A man is such as the End
is he aims at. The great power the End hath to mold and
fashion man into its likeness. Religion obliges a man (not
to seek himself, nor to drive a trade for himself; but) to
seek the Glory of God, to live wholy to him ; and guides
him steddily and uniformly to the One Chief Good and
Last End. Men are prome to flatter themselves with a
pretended aiming at the Glory of God. A more full and
distinct explication of what is meant by a mans directing
all his actions to the Glory of God. What it is truly and
really to glorifie God. God's seeking his Glory in respect
of us in the flowing forth of his Goodness upon us: Our
seeking the Glory of God is our endeavouring to partake
more of God, and to resemble him (as much as we can),
in true Holiness and every Divine Vertue. That we are
not micely to distinguish between the Glory of God and our
own Salvation. That Salvation is nothing else for the
main but a true Participation of the Divine Wature. To
love God above our selves, is not to love him above the
Salvation of our Souls; but above our particular Beings
and above our sinfull affections, &c. The Difference
between Things that are Good relatively, and those that
are Good absolutely and Essentially: That in our c0%
formity to these God is most glorified, and we are made
nost Happy.
THE Third Property or Effect whereby Religion discovers
its own Excellency, is this, That it directs and enables a maſº
to propound to himself the Best End and Scope of life, viz.
The Glory of God the Highest Being, and his own assimilation
or becoming like unto God.
That Christian in whom Religion rules powerfully, is not
so low in his ambitions as to pursue any of the things
Spirit in the Minds of good men' (III); and 2. ‘It restores man tº
a just power and dominion over himself, enables him to overcomº
his Self-will and Passions’ (IV).
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION I9 I
for earthly designes and interests; but understanding
himself to come from God, he is continually returning
| to him again. It is not worth the while for the Mind
of this world as his Ultimate End: his Soul is too big
|
of Man to pursue any Perfection lower then its own, or
to aim at any End more ignoble then it self is. There
is nothing that more streightens and confines the free-born
| Soul then the particularity, indigency and penury of that
End which it pursues: when it complies most of all with
- this lower world, röre påAtara to aireéoùortov ćpºtoºmrijatpov
*xel, as is well observed by an excellent Philosopher, the
true Nobleness and Freedome of it is then most disputable,
and the Title it holds to true Ziberty becomes most litigious.
It never more slides and degenerates from it self, then
when it becomes enthrall'd to some Particular interest: as
| On the other side it never acts more freely or fully, then
| when it extends it self upon the most Universal End.
| Every thing is so much the more Noble, quo longiores habet
| Jines, as was well observ'd by Tully. As low Ends debase
: a mans spirit, supplant and rob it of its birth-right; so the
Žighest and Zast End raises and ennobles it, and enlarges it
into a more Universal and comprehensive Capacity of
enjoying that one Unbounded Goodness which is God .
# himself: it makes it spread and dilate it self in the Infinite
..! Sphere of the Divine Being and Blessedness, it makes
| it live in the Fulness of Him that fills all in all.
! Every thing is most properly such as the End is which
i is aim'd at: the Mind of man is alwaies shaping it self
into a conformity as much as may be to that which is his
£nd; and the nearer it draws to it in the achievement
thereof, the greater likeness it bears to it. There is a
Plastick Virtue, a Secret Energy issuing forth from that
which the Mind propounds to itself as its End, to mold
and fashion it according to its own Model. The Soul is
alwaies stamp'd with the same Characters that are engraven



I92 JOHN SMITH
upon the End it aims at ; and while it converses with it,
and sets it self before it, it is turned as Wax to the Seal,
to use that phrase in Joã. Man's Soul conceives all its
Thoughts and Imaginations before his End", as Zaban's
Ewes did their young before the Rods in the watering
troughs. He that pursues any worldly interest or earthly
thing as his End, becomes himself also yet,öms Earthly:
and the more the Soul directs it self to God, the more it
becomes 9eoetőffs God-like, deriving a print of that glory and
beauty upon it self which it converseth with, as it is excel.
lently set forth by the Apostle”, But we all with often face,
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Zord, are changed
into the same image, from glory to glory. That Spirit of
Ambition and Popularity that so violently transports the
Minds of men into a pursuit of Vain-glory, makes them as
vain as that Popular air they live upon: the Spirit of this
world that draws forth a mans designes after worldly
interests, makes him as unstable, unconstant, tumultuous
and perplex’d a thing as the world is. On the contrary,
the Spirit of true Religion steering and directing the Mind
and Life to God, makes it an Uniform, Stable and quiet
thing, as God himself is : it is only true Goodness in the
Soul of man guiding it steddily and uniformly towards God,
directing it and all its actions to the one Last End and
Chief Good, that can give it a true consistency and com:
posedness within it self.
All Selftseeking and Self-love do but imprison the Soul,
and confine it to its own home: the Mind of a Good man
is too Noble, too Big for such a Particular life; he hath
learn'd to despise his own Being in comparison of that
Uncreated Beauty and Goodness which is so infinitely
transcendent to himself or any created thing; he reckonº
upon his choice and best affections and designes as toº
*
* Genesis xxx. * 2 Corinth. iii.

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION I93
º
choice and precious a treasure to be spent upon such a
poor Sorry thing as himself, or upon any thing else but God
himself.
This was the life of Christ, and is in some degree the life
of every one that partakes of the Spirit of Christ. Such
Christians seek not their own glory, but the glory of him
that sent them into this world: they know they were
brought forth into this world, not to set up or drive a trade
for themselves, but to serve the will and pleasure of him that
made them, and to finish that work he hath appointed them.
It were not worth the while to have been born or to live,
had it been only for such a penurious End as our selves are:
it is most God-like and best suits with the Spirit of Religion,
for a Christian to live wholy to God, to live the life of God,
having his own life hid with Christ in God; and thus in
a Sober sense he becomes Deified. This indeed is such
a 0éooris Deification as is not transacted merely upon the
Stage of Fancy by Arrogance and Presumption, but in the
highest Powers of the Soul by a living and quickning Spirit
of true Religion there uniting God and the Soul together in
the Unity of Affections, Will and End.
I should now pass from this to another Particular; but
because many are apt to misapprehend the Notion of God's
glory, and flatter themselves with their pretended and
imaginary aiming at the Glory of God, I think it may be of
good use, a little further and more distinctly to unfold the
Designe that a Religious mind drives on in directing it self
and all its actions to God. We are therefore to consider,
that this doth not consist in some Transient thoughts of
God and his Glory as the End we propound to our selves
in any Undertakings: a man does not direct all his actions
! to the Glory of God by forming a Conception in his Mind,
or stirring up a strong Imagination upon any Action, That,
that must be for the Glory of God: it is not the thinking of
; God's glory that is glorifying of him. As all other parts of
CAMPAGNAC O










I94 JOHN SMITH
Religion may be apishly acted over by Fancy and Imagi.
zation, so also may the Internal parts of Religion many
times be acted over with much seeming grace by our Fancy
and Passions; these often love to be drawing the pictures
of Religion, and use their best arts to render them more
beautifull and pleasing. But though true Practical Religion
derives its force and beauty through all the Lower Powers
of a mans Soul, yet it hath not its rise nor throne there:
as Religion consists not in a Form of Words which signifie
nothing, so neither doth it consist in a Set of Fancies or
Internal apprehensions. Our “Saviour hath best taught
what it is to live to God's glory, or to glorifie God, viz. to be
fruitfull in all holiness, and to live so as that our lives may
shine with his grace spreading it self through our whole
man.
We rather glorifie God by entertaining the Impressions
of his Glory upon us, then by communicating any kind of
Glory to him. Then does a Good man become the Taber-
nacle of God wherein the Divine Shechinah does rest, and
which the Divine glory fills, when the frame of his Mind
and Life is wholy according to that Idea and *Pattern
which he receives from the Mount. We best glorifie him
when we grow most like to him ; and we then act most for
his glory, when a true Spirit of Sanctity, Justice, Meekness,
&c. runs through all our actions; when we so live in the
World as becomes those that converse with the great Mind
and Wisdom of the whole World, with that Almighty Spirit
that made, supports and governs all things, with that Being
from whence all good flows, and in which there is no Spot,
Stain or Shadow of Evil; and so being captivated and over
come by the sense of the Divine loveliness and goodness,
endeavour to be like him, and conform our selves as much
as may be to him.
* Joh. 15.8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much ſ”
* As it is said of the Material Tabernacle, Exodus 25.

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION I95
|
When God seeks his own Glory, he does not so much
endeavour any thing without himself. He did not bring .
this stately fabrick of the Universe into Being, that he
might for such a Monument of his mighty Power and
Beneficence gain some Panegyricks or Applause from a
little of that fading breath which he had made. Neither
Was that gracious contrivance of restoring lapsed men to
himself a Plot to get himself some Eternal Hallelujahs, as
if he had so ardently thirsted after the layes of glorified
Spirits, or desired a Quire of Souls to sing forth his praises.
Neither was it to let the World see how Magnificent he was.
No, it is his own Internal Glory that he most loves, and
the Communication thereof which he seeks: as Plato some. "
times speaks of the Divine love, it arises not out of Indi.
Šenºy, as created love does, but out of Fulness and Redun-
dancy; it is an overflowing fountain, and that love which
descends upon created Being is a free Efflux from the
Almighty Source of love: and it is well pleasing to him
that those Creatures which he hath made should partake of
it. Though God cannot seek his own Glory so as if he’
might acquire any addition to himself, yet he may seek it so
as to communicate it out of himself. It was a good Maxime
of Plato, rô Osº oběsis $66wos weh is better stated by
'S James, God giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
*0ſ. And by that Glory of his which he loves to impart to
his Creatures, I understand those stamps and impressions
of Wisdom, Justice, Patience, Mercy, Love, Peace, Joy, and
Other Divine gifts which he bestows freely upon the Minds
of men. And thus God triumphs in his own Glory, and
takes pleasure in the Communication of it.
As God's seeking his own Glory in respect of us, is most
Properly the flowing forth of his Goodness upon us: so our
| *eking the Glory of God is most properly our endeavouring
* Participation of his Goodness, and an earnest uncessant
• * Chap. I. 5.




O 2
I96 JOHN SMITH
pursuing after Divine perfection. When God becomes so
great in our eyes, and all created things so little, that we
reckon upon nothing as worthy of our aims or ambitions
but a serious Participation of the Divine Nature, and the
Exercise of divine Vertues, Love, Joy, Peace, Zong-suffering,
Aïndness, Goodness, and the like ; When the Soul beholding
the Infinite beauty and loveliness of the Divinity, and then
looking down and beholding all created Perfection mantled
over with darkness, is ravish'd into love and admiration
of that never-setting brightness, and endeavours after the
greatest resemblance of God in Justice, Love and Goodness;
When conversing with him év joix'p &raq.ft, by a secret
feeling of the virtue, sweetness and power of his Goodness,
we endeavour to assimilate our selves to him : Then We
may be said to glorifie him indeed. God seeks no glory
but his own; and we have none of our own to give him.
God in all things seeks himself and his own glory, as finding
nothing Better then himself; and when we love him above
all things, and endeavour to be most like him, we declare
Alainly that we count nothing Better then He is.
I doubt we are too nice Logicians sometimes in distin
guishing between the Glory of God and our own Salvation.
We cannot in a true sense seek our own Salvation more
then the Glory of God, which triumphs most and discovers
it self most effectually in the Salvation of Souls; for indeed
this Salvation is nothing else but a true Participation of the
Divine Nature. Heaven is not a thing without us, nor is
Happiness any thing distinct from a true Conjunction of
the Mind with God in a secret feeling of his Goodness and
reciprocation of affection to him, wherein the Divine Glory
most unfolds it self. And there is nothing that a Soul
touch'd with any serious sense of God can more earnestly
thirst after or seek with more strength of affection them
This. Then shall we be happy, when God comes to be all
in all in us. To love God above our selves is not indeed 3°

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 197
*i
\
properly to love him above the salvation of our Souls, as if
these were distinct things; but it is to love him above all
our own sinfull affections, and above our particular Beings,
and to conform our selves to him. And as that which is
* Good relatively, and in order to us, is so much the Better,
by how much the more it is commensurate and conformed
to us: So on the other side, that which is good absolutely
and essentially, requires that our Minds and Affections
should, as far as may be, be commensurate and conform'd
to it: and herein is God most glorified, and we made
Happy. As we cannot truly love the First and Highest
Good while we serve a designe upon it, and subordinate it
to our selves : so neither is our own Salvation consistent
with any such sordid, pinching and particular love. We
cannot be compleatly blessed, till the Idea Boni, or the
Ipsum Bonum, which is God, exercise its Soveraignty over
all the Faculties of our Souls, rendring them as like to
it self as may consist with their proper Capacity.
* [See more of this in the Discourse Of the Existence and
Mature of God, Chap. 4. and more largely in that Latine
Discourse, shortly to be printed, Pietati studere ex intuitu
mercedis non est illicitum.]
CHAPTER X.
4. The Excellency of Religion in regard of its Progress,
as it is perpetually carrying on the Soul towards Perfection.
Boery Wature hath its proper Centre which it hastens to.
Sin and Wickedness is zwithin the attractive pozwer of Hell,
and hastems thither: Grace and Holiness is 2Uithin the
Central force of Heaven, and moves thither. 'Tis not the
Speculation of Heaven as a thing to come that satisfyes the
desires of Religious Souls, but the reall Possession of it even
in this life. Men are apt to seek after Assurance of
Heaven as a thing to come, rather then after Heaven it
* See the Discourse of the Existence and Nature of God. Chap. ix
f (not printed in this selection, but see p. 20I, footnote).
"Cf. p. 201, footnote.


198 JOHN SMITH
self and the inward possession of it here. How the As-
surance of Heaven rises from the growth of Holinesse and
the powerful Progresse of Religion in our Souls. That we
are not hastily to believe that zwe are Christ's, or that
Christ is in us. That the Works zwhich Christ does in
holy Souls festify of him, and best evidence Christ's spiritual
appearance in them.
WE have consider'd the Exce//ency of True Religion
1. in regard of its Descent and Origina/; 2. in regard of
its Mature; 3. in regard of its Properties and Effects. We
proceed now to a Fourth Particular, and shall shew
4. That Religion is a generous and noble thing in regard
of its Progresse; it is perpetually carrying on that Mind in
which it is once seated toward Perfection. Though the
First appearance of it upon the Souls of good men may
be but as the Wings of the Morning spreading themselves
upon the Mountains, yet it is still rising higher and higher
upon them, chasing away all the filthy mists and vapours
of Sin and Wickedness before it, till it arrives to its
Meridian altitude. "There is the strength and force of
the Divinity in it; and though when it first enters into
the Minds of men, it may seem to be sowen in zweakness,
yet it will raise it self in power. As Christ was in his
Bodily appearance, he was still increasing in wisedome
and knowledge and favour with God and man, untill he
was perfected in glory: so is he also in his Spiritual
appearance in the Souls of men; and accordingly the New
Testament does more then once distinguish of Christ in
his several ages and degrees of growth in the Souls of
all true Christians. Good men are always walking on
from strength to strength, till at last they see God in Zion.
Religion though it hath its infancy, yet it hath no old age:
while it is in its Minority, it is always in motu ; but when
* Prov. 4. 18. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shine”
more and more unto the perfect day. &

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 199
t
it comes to its Maturity and full age, it will always be
in quiete, it is then always the same, and its years fail
not, but it shall endure for ever. Holy and religious
Souls being once toucht with an inward sense of Divine
Beauty and Goodness, by a strong impress upon them are
moved swiftly after God, and (as the Apostle expresses
himself) forgetting those things which are behind, and reach-
ing forth unto those things which are before, they presse toward
the Maré, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus; that so they may attain to the resurrection of the dead.
Where a Spirit of Religion is, there is the Central force
of Heaven it self quickening and enlivening those that are
informed by it in their motions toward Heaven. As on
the other side all unhallowed and defiled minds are within
the attractive power of Hell, and are continually hastening
their course thither, being strongly pressed down by the
Weight of their Wickedness. ’Aet rivas exei Kwijaeis # biſors,
as Plutarch hath well observ'd, Every nature in this world
hath some proper Centre which it is always hastening to.
Sin and Wickedness does not hover a little over the
bottomeless pit of Hell, and onely flutter about it; but it's
continually sinking lower and lower into it. Neither does
true Grace make some feeble assaies toward Heaven, but
by a mighty Energy within it self it's always soaring up
higher and higher into heaven. A good Christian does
not onely court his Happiness, and cast now and then
a smile upon it, or satisfy himself merely to be contracted
to it; but with the greatest ardours of Love and Desire
he pursues the solemnity of the just Nuptialls, that he
may be wedded to it and made one with it. It is not
an aiery speculation of Heaven as a thing (though never
So undoubtedly) to come, that can satisfy his hungry desires,
but the reall” possession of it even in this life. Such an
* Phil. 3.
* So we read Joh. 6. 54. hath eternal life; and I Ep. Jo. ch. 5. II, 13.


2OO JOHN SMITH
Happiness would be less in the esteem of Good men, that
were onely good to be enjoyed at the end of this life when
all other enjoyments fail him.
I wish there be not among some such a light and poor
esteem of Heaven, as makes them more to seek after As-
surance of Heaven onely in the Idea of it as a thing to come,
then after Heaven it self; which indeed we can never well
be assured of, untill we find it rising up within our selves
and glorifying our own Souls. When true Assurance comes,
Beaven it self will appear upon the Horizon of our Souls,
like a morning light chafing away all our dark and gloomy
doubtings before it. We shall not need then to light up
our Candles to seek for it in corners; no, it will display
its own lustre and brightness so before us, that we may
see it in its own light, and our selves the true possessours
of it. We may be too nice and vain in seeking for signes
and tokens of Christ's Spiritual appearances in the Souls
of men, as well as the Scribes and Pharisees were in
seeking for them at his First appearance in the World.
When he comes into us, let us expect till the works that
he shall doe within us may testify of him; and be not
over-credulous, till we find that he doth those works there
which none other could doe. As for a true well-grounded
Assurance, say not so much, Who shall ascend up in?”
heaven, to fetch it down from thence? or who shall descend
into the deep, to fetch it up from beneath? for in the
Growth of true internal Goodness and in the Progress of
true Religion it will freely unfold it self within us. Stay
till the grain of Mustard-seed it self breaks forth from
among the clods that buried it, till through the descent of
the heavenly dew it sprouts up and discovers it self openly.
This holy Assurance is indeed the budding and blossoming
of Felicity in our own Souls; it is the inward sense and
feeling of the true life, spirit, sweetness and beauty of
Grace powerfully expressing its own Energy within us.
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 2O I
Briefly, True Religion in the Progresse of it transforms
those Minds in which it reigns from glory to glory: it
goes on and prospers in bringing all enemies in subjection
under their feet, in reconciling the Minds of men fully
to God; and it instates them in a firm possession of the
Supreme Good. This is the Seed of God within holy Souls,
which is always warring against the Seed of the Serpent, till
it prevail over it through the Divine strength and influence.
Though Hell may open her mouth wide and without
measure, yet a true Christian in whom the seed of God
remaineth, is in a good and safe condition; he finds him-
Self borne up by an Almighty arm, and carried upwards
as upon Eagles wings; and the Evil one hath no power
Over him, or, as S. John expresseth it, 5 IIowmpos oix &rrera,
airoi, the Evil one toucheth him not, 1 Ep. chap. 5. v. 18.
[Throughout this discourse Smith repeats much of what he had said
in sections, not here reprinted, of the Discourse of the Existence and
Nature of God. The Synopsis of chap. iv. of that discourse runs
thus:—‘That all Divine productions are the free Effluxes of Omnipotent
Love and Goodness. The true Wotion of Gods glory what it is. Men
*y apt to mistake in this point. God needs not the Happiness or
Misery of his Creatures to make himself glorious by. God does most
glorifie himself by communicating himself: we most glorifie God when
ºve most partake of him and resemble him most.”
Chap. ix is called “An Appendix concerning the Reason of Positive
Laws.’ The following passage sufficiently illustrates Smith's argument:
"Some things are so absolutely, and some things are so onely relatively.
That which is absolutely good is every way Superiour to us and we
ought alwaies to be commanded by it, because we are made under it:
But that which is relatively good to us may sometime be commanded by /
...tº: *. Eternall Truth and Righteousness are in themselves perfectly and
t absolutely good, and the more we conform our selves to them, the better
} we are. But those things that are onely good relatively and in order to
# *S, we may say of them, that they are so much the better, by how much
A. the more they are conform'd to us . . . and such indeed is the matter
*. of all Positive Laws, and the Symbolicall or Rituall part of Religion."]


2O2 JOHN SMITH
-
.
CHAPTER XI.
5. The Excellency of Religion in regard of its Term and
End, ziz. Perfect Blessednesse. How unable zwe are
in this state to comprehend and describe the Full and
Perfect state of Happiness and Glory to come. The more
Godlike a Christian is, the better may he understand that
State. Holiness and Happiness not two distinct things,
but two several Motions of one and the same thing.
Heaven cannot so well be defined by any thing without
us, as by something within us. The great nearness and
affinity between Sin and Hell. The Conclusion of this
Zºreatise, containing a Serious Exhortation to a diligent
minding of Religion, with a Discovery of the Vanity of
those Pretenses which keep men off from minding Religion.
WE come now to the Fifth and Last Particular, viz.
5. The Excellency of Religion in the Terme and End of it,
which is nothing else but Blessedness it self in its ful!
maturity. Which yet I may not here undertake to explain,
for it is altogether öppmrév tº nor can it descend so low
as to accommodate it self to any humane style. Accord.
ngly S. John tells us, it does not yet appear what we shal!
ðe; and yet that he may give us some glimpse of it, he
points us out to God, and tells us, Šuotot airá, égépeta, *
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Indeed the
best way to get a discovery of it, is to endeavour as much
as may be to be Godlike, to live in a feeling converse with
God and in a powerful exercise and expression of all God.
like dispositions: So shall our inner man be best enabled
to know the breadth and length, the depth and height of that
Love and Goodness which yet passeth all knowledg. There
is a State of Perfection in the life to come so far tran"
scendent to any in this life, as that we are not able from
hence to take the just proportions of it, or to form a full
and comprehensive notion of it. We are unable to com"
prehend the vastness and fullness of that Happiness which
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 2O3
\
(
|
*
the most purifyed Souls may be raised to, or to apprehend
how far the mighty power and strength of the Divinity
deriving it self into created Being, may communicate a
more Transcendent life and blessedness to it. We know
not what latent powers our Souls may here contain within
themselves, which then may begin to open and dilate
themselves to let in the full streams of the Divine Goodness
when they come nearly and intimately to converse with it;
Or how Blessedness may act upon those Faculties of our
Minds which we now have. We know not what illapses
and irradiations there may be from God upon Souls in
Glory, that may raise them into a state of Perfection
surpassing all our imaginations.
As for Corporea/ Happiness, there cannot be any thing
further added to the Pleasure of our Bodies or Animal part,
then a restoring it from disturbing Passion and Pain to ,
its just and natural constitution; and therefore some
Philosophers have well disputed against the opinion of
the Epicureans that make Happiness to consist in Bodily
A'easure, 3 r roMAarxāortov Yet rô Avrnpöv Tpomyoſuévov-
and when the molestation is gone, and the just constitution
of Nature recovered, Pleasure ceaseth. But the highest
A'easure of Minds and Spirits does not onely consist in
the relieving of them from any antecedent pains or grief,
or in a relaxation from some former molesting Passion:
neither is their Happiness a mere Stoical drapačía as the
Happiness of the Deity is not a mere Megative thing,
rendring it free from all disturbance or molestation, so
that it may eternally rest quiet within it self; it does not
So much consist in Quiete, as in Actu et vigore. A Mind
and Spirit is too full of activity and energy, is too quick
and potent a thing to enjoy a full and complete Happiness
in a mere Cessation; this were to make Happiness an heavy
Spiritless thing. The Philosopher hath well observ'd, that
* {\mówić dyadº gºverru, 3Anów) āšová, there is infinite














2O4 JOHN SMITH
power and strength in Divine joy, pleasure and happiness
commensurate to that Almighty Being and Goodness which
is the Eternal source of it.
As Created Beings, that are capable of conversing with
God, stand nearer to God or further off from him, and
as they partake more or less of his likeness; so they partake
more or less of that Happiness which flows forth from him,
and God communicates himself in different degrees to
them. There may be as many degrees of Sanctity and
Perfection, as there are of States and Conditions of
Creatures : and that is properly Sanctity which guides
and orders all the Faculties and Actions of any Creature
in a way suitable and correspondent to that rank and state
which God hath placed it in ; and while it doth so, it
admits no sin or defilement to it self, though yet it may
be elevated and advanced higher; and accordingly true
(Positive Sanctity comes to be advanced higher and higher,
as any Creature comes more to partake of the life of God,
and to be brought into a nearer conjunction with God:
and so the Sanctity and Happiness of Innocency it self
might have been perfected. **sººf
Thus we see how True Religion carries up the Souls
of Good men above the black regions of Hell and Death.
This indeed is the great &rokaráo racts of Souls, it is
Religion it self, or a reall participation of God and his
Holiness, which is their true restitution and advancement.
All that Happiness which Good men shall be made
partakers of, as it cannot be borne up upon any other
foundation then true Goodness and a Godlike nature
within them; so neither is it distinct from it. Sin and
Hell are so twined and twisted up together, that if the
power of Sin be once dissolvd, the bonds of Death and
Hell will also fall asunder. Sin and Hell are of the same
kind, of the same linage and descent : as on the other side
True Holiness or Religion and True Happiness are but
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 2O5
two severall Notions of one thing, rather then distinct in
themselves. Religion delivers us from Hell by instating
us in a possession of True Life and Blisse. He// is rather
a Wature then a Place: and Heaven cannot be so truly
defined by any thing without us, as by something that
is within us.
Thus have we done with those Particulars wherein we
considered the Excellency and Mobleness of Æeligion, which
is here exprest by bºr, Tik The way of life, and elsewhere
is stiled by Solomon bºr, ?? A tree of life: true Religion
being an inward Principle of life, of a Divine life, the best
life, that which is Zife most properly so called : accordingly
in the Holy Scripture a life of Religion is stiled Zife, as
a life of Sin and Wickedness is stiled Death. In the
ancient Academical Philosophy it was much disputed
whether that Corporeal and Animal life, which was always
drawing down the Soul into Terrene and Material things,
was not more properly to be Stiled Death then Zife. What
Sense hereof the Pythagoreans had may appear by this
practise of theirs, They were wont to set up kevordºbta
Empty coffins in the places of those that had forsaken
their School and degenerated from their Philosophy and
good Precepts, as being Apostates from life it self, and
dead to Vertue and a good life, which is the true life, and
therefore fit only to be reckoned among the dead.
For a Conclusion of this Discourse; The Use which we
shall make of all shall be this, To awaken and exhort every
one to a serious minding of Religion: as Solomon doth
earnestly exhort every one to seek after true Wisedome,
which is the same with Religion and Holiness, as Sin is
with Folly; Prov. 4. 5. Get Wisedome, get understanding;
and v. 7. Get Wisedome, and with all thy getting get
*nderstanding. Wisedome is the principal thing. This
is the summe of all, the Conclusion of the whole matter,
*ar God, and Åeep his Commandements; for this is the



206 JOHN SMITH
zwhole (duty, business and concernment) of man. Let us
not trifle away our time and opportunities which God hath
given us, wherein we may lay hold upon Life and Im.
mortality, in doing nothing, or else pursuing Hell and
Death. Let us awake out of our vain dreams ; Wisedome
calls upon us, and offers us the hidden treasures of Life
and Blessedness : Let us not perpetually deliver over our
selves to laziness and slumbering. Say not, There is a lion
in the way; say not, Though Religion be good, yet it is
unattainable: No, but let us intend all our Powers in
a serious resolv’d pursuance of it, and depend upon the
assistance of Heaven which never fails those that soberly
seek for it. It is indeed the Levity of mens spirits, their
heedlesseness and regardlesseness of their own lives, that
betrays them to Sin and Death. It is the general practice
of men airoakebudéew row £8tov, extempore wivere, as the
Satyrist speaks; they ordinarily ponderate and deliberate
upon every thing more then how it becomes them to live,
they so live as if their Bodies had swallowed up their
Souls: their lives are but a kind of Lottery: the Principles
by which they are guided are nothing else but a confused .
multitude of Fancies rudely jumbled together. Such is
the life of most men, it is but a meer Casual thing acted
over at peradventure, without any fair and calm debates
held either with Religion, or with Reason which in it self, \
as it is not distorted and depraved by corrupt men, is
a true Friend to Religion, and directs men to God and
to things good and just, pure, lovely and praise-worthy;
and the directions of this Inward guide we are not to /
neglect. Unreasonableness or the smothering and ex
tinguishing the Candle of the Zord within us is no piece
of Religion, nor advantageous to it: That certainly will
not raise men up to God, which sinks them below men.
There had never been such an Apostasy from Religion,
nor had such a Mystery of iniquity (full of deceiveableness

NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 207
and imposture) been revealed and wrought so powerfully
in the Souls of some men, had there not first come an
Apostasy from sober Reason, had there not first been a
falling away and departure from Natural Truth.
It is to be feared our nice speculations about a to èq,'
#pºv in Theology have tended more to exercise mens Wits
then to reform their lives, and that they have too much
descended into their practice, and have tended rather to
take men off from minding Religion, then to quicken them
up to a diligent seeking after it. Though the Powers of
Nature may now be weakned, and though we cannot pro-
duce a living form of Religion in our own Souls; yet we
are not surely resolved so into a sluggish Passiveness, as
that we cannot, or were not in any kind or manner of
way to seek after it. Certainly a man may as well read
the Scriptures as study a piece of Aristotle, or of Natural
Philosophy or Mathematicks. He that can observe any
thing comely and commendable, or unworthy and base,
in another man, may also reflect upon himself, and see
how face answers to face, as Solomon speaks Proverbs 27. 19.
If men would seriously commune with their hearts, their
Own Consciences would tell them plainly, that they might
avoid and omit more evil then they doe, and that they
might doe more good then they doe: and that they doe
not put forth that power which God hath given them,
nor faithfully use those Talents nor improve the advantages
and means afforded them.
I fear the ground of most mens Misery will prove to be
a Second fall, and a Zapse upon a Zapse. I doubt God
will not allow that Proverb, The Fathers have eaten sour
&rapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge, as not in
respect of Temporal misery, much less will he allow it
in respect of Eternal. It will not be so much because
# our First parents incurred God's displeasure, as because
we have neglected what might have been done by us

208 JOHN SMITH
afterwards in order to the seeking of God, his face and
favour, while he might be found.
Up then and be doing; and the Lord will be with
us. He will not leave us nor forsake us, if we seriously
set our selves about the work. Let us endeavour to
acquaint our selves with our own lives, and the true
Rules of life, with this which Solomon here calls the
Way of Zife: let us inform our Minds as much as may
be in the Excellency and Loveliness of Practical Religion;
that beholding it in its own beauty and amiableness, we
may the more sincerely close with it. As there would
need nothing else to deterr and affright men from Sin
but its own ugliness and deformity, were it presented
to a naked view and seen as it is : so nothing would
more effectually commend Religion to the Minds of men,
then the displaying and unfolding the Excellencies of its
Nature, then the true Native beauty and inward lustre
of Religion it self: o36 fortrepos, où6 &os ogro 6aupaorés
neither the Evening nor the Morning-Star could so sensibly
commend themselves to our bodily Eyes, and delight them
with their shining beauties, as True Religion, which is an
undefiled Beam of the uncreated light, would to a mind
capable of conversing with it. Religion, which is the true
Wisedome, is (as "the Author of the Book of Wisedome
speaks of Wisedome,) a pure influence flowing from the
glory of the Almighty, the brightness of the Everlasting
light, the unspotted mirrour of the power of God, and the
image of his Goodness : She is more beautiful then the Sun,
and above all the order of Stars; being compared with the
Jight, she is found before it. -
Religion is no such austere, sour and rigid thing, as to
affright men away from it: No, but those that are ac-
quainted with the power of it, find it to be altogether
sweet and amiable. An holy Soul sees so much of the
* Chap. 7.
NOBLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 209
i.
*f;
;
#
f
glory of Religion in the lively impressions which it bears
upon it self, as both wooes and winns it. We may truly
say concerning Religion to such Souls as S. Paul spake
to the Corinthians', Weeds it any Epistles of Commendation
to you ? Needs it any thing to court your affections? We
are indeed its Epistle, written not with ink, but with the
Spirit of the living God.
Religion is not like the Prophet's roll, sweet as honey
when it was in his mouth, but as bitter as gall in his belly.
Religion is no sullen Stoicisme, no sour Pharisaisme ; it
does not consist in a few Melancholy passions, in some
dejected looks or depressions of Mind: but it consists in
Freedom, Love, Peace, Zife and Power; the more it comes
to be digested into our lives, the more sweet and lovely
We shall find it to be. Those spots and wrinkles which
corrupt Minds think they see in the face of Religion, are
indeed nowhere else but in their own deformed and mis-
shapen apprehensions. It is no wonder when a defiled
Fancy comes to be the Glass, if you have an unlovely
reflection. Let us therefore labour to purge our own
Souls from all worldly pollutions; let us breath after the
aid and assistance of the Divine Spirit, that it may irradiate
and inlighten our Minds, that we may be able to see
Divine things in a Divine light: let us endeavour to live
more in a real practice of those Rules of Religious and
Holy living commended to us by our ever-Blessed Lord
and Saviour: So shall we know Religion better, and
knowing it love it, and loving it be still more and more
ambitiously pursuing after it, till we come to a full
attainment of it, and therein of our own Perfection and/
Everlasting Bliss. -
* 2 Cor. iii.
CAMPAGNAc º P


.
Fº
|ELEGANT
And Learned
D IS C O U R S E
OF THE
| Light of Nature
; With ſeverall other
#T R E A T I S E S.
| The Schiſme. Mount Ebal.
$ Wiz, The A& of Oblivion.Q.) The White Stone.
The Child's Returne. ( ) Spiritual Opticés.
The Panting Soul. The Worth of Souls.
2
By Nathanael Culverwel, Maſter of Arts, and lately
º Fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge.
O X F O R 7) ,
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A
D IS CO U R S E
Of the Light of NATURE
AROVERBS xx. 27.
bTN moºn) mm h: Mens hominis lucerma Domini; The
understanding of a man is the Candle of the Lord.
&
‘Pós Kuptov, Trvoi) āvépôtrov, Septuag. Aixvos Kvptov, Aquin.
Symm. Theod, Aaparrºp Kuptov. Sic alii. .
CHAPTER I.
The Porch, or Introduction.
IT is a work, that requires our choicest thoughts, the
exactest discussion, that can be ; a thing very material, and
desirable, to give unto Reason the things, that are Reason's,
and unto Faith the things, that are Faith's, to give Faith
her full scope, and latitude, and to give Reason also her
just bounds, and limits; this is the first-borne, but the other
ha's the blessing. And yet there is no such a vast hiatus
neither, such a péya xdorpa between them, as some would
imagine: there is no such implacable antipathy, no such
irreconcileable jarring between them, as some do fancy to
themselves; they may very well salute one another dyſe
*Muar, osculo Pacis; Reason, and Faith may kiss each
9ther. There is a twin-light springing from both, and they
both spring from the same Fountain of light, and they both
Sweetly conspire in the same end, the glory of that being,
from which they shine, and the welfare, and happiness of
that being, upon which they shine. So that to blaspheme

2I4 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
|Reason, 'tis to reproach Heaven it self, and to dishonour the
;God of Reason, to question the beauty of his Image, and
by a strange ingratitude to slight this great and Royal gift
of our Creatour. For ’tis he, that set up these two great
Luminaries in every Heavenly soul, the Sun to rule the day,
and the Moon to rule the might, and though there be some
kind of creatures, that will bark at this lesser light, and
others so severely critical, as that they make Mountains of
those spots, and freckles, which they see in her face; yet
others know how to be thankfull for her weaker beams, and
will follow the least light of God's setting up, though it be
but the Candle of the Zord. t
But some are so strangely prejudiced against Reason (and
that upon sufficient reason too, as they think, which yet
involves a flat contradiction) as that they look upon it not as
the Candle of the Lord, but as on some blazing Comet, that
portends present ruine to the Church, and to the soul, and
carries a fatal, and venemous influence along with it. And
because the unruly head of Socinus, and his followers, by
their meer pretenses to Reason, have made shipwrack of
Faith, and have been very injurious to the Gospel; there.
fore these weak, and staggering apprehensions are afraid of
understanding any thing; and think, that the very name of
Reason, especially in a Pulpit, in matters of Religion, must
needs have at least a thousand Heresies couched in it. If
you do but offer to make a Syllogism, they'l straightway Cry
it down for carnal reasoning. What would these men have?
Would they be banished from their own essences? Would
they forfeit, and renounce their understandings P or have
they any to forfeit, or disclaim P Would they put out this
Candle of the Lord, intellectuals of his own lighting? or have
they any to put out? would they creep into some lower
species, and go a grazing with Nebuchadnezzar among the
beasts of the field? or are they not there already? Or, if
they themselves can be willing to be so shamefully degraded
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 215
do they think, that all others too are bound to follow their
example? Oh, what hard thoughts have these of Religion?
do they look upon it only as on a bird of prey, that comes
to peck out the eyes of men P Is this all the nobility, that
it gives, that men by vertue of it must be beheaded pre-
sently? do's it chop off the intellectuals at one blow P Let's
i hear awhile what are the offences of Reason P are they so
heinous, and capital? what ha's it done P what laws ha's it
violated P whose commands ha's it broken P what did it
ever do against the Crown, and Dignity of Heaven, or
against the peace, and tranquility of men? Why are a weak,
and perverse Generation, so angry, and displeased with it?
Is it because this Daughter of the morning is fallen from
her primitive glory? from her original vigour, and perfec-
tion ? Far be it from me to extenuate that great, and fatal
Overthrow, which the sons of men had in their first, and
Original Apostasie from their God; that, under which the
Whole Creation sighs, and groans: but, this we are sure, it
did not annihilate the soul, it did not destroy the essence,
the powers, and faculties, nor the operations of the soul;
though it did defile them, and disorder them, and every
Way indispose them.
Well then, because the eye of Reason is weakned, and 1.
Vitiated, will they therefore pluck it out immediately P and tº
must Leah be hated upon no other account, but because
She is blear-eyed? The whole head is wounded, and akes,
and is there no other way, but to cut it off? The Candle of
* Lord do's not shine so clearly, as it was wont, must it
therefore be extinguished presently? Is it not better to
enjoy the faint and languishing light of this Candle of the
Žord, rather then to be in palpable, and disconsolate dark-
ness? There are indeed but a few seminal sparks left in
the ashes, and must there be whole floods of water cast on
them to quench them? 'Tis but an old imperfect Manu-
***, with some Broken periods, some ters worn out;
i;
-|

216 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
must they therefore with an unmerciful indignation rend it,
and tear it asunder P 'Tis granted, that the picture ha's
lost its gloss, and beauty, the oriency of its colours, the
elegancy of its lineaments, the comliness of its proportion;
must it therefore be totally defac’d 2 must it be made one
great blot P and must the very frame of it be broken in
pieces? Would you perswade the Lutanist to cut all his
strings in sunder, because they are out of Tune? And will
you break the Bowe upon no other account, but because
it's unbended ? because men have not so much of Æeason
as they should, will they therefore resolve to have none at
all? Will you throw away your Gold, because it's mix’d
with dross P Thy very Being, that's imperfect too, thy
graces, they are imperfect; wilt thou refuse these also?
And then consider, that the very apprehending the weak
ness of Reason, even this in some measure comes from
Reason. Reason, when awakned, it feels her own wounds,
it hears her own jarrings, she sees the dimness of her own
sight. 'Tis a glass, that discovers its own spots, and must
it therefore be broke in pieces? A'eason her self ha's made
many sad complaints unto you ; she ha's told you often,
and that with tears in her eyes, what a great shipwrack she
ha's suffered, what goods she ha's lost, how hardly she
escaped with a poor decayed Being; she ha's shewn you
often some broken reliques, as the sad remembrancers of
her former ruines; she told you how that, when she swam
for her life, she had nothing, but two, or three Jewels about
her, two, or three common notions; and would you rob her
of them also? Is this all your tenderness, and compassion?
Is this your kindness to your friend ? Will you trample
upon her now she is so low P Is this a sufficient cause to
give her a Bill of Divorcement, because she ha's lost her
former beauty, and fruitfulness?
* Or is Reason thus offensive to them, because she cannot
| grasp, and comprehend the things of God? Wain men,
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 217
!
|
|
will they pluck out their eyes, because they cannot look
upon the Sun in his brightness, and glory P What, though
Reason cannot reach to the depths, to the bottomes of the
Ocean, may it not therefore swim, and hold up the head, as
well as it can P What, though it cannot enter into the
Sanctum Sanctorum, and pierce within the Veil; may it
not, notwithstanding, ly in the Porch, at the gate of the
Temple called Beautiful, and be a Door-keeper in the House
of its God? Its wings are clipt indeed, it cannot flie so
high, as it might have done; it cannot flie so swiftly, so
Strongly, as once it could : will they not therefore allow it
to move, to stir, to flutter up and down, as well as it can P
The Turrets, and Pinnacles of the stately structure are
fallen: will they therefore demolish the whole Fabrick, and
Shake the very Foundations of it, and down with it to the
ground? Though it be not a Jacob's Zadder to climbe up
to Heaven by, yet may they not use it as a staff to walk
upon Earth withall P And then Reason it self knows this
also, and acknowledges, that 'tis dazled with the Majesty,
and Glory of God; that it cannot pierce into his mysterious,
and unsearchable ways; it never was so vain, as to go about
to measure immensity by its own finite Compass, or to span
out absolute Eternity by its own more imperfect duration.
True Reason did never go about to comprize the Bible in
its own Nut-shel. And, if Reason be content with its own .
Sphere, why should it not have the liberty of its proper -
motion P
Is it, because it opposes the things of God, and wrangles
against the Mysteries of Salvation, is it therefore excluded ?
An heinous and frequent accusation indeed; but nothing
more false, and injurious ; and if it had been an open
£nemy, that had done her this wrong, why then she could
have borne it; but it's thou, her friend, and companion, ye
have took sweet counsel together, and have entred into the
House of God as friends, 'tis you, that have your dependance

218 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
upon her ; that cannot speak one word to purpose against
her, without her help, and assistance. What mean you
thus to revile your most intimate, and inseparable self?
why do you thus slander your own Beings? would you have
all this to be true, which you say? Name but the time if
'you can, when ever right Reason did oppose one jot, or
apex of the word of God. Certainly, these men speak of
distorted Reason all this while. Surely they do not speak
of the Candle of the Zord, but of some shadow, and appear-
ance of it. But if they tell us, that all Reason is distorted,
whether then is theirs so, in telling us so? if they say that
they do not know this by Reason, but by the Word of God,
whether then is that their Reason, when it acknowledges
the Word of God? whether is it then distorted, or no?
Besides, if there were no right Reason in the World, what
difference between sobriety, and madness, between these
men, and wiser ones? how then were the Heathen left
zvithout excuse, who had nothing to see by, but this Candle
of the Lord? and how do's this thrust men below sensitive
creatures? for better have no Reason at all, then such as
do's perpetually deceive them, and delude them.
Or do's Reason thus displease them, because the blackest
Errours sometimes come under the fair disguise of so beauti.
full a name, and have some tincture of Reason in them?
But truly this is so far from being a disparagement to
Reason, as that 'tis no small commendation of it: for
Tpóororov xpi 6épew rºavyés, Men love to put a plausible
title, a winning frontispiece upon the foulest Errours.
Thus Licentiousness would fain be called by the name
of Liberty; and all Dissoluteness would fain be coun-
tenanced, and secured under the Patronage, and Protection
of free-Grace. Thus wickedness would willingly forget its
own name, and adopt it self into the family of goodness.
Thus Arminianism pleads for it self under the specious
notion of God’s love to Mankind. Thus that silly Errour of
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 2 I 9
Antinomianism will needs stile it self an Evangelical Honey-
tomb. Thus all irregularities, and anomalies in Church
Affairs, must pride themselves in those glittering titles of
a Mew Zight, A Gospel-way, An Heaven upon Earth. No
Wonder then that some also pretend to Reason, who yet run
out of it, and beyond it, and besides it; but must none
therefore come near it? because Socinus ha's burnt his
Wings at this Candle of the Zord, must none therefore make
use of it? -
May he not be conquer'd with his own weapons, and beat
out of his own strong holds, and may not the head of an
*ncircumcised Philistine be cut off with his own sword?
Or lastly, are they thus afraid of Reason, because by
Vertue of this, men of wit, and subtilty, will presently argue,
and dispute them into an Errour, so as that they shall not
be able to disintangle a Truth, though in it self it be never
So plain, and unquestionable? But first, Reason it self tells
them, that it may be thus, and so prepares, and fortifies
them against such a tryal ; and then, this only shews, that
Some mens Reason is not so well advanc'd and improv’d,
either as it might be, or as others is; a sharper edge would
quickly cut such difficulties a sunder. Some have more.
refined and clarifi’d intellectuals, more vigorous and spark-
ling eyes than others, and one soul differs from another
in glory; and that reason, which can make some shift
to maintain Errour, might with a great deal less sweat, and
Pains, maintain a Truth. - ..
There's no question, but that Bellarmine, and the rest o
the learned Papists could have, if they had pleased, far
more easily defended the Protestant Religion, than that
of their own. Besides, the vigour, and triumph of Reason
is principally to be seen in those first-born-beams, those
Pure and unspotted irradiations, that shine from it; I mean
those first bublings up of common Principles, that are
own'd, and acknowledg’d by all; and those evident, and













22 O NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
kindly derivations, that flow from them. Reason shews her
face more amiably and pleasantly in a pure and clear
stream, then in those mudded and troubled waters, in which
the Scholemen (that have leasure enough) are always fishing,
Nay, some of their works are like so many raging Seas, full
of perpetual tossings, and disquietings, and foamings, and
sometimes casting up mire, and dirt ; and yet these vast
and voluminous Zeviathans love to sport therein, and that,
which is most intolerable, these grand orodot, that seem'd
so zealous for Reason, at length in express terms disclaim it;
and in a most blindfold, and confused manner, cry up their
great Diana, their Idol of Transubstantiation; and the
Lutherans are very fierce against Reason too, much upon
the same account, because it would never allow of that
their monstrous and mis-shapen lump of Consubstantia.
tion. . -
But why have I all this while beaten the air, and spilt
words upon the ground? why do I speak to such, as are
incurable, and incapable? for if we speak Reason to them,
that's that, which they so much disclaim : if we do not
speak Reason to them, that were to disclaim it too.
But I speak to men, to Christians, to the friends of
learning; to the professours of Reason: to such as put this
Candle of the Zord into a golden Candlestick, and pour
continual Oil into it. Yet lest any among you, Athenians,
should erect an Alter to an unknown God; lest you should
ignorantly worship him, we will declare him to you.
And that, which we have now said, may serve as a Porch,
and Preamble, to what we shall speak hereafter out
of those words,
Where we shall see,
First, How The understanding of a man is the Cand”
of the Zord.
Secondly, What this Candle of the Zord discovers; where
we shall finde, t

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 221
|b
Pirst, That all the Moral Law is founded in natural, and
common light of Reason.
Secondly, That there's nothing in the mysteries of the
Gospel contrary to the light of Reason; nothing repug-
nant to this light, that shines from the Candle of the
Lord.
CHAPTER III*. º,
What Nature is.
THE words being to be understood of Lumen Naturale
according to the minds of the best, and most Interpreters,
it will be very needful to enquire what Mature is, and here
We will be sure not to speak one word for Mature, which
shall in the least measure tend to the eclipsing of Grace;
nay, nothing, but what shall make for the greater brighten-
ing, and amplifying of the free-Grace, and distinguishing
£00dness of God in Christ; and nothing, but what an
Augustine, or a Bradwardine, those great Patrons of Grace,
Would willingly set their seals unto.
Well then, as for Wature, though it be not far from any
One of us, though it be so intimate to our very Beings,
though it be printed, and engraved upon our essences, and
not upon outs onely, but upon the whole Creation, and
though we º, the letters, and Characters of it together,
as well as wécan : yet we shall find it hard enough, to spell
it out, and read what it is. F or, as it is in corporeal vision,
the too much approximation, and vicinity of an object, do's
Stop up, and hinder sight: so 'tis also many times in
Intellectual Opticks, we see some things better at a distance;
the Soul cannot so easily see its own face, nor so fully
explain its own nature. We need some Scholast, or Inter-
Areter, to comment upon our own Beings, and to acquaint us
with our own Idioms: and I meet with many Authours, that
Speak of the Light of Nature; but I can scarce finde one,
* Ch. II, on ‘The Explication of the Words,’ is omitted.

222 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
that tells us what it is. Those famous, and learned Triumviri;
SELDEN, that ha's made it his work to write De Jure
Maturali; and Grotius, that ha's said somewhat of it in
his Book De Jure Belli et Pacis ; and Salmasius, that ha's
touch'd it in his late Treatise De Coma, and in his little
Dialogue subordinate to it, in either of which, if he had
pleased, he might have described it without a digression:
yet none of these (as far as I can find) give us the least
adumbration of it; which notwithstanding was the rather to
be expected from them, because the Philosophers had left
it in such a cloudy, and obscured manner, as if they had
never seen Nature face to face, but onely through a glass
darkly, and in a Riddle. And, as we read of a Painter,
that represented Mature appearing to Aristotle with a Veil,
and Mask upon her face: so truly Aristotle himself painted
her, as he saw her, with her Veil on ; for he shews her
onely wrapped up, and muffled in matter, and form; whereas,
methinks, he, that could set Intelligences to the wheel to
spin out time, and motion, should have allowed them also
some natural ability for performing so famous a task, and
employment, which his head set them about. And truly
why Angelical Beings should be banished from the Common-
wealth of Mature; nay; why they should not properly
belong to Physicks, as well as other particular Beings; or
why Bodies onely should engross, and monopolize Natural
Philosophy, and why a Soul cannot be admitted into it,
unless it bring a Certificate, and Commendamus from the
Body, is a thing altogether unacountable, unless it be
resolved into a meer Arbitrary Determination, and a Philº-
sophical kind of Tyranny. -
And yet Aristotle's Description of Nature ha's been held
very sacred, and some of the Scholemen do even dote upon
it. Aquinas tells us in plain Terms; Deridendi sunt, qui
volunt Aristotelis definitionem corrigere. The truth is, I make
no question, but that Aristotle's Definition is very commen-
r

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 223
Surate to what he meant by Mature; but, that he had the
true, and adequate notion of Mature, this I think Aquinas
himself can scarce prove: and I would fain have him to
explain what it is for a thing innotescere lumine AWaturae,
if Wature be onely principium motifs et quietis. . Yet Plutarch
also in this point seems to compromise with Aristotle and
after a good, specious, and hopeful Preface, where he saith,
that he must needs tell us what Mature is, after all this
preparation he do's most palpably restrain it to corporeal
Beings, and then votes it to be āpx?) kivſjoreos kai épmutas.
And Empedocles, (as he is quoted by him) will needs exercise
his Poetry, and make some Verses upon Mature, and you
would think, at the first dash, that they were in a good
lofty strain; for thus he sings,
Af 3. A. 2 & a
ºiſorts of 8evós éorruyèrdorrow
Ovmtöv, où8é ris oi)\opévm 6avároto yevé6\m.
'Twas not of a mortal, withering offspring, nor of a ſading
Genealogy; but yet truely his Poetical raptures were not so
high, as to elevate him above a body, for he presently sinks
into Am, he falls down into matter, and makes Mature
nothing else, but that which is ingenerable, and incorruptible
in material Beings; just as the Peripateticks speak of their
Materia prima. But Plato, who was more spiritual in his
Philosophy, chides some of his Contemporaries, and is
extreamly displeased with them, and that very justly,
for they were degenerated into a most stupid Atheism,
and resolved all Beings into one of these three Originals,
that they were either 8th ºrw, 8th réxmv, Šiš réxviv. They
were either the workmanship of Mature, or of Fortune,
or of Art. Now as for the first, and chief corporeal
Beings, they made them the productions of Mature, that
is, (say they) they sprung from eternity into Being by
their own impetus, and by their own virtue, and efficacy,
dré twos airtas atropºdrºs, like so many natural automata,


224 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
they were the Principles of their own Being, and Motion:
and this they lay down for one of their Axioms; Tô pºv
péywo-ra, kai KáAAuota ärépyáčeorðat biſoriv, Kai Tūknv' rà è?
opºtkpótepa réxvnv' All the Master-pieces of Being, the most
lovely, and beautiful Pictures were drawn by Mature, and
Fortune; and Art onely could reach to some poor rudiments,
to some shadows, and weaker imitations: which you will
be somewhat amazed at, when you hear by and by what
these rà opurpórepa were.
The foundation of Being, that they said was Watural,
the mutation, and disposing of Being, that they made the
employment of Fortune; and then they said the work of Art
was to finde out Zazvs, and Morality, and Aeligion, and a
Jetty; these were the rà opuspárepa they spake of before.
But that Divine Philosopher do's most admirably discover
the prodigious folly of this opinion, and demonstrate the
impossibility of it in that excellent Discourse of his, in
his tenth Book De Zegibus, where he do's most clearly, and
convincingly shew, That those things, which they say were
framed by Art, were in duration infinitely before that,
which they call Mature; That Wuxi ort trpeg|Svrépa oróparos
that spirituals have the seniority of corporeals. This he
makes to appear by their (1) Tpotokumarig, (2) airokiyngiº,
(3) &AAokivmotº. For these three, though they be not
expressly mentioned in him, yet they may very easily be
collected from him. Souls they move themselves, and they
move Bodies too, and therefore must needs be first in
motion, so that vows, kai réxvm, kai vápos, rôv okMºmpów, kai
paxaków, kai Gapéov, Kai kovºv ºrpótepa &vein. Reason, and
Religion, Laws and Prudence must needs be before Density,
and Rarity, before Gravity, and Levity, before all conditions,
and dimensions of Bodies. And, Zaws, and Religion, they
are indeed roß vot, yewvijuara' that is, the contrivances, and
productions of that eternal vows, and Xóyos, the wisdom
of God himself.
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 225
s
So that all, that Plato will allow to Mature, amounts to no
more, then this, that it is not &mutovpyós, opifex rerum, but
onely Dei Ömpuoupyoovros famula, et ministra. As the eyes of
a Servant wait upon his Master, and as the eyes of an
Aandmaiden look up to her Mistress, so wait her eyes upon
the Lord her God. And he doth fully resolve, and deter-
mine, that God is the soul of the world, and Mature but the
body; which must be took onely in sensu ſāorido, in a
flourishing, and Rhetorical sense: that God is the fountain
of Being, and Mature but the chanel; that he is the Kernel
of Being, and Mature but the shell. Yet herein Plato was
defective, that he did not correct, and reform the abuse
of this word Mature; that he did not scrue it up to an
higher, and more spiritual notion. For 'tis very agreeable
to the choicest, and supremest Being; And the Apostle tells
us of # 6eta púorts. So that 'tis time at length to draw the
Veil from Mature's face, and to look upon her beauty.
And first, 'tis the usual language of many, both Philo-
sophers and others, to put Mature for God himself, or at
least for the general Providence of God; and this, in the
Schoolemens rough and unpolish'd Zatin, is stiled Matura
hadurans; thus AWature is took for that constant, and
Catholick Providence, that spreads its wings over all created
Žeings, and shrouds them under its warm, and happy
protection. Thus that elegant Moralist, Plutarch, speaks
more like to himself, then in his former Description;
Ilavtaxoi, yöp biſoris àkpuffs, kai buildrexvos, diveXMºrás, kai
**pirunros. Mature is in all things accurate, and punctual,
'tis not defective nor parcimonious, nor yet sprouting, and
*wuriant. And consonant to this is that sure Axiom:
Matura nihil facit frustrà. Thus God set up the world, N
as a fair, and goodly Clock, to strike in time, and to move
#: in an orderly manner; not by its own weights (as Durand
f . Would have it) but by fresh influence from himself, by that
inward, and intimate spring of immediate concourse, that
CAMPAGNAc Q
|
t
ſ

226 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
shall supply it in a most uniform, and proportionable
Iſlanner.
Thus God framed this great Organ of the world, he
turned it, yet not so, as that it could play upon it self,
or make any Musick by virtue of this general composure,
(as Durand fansies it) but that it might be fitted, and
prepared for the finger of God himself, and at the presence
of his powerful touch might sound forth the praise of its
Creatour, in a most sweet, and harmonious manner.
And thus AWature is that regular Zine, which the wisdom
of God himself ha's drawn in Being: tášis ydp, ) tičeos
ëpyov, , bºots, as he speaks; whereas that, which they mis-
call'd Fortune, was nothing but a line fuller of windings, and
varieties. And, as Nature was a fixed, and ordinary kinde of
Providence; so Fortune was nothing, but a more abstruse,
and mysterious, and occult kinde of Providence: and therefore
Fortune was not blinde, as they falsely painted, and re-
presented her; but they themselves were blinde, and could
not see into her. And in this sense that speech of that grave
Moralist, Seneca, is very remarkable; Providentia, Fatum, .
Matura, Casus, Fortuna, sumſ ejusdem Dei varia nomina.
But then, secondly, Mature, as 'tis scattered, and dis’
tributed in particular Beings, so 'tis the very same with
Essence it self; and therefore Spirituals, as they have their
Essence, so they have their Nature too; and, if we gloried
in names, it would be easie to reap up a multitude of testi.
monies, in which these two must needs be toroövvapoovra.
And thus Mature speaks these two things.
(1) It points out Originem entis, 'tis the very Genius
of Entity, 'tis present at the nativity of every Being, nay,
'tis Being it self. There is no moment, in which you can
imagine a thing to be, and yet to be without its Mature.
(2) It speaks Operationem entis, and 'tis a Principle of
working in spirituals, as well as Principium motºs et quietà
in corporeals.

