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 ' ^ 
 
 ALCIPHRON, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 IN SEVEN DIALOGUES. 
 
 CONTAINING AN APOLOGY FOR THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AGAINST THOSE 
 WHO ARE CALLED FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 3. \^- 
 
 By GEORGE BERKLEY, d. d. 
 
 Author of a Treatife concerning the principles cf Human Knoivledge^ and various 
 other Worksy chiefly in defence of CbrifHanity^ <^g°'i^fl Athe'fls and Jnfldds. 
 
 They have forfaken me the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cifterns, 
 broken citterns, that can hold no water. Jerem. ii. 13. 
 
 Sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti Philofophi cenfent, nihil fentiam, non vereor ne hunc 
 errorem meiim mortui Philofophi irrideant. Cicero. 
 
 THE FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE FOURTH LONDON EDITION. 
 
 For increase COOKE & Co.^New-Haven,
 
 6 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE WORK. 
 
 THE MINUTE PHILOSOPHER is an able defence of Divine Revelation. The vvri- 
 ter is the celebrated BERKLEY, Bifhop of Cloyne; univr.rfally confidered as one of the 
 firft Philofophers, who have appeared in any age, or country. For the difcuffion of this 
 fubjed he was better qualified than almoft any other man, by his pre-eminent talents, 
 both natural and acquired ; particularly by his great learning and fingular powers of 
 reafoning. This work is an illuftrious proof of thofe talents, and may be coniiddred as 
 a ftore-houfe, whence many fucceeding writers have drawn their materials, and their 
 arguments. The Minute Philofopher confids of a feries of dialogues, involving mod 
 of the important topics in the debate between Chriilians and Infidels ; the principal 
 arguments by v,-hich Chriftianity is defended, and the principal objedions with which 
 it has been oppofed. The reafoning is clear, found, and conclufive ; and has never 
 been anfwered. The charaders of the difputants are well chofen, and ably fupported ; 
 and their converfation is fpirited and nr.tnral. The work is of courfe highly entertain- 
 ing, as well as convincing. In the charader of Euphrannr, particularly, the wTiter has 
 given, perhaps, the beft example of the Socratic manner of reafoning, which can^be 
 found. Warton obferves, that the club, compofed of Pope, Swift, Bolingbroke, &c. re- 
 garded this work, in fpiteof the prejudices of fome of them, as a mafterly performance ; 
 not indeed, when firft prefented to them, for they did not underftand it ; but afterwards, 
 when thoroughly explained by its Author, who knev^r more of this, and moil other 
 moral fubjeds, than all of them united. 
 
 In a word. The MLiute Pliilofopher may be confidently recommended, as a perform- 
 ance of the firft merit, to all, who love to read the beft reafonings, on the moft im- 
 portant fubjeds. 
 
 TIMOTH'/ DWIGHT. 
 
 Yale College,! 
 
 Dec. 23, iSoz. 
 ©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©30©©©©©©© 
 
 941CJ.9
 
 ==*^ 
 
 ADVE RTISEMENT 
 
 ^ HE Author's defign being to confider the free- 
 thinker'hi the various lights of ^.theift, libertine, enthufi- 
 aft, fcorner, critic, metaphyfician, fatalift, and fceptic, it 
 muft not therefore be imagined, that every one of thefe 
 charaaers agrees with every individual free-thinker, no 
 more being implied, than that each part agrees with fome 
 or other of the feft. There may poiTibly be a reader who 
 ihall think the charader of atheia agrees with none : But 
 though it hath been often faid, there is no fuch thing as a 
 fpeculative atheift •, yet we muft alldw, there are feveral 
 atheifts wliu prctciad to fpeculation. This the author 
 knows to be true ; and is well aflured, that nnp nf the moft 
 noted writers againft chrlftianity in our times, declared he 
 had found out a demonftration againft the being of a God, 
 And he doubts not, whoever will be at the pains to inform 
 himfelf, by a general converfation, as well as books, of the 
 principles and tenets of our modern free-thinkers, will fee 
 too much caufe to be perfuaded that nothing in the enfu- 
 ing charaders is beyond the life. 
 
 As the author hath not Confined himfelf to write againft 
 books alone, fo he thinks it neceffary to make this decla- 
 ration. It muft net therefore be thought, that authors 
 are mifreprefented, if every notion of Aldphronox Lyf.cks
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 is not found preclfely in them. A gentleman, in private 
 conference, may be fuppofed to fpeak plainer than others 
 write, to improve on their hints, and draw concluGons 
 from their principles. 
 
 Whatever they pretend, it is the author's opinion, that 
 all thofe who write either explicitly or by infmuation 
 againft the dignity, freedom, and immortality of the hu- 
 man foul, may fo far forth be juftly faid to unhinge the 
 principles of morality, and deflroy the means of making 
 men reafonably virtuous. Much is to be apprehended 
 from that quarter againft the intercfts of virtue. Wheth- 
 er the apprehenfion of a certain admired writer,* that the 
 caufe of virtue is likely to fufFer lefs from its witty antago- 
 nifts, than from its tender nurfes, who are apt to overlay 
 it, and kill it with excefs of care and cherifhing, and make 
 it a mercenary thing by talking fo much of its rewards : 
 whether, 1 lay, this apprehenfion be fo well founded, the 
 reader may determine. ^ * 
 
 * ^Jfa^ on the freedom of -wit and fmmort Part II, Sed; 3.
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ..<»<..<..<..<Q>...^^^>«..<Q>..>..>~>..>" 
 
 The first DIALOGUE. 
 
 SECT. I. IntroduBion, 
 ^. Aim and Endeavors of Free-thinkers, 
 
 3 . Oppofed by the Clergy. 
 
 4. Liberty of Free-thinking, 
 
 5. Farther Account of the VieivS of Free-thinkers, 
 
 6. The Progrefs of a Free-thinker toivards Atheifm, 
 
 7. Joint Impojiure of the Priejl and Magijirate, 
 
 8. The Free-thinker^ s Method in making Converts and Dif- 
 coveries. 
 
 9. The Atheifl alone Free, His Senfe of natural Good and 
 Evil. 
 
 10. Modern Free-thinkers more properly named Minute 
 Philofophers. 
 
 1 1 . Minute Philofophers^ what fort of Men^ and how 
 educated, 
 
 12. Their Numbers, Progrefs, and Tenets. 
 
 13. Compared with other Philofophers* 
 
 14. What Things and Notions to be efleemed Natural. 
 
 15. Truth the fame, mtivithflanding Diverfty of Opinion:. 
 
 16. Rule and Msafure of moral Truths.
 
 viii CONTENTS. ^ 
 
 The second DIALOGUE. 
 
 Se6t. I . Vulgar Error y That Vice is hurtful. 
 
 2. 'The Benefit of Drunkennefsy Gaming and Whoring. 
 
 3 . Prejudice againjl Vice ivearing off. 
 
 4. Its UJefulnefs illufirated in the Infiances of Callicles and 
 Telefiila. 
 
 5. The Reafoning of LyGcles in behalf of Vice examined. 
 
 6. IVrong to punifh Acfions when the DoCirines whence the^ 
 fionv are tolerated. 
 
 7. Hazardous Experiment of the Minute Philofophers, 
 
 8. Their DoFtrine of Circulation and Revolution, 
 
 9. Their fenfe of a Reformation. 
 
 I o. Riches alone not the Public Weal. 
 
 11. Authority of Minute Philofophers : Their Prejudice 
 agai?ifi Religion. 
 
 12. EffeBs of Luxury : Virtue, whether notional i' 
 
 1 3 . Pleafure of Senfe. 
 
 14. What fort of Pleafure mofl natural to Man. 
 
 15. Dignity of Human Nature. 
 
 16. Pleafure miftaken. 
 
 17. AmufementSy Mifery, and Cowardife of Minute Philo- 
 fophers. 
 
 1 8. Rakes cannot reckon. 
 
 19. Abilities and Succefs of Minute Philofophers. 
 
 20. Happy EffeBs of the Minute Philofophy in particular 
 Infiances, 
 
 21. Their free Notions about Goverfimetit. 
 
 22. England the proper Soil for Alinute Philofophy. 
 
 23. The Policy and Addrefs of its Profejfors. 
 
 24. Merit of Minute Philofophers towards the Public. 
 
 25. Their Notions and Character. 
 
 26. Their Tendency towards Popery and Slavery. 
 
 The third DIALOGUE. 
 
 Sect. I. Alciphron'j- account of Honor. 
 2. CharaBer and ConduB of Men of Honor.
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 3 . Senfe of moral Beauty, 
 
 4. The Honejium or to kalon of the Ancients, 
 
 5. Tafle for moral Beauty whether a fure Guide or Rule. 
 
 6. Minute Philofephers ravijfjed ivith the Abjlradl Beauty 
 of Virtue. 
 
 7. Their Virtue alone difinterefled and heroic. 
 
 8. Beauty of fenfthle ObjeBsy what, and how perceived* 
 
 9. The Idea of Beauty explained by Painting and Architect 
 ture. 
 
 '10. Beauty of the moral Syjlem^ wherein it confifls. 
 
 11. It fuppofeth a Providence. 
 
 12. Influence of to kalon and to prepon. 
 
 13. Enthuftafm o/'Cratylus compared with the Sentiments of 
 Ariftotle. 
 
 14. Compared with the Stoical Principles. 
 
 15. Minute Philofephers y their Talent for Raillery and Rid- 
 icule. 
 
 16. The Wifdom of thofe who make Virtue alone its own 
 Reward. 
 
 The fourth DIALOGUE. 
 
 Se£t. I. Prejudices concerning a Deity. 
 
 2. Rules laid down by Alciphron to be cbferved in proving 
 a God. 
 
 3. What fort of Proof he expeBs. 
 
 4. Whence we colkB the Being of other Thinking Indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 5. The fame Method a ioxtion proves the Being of God. 
 
 6. AlciiphYon's fecond Thoughts on this Point. 
 
 7. Gcdf peaks to Men. 
 
 8. How Diftance is perceived by Sight. 
 
 9. The proper ObjeEls of Sight at no dlflance. 
 
 10. Lights y Shades^ and Colours^ varioufy combined form a 
 Lan^uacre. 
 
 1 1. The Signification of this Langiinge learned by Experiejice. 
 