}
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 227
|
All Essence bubbles out, flows forth, and paraphrases
upon it self in operations. Hence it is, that such workings,
as are facilitated by custom, are esteemed matural. Hence
that known speech of Galen ; "Eriktºrot pºorets to £6m.
Customs are frequently adopted, and ingrafted into Mature.
Hence also our usual Idiom calls a good Disposition a good
Avature. Thus the Moralists express Virtues, or Vices, that
are deeply rooted, by this term reqvorwpºva.
And so some, and Grotius amongst the rest, would
understand that place of the Apostle, Do's not even Nature
it self teach you, of a general custom ; but that word Air.)
à bio is do's plainly refuse that interpretation; and the
learned Salmasius do's both grant, and evince, that it
Cannot be meant of custom there. And thus, having seen
What Mature is, 'twill be very easie, in the next place, to
tell you what the Law of Nature is.
CHAPTER IV.
Of the nature of a Law in general.
BEFORE we can represent unto you the Zaw of Nature,
You must first frame, and fashion in your minds the just
notion of a Law in general. And Aquinas gives us this
shadowy representation of it; Zex est quaedam regula, et
*ensura, secundum quam inducitur aliquis ad agendum, vel ab
ºffendo retrahitur. But Suarez [is] offended with the latitude
of this Definition, and esteems it too spreading, and com-
Prehensive, as that, which extends to all Maturals, ay, and
to Artificials to ; for they have regulas, et mensuras opera-
*num. Thus God ha's set a Zaw to the Waves, and a
Law to the Winds; nay, thus Clocks have their Zaws, and
*utes have their Zaws, and whatsoever ha's the least
*Ppearance of motion, ha's some rule proportionable to it.
# Whereas these workings were always reckoned to be at the
most but inclinationes, et pondera, and not the fruits of a



Q 2
228 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
legislative power. But yet the Apostle Paul, to stain the
pride of them, that gloried in the Zazº, calls such things by
the name of Zazw, as were most odious, and anomalous. Thus
he tells us of Náuos 6avátov, and Nópos épaprias, though sin
be properly dwopia. Thus he mentions Legem membrorum
the same, which the Scholemen call Zegem ſomitis.
And yet this is sure, that a rational Creature is onely
capable of a Zazey, which is a moral restraint, and SO Cannot
reach to those things, that are necessitated to act ad ex-
tremum zirium.
And therefore Suarez do's give us a more refined
JDescription, when he tells us, that Zex est mensura quaedam
actuum moralium, ità ut, per conformitatem ad illam, Rectº
tudinem moralem habeant, et, si ab iſla discordent, obliqui sinſ.
‘A Law is such a just, and regular turning of Actions, as
that, by virtue of this, they may conspire into a moral
Musick, and become very pleasant, and harmonious'
Thus Plato speaks much of that Eöpv6pta, and ovpdovia,
that is in Zaws, and in his second Book De Zegibus he
do's altogether discourse of Harmony, and do's infinitely
prefer mental, and intellectual Musick, those powerful,
and practical strains of goodness, that spring from a
well-composed spirit, before those delicious blandish-
ments, those soft, and transient touches, that comply with
sense, and salute it in a more flattering manner: and he
tells you of a spiritual Dancing, that is answerable to $0
Sweet a Musick, to these rà 6etórata aúAñuara. Whilest
the Zaws play in consort, there is a Chorus of well-ordered
affections, that are raised, and elevated by them.
And thus, as Aristotle well observes, some Zaws were
wont to be put in Verse, and to be sung, like so many
pleasant Odes, that might even charm the people into
obedience.
'Tis true, that learned Philosopher gives this reason of
it, they were put into Verse, Širos pº) &rAáðovrai, that they
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 229
might remember them the better: but why may not this
reason also share with it, that they might come with a
greater grace, and allurement, that they might hear them
as pleasantly, as they would do the voice of a Viol, or
an Harp, that ha's Rhetorick enough to still, and quiet
the evil spirit P But yet this do's not sufficiently paint
out the being of a Law, to say, that 'tis onely regula, et
thensura ; and Suarez himself is so ingenuous, as to tell
us, that he cannot rest satisfied with this Description,
which he drew but with a Coal, as a Rudiment rather,
then a full portraicture; and therefore we'll give him some
time to perfect it, and to put it into more orient Colours.
And, in the mean time, we'll look upon that speculative
Lawgiver, Plato I mean, who was always new-modelling
of Laws, and rolling Political Ideas in his minde.
Now you may see him gradually ascending, and climbing
up to the Description of a Law by these four several steps,
and yet he do's not reach the top, and drpuſ of it neither.
First, he tells us, that Zaws are rà Nouăpeva, such things,
as are esteemed fitting ; but because this might extend to
all kind of Customs too, his second thoughts limit, and
Contract it more, and tell us, that a Zaw is Aéypa tróAeos,
Decretum civitatis ; yet, because the mass, and bulk of
people, the rude head, and undigested lump of the multi-
tude may seek to establish rô Aóypa trovnpów, as he calls it,
therefore he bethinks himself how to clarifte a Zaw, how
to purge out the dross from it, and tells us in the next
Place, that it is roß &vros ééeſpects, inventio ejus, quod were
est, where it is very remarkable what this Philosopher means
by rô &v, by which he is wont usually to point out a Deity,
which is stiled by Aristotle by Švrov, but it is not capable
of this sense here; for thus Laws are not roß &vros ééevpéoets,
but rather roß &ros cippara. Lex est inventio, vel donum
: Pei, as the Oratour speaks. Tô &v therefore in this place
speaks these two Particulars.










23o NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
1. Tà épôów for all rectitude ha's a Being, and flows from
the fountain of Being ; whereas obliquities, and irregularities
are meer privations, and non entities ; and 'tis a notable
speech of Plato, Tô pºèv Öpfföv vápos éorri Baoruxukós, the very
same expression, which the Apostle gives to the Zaw of
God, when he calls it the royal Zaw. -
2. Tà èv implies rô Xpmorrów, every thing, that is profitable,
ha’s a being in it; but you can gather no fruit from a
privation : there is no sweetness in an obliquity, and there-
fore a Zaw is an wholsome mixture of that, that is just,
and profitable, and this is réAos rod vôpov, as Plutarch
speaks. Whereas turpe praeceptum non est ſex, sed iniguitas;
for obligation, that's the very form, and essence of a Law:
Now every Law obligat in Momine Dei; but so glorious
a name did never binde to any thing, that was wicked and
unequal. IIów Śikatov #34, and tâv 8tkalov GºbéApov, and
that onely is countenanced from heaven. The golden Chain
of Zaws, 'tis tied to the chair of Jupiter, and a command
is onely vigorous, as it issues out, either immediately, or
remotely, from the great Sovereign of the world. So that
rö &v, is the sure bottome and foundation of every Law.
But then, because he had not yet express'd, who were
the competent searchers out of this rê šv, therefore he tells
you in the last place, that Zaws are troAvrukā ovyypáppard,
which he clears by other things; for tarpukā ovyypáppard
are iatpukoi vápot, and yeoperpuka ovyypáppara are:yeoperpºol
vápot. And he resolves it into this, that in all true kinds
of government there is some supreme power, derived from
God himself, and fit to contrive Zaws, and Constitution;
agreeable to the welfare, and happiness of those, that are
to be subject to them; and oi kpetroves (as he speaks) are
the fittest makers of Zazv.
Yet you must take notice here of these two things.
(1) That he did not lay stress enough upon that bindºš
virtue, which is the very sinew, nay, the life, and soul of a La".
-------——º --

|
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 231
.}-*
(2) That these three Descriptions, rå vouſépceva, Söypa
tróAeos, troAttuka ovyypáppara, intend onely humane Zaws,
and so are not boil’d up to the purer notion of a Zaw
in general.
And, though that same other branch too &vros ééečpeois
may seem to reach farther yet, 'tis too obscure, too much
in the clouds, to give a clear manifestation of the nature
of a Law. And yet Aristotle do's not in this supply Plato's
defects, but seems rather to paraphrase upon these Descrip-
tions of humane Zaws, and tells in more enlarged language,
that, "O vôpos éotiv 6 Aéyos éptopévos ka0° àpoxoyſav koivºv
TóAeos, pumváov trós 8e. Tpdrrew Kaora. Where yet he
Cannot possibly mean, that every individual should give
his suffrage; but certainly the representative consent of the
whole will content him.
But I see these antient Philosophers are not so well
furnish'd, but that we must return to the Scholemen again,
who by this time have lick'd their former Descriptions into
a more comely form. We will look upon Aquinas his,
first,
Lex (saith he) est ordinatio rationis ad bonum commune ab
80, qui curam habet Communitatis, promulgata. “It is a
rational Ordinance for the advancing of publick good,
made known by that power, which ha's care, and tuition
of the publick.’
And Suarez his picture of a Law, now that 'tis fully
drawn, hath much the same aspect. Zex est commune
Araeceptum, justum, ac stabile, sufficienter promulgatum.
4 Law is a publick command, a just, and immovable
command, lifting up its voice like a ZŽumpet; and, in
respect of the Law-giver, though it do praesupportere actum
intellectus, as all acts of the Will do; yet it do's formally
consist in actu voluntatis : not the Understanding, but the
Will of a Law-giver makes a Law. But in respect of him,
that is subject to the Law, it do's consist in actu rationis,















232 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
'tis required onely, that he should know it; not in actu
voluntatis, it do's not depend upon his obedience. The
want of his Will is not enough to enervate, and invalidate
a Law, when 'tis made ; all Laws then would be abrogated
every moment. His Will indeed is required to the execu-
tion, and fulfilling of the Law, not to the validity, and
existence of the Law : and thus all the Laws of God do
not at all depend upon the will of man, but upon the
power, and will of the Law-giver. Now in the framing of
every Law there is to be
I. Intentio bomi communis, and thus that Speech of Car-
meades, Utilitas justi prope mater, et aegui, if it be took
in this sense, is very commendable: whereas in that other
sense (in which 'tis thought he meant it) it is not so much
as tolerable. Zazy-givers should send out Laws with Olive-
branches in their mouths, they should be fruitful, and
peaceable ; they should drop sweetness and fatness upon
a Land. Let not then Brambles make Laws for Tree; ;
lest they scratch them, and tear them, and write their
Laws in blood. But Law givers are to send out Laws, as
the Sun shoots forth his beams, with healing under their
wings: and thus that elegant Moralist, Plutarch speaks.
“God (saies he) is angry with them, that counterfeit his
Thunder, and Lightning, où orkſ,Trpov, oi kepavvöv, où Tptaway,
his Scepter, and his Thunderbolt, and his Trident, he will
not let them meddle with these. He do's not love they
should imitate him in his absolute dominion, and SOve-
reignty; but loves to see them darting out those warm,
and amiable, and cherishing dkrwo80Xtal, those beaming;
out of Justice, and Goodness, and Clemency. ' And as for
Laws, they should be like so many green, and pleasant
Pastures, into which these tropéves Aaſy are to lead their
flocks, where they may feed sweetly, and securely by those
refreshing streams of Justice, that run down like water, and
Fighteousness like a mighty Torrent. And this considera-

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 233
|
.
tion would sweep down many cobweb-Zäws, that argue
onely the venome, and subtilty of them, that spin them ;
this would sweep down many an Achitophel's web, and
many an Haman's web, many an Herod's web, every
Spider's web, that spreads Laws onely for the catching,
and entangling of weaker ones. Such Law-givers are fit
to be Domitian's play-fellows, that made it his Royal
Sport, and pastime to catch Fies, and insult over them,
When he had done. Whereas a Law should be a Staff for
a Common-wealth to lean on, and not a Reed to pierce it
through. Laws should be cords of love, not nets, and
Shares. Hence it is, that those Laws are most radical, and
fundamental, that principally tend to the conservation of
the vitals, and essentials of a Kingdom; and those come
nearest the Law of God himself, and are participations of
that eternal Law, which is the spring, and original of all
inferiour, and derivative Laws. To dpirrow ºvera trávra
Tú wéulpa, as Plato speaks; and there is no such publick
benefit, as that, which comes by Zaws; for all have an
equal interest in them, and priviledge by them. And
therefore, as Aristotle speaks most excellently, Nápos for
"ois àvev ćpéčeos. A Zaw is a pure intellect, not onely
*ithout a sensitive appetite, but without a will. 'Tis pure
judgment without affections, a Law is impartial, and makes
no factions; and a Law cannot be bribed, though a Judge.’
may. And that great Philosopher do's very well prosecute
this: “If you were to take Physick, (saies he) then indeed
'tis ill being determined by a Book, 'tis dangerous taking
* printed Recipe, you had better leave it to the breast of
the Physician, to his skill, and advice, who mindes your
health, and welfare, as being most for his gain, and credit.
But in point of Justice the case is very different; you had
better here depend upon a Rule, then to leave it to the
arbitrary power of a Judge, who is usually to decide a
Controversie between two ; and, if left to himself, were apt




234 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
to be swayed, and biassed by several interests, and engage-
ments, which might encline him to one, more then another.’
Nay, now that there is a fix’d Rule, an immoveable Zaw,
yet there is too much partiality in the application of it,
how much more would there be, if there were no Rule
at all P
But the truth is, the Judge should onely follow the
ultimum et practicum dictamen legis ; his Will, like a coeca
potentia, is to follow the novissimum lumen intellectus of
this Noos, that is to rule, and guide him ; and therefore
Justice was painted blinde, though ipsa lex be oculata, for
Noos épé, Noës àkočel, and the Will is to follow the ultimum
mutum capitis, the meaning of the Zaw in all circumstances.
II. In a Zaw-giver there is to be judicium, et prudentia
Architectonica adferendas leges. The AEgyptian Hieroglyphick
for Legislative power was Oculus in sceptro; and it had
need be such an eye, that can see both ſpéogo kai Öriogo.
It had need have a full, and open prospect into publick
affairs, and to put all advantages into one scale, and all
inconveniences into another.
To be sure the Laws of God, they flow from a fountain
of wisdom, and the Laws of men are to be lighted at
this Candle of the Zord, which he ha's set up in them, and
those Laws are most potent, and prevalent, that are founded
in light; # roi, Aoywrpoß &yoyº xpworm, kai ispá. Other
Laws are cºmpoï kai gömpo, they may have an iron and
adamantine necessity; but the others have a soft and
downy perswasion going along with them, and therefore
as he goes on, too Aoytopoi, kakoo pºv čvros, rpgov 8é, Kai
oë Batov, Reason is so beautiful, as that it wins, and allures,
and thus constrains to obedience.
III. There is to be sigillum legis, I mean, Electio ºf
Determinatio Zegis. After a sincere aim at publick good,
and a clear discovery of the best means to promote it
there comes then a fix'd, and sacred resolution; Volumus

f DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 235
|
et statuimus; this speaks the will of the Zaw giver, and
breaths life into the Law, it adds vigour, and efficacy to
it. But yet notwithstanding, -
IV. There must be vox tubae, that is, promulgatio et
insinuatio Zegis. The Law, 'tis for a publick good, and
is to be made known in a publick manner: for as none
Can desire an unknown good, so none can obey an unknown
Law ; and therefore invincible Ignorance do's excuse; for
else men should be bound to absolute impossibilities. /
But whether it be required to the publishing of a Law,
that it should be in way of Writing, which is more fix’d,
and durable, or whether the manifestation of it in a
| Vocal, and Oral manner will suffice, (which yet is more
transient, and uncertain) I leave the Zazuyers, and Schoſe-
then to dispute it. This I am sure, that all the Laws of
God are proclaimed in a most sufficient, and emphatical
| manner.
f CHAPTER V.
Of the Eternal Zaw.
HAVING thus look'd upon the being of a Law in general,
We now come to the spring and original of all Laws, to \
the eternal Law, that fountain of Law, out of which you
may see the Law of Mature bubbling and flowing forth to ,
the sons of men. For, as Aquinas do's very well tell us,
the Law of nature is nothing but participatio Zegis aeternae
in Rationali creatura, the copying out of the eternal Zaw,
and the imprinting of it upon the breast of a Rational
Æeing. That eternal Zaw was in a manner incarnated in
the Law of Nature. - r
Now this eternal Zaw, it is not really distinguished from
God himself. For Níl est ab aeterno, nisi iſse Deus; so
that 'tis much of the same nature with those Decrees of
his, and that Providence, which was awake from everlasting.














236 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
For, as God, from all eternity, by the hand of infinit
wisdom, did draw the several faces, and lineaments of
Being, which he meant to shew in time: So he did then
also contrive their several frames with such limits, and
compass, as he meant to set them; and said to every thing,
JHither shalf thou go, and no farther.
This the Platonists would call ióðav Tów vópov, and would
willingly head such honourable Titles as these upon it,
"O vápos épxnyós, Tpotovpyós, airošíkatos, airóka)\os, airodya-
60s, 5 Övros vôpos, 5 vöpios o-trepparukós, and the greatest
happiness the other Laws can arrive unto is this ; that
they be Náuot SovXečovres, kai Örmperoëvres, ministring, and
subservient Zazus, waiting upon this their Royal Law; Or,
as they would choose to stile them, Xkiai vápov, Nopoeiðéïs,
some shadows, and appearances of this bright, and glorious
Law ; Or, at the best, they would be esteemed by them
but Nápot tyyovo, the noble offspring, and progeny of Laws;
blessing this womb, that bare them, and this breast, that
gave them suck.
And thus the Lazy of Wature would have a double
portion, as being Zex primogenita, the first-born of this
eternal Zazy, and the beginning of its strength. Now, as
God himself shews somewhat of his face in the glass of
Creatures; so the beauty of this Law gives some represen-
tations of it self in those pure derivations of inferiour Laws,
that stream from it. And, as we ascend to the first, and
supreme Being by the steps of Second Causes; so we may
climb up to a sight of this eternal Zaw by those fruitful
branches of secondary Lazws, which seem to have their root
in earth, when as indeed it is in Heaven; and that I may
vary a little that of the Apostle to the Romanes, 7%
invisible Law of God, long before the creation of the World,
is now clearly seen, being understood by those Zaws, which
do appear; so that rô yvoorov rod vôpov, is manifested in
them, God having shown it to them. Thus, as the

f DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 237
| Scholemen say very well, Omni's lex participata suppomit
legem per essentiam. Every impression supposes a Sea/,
from whence it came ; every ray of light puts you in minde
of a Sun, from which it shines. Wisdom and Power,”
these are the chief Ingredients into a Law ; now where
do's Wisdom dwell, but in the head of a Deity ? and where
do's power triumph, but in the arm of Omnipotency P
A Law is born ex cerebro /ovis and it is not brachium
Saeculare, but coelesſe, that must maintain it; even humane
Laws have their virtue radicaliter, et remote (as the Scholes
Speak) from this eternal Law. Thus that famous, and
most renowned Oratour, and Patriot (Tully I mean) do's
most admirably express the linage, and descent of Laws
in this golden manner. Hanc video Sapientissimorum ſuisse
Sententiam, Zegem megue hominum ingeniis excogitatam, negue
Scitum aliquod esse Populorum ; sed aeternum guiddam, quod
universum mundum regeret, imperandi, prohibendigue sapien-
tiá, Itá principem illam Zegem, et ultimam memtem, dicebant
0mnia ratione aut cogentis, aut vetantis Dei : which I shall
thus render; Wise men did ever look upon a Zaw, not as on
a Spark struck from humane Intellectuals, not blown up, or
Kindled with popular breath ; but they thought it an eterna/
*ght shining from God himself, irradiating, guiding, and
ruling the whole Universe; most sweetly, and powerfully dis-
covering what ways were to be chosen, and what to be refused.
And the mind of God himself is the centre of Laws, from
which they were drawn, and into which they must return.
Thus also that florid Moralist, Plutarch, resolves all Law
and Justice, into that Primitive, and eternal Law, even God
himself, for even thus he tells us, Justice (saies he) do's not
onely sit like a Queen at the right hand of Jupiter, when he
is upon his Throne; but she is always in his bosom, and one
with himself; and he closes it up with this, That God
§ himself is rôv vápov trpeg|3éraros, Kai rexelótatos. As he
is the most Antient of Days, so also he is the most antient




238 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
of Zazus, as he is the perfection of Beings, so is he also the
Aºule of operations.
Nor must I let slip that Passage of Plato, where he calls
a Law Znvös grättpov, the golden Scepter, by which God
himself rules, and commands ; for, as all true Government
ha’s a bright stamp of divine Sovereignty, so every true Law
ha’s a plain superscription of his Justice. Laws are anointed
by God himself, and most precious Oil drops down upon
them to the skirts of a Nation; and the Lazy of Mature
had the Oil of gladness poured out upon it above its fellows.
So then, that there is such a prime, and supreme Law
is clear, and unquestionable; but who is worthy to unseal,
and open this Law P and who can sufficiently display the
glory of it? We had need of a Moses, that could ascend
up into the Mount, and converse with God himself, and
yet when he came down, he would be fain to put a veil
upon his face, and upon his expressions too, lest otherwise
he might too much dazle inferiour understandings: but,
if the Schoolemen will satisfie you, (and you know some of
them are stiled Angelical, and Seraphical) you shall hear,
if you will, what they'l say to it.
Now this Law, according to them, is Aeterma quaedam
ratio practica totius dispositionis, et gubernationis Universi.
'Tis an eternal Ordinance made in the depth of God’s infinite
wisdom, and counsell, for regulating, and governing of the
whole World; which yet had not its binding virtue in
respect of God himself, who ha's always the full, and
unrestrained liberty of his own essence, which is so infinite,
as that it cannot binde it self, and which needs no Law;
all goodness, and perfection being so intrinsecal, and essentia/
to it: but it was a binding determination in reference to
the creature, which yet, in respect of all irrational Beingſ,
did onely fortiter inclinare; but, in respect of Rationals,
it do's formaliter obligare. *
By this great, and glorious Law every good action was

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 230
Commanded, and all evil was discountenanc'd, and for-
bidden from everlasting. According to this righteous Law
all rewards, and punishments were distributed in the
eternal thoughts of God. At the command of this Law
all created Beings took their several ranks, and stations, and
put themselves in such operations, as were best agreeable,
and conformable to their Beings. By this Law all essences
Were ordained to their ends by most happy, and convenient
means. The Life, and vigour of this Law sprang from the
Will of God himself, from the voluntary decree of that
eternal Law-giver, minding the publick Welfare of Being;
who, when there were heaps of varieties, and possibilities in
his own most glorious thoughts, when he could have made
Such, or such Worlds, in this, or that manner, in this, or
that time, with such, and such species, that should have had
more, or fewer individuals, as he pleased, with such operations,
as he would allow unto them; he did then select, and pitch
upon this way, and method, in which we see things now con-
stituted, and did binde all things according to their several
Capacities, to an exact, and accurate observation of it.
So that by this you see how those eternal Ideas in the
minde of God, and this eternal Zaw do differ. I speak
now Śf Ideas not in a Platonical sence, but in a Scholastical,
(unless they both agree, as some would have them.) For
Zdea est possibilium, Zex tantum futurorum. God had
before him the picture of every possibility, yet he did
not intend to binde a possibility, but onely a futurity.
Besides, Ideas, they were situated onely in the under.
standing of God; whereas a Law ha's force, and efficacy
from his will; according to that much commended Say-
ing, In Coelesti et A ngelica curia voluntas Dei Zex est.
And then an Idea do's magis respicere arºfficem, it stays
there where first it was ; but a Law, do's potiºs respicere
subditum, it calls for the obedience of another: as Suarez
tº do's very well difference them.













24O NATHANAEI, CULVERWEL
Neither yet is this eternal Zaze, the same with the
Arovidence of God, though that be eternal also. But, as
Aquinas speaks, Zex se habet ad Providentiam, sicut prin-
cipium generale ad particulares conclusiones; or, if you will,
Sicut principia prima practica ad prudentiam : his meaning
is this, that Providence is a more punctual, and particular
application of this binding rule, and is not the Zaw it self
but the superintending power, which looks to the execution,
and accomplishment of it; or, as the most acute Suarez
ha’s it, Zex dicit jus in communi constitutum : Providentia
dicit curam, quae de singulis actiºus haberi delet.
Besides, a Zaw, in its strict, and peculiar notion, do's
onely reach to rational Beings; whereas Providentia do's
extend, and spread it self over all. But that, which vexes
the Scholemen most, is this, that they, having required
promulgation as a necessary condition to the existence
of a Zaw, yet they cannot very easily shew how this
eternal Zaw should be publish’d from everlasting. But
the most satisfactory account, that can be given to that,
is this; that other Law-givers being very voluble, and
mutable before their minde, and will be fully, and openly
declared, they may have a purpose indeed, but it cannot
be esteem’d a Zaw. But, in God there being no variableness,
nor shadow of turning, this his Law ha's a binding virtue,
as soon as it ha's a Being, yet so as that it do's not actual),
and formally oblige a Creature, till it be made known unto
it, either by some revelation from God himself, which is
possible onely, and extraordinary; or else by the mediation
of some other Law, of the Law of Nature, which is the
usual, and constant way, that God takes for the promulga-
tion of this his eternal Zaw. For that vöpos yparrós, that
sacred Manuscript, which is writ by the finger of God himself
in the heart of man, is a plain transcript of this original Law,
so far as it concerns man's welfare. And this you see do's
most directly bring me to search out the Law of Nature.



DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 241
CHAPTER VI.
Of the Law of Nature in general, its subject, and nature.
THE Zazv of AWature is that Law, which is intrinsecal,
and essential to a rational Creature; and such a Law is
as necessary as such a Creature : for such a Creature, as
a Creature, ha's a superiour, to whose Providence, and
disposing it must be subject: and then, as an Intellectual
Creature, ’tis capable of a moral government, so that 'tis
Very suitable, and connatural to it to be regulated by
a Law ; to be guided, and commanded by one, that is
infinitely more wise, and intelligent, then it self is, and
that mindes its welfare more, then it self can. Insomuch
that the most bright, and eminent Creatures, even Angelica/
Beings, and glorified Souls are subject to a Zaw, though
With such an happy priviledge, as that they cannot violate,
and transgress it; whereas the very dregs of entity, the
most ignoble Beings are most incapable of a Zaw, for you
know inanimate beings are carried on onely with the
vehemency, and necessity of natural inclinations; nay,
*sitive Beings cannot reach or aspire to so great a per-
ſection, as to be wrought upon in such an illuminative
Way, as a Zaw is : they are not drawn with these cords of
*en, with these moral Engagements, but in a more im-
Auſsive manner driven, and spurred on with such impetuous
Propensions, as are founded in matter; which yet are
directed by the wise, and violent eye, and by the powerful
hand of a Providence, to a more beautiful, and amiable
end, then they themselves were acquainted with.
A Law, 'tis founded in Intellectuals, in now, not in wº A
it supposes a noble, and free born Creature; for where
there is no Ziberty, there's no Zaw, a Zaw being nothing
*se, but a Rational restraint, and limitation of absolute {
*erty. Now all Liberty is Radicaliter in Intellectu; and
CAMPAGNAc R




242 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
such Creatures, as have no light, have no choice, no
Moral variety.
The first, and supreme Being ha's so full, and infinite
a liberty, as cannot be bounded by a Law ; and these low,
and slavish Beings have not so much liberty, as to make
them capable of being bound. Inter Brufa silent leges.
There is no Turpe, nor Homestum amongst them : no duty,
nor obedience to be expected from them ; no praise, or
dispraise due to them ; no punishment, nor reward to
be distributed amongst them.
For Punishment, in its formal motion, is juaprijuatos
éköíkmorts (as the Greek Zawyers speak) or, as the fore-
mentioned Authour" describes it, 'tis ma/um Passionis, quod
inſigifur oã malum Actionis. In all punishment there is
to be some àvráAAayua, and āpoſłł, so that every Damnum,
or Incommodum is not to be esteem’d a punishment, unless
it be in vindictam culpae.
Neither yet can the proper end of a Punishment agree
to sensitive Creatures; for all Punishment is vexa rod dyaffod,
as Plato speaks oëk ºvera toû kakovpyńorat, où yöp rô yeyov's
ăyévvmtov total Toré. "Tis not in the power of Punishment
to recall what is past, but to prevent what's possible. And
that wise Moralist, Seneca, does almost translate Plato Ver-
batim, Memo prudens punit, quia peccatum est, sed me pecceiur;
Revocari enim praeterita non possunt; futura prohibentur.
So that the end of all Punishment is either in compen-
sationem, which is kakoſ évratróðoorts eis to too ripºopoovros
orvpºpépov čvaqepopévm, ’tis in utilitatem ejus, contra qué”
peccatum est: or else tis in emendationem, and so in utilitate”
peccantis; in respect of which that elegant Moralist Plutarch
stiles punishment tarpetav Juxºs, and Hierocles calls it tarpukºv
trovmpias: or else it is in exemplum, in utilitatem alloru”;
tva d\\ot rpóvotov troºvral, kai boſłóvrat, as the Greek
* Grotius.
+º, - . . . . . -------------------4------




' DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 243
Oratour speaks; the same, which God speaks by Moses,
j that Israel may hear, and fear: and thus Punishment does
Tapačetyparičev. -
But none of these ends are applyable to sensitive
| Creatures; but there is no more satisfaction to Justice in
inflicting an evil upon them, then there is in the ruining of
inanimate Beings, in demolishing of Cities, or Zemples for
: Idolatry, which is onely for the good of them, that can take
notice of it: for otherwise, as that grave Moralist, Seneca,
has it, Quam stultum est his irasci, quae iram nostram mec
heruerunt, mec sentium#: No satisfaction is to be had from
Such things, as are not apprehensive of Punishment. And
therefore Annihilation, though a great evil, yet wants this
r sting, and aggravation of a Punishment; for a Creature
1S not sensible of it.
Much lesse can you think, that a Punishment has any
power to mend, or meliorate sensitive Beings, or to give
Example to others amongst them. -
}. By all this you see, that amongst all irrational Beings
there is no àvopſa, and therefore no àpapria, and therefore no
Tºopia: from whence it also flows, that the Law of Mature
is built upon Reason.
There is some good so proportionable, and nutrimental
to the Being of man, and some evil so venemous, and
destructive to his Nature, as that the Good of Nature does
Sufficiently antidote, and fortifie him against the one, and does
maintain, and sweeten his Essence with the other. There is
So much Harmony in some actions, as that the Soul must
needs dance at them: and there is such an harsh discord,
and jarring in others, as that the Soul cannot endure them. /
Therefore the learned Grotius does thus describe the
Law of Nature; Jus AWaturale est dictatum rectae Rationis,
indicans, actui alicut, ex ejus convenientia, wel disconvenientia
*m ipsa natura Rationali, inesse Moralem turpitudinem, aut
*cessitatem Moralem ; et consequenter ab Authore Maturae,













R 2
244 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
ińso Deo, talem actum auf vetari, auf praecipi. Which
I shall thus render ; ‘The Law of Mature is a streaming
out of Light from the Candle of the Zord, powerfully dis.
covering such a deformity in some evil, as that an intel-
lectual eye must needs abhor it; and such a commanding
beauty in some good, as that a rational Being must needs
be enamour'd with it; and so plainly shewing, that God
stamp'd and seal'd the one with his command, and branded
the other with his disliking.’
Chrysostome makes mention of this Nôpos ºbvorukós, and
does very Rhetorically enlarge himself upon it in his twelfth,
and thirteenth Orations IIept 'Avôptăvrov where he tells us,
that it is airočíðakros yvöorts rôv kaków, kai róvoi touctºrov'
a Radical, and fundamental knowledge, planted in the
Being of Man, budding, and blossoming in first principles,
flourishing, and bringing forth fruit, spreading it self into all
the fair, and goodly branches of Morality, under the shadow
of which the Soul may sit with much complacency and
delight. And, as he pours out himself very fluently, Où
Xpeia Tóv A6)ov, oi Tôv Štěaoká\ov, où tov Tóvov, oi kapārow'
There's no need of Oratory to allure men to it, you need
not heap up Arguments to convince them of it: No need of
an Interpreter to acquaint them with it: No need of the
mind's spinning, or toyling, or sweating for the attaining
of it; it grows spontaneously, it bubbles up freely, it shines
out chearfully, and pleasantly; it was so visible, as that the
most infant-age of the World could spell it out; and read
it without a Teacher: of Moijo iſs, où trpoºnrat, où buraorai,
as he goes on : ’twas long extant before Moses was born,
long before Aaron rung his golden Bells, before there was
a Prophet, or a Judge in Israel. Men knew it oikóðev trapū
toū ovvetőéros Stöax6évres. They had a Bible of God's own
printing, they had this Scripture of God ºithin them. By
this Candle of the Zord, Adam and Eve discovered their
own folly and nakedness; this Candle flamed in Cain's
2
3.
º
;
%
#

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 245
Conscience, and this Zaw was proclaimed in his heart with
as much terror, as 'twas publish’d from Mount Sinai, which
fill'd him with those furious reflexions for his unnatura/
Murder. Enoch, when he walk'd with God, walk'd by this
/ight, by this rule. Moah, the Preacher of Righteousnesse,
took this Law for his Text. Nay, you may see some print
of this Zazy upon the hard heart of a Pharaoh, when
he cries out, The ZOA'D is righteous, but I and my people
have sinned. Hence it was, that God, when he gave his
Law afresh, gave it in such a compendious Brachygraphy;
he wrot as it were in Characters, Où Đovečorets, Oi poixetſoets,
Oi k\élets, without any explication, or amplification at all.
He onely enjoyned it with an Imperatorious brevity, he
knows there was enough in the breasts of men to convince
them of it, and to comment upon it, onely in the Second
Command there is added an enforcement; because his
people were excessively prone to the violation of it; and
in that of the Sabbath there is given an exposition of it,
because in all its circumstances it was not founded in
Aſatural Zight. So that in Plutarchs language the Decalogue
Would be call’d vôpos orqupiñAatos, Gold in the Zump; whereas
other Lawgivers use to beat it thinner. Of this Zazo,
as 'tis printed by Nature, Philo speaks very excellently;
Nôpos 8 diffevös 6 Öp60s Aóyos, oùk into toº beivös, # toº 8euvès
Övmro0 $6aptós év xaptibious # orrij}\ats à l'éxots, &AA 57r’
d6avárov böreos d'hôapros évéðavörg Stavoſ, tutoffets. ‘A’ight
reason (saith he) is that fix’d, and unshaken Law, not writ
in perishing paper by the Hand, or Pen of a Creature, nor
graven like a dead letter upon livelesse, and decaying
Pillars; but written with the point of a Diamond, nay, with
the finger of God himself in the heart of man.’ A Deity
gave it an Imprimatur; and an eternal Spirit grav'd it in an
immortal mind.º.So as, that I may borrow the expression
of the Apostle, the mind of man is a röMos, Kai éðpaiopia tºs
iM6eias raúrms. And I take it in the very same sense,

246 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
as tis to be took of the Church ; Tis a Pillar of this Truth,
not to support it, but to hold it forth; Neither must I let
slip a passage in Plutarch, which is very near of kin to this
of Philo; O Nôpos, oùk év Bugxious ééo yeypappévos, oëé
twort &ots, 3AA paluxos &v čavrò Aóyos del ovvouków, Kai
TapaºvXártov, Kai pmöérote Tºv livXīv čáv ćpmuov #yepovías.
You may take it thus: ‘This Royal Zaw of Nature was
never shut up in a Paper-prison, was never confind, or
limited to any outward surface; but it was bravely situated
in the Centre of a Rational Being, alwaies keeping the Soul
company, guarding it, and guiding it; ruling all its Subjectes,
(every obedient Action) with a Scepter of Gold, and crushing
in pieces all its enemies (breaking every rebellious Action)
with a Rod of Iron.’ You may hear the Zyrick singing out
the praises of this Zaw in a very lofty strain: Nópos &
Trávrov Baori Mei's 6varóv re, kai ä6avárov, otros &yet Étatos to
8ukatóratov Štreptărg xeipt “This Law, which is the Queen
of Angelical, and Humane Beings, does so rule, and dispose
of them, as to bring about Justice with a most high, and
powerful, and yet with a most soft, and delicate hand.’
You may hear Plato excellently discoursing of it, whilest
he brings in a Sophister disputing against Socrates, and such
an one, as would needs undertake to maintain this Principle,
Taira évavria &AAñAots oriv, # re ºbſorts, kai à vópos' That
there was an untunable antipathy between Nature, and Zaw;
That Zaws were nothing but hominum infirmiorum com-
menta: That this was To Aapºrpóratov tºs ºbſorews 8tratov;
the most bright, and eminent Justice of Mature, for men
to rule according to Power, and according to no other
Law; That 6 toxupérepos was 5 kpetrov, and 6 Sexto"
That all other Laws were rapi, ºrwäravres. Nay he calls
them cheatings and bewitchings, oëk ºat, 3AA’ impôai, they
come (saies he) like pleasant Songs, when as they are mee’
Charms, and Incantations. But Socrates, after he had
stung this same Callicles with a few quick Interrogations,

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 247
>.|
f
pours out presently a great deal of honey and sweetnesse,
and plentifully shews that most pleasant, and conspiring
Harmony, that is between AWature, and Zazy; That there's
nothing more kata púortv then a Zazy; That Zazy is founded
in Mature; That it is for the maintaining, and ennobling,
and perfecting of Mature. Nay, as Plato tells us elsewhere,
There's no way for men to happinesse, unlesse they follow
tà ixvn rôv Aóyov, these steps of Æeason, these foot-steps
of Mature. This same Law Aristotle does more then once
acknowledge, when he tells us of Nópos tétos, and Nógos
Kouvés' a Positive Zaw with him is a more private Law, kaff Öv
yeypappuévov troAvretſovraw' but Mature's Zazu is a more publick,
and Catholick Law, Öora àypaſha trapā traoruv Špoxoyeſort at
êokéï, which he proves to be a very Sovereign, and com-
manding Law, for thus he saies, ‘O vôpos dwaykao Tuköv exel
Sºvapuv, Aóyos by intó rivos ºppovijaeos kai voč. The Law,
that is most filled with Reason, must needs be most victorious,
and triumphant.
The same Philosopher, in his tenth book de Republica,
hath another distinction of Zaws; one branch whereof does
plainly reach to the Law of Mature.
There are, saies he, Nápot karū ypéppara, which are
the same with those, which he call’d Nápot tëtot before ;
and then there are Nápot kará rà éðm, which are all one with
that he stil'd before Nôpos kowós. Now, as he speaks,
these Nápot karū rà éðm are kvpuárepot, Laws of the first
Magnitude, of a Wobler Sphere, of a vaster, and purer
influence. Where you see also, that he calls the Zaw of
AWature the Moral Zaw; and the same, which the Apostle
calls Nápos yparrós, he, with the rest of the Beathen, calls
it "Aypada vöpupa, couching the same sense in a seeming
Contradiction.
The Oratour has it expressly; AVon scripta, sed nata
Zex. -
And amongst all the Heathen I can meet with none,
248 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
that draws such a lively portraicture of the Zaw of Mature,
as that AVoble Oratour does.
You may hear him thus pleading for it : Mec, si, regnante
Tarquinio, mulla eraſ scripta Zex de Stupris, &c. ‘Grant
(saies he) that Rome were not for the present furnish’d with
a Positive Zaw able to check the lust, and violence of
a Tarquin; yet there was a Virgin-Zaw of Wature, which he
had also ravish'd, and deflour'd : there was the beaming
out of an eternal Zazey, enough to revive a modest Lucretia,
and to strike terrour into the heart of so licentious a Prince:’
for, as he goes on, Est quidem vera Zex Recta Ratio,
Maturae congruens, diffusa in omnes, constans, sempiterna;
quae vocet ad officium ſuffendo, vetando a fraude deterreat;
quae famen probos, neque frustra, ſuffet, auf vetat, mec improbos
jubendo, aut vetando moveſ. Huic Zegi mec propagari ſas est,
neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet, neque tota abnegari potest:
nec vero aut per Senatum, aut per Populum solvi hac Légé
possumus, neque est quaerendus explanator, aut interpres eius
alius. Non erat alia Romae, alia Athenis; Alia mund, alia
posthac: sed et omnes gențes, omni tempore, Vna Zex, et
sempiterna, et immutabilis continebit, unusque erit quasi
communis Magister, et Legislator omnium Deus: Ille Legis
hufus Inventor, Discepfator, Zator, cut qui mon parebit, ipse 3e
fugiet, et Maturam hominis aspermabitur. Hoc ipso ſuet maxi-
mas poenas, etiam si caetera supplicia, quae putantur, effugerit.
His meaning is not much different from this:
‘Ā’ight Reason is a beautiful Law ; a Law of a pure
complexion, of a natural colour, of a vast extent, and
diffusion, its colour never fades, never dies. It encourages
men in obedience with a smile, it chides them, and frowns
them out of wickednesse. Good men hear the least
whispering of its pleasant voice, they observe the least
glance of its lovely eye; but wicked men sometimes will not
hear it, though it come to them in Thunder, nor take the
least notice of it, though it should flash out in Lightning.
-

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 249
None must enlarge the Phylacteries of this Law, nor must
any dare to prune off the least branch of it. Nay, the
malice of man cannot totally deface so indelible a beauty.
No Pope, nor Prince, nor Parliament, nor People, nor
Angel, nor Creature can absolve you from it. This Zazy
never paints its face, never changes its colour, it does not
put on one Aspect at Athens and another face at Rome:
but looks upon all Nations, and Persons with an impartial
eye, it shines upon all Ages, and Times and Conditions
with a perpetual Light, it is yesterday, and to day, the same
for ever. There is but one Law-giver, one Lord, and
Supreme Judge of this Law, God blessed for evermore. He
was the Contriver of it, the Commander of it, the Publisher
of it, and none can be exempted from it, unlesse he will
be banish’d from his own essence, and be excommunicated
from Humane Wature. This Punishment would have sting
enough, if he should avoid a thousand more, that are due
to so foul a transgression.’
Thus you see, that the Heathem not onely had this Náuos
Ypatrós upon them, but also they themselves took special
notice of it, and the more refined sort amongst them could
discourse very admirably about it, which must needs leave
them the more inexcusable for the violation of it.
We come now to see where the strength of the Zazº,
of Wature lies, where its nerves are, whence it hath such
an efficacious influence, such a binding virtue.
And I find Vasquez somewhat singular, and withall
erroneous in his opinion, whilest he goes about to shew,
that the formality of this Law consists onely in that
harmony, and proportion, or else that discord, and discon-
venience, which such and such an object, and such and such
an action has with a Rational Mature; for (saies he) every
# Essence is Mensura Boni et Mali in respect of it self.
Which, as he thinks; is plainly manifested, and discovered
also in Corporeal Beings, which use to fly onely from such

25o NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
things, as are destructive to their own forms, and to embrace
all such neighborly and friendly Beings, as will close,
and comply with them. But he might easily have known,
that as these material Beings were never yet so honoured,
as to be judg’d capable of a Zazy; so neither can any naked
Essence, though never so pure, and noble, lay a Moral
engagement upon it self, or bind its own Being: for that
would make the very same Being superiour to it self, as it
gives a Law, and inferiour to it self, as it must obey it.
So that the most high, and sovereign Being, even God
himself, does not subject himself to any Zazy; though
there be some Actions most agreeable to his Nature, and
others plainly inconsistent with it, yet they cannot amount
to such a power, as to lay any obligation upon him, which
should in the least Notion differ from the liberty of his own
Essence. -
Thus also in the Commonzwealth of Humane Maſure that
proportion, which Actions bear to Reason, is indeed a suffi-
cient foundation for a Law to build upon, but it is not the
Law it self, nor a formal obligation.
Yet some of the Schoolmen are extreme bold, and vain in
their Suppositions, so bold, as that I am ready to question
whether it be best to repeat them : yet thus they say,
St Deus non esset, ve/ si non uteretur Ratione, wel si non
recte judicaret de rebus; si tamen in homine idem esset di.
ciamen Rectae Āationis Quod nunc est, haberet etiam eandeſh
A’ationem Zegis, quam nunc habet.
But what are the good!y spoils, that these men expect,
if they could break through such a croud of Repugnancies,
and Impossibilities? The whole result, and product of it will
prove but a meer Cypher; for Reason, as tis now, does not
bind in its own name, but in the name of its supreme Zord,
and Sovereign, by whom Reason lives, and moves, and has
its being.
For, if onely a Creature should bind it self to the observa-


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 251
r .
f}
A
tion of this Law, it must also inflict upon it self such a
punishment, as is answerable to the violation of it : but no
such Being would be zwilling, or able to punish it self in so
high a measure, as such a transgression would meritoriously
require; so that it must be accountable to some other
Legislative power, which will vindicate its own commands,
and will by this means engage a Creature to be more
mindful of its own happinesse, then otherwise it would be.
For though some of the Gallenter Heathen can brave it
out sometimes in an expression, that the very turpitude
of such an Action is punishment enough, and the very
beauty of Goodness is an abundant reward, and compensa-
tion ; yet we see, that all this, and more then this, did
not efficaciously prevaile with them for their due con-
formity, and full obedience to Mature's Law ; such a
single cord as this will easily be broken.
Yet there is some truth in what they say ; for thus much
is visible, and apparent, that there is such a Magnetical
A070er in some good, as must needs allure, and attract
a Rational Being ; there is such a native Fairness, such an
intrinsecal loveliness in some objects, as does not depend
upon an external command, but by its own worth must
needs win upon the Soul: and there is such an inseparable
deformity, and malignity in some evil, as that Reason must
needs loath it, and abominate it.
Insomuch as that, if there were no Zaw, or Command,
yet a Rational Being, of its own accord, out of meer love,
would espouse it self to such an amiable good, 'twould
clasp, and twine about such a precious object, and, if there
were not the least check, or prohibition, yet, in order to
ts own welfare, 'twould abhor, and flie from some black
evils, that spit out so much venome against its AWature.
This is that, which the Schoolmen mean when they tell
us, Quaedam sunt mala, quia prohibentur, sed alia pro-
hibentur, quia sunt mala : that is, in positive Laws, whether


252 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
Pivine or Humane, Acts are to be esteem'd evil upon this
account, because they are forbidden ; but in the Zaze of
Maſure such an evil was intimately, and inevitably an evil,
though it should not be forbidden.
Now that there are such Bona per se, and Mala per se,
(as the Schools speak) I shall thus demonstrate : Quod non
est malum per se, potuit non prohiberi ; for there is no
reason imaginable, why there should not be a possibility
of not prohibiting that, which is not absolutely evil, which
is in its own nature indifferent.
But now there are some evil's so excessively evil, S0
intolerably bad, as that they cannot but be forbidden ;
I shall onely name this one, Odium Dei; for a Being
to hate the Creatour, and cause of its Being, if it were
possible for this not to be forbidden, it were possible for
it to be lawful; for Uži nulla Zex, ibi nulla praevaricatio:
Where there's no Zaw, there's no 'Avopºſa, where there's
no Rule, there's no Anomaly; if there were no prohibition
of this, 'twould not be sin to do it. But that to hate God
should not be sin, does involve a whole heap of contra-
dictions; so that this evil is so full of evil, as that it
cannot but be forbidden ; and therefore is an evil in order
of Mature before the Prohibition of it. Besides, as the
Philosophers love to speak, Essentiae rerum sunt immuta-
&iles, Essences neither effö nor flow, but have in themselves
a perpetual Unity, and Zdentity: and all such Properties,
as flow, and bubble up from Beings, are constant, and
unvariable; but, if they could be stopt in their motion, yet
that state would be violent, and not at all connatural to
such a subject.
So that grant onely the Being of Man, and you cannot
but grant this also ; That there is such a constant Con-
veniency, and Analogy, which some Objects have with its
Essence, as that it cannot but encline to them; and that
there is such an irreconcileable Disconvenience, such an
‘.

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 253
|*
f
Eternal Antipathy between it and other Objects, as that
it must cease to be what it is, before it can come near
them.
This Suarez terms a Watural Obligation, and a just
joundation for a Zaw. But now, before all this can rise
up to the height and perfection of a Zaw, there must
Come a Command from some Superiour Power, from
whence will spring a Moral Obligation also, and make
up the formality of a Zaw. 's
Therefore God himself, for the brightning of his own
Glory, for the better regulating, and tuning of the World,
for the maintaining of such a choice piece of his work-
manship, as Man is, has publish'd this his Royal Command,
and proclaim'd it by that principle of Reason, which he
has planted in the Being of Man : which does fully con-
Vince him of the righteousness, and goodnesse, and necessity
of this Law, for the materials of it; and of the validity,
and authority of this Law, as it comes from the Minde,
and Will of his Creatour. Neither is it any eclipse, or
diminution of the Liberty of that first Being, to say, that
there is some evil so foul, and ill-favour'd, as that it cannot
but be forbidden by him; and that there is some good so
fair, and eminent, as that he cannot but command it.
For, as the Schoolmen observe, Divina voluntas, Micet
simpliciter libera sit ad extra, ex suppositione tamen unius
4ctus liberi, potest necessitari ad alium.
Though the Will of God be compleatly free in respect
of all his looks, and glances towards the Creature, yet
notwithstanding, upon the voluntary, and free precedency
of one Act, we may justly conceive him necessitated to
; another, by virtue of that indissoluble connexion, and
Concatenation between these two Acts, which does in a
manner knit, and unite them into one.
Thus God has an absolute liberty, and choice, whether
he will make a promise, or no; but if he has made it, he

254 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
cannot but fulfil it. Thus he is perfectly free, whether
he will reveal his mind, or no ; but, if he will reveal it, he
cannot but speak truth, and manifest it as it is.
God had the very same liberty, whether he would create
a World, or no; but, if he will create it, and keep it in
its comelinesse, and proportion, he must then have a
vigilant, and providential eye over it; and, if he will pro-
vide for it, he cannot but have a perfect, and indefective
Providence agreeable to his own wisdom, and goodness, and
Being : so that if he will create such a Being, as Man,
such a Rational Creature, furnish’d with sufficient know-
ledge to discern between some good, and evil; and, if he
will supply it with a proportionable concourse in its opera.
tions, he cannot then but prohibit such acts, as are intrin-
secally prejudicial, and detrimental to the Being of it:
neither can he but command such acts, as are necessary
to its preservation and welfare.
God therefore, when from all Etermity in his own glorious
Thoughts he contriv'd the Being of Man, he did also with
his piercing eye see into all conveniences and disconveniencies,
which would be in reference to such a Being, and by his
eternal Zazv did restrain, and determine it to such acts, as
should be advantageous to it, which in his wise Oeconomy
and dispensation, he publish'd to man by the voice of
A'eason, by the mediation of this Matural Zazv.
Whence it is, that every violation of this Law is not
onely an injury to man's being; but, ultra nativam re;
malitiam, (as the Scholes speak) 'tis also a virtual and
interpretative contempt of that supreme Zaw-giver; who,
out of so much wisdom, love and goodnesse did thus bind
man to his own happinesse. *
So much then, as man does start aside and apostatiº
from this Law; to so much misery, and punishment does
he expose himself: though it be not necessary that the
Candle of Nature should discover the full extent and

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 255
ſ
measure of that Punishment, which is due to the breakers
of this Law; for to the nature of Punishment mom requi-
ritur, ut praecognita sit poena, sed ut fiat actus dignus tal;
Aoena.
The Zawyers and Schoo/men both will acknowledge this
Principle. For, as Suarez has it, Sequitur reatus ex intrim-
Seca conditione culpae; ita ut, licet poena per Zegem mom sit
determinata, arbitrio tamen competentis Judici's pumiri possiz.
Yet the Zight of Wature will reveal, and disclose thus
much ; That a Being totally dependent upon another,
essentially subordinate, and subject to it, must also be
accountable to it for every provocation, and rebellion ; And,
for the violation of so good a Zaw, which he has set it,
and for the sinning against such admirable Providence
and Justice, as shines out upon it, must be lyable to such
a Punishment, as that glorious Zaw-giver shall judge fit
for such an offence; who is so full of Justice, as that
he cannot, and so great in Goodnesse, as that he will
not, punish a Creature above its desert.
CHAPTER VII.
The Extent of the Law of Nature.
THERE are stamp'd and printed upon the Being of
Man some clear and indelible Principles, some first
and Alphabetical Motions; by putting together of which
it can spell out the Law of Nature.
There's scatter'd in the Soul of man some seeds of
Light, which fill it with a vigorous pregnancy, with a
multiplying fruitfulness, so that it brings forth a numerous,
and sparkling posterity of secondary Motions, which make
for the crowning, and encompassing of the Soul with
happinesse. -
\
º


256 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
.
All the fresh Springs of Common and Fountain-Motions
are in the Soul of Man, for the watring of his Essence,
for the refreshing of this heavenly Plant, this Arbor inversa,
º this enclosed Being, this Garden of God.
And, though the wickedness of man may stop the
pleasant Motion, the clear and Chrystalline progress of
the Fountain ; yet they cannot hinder the first risings,
the bubbling endeavours of it. They may pull off AWatures
/eaves, and pluck off her fruits, and chop off her branches,
but yet the root of it is etermaſ, the foundation of it is
inviolable.
Now these first, and Radical principles are winded up
in some such short bottoms as these : Bonum est appeten-
dum, malum est fugiemdum ; Beatitudo est quaerenda y Quod
fibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris. And A’eason thus Óorókmore
rów vópov, incubando super haec ova; by warming, and
brooding upon these first and Oval Principles of her own
laying, it being it self quicken'd with an heavenly vigour,
does thus hatch the Zazy of Mature.
For, you must not, nor cannot think that Matures Law
is confin'd, and contracted within the compasse of two, or
three common Motions ; but Reason, as with one foot it
fixes a Center, so with the other it measures, and spreads
out a Circumference, it draws several Conclusions, which
do all meet, and croud into these first, and Central Prin-
ciples. As in those Noble Mathematical Sciences there are
not onely some first airſiuato, which are granted as soon
as they are ask'd, if not before ; but there are also whole
heaps of firm, and immoveable ZXemonstrations, that are
built upon them : in the very same manner, Mature has
some Postulata, some trpoxiftlets, (which Seneca renders
Praesumptiones, which others call Anticipationes Animi)
which she knows a Rational Being will presently and
willingly yield unto; and therefore, by virtue of these,
it does engage and oblige it to all such commands, as
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 257
shall by just result, by genuine production, by kindly and
evident derivation flow from these.
For men must not onely look upon the Capital Zetters
of this Nôpos Ypatrós, but they must read the whole
context and coherence of it; they must look to every jof
and Apex of it: for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass
away, then one /ot or Title of this Zaw shall vanish.
They must not onely gaze upon two or three Principles
of the first Magnitude; but they must take notice of the
lesser Celestial Sporades : for these also have their ſight,
and influence. -
They must not onely skim off the Cream of first Prin-
tiples; but whatsoever sweetness comes streaming from the
Pug of Nature, they must feed upon it, they may be
nourish’d with it.
A'eason does not onely crop off the tops of first Motions,
but does so gather all the Flowers in Nature's Garden, as
that it can bind them together in a pleasant Posy, for the
refreshment of it self and others.
Thus, as a Noble Author of our own does well observe,
Zola ſere Ethica est Motitia communis: All Morality is
hoſhing, but a collection and bundling up of Matural Pre-
*P*. The Moralists did but TAaróvely ºvXakripta, enlarge
the fringes of Nature's Garment: they are so many Com-
*enſatours and Expositours upon Mature's Law. This
Waš his meaning, that stil'd Moral Philosophy, trepi rà
*pºſtwa Pixogoºſa, that Philosophy, which is for the
*aintaining and edifying of Humane Wature. Thus
Aſature's Zaw is frequently call'd the Moral Zaw. But
the Schoolmen in their rougher Zanguage make these
Several ranks and distributions of Matural Precepts. Tà
"póra Karā húow. First, there come in the front Principia
Generalia, (as some call them) per se nota: ut, Honesium
i. ** faciendum, Pravum vitandum. Then follow next
*incipia particularia et magis determinata, ui, Justitia
cAMPAGNAc * * S




258 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
est servanda ; ZXeus est coſendus ; Vivendum es; femperate.
At length come up in the rear, Comc/usiones evidenter iſlatae,
quae famen cognosci megueumſ misi per discursum ; ut, Men-
dacium, Furium et similia frava esse.
These, though they may seem somewhat more remote,
yet being fetch'd from clear, and unquestionable Premises,
they have Nature's Seal upon them ; and are thus far
sacred, so as to have the usual priviledge of a Conclusion,
to be untouch'd and undeniable.
For though that learned Authour, whom I mention'd
not long before, do justly take notice of this, that Discourse
is the usual inſet to Errour, and too often gives an open
admission, and courteous entertainment to such falsities,
as come disguis'd in a Sy//ogistical form, which by their
sequacious zwindings and gradual insinuations twine about
some weak understandings: yet, in the nature of the thing
it self, 'tis as impossible to collect an Errour out of a
Truth, as 'tis to gather the blackest AWight out of the fairest
Sunshine, or the foulest wickedness out of the purest good.
mess. A Conclusion therefore, that's built upon the Sand,
you may very well expect its fall; but that, which is built
upon the Rock, is impregnable and immoveable : for, if the
Alazy of Maſure should not extend it self so far, as to
oblige men to an accurate observation of that, which is
a remove or two distant from first Principles, 'twould
then prove extremely defective in some such Precepts,
as do most intimately and intensely conduce to the welfare
and advantage of an Intellectual Being.
And these first Motions would be most barren, ineff.
cacious Speculations, unless they did thus increase and
multiply, and bring forth fruit with the blessing of Heaven
upon them.
So that there is a necessary connexion and concatenation
between first Principles, and such Conclusions. For, as
Suarez has it, Veritas Principii continetur in Conclusione:



DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 259
So that he, that questions the Conclusion, must needs also
Strike at the Principle. Nay, if we look to the motion
of a Zaw, there is more of that to be seen in these more
Aarticular Zimitations, then in those more universa/AVotions 5
for Zev est proxima Regula operationum. But now Par-º
ticulars are nearer to existence and operation, then Universals:
and in this respect do more immediately steer and direct
the motions of such a Being. The one is the bending of
| the Bow; but the other is the shooting of the Arrow.
Suarez does fully determine this in such words as these,
| Haec omnia Praecepta (he means both Principles and
Conclusions) prodeunt a Deo, Auctore Maturae, et tendumt
ad eundem finem, mimirum ad debitam conservationem, et
naturalem perfectionem, seu felicitatem Humanae AWaturae.
This Zaw of Mature, as it is thus branch'd forth, does
bind in ſoro Conscientiae: for as that Woble Author, (whom
I more then once commended before) speaks very well
in this : Watural Conscience, ’tis Centrum Wotitiarum
60mmºnium, and tis a kind of Sensus communis in respect
of the inward Faculties, as that other is in respect of the
outward Senses. 'Tis the competent Judge of this Zazw -
ºf Nature: 'tis the natural Pulse of the Soul, by the
beating, and motion of which, the state, and temper of
men is discernible. The Apostle Paul thus felt the
Žeathen's pulse, and found their Consciences sometimes
%cusing them, sometimes making Apology for them. Yet
there's a great deale of difference between Natural Con-
ſcience, and the Zaw of Wature ; for (as the Scholemen
s Speak) Conscience, ’tis Dictatum Practicum in particulari;
'tis a prosecution, and application of this Matural Zazo,
: as Providence is of that eternal Zaw.
Nay, Conscience sometimes does embrace onely the
%adow of a Zaw, and does engage men, though errone-
ſº ously, to the observation of that, which was never dictated
ſº by any just Zegislative power. Nor is it content to glance
" . S 2



















26o NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
..~~~"
onely at what's to come, but Janus-like, it has a double
aspect, and so looks back to what's past, as to Call men
to a strict account for every violation of this Zazy :
Which Zaw is so accurate, as to oblige men not onely
ad actum, but ad modum also : it looks as well to the
inzward form and manner, as to the materiality and bulk
of outward Actions: for every Being owes thus much
kindnesse, and courtesie to it self, not onely to put forth
such acts, as are essential and intrinsecal to its own welfare;
but also to delight in them and to fulfill them with all
possible freenesse and alacrity, with the greatest intenseness
and complacency. Self-love alone might easily constrain
men to this natural obedience. Humane Zaws indeed
rest satisfied with a visible, and external obedience; but
Mature's Zaw darts it self into the most intimate Essentials,
- and looks for entertainment there.
You know that amongst the Moralists onely such acts
are esteem’d Actus Humani, that are Actus Voluntarii.
When Mature has tun’d a Rational Being, she expects
that every String, every Faculty should spontaneously
and chearfully sound forth his praise.
And the God of Wature, that has not chain'd, nor ſetter'd,
nor enslav'd such a Creature; but has given it a competent
liberty and enlargement, the free diffusion and amplifica-
tion of its own Essence, he looks withall, that it should
willingly consent to its own happiness, and to all such
means, as are necessary for the accomplishment of its
choicest end: and that it should totally abhor whatsoever
is destructive, and prejudicial to its own Being; which
if it do, 'twill presently embrace the Zaw of Wature, if
either it loves its God, or it self; the command of its God,
or the welfare of it self.
Nay, the Precepts of this Natural Zaw are so potent
and triumphant, as that some acts, which rebel against it,
become not only Illiciti, but Irrifi, as both the Scholeºne”


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 261
|
and Zazeyers observe; they are not onely irregularities,
but meer nullities: and that either ob defectum Potestatis,
et Incapacitatem Materiae; as if one should go about
to give the same thing to two several Persons, the second
Donation is a Mora/AWon-entity: or else Propter perpetuam
rei Indecentiam, et Turpitudinem durantem; as in some
anomalous and incestuous Marriages. And this Zazy of
Mature is so exact, as that 'tis not capable of an étuetketa,
which the Zawyers call Emendatio Zegis: but there is
no mending of Essences, nor of Essential Zaws; both
which consist in Puncio, in Indivisibili, and so cannot
A'ecipere magis et minus : nor is there any need of it; for
in this Law there's no Rigour at all, 'tis pure Equity, and
So nothing is to be abated of it. Neither does it depend
onely d mente Legislatoris, which is the usual Rise of
Mitigation ; but 'tis conversant about such acts, as are
Aer se tales, most intrinsecally and inseparably.
Yet notwithstanding this Law does not refuse an Inter-
Aretation, but Mature her self does gloss upon her own
Zaw, as in what circumstances such an Act is to be
esteem'd Murder, and when not ; and so in many other
Branches of Nature's Law, if there be any appearance
of intricacy, any seeming Åmot and difficulty, Mature has
given edge enough to cut it asunder.
There is another Zazo, bordering upon this Zaze of
Aature, Jus Gentium, Juri Naturali propinguum et con-
Sanguineum ; and ’tis Medium quoddam inter /us AWaturale,
et Jus Civile. Now this /us Gentium is either per simili-
tudinem et concomitantiam, when several Mations, in their
distinct conditions, have yet some of the same positive
Laws: or else (which indeed is most properly Népupov č6vi-
ków) per communicationem et societatem, which, as the
learned Grotius describes, Aſ omnium, vel multarum gentium
voluntate vim obligandi accepit: that is, when all, or many
of the most refined Nations, bunching and clustering



262 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
together, do binde themselves by general compact to the
observation of such Zazes, as they judge to be for the
' good of them all; as the Honourable entertainment of an
Ambassadour, or such like.
So that 'tis /us humanum non scriptum. 'Tis eipmua (8tov
kai Xpévov. For, as /ustinian tells us, Osu exigențe, et
Aumani's necessitatibus Genſes humanae quaedam Sibi fura
constituerunt. Whereas other Humane Zaws have a
narrower Sphere and compass, and are limited to such
a state, which the Orator stiles Zeges populares, the Hebrews
call their positive Zaws Dºpm, sometimes pºpBºp, though
the one do more properly point at Ceremonials, the other
at Judicials. The Septuagint render them évroXat, some
others call them rò Tris Sevrépéoreos: as they call AWatural
Laws n\sp, which the Hellenists render öukawópata. But,
according to the Greek Idiom, these are termed tâ £v bögel,
and the others to Év rášev.
Now, though the formality of Humane Zaws do flow
immediately from the powers of some particular men; yet
the strength and sinew of these Zaws is founded in the
Law of Mature: for Mature does permissively give them
leave to make such Laws, as are for their greater con-
venience ; and when they are made, and whilest they are
in their force, and vigour, it does oblige and command
them not to break, or violate them : for they are to esteem
their own consent as a sacred thing; they are not to contra-
dict their own Acts, nor to oppose such Commands, as
ex pacio were fram’d and constituted by themselves.
Thus much for the Law of Nature in general. We
must look in the next place to that Zumen Naturae, that
| Candle of the Zord, by which this Zaw of Nature is
manifested and discovered.