 1 2. God explaiTieth himfelfto the Eyes of Men by the arbitrary 
 Ufe offenfble Signs.
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 13. The Prejudice and two-fold AfpeB of a Minute Phik" 
 fopher, 
 
 14. Gcd prefentto Mankind^ informsyadmomfhesy and direBs 
 them in afetftble manner. 
 
 15. Admirable Nature <ind Ufe of this vifual Language, 
 
 1 6. Minute Philofophers content to admit a God in certain 
 Se?ifes. 
 
 17. Opinion of fome, ivho hold that Knoiv ledge and Wifdom 
 ar£ not properly in God. 
 
 1 8. Dangerous Tendency of this Notion. 
 
 19. Its Original. 
 
 20. The Senfe of Schoolmen upon it, 
 
 21. Scholaflic Ufe of the terms Analogy and Analogical eX" 
 plained : Analogical PerfeElions of God mifunderflood. 
 
 22. God intelligent y nvifcy and goody in the proper Senfe of the 
 Words. 
 
 23. OhjeBionfrom moral Evil confidered. 
 
 24. Men argue from their own DefeBs againfl a Deity. 
 
 25. Religious Worfhip reafonable and expedient. 
 
 The fifth DIALOGUE. 
 
 Seft. I. Minute Philofophers join in the Cryy atid follow 
 the Scent of others. 
 
 2. Worfhip prefcribed by the Chriflian Religon fuitable to God 
 a?id Man. 
 
 3. Potver and Influence of the Druids. 
 
 4. Excellency and Ufefulnefs of the Chrifnan Religion^ 
 
 5. It ennobles Mankind, and makes them happy. 
 
 6. Religion neither Bigotry nor Superflition. 
 
 7. Phyficians and Phyfic for the Soul. 
 
 8. CharaEter of the Clergy. 
 
 9. Natural Religion and Human Reofon not to he difparaged. 
 I o. To^dency and Ufe of the Gentile Religion. 
 
 1 1 . Good EjfeCis of Chrifliarnty 
 
 12. Englifiimen compared with ancient Greeks and Romans. 
 
 1 3 . The modern Praclice of Dueling. 
 
 14. CharaEfer of the Old Romans, ho%v to he formed.
 
 CONTENTS, xi 
 
 15. Genuine Fruits of the Go/pel. 
 
 1 6. Wars and FaBions fiot an Effect of the Chriflian Religion, 
 
 1 7. Civil Rage and Maffacrees in Greece and Rome. 
 
 18. Virtue of ancient (jx^^^. 
 
 19. ^larrels of Polemical Divines. 
 
 Q.Q, Tyranny y Ufnrpation^ Sophi/lry of Ecclefiajlics, 
 
 21. The Univerfities cenfured. 
 
 22. Divine Writings of a certain modern Critic, 
 
 23. Learning the Fff eel of Religion. 
 
 24. Barbarifm of the Schools, 
 
 25. Refloration of Learning and polite Arts, to whom oiuing. 
 
 26. Prejudice and Ingratitude of Minute Philofophers, 
 37. Their PreteJifions and CofiduB inconftftent. 
 
 28. ]M[en and Brutes compared with refpecl to Religion. 
 
 29. ChriJ}ia?iity the only Means to ejlahlifh Natural Religion, 
 
 30. Free-thinkers mijlake their Talents; have a flrong Ima- 
 gination. 
 
 3 1 . Tithes and Church- Lands. 
 
 32. Men dijlinguifhedfrom Human Creatures. 
 
 33. Diflribution of Mankind into Birds ^ Beajls^ and Fifhes. 
 
 34. Plea for Reafon allowed y but Unfairnefs taxed. 
 
 35. Freedom a Bleffingor a Curfe, as it is iifed. 
 
 36. Priefl craft not the reigning Evil. 
 
 The sixth DIALOGUE. 
 
 Se£l. I. Points agreed. 
 
 2. Sundry Pretences to Revelation. 
 
 3. Uncertainty of Tradition. 
 
 4. ObjeEl and Ground of Faith. 
 
 5. Some Books difputed, others evidently fpurious, 
 
 6. Stile and Compofition of holy Scripture. 
 
 7 . Difficulties cccu rring therein . 
 
 8. Obfcurity not always a DefeEl. 
 
 ^. Infpiration neither impoffible nor abfurd. 
 
 10. ObjeElions from the Form and matter of Divine Revela^ 
 tion, conftdered. 
 
 1 1 , Infidelity an Effect of Narrownefs and Prejudice*
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 1 2. Articles of Chr'ijiian Faith not unreafonahle, 
 
 13. Gtiilt the natural Parent of Fear. 
 
 14. Things unknoivn, reduced to the Standard of what Men 
 knoiv. 
 
 15. Prejudices ogainf the hicar nation of the Son of God, 
 
 1 6. Ignorance of the Divine Oeconcmyy a Source of Difficult 
 ties, 
 
 J 7. Wifdom of Gody Foolifhnefs to Man, 
 
 1 8. Renfony no blind Guide, 
 
 19. Ufefulncfs of Divine Revelation, 
 2G. ProphefteSy luhence ohfcure, 
 
 21. Eajlern Accounts of Time older than the Mofaic. 
 
 22. The Humour ^/^ Egyptians, AiTyrians, Chaldaeans, and 
 ether Nations extending their Antiquity beyond Truthy ac- 
 counted for, ^ 
 
 23. Reafons confirming the Mofaic Account, 
 
 24. Profane Hiflorians inconfjlent, 
 
 25. Celfus, Prophyry, and Julian. 
 
 26. The tejlimony o/" Jofephus confidered. 
 
 27. Atteflation of Jeius and Gentiles to Chriflianity, 
 
 28. Forgeries and Herefies. 
 
 29. Judgment and Attention of Minute Philofophers. 
 3 a. Faith and Miracles, 
 
 3 1. Probable Arguments a fiifficient Ground of Faith, 
 32. The Chrijlian Religion able to fland the Teft of rational 
 Inquiry, 
 
 The seventh DIALOGUE. 
 
 Seel. I. Chriflian Faith imp ffible. 
 
 2. Words fland for Ideas, 
 
 3. No Knowledge or Faith without Ideas, 
 
 4. Grace y n<kldea of it, 
 
 5 . Suggejling Ideas not the only life of Words, 
 
 6. Force as di^cult to form an Idea of as Grace. 
 
 7. Notwithjlanding which y ufeful Propofitions may be form- 
 ed concerning it. 
 
 v>. Belief of the Trinity and other Myferies not abfiird.
 
 CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 9. Mijlakes about Faith an Occafion of profane Raillery. 
 I o. Faith its true Nature and EffeBs, 
 
 1 1 . Illujlrated by Science. 
 
 12. By Arithmetic in particular. 
 
 13. Sciences converfant about Signs. 
 
 14. I7?e true End of Speech^ Reafony Science, and Faith. 
 
 1 5 . Metaphyfical Objections areJlro7ig againjl Human Sciences 
 as Articles of Faith. 
 
 16. No Religion, hecaufe no Human Liberty » 
 
 17. Farther Pr-oof againjl Human Liberty. 
 
 18. Fatalijm a Confequence of erroneous Suppofttions. 
 
 19. Man an accountable Agent. 
 
 20. Inconfiflency, Singularity, and Credulity of Minute Phi- 
 lofophers. 
 
 21. Untroden Paths and neiv Light of Minute Philofophers. 
 
 22. Sophijlry of the Minute Philofophers. 
 
 23. Minute Philofophers ambiguous, (Enigmatical^ unfathom^ 
 able. 
 
 24. Scepticifm of the Minute Philofophers. 
 
 25. How a Sceptic ought to behave. 
 
 16, Minute Philofophers, why difficult to convince. 
 
 27. Thinking, not the epidemical Evil of thefe 'Times. 
 
 28. Infidelity, not an Effieci of Reafon or Thought, its true 
 Motives affigned. 
 
 29. Variety of Opinions about Religion, Effects thereof. 
 
 30. Method for proceeding with Minute Philofophers. 
 
 31. Want of Thought and want of Education Defects of the 
 prefent Age.
 
 
 THE 
 
 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 FIRST DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Introdu^ion, II. Aim and Endeavors of Free^ 
 thinkers. III. Oppcfed by the Clergy, IV. Libera 
 ty of Free-thinking, V. Farther Account of the 
 Views of Free-thinkers, VI. ne Progrefs of a 
 Free-thinker towards Atheifm, VII. ^oint Impof 
 ture of the Friejh and Magijirate, VIII. The 
 Free-thinker* s Method in making Converts and 
 D if cover ies, IX. The Atheifl alone Free, His 
 Senfe of natural Good and EviL X . Modern Free^ 
 thinkers more properly named Minute Philofophers. 
 XI. Minute Philofophers^ what fort of Men^ and 
 how educated. XII. Their Numbers^ Progrefs and 
 Tenets, XIII. Compared with other Philofophers* 
 XIV. What Things and Notions to be efieemed nat^ 
 ural, XV. Truth the fame, notwithftanding Di^ 
 verfity of Opinions, XVI. Rule and Meafure of 
 moral Truths. 
 