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 263
CHAPTER VIII.
How the Law of Nature is discovered ; not by Tradition.
GOD having contrived such an admirable and harmonious
Law for the guiding and governing of his Creature, you
Cannot doubt, but that he will also provide sufficient means
for the discovery and publishing of it; Promulgation being
pre-requir’d, as a necessary condition, before a Zaw can,
be valid and vigorous. To this end therefore he has
Set up an Antellectual Zamp in the Soul, by the light ofſ
which it can read this Nópos ypatrós, and can follow the
Commands of its Creatour.
The Scho/emen, with full and general consent, under-
stand that place of the Psalmist of this Zumen Naturale,
and many other Authors follow them in this too securely.
Nay, some Critical Writers quote them, and yet never
chide them for it. The words are these, Tºjº nºby np.
Eleva super nos Jumen vultºs flui : but yet they, very
ignorantly, though very confidently, render them, Signatum
est super nos /umen vulti's ful : and they do as erroneously
interpret it of the light of Reason, which (say they) is
Signaculum quoddam, et impressio increatae lucis in Anima.
So much indeed is true; but it is far from being an
Exposition of this place. Yet perhaps the Septuagint
mis-led them, who thus translate it ; "Eormueld,0m ép juás
to $0s too trpoorótov orov' but Aquila, that had a quicker
eye here, renders it "Etrapov, and Symmachus Eirío mpov
Totmorov.
The words are plainly put up in the form of a Petition
to Heaven, for some smiles. of love, for some propitious
and favourable glances, for God's gracious presence, and
acceptance. And they amount to this sense; ºf one Sun
do but Shine upon me, Z shall have more joy then world/ings
have, when all their Stars appear.
But to let these passe with the Errours of their Vulgar


264 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
Latine; I meet with one more remarkable, and of larger
influence: I mean that of the Jews, who (as that worthy
Author of our own, in his learned Book De Vure Maturali
secundºm Hebraeos, makes the report) do imagine, and
suppose, that the light of Mature shines onely upon
themselves originally and principally, and upon the
Gentiles onely by way of participation and dependance
upon them ; they all must light their Candles at the Jewish
Lamp. Thus they strive, as much as they can, to engross
and monopolize this Matural Light to themselves; onely it
may be sometimes, out of their great liberality, they will
distribute some broken Beams of it to the Gentiles. As
if these nº ºn nxr, these Praecepta Moachidarum had been
lock'd up and cabinetted in Moah's Ark, and afterwards
kept from the prophane touch of a Gentile: as if they had
been part of that Bread, which our Saviour said was not
to be cast unto Dogs; and therefore they would make
them glad to eat of the Crumbs, that fall from their Master's
Table : as if they onely enjoyed a Goshen of Natural
Light, and all the rest of the world were benighted in
most palpable, and unavoidable Darkness: as if the Sun
shin'd onely upon Canaan : as if Canaan onely flow’d with
this Milk and Honey: as if no drops of Heaven could fall
upon a Wildernesse, unlesse an Israelite be there: as if
they had the whole impression of Nature's Law: as if God
had not dea/# thus zwith every Wation : as if the Heathen
also had not the Änowledge of this Law. 'Tis true, they
had the first Beauty of the rising Sun, the first peepings
out of the Day, the first dawnings of Watural Light; for
there were no other, that it could then shine upon : but
do they mean to check the Sun in its motion, to stop this
Giant in his race, to hinder him from scattering rayes of
Light in the world? Do they think, that Wature's Fountain
is enclos'd, that her Well is seal’d up, that a Jew must
onely drink of it, and a Gentile must die for Thirst? O !

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 265
ſ:
but they tell you they are nºt by-Aabs Teptodotos, a
Darling, and peculiar AVation. §
We shall fully acknowledge with the Hebrew of Hebrews,
IIoMi to reptororów too 'Iověatov, though not in respect of
Matural Zight, which, doubtlesse, is planted by Mature in
the heart both of Jew and Gentiſe, and shines upon both with
an equal and impartial Beam. And yet this must not be
denied, that the Jews had even these Natural Motions
much clarified, and refined from those clouds, and mists,
which ynn ns' Original Sim had brought upon them, and
this by means of that pure, and powerful Beam of heavenly
Truth, which shined more peculiarly upon them. Those
Laws, which Mature had engraven v 8éArots ºpewów, upon
the Tables of their Hearts, Sin like a Moth had eaten and
defaced (as in all other men it had done), but in them those
fugitive Zetters were call’d home again, and those many
Lacunae were supplied and made good again by comparing
it with that other Cogy (of God's own writing too) which
AMoses received in the Mount ; and besides, they had
a great number of revealed 7%ruths discovered to them,
which were engraffed indeed upon the stock of Nature, but
would never have grown out of it: so that this second
Edition was Auction also, as well as Emendation ; but yet,
for all this, they have no greater a portion of the Zight of
Mature, then all men have. Thus Christians also are
Hºb by, and yet in respect of their natural condition, have
no more then others.
Now, if the Jews have so many priviledges, why are not
they content? Why do not they rest satisfied with them P
Why will they thus be claiming, and arrogating more then
their due P -
Are they the first-born, and have they a double-portion,
and do they envy their younger Brethren their Birth, and
Being? Have they a bright, and eminent Sun-shine; and
do they envy a Gentile the Candle of the Zord?


266 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
x -º
f
.#
-4
*
S.
No (as that learned Author tells us) they will grant, that
the Gentiſes had their Candle and their Zorch ; but it was
lighted at the Jew’s Sun. They must have some Bottles
of Water to quench their thirst ; but they must be fill'd
at their streams, ék Töv ‘E6paików vapºdrov, ex fluentis
A/eóz-aicis.
This indeed must be granted, that the whole generality
of the Heathem went a gleaning in the Jewish fields. They
had some of their grapes, some ears of Corn, that dropp'd
from them. Pythagoras and Plato especially were such
notable gleaners, as that they stole out of the very sheaves,
out of those Truths, that are bound up in the Sacred
volume. Yet all this while they ne're stole first Principles,
nor Demonstrations; but they had them otroffev, and needed
not to take such a long Journey for them.
Give then unto the Jew the things of the Jewes, and to
the Gentile the things that are the Gentiſes ; and that,
which God has made common, call not thou peculiar.
The Apostle Paul’s Question is here very seasonable;
*H "Iověatov 6 @eos pévov; oëxi & kai éðvøv ; vaí, Kai éðvøv.
There was never any partition-wall between the Essence
of Jew, and Gentiſe. Now the Zaw of Mature 'tis founded
in Essentials. And that which is disconvenient to that
Rational Mature, which is in a Jew, is as opposite and
disagreeable to the same Mature in a Gentile; as that good,
which is suitable and proportionable to a Jew in his
Rational Being, is every way as intrinsecal to the welfare
of a Gentiſe, that does not differ essentially from him. So
likewise for the promulgation of this Zaw, being it does
equally concern them both, and equally oblige them both;
it is also by Mature equally publish'd and manifested to
them both. So that what the Apostle speaks in respect
of the freeness of Evangelical Zight, we may say the very
Same in respect of the commonnesse of Natural Light;


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 267
Oük to ti "EXXmv kai Iověaſos, Tepitop) kai äkpoſºvortia,
Sápéapos, Skúðms, 800Aos, éAeë6epos' but all these are one,
in respect of Mature, and Nature's Zazw, and Nature's
Light.
CHAPTER IX.
The Zight of Nature.
THIS Zazy of Mature, having a firm and unshaken
Foundation in the necessity and conveniency of its materials,
becomes formally valid and vigorous by the mind and
Command of the Supreme Zazw-giver, so as that all the
strength and nerves and binding virtue of this Zaw are
rooted and fasten’d partly in the excellency and equity of,
2
the commands themselves. But they principally depend
upon the Sovereignty and Authority of God himself, thus
Contriving, and commanding the welfare of his Creature,
and advancing a Rational Mature to the just perfection
of its Being. This is the rise and original of all that
obligation, which is in the Zaw of Nature. But the
Publishing and manifestation of this Law, which must
t give notice of all this, does flow from that heavenly Beame,
i which God has darted into the Soul of Man; from the Candle
ſ of the Zord, which God has lighted up for the discovery of
his own Zaws; from that intellectual eye, which God has,
fam'd and made exactly proportionable to this Zight. '
Therefore we shall easily grant that the obligation of
this Zaw does not come from this Candle of the Zord;
and others, I suppose, will deny that the Manifestation
of this Law does come from this Candle of the Zord, that the
promulgation of this Zazy is made by the voice of Reason.
In order of Mature, this Zaw, as all others, must be
made, before it can be made known, Entity being the just
root and bottom of Intelligibility. So that Reason does /
| not facere, or ferre legem ; but onely invenire: as a Candle
does not produce an Object, but onely present it to the
&

268 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
eye, and make it visible. All Veritie, ’tis but the gloss
of Entity: there's a loving Union and Communion between
A them, as soon as Being is, it may be known.
So that Reason is the Pen, by which Wature writes this
\Law of her own composing. This Law, 'tis publish'd by
Authority from Heaven, and Reason is the Printer. This
eye of the Soul, 'tis to spy out all dangers and all advantages,
all conveniences and disconzeniences in reference to such a
Being, and to warn the Soul in the name of its Creatour, to
fly from such irregularities, as have an infrinsecal and im:
f/acable malice in them, and are prejudicial and destructive
to its Nature; but to comply with, and embrace all such acts,
and objects, as have a native come/inesse and amiablenessé,
and are for the heightning and ennobling of its Being.
Jºſierocles does most excellently set forth this, whilest
he "brings that golden verse of Pythagoras to the Touch-
Stone : -
Mm3 &Xoyiotos oravröv exeiv repi pºmbev č6íčov,
and does thus brighten it and display it in its full glory,
'Qs yüp Tpos kavóva Tův oãoríav juáv ÓroſłAérovres, to 6éov čv
Tàow eipiakopiev. Karā Tov Čpóðv Aóyov, oupºvosti čavrºv
oùoríº Saôvres. His meaning is this: ‘there is a kind
of a Canon-Zazu in the essences of men, and a Rational
Tuning all their faculties according to those Zessons, which
Mature has set; it does (ºv oup d'évos, with a most grateful
and harmonious life, pleases both it self, and others. So,
whilest he weighs that other golden Verse in the Balance, he
speaks very high,
BovXečov 8& Tpó pyov Štros pººl pºpa TréAmtal'
he gives us this learned accompt of it; Aéye & 3p3% reiffeoffa',
kai Oeº rairóv čott rô yöp Aoyukov yévos, sipopfforay ris
oikeias A\dpºleos, raûra BoćMetal, & 6 6eſos épičet vépos' kai
7iveral oºpulmºos Osº # karū Osóv 8takeſpévn livXī kai Tpós rô
* A *A e *
6eſov kai ré Aapirpov drogxérovoa ſpárrel & &v rpárrº. # *


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 269
ēvavtſos 8takeupévm Tpós rô diffeov kai orkoretvöv, elkä kai
Ös rvXe hepopuévy, &re tºs pévms tow kaAów ortóðums, voo kai
| 0éoù droTeorobora. Which I may thus render ; To obey
f Right Reason, 'tis to be perswaded by God himself, who has
furnish'd and adorn’d a Rational Nature with this intrinsecal,
and essential Zamp, that shines upon it, and guides it in the
waies of God; so, as that the Sou/ and its Creatour become ,
perfect Unisons, and being bless'd zwith the light of his
Countenance, it steers all its motions and actions, with much
f Security and happinesse. But, if this Zamp of Reason be
| darkned and obscured, the Soul presently embraces a Cloud,
and courts a Shadow ; the blackest and most palpable
Atheism, and Wickedness must needs cover the face of that
Soul, that starts back and apostatizes from its God and
its Reason. Where you cannot but take notice, that he
calls the light of Reason, Oiketa čAAapakis, which is an
expression very parallel to this of Solomon, The Candle of
the Lord.
That wise Heathen, Socrates, was of the very same mind,
in whose mouth that speech was so frequent and usual,
Očevi. xp) reiðeorðat TA}v rá, épô6 Aóyº' 'Tis Zain to trust
any thing, but that which Reason tells you has the Seal
of God upon it. Thus that Heathen Oratour, very fully
and Emphatically; AVos Zegem bonam & mala, nullā aliá,
hisi Matural; norma, dividere possumus. AWec solºm Zus,
et Iniuria & Natura dijudicantur, sed omnino omnia Honesia
et Turpia. Mam et communis Intelligentia nobis Res notas
efficit, ea quae in animis nostris inchoaviſ, ut Honesia in
virtute pomantur, in vitiis Turpia. That is, Mature has N
distinguish'd Good from Evil by these indelible stamps and *
impressions, which she has graven upon both, and has set
Reason, as a competent Judge, to decide all Moral Con-
troversies: which by her first seeds of Light plainly discovers
an honourable Beauty in Goodness, and an inseparable Blot /
in Wickednesse. Hence these three, Zīv Karā húow, Öv )


















27,o NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
.º-
kata. Aóyov, Öv karū ()eów, are esteem'd equivalencies by
that Emperour and Philosopher, Marcus Antoninus. But
yet the Jews will by no means yield that there is light
enough in the dictaſes of Reason, to display Common
Motions; for they look upon it as a various and unsatis-
factory light, mix’d with much Shadow and Darkness,
labouring with perpetual inconstancy and uncertainty. What,
are first Princip/es become so mutable and treacherous?
Are Demonstrations such fortuitous and contingent things?
Had I met with this in a fluctuating Academick, in a rowling
Sceptick, in a Sexſus Empyricus, in some famous Professour
of Doubts, I should then have look’d upon it, as a tolerable
expression of their trembling and shivering opinion. But
how come I to find it among those Divers into the depths of
A nowledge, who grant a certainty, and yet will not grant
it to Reason P I would they would tell us then, where
we might hope to find it. Surely not in an Oriental
Tradition, in a Rabbinical Dream, in a dusty Manuscript, in
a remnant of Antiquity, in a Bundle of Testimonies; and yet
this is all you are like to get of them : for they tell you this
Story, that these AVaſura/ Precepts ſum in ipsis rerum
initiis, tum in ea, quae ſuit post Diluvium, instauratione,
Aumano generi iſsá sancſissimá Wuminis voce ſuisse im-
£erata, atque ad Posteros per Traditionem solilm inde
mamásse; that is, that ‘These Commands were proclaim'd
by the voice of God himself, first to Adam in the first
setting out of the World; and then they were repeated
to Woah, when there was to be a reprinting and new Edition
of the World after the Deluge; and thus were in way of
Tradition to be propagated to all Posterity. O rare and
admirable foundation of Plerophory / O incomparable
method, and contrivance to find out certainty, to rase out
first Principles, to pluck down Demonstrations, to demolish
the whole structure, and fabrick of Reason, and to build
upon the word of two or three Hebrew Doctours, that

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 271
tell you of a voice, and that as confidently as if they
had heard it, and they are entrusted with this voice, they
must report, and spread it unto others, though they do it,
like unfaithful Echoes, with false and imperſect rebound !
This is to tell you, that Men have no Candle of the Zord
within them ; but onely there must be Traditio Zampadis,
a general and publick Zight, that must go from one hand to -
another. This is to Ö/of out the Nôpos yparrós, to leave out
Canonical Scripture, and to give you Apocrypha in the
room of it. 'Tis to set a Jew in the chair, dictating the
Law of Maſure, with the very same /nfal/ibility, that the
Pope promises himself in determining all points of Religion.
Therefore some it may be will have recourse to such an
Intellectus Agens, as must clear up all things.
It should seem by that eminent Writer of our own, that
Pºyer Bacon was of the same mind too, for whose words
these are quoted, amongst many others, out of an Oxford.
Manuscript; Deus respectu animae est sicut Sol respectu
Oculi temporalis, et Angeli sicut stellae. Now what Angels
they were, that this Roger Bacon fix’d his eye upon, whether
they were not fallen stars, let others examine. I should
think that Cardan's Intellectus Agens and his were both
much of the same colour.
But this you may perceive in him, and the rest of the
great Pleaders for an Intellectus Agens, that they found
all their Arguments in a pretty similitude of an Eye, and
Zight, and Colours; as if this were some inconquerable
Bemonstration: whereas that great Master of Subtleties,
whom I have more than once nam'd before, has made
it appear, that the whole Wotion of an Intellectus agens
is a meer fancy and superfluity.
Yet this may be granted to all the forementioned Authors,
# and this is the onely spark of Truth, that lies almost buried
* in that heap of Errours; That God himself, as he does supply



272 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
every Being, the Motion of every Creature, with an intimate
and immediate concourse every way answerable to the
measure and degree of its Entity; so he does in the same
manner constantly assist the Understanding with a pro-
portionable Co-operation. But then, as for any such /rradia-
Žions upon the Soul, in which that shall be meerly patient;
God indeed, if he be pleas'd to reveal himself in a special,
and extraordinary manner, he may thus shine out upon
it, either immediately by his own light, or else drop Angelical
Influence upon it: but that this should be the natural
and ordinary way, necessarily required to Intellectual
workings, is extremely prejudicial to such a noble Being,
as the Soul of man is, to which God gave such bright
participations of himself, and stamp'd his Image upon it,
and left it to its own workings, as much as any other
created Being whatsoever. Nay, as Scaliger does most
confidently object it to Cardam, you will not have one
Argument left, by which you can evince the Immortality of
the Soul, if you shall resolve all the excellency of its Being,
and Operations into an Intellectus agens really distinct from it.
But then to make this Noës Toumrukós and traffmrukós onely
the various Aspects, and different relations of the same Soul,
is but a weak and needlesse device; and, if 'twere Aristotle's,
to be sure 'twas none of his Master-pieces; for 'tis built
upon, I know not what Phantasms and false Appearances.
Whereas those species and Colours, those Pictures and
Representations of Being, that are set before an Intellectual
Fºye, carry such a light and beauty in themselves, as may
justly engratiate them with the Understanding. And
though some tell us, that they have too much drosse
and impurity, that they are too muddy and feculent, not
proportionable to the purity of a reasonable Soul; yet let
them but think of those many strainers they have gone
through, those double refinings and clarifyings, that they
have had from so many percolations: and withall they may.
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 273
know, that the Understanding can drink in the most pure,
and flowring part of the Species, and can leave the dregs
at bottom. Have you not thus often seen a Seal stamping
it self upon the Wax, and yet not communicating the least
particle of matter, but onely leaving a form, and impression
upon it?
However, there is as much proportion between these
Species, and an Intellectus Patiens ; as between these, and
an Intellectus Agens. Nay, there is more proportion between
these species, and the Understanding, then between the Soul,
and Body, which yet are joymed, and married together in
a most loving and conjugal Union.
CHAPTER X.
Of the Consent of Nations.
THOUGH Natur’s Zaw be principally proclaim'd by the
Voice of Reason ; though it be sufficiently discover'd by
the Candle of the Zord; yet there is also a secondary and N
additional way, which contributes no small light to the
manifestation of it: I mean the Harmony and joynt consent
of Nations; who, though there be no kowovia, nor ovvějkm/
# no communion, nor commerce, nor compact between them,
yet they do tacitly and spontaneously conspire in a dutiful
observation of the most radical and fundamental Laws
of Wature. {
So that, by this pleasant consort of theirs, you may know,
that the same Nature did tune them all. When you see,
the same prints and impressions upon so many several
Nations, you easily perceive that they were stamp'd eodem
Communi Sigillo, with the same publick Seal. When you
| see the very same seeds thrown in such different soils; yet
* all encreasing and multiplying, budding and blossoming,
- CAMPAGNAC T



274 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
branching out and enlarging themselves into some fruitful
expressions; you know then, that 'twas AWafur's hand, her
bountiful and successful Hand, that scatter'd such seminal
Principles amongst them ; you presently know, that 'tis no
enclosed way, 'tis a Via Regia, in which you meet with SO
many Travellers, such a concourse and confluence of a People.
Amongst many others, the learned Grotius is full and
express for searching out the Zazy of Mature in this manner.
You shall hear his own words, which he speaks in that
excellent work of his De Zure Belli et Pacis. Esse aliquid
Juris Maturalis probari solet tum aſ eo, quod prius est; tum
ab eo, quod posterius: quarum probandi Rationum illa
subtilior est, haec popularior. A priori, si ostendatur Rei
alicuſ us convenientia auf disconvenientia necessaria cum
Matura Rationali ac Sociali. A posteriori verb, si non
certissima fide, certé probabiliter admodum, Juris Maturalis
esse colligitur id, quod apud gemtes omnes, auf moraliores
omnes, tale esse creditur. And he does annex this reason of
it: Universalis effectus Universalem requirit causam. When
you see such fresh Springs and streams of Justice watering
several Kingdoms and Mations, you know, that they are
participations of some rich Fountain, of a vast Ocean.
When you see so many Rays of the same Zight shooting
themselves into the several Corners of the world, you
presently look up to the Sun, as the glorious Original of
them all.
Let me then a little vary that place in the Acts of the
Apostles: You may hear every man in his own Zanguage, in
Åis own Dialect and Idiom, speaking the same works ºf
Mature: Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the
Dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia,
in Pontus, in Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in
the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews,
and Proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians, you may hear them
speak in their Zongue the wonderful works of God, and Nature.
-
.*,-
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 275
For whatsoever is AWatura/ and Essential, is also
Universal in order to such a Species. The Philosopherſ
Speaks to this very pertinently; Tô pºèv (bùoret äktvmtov, Kai
Tavtaxoi, Tºv air), exel 8'ſuapaw, Öortep to trip kai évôāöe kai év
IIéporats kaſet' That is, ‘Whatsoever is Watural is immozie-
able, and in the same manner perpetually emergetical : as fire
does not put on one colour amongst the Grecians, and
paint its face otherwise among the Persians; but it has
alwaies the same ruddiness and purity, the same zeal and
vehemency.’
As Wature shews choice variety and Weedle-work in this,
in that she works every Individual with several ſourishes,
with some singular and distinguishing notes: So likewise
she plainly aspires to concord and unity, whilest she knits
all together in a common and specifical Identity. Not onely
in the faces of men, but in their Beings also, there is much
of Identity, and yet much of Variety.
You do not doubt, but that in al/ Mations there is an
exact likenesse and agreement in the fabrick and composure
of men's Bodies in respect of Integrals; excepting a few ºf
Monsters and Heteroclites in Nature: nor can you doubt,
but that there is the very same frame and constitution
of men's spirits, in respect of Intrinsecals; unless in some
prodigious ones, that in the Philosopher's Language are
'Apoptºpara rās ºreos. As face answers face, so does the
heart of one man the heart of another; even the Heart
of an Athenian the Heart of an Indian. -
Wherefore the Votes and Suffrages of ZVature are no
contemptible things.
&
dºſium 8° of ris Tápiirav diróAAvrai, #vtwa Maoi
troAXot ºbnušovov
# as the Poet sings. This was the mind of that grave
# Moralist, Seneca; as appears by that speech of his ;
| 4pud nos weritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri.
…:”


T 2
276 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
2-
But the Oratour is higher and fuller in his expression;
Omni autem in re, Consensio omnium Gentium Lew
Maturae putanda est. And that other Oratour, Quin-
tilian, does not much differ from him in this; Pro certis
habemus ea, in quae communi opinione concessum est. Or
if the judgment of a Philosopher be more potent and
prevalent with you, you may hear Aristotle telling you;
Kpdrugſtov rávras āvěpátrovs baiveoffat ovvopoxoyobvras tols
fimómoropévois. You may hear Heraclitus determining, that
ô Aóyos évvös is an excellent kpitáptov of Truth; and there.
fore he was wont to lay down this for a Maxime, Tà kolvi
havópeva triotá which may be rendred Vox Populi, Vox
Dei; yet, upon this condition, that it be took with its due
restraints and limitations. If you would have a sacred
Author set his seal to all this, Tertulliam has done it, Quod
apud multos unum invenitur, non est erratum, sed traditum,
Surely, that must needs be a clear convincing light, that
can command respect and adoration from all beholders;
it must be an Orient Pearl indeed, if none will trample
upon it. It must be a conquering and triumphant Truth,
that can stop the mouths of Gain-sayers, and pass the world
without contradiction : Surely that's pure Gold, that has
been examin'd by so many several Touchstones, and has had
approbation from them all: certainly, 'tis some transcendent
beauty, that so many AWations are enamour'd withall. 'Tis
some powerful Musick, that sets the whole world a Dancing.
'Tis some pure, and delicious Relish, that can content and
satisfie every palate. 'Tis some accurate piece, that passes S0
many Criticks without any Animadversions, without any
variae Zectiones. 'Tis an elegant Picture, that neither the
eye of an Artist, nor yet a popular eye can find fault withall.
Think but upon the several tempers and dispositions of
men; how curious are some how censorious are others'
how envious and malicious are some how various and
mutable are others how do some love to be singular

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 277
others to be contentious ! how doubtful and wavering is
One ! how jealous and suspicious is another and then tell
me, whether it must not be some Authentical, unquestionable
Truth, that can at all times have a Certificate and Commen-
damus from them all.
Then look upon the diversities of Mations, and there you
will see a rough and barbarous Scythian, a wild American,
an unpolish’d Andian, a superstitious AEgyptian, a subtle
Æthiopian, a cunning Arabian, a luxurious Persian, a
treacherous Carthaginian, a lying Cretian, an elegant
Athenian, a wanton Corinthian, a desperate ſtaſian, a fight-
ing German, and many other heaps of Mations, whose titles
I shall now spare: and tell me, whether it must not be
Some admirable and efficacious Zºuth, that shall so over-
£070er them all, as to pass current amongst them, and
be owned and acknowledged by them.
Yet, notwithstanding, as we told you before, that the
obligation of Wature's Zaw did not spring from Reason ;--"
So much lesse does it arise from the consent of AVations.
That Zaw indeed, which is peculiarly term'd Nápºpov
'E6vuków, Jus Gentium, has its vigour and validity from
those mutual and reciprocal compacts, which they have
. . made amongst themselves: but the meeting of severa/
Mations in the observation of Mature's Zazv has no binding
or engaging virtue in it any otherwise, then in an exemplary
way; but yet it has a confirming and evidencing power, that
shews, that they were all obliged to this by some supreme
Authority, which had such an ample influence upon them all.
Thus you know the sweetnesse of Honey, both by your own
tast, and by the consent of Palates too: yet neither the one
nor the other does drop any sweetnesse or ſusciousness into
the Honey-comb. Thus you see the beauty and glory of
Light, and you may call most men in the World to be
eye-witnesses of it; yet those several eyes add no gloss
or lustre to it, but onely take notice of it.


278 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
Man being Øov troAttików, and @ov ºpepov, as the
Philosopher stiles him, a sociable and peaceable Creature;
ăyeMao Tuków, Kai oiſvvopov Øov, as that sacred Oratour terms
him, a congregating Creature, that loves to keep company,
he must needs take much delight and complacency in that,
in which he sees the whole Tribe and species of Mankind
agreeing with hirn.
Why then do the Jews look upon the bºx with such
a disdaining and scornful eye, as if all the AVations, in Com-
parison of them, were no more them (what the Prophet Saies
they are in respect of God), as the drop of a Bucket, as the dust
of the Balance, that cannot incline them one way, or other?
Do but hear a while how that learned and much honoured
Authour of our own does represent their mind unto you.
Gentium (saies he) sive omnium, sive complurium opiniones,
mores, constitutiones, mensurae apud Hebraeos, in eo decer-
mendo, Quod jus esse ve/int AWaturale, sew Universale, locuſh
habent nullum. These are the Contents of that Chapter,
which he begins thus: Quemadmodum ex altorum animaſi-
tium actibus, aut usu, jus aliquod Maturale disci, aut designari
molunt Hebraei ; ita neque ex altarum, sive omnium, sive
plurimarum Gentium usu, ac moribus, de /ure Maturall, seu
hominum Universali decerni volunt. It seems the Jews
look upon the Gentiles, as if they differ'd specifically from
them : as they do not search for the Zaw of Mature amongst
sensitive Beings, so neither amongst other Mations.
But I had thought, that the Jewish Writers had promis'd
the Heathens an Angel, an Intelligence, to irradiate and
illuminate them, and does he shine upon them no clearer?
does he perform his office no better? The Jews told us,
that they themselves were to inform them and instruct
them, and have they taught them their Zessons no better?
They mention’d a voice that came to Adam and to Moah,
and have they whisper'd it onely in one another's ear?
* Selden, De Jure Heb.
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 279
Why have they not proclaim'd it to the rest of the world?
How sad were the condition of the Gentiles, if they were to
live upon the Jews courtesie and benevolence, that would
strip them of Mature, plunder them of their Essences,
rob them of their first Principles and Common Motions P
But God has not left them, like Orphans, to such unmerciful
Guardians. He himself has took care of them, and has
made better provision for them.
Now these severa/ Mations are to be consider'd either
in the common buſ/; and heap of them ; or else in the major
part of them, or in the noblest and most refined sort amongst
them; either of Távres and oi troXXot, or oi eiyevéortepot and
ºpovipºtepov.
If we take them in the fullest universality of them,
then that worthy Authour of our own saies truely; AVec
olim, mec hacienus, aut qualesmam, aut quot sint, fuerinſve,
est ab aliquo satis exploratum. Nor indeed is it at all
material in respect of this, whether we know them, or no;
but having the formal consent of so many, and knowing, that
there is Par ratio reliquorum, being that they have the same
natural Engagements and obligations upon them, we cannot
justly distrust, but that, if there should new Nations, nay,
if there should new Worlds appear, that every Rational
Mature amongst them would comply with, and embrace
the several Branches of this Zaw: and as they would
not differ in those things, that are so intrinsecal to Sense;
So neither in those, that are essential to the Understanding.
As their Corporal eye would be able to distinguish between
Beauty and Deformity: so their Intellectual eye would as
easily discern some goodness from some kind of wickedness.
But are there not many Mations of them, that live in
the perpetual violation of Mature's Zaw P If you speak
of the more Capital Letters of this Nópos Ypattés, you
find no AWation so barbarous, but that it can read them,
and observe them. I never heard of a ZVation apostatizing

28o NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
from Common Wotions, from these first Principles. But,
if you mean the whole context and coherence of Mature's
Zaw, if you speak of those Demonstrations, that may be
built upon these fundamental Principles, of those kindly
Derivations and Conclusions, that flow from these fountain-
Motions, then this indeed must be granted, that tis the
condemning sin of the Heathem ; That so many of them
imprison this Watural Zight and extinguish this Candle
of the Zord.
There are many wild and Anomalous Individuals
amongst them, oi Tóppo Bápſłapot, 6mpuffbels, &Aóytoto, as
Aristotle calls them, oi 8teq,6appévot, as others term them:
but are there not such also even amongst Jews 2 nay,
amongst such as call themselves Christians, that are laps'd,
and fallen below themselves? many AWatural Precepts are
violated even amongst them. Have you weeds and Bryers
and Thorns in a Garden? no wonder then, that you meet
with more in a Wilderness? Are there some Prodigies
in Europe? you may very well look for more Monsters in
Africa. Do Christians blur and blot the Zaw of Nature?
no wonder then, that an American seeks quite to rase
it out. Does an Israelite put Truth sometimes in Prison?
no wonder then, that an Egyptian puts it in a Dungeon.'
/Yet, notwithstanding amongst all those, that have had $0
much Culture and Morality, as to Amit and embody and
compact themselves into a Common-wealth, to become rols
vápots intokeiuevot, to be regulated by a Legal Government,
you will scarce find any Mation, that did generally and
*A expressly, and for long continuance, either violate, or counter-
ance the violation of any Precept clearly Matural.
This is that, in which the learned Grotius satisfies
himself, that Omnes Gentes Moraliores et Illustriores gave
due obedience and conformity to Wature's Law, so that all
Testimonies, fetch'd from them, are to have an high price,
and esteem put upon them.
- &


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 281
But the famous Salmasius, in his late Tractate De Coma,
| goes a far different way; and tells us, that he had rather
| Search for AWature's Lazy in a naked Indian, then in a
| Spruce Athenian ; in a rude American, rather then in
a gallant Roman ; in a meer Pagan, rather then in a Jew,
or Christian. His words are these, Quanto magis Barbari,
tantò felicius facilitàsque AVaturam Ducem segui putanțur.
Eam deforquent, auf aſ ea magis recedund politiones Genſes.
Those AVations, that have more of Art and emprovement
amongst them, have so painted Nature's face, have hung so
many Jewels in her Ear, have put so many Bracelets upon
her Hand, they have cloath'd her in such soft and silken
rayments as that you cannot guess at her so well, as you
might have done, if she had nothing, but her own simple
and neglected beauty : you cannot taste the Wine so well,
because they have put Sugar into it, and have brib'd your
Palafe.
So that the learned Salmasius will scarce go about to
fetch the Zaw of Nature from the Jews principally: you see
he chooses to fetch it rather from a Scythian, from a
Barbarian; there he shall see it without any Glosses,
without any Superstructures, without any carving and
£ilding, a Náuos Yparrós plainly written, without any
flourishes and amplifications. Yet the Author, whom I but
now commended (Salmasius I mean) neither could, nor
would go about to vindicate all those AVations from some
notorious Rebellions against Mature's Zaw; but he would
rather choose (as much as he could) to abstract their
* Intellectuals from their Practicals, and would look to their
; Opinions and Zaws, rather then to their Zife and Con-
Versation. -
- Indeed Aristotle tells us; IIoAX& rôv éðvøv trpos to kretvetv
kai ăvöporobay'av eixepôs éxet. That same Phrase, eixepôs
... ixel, does onely speak a propensity, and inclination in their
vile affections to such wickednesses as these were, which




282 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
-
sometimes also they acted in a most violent, and impetuous
manner. Though, to be sure, they could not be long
a Mation, if they did thus Kill, and eat up, and devour
one another.
But, let us suppose, that they dealt thus with their
enemies, yet, can it be shewn us, that they establish'd
Anthropophagy by a Zaw? That their Matural Conscience
did not check them for it? Or, if their Æeason did connive
at them ; yet how comes it to passe, that their Angel did
not jog them all this while ; that their Intellectus Agens
did not restrain them P
But, out of what Antiquity doth it appear, that any
AVation did favour Atheism by a Zazv P that any Kingdom
did licence Blasphemy by a Statute ; or countenance
Murder by a Law P Out of what Author can they shew us
a Nation, that ever did allow the breaches of solemn Comi-
pacts, the dishonouring of Parents; that ever made a Law
for this, that there should be no Law or Justice amongst
them P
Till all this can appear, let the Testimonies of Gentiles
be esteem’d somewhat more then the barking of Dogs.
Methinks, if they were meer Cyphers, yet the Jews going
before them, they might amount to somewhat. Let the
prints of Nature in them be accounted sacred: a Pear!
in the head of an Heathem, some Jewels hid in the rubbish
of Nations; let them be esteemed precious. Whatsoever
remains of God's Image upon them ; let it be lov'd, and
acknowledg’d. Their darkness and misery is great enough;
let not us aggravate it, and make it more. To mix the
light of their Candle with that light, which comes shining
from the Candle of an Heathem, is no disparagement to
Jew, nor Christian.

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 283
ſ
|
CHAPTER XI.
The light of Reason is a Derivative light.
Now the Spirit of man is the Candle of the Zord. -
First, as Zumen derivalum, pós ék (borós. Surely there's
none can think, that Zight is primitively and originally
in the Candle; but they must look upon that onely as
a weak participation of something, that is more bright and ,
glorious. All created Excellency shines with borrowed
Beames ; so that Reason is but Scintilla divinae lucis, ’tis
but Divinae particula aurae. This was the very end, why
God framed inte//ectua/ Creatures, that he might com-
municate more of himself to them, then he could to other
more drossie and inferiour Beings, and that they might
in a more compleat and circular manner redire in prin-
cipium suum, (as the Schoo/men speak) that they might return
into the bosome of the first and supreme Cause, by such
Operations, as should in some measure imitate and represent
the working of God himself; who, being a most free
and Intellectual Agent, would have some Creature also,
that should not onely take notice of these his perfections,
So as to adore and admire them, but should also partaže of
them, and should follow the Creatour in his dispensations
and workings, though still at an infinite distance and
disproportion.
This moved him to stamp upon some Creatures Under-
standing and Will, which in themselves make up one
simple, and entire print, and signature of Reason, though
we break the Seal for the better opening of them, and part
them into two several Motions. To this end he fill'd the
highest part of the World with those Stars of the first
Magnitude, I mean those Orient and Angelical Beings, that -
dwell so near the fountain of Light, and continually drink
in the Beams of Glory; that are exactly conformable to


284 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
their Creafour in all his motions : for the same end he
furnished and beautified this lower part of the World with
Intellectual Zamps, that should shine forth to the praise
and honour of his Mame, which totally have their dependance
upon him, both for their Being, and for their perpetual
/continuation of them in their Being. 'Twas he, that lighted
up these Zamps at first ; ’tis he, that drops innin the golden
oy/ into them. Look then a while but upon the parentage
and original of the Soul and of Reason, and you’ll presently
"perceive, that it was the Candle of the Zord. And if you
have a mind to believe Plato, he'll tell you such a feigned
story as this ; That there were a goodly company of Zamps,
a multitude of Candles, a set number of Souls lighted up
altogether, and afterwards sent into Bodies, as into so many
Darż Zanthorns. This stock and treasure of Souls Was
reserved and cabinetted in I know not what Stars; perhaps,
that they might the better calculate their own Incarnation,
the time when they were to descend into Bodies, and, when
they came there, they presently sunk into 5Am, they slip'd
into Añón, which he terms turtiums &moğoxi, the putting of
of Knowledge for a while, the clouding, and burying of many
sparkling and twinkling Motions, ’till by a waking Reminis-
cence, as by a joyful Resurrection, they rise out of their
graves again. Plato, it seems, look'd upon the body as the ſ
blot of Nature, invented for the defacing of this Nópos
'ypartós, or at the best, as an impertinent tedious Paren-
thesis, that check'd and interrupted the Soul in her former
Motions, that eclipsed and obscured her antient glory, which
sprung from his ignorance of the Resurrection; for, had he
but known what a glory the Body was capable of, he would
have entertained more honourable thoughts of it.
. Yet Origen was much taken with this Platonical Motion,
it being indeed a pretty piece of Philosophy for him to pick
Allegories out of. And, though he do a little vary from
Plato in a circumstance or two; yet in recompense of that,
--

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 285
he gives you this addition and enlargement, That, according
to the carriage and behaviour of these naked Spirits before
they were embodied, there were prepared answerable mansions
for them : That such a Sou/ as had walę'd with God
acceptably, was put into a fairer Prison, was clothed with an
amiable and elegant Body; but that Soul, which had
displeased and provoked its Creatour, was put into a darker
Dungeon, into a more obscure and uncome/y Body: That
Candle, which had shined clearly, was honoured with a golden
Candlestick ; That, which had soiled its Zight, was con-
demned to a Dark-Zanthorn. One would think by this, .
that Origem had scarce read Genesis; he doth in this so
contradict the Sacred History of the Creation. Nor is this
the just product of Plato's Opinion, but 'tis pregnant with
much more folly; he returns him his own with usury, gives
him this, as the just rôkos, and improvement of it.
Aquinas doth clash in pieces all these Platonical fictions
in his two Books Contra Gentiles ; yet upon this sinking
and putrid foundation was built the tottering Superstructure
of commate Species. For when Plato had laid down this
Errour for a Maxime, IIpiv yevéorðat juás, ºv påv i livXī,
that The Souls of men were long extant before they were
born ; then, that other Phancie did presently step in,
'Hrvo Tápéða kai irpiv yewéoréal, that The Soul was very
speculative and contemplative, before it was immers'd
in the Body; which made way for the next Conceit, that
The Soul brought many of its old Notions along with
it into the Body: many faithful Attendants that would
bear the Soul company in her most withering condition,
when other more volatile and fugitive Motions took zwing
i
*
2.
z
to themselves, and flew away: many a precious Pearl sunk
to the bottom of Zethe, but some Reliques of Motions floated
upon the top of the Waters, and in the general Deluge of
Motions there was an Ark prepared for some select Prin-
ciples, some praecepta Moachidarum, which were to increase,

286 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
and multiply, and supply the zwants of the Zn/e/lectual
World.
This makes the Platonists look upon the Spirit of Man
as the Candle of the Zord for illuminating and irradiating
of objects, and darting more light upon them, then it receives
from them. But Plato, as he failed in corporea/ Vision,
whilest he thought, that it was per extramissionem radiorum:
so he did not ab errore suo recedere in his intellectua/ Opticks;
but, in the very same manner, tells us, that spiritual Vision
also is per emissionem radiorum. And, truely, he might as
well phansie such implanted Zdeas, such seeds of Zight in
his external Eye, as such seminal Principles in the Eye
of the mind. Therefore Aristotle (who did better clarifie
both these kinds of Visions) pluck'd these Moſes out of the
sensitive Eye, and those Beams out of the intellectual. He
did not antedate his own Knowledge, nor remember the
several postures of his Soul, and the famous exploits of his
Mind, before he was born ; but plainly profess'd, that his
Onderstanding came naked into the World. He shews
you an āypaſhov Ypappareſov, an abrasa tabula, a Virgin-soul
espousing it self to the Body, in a most entire, affectionale
and conjugal Union, and, by the blessing of Heaven upon
this loving pair, he did not doubt of a Wotional off-spring
and posterity. This makes him set open the windows of
sense, to welcome and entertain the first dawnings, the
early glimmerings of morning light.
Clarum Mane fenestras
Infrat, et angustas extendit lumine rimas.
Many sparks, and appearances fly from variety of Objects
to the Understanding; the Mind, that catches them all,
and cherishes them, and blows them; and thus the Candle
of Knowledg is lighted. As he could perceive no connaſ*
Colours, no Pictures, or Portraictures in his external Eye:
so neither could he find any signatures in his Mind, till
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 287
ſ
Some outward Objects had made some impression upon his
vows év 8vvápºet, his soft and Žliab/e Understanding, im-
partially prepared for every Seal. That this is the true
method of Knowledg he doth appeal to their own Eyes,
to their own Understandings. Do but analyse your own
thoughts; do but consult with your own Breasis ; tell us,
whence it was, that the Light first sprang in upon you.
Had you such Motions as these when you first peep'd into
Being P at the first opening of the Soul’s eye P in the first
exordium of Infancy P had you these connate Species in the
Cradle? and were they rock'd asleep with you? or did you
then meditate upon these Principles ; Totum est majus parte,
and Nihil potest esse et non esse simul. Ne're tell us, that
you wanted Organical Dispositions ; for you plainly have
recourse to the sensitive powers, and must needs subscribe
to this, that all knowledg comes flourishing in at these
Lattices. Why else should not your Candle enlighten you
before P who was it, that chained up and ſettered your
Common Motions P Who was it, that restrained and im-
prisoned your connate Ideas P Me thinks, the working of
a Platonist’s Soul should not all depend on ÖAm, and why
had you no connate Demonstrations, as well as connate
Principles? Let us but see a catalogue of all these Truths
you brought with you into the World. If you speak of
the Principles of the Zaws of Mature, you shall hear the
Scholemen determining : Infans pro illo statu non obligatur
lege Matural: ; quia non habet usum Rationis et Libertatis.
And a more Sacred Author saies as much ; Zex Maturae
est lex Intelligentiae, quam tamen ignorat Pueritia, nescit
Infantia. There's some time to be allowed for the pro-
mulgation of Nature's Law by the voice of Reason. They
must have some time to spell the Nôpos Ypatrós, that was
of Reason's writing. The Mind, having such gradual and
climbing accomplishments, doth strongly evince, that the
true rise of Knowledge is from the observing, and comparing



288 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
of Objects, and from thence extracting the Quintessence of
some such Principles, as are zvorthy of a/Z acceptation ; that
have so much of certainty in them, that they are near to
a Tautology and Zdentity: for this first Principles are.
These are the true and genuine kowai évvouaw these are
the Aóyou ortreppattkoff these are the props of Reason's Con-
triving, upon which you may see her leaning, about which
you may see her turning, and spreading, and enlarging her
self. That learned Knight', in his Discourse concerning the
Soul, doth at large shew the manner how the Minde thus
goes a gathering of Knowledge ; how, like a Bee, it goes
from flower to flower, from one entity to another ; how it
sucks the purest and sweetest of all; how it refuses all that
is distastful to it, and makes a pleasant composition of the
rest ; and thus prepares Honey-combs for it self to feed on.
But, if it were at all to be granted, that the Soul had
any stamps and characters upon it, that it had any im:
Alanted and ingraffed Species; 'twere chiefly to be granted,
that it hath the connate Motion of a Deity, that pure and
infinitely-refined Entity, abstracted from all appearance of
Maſter. But mark, how the great Doctour of the Gentiles
convinces them of the Tö yvoortov too Osoſ, he doth not
set them a searching their connate Species ; but bids them
look into the glass of the Creatures. O, but ! (might some
Platonist say) why? he is all Spirit, and an invisible Being,
what shall we find of him amongst material objects P Yes,
(saies the Apostle) rā āópata toû 0éoù, the invisible things
of God are made known by the things that do appear; for
a Being, endowed with such a Soul as Man is, can easily
in a discursive way, by such eminent steps of Second Causes,
ascend to some knowledge of a prime and supreme Being;
which doth fully explain, that he means by his Nápos yparrós
those clear dictates of Reason, fetched from the several
workings of the Understanding, that have sealed and printed
* Sir Kenelm Digby.
º
:
.
:
º
:
!
º

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 289
|
| -
º , t
such a truth upon the Soul ; so that no other inmate light,
but onely the power and principle of Knowing and reason-
ing is the Candle of the Zord.
Yet there is a Mob/e Author' of our own, that hath both
his truth, and his errour, (as he hath also writ about both)
who pleads much for his Instinctus naturales, so as that,
at the first dash, you would think him in a Platonica/
strain; but, if you attend more to what he says, you will
Soon perceive, that he prosecutes a far different Motion,
much to be preferred before the other phancy.
For he doth not make these instincts any connate Ideas,
and representations of Things ; but tells us, that they are
powers and faculties of the Soul, the first-born faculties
and beginning of the Soul's strength, that are presently
espoused to their Virgin-objects closing and complying with
them, long before Discourse can reach them ; nay, with
Such objects, as Discourse cannot reach at all in such
a measure and perfection : these Instincts he styles AWaturae
dotes, et providentiae Divinae universalis Idea, et typus
Optimus. Some of these are to be found in the lowest
inanimate Beings, which yet have no commate Species among
them; though they have powers, and propension to their
Own welfare, a blind tendency and inclination to their own
Security: for thus he speaks; Instinctus, ille AVaturalis in
quovis imarticulato licet et incauto elemento, sapiens est ad
conversationem propriam : and such a noble Being, as Man
is, must needs have it in a more sublime and eminent manner.
Therefore he terms these Instincts in Man facultates
noeticae, et facultates Deo analogae; whereas those other
inferiour faculties are esteem’d facultates analogae mundo ;
his words, being somewhat cloudy, I shall thus paraphrase
upon them. The Soul, 'tis made with a through light,
with a double Window; at one Window it looks upon
* Lord Herbert, De Veritate and De Religione Gentilium et Errorum
%udeos Causis. -
CAMPAGNAC U
-- º,
• "p
tºº.
290 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
corporea/s, at the other it hath a fair prospect upon spirituals.
When it takes notice of the material world, it looks out
at the zwindow of Sense, and views the putamina et cortices
rerum, the outzeyard husks and shells of Being ; but not
at all pleas'd or contented with them, those higher powers,
those purer faculties of the Soul unclasſ and disclose them-
selves, and extend themselves for receiving some delight
more precious and satisfactory, being made in as har-
monious proportion suitable to spiritual Objects, as the Eye
is to Colours, or the Ear to Sounds. And, as you know,
a corporeal Eye is so fashioned and organized; that, though
it have no connate species of the Sun, yet ’tis pleasant to
behold it: so the Eye of the soul doth willingly open it
self to look upon God per modum objecti, and has all per
receptionem from him, fixing its Eye upon so transcendent
and beautiful an Offect, and viewing all those streamings
out of Light, those beamings out of etermal and universal
AVotions, that flow from him, as the Fountain of Zights,
where they have dwelt from everlasting, which now appear
to it in time with a most pozwerful and enamouring ray,
to direct the Soul to that happinesse it longed for, and to
guide and conduct it in all its operations. If you ask when
these highest faculties did first open and display themselves,
he tells you, 'tis then when they were stimulated, and
excited by outward Objects, and it may be upon this account,
that, when the Soul can find nothing there worthy one
glance, one cast of its Eye, impatient of such empty and
shadowy sights, it opens it self to the rà évo, and warms
it self in those everlasting Sun beams: but, when it comes
down from the Mount, it puts on the veil of Sense, and so
converses with material objects. -
Yet I do not here positively lay down this for a Truth
in all the branches of it; but onely represent the mind
of the forementioned Author, who himself doth acknowledge,
that the rise of these first Principles is very cryptical and
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 291
mysterious. His words are these : Vos interea non morari
debet, quod quomodo eliciantur isłae AVotitiae Communes
nesciatis. Satis, superque diximus, zos mescire quomodo fiat
Gustus, Odoratus, Zactus, &c. By which you cannot but
perceive that he makes the conformity of such a Faculty
with such an Object the spring and Original of common
Motions. Yet this then had deserved a little clearing,
whence the difficulty of understanding Spirituals pro hoc
statu does arise, if there be such a present and exact
analogy between them ; whereas the intuitive Ånowledge
of God, and viewing those good/y AVotions, that are steep’d
in his essence, uses to be reserved as a priviledge of a
glorified Creature. Yet this, I suppose, may be said, that
herein is the Soul’s Imperfection, that it cannot sufficiently
attend both to spirituals and corporeals ; and therefore
Sense being so busie and importunate for the prosecution
of her Objects ; no wonder, that these noetical Faculties
do faint and languish. So that, if there be any, whom the
former Discursive way will not suffice, it seems better for
them to have recourse to an innate power of the Soul, that
is fitted and fashioned for the receiving of Spirituals,
quatemus Spirituals, then to fly to I know not what connate
Species, of I know not how long duration before the Soul
was acquainted with the Body. Yet that other Moble
Author' of our own, that has the same Title of Truth,
not without a competent mixture of Errou?" too, doth
choose to resolve all into a Platonical Remembrance: which
yet that acute Answerer” of him doth shew to be a meer
Vanity; for, as for matters of fact, to be sure, they have
no implanted Ideas : and, if Historical Knowledge may
be acquired without them, why then should discursive
knowledge have such a dependence upon them P And,
I wish, that the Platonists would but once determine,
Lord Brooke, The Wature of 7%ruth.
* John Wallis, Truth Tried. Cp. Brown's Culverwel, p. 131.


U 2
292 NATHANAEI, CULVERWEL
whether a Blind Man be a competent Judge of Colours
by virtue of his commate Species ; and whether, by supply
of these /deas, a Deaf Man may have the true notion of
Musick, and Harmony ? If not, then they must ingenuously
confesse, that the Soul, for the present, wants so much of
Alight, as it wants of the zwindozw of Sense. But, if they
tell us, that some outward Objects must fog and waken
these drowsie, and slumbring Motions, they then lay the
Foundation in Sensitives : and, withall, let them shew us,
why the generality of men in their /ntellectuals are not
equally improved; whereas they have the same Objects
to quicken and enſlame them P In the mean time we will
look upon the Understanding, as speculum non coloratum,
a Glasse not prejudic'd, nor prepossess'd with any connate
Tinctures ; but nakedly receiving, and faithfully returning
all such colours, as fall upon it. Yet the Platonists in this
were commendable, that they look'd upon the Spirit of
a Man as the Candle of the Zord; though they were
deceiv'd in the time when 'twas lighted.
Nor is this Candle lighted out of the Essence of God
himself. Twere a far more tolerable Errour to make
the light of a Candle a piece of the Sun's Essence, then
to think that this intellectual Zamp is a particle of the
Divine Wature. There is but one draºyagua ris &n.
kai xapaktºp ris iroo rāoreos airoſ, I mean the wonderful
6 Aéyos' not a Candle, but a Sun that shined from ever
lasting. But I find the Stoicks challenged for this Errour,
that they thought there was a real emanation and traduć.
tion of the Soul out of God, ex psa Dei substantia. And
the Gnosticks, the Manichees, and Priscillianists are look'd
upon as their Successours in this folly.
Now as for the Stoicks, you'll scarce find evidence enough
to prove them guilty of this Opinion. They have indeed
some doting, and venturing Expressions, when they amplifie
and dignifie the mobility of the Soul; and will needs have

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 293
Some of the Royal Bloud to run in every vein and faculty
of it: nor are the Platonists defective in this, but lift up
the soul to as high a pitch of Perfection, as the Stoicks ever
did : yet surely both of them but as a limited and dependant
Being infinitely remote from the fulness of a Deity. . . .
I know not whether you can, I am sure I cannot,
sufficiently perceive, that the generality of the Heathem did
think that every Soul was immediately created by God
himself, but onely, that, at the first, there was bestowed
more then ordinary workmanship upon them, which they
knew principally by those generous motions, which they found
working in their own Souls ; and partly by some religues
of Mosaica/ History, that were scattered amongst them.
Thus then I have represented unto you, as indifferently
as I can, the state of this great Controversie ; and, though
I could easily tell you, which part I do most easily incline
to ; yet I shall rather refer it to your own thoughts, with
this intimation, that a modest hesitancy may be very lawful
here : for, if you will believe Gregory the Great he tells
you its a Question which cannot be determined in this Zife.
However 'tis enough for us, that the Spirit of a Man, either ſº.
by virtue of its constant Creation, or by virtue of its first ... "
Creation, is the Candle of the Zord.
As the Soul is the shadow of a Deity, so Reason also is
a weak and faint resemblance of God himself, whom there-
* * *
fore that learned Emperour, M. Antoninus, calls Aóyos ortreppa- \
tukós. 'Tis God, that plants Reason, 'tis he, that zeaters it, S
'tis he, that gives it an increase. O Aéyos duépétrov trébukev
himself; in whom are hid the treasures of Wisdom and
Ánowledge. Reason first danced and triumphed in those
etermal Sum-beams, in the thoughts of God himself, who is is
the fountain and original of Reason. And, as his Will
is the rule of Goodnesse; so his Understanding is the
rule of Reason. For God himself is a most knowing and
drö 9etov X&Yov. The Title of 6 Aéyos belongs to Christ ..”
!
&
f
f
º