 I 
 
 FLATTERED myfelf, Theagesy that before this 
 time I might have been able to have fent you an agreeable 
 account of the fuccefs of the affair, which brought me 
 into this remote corner of the country. But inltead of 
 this, rfhould now give you the detail of its mifcarriage, 
 if I did not rather choofe to entertain you,with fome amu- 
 fing incidents, which have helped to make me eafy under 
 a circumftance I could neither obviate nor forefee. Events
 
 i6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 are not in our power ; but it always is, to make a good 
 ufe even of the worft. And I muft needs own, the courfe 
 and the event of this affair gave opportunity for reflexions, 
 that make me fome amends for a great lofs of time, pains, 
 and expence. A life of adlion which takes its iffue from 
 the counfels, paflions and views of other men, if it doth 
 not draw a man to imitate, will at leaft teach him to ob- 
 ferve. And a mind at liberty to refle£t on its own obferv- 
 ations, if it produce nothing ufeful to the world, feldom 
 fails of entertainment to itfelf. For feveral months paft I 
 have enjoyed fuch liberty and leifure in this diftant retreat, 
 far beyond the verge of that great whirlpool of bufinefs, 
 faftion, and pleafure, which is called the world. And a 
 retreat in itfelf agreeable, after a long fcene of trouble and 
 difquiet, was made much more fo by the converfation and 
 good qualities of my hoft Euphranor, who unites in his 
 own perfon the philofopher and the farmer : two charac- 
 ters not fo inconfiftent in nature as by cuftom they feem 
 to be. Euphranor^ from the time he left the univerfity, 
 hath lived in this fmall town ; where he is poflefled of a 
 convenient houfe with a hundred acres of land adjoining 
 to it \ which being improved by his own labor, yield him 
 a plentiful fubfiftence. He hath a good collection, chief- 
 ly of old books, left him by a clergyman his uncle, under 
 whofe care he was brought up. And the bufinefs of his 
 farm doth not hinder him from making good ufe of it. 
 He hath read much, and thought more : his health and 
 ftrength of body enabling him the better to bear fatigue of 
 mind. He is of opinion that he could not carry on his 
 iludies with more advantage in the clofet than the field, 
 where his mind is feldom idle while he prunes the trees, 
 follows the plough, or looks after his flocks. In the houfe 
 of this honeft friend I became acquainted with CritOy a 
 neighboring gentleman of diftinguilhed merit and eftate, 
 who lives in great friendlhip with Euphranor. Laft fum- 
 mer, Cr'itOy whofe pari(h church is in our town, dining on 
 a Sunday at Euphranor'' s^ I happened to inquire after his 
 guefts whom we had feen at church with him the Sunday
 
 [Dial L] minute PHILOSOPHER. 17 
 
 before. They are both well, faid Crko, but, having once 
 occafionally conformed, to fee what fort of aflcmbly our 
 parifti could afford, they had no farther curiofity to gratify 
 at church, and fo chofe to flay at home. How, faid Eu- 
 phranor, are they then diffenters ? No, replied CritOy they 
 are free-thinkers. Euphranor-y who had never met with 
 any of this fpecies or fe£l: of men, and but little of their 
 writings, fhewed a great defire to know their principles or 
 fyftem. That is more, faid Critoy than I will undertake 
 to tell you. Their writers are of different opinions. 
 Some go farther, and explain themfelves more freely than 
 others. But the current general notions of the itdi are 
 beft learned from converfation with thofe who profefs 
 themfelves of it. Your curiofity may now be fatisfied, if 
 you and Dicn weuid fpend a week at my houfe with thefe 
 gentlemen, who feem very ready to declare and propagate 
 their opinions. Alclphron is above forty, and no ftranger 
 either to men or books. I knew him firO: at the Temph, 
 which upon an eftate's falling to him, he quitted, to travel 
 through the polite parts of Europe. Since his return he 
 hath lived in the amufements of the town, whicli being 
 grown flale and taftelefs to his palate, have flung him into 
 a fort of fplenetic indolence. The young gentleman, 
 Lyftclesy is a near kinfman of mine, one of lively parts, 
 and a general infight into letters ; who, after having paff- 
 ed the forms of education and feen a little of the world, 
 fell into an intimacy with men of pleafure and free-think- 
 ers, I am afraid much to the damage of his conftitutiou 
 and his fortune. But what I moil regret, is the corrup- 
 tion of his mind by a fct of pernicious principles, which, 
 having been obferved to furvive the paffions of youth, 
 foreftal even the remote hopes of amendment. They are 
 both men of faihion, and would be agreeable enough, if 
 they did not fancy themfelves free-thinker.. But this, to 
 fpeak the truth, has given them a certain air and manrxer, 
 which a Httle too vifibly declare they think them.felves wl- 
 fer than the reft of the v/orld. I fhould therefore be nof: 
 C
 
 i8 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 •at all difpleafed if my guefts met with their match, where 
 they lead fufpe6led it, in a country farmer. I fhall not, 
 replied Euphranor, pretend to any more than barely to in- 
 form myfelf of tlicir principles and opinions. For this 
 end I propofe to-morrow to fet a week's talk to my labor- 
 ers, and accept your invitation, if Dion thinks good. To 
 which I gave ccnfent. Mean while, faid Crito, I fhall pre- 
 pare mv guefts, and let them know that an honeft neigh- 
 bor hath a mind to difcourfe with them on the fubje6t of 
 their free-thinking. And, if I am not miftaken, they will 
 pleafe themfelves with the profpe£i: of leaving a convert 
 behind them, even in a country village. Next morning 
 Enphranor rofe early, and fpent the forenoon in ordering 
 his affairs. After dinner we took our walk to Crito^s 
 which lay through half a dozen pleafant fields planted 
 round with plane-trees, that are very common in this part 
 of the country. We walked under the delicious fhade of 
 thcfe trees for about an hour before we came to Critos 
 houfe, which ftands in the middle of a fmall parkj beauti- 
 fied with two fine groves of oak and walnut, and a wind- 
 ing ftream of fweet and clear water. We met a fervant 
 at the door with a fmall bafket of fruit which he was car- 
 rying into a grovej where he faid his mailer was with the 
 two ftrangers. We found them all three fitting under a 
 fhade. And after the ufual forms at firft meeting, Eu- 
 phranor and I fat down by them. Our converfation began 
 upon the beauty of this rural fcene, the fine feafon of the 
 year, and fome late improvemi:,*nt3 which had been made in 
 tlie adjacent country by new methods of agriculture. 
 Whence Alciphron took occafion to obferve, that the mod 
 valuable improvements came latell. I fliould have fmall 
 temptation, faid he, to live where men have neither polifh- 
 ed manners, nor improved minds, though the face of the 
 country were ever fo well improved. But Ihave long obferv- 
 ed, that there is a gradual progrcfs in human affiiirs. The 
 foil care of mankind is to fupply the cravings of nature : 
 in the next place they iludy the conveniencies and comforts
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 19 
 
 of life. But the fubdulng prejudices and acquiring true 
 knowledge, that Herculean labor, is the laft, being what de- 
 mands the moll perfect abilities, and to which all ether 
 advantages are preparative. Right, faid Euphrnmr, Alci- 
 phron hath touched our true defect. It was always my 
 opinion, that as foon as we had provided fubfiftence for 
 the body, our next care ihouid be to improve the mind. 
 But the defire of wealth ileps between and ingrofleth men's 
 thoughts. 
 
 II. Alciphron. — Thought Is that which we are told 
 diftinguiflieth man from beall : and freedom of thought 
 makes as great a difference between man and man. It 
 is to the noble alTerters of this privilege and perfeiflion of 
 human kind, the free-thinkers I mean, who have fprung 
 up and multiplied of late years, that we are In;lebted for 
 all thofe important difcoveries, that oceait of light which 
 hath broke in and made its way, in fpite of flavery and 
 fuperftition. Euphranor, who is a lincere enemy to both, 
 tellified a great efteem for thofe worthies who had prefer- 
 ved their country from being ruined by them, having 
 fpread fo much light and knowledge over the land. He 
 added, that he liked the name and charafter of a free- 
 thinker \ but in his fenfe of the v/ord, every honed 
 inquirer after truth in any age or country v/as intitled to 
 it. He therefore delired to know what this fe£l: was 
 that Alciphron had fpoken of as newly fprung up ^ 
 what were their tenets ? what were their difcoveries ^ 
 and wherein they employed themfelves, for the benefit 
 of mankind ? Of all which, he fliould think himfelf 
 obliged, if Alciphron would inform liim. That I fhaJl, 
 very eafily, replied Alciphron^ for I profefs myfelf one of the 
 number, and my moft intimate friends are fome of the 
 moil confiderable among them. And perceiving that 
 Euphranor heard him with refpe£l, he proceeded very 
 fluently. You muft know, faid he, that the mind of 
 man may be fitly compared to 2 piece of land. What
 
 20 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 ftubbing, ploughing, digging, and harrowing, is to the one ; 
 that thuiking, reflefting, examining, is to the other. Each 
 hath its proper culture •, and as land that is fuffered to 
 lie wade and wild for a long tra£l of time, will be over- 
 fpread with brufli-wood, brambles, thorns, and fuch 
 vegetables which have neither ufe nor beauty •, even fo 
 there will not fail to fprout up in a neglected uncultivated 
 mind, a great number of prejudices and abfurd opinions, 
 which owe their origin partly to the foil itfeif, the pallions 
 nnd impcrftclions of the mind of man ; and partly to 
 thofe feeds which chance to be fcattered in it by every 
 wind of do£lrine, which the cunnig of ftatefmen, the 
 Angularity of pedants, the fuperflition of fools, or the im- 
 pollure of priefts, fliall raife. Reprefent to yourfelf the 
 mind of m.an, or human nature in general, that for fo 
 many ages had lain obnoxious to the frauds of defigning, 
 and the follies of weak men : Plow it muft be overrun 
 with prejudices and errors ; what firm and deep roots 
 they mufl have taken : and confequently how difBcult a 
 talk it mufl: be to extirpate them : And yet this work, 
 no lefs difficult than glorious, is the employment of the 
 modern Free-thinkers. Alciphroti having faid this, made 
 a paufe, and looked round on the company. Truly faid 
 I, a very laudable undertaking ! We think, faid Euphranor^ 
 that it is praife-worthy to clear and fubdue the earth, to 
 tame brute animals, to falhion the outfidcs of men, pro- 
 vide fuflenance for their bodies, and cure their maladies. 
 But what is all this in comparifon of that mofh excellent 
 and ufeful undertaking, to free mankind from their errors, 
 and to improve and adorn their minds ? For things of lefs 
 merit towards the world, altars have been raifed, and 
 temples built in ancient times. Too many in our days, 
 replied Aktphron^ are fuch fools as not to know their belt 
 benefadiors from their worfl enemies : They have a blind 
 iOc^v^tOi for thofe who inllave them ; and look upon their 
 dciivcrers as a dangerous fort of men, that would under- 
 mine received principles and opinions.
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 21 
 
 EupHRANOR. — It v/ere a great pity fuch worthy ingeni- 
 ous men fhould meet with any difcouragenient. For my 
 part I fhould think a man, wlio fpent his time in fuch a 
 painful impartial fearch after truth, a better friend to man- 
 kind than the greatefl ftatefman or hero ; the advantage 
 of whofe labors is confined to a little part of the world, 
 and a fhort fpace of time •, whereas a ray of truth may 
 enlighten the whole world, and extend to future ages. 
 
 Alc. — It will be fome time, I fear, before the common 
 herd think as you do. But the better fort, the men of 
 parts and polite education, pay a due regard to the patrons 
 of light and truth. 
 
 III. EuPH. — The clergy, no doubt, are on all occafions 
 ready to forward and applaud your worthy endeavors. 
 Upon hearing this, Lyficles could hardly refrain from 
 bughing. And Alciphron^ with an air of pity, told Eu- 
 pbi-d?iGr^ that he perceived he was unacquainted with the real 
 chara(2:er of thofe men : For, faid he, you muft know, that 
 of all men living they are our greateft enemies. If it were 
 pofTible, they would extinguiili the very light of nature, 
 turn the world into a dungeon, and keep mankind for ever 
 in chains and darknefls. ■ 
 
 EuPH. — I never imagined any thing like this of our 
 proteftant clergy, particularly thofe of the eftablifhed 
 church ; whom, if I may be allowed to judge by what I 
 have feen of them and their writings, I fhould have thought 
 lovers of learninirand ufeful knowledge. 
 
 Alc. — Take my word for it, priefts of all religions are the 
 fame : wherever there are priefts, there will be prieftcraft : 
 and wherever there is prieQicraft, there will be a perfecu- 
 tlng fpirit, whicli they never fail to exert to the utnioft of 
 their power again il all thofe who have the courage to think 
 for thcmfelves, and will not fubmit to be hoodwinked and 
 manacled by their reverend leaders. Thofe great maftcrs 
 of pedantry and jargon have coined feveral fyftems, which 
 are all equally true, and of equal importance to the world. 
 Ths contending feds are each ulikc fond of their own, and
 
 22 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. L] 
 
 alike prone to difcharge their fury upon all who difient 
 from them. Cruelty and ambition being the darling vi- 
 ces of priefts and churchmen ail the world over, they en- 
 deavor in all countries to get an afcendant over the reft of 
 mankind ; and £he magiftrate having a joint intereft with 
 the prieft in fubduing, amuling, and fearing the people, 
 too often lends a hand to the hierarchy ; who never think 
 their authority and pofTeffions fecure, fo long as thofe who 
 differ from them in opinion are allowed to partake even In 
 the common rights belonging to their birth or fpecics. 
 To reprefent the matter in a true light, figure to yourfelves 
 a monPcer or fpe£lre made up of fuperftition and enthufi- 
 afm>, the joint ilTue of ftatecraft and prieftcraft, rattling chains 
 in one hand, and with the otherbrandifhing a flaming fword 
 over the land, and menacing deftru6lion to all who fhall dare 
 to folio v/ the dictates of reafon and common fenfe. Do but 
 confider this, and then fay if there was not danger as well 
 as difficulty in our undertaking. Yet, fuch is the gener- 
 ous ardour that truth infpires, our free-thinkers are neither 
 overcome by the one, nor daunted by the other. In fpite 
 of both we have already made fo many profelytes among 
 the better fort, and their numbers increafe fo faft, that we 
 hope we fhall be able to carry all before us, beat down the 
 bulwarks of tyranny, fecular or ecclefiaftical, break the fet- 
 ters and chains of our countrymen, and reftore the origi- 
 nal inherent rights, liberties, and prerogatives of mankind. 
 Euphranor heard this difcourfe with his mouth open and 
 his eyes fixed upon Alciphrouy who, having uttered it with 
 no fmali emotion, ftopt to draw breath and recover him- 
 felf : But finding that no body made anfwer, he refumed 
 the thread of his difcourfe, and turning to Euphranor fpoke 
 in a lower note what follows. The more innocent and 
 honcil a man is, the more liable is he to be impofed on by 
 the fpecious pretences of other men. You have probably 
 met with certain writings of our divines that treat of grace, 
 virtue, goodnefs, and fuch matters, fit to amufe and deceive 
 a fimple honeft mind. But believe ms when I tell you
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 23 
 
 they are all at bottom (however they may gild their defigns) 
 united by one common principle in the fame intereft. I 
 will not deny there may be here and there a poor half-wit- 
 ted man that means no naifchief ; but this I will be bold 
 to fay, that all the men of fenfe among them are true at 
 bottom to thefe three purfuits of ambition, avarice, and 
 revenge. 
 
 IV. While Alciphron was fpeaking, a fervant came io 
 tell him and Lyficles^ that feme men who were going to 
 London waited to receive their orders. Whereupon they 
 both rofe and went towards the houfe. They were no 
 fooner gone, but Enphranor addrefling himfelf to Crito faid, 
 he believed that poor gentleman had been a great fufferer 
 for his free-thinking : for that he feem.ed to exprefs him- 
 felf with the paflion and refentment natural to men who 
 have received very bad ufage. I believe no fuch thing, 
 anfwered Crito^ but have often obferved thofe of his fe£b 
 run into two faults of converfation, declaiming and banter- 
 ing, juft as the tragic or the comic humor prevails. Some- 
 times they work themfelves into high paffions, and are 
 frightened at fpe£lres of their own raifmg. In thofc fits 
 every country-curate pafles for an inquifitor. At other 
 times they alTe^l a fly facetious manner making ufe of 
 hints and allufions, exprefling little, infmuating much, and 
 upon the whole feeming to divert themfelves with the fub- 
 je£l: and their adverfarics. But if you would know their 
 opinions, you muft make them fpeak out and keep clofe to 
 the point. Perfecution for fjree-thinking is a topic they 
 arc apt to enlarge on, thougli without any juft caufe, eve- 
 ry one being at full liberty to think what he pleafes, there 
 being no fuch thing in England that I know as perfecution 
 for opinion, fentiment, or thought. But in every country^ 
 I fuppofe, feme care is taken to reftrain petulant fpeech : 
 and, whatever men's inward thoughts may be, to difcour- 
 age an outward eoatempt of what the public edeemeth 
 facred. Whether this care in Engla?id hath of late been
 
 24 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 fo excefllve, as to diftrefs the fubje£ls of this once free and 
 eafy government : whether the free-thinkers can truly 
 complain of any hardfhip upon the fcore of confcience or 
 opinion : you will better be able to judge, when you hear 
 from themfelves an account of the numbers, progrefs, and 
 notions of their fe£l : which I doubt not they will commu- 
 nicate fully and freely, provided no body prefent feems 
 (hocked or offended. For in that cafe it is pofiible good 
 manners may put them upon fome referve. Oh ! faid 
 Etiphranor, I am never angry with any man for Iiis opin- 
 ion : whetlier he be Jeiu, Turk, or Idolater, he may fpeak 
 his mind freely to me without fear of offending. I fliould 
 even be glad to hear what he hath to fay, provided he faith 
 it in an ingenuous candid manner. Whoever digs in the 
 mine of truth, I look on as my fellow-laborer : but if, 
 while I am taking true pains, he diverts himfelf with teiz- 
 ing me and flinging dull in mine eyes, I fliall foon be tired 
 of him. 
 
 V. In tlie mean time Alaphron and Lyfides having dif- 
 patched what they went about, returned to us. Lyficles 
 fat down where he had been before. But Alciphron Rood 
 over-againfl: us, with his arms folded acrofs, and his head 
 reclined on the left fboulder in the pofture of a man medi- 
 tating. We fat filent not to difturb his thoughts ; and 
 after tv/o or three minutes he uttered thofe words, Oh 
 truth ! Oh liberty ! after which he remained mufing as 
 before. Upon this Eiiphramr took the freedom to inter- 
 rupt Itim. Alc'iphroTi^ faid he, it is not fair to fpend your 
 time in foliloquies. The converfation of learned and 
 knowing men is rarely to be met with in this corner, and 
 the opportunity you have put into niy hands I value too 
 iTiUch, not to make the bed ufe of it. 
 
 Alc— Are you then in earned a votary of truth, and 
 is it poffible that you fliould bear the liberty of a fair in- 
 quiry } 
 
 EuPH. — It is what I defire of all things.
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ' 25 
 
 Alc. — What ! upon every fubje61; ? upon the notions 
 which you firft fucked in with your milk, and which have 
 been ever fince nurfed by parents, paftois, tutors, religious 
 aflembhes, books of devotion, and fuch methods of pre- 
 poflefling men's minds ? 
 
 EupH. — I love inform.ation upon all fubjecls that come 
 in my way, and efpecially upon thofe that are mod im- 
 portant. 
 
 Alc. — If then you are in earned, hold fair and dand 
 firm, while I probe your prejudices and extirpate your 
 principles. 
 
 Dum veteres avias tibi de pitlmcne revello. 
 
 Having faid thus, Ak'iphron knit his brows and made a 
 fliort paufe, after which he proceeded in the following 
 manner. If we are at the pains to dive and penetrate into 
 the bottom of things, and analyfe opinions into their fird 
 principles, we fhall find that thofe opinions, v/hich ars 
 thought of greated confequence, have the flighted origi- 
 nal, being derived either from the cafual cudoms of the 
 country where we live, or from early indru£lion indilied 
 into our tender minds, before we are able to difcern be- 
 tween right and wrong, true and falfe. The vulgar (by 
 whom I underdand all thofe who do not make a free ufe 
 of their reafon) are apt to take thefe prejudices for things 
 facred and unquedionable, believing them to be imprinted 
 on the hearts of men by God himfelf, or conveyed by rev- 
 elation from heaven, or to carry with them fo great light 
 and evidence as mud force an affent without any inquiry 
 or examination. Thus the fliallow vulgar have their heads, 
 furniftied with fundry conceits, principles, and doctrines, 
 religious, moral, and political, all which they maintain 
 with a zeal proportionable to their want of reafon. On 
 the other hand, thofe who duly employ their faculties in 
 the fearch of truth, take efpecial care to weed out of their 
 minds and,extirpate all fuch notions or prejudices as were 
 planted in them, before they arrived at the free and intire 
 ufe of reafon. This difficult tallc hath been fuccefsfullv 
 