2.94 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
intellectual Being, he is the first mover of Entity, and does
determinate fendere in aliyuem finem, which speaks an
Antelligent Agent. He does propound most choice designes,
and blessed ends to himself; and is not that a worke of
A'eason P. He does contrive, and dispose, and order means
for acomplishing of them, and doth not that require Under.
standing P. He makes all Beings instrumental and sub-
ordinate to him, he moves all inferiour Wheels in a regular
manner; he moves all the spheres of second Causes in an
Aſarmonical way ; such blind Entities, as want intellectual
eyes, he himself doth lead them and conduct them ; and to
others he gives an eye for their guidance, and direction.
Now he, that hath framed an intellectual Eye, shall not he
see ? he, that hath c/oathed the Soul with light, as with
a garment, shall not he much more be cloathed himself with
a fuller and purer brightnesse P In that which we esteem
A'eason amongst Men, there are many clouds and blemishes,
many dark spots and wrinkles, that are scattered and
conquered by this more glorious light. The Soul, 'tis fain
to climb up and ascend to knowledge by several steps and
gradations; but his Understanding is all at the same height
and eminency. Man's Reason is fain to spend time in knit.
ting a Proposition, in spinning out a Syllogism, in weaving a
Demonstration ; but he is infinitely beyond and above these
first Draughts and Rudiments of knowledge; he sees all
£v fittrij čq6a)\pot, at the first opening of his Eye from ever-
lasting, with one intellectual glance he pierceth into the
whole depth of Entity, into all the dimensions of Being.
IMan's Understanding is fain to borrow a Species from the
Object, which presents to the Mind the Picture and Por-
traicture of it self, and strikes the intellectual Eye with
a colour suitable and proportionable to it: but the Divine
Understanding never receives the least Tincture from an
Object, no Species ab extra, but views all things in the pure
Chrystal of his own Essence; he does not at all see himself
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 295
in the glasse of the Creatures, as we see him, but he sees
Creatures in the glasse of his own Being : how else should
he see them from everlasting, before they were extant,
before they were visible by any Species of their own P God
therefore doth primarily and principally look upon himself;
for he is mobilissimum intelligibile, he cannot have a more
beautiful and satisfying Object to look upon, then his own
face. To yvoortöv too Oeoû is an object fit to enamour all
Understanding: for the more any Being is abstracted from
Materiality, the more 'tis reſºn'd from material conditions,
the more graceful and welcome it is to the Understanding;
for matter does cloud and darken the glosse of Being ; it
doth eclipse an Object, and is no friend to intelligibility. So
that God, being a pure and immaterial Spirit, must needs
be praestantissimum intelligibile; and a most adaequate Object
for his own eye to look upon. And this Understanding is
himself, it being actio immanens, always dwelling with him ;
Dei scientia est Dei essentia, (as the Scholemen speak) God
is ÖAos 64% Após, òAov bös, he is both all Eye, and all Light:
as suppose, the bright body of the Sun had a visive faculty,
So as it could view and survey its own light and beams, and
could by virtue of them look upon all other things, which
its own Light does unveil and discover, 'twould then give
Some languishing adumbration of a Deity, who is always
looking upon his own perfections and seeing Creatures by
his own light, by his own uncreated beams: for Species et
similitudo omnium est in Dei essentia. Thus God, looking
upon his own omnipotency, knows all possibilities ; viewing
his own determinations, he sees all Futurities; looking upon
his own zwisdom, he beholds all varieties, all degrees and
differencies of Being: which yet put not the least shadow of
;
difference in him ; because the excellencies of all Beings are
treasured up in him onely by way of Transcendency, not per
modum compositionis, sed per modum perfectionis (as the
Scholes have it). So that, when God beholds all created
296 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
Beings by virtue of his own essence, yet you must not
imagine, that the formality of a Creature is contained in an
uncreated Being ; but onely, that there is enough of Being
there to give a representation of all Being whatsoever. As
when a glass reflects a face, there's not the least mutation in
the glasse, much less is the face any part of the Glasse's
essence, though the glasse give a sufficient resemblance of it.
Yet herein there's this disparity, that the glasse of God's
essence did represent a Creature, before any created face could
look into it; for God, looking upon himself from eternity,
did then know quot modis aliyuid assimilari potuit iſºsius
essentiae, and did know how far such a Being would imitate
his essence, and how far it would fall short of it. He saw,
that this Being would come nearer, that that Being would be
more distant and remote from him ; this Picture would be
liker him, that would shew very little of him. Now the
actuality and existence of such an Object is not requisite to
the understanding Öf it; for how then could we conceive of
the privation of a non-Entity? How can we otherwise
apprehend them, then by framing the motion of something
Aositive in our mindes, and supposing a total deficiency from
it? Thus, as they use to speak, Rectum est index sui et
obliqui ; and ZWobilissimum in unoquoque genere est mensura
et exemplar religuorum : that first and supreme Being, by
the great example and pattern of himself, can judge of all
inferiour and imperfect Beings. Nor could he see them aff
aetermo any otherwise, then in himself; there being nothing
else eternal but himself, and in himself he could clearly see
them, as we see Effects in their Cause. All created Beings
were eminently contained in the Centre of one indivisible
Æssence ; who, by his infinite virtue, was to produce them
all; who, being an intelligent Centre, did see those several
Lines that might be drawn from him; and withall, being
a free and a voluntary Centre, did know how many Zines
he meant to draw for himself. Now you know amongst
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 297
men a Demonstration a priori is esteemed most certain and
scientifica/: Scire est per causas cognoscere. God thus knew
Creatures, perfectly knowing himself, who was the first cause
of them all. This doth much speak the immutability of the
eternal Reason and Wisdom in the mind of God, and doth
remove all imperfections from it. For you see, he did not
move in an axiomatical way, per compositionem ef divisionem ;
for he saw things by his own uncompounded and indivisible
essence ; much lesse did his knowledge improve it self in
a Sy/logistical way, deducing and collecting one thing out of
another. This is the Scholemens meaning, when they tell us,
Cognitio Dei non est ratiocinativa, that is, non est discursiva.
They that will light a Candle may strike such sparks: but
the Sun and Stars want no such light. Angels are above
Syllogismes, how much more is God himself? Nay, even
amongst men, first Principles are above Disputings, above
Demonstrations; now all things are more naked in respect
of God himself, then common Notions are to the sight of
then. 'Tis a modus festudineus, a tardy and tedious work,
a fetching a compass, to gather one thing out of another; ’tis
the slow pace of a limited Understanding. But there's no
succession in God, not in the knowledge of God. There's
no prius et posterius; no Premisses, or Conclusions; no
transitus aſ uno ad alºud, no externum medium : for he does
not cognoscere per aliud medium a seiðso distinctum. There's
a compleat simultaneity in all his knowledge; his Essence is
all together, and so is his Knowledge. Plurality of Objects
will confound a finite Understanding, for they must be pre-
sented by different species, and a created Eye cannot exactly
view such different Faces at once, such several Pictures at
once. The Understanding sometimes loses it self in a crowd
of objects; and when such a multitude comes thronging upon
it, it can scarce attend to any of them. But God, seeing
them all per unicam speciem, per unicam operationem, takes
notice of them all with an infinite delight and facility. For
:


298 NATHANAEL CULVERWEI,
- t
*
j
}
4
t
2^
he loves to affend to his own Essence, which doth so
admirably represent them all: hence his Knowledge is always
in act; because his Essence is a pure act. Humane Under-
standings have much of their knowledge stor'd up in Habits;
but there are no Habits in a Deity: for Knowledge is dor-
mant in an Habit, but his Understanding never slumbers
Snor sleeps. There's no Potentiality in him, but hee's always
t
r--"
in ultima perfectione, he is semper in acfu intelligend; ; as Sol
is semper in actu /ucendi. Humane Understandings are fain
to unbend themselves sometimes, as if they were faint and
/ weary: but Divinity is always vigorous, and Eternity can
never languish. The Understanding of God thus being
fill'd with light, his Will also must needs be rational, moſt
coeca, sed oculata motitia. This makes the Scholement very
well determine, That, though there cannot be causa divinae
_zoluntatis, yet there may be assign'd ratio divinae voluntatis.
There can be no cause of his Will; for then there would be
a cause of his Essence, his Will being all one with his Essence:
S but there cannot be causa prior prima. Yet this account
may be given of his Will, that bonum intellectum est funda-
mentum voliti; so that as God does primarily intelligere
seipsum, so he does understand other things only per seipsum ;
so likewise he does principally and necessarily welle seipsum,
and does will other things secondarily, and out of a choice,
propter seipsum. And, as God hath set all other Beings
a longing after the perfections, and conservations of their own
| Beings, and has in a special manner stamp'd upon a rational
Mature an intellectual appetite of its own well fare, and
happinesse, so as that it cannot but propound an ultimate
scope and end to it self, and bend and direct all its desires
for the hitting and attaining of it: so he himself alsó sets
up himself, as the most adequate and amiable end of all his
workings and motions, and does bend the whole creation,
does shoot every Being, and order it to his own glory. Now
how rational is that Will of his, that does chiefly fix it self


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 299
upon the fairest good, and wills other things onely as they
are subservient to it. Z)eus vulf bomitatem suam tanguam
finem, et Zulf omnia alia tanguam media ad finem. Out of
the intense and vehement willing of himself, he wills also
Some prints and resemblances of himself. The beauty of
his own face, of his own goodnesse is so great as that he loves
the very picture of it: and, because one picture cannot
sufficiently expresse it, therefore he gives such various and
numerous representations of it. As when men cannot express
their mind in one word, they are willing to rhetoricate, and
enlarge themselves into more. God doth give many similē
tudes of himself, for the greater explication of his own
essence. His essence in itself not being capable of augmen-f
tation or multiplications; he loves to see some imitations
and manifestations of it, to make known his own power and
perfection in a way of causality. Now the Vnderstanding of
God being so vast and infinite, and his Will being so
commensurate and proportion'd to it, nay, all one with it; all
those Decrees of his, that are the Eternal product and results
of his Mind and Will, must needs be rational also. For
in them his Vnderstanding and Will met together, his
Truth and Goodness kissed each other. And though these
Decrees of God must be resolved into his absolute supremacy
and dominion, yet that very Sovereignty of his is founded
upon so much reason, and does act so zvise/y and intelli-
gently, as that no created Understanding can justly question
it, but is bound obediently to adore it. The Prosecution and
Application of these Decrees, ’tis accompanied with the very
same zwisdome and reason : for what's Providence, but Oculus
in Sceptro, a rational guiding and ruling all affairs in the
World P 'tis ipsa ratio divina in summo Principe constituta ;
'tis ratio ordinandorum in finem; that, which in Man is .
called Prudence, in God is called Providence; the right
tuning and regulating of all circumstances, and making them
to conspire and contribute to his own end and glory. And,

soo NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
2^
\,,
\,.
if man could but rightly interpret and comment upon Provi-
dence, what fresh discoveries, what bright displayings of divine
A'eason would they all continually meet withall P What
shinings and sparklings of Divine Wisdom are there in some
remarkable providential passages P You, that are most
acquainted with the ways of God, tell us if you did ever
find any thing unreasonable in them. Enquire still more
into his dealings, and you’ll see more of Æeason in them.
Could you search deeper into the rich Mine of his councell,
you would still meet with more precious veins of Wisdom,
The depth of his Counsels, what are they but the very pro-
foundnesse of his Reason P to 840m too Oeod, they are rà
Bá6m too A&yov. And whensoever this secret counsel of his
issues out, and bubbles forth, it is in most rational manifesta-
tions. His Commands are all rational, his Word is the very
pith and marrow of Reason. His Zaw is the quickening
and wakening of men's Reason; his Gospel, 'tis the flowing
out of his own Reason ; 'tis the Quintessence of wisdome
from above; his spirit is a rational Agent; the motions of
the holy Ghost are rational Breath ; the revelations of the
AoA Ghost, a rational Zight, as rational as a Demonstra-
tion : the Apostle calls them so. As when the Spirit of God
overpowers the Will, it makes a willingnesse there, where
there was an absolute molency, an obstinate refusal before;
so, when it over-powers the Mind, it makes it understand
that, which it did not, which it could not understand before;
Spiritual irradiations stamp new light, create new reason in
the Soul. Nothing comes to Man with the superscription
of a Deity; but that, which hath upon it some signature of
, Wisdom. God himself is an intelligent worker in his dealing
with all Beings, how much rather in his dealing with rational
Beings? By all this you see, that God himself is the Fternal
Spring and Head of Reason; and that humane Wisdome is
but a created and an imperfect Copy of his most perfect and
original Wisdom.
i
:

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 301
|
Now Philosophy could dictate thus much ; Té\os dirávrov
éreo 6at roſs @eois. God loves to see such a noble Creature, as
Man is, to follow and imitate him in his Reason ; Omnia
intendumſ assimilari Deo ; as the Scho/emen have it. Now
men cannot be more assimilated unto God, then by moving
as Intelligent Agents. Does God himself work according to
Reason from etermity to etermity ? And has he made a Crea-
ture in time, whose very essence is Reason P Why then does
it not open its Eyes P why does it not use its Zamp? and
though it cannot discover all, yet let it discern as much as it
can. Let it not act in the choicest points of Religion out of
blind and implicite Principles, and huddle up its chiefest
Operations in I know not what confused, and obscure, and
undigested manner. This neither becomes Sons of Zight,
nor works of Light. The more men exercise Reason, the
more they resemble God himself; who has but few Creatures,
that can represent him in so bright an excellency as this;
onely Angels and Men: and therefore he expects it the
more from them. And the more they exercise, their own
Reason, the more they will admire and adore his. For
none can admire Reason, but they that use some Reason
themselves. And this may suffice for the first Particular,
that The Candle of the Zord, 'tis /umen derivatum, it was
first lighted at a Sun-beam.
CHAPTER XV."
The Zight of Reason is directive.
Tis Zumen dirigens, this vôpos yparrós, ’tis a Zight for
the Feet and a Zanthorn for the Paths. For the Under-
standing, 'tis the to #yepovuków, the leading and guiding
Power of the Soul. The Will looks upon that, as Zeander
In chapter xii, Culverwel speaks of the Light of Reason as ‘A Dimi-
: nutive Light”; in xiii, as ‘Discovering Present Things not Future’;
in xiv, as ‘A Certain Light.”


3O2 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
in Musaeus look’d up to the Tower for Hero's Candle, and
calls it, as he doth there,
Aéxvov ćpoo Buároto, baeorghôpov #yeplovna.
Reason doth facem praeferre, it carries a Torch before the
Will, nay, more then so, 'tis an Eye to the Blinde ; for
otherwise ’twere in vain to light up a Candle for a Caeca
potentia to see withall. Inte//ectuals are first in motion,
Ai trčAat porós, these Gates of Zight, must first be set open,
before any glorious and beautiful Object can enter in, for
the Will to court and embrace. The Will doth but echo to
the Understanding, and doth practically repeat the last
syllabſe of the ultimum dictamen ; which makes the Moralist
well determine, Virtutes Morales nom possumſ esse sine In-
fellectualibus : for to the presence of Moral Virtues there
are necessarily pre-required Intelligentia et Prudentia; the
one being the knowledge of Principia speculativa, as the
other of Principia operativa. That Action must needs be
Åopeful and promising, when the Understanding aims before
the Will shoots; but he, that in an implicite way rushes
upon any performance, though the action it self should
prove material/y good, yet such an one deserves no more
commendation for it, then he would do, that first put out his
Eyes, and then contingently hit the Mark. Other Creatures
indeed are shot more violently into their ends : but Maſ;
^hath the skill and faculty of directing himself, and is (as
you may so imagine) a rational kind of Arrow, that moves
Ánowingly and voluntarily to the Mark of its own accord,
For this very end God hath set up a distinct Zamp in every
Soul, that men might make use of their own Light. All
the works of men, they should olere lucernam, smell of this
Alamp of the Zord, that is to illuminate them all. Men are
not to depend wholly upon the courtesie of any fellow-
T creature; not upon the dictates of men ; nay, not upon the
Votes and determinations of Angels: for, if an Angel from
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 303
Heaven should contradict first Principles, though I will not
say in the Zanguage of the Apostle, Zet him be accursed;
yet this we may safely say, that all the Sons of men are
bound to dis-believe him.
All Arguments drawn from Testimony and Authority
(created Authority I mean) were always look’d upon as more
faint and languishing, then those that were fetch'd from
Reason. Matters of fact, indeed, do necessarily depend
upon Zestimony: but in Speculations and Opinions none is
bound so far to adore the Zamp of another, as to put out
his own for it. For when any such Controversie is mov’d,
when any Author is quoted and commended, all the credit
and esteem, that is to be given him, is founded either in
the Reason, which he doth annex to his Assertion ; or else
in this more remote and general A'eason, that such an
one had a very clear, and bright Zamp, that the Candle
of the Zord did shine very eminently in him : therefore what
he says is much to be attended to ; for in his words,
though there should not be ratio explicata, yet it is to be
suppos'd, that there's ratio subintellecta. So that the assent
here is ultimately resolv’d into the Reason of him that
speaks, and the other that receives it; for he, that complies
with a naked Testimony, makes a tacit acknowledgment of
thus much, that he is willing to resign up himself to
another's Reason, as being surer and fuller then his own ;
which temper, and frame of Spirit is very commendable in
a state of inchoation : for Xp) rov pav6ávovra trio reiſeiv.
Anowledge in the Cradle cannot feed it self. Knowledge, in
its infancy, must suck at the Breasts of another. And
Babes in Intellectuals must take in the 380Aov yd Aa, those
spoonfuls of Knowledge, that are put in their mouths by
such as are to nurse and to educate them. Paul, when he
sits at the feet of Gamaliel, must observe the prints and foot.
steps of the Hebrew Doctour, and must roll himself in
f pulvere sapientium. Ånowledge, in its non-age, in its pupil-





3O4 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
V.
_-T
age, and minority, must hide it self under the wing and
protection of a Guardian. Men use at first to borrow light,
and to light their Candle at the light of anothers; yet here
I find some Zicence and encouragement given to these
first-beginners, to these setters up in Zearning, to be {mtmºukoi,
modestly inquisitive into the grounds and Reasons of that
which is delivered to them.
Thus that Sacred Writer, Hierom, commends Marcella,
though one of the weaker Sex, upon this account, that she
was wont to search and to examine his Doctrine : Zła ut me
sentirem (saies he) non tam Discipulum habere, quam Judicem.
Nay, a far greater then Hierom, honours the Bereans with
the Title of oi eiyevéorrepot, a more noble and generous sort of
Christians, that would bring even Apostolical words to the
Touch stone. Why is it not then lawful for them, that are
in statu adulto, that are come to some pregnancy and
maturity in knowledge, to look upon the stamp and super-
scription of any Opinion, to look any Opinion in the face?
The great and noble Verulam much complains (and not
without too much cause) of those sad obstructions in Zearning,
...~ which arose upon the extreme doting upon some Authors,
which were indeed men of rare accomplishments, of singular
zworth and excellency, and yet but men, though, by a strange
kind of 'Atrofféooris, a great part of the world have worship'd
them as Gods. The Canonizing of some profane Authours,
and esteeming all others as Apocryphal, hath blasted many
buds of Knowledge, it has quench'd many sparks and beams
of Zight, which otherwise would have gilded the World with
an orient and unspotted lustre. Far be it from me to drop
one word, that should tend to the staining and eclipsing of
- that just glory, that is due to the immortal name of
Aristotle. There are those, that are envious and ungrateful
enough; let them do it if they please; yet this I shall say,
and it shall be without any injury to him, that to set him
up as a Pope in Philosophy, as a Visible Head of the Truth
gº
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 305
militant, to give him a Wegative Voice, to give him an
Arbitrary power, to quote his Texts as Scripture, to look
upon his Works as the irrezersible Decrees of Zearning; as
if he had seal’d up the Canon, so that whoe're adds to him,
or takes one word from him, must be struck with a present
Anathema: to condemn all for Hereticks, that oppose him ;
for Schismaticks, that depart from him ; for Apostates, that
deny him ; what's all this but to forget, that he was but the
Candle of the Zord, and to adore him as a Sun in the
Firmament, that was set to rule the day of Knowledge?
'Tis to make him an Öv čvrov, the Causa prima, the first
Mover of Learning ; or, at least, 'twas to make him such an
| Intellectus Agens, as Averroes would have, that must enforme
and quicken all, that come after him. Could that modest
Philosopher have foreseen and prophesied that the World
would thus flatter him, 'tis to be fear'd, that he would have
thrown his Works also, his legible self, into Euripus, rather
then they should have occasioned such excessive Idolatry
and partiality: yet 'tis no fault of his, if the World would
over-admire him ; for that, which first inhanc'd the price and
esteem of Aristotle, was that rich vein of Æeason that ran
along and interlin'd most of his Works. Let this therefore,
and this omely commend him still ; for this is of indelible
and perpetual duration ; yet, if these blind Admirers of him
could have followed him fully and entirely, they might have
learn'd of him a braver liberty and independency of spirit:
4 for he scorned to enslave and captivate his thoughts to the
! Judgment of any whatsoever; for though he did not deal
* violently and dis-ingeniously with the Works of his Pre-
. decessours, (as some affirm) yet he dealt freely with them,
4 and was not over-indulgent to them. He came like a
* Refiner amongst them, he purged away their Drosse, he
# boy'd away their froth and scum, he gathered a Quintessence
out of their rude and elementary Principles. How im-
º partially did he deal with his Master Plato, and not favour
cAMPAGNAc x -



306 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
him in any of his Errours And his zwords are answerable
to his practises ; you may hear him what he saith and
professes, Toys traXavois aiêeloréau paev Šikatov, ºppírretv Šē oëk
détov, to have a reverend esſeem of Antiquity is but fitting
and equa/; but to stand in azwe of it, is base and unzworthy.
Potestas Senatoria is very honourable and beneficial; but
AXictatoria Požesſas is not to be allowed in the Common-
wealth of Zearning; yet such hath been the intolerable
Tyranny and Oppression of the Roman Faction, as that
they have enjoym'd and engaged as many as they could to
screw and forture their Wits for the maintaining of what-
ever such an one as pleaseth them shall please to say: for
they care not how prejudicial or detrimental they prove
to Learning ; so that they may but train up their Scholars
in an implicite faith, in a blind obedience, in a slavish ac-
Änowledgment of some infallible Judge of Controversies, and
may shut up and imprison the generality of people in
a dark and benighted condition ; not so much as allowing
them the light of their own Candle, this Zamp of the Zord,
that ought to shine in them. That great Advancer of
Learning, whom I commended before, takes notice, that
by such unhappy means as these, the more noble and
fiberal Sciences have made no progress proportionable to
that, which more inferiour and Mechanical Arts have done:
for in these later ingenia multorum in unum coeunt; whereas
in the former, ingenia multorum suff uno succubuerunt.
What brave improvements have been made in Architecture,
in Manufactures, in Printing, in the Pyxis Nautica? For
here's no limiting and restraining men to Antiquity, no
chaining them to old Authours, no regulating them to I know
not what prescribed Forms and Canons : no such strange
voices as these; You must not build better then your Pré-
decessours have done ; you must not Print fairer then the
first Tullie's Offices, that e're was printed. Tis not look'd
upon as a transgression and a piaculum, if they should
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 367
chance to be a little more accurate then they were that
went before them. But in Speculatives, in meer Mathe-
maticks (which one would think were far enough from any
breach of Faith or Manners, yet here) if a Galilaeus should
but present the world with an handful of new Demonstrations,
though never so warily and submissively; if he shall but
frame and contrive a Glass for the discovery of some more
Lights: all the reward he must expect from Rome is to rot
in an Inquisition for such unlicenced Inventions, for such
Venturous undertakings. The same strain of Cruelty hath
march'd more vehemently and impetuously in sacred and
religious matters: for here Babylon hath heated her Furnace
seven times hoſter, whilest under the pompous name of
a Catholick Church, under the g/iffering pretences of An-
tiquity and Authority, they have, as much as they could,
put out all the Zamps of the Zord, and that Bestian Empire
hath transform'd all its Suðjects into sensitive and irrational
Creatures. A noble Author' of our own tells us in his Book
De Veritate, that he for his part takes them for the Catholick
Church, that are constant and faithful to first Principles;
that Common Motions are the bottom and Foundation, upon
which the Church is built. Excuse our diffidence here,
great Sir : the Church, 'tis built upon a surer and higher
Rock, upon a more Adamantine and precious Foundation ;
yet thus much is acceptable, and undeniable, that who e're
they are, that by any practises, or Customes, or Traditions,
or Tements, shall stop the passage of first Principles, and
the sound Reason that flows from them, they are in this
farther from a Church, then the Indians or the Americans,
whilst they are not onely Anti-Christian, but unnatural.
And, of the two, the Church hath more security in resting
upon genuine Reason, then in relying upon some spurious
Traditions; for think but a while upon those infinite deceits
; and uncertainties, that such Historical conveyances are liable
- * Lord Herbert.


X 2
308 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
and exposed to. I always except those sacred and heavenly
Volumes of Scripture, that are strung together as so many
Pearls, and make a Bracelet for the Spouse to wear upon
her Hands continually. These Writings the Providence of
God hath deeply engaged it self to keep as the Apples
of his own Eye. And they do not borrow their certainty
or validity from any Ecclesiastical or universal Tradition
(which is at the most but previous and preparatory) but
from those prints of Divinity in them, and specially from
the seal of the same Spirit, that endited them, and now
assures the Soul that they were Oracles breathed from God
himself. As for all other sacred Antiquity, though I shall
ever honour it as much as any either did, or can do justly,
and with sobriety; and shall always reverence a gray-headed
Truth : yet, if Antiquity shall stand in competition with this
Lamp of the Zord (though genuine Antiquity would never
offer to do it) yet, if it should, it must not think much,
if we prefer Reason, a daughter of Eternity, before Antiquity,
which is the off-spring of Time. But, had not the spirit
of Anti-Christianism, by its early twinings and insinuations,
wound and wrought it self into the most flourishing and
Primitive Times, into the bosome of a Virgin-Church, and
had it not offered violence to the works of some sacred
Writers, by detracting and augmenting, according to its
several exigencies; by feigning and adulterating; by hiding
and annihilating some of them, as much as they could, (the
ordinary tricks of Anti-Christ, which he used always more
subtilly, though of late more palpably) had it not been
for such devices as these, Antiquity had come flowing to us
in purer and fuller streams, in more fair and kindly
derivations, and so might have run down more powerful’)
and victoriously, then now it will. But Anti-Christ hath
endeavoured to be the Abaddon and the Apollyon of all
sacred Antiquities, though the very Reliques of those shining
and burning Lights, that adorn'd the Church of God, have

DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 399
Splendour enough to scatter the darkness of Popery, that
empty shadow of Religion, that arises oë defectum Zuminis:
yet Antiquity (setting aside those that were peculiarly
Geórvevorrow) was but the first dazeming of Zight, which was
to shine out brighter and brighter till perfect day. Let none
therefore so superstitious/y look back to former ages as to be
angry with mezy Opinions and displayings of Zight, either in
A'eason or Religion. Who dares oppose the goodnesse and
wisdom of God; if he shall enamour the World with the beauty
of some Pearls and /ezve/s, which, in former times, have been
hid or tramp/ed upon P if he shall discover some more
ight upon Earth, as he hath let some new stars be found
in the Heavens P This you may be sure and conſident `
of that 'tis against the mind and meaning of Antiquity, to
stop the progresse of Religion and Reason. But I know ,
there are some will tell us of a visible Tribunal, of an
infal/ible Head of the Church, born to determine all Contro-
versies, to regulate all Men, 'tis a wonder they do not say
* Angels too; others more prudently and equally resolve the
! final judgment of Controversies into a general and Oecu-
menical Counce/; but I shall speak to them all in the
language of the Philosopher, Aeſ róv vópov ćpxetv távrov,
and I shall explain it according to the minde of the learned
Davenant in his Discourse De Judice ac norma fidei et
| cultus Christiani. God onely is to rule his own Church
airokpatukös kai voucóerukós, judicio auctoritativo, by a
| determining and Legislative power: men, that are fitted
by God himself, are to guide and direct it inrnpertkös kai
t éppmvevrukós, indicio ministeriali, in way of subserviency to
f him, by an explication of his mind; yet so as that every
one may judge of this ióworukós Kai äkpoatukós, tudicio
privato et practicae discretionis, by acts of their own Under-
standing illuminated by the spirit of God; for there are no
representatives in Intellectuals and Spirituals. Men may
represent the bodies of others, in Civil and Temporal