 D
 
 26 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 performed by our modern free-thinkers, who have not only 
 difledled with great fagacity the received fyflems, and tra- 
 ced every eftablifhed prejudice to the fountain head, the 
 true and genuine motives of aflent : But alfo, being able to 
 embrace in one comprehenfive view the feveral parts and 
 ages of the world, they have obferved ?. wonderful variety 
 of cuitoms and rites, of inPiitutions, religious and civil, of 
 notions and opinions very unlike and even contrary one to 
 another : A certain fign they cannot all be true. And yet 
 they are all maintained by their feveral partizans with the 
 fame pofitive air and warm zeal ; and if examined will be 
 found to bottom on one and the fame foundation, the 
 ftrength of prejudice. By the help of thefe remarks and 
 difcoveries, they have broke through the bands of popular 
 euftom, and having freed themfelves from impofture, do 
 now generoufly lend a hand to their fellow-fubje61:s, to lead 
 them into the fame paths of light and liberty. Thus, gen- 
 tlemen, I have given you a fummary account of the views 
 and endeavors of thofe men who are called free-thinkers. 
 If in the courfe of what I have faid or fliall fay hereafter, 
 there be fome things contrary to your pre-conceived 
 opinions, and therefore ihocking and difagreeable, you 
 will pardon the freedom and plainnefs of a phiiofopher ; 
 and confider that, whatever difpleafure I give you of that 
 kind, I do it in ftri^l: regard to truth and obedience to your 
 own commands. I am very fenfible, that eyes long kept 
 in the dark, cannot bear a fudden view of noon day light, 
 but mufl be brought to it by degrees. It is for this rea- 
 fon, the ingenious gentlemen of our profefTion are accuf- 
 tomed to proceed gradually, beginning with thofe preju- 
 dices to which men have the lead attachment, and thence 
 proceeding to undermine the refl by flow and infenfible 
 degrees, till they have demolifhed the whole fabric of hu- 
 man folly and fuperftition. But the little time I can pro- 
 pofe to fpend here obligeth me to take a fnorter courfe, 
 and be more direcl and plain than poflibly may be thought 
 10 fuit with prudence and good manners. Upon this, we
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 27 
 
 afTured him he was at full liberty to fpeak his mind of 
 things, perfons, and opinions without the lead referve. It 
 is a liberty, replied Alciphron^ that we free-thinkers are 
 equally willing to give and take. We love to call things 
 by their right names, and cannot endure that truth fhoukl 
 fufFer through complaifance. Let us therefore lay it dowh 
 for a preliminary, that no oiFence be taken at any thing, 
 whatfoever fhali be faid on either fide. To- which we all 
 agreed. 
 
 VI. In order then, faid Alciphron, to find out the 
 truth, we will fuppofe that I am bred up, for inftance, 
 in the Church of England : When I come to maturity 
 of judgment, and reflect on the particular worfliip and 
 opinions of this Church, I do not rem.ember when or by 
 what means they firft took poiTeiTion of my mind, but 
 there I find them from time immemori^d. Then calling 
 an eye an the education of children, from whence I can 
 make a judgment of my own, I obferve they are inftruft- 
 ed in religious matters before they can reafon about them, 
 and confequently that all fucli inftru6t:ion is nothing elfe 
 but filling the fender mind of a child with prejudices. — 
 I do therefore rejccl all thofe religious notions, which I 
 confider as the other follies of my childhood. I am con- 
 firmed in this way of thinking, when I look abroad into 
 the world, where I obferve Papifls^and feveral feels of 
 dilTenters, which do all agree in a general profeffion of 
 belief in Chrift, but differ vaftly one from another in the 
 particulars of faith and worfhlp. I then enlarge my view 
 io as to take in Jews and Mahometans^ between whom 
 and the Chrlftians I perceive indeed fome fmall agreement 
 in the belief of one God ; but then they have each their 
 diftin6l laws and revelations, for which they exprefs the 
 fame regard. But extending my view fiill farther to hea- 
 thenifii and idolatrous nations, I difcover an endlefs vari- 
 ety, not only in particular opinions and modes of worfhip, 
 but even in the very notion of a Deity, wherein they
 
 28 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 widely difFeir one from anolher, and from all the foremen- 
 tioned fe£ts. Upon the whole, iiillead of truth fimple 
 and uniform, I perceive nothing but difcord, oppofition, 
 and wild pretenfions,. all fpringing from the fame fource, 
 to wit, the prejudice of education. From fuch reafon- 
 ings and reflexions as tliefe, thinking men have concluded 
 that all religions are alike falfe and fabulous. One is a 
 Chriftian, another a Jew, a third a Mahometan, a fourth 
 an idolatrous Gentile, but all from one and the fame rea- 
 fon, becaufe they happen to be bred up each in his refpec- 
 iive fe£l. In the fame manner, therefore, as each of 
 thefe contending parties condemns tlie reft, fo an unpre- 
 judiced ftander-by will condemn and rejeft them all to- 
 gether, obferving that they all draw their origin from the 
 fame fallacious principle, and are carried on by tJh^e fame 
 artifice, to anfwer the fame ends of the prieft and the ma- 
 giftrate. 
 
 VII. EupH.— You hold then that the magiftrate con- 
 curs with the prieft in impofing on the people ? 
 
 Alc. — I do, and fo muft every one who confiders 
 things in a true light. For you muft know, the magif-. 
 trate's principal aim is to keep the people under him in 
 awe. Now the public eye reftrains men from open of- 
 fences againft the laws and government. But to prevent 
 fecret tranfgreffions, ja. magiftrate finds it expedient that 
 men fliould believe there is an eye of Providence watching 
 over their private actions and defigns. And, to intimi- 
 date thofe who might otherwife be drawn into crimes by 
 the profpeft of pleafure and profit, he gives them to un- 
 derftand, that whoever efcapes punifliment in this life will 
 be fure to find it in the next ; and that fo heavy and laft- 
 ing as infinitely to over- balance the pleafure and profit ac- 
 cruing from his crimes. Plence the belief of a God, the 
 im.mortality of the foul, and a future ftate of rewards and 
 pimifnments, have been f fteemed ufeful engines of govern- 
 ment. Ar.d to the end that thvfe notional airy dodrines
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 29 
 
 might make a fenfible imprefiion, and be retained on the 
 minds of men, fkillful rulers have in the feveral civilized 
 nations of the earth devifed temples, facrifices, churches, 
 rites, ceremonies, habits, mufic, prayer, preaching, and 
 the like fpiritual trumpery, whereby the prieft maketh 
 temporal gains, and the magiftrate findeth his account in 
 frightening and fubduing the people. This is the origirirJ 
 of the combination betv/een church and ftate, of religion 
 by law eftabhfhed, of rights, immunities, and incomes 
 of priefts all over the world : There being no govern- 
 ment but would have you fear God, that you may honor 
 the king or civil power. And you will ever obferve that 
 politic princes keep up a good underilanding with their 
 clergy, to the end that they in return, by inculcating re- 
 ligion and loyalty in the minds of the people, may ren- 
 der them tame, timorous and flavifli. 
 
 Crito and I heard this difcourfe of Alciphrofi with the ut- 
 moft attention, though without any appearance of fur- 
 prife, there being indeed nothing in it to us new and un- 
 expected. But Euphraftor who had never before been 
 prefent at fuch converfation, could not help fliewing fome 
 aftonifliment ; which Lyficles obferving, aficed him with 
 a lively air, how he liked Alciphrojis lecture. It is, faid 
 he, the firft I believe that you ever heard of the kind, and 
 required a ftrong ftomach to digeft it. 
 
 EuPH. — I will own to you, that my dlgeftion is none of 
 the quickeft ; but it hath fometimes, by degrees, been able 
 to mafter things which at firft appeared indigeftible. At 
 prefent I admire the free fpirit and eloquence of Alciphron ; 
 but, to fpeak the truth, I am rather aftoniflied, than con- 
 vinced of the truth of his opinions. How, (faid he, turn- 
 ing to Alciphron) Is it then poflible you (hould not believe 
 the being of a God ? 
 
 Alc. — To be plain with you, I do not. 
 
 VIII. But this is what I forefaw, a flood of light let in 
 at once upon the m.lnd being apt to dazzle and difordci*
 
 30 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I] 
 
 rather than enlighten it. Was I not pinched in time, the 
 regular way would be to have begun with the circumllan- 
 tials of religion, next to have attacked the myfteries of 
 chriftianity, after tliat proceeded to the pra6tic^l doctrines, 
 and in the laft place to have extirpated that which of all 
 other religious prejudices, being the firft taught, and baiis 
 of the reft, hath taken the deepeft root in our minds, I 
 mean, the belief of a God. I do not wonder it fticks with 
 you, having known feveral very ingenious men who found 
 it difficult to free themfelves from this prejudice. 
 
 EuPH. — All men have not the fame alacrity and vigor 
 in thinking : For my own part, I find it a hard matter to 
 keep pace with you. 
 
 Alc. — To help you, I will go a little way back, and re- 
 fume the thread of ray reafoning, Firft I muft acquaint 
 you, that having applied my mind to contemplate the idea 
 of truth, I difcovered it to be of a ftable permanent, and 
 uniform nature ; not various and changeable, like modes 
 or fafhions, and things depending on fancy. In the next 
 place, having obferved feveral fe<Sl:s, and fubdivifions of 
 fe6ls, efpoufing very different and contrary opinions, and 
 yet all profeffing chriftianity, I reje£le4 thofe points where- 
 in they differed, retaining only that which was agreed to 
 by all, and fo became a Latitudinar'ian. Having after- 
 wards^ upon a more enlarged view of things, perceived 
 that chriftians, Jews, and Mahometans had each their dif- 
 ferent fyftems of faith, agreeing only in the belief of one 
 God, I became a Beljl. Laftly, extending my view to all 
 the various nations which inhabit this globe, and finding they 
 agreed in no one point of faith, but differed one from an- 
 other, as well as from X^vZ forementioned fe£l:s, even in the 
 notion of a God, in which there is as great diverfity as in 
 the methods of worfliip, I thereupon became an Atheijl ; 
 it being my opinion, that a man of courage and fenfe (hould 
 follow his argument v/herever it leads him, and that noth- 
 ing is more ridiculous than to be a free-thinker by halves. 
 I approve the man who makes thorough work, and, not
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 31 
 
 content with lopping ofF the branches, extirpates the very- 
 root from which they fprung. 
 
 IX. Atheifm therefore, that bugbear of women and 
 foolsj is the very' top and pcrfedlion of free-thinking. , It 
 is the grand Arcanum to which a true genius naturally rif- 
 eth, by a certain climax or gradation of thought, and with- 
 out which he can never pofTefs hi^ foul in abfolute liberty 
 and repofe. For your thorough convi£l:ion in this maai 
 article, do but examine the notion of a God with the fame 
 freedom that you would other prejudices. Trace it to 
 the fountain-head, and you fiiall not find that you had 
 it by any of your fenfes, the only true means of difcover- 
 ing what is real and fubftantial in nature. You will find 
 it lying amongft other old lumber in fome obfcure corner 
 of the imagination, the proper receptacle of vifions, fancies, 
 and prejudices of all kinds : And if you are more attached 
 to this than the reft, it is only becaufe it is the oldeft. This 
 is all, take my word for it, and not mine only, but that of 
 many more the moft ingenious men of the age, who, I can 
 aflure you, think as I do on the fub}e£l of "a Deity. Though 
 fome of them hold it proper to proceed with more referve 
 in declaring to the world their opinion in this particular, 
 tiian in moft others. And it muft be owned, there are 
 ft ill too many in Engla7id who retain a foolifti prejudice 
 ligainft the name of Atheift. But it leflens every day 
 among the better fort ; and when it is quite worn out, cur 
 fr^e-thinkers may then, (and not till then) be faid to have 
 given the finiftiing ftroke to religion ; it being evident that 
 fo long as the exiftence of God is believed, religion muft 
 fubfift in fome ftiape or other. But the root being once 
 plucked up, the fcions which ftiot from it will of courfe 
 wither and decay. Such are all thofe whimfical notions 
 of confcience, duty, principle, and the like, which fill a 
 man's head with fcruples, awe him with fears, and make 
 him a more thorough flave than the horfe he rides. A 
 man had better a thoufand times be hunted by bailiffs or
 
 32 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. L] 
 
 meilengers than haunted by thefe fpe6tres, which embar- 
 afs and embitter all his pieafures, creating the moft real 
 and fore fervitude upon earth. But the free-thinker, with 
 a vigorous flight of thought breaks through thofe airyfpring- 
 es, and aflerts his original independency. Others indeed 
 may talk, and v/rite, and fight about liberty, and make an 
 cutv/ard pretence to it, but the free-thinker alone is truly 
 free. 
 
 Alciphron having ended this difcourfe with an air of 
 triumph, Euphrdnor fpoke to him in the following manner. 
 Yen make clear work. The gentlemen of your profeffion 
 are, it feems, admirable weeders. You have rooted up a 
 world of notions, I fhould be glad to fee what fine things 
 you have planted in their ftead. 
 
 Alc. — Have patience, good Euphranor^ I will (hew 
 you in the firll place, that whatever was found and good 
 we leave untouched, and encourage it to grow in the 
 mind of man. And fecondly, I will fliew you what ex- 
 cellent things we have planted in it. You muft know 
 then, that purfuing our clofe and fevere fcrutiny, we da 
 at laft arrive at fomething folid and real, in which all 
 mankind agree, to wit, the appetites, paffions, and fen- 
 fes : Thefe are founded in nature, are real, have real 
 objects, and are attended with real and fubftantial piea- 
 fures : food, drink, fleep, and the like animal enjoy- 
 ments, being what all men like and love. And if wie extend 
 our view to the other kinds of animals, we Ihall find them 
 all agree in this, that they have certain natural appe- 
 tites and fenfes, in the gratifying and fatisfying of which 
 they are conftantly employed. Now thefe real natural 
 good things which include nothing of notion or fancy, we 
 are fo far from deftroying, that we do all we can to cher- 
 ifh and improve them. According to us, every wife man 
 looks upon ^imfelf, or his own bodily exiftence in this 
 prefent world, as the centre and ultimate end of all his 
 actions and regards. He confiders his appetites as natu- 
 ral guides directing to iils proper good, his paflions and
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 3^ 
 
 fenfes as the natural true means of enjoying this good.— 
 Hence he endeavors to keep his appetites in high relifh^ his 
 paflions and fenfes ftrong and lively, and to provide the 
 greateft quantity and variety of real objefts fuitcd to them, 
 which he ftudieth to enjoy by all pofiible means, and ia 
 the higheft perfection immaginable. And the man who 
 can do this without reftraint, remorfe or fear, is as happy as 
 any other animal whatfoever, or as his nature is capable of 
 being. Thus I have given you a fuccin£t view of the 
 principles, difcoveries, and tenets of the feledt fpirits of 
 this enlightened age. 
 
 X. Crito remarked, that Alclphron had fpoke his mind 
 wi'h great clearnefs. Yes, replied Euphranovy we are obli- 
 ged to the gentleman, for letting us at once into the tenets 
 of his fe£t. But, if I may be allowed to fpeak my mind, 
 Alciphron, though in compliance with my own requeft, 
 hath given me no fmall uneafinefs. You need, faid Alci^ 
 phrotiy make no apology for fpeaking freely what you 
 think, to one who profefleth himfelf a free-thinker. I 
 (hould be forry to make one, whom I meant to oblige^ 
 uneafy. Pray let me know wherein I have ofFended. I 
 am half alhamed, replied Eiiphranor^ to own that I, who 
 am no great genius, have a weaknefs incidental to little 
 ones. I would fay, that I have favorite opinions, which 
 you reprefent to be errors and prejudices. For inftance;» 
 the immortality of the foul is a notion I am fond of, as 
 what fupports the mind with a very pleafmg profpciSl.— ■ 
 And if it be an error, I (hould perhaps be of Tullfs mind^ 
 who, in that cafe, profeffed he fhouid be forry to know the 
 truth, acknowledging no fort of obligation to certain phi- 
 lofophers in his days, who taught, that the foul of man 
 was mortal. They were, it feems, predeceflbrs to thofe 
 who are now called free-thinkers 5 whiclT name being too 
 general and indefinite, inafmuch as it comprehends all 
 thofe who think for themfelves, whether they agree in 
 
 E
 
 34 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 opinion with thefe gentlemen or no, it ihould not feem 
 amifs to aflign them a fpecific appellation, or peculiar 
 name, whereby to diflinguilh them from other philofo- 
 phers, at leail in our prefent conference. For I cannot 
 bear to argue againft free-thinking and free-thinkers. 
 
 Alc. — In the eye of a wife man, words are of fmall 
 moment. We do not think truth attached to a name. 
 
 EuPH. — If you pleafe then, to avoid confufion, let us 
 call your fe£t by the fame name that Tuliy (who under- 
 ftood the force of language) beftowed upon them. 
 
 Alc. — With all my heart. Pray what may that name 
 be? 
 
 EuPK. — ^Why, he calls them Minute Fhilofophers. Right, 
 faid CritOy the modern free-thinkers are the very fame with 
 thofe Cicero called Minute Philofophers, which name ad- 
 mirably fuits them, they being a fort of fe£l: which dimin- 
 ifh all the mofl valuable things, the thoughts, views, and 
 hopes of men : all the knowledge, notions, and theories of 
 the mind, they reduce to fenfe ; human nature they con- 
 tradl and degrade to the narrow low ftandard of animal 
 life, and aflign us only a fmall pittance of time, inftead of 
 immortality. 
 
 Alciphron very gravely remarked, that the gentlemen of 
 his fe£l; had done no injury to man ; and that if he be a 
 little fhort-livcd, contemptible animal, it was not their 
 faying it made him fo : And they were no more to blame 
 for whatever defeats they difcover, than a faithful glafs 
 for making the wrinkles which it only fhews. As to what 
 you obferve, faid he, of thofe we now call free-thinkers, 
 having been anciently termed Minute Philofophersy it is my 
 opinion, this appellation might be derived from their confid- 
 ering things minutely, and not fwallowing them in the 
 grofs, as other men are ufed to do. Befides, we all 
 know, the beft eyes are neceflary to difcern the minuteft 
 objects : It feems, therefore, that Minute Philofophers 
 might have been fo called, from their diftinguifhed perfpi- 
 cacity.
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 35 
 
 EuPH. — O Alciphron ! thefe Minute Philofophers (fincc 
 that is their true name) are a fort of pirates, who plunder 
 all that come in their way. I confider myfelf as a man 
 left ftript and defolate on a bleak beach. 
 
 XI. But who are the profound and learned men, that 
 of late years have demolifhed the whole fabric, which 
 lawgivers, philofophers, and divines, had been eredting for 
 fo many ages ? Lyftcles hearing thefe words, fmiled, and 
 faid, he believed Euphranor had figured to himfelf philofo- 
 phers in fquare caps and long gowns ; but, thanks to 
 thefe happy times, the reign of pedantry was over. Our 
 philofophers, faid he, are of a very different kind from 
 thofe aukward ftudents, who think to come at knowledge 
 by pouring on dead languages, and old authors, or by fe- 
 queftring thcmfelves from the cares of the world, to 
 meditate in folitude and retirement. They are the beft 
 bred men of the age, men who know the world, men of 
 plcafure, men of fafliion, and fine gentlemen. 
 
 EuPH. — I have fome fmall notion of the people you 
 mention, but fhould never have taken them for philofo- 
 phers^ 
 
 Cri. — Nor would any one elfe till of late. The world, 
 it feems, was long under a miftake about the way to 
 knowledge, thinking it lay through a tedious courfe of 
 academical education and ftudy. But among the difcov- 
 eries of the prefsnt age, one of the principal is, the finding 
 out that fuch a method doth rather retard and obftrudt, 
 than promote knowledge. 
 
 Alc. — Academical ftudy may be comprifed in two 
 points, reading and meditation. Their reading is chiefly 
 employed on ancient authors in dead languages : fo that a 
 great part of their time is fpent in learning words ; which, 
 when they have maftered with infinite pains, what do they 
 get by it, but old and obfolete notions, that are now quite 
 exploded and out of ufc ? then, as to their meditations.
 
 36 rvilNUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. 1.3 
 
 what can they poffibly be good for ? he that wants the 
 proper materials of thought, may think and meditate 
 for ever to no purpofe : Thofe cobwebs, fpun by fcholars, 
 out of their own brains, being alike unferviccable, either 
 for ufe or ornament. Proper ideas, or materials, are only 
 to be got by frequenting good company. I know feveral 
 gentlemen, who, (ince their appearance in the world, have 
 fpent as much time in rubbing off the ruft and pedantry of 
 a college education, as they had done before in acquir- 
 ing it. 
 
 Lys,— I'll undertake, a lad of fourteen, bred in the mod- 
 ern way, fhall make a better figure, and be more confid- 
 cred in any drawing room, or alTembly of polite people, 
 than one of four and twenty, who hath lain by a long 
 time at fchool and college. He fhall fay better things, in 
 a better manner, and be more liked by good judges. 
 
 EuPH.-— Where doth he pick up all this improvement ? 
 
 Cri. — Where our grave anceftors would never have 
 looked for it, in a drawing room, a coffee houfe, a chocolate 
 houfe, at the tavern, or groom porter's. In thefe, and the 
 like fafhionable places of refort, it is the cuftom for polite 
 perfons to fpeak freely on all fubje^ls, religious, moral, or 
 political. So that a young gentleman, who frequents them, 
 is in the way of hearing many inftrudiive lectures, feafon- 
 cd with wit and raillery, and uttered with fpirit. Three 
 orfourfentencesj from a man of quality, fpoke with a good 
 air, make more imprefTion, and convey more knowledge, 
 than a dozen dilTertations, in a dry academical way. 
 
 EuPH. — -There is then no method, or courfe of fludies, 
 in thofe places. 
 
 Lys. — None but an eafy free converfation, which takes 
 in every thing that offers, without any rule or defign. 
 
 EuPH. — I always thought that fome order was necefTa- 
 ry to attain any ufeful degree of knowledge •, that hafle 
 and confufion begat a conceited ignorance ; that to make 
 our advances fure, they fhouid be gradual, and thofe
 
 IDiAL. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 37 
 
 points firft learned, which might caft a light on what was 
 to follow. 
 
 Alc— So long as learning was to be obtained only by 
 that flow, formal courfe of ftudy, few of the better fort 
 knew much of it ; but now it is grown an amufement, 
 our young gentry and nobility imbibe it infenfibly, amidft 
 their diverfions, and make a confiderable progrefs. 
 
 EuPH. — Hence probably the great number of Minute 
 Philofophers. 
 
 Cri.— It is to this that (eS: is owing for fo many ingenl- 
 cus proficients of both fexes. You may now commonly 
 fee (what no former age ever faw) a young lady, or a Petit 
 Maitrey nonplus a divine, or an old-fafhioned gentleman, 
 who hath read many a Greek and Latin author, and fpent 
 much time in hard methodical ftudy. 
 
 EuPH. — It fhould feem then, that method, exa^tnefs, 
 and induftry are a difadvantage. Here Alciphron^ turning 
 to L^ftckSi faid he could make the point very clear, if Eti- 
 phranor had any notion of painting. 
 
 EupM.~I never faw a firft-rate pi£i:ure in my life, but 
 have a tolerable collection of prints, and have feen fomc 
 good drawings. 
 
 Alg. — You know then the difference between the 
 Dutch and the Italian manner. 
 
 EupH. — I have fome notion of it. 
 
 Alc. — Suppofe now, a drawing finilhed by the nice 
 and laborious touches of a Dutch pencil, and another off 
 hand fcratched out in the free manner of a great Italian 
 mafter. The Dutch piece, which hath coft fo much pains 
 and time, will be exa<Sl indeed, but without that force, 
 fpirit, or grace, which appear in the other, and are the ef- 
 feCbs of an eafy free pencil. Do but apply this, and the 
 point will be cle^r. 
 
 EupH. — Pray inform me, did thofe great Italian mafters 
 begin and proceed in their art, without any choice of 
 method or fubjedt, and always draw with the fame cafe
 
 38 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. L] 
 
 and freedom ? or did they obferve fome method, begin- 
 ning with fimple and elementary parts, an eye, a nofe, a 
 finger, which they drew with great pains and care, often 
 drawing tlie fame thing, in order to draw it correftly, and 
 fo proceeding, with patience and induftry, till after confid- 
 crable length of time, they arrived at the free mafterly 
 manner you fpeak of. If this were the cafe, I leave you 
 to make the application. 
 
 Alc. — You may difpute the matter if you pleafe. But 
 a man of parts is one thing, and a pedant another. Pains 
 and method may do for fome fort of people. A man 
 muft be a long time kindling wet ftraw into a vile fmoth- 
 cring flame, but fpirits blaze out at once. 
 
 EuPH. — The Minute Philofophers have, it feems, bet- 
 ter parts than other men, which qualify them for a dif- 
 ferent education. 
 
 Alc. — Tell me, Euphranor, what is that gives one 
 man a better mein than another ; more politenefs in drefs, 
 fpeech and motion ? Nothing but frequenting good com- 
 pany. By the fame means, men get infenfibly a delicate 
 tafte, a refined judgment, a certain politenefs in thinking 
 and expreffing one's felf. No wonder if you, countrymen, 
 are ftrangers to the advantage of polite converfatian, 
 which conftantly keeps the mind awake and adtive, exer- 
 cifing its faculties, and calling forth all its ftrength and 
 fpirit on a thoufand different occafions and fubje6ts, that 
 never come in the way of a book-worm in a college, no 
 more than of a ploughman. 
 
 Cri. — Hence thofe lively faculties, that quicknefs of 
 apprehenfion, that flinefs of ridicule, that egregious tal- 
 ent of wit and humour, which diflinguifli the gentlemen 
 of your profeffion. 
 
 EuPH. — ^It ftiould feem then, that your fe<3: is made up 
 of what you call fine gentlemen. 
 
 Lys. — Not altogether, for we have among us fome 
 contemplative fpirits of a coarfsr education ; who, from
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 39 
 
 obferving the behavior and proceedings of apprentices, 
 watermen, porters, and aflemblies of rabble in the ftreets, 
 have arrived at a profound knowledge of human nature J 
 and made great difcoveries about the principles, fprings, 
 and motives of moral actions. Thefe have demolilhed 
 the received fyftems, and done a world of good in the 
 city. 
 
 Alc— I tell you, we have men of all forts and pro- 
 fefiions, plodding citizens, thriving (lock-jobbers, skill- 
 ful men in bufinefs, polite courtiers, gallant men of the 
 army ; but our chief ftrength, and flower of the flock, 
 are thofe promifing young men, who have the advantage 
 of a modern education. Thefe are the growing hopes of 
 our feet, by whofe credit and influence, in a few years 
 we expert to fee thofe great things accomplifhed, that we 
 have in view. 
 
 EuPH.— I could never have imagined your fe£t fo con- 
 fiderable. 
 
 Alc. — There are, in England^ many honeft folk as 
 much in the dark about thefe matters as yourfelf. 
 
 Xn. To judge of the prevailing opinion among people 
 of fafhion, by what a fenator faith in the houfe, a judge 
 upon the bench, or a prieft in the pulpit, who all fpeak 
 according to law, that is, to the reverend prejudices of 
 our forefathers, would be wrong. You fhould go into 
 good company, and mind what men of parts and breed- 
 ing fay, thofe who are beft heard, and mofl: admired, as 
 well in public places of refort, as in private vifits. He 
 only, who hath thefe opportunities, can know our real 
 ftrength, our numbers, and the figure that we make. 
 
 EuPH.— By your account, there muft be many Mi- 
 nute Philofophers among the men of rank and fortune. 
 
 Alc. — Take my word for it, not a few, and they do 
 much contribute to the fp reading our notions. For he 
 who knows the world, muft obferve, that faftiions con-
 
 40 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 ftantly defcend. It is therefore the right way to propa- 
 gate an opinion from the upper end. Not to fay, that 
 the patronage of fuch men, is an encouragement to our 
 authors. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then, you have authors among you. 
 
 Lys. — That we have, feveral, and thofe very great 
 men, who have obUged the world with many ufeful and 
 profound difcoveries. 
 
 Cri. — Mojchouy for inftance, hath proved that man 
 and beaft are really of the fame nature : That confequent- 
 ly a man need only indulge his fenfes and appetites, to be 
 as happy as a brute. Gorgias hath gone further, demon- 
 ftrating man to be a piece of clock-work, or machine ; 
 and that thought, or reafon, are the fame thing as the im* 
 pulfe of one ball againft another. Cimon hath made no- 
 ble ufe of tkefe difcoveries, proving as clearly as any pro- 
 portion in mathematics, that confcience is a whim, and 
 morality a prejudice ; and that a man is no more account- 
 able for his actions than a clock is for ftriking. Tryphon 
 hath written irrefragably on the ufefulnefs of vice. Thra^ 
 fenor hath confuted the foolifh prejudice men had againft 
 atheifm, fhewing, that a republic of atheifts might live 
 very happily together. Demylus hath made a jeft of loy- 
 alty, and convinced the world there is nothing in it. To 
 him, and another philofopher, of the fame ftamp, this age 
 is indebted for difcovering, that public fpirit is an idle 
 enthuiiafm, v/hich feizeth only on weak minds. It would 
 be endlefs to recount the difcoveries made by writers of 
 this fed. 
 
 Lys.— But the mafter-piece, and finifhing ftroke, is a 
 learned anecdote of our great Diagoras, containing a de- 
 monftration againft the being of God, which it is con- 
 ceived the public is not yet ripe for. But I am aflured 
 by fome judicious friends, who have (een it, that it is as 
 clear as day light, and will do a world of good, at one 
 blow demoiifliing the whole fyftem of religion. Thefc
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 41 
 
 di fcoveries are publifhed by our philofophers, fometimes 
 in volumes, but often in pamphlets and loofe papers, for 
 their readier conveyance through the kingdom. And to 
 them muft be afcribed that abfolute and independent free- 
 dom, which grovi^eth fo faft, to the terror of all bigots. 
 Even the dull and ignorant begin to open their eyes, and 
 to be influenced by the example and authority of fo many 
 ingenious men. 
 
 EupH. — It fhould feem, by this account, that your fed^ 
 extend their difcoveries beyond religion ; and that loyalty 
 to his prince, or reverence for the laws, are but mean 
 things in the eye of a Minute Philofopher. 
 
 Lys. — Very mean ; we are too wife to think there is 
 any thing facred, either in king or conftitution, or indeed 
 in any thing eife. A man of fenfe may, perhaps, feem to 
 pay an occafional regard to his prince, but this is no more 
 at bottom, than what he pays to God, when he kneels at 
 the facrament, to qualify himfelf for an office. Fear God 
 ^and honor the king, are a pair of flaviih maxims, which 
 had for a long time crampt human nature, and awed not 
 only weak mxinds, but even men of good underftanding, 
 till their eyes, as I obferved before, were opened by our 
 philofophers. 
 
 EuPH. — Methinks, I can eaGly comprehend, that when 
 the fear of God is quite extinguifhed, the mind muft be 
 very eafy with refpe61: to other duties, which become out- 
 ward pretences and formalities, from the moment that 
 they quit their hold upon the confcience : and confcience 
 always fuppofeth the being of a God. But I ftill thought, 
 that Erjg/i/hmen, of all denominations (how widely foever 
 they might differ as to fome particular points) agreed in 
 the belief of a God, and of fo much at leaft as is called 
 natural religion. 
 
 Alc. — I have already told you my own opinion of 
 thofe matters, and what I know 10 be the opinion of many 
 more. 
 
 F
 
 42 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 Cri.— Probably, Euphranovy by the title of De'ifls, 
 which is fometimes given to Minute Philofophers, you 
 have been milled to imagine, they believe and worfhip 
 a God, According to the light of nature : but by living 
 among them, you may foon be convinced of the contrary. 
 They have neither time, nor place, nor form of divine 
 worlhip : They offer neither prayers nor praifes to God 
 in public : and, in their private praftice, fliew a con- 
 tempt or dillike even of the duties of natural religion. 
 For inftance, the faying grace before and after meals, is a 
 plain point of natural worQiip, and was once univerfally 
 pra£lifed ; but, in proportion as this fe6l prevailed, it 
 hath been laid afide, not only by the Minute Philofophers 
 themfelves, who would be infinitely alhamed of fuch a 
 weaknefs, as to beg God's bleffing, or give God thanks 
 for their daily food ; but alfo by others, who are afraid 
 of being thought fools by the Minute Philofophers. 
 
 EuPH. — Is it poffible, that men, who really believe a 
 God, fhould yet decline paying fo eafy and reafonable a,^ 
 duty, for fear of incurring the contempt of atheifts ? 
 
 Cri. — I tell you, there are many, who believing in their 
 hearts the truth of religion, are yet afraid, or afhamed, to 
 own it, left they fhould forfeit their reputation with 
 thofe, who have the good luck to pafs for great wits, and 
 men of genius. 
 
 Alc. — O Euphranory we muft make allowance for 
 Crko^s prejudice : he is a worthy gentleman, and means 
 well. But doth it not look like prejudice, to afcribe the 
 refpe(Sl:, that is paid our ingenious free-thinkers, rather to 
 good luck tli|n to merit ? 
 
 EupH. — '1 "acknowledge their merit to be very wonder- 
 ful, and that thofe authors muft needs be great men, who 
 are able to prove fuch paradoxes : for example, that fo 
 knowing a man, as a Minute Philofopher, fhould be a mere 
 machine, or at beft no better than a brute. 
 
 Alc. — It is a true maxim, that a man ihould think with
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 43 
 
 the learned, and fpeak v,ath the vulgar. I fliould be loth 
 to place a gentleman of merit in fuch a light before preju- 
 diced and ignorant men. The tenets of our philofophy 
 have this, in common with many other truths in metaphy- 
 fics, geometry, aftronomy, and natural philofophy, that vul- 
 gar ears cannot bear them. All our difcoveries and no- 
 tions are in themfelves true and certain ; but they are at 
 prefent known only to the better fort, and would found 
 ftrange and odd among the vulgar. But this, it is to be 
 hoped, will wear off with time. 
 
 EuPH. — I do not wonder, that vulgar minds fiiould be 
 flartled at the notions of your philofophy. 
 
 Cri. — Truly a very curious fort of philofophy, and 
 much to be admired ! 
 
 XIII. The profound thinkers of this way have taken a 
 direct contrary courfe to all the great philofophers of 
 former ages, who made it their endeavor to raife and re- 
 fine human kind, and renjove it as far as poflible from 
 the brute ; to moderate and fubdue men's appeties ; to 
 remind them of the dignity of their nature ; to awaken 
 and improve their fuperior faculties, and direct them to 
 the nobleft objects ; to poffefs men's minds with a high 
 fenfe of divinity, of the fupreme good, and the immortality 
 of the foul. They took great pains to ftrengthen the ob- 
 ligations to virtue ; and upon all thofe fubje6ts have 
 VvTought out noble theories, and treated with fmgular 
 force of reafon. But it feems, our Minute Philofophers 
 a£l the reverfe of all other wife and thinking men ; it 
 being their end and aim to erafe the principles of all that 
 is great and good from the mind of man, to unhinge all 
 order of civil life, to undermine the foundations of moral- 
 ity, and, inftead of improving and ennobling our natures, 
 to bring us down to the maxims and way of thinking of 
 the mod uneducated and barbarous nations ; and even to 
 degrade human kind to a level with the brute bealls.^
 
 44 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 And a]l the while they would pafs upon the world for 
 men of deep knowledge. But in effe<9;, what is all this 
 negative knowledge better than downright favage ig- 
 norance ? that there is no providence, no fpirit, no fu- 
 ture ftate, no moral duty : truly a fine fyftem for an honeft 
 man to own, or an ingenious man to value himfelf upon ! 
 
 Alciphron^ who heard this difcourfe, with fome uneafi- 
 nefs, very gravely replied, /lifputes are not to be decided by 
 the weight of authority, but by the force of reafon. You 
 may pafs, indeed, general refleO:ions on our notions, and 
 call them brutal, and barbarous, if you pleafe : But it is 
 fucli brutality, and fuch barbarifm, as few could have at- 
 tained to, if men of \^i\t greatefl: genius had not broke the 
 ice ; there being nothing more difficult than to get the 
 better of education, and concjuer old prejudices. To re- 
 move and cafl off a heap of rubbifh, that has been gather- 
 ing upon the foul from our very infancy, requires great 
 courage, and great flrength of faculties. Our philofophers, 
 therefore, do well defervc the name of Efprits forts, men 
 of Jlrong heads, Free-thinkers, and fuch like appellations, 
 betokening great force and liberty of mind. It is very 
 poffible, the heroic labours of thefe men may be reprefent- 
 ed (for what is not capable of mifreprefentation ?) as a 
 piratical plundering, and dripping the mind of its wealth 
 and ornaments; when it is in truth the divefting it only of its 
 prejudices^and reducing it to its untainted original ftate of 
 nature. Oh nature I the genuine beauty of pure nature I 
 
 EuPH. — You feem very much taken with the beauty of 
 nature. Be pleafed to tell me, Alciphron, what thofe 
 things are, which you efteem natural, or by what mark I 
 may know them, 
 
 XIV. Alc, — For a thing to be natural, for inftance, to 
 the mind of man, it muft appear originally thx^ein, it mull 
 be univerfally in all men, it muft be invariably the fame 
 in all nations and ages. Thefe limitations of original.
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 45 
 
 univerfal, and invariable, exclude all thofe notions found In 
 the human mind, which are the efFe6l of cuftom and edu- 
 cation. The cafe is the fame with refpe«5t to all other 
 fpecies of beings. A cat, for example, hath a natural in- 
 clination to purfue a moufe, becaufe it agrees with the 
 forementioned marks. But if a cat be taught to play 
 tricks, you will not fay thofe tricks are natural. For the 
 fame reafon, if, upon a plumbtree, peaches and apricots 
 are ingrafted, no body will fay they are the natural growth 
 of the plumbtree. 
 
 EuPH. — but to return to Man : It feems you allow 
 thofe things alone to be natural to him, which fhew them- 
 felves upon his firft entrance into tlie world ; to wit, the 
 fcnfes, and fuch pafRons and appetites as are difcovered 
 upon the firft application of their refpeOive objects. 
 
 Alc. — That is my opinion. 
 
 EuPH.— Tell me, Aldphrcn^ if from a young appletrec, 
 after a certain period of time, there fliould (hoot forth 
 leaves, bloffoms, and apples ; would you deny thefe things 
 to be natural, becaufe they did not difcover and difplay 
 themfelves in the tender bud ? 
 
 Alc — I would not. 
 
 EuPH. — And fuppofe, that in man, after a certain fea- 
 fon, the appetite of luft, or the faculty cf reafon, fhall 
 fnoot forth, open, and difplay themfelves, as leaves and 
 bloffoms do in a tree ; would you therefore deny them to 
 be natural to him, becaufe they did not appear in his orig- 
 inal infancy ? 
 
 Alc. — I acknowledge I would not. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems, therefore, that the firft mark of a 
 thing's being natural to the mind, was not warily laid 
 down by you ; to wit, that it fhould appear originally in it. 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — Again, inform me, Alciphron^ v/hether you do 
 not think it natural for an orange-plant to produce orang- 
 es ? 
 
 Alc. — I do,
 
 46 MINUT5 PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I] 
 
 EuPH. — But plant it in the north-end of Great-Britain^ 
 and it (hall with care produce, perhaps, a good fallad ; in 
 the fouthern parts of the fame ifland, it may with much 
 pains and culture thrive, and produce indifferent fruit ; 
 but in Portugal y or Naples y it will produce much better, 
 with little or no pains. Is tjiis true, or not ? 
 
 Alc. — It is true. 
 
 EuPH. — The plant being the fame in all places, doth 
 not produce the fame fruit ; fun, foil, and cultivation, 
 making a difFerenee. 
 
 Alc. — I grant it. 
 
 EuPH. — And fince the cafe is, you fay, the fame with 
 refpe£l to all fpecies , why may we not conclude, by a 
 parity of reafon, that things may be natural to human 
 kind, and yet neither found in all men, nor invariably 
 the fame where they are found ? 
 
 Alc — Hold, Euphranory you muft explain yourfelf 
 further, I fhall not be over hafty in my conceflions. 
 
 Lys — You are in the right, Alciphron, to ftand upon 
 your guard. I do not like thefe enfnaring queftions. 
 
 EuPH. — I defire you to make no conceflions in com- 
 plaifance to me, but only to tell me your opinion upon 
 each particular, that we may underftand one another, 
 know wherein we agree, and proceed jointly in finding 
 out the truth. But (added Euphranor, turning to Crito 
 and me) if the gentlemen