3 Io NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
Affairs, in the acts of a Kingdome; and thus a bodily
obedience is always due to just Authority : but there is none
can always represent the mind and judgment of another
in the vita/s and inwards of Religion ; for I speak not of
representations in outward Order and Discipline. A General
Counce/ does and may produce iudicium forense; but still
there is reserved to every single individua/ indicium
rationale: for can you think that God will excuse any one
from Errour upon such an account as this, Such a Doctour
told me thus ; Such a piece of Antiquity enform'd me so;
Such a General Councel determin'd me to this. Where was
thine own Zamp all this while P. Where was thy Ratio
illuminata et gubernata secundum normas bonae et neces.
sariae consequentiae rational, creaturae impressas P. Yet
this must be gratefully acknowledged, that these General
Counce/s have been of publick influence, of most admirable
use and advantage to the Church of God; though they are
not of the very Essence of it: for tis well known, that there
were none of them till the days of Constantine. But herein
is the benefit of Councels, that they are (or ought to be)
a comparing and collecting of many Zights, an uniting and
concentricating of the /udgments of many holy, learned, wise
Christians with the Holy Ghost breathing amongst them ;
though not always so fully and powerful!y, as that they
shall be sure to be priviledg’d from every Errour: but being
all of them subject to frailty and fallibility, and sometime
the major part of them proving the pejor part, there is none
bound to give an extemporary assent to their Votes and
Suffrages, unless his mind also concur with theirs. That
worthy Divine' of our own, whom I mentioned before,
speaks very fully and clearly to this, Ad nudam prae-
scriptionem aut determinationem alterius, sine lumine privati
iudicii, memo est, qui credere potest, etiamsi cupiat maxime.
The most eminent Mirandula will give you the reason of
* Davenant.
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 311
|t:
h|
it; For (Saies he) Memo credit aliquid verum praecise quia
Vult credere iſ/wd esse verum : non est emim in potentia
hominis facere aliquid apparere intellectui suo verum, quando
ipse vo/uerit. But, before there can be Faith in any Soul,
there must be cognitio propositionis credemdae, and there
must be inclinatio intellectus ad assentiemdum huic propositioni
reve/atae et cognitae. Before you understand the terms
of any Proposition, you can no more believe it, then if it
came to you in an unknown Tongue. A Parrot may repeat
the Creed thus—
Corvos' poetas et poetridas picas
Cantare credas Pegaseium mectar.
Though such at length may very safely conclude, as that
talkative Bird is reported to have done by an happy and
extemporary contingency; Operam et oleum perdidi. This
is the misery of those implicite believers amongst the Papists
('tis well, if not among some Protestants too) that do in
altorum sententias pedibus potius quam cordibus ire; dancing
in a circular kind of Faith; they believing as the Church
believes, and the Church believing as they believe, &c.,
and this is with them BTNH 95, the whole perfection of
a Roman Catholick. .
But Religion, fram'd according to the Gospell, did always
scorn and refuse such carnal supports as these are. That
Truth, that must look the Sun in the face for ever, can you
think, that it will fear a Candle P must it stand in the presence
of God, and will it not endure the tryal of Men P Or can
you imagine that the Spouse of Christ can be so unmerciful
as to pull out her Children's Eyes? though she may very
well restrain their Tongues sometimes, and their Pens,
if they be too immodest and unruly. I shall need to say
no more then this, that true Religion never was, nor will be,
nor need be shy of sound Reason, which is thus far Lumen
* Persius, Prolog., I3, I4.
|
*
i ,’
3I 2 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
dirigens, as that 'tis oblig'd by the will and command of
God himself not to entertain any false Ateligion, nor any
thing under preſense of Religion, that is formally and
irreconciſeaſºy against Reason ; Reason being above humane
Testimony and Tradition, and being only subordinate to God
himself, and those Revelations that come from God. Now
'tis express blasphemy to say that, either God, or the Word
of God did ever, or ever will, oppose Right Æeason.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Zight of Reason is calm and peaceable.
Tis Zumen franquillum et amicum ; ’tis a Candle, not
a Comet; it is a quiet and peaceable Light. And though
the Candle of the Zord may be too hot for some, yet the
Lamp, tis onely maintain'd with soft and peaceable Oyl,
There is no jarring in pure Intellectuals ; if men were tun'd
and regulated by Reason more, there would be more Con-
cord and Harmony in the World. As Man himself is a
sociable Creature ; so his A'eason also is a sociable Zight.
This Candle would shine more clearly and equally, if
the Windes of Passions were not injurious to it. Twere
a commendable piece of Stoicism, if men could always hush
and still those Waves that dash and beat against Reason.
If they could scatter all those Clouds that soil and discolour
the face and brightnesse of it : would there be such factions
and commotions in the State; such Schisms and Ruptures
in the Church ; such hot and fiery persecutions of some
trifting Opinions P If the soft and sober zoice of Reason
were more attended to, Reason would make some differ-
encies kiss and be friends, 'twould sheath up many a Sword,
'twould quench many a fame, 'twould bind up many a
Wound. This Candle of the Lord, 'twould scatter many
ſ
|
j
}
:
}
!
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 313
a dark suspicion, many a sullen jealousie. Men may fall
out in the dark sometimes, they cannot tell for what : if
the Candle of the Zord were but amongst them, they would
chide one another for nothing then but their former
breaches. ‘H étriotium to Tmori Tºv Jºuxſiv' it calms and
composes a Soul; whereas Passion (as the grand Stoick,
Zeno, paints it) is Šppº TAeováčovora, Kai Tapā dòoriv rºs
livXīs kivmots' an abounding and over-boyling impetus, a
praeternatura/ agitation of Soul ; animi commotio azersa
a recta ratione, et contra naturam, as the Oratour stiles it.
The Soul, 'tis toss'd with Passion ; but it anchors upon
A'eason. This gentleness and quietness of Reason doth,
never commend it self more, then in its agreeing and
complying with Faith ; in not opposing those high and/
transcendent Mysteries, that are above its own reach and
capacity: nay, it had always so much humility and modesty
waiting and attending upon it, that it would always submit
and subordinate it self to all such Divine Acevelations, as
were above its own Sphere. Though it could not grasp
them, though it could not pierce into them; yet it ever
resolv’d with all gratitude to admire them, to bow its head
and to adore them. One Zight does not oppose another.
Lumen fidei et Zumen rationis, may shine both together;
though with far different brightnesse. The Candle of the
Lord, tis not impatient of a superiour Zight; 'twould both
ferre parem et priorem. The light of the Sun, that indeed
is Lumen Monarchicum, a supreme and sovereign Zight;
that with its golden Scepter rules all created Sparkles, and
makes them subject and obedient to the Zord and Rule of
Light. Created Intellectuals depend upon the brightness
of God's Beams, and are subordinate to them. Angelical
Star-light is but Zumen Aristocraticum ; it borrows and
derives its glory from a more vast and majestical Light.
As they differ from one another in glory; so all of them
infinitely differ from the Sun in glory. Yet 'tis far above

3I4 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
the Zumen Democraticum, that Light, which appears unto
the Sons of men ; ’tis above their Zamps and Torches, poor
and contemptible Zights, if left to themselves. For do but
imagine such a thing as this, that this externa/ and corporea/
World should be adjudg’d never to see the Sun more,
never to see one Star more; if God should shut all the
Windows of Heaven, and spread out nothing but clouds
and curtains, and allow it nothing but the light of a
Candle: how would the World look like a Cyclops with
its Eye put out 2 'Tis now but an obscure prison with
a few grates to look out at ; but what would it be then,
but a capacious Grave, but a methermost Dungeon P. Yet
this were a more grateful Shade, a pleasanter and more
comedy Darknesse, then for a Soul to be condemned to the
solitary Zight of its own Zamp, so as not to have any
! supernatural irradiations from its God. Reason does not
refuse any auxiliary Beams; it joys in the company of
its fellow-Zamſ, it delights in the presence of an intellectual
Sun, which will so far favour it, as that 'twill advance it
and mourish it and educate it; 'twill encrease it and inflame
Sit, and will by no means put it out. A Candle neither can,
nor zwill put out the Sun : and an intellectual Sun Can,
but will not put out the Zamp. The light of Reason doth i
no more prejudice the light of Faith, then the light of
a Candle doth extinguish the light of a Star. The same
Eye of a Soul may look sometimes upon a Zamp, and
Sometimes upon a Star; one while upon a first Principle,
another while upon a revealed Truth; as hereafter it shall
a/ways look upon the Sun, and see God face to face. Grace |
doth not come to pluck up Mature as a Weed, to roof out
the Essences of Men ; but it comes to graft Spirituals upon |
Morals, that so, by their mutual supplies and intercourse, |
they may produce most noble and generous fruit. Can you
tell me why the Shell and the Kernell may not dwell
together? why the Bodies of Wature may not be quickened


DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 315
by the Soul of Grace P Did you never observe an Eye
using a Prospective Glasse for the discovering and amplify.
ing and approximating of some remote and yet desireable
Object P and did you perceive any opposition between the
Eye and the G/ass P Was there not rather a loving corre-
spondency and communion between them? Why should
there be any greater strife between Faith and Æeason ;
Seeing they are Brethren P Do they not both spring from
the same Father of Zights P and can the Fountain of Zoze
and Unity send forth any irreconcileable streams ? Do you
think that God did ever intend to divide a rational Being,
to tear and rend a Soul in pieces, to scatter Principles of
discord and confusion in it? If God be pleased to open
some other passage in the Soul, and to give it another Eye,
does that prejudice the former ? Man, you know, is or-
dained to a choicer end, to a nobler happinesse, then for the
present he can attain unto, and therefore he cannot expect
that God should now communicate himself in such bright
and open discoveries, in such glorious manifestations of him-
self as he means to give hereafter. But he must be content,
for the present, to behold those infinite treasures of reserved
Alove, in a darker and more shadowy way of Faith, and not
of Vision. Mature and Reason are not sufficiently pro-
portion'd to such blessed Objects : for there are such zweights
of Glory in them as do opprimere ingenium humanum ;
there are such ZXepths, such Pleonasms, such Oceans of all
Perfections in a Deity, as do infinitely exceed all Intellectual
capacity, but its own. The most that Man's A'eason can do,
is to fill the Understanding to the brim ; but Faith, that
throws the Soul into the Ocean, and lets it roll, and bath
it self in the vastnesse and fulnesse of a Deity. Could the
Sons of men have extracted all the Spirits of Reason, and
made them meet and jump in one Head; nay, could Angels
and Men have united and concentricated all their Reason :
yet they would never have been able to spy out such pro-
316 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
A.
**
found and mysterious excellencies; as Faith beholds in one
ſwinkling of her Eye. Evangelical Beauties shine through
a vey/ that's upon their face ; you may see the precious
Objects of Faith, like so many Pearls and Diamonds,
sparkling and glittering in the Dark. Reveal’d Truths
shine with their own Beams, they do not borrow their
Arimitive and original Zustre from this Candle of the
Mord, but from the purer Eight, wherewith God hath
cloathed and attir'd them, as with a Garment. God crowns
his own Revelations with his own Beams. The Candle of
the Zord, it doth not discover, it doth not oppose them,
it cannot eclipse them. They are no sparks of Reason's
striking ; but they are ſlaming Darts of Heaven's shooting,
that both open and enamour the Soul. They are Stars
of Heaven's lighting. Men behold them at a great distance
twinkling in the Dark. Whatsoever comes in God’s name
does auf invenire viam auf facere. Whatever God reveals
in his Word, tis supra providentiam rerum communem
constitutum. Tis not the road of Mature; and therefore,
for the welcoming and entertaining of it (as a Woble Author'
of our own doth very well observe) explicatur sensus guidam
supernaturalis, et 6avpdorios, there's an opening of a new
Window in the Soul, an Intellectual Eye looks out at the
Window, and is much pleased and affected with the oriency
of that Zight, that comes springing and rushing in upon
it. As there's a vépos yparrós' So there's an eia!yyéAvov
yparrów too : the one 'tis written by the Pen of Nature;
the other by the finger of the Spirit: for ubi definit Natura,
ibi incipit Grafia ; and this Second Edition set out by Grace,
'tis auction et emendation, yet so as it doth not at all
contradict the first Edition, that was set out by Mature;
for this is the voice of Nature it self, that Whatsoever God
reveals must needs be true, and this Common Principle is the
bottom and foundation of all Faith to build upon. The
SS,
* Lord Brooke (Brown).
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 317
| Soul desires no greater satisfaction, then an 'Avros éqºm' for,
! if God himself say it, who can question it? who dare con-
| tradict it P Reason will not, Reason cannot ; for it does
most immovably acknowledge a Deity and the unquestionable
Truth of a ZXeity. In all believing there is an assent, a
ſyielding, to him that speaks, by virtue of his own Authority,
though he don't prove it, though he don't evince it. Now
men themselves look upon it as a contempt and injury, not
| to have their zwords taken ; and Reason it self dictates thus N
much, that we are to believe such an one whom we have
no reason to distrust : for without some Faith there would
be no commerce, nor trafficking in the World ; there's no
trading without some trusting. A general and total /n-
credulity would threaten a present and fatal dissolution to,
| humane Society. Matters of fact are as certain in being
and reality, as Demonstrations ; yet in appearance most of
them can never be prov'd or evinc'd any other way, then
by meer Testimony. . . . So that all the stresse and difficulty
will be to know whether God reveals such a thing or no,
for here Reason (corrupt Reason I mean,) is wont to slip
and evade, and when it cannot frame a conceit adequate
and commensurate to some transcendent and superlative
| Mysteries, it would then fain cloud them and eclipse them,
| that it may quench and avoid the dazzling brightnesse of
them. It would fain make them stoop and condescend to
its own capacity, and therefore it puts some inferiour
Wotion upon them. When it cannot grasſ what God
saith, it then presently questions, whether God say so, or
no ; whether that be the mind of his Word. . . . But the
Law of sound reason and Mature does oppose such
unworthy dealings as these are: for men look upon't very
heinousſy to have their words mis-interpreted, to have their
| meaning wrested and violenc'd, Can you think that the
Majesty of Heaven will allow or endure, that a Creature
should study, or busie it self in perverting his Words, in .

3.18 NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
corrupting his meaning, in blending it and mixing it with
the crude imaginations of their own Brain P That Spirit,
which breath'd out the Word at first, and which convinces
and satisfies the Soul, that 'tis the Word of God; the very
same Spirit is the Interpreter of it, he is the Commentatour
upon it. The Text is his and the Gloss is his, and who-
soever shall call this a private Spirit, must needs be a bold
Blasphemer, a Jesuit, an Atheist. But they, that know
what the Spirit of God is, will easily grant, that the Spirit
of God unsheaths his own Szword; that he polishes Evan-
gelical Pearls; that he anoints and consecrates the eye of
the Soul for the welcoming and entertaining of such precious
Objects. Tis true, indeed, that some Explications are so
impertinent and distorted, as that a prophane and carnal
Eye may presently discern, that there was either some
ziolence or deceit used in them ; as who cannot tell when
any Authour is extremely vex'd and wrong’d P But, if
there be any such obscurity as may give just occasion of
doubting and diffidence ; who then can be fitter to clear
and unfold it then the Author himself? nay, who can
explain his mind certainly, but he himself? Is it not
thus in Spirituals much rather ? When God scatters any
Twilight, any Z)arkness there, is it not by a more plentiful
shedding abroad of his own Beams ? Such a Knot, as
a created Understanding cannot unty, the edge of the Spirit
presently cuts asunder. Nor yet is Providence wanting in
external means, which by the goodnesse and power of
God were annexed, as sigilla verói : miracles I mean, which
are upon this account very suitably and proportionably
subservient to faith, they being above natural power, as
revealed Truths are above matural Understanding. The
one's above the hand of Nature, as the other's above
the head of Mature. But Miracles, though they be very
potent, yet they are not always prevalent, for there were
many spectatours of Christ's miracles, which yet, like so
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 319
many Pharaohs, were hardened by them, and some of them,
that beheld them, were no more moved by them, then some
of them, who onely hear of them, will not at all attend to
them. So that onely the seal of the Spirit can make a
firm impression upon the Soul, who writes his own Word
upon the soul with a conquering and triumphant Sun-beam,
that is impatient either of cloud or shadow. Be open
therefore, ye everlasting Doors, and stand wide open, ye
intellectual Gates, that the spirit of Grace and Glory,
with the goodly train of his revealed Zyuths, may enter in.
There's foundation for all this in a Principle of Mature;
for we must still put you in mind of the concord that is
betwixt Faith and Æeason. Now this is the woice of Æeason,
that God can, and that none but God can, assure you of
his own mind; for if he should reveal his mind by a
Creature, there will still be some tremblings and waverings
in the Soul, unlesse he does withall satisfie a Soul, that
Such a Creature does communicate his mind truly and
really, as it is: so that ultimately the Certainty is resolv’d
into the zoice of God, and not into the courtesie of a
Creature. This Hoð Spirit of God creates in the Soul
a Grace answerable to these transcendent objects: you can-
not but know the name of it, tis called Faith, Super-
naturalis forma fidei, as Mirandula the Younger stiles
it, which closes and complies with every word, that drops
from the zoice or pen of a Deity, and which facilitates the
Soul to assent to revealed Zºuths, so as that with an
Aeavenly inclination, with a delightful propension it moves
to them, as to a Centre. Reason cannot more delight in K
a Common Motion or a Demonstration, then Faith does
in revealed Truth. As the Unity of a Godhead is demon- /
strable and clear to the Eye of Reason : so the Zºrinity
of Persons, that is, three glorious relations in one God, is
as certain to an Eye of Faith. Tis as certain to this eye.
of Faith that Christ is truly God; as it was visible to an
||
;i| .

32O NATHANAEL CULVERWEL
eye both of Sense and Reason, that he is truly Man.
^ Faith spies out the Resurrection of the Body; as Reason
sees the immortality of the Soul. I know there are some
Authours of great worth, and Zearning, that endeavour
to maintain this Opinion, that Revealed Truths, though
they could not be found by Reason ; yet, when they are
once revealed, that Reason can then evince them and
demonstrate them. But I much rather encline to the
Determinations of Aquinas and multitudes of others, that
are of the same Judgment, that humane Reason, when it
has stretch'd it self to the uttermost, is not at all proportion'd
to them ; but, at the best, can give onely some faint
illustrations, some weak adumbrations of them. They
were never against Reason, they were always above Reason.
'Twill be employment enough, and 'twill be a noble employ-
ment too, for Reason to redeem and windicate them from
those thorns and difficulties, with which some subtle ones
have vex'd them and encompass'd them. Twill be honour
enough for Reason to shew, that Faith does not oppose
A'eason ; and this it may shew, it must shew this; for else
oi čoro, those that are within the inclosure of the Church,
will never rest satisfied; nor oi čo, Pagans, Mahumitans,
Jews, will never be convinc'd, God, indeed, may work
upon them by immediate revelation ; but man can onely
Arevail upon them by reason : yet ’tis not to be expected,
nor is it required, that every weak and new-born Christian,
that gives real assent and cordial entertainment to these
mysterial Truths, should be able to deliver them from those
seeming contradictions, which some cunning Adversaries
may cast upon them. There are some things demonstrable,
which to many seem impossible; how much more easily may
here be some matters of Faith, which every one cannot free
from all difficulties P Tis sufficient therefore for such, that
they so far forth understand them, as to be sure, that they
are not against Reason, and that principally upon this
DISCOURSE OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE 321
| account, because they are sure God has revealed them.
And others, that are of more advanced and elevated inte/.
| lectuals, may give such explications of them, as may dis-
entangle them from all Repugnancy, though they cannot
display them in their ful/ glory. . . . You see there are
mutual embraces 'twixt the Zaw and the Gospel: AWature
and Grace may meet together; Reason and Faith have
Kissed each other.
CAMPAGNAC - Y
...sº

I N D E X
The letters W, S and C put before the numbers of the pages
stand for Whichcote, Smith and Culverwel respectively.
Antiquity, ill considered rever-
encefor, C306; “the offspring
of Time,’ C 308.
Aquinas, on law, C 231; Contra
Gentiles, C 285, 319.
Aristotle, S II2, II4, 122, 125,
I28; his opinion as to the
immortality of the soul,
S I43–9.
— C 228–9, 272, 276, 28o; on
the connexion between soul
and body, C 286: the fame
of, C 3O4; his treatment of
Plato, C 305.
Atheism, unaccountable and
inexcusable, W 27–8.
— analysis of discourse on,
S 98.
Atoms, S IIO-I, 123.
Belief, the requisites of, W 32.
— C3Io; in all belief there is
assent, C3I6.
Body, sympathy of the soul
with, S I49 seq.; impressions
derived from, S I52 seq.
— connexion of, with the Soul,
C 286.
Cause, S II3; second causes,
S I28.
— secondary, C 236, 288.
Christ, doctrine of Grace in,
S IO3.
Cicero, S IO2, 121, 124, 186.
— C 237, 248.
Conscience, C 259–60.
— natural, C 282.
Consent of Nations, C 273–82.
Contemplation, use of, S Io9.
Davenant, C 309.
Discursive faculty, the, S 93.
Divinity, traditional, uncer-
tainty as to what it is,
S 89.
Epictetus, S IO2.
Epicureans, Epicurus, S IO2,
IO7, IIO, II 3, II 5 Seq., I72.
Faith, the difficulty of, W 8;
and Repentance,indifferently
used, W 32.
— and reason, C 213, 315–2O.
God, how represented in the
Bible, W 16; illapses of,
upon the mind, W 20 ;
the first and chiefest Good,
W 30; converse with, W43;
contemplation of, W 52.
— the sight of, S 97 ; exist-
ence and nature of, S I 59–
75; pictured on the souls
of men, S I6I seq.; eternal
power of, S 165; eternity
and omnipresence of, S I69;
better defined to us by our
understandings than by our
wills and affections, S 173;
immutable nature of, S 180;
enjoyment of, S 188.
— intelligence and essence of,
C 295; understanding and
will of, C 298; gives many
similitudes of himself, C 299.
324
INDEX
Good, search after the chief,
S 171–5; the nature of the
chief good sought by the
good man, S 191 seq.; idea
of, S I 97.
Goodness, begets the sense of
immortality, S 139 seq.
Gospel, the grace of, W 20 ;
no invention of human rea-
... son, W 31; admirable specu-
lation, ibid.; a vital principle
of divine life, W 31, 32; the
substance of, W 32; satis-
factory to the reason, W 33.
— law and, C 32O.
Grotius, C 274, 28O.
Habits, knowledge stored in,
C 297 ; no habits in a deity,
ibid.
Happiness, of man, W 38.
— S 199, 202–3 seq.
Heaven, W 69.
— S 199–2OO.
Ideas, innate, S II 7 ; of truth,
S 135 seq.; of good, S 197.
— connate, C 289 seq.
Idolaters, Idolatry, grave and
reverend, worship truth only
in the image of their own
wits, S85.
— Idolatry of Aristotle, C 305.
Imaginative powers, S 97.
Immortality, of the soul, S 99–
I55; the notion of, involves
ideas of Poena and Prae-
mium, S IOI ; the sense of,
begotten by Goodness, S 139
Seq. • .
Inanimates, the order of, W 36.
Intellectus, agens and patiens,
S I46, 182.
— C 271–2, 282;
made into an
agens, C 305.
Aristotle
intellectus
Jerome, C3o4.
Jews, claims and privileges of,
C 264 seq.
Judgment, private, allowed,
2 ; how to be used ;
necessary to the reception
of truth, W 3.
— S II8.
Jus Gentium, its meaning and
province, C 261 ; source of
its validity, C 277.
Justification, by imputed right-
eousness, W 33.
Knowledge, true way or method
... of attaining to divine, S 79-
98; principles of, S 79, 99;
of divinity—where to
sought, S 81 ; theoretic and
practical, S 91 ; Divine, its
effect, S 97.
— the beginnings of, C 303.
Law, of Nature, S Io; ; posi-
tive laws, the reason of,
S2OI.
— Law, morality and religion
and a deity to be discovered
by art: this position con-
sidered, C 224; the nature
of, C 227–35; only a ra:
tional creature capable of
C 228; Laws of God, pro-
claimed in a sufficient man-
ner, C 235; the eternal,
ibid.; of Nature, ibid.; the
life of, springs from the will
of God, C 239; distinguished
from Providence, C 240;
Law of Nature, C 24I-55;
angelical beings, subject to,
C 241; founded in intellec-
tuals, ibid.; of Nature—
Grotius on, C 243–4, 274;
Chrysostom on, C 244;
positive or private law,
C 247; the strength of
C 249; violation of law of
Nature, C 253-4; extent
INDEX
325
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{
H
|
i
|
j
|
!
!
|
;
!
;
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{
4
{
i
of law of Nature, C 255–
62; law of Nature fre-
quently called the moral
law, C 257; how discovered,
C 263–7 ; founded in es-
sentials, C 266; the essen-
tials of the law of Nature
observed by all nations,
C 279–80; of God, the
quickening of human reason,
C 3OO.
! Liberty, no liberty, no law,
C 24I ; of God, how con-
ditioned, C 253.
Logical, life, the, S 96.
Love, divine and
S 166–7, 199.
human,
| Lucretius, S III, II2, I 14 seq.,
I29.
; Mathematical, notions—prové
the soul to be spiritual and
immaterial, S I.32 seq.
| Matter, S 123, 124, (and body),
I25 seq.; the soul's poten-
tiality, S I47, 165.
# Memory, S 123.
Metaphysical, man, the, S 96.
Miracles, C 318.
: Mirandula, C3IO.
Misery and iniquity have the
same foundation, W 48.
— cause of, S 207.
Morals, Moral, enforced by
Scripture, were before Scrip-
ture, W69; nothing more
spiritual than what is moral,
W 71.
— moral virtues presuppose
intelligence and prudence,
C 302.
Mortality and materiality of
Souls, S I30; thoughts of,
enthral the mind, S 162.
Mortification, meaning and use
of, W 72.
Motion, S II6.
Nature, what it is, Aristotle's
description of, C 222-3 ;
Contrasted with rôxm and
téxvm in Plato, ibid.; natura
naturans, C 225; law of,
See Law; light of, C 267–
73.
Notions, common, of God and
virtue, impressed on the soul,
S 90 ; apt to be clouded if
not put into practice, S 92.
— no nation apostatizes from
common notions, C 28o, 288.
Origen, C 284.
Parties, the value of, W 15.
Perceptions, S II.3.
Perfection, degrees of, S 204.
Peripatetics, S Io8, 118.
— C 223.
Philo, C 245.
Philosophy, a meditation of
death, S 88.
Plato, S IO7, IoS, I 19, 121, 161,
I82.
— C 223, 224, 228–9, 248-9,
284; on the connexion be-
tween soul and body,
C 286–7.
Platonists, their preparation for
the study of philosophy, S87–
88; on the discursive faculty,
S 93, II4, II5.
— C 286–7, 291.
Plotinus, S 84, 87, 95, 96, IoS,
II 5, 12I seq., I37-8, I41,
I61, 167, 169.
Plutarch, S III, II9.
— C 225, 237.
Principles, first principles of
morals, their origin and
scope, C 256 seq., 266, 288;
above disputings, C 297 ;
their strength, C 302.
Punishment, the nature and
end of, C 242-3, 250-I.
326
INDEX
Reason, abuse of by atheists,
W 2; the proper work of in
man, W 43; work of, W49-
6
4.
— S II9, I56; the idea of
pure reason, S I64; eternal
reason, the, S 173; in a good
man, S I 85, I86.
— reason and faith, C 213 ;
quarrels with, ill founded,
C 214–21 ; hatches the law
of Nature, C 256; reason
does not make, but discovers
law, C 267; reason the pen
with which Nature writes
her own law, C 268; to obey
right reason, to obey God,
C 269; light of, derivative,
C 283-3ol ; understanding
and will, the seal of reason,
C 283; promulgation of the
law of Nature by, C 287 ; a
faint resemblance of God,
C 293; light of, directive,
C 301-II ; illuminates the
will, C 301; never opposed
by the will of God, C 311 ;
the light of, calm and peace-
able, C 312–20; is gentle
and complies with faith,
C 313, 314; compared with
faith, C 315.
Religion, the nature of, W 20,
2I; natural, W24, 25; vener-
able nature and transcen-
dent benefit of Christian,
W 29–48; description of,
W 46; a temper of the mind,
W 50—I ; without reason,
shallow, W 51 ; the first
operation in, mental and
intellectual, W 53; credulity
in, the greatest of impoten-
cies, W 54; drudgery in,
W. 55; the seat of, W 56;
unites ‘spirituals’ and “natu-
rals,’ W 57; the mind's
health, W58; the moral part
of, how to be received, W 64;
consists in humility and
charity, W 71 ; the state of,
in its subject, W 73. -
Religion, articles of the Chris-
tian, SIO3; cardinal principle
of, S 161; excellency and
nobleness of true, S I79–209;
its origin and descent, S 179;
a participation of the divine
nature, ibid.; effects of, S 183–
89; counterfeit, S 194; its
progress, S I97–201; the
ritual part of, S 20I ; the
end of, S 202; is life, S2O5;
the beauty and inward lustre
of, S 208.
Repentance, the meaning of
W 17.
Revelation, use of, W 69.
Salmasius, C 281.
Salvation, import of, W 37.
— man’s, not to be nicely dis-
tinguished from the glory of
God, S 196—7.
Scripture, how to be quoted,
W 23; as a rule of faith,
W 24, 32. g
Sects and parties, how differ-
enced and how united, WI3.
Seneca, C 275–6.
Sensation, S II6, II8.
Sense, deceptions of, S II8-9.
Sensitives, the order of, W. 26.
— C 292.
Sensuality and worldliness,
remedies of, W 41.
Sin, the unreasonableness of
W39–40; definition of, W69.
— its origin, S 180, 185, 199,
2O5.
Socinus, C 214.
Socrates, C 269.
Soul, immortality of, S 99-1553
materiality of, discussed,
S 106; incorporeal and im-
material, S II6, II 7, 120 ;

|-
d
f
}
|
t
INDEX
distinction between soul and
body, S 128; its imma-
teriality proved by mathe-
matical notions, S I32 seq.;
more knowable than the
body, S I.35 seq.; Aris-
totle's account of, S I44 seq.;
contemplation of our own,
S 164 seq.; freedom of, S 17O;
perfection of, S 198.
Soul, the creation of, C 293.
Spirit, the law of, W 34.
Stoic, S 94, 95, 96, I54, 172, 185.
— C 292.
-Suarez, on law, C 231, 253.
Superstition, analysis of dis-
course on, S 98.
Synecdoches, use of in Scrip-
ture, W 32.
Tertullian, W 7.
— C 276.
Time, the sense of, S I68.
| Tradition, misuse of C270,308.
Truth, evidence and power of
divine, W 1–28; its reality
and usefulness, W 2; by
communication from God,
W 3; indisposition towards,
ibid.; of first inscription,
327
and of after-revelation, W 4;
evidences of, W II ; uni-
versal acknowledgment of,
how estimated, W 12 ; its
operation, W 18; revealed
truth empties the mind of
presumption, W22; suitable-
ness of, to man, W 24; ac-
companied by the Divine
Spirit, W 26.
Truth, how best understood,
S86; systems of, their danger,
ibid.; to be sought with a
free judgment, S 89; dis-
cernment of, S I2O ; ideas
of, S I.35 seq.; of divine
revelation, S 181 ; outward
revelation and inward im-
pression of, S 182.
— appeals to all, C 276–7;
revealed, C 315.
Will, S 128, 129; freedom of,
S I30; of man resigned to
will of God, S I56–7, 165,
I7O, I7I, I8I.
— C 253, 298.
Zoroaster,advicetohis scholars,
8 I –2.
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PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY



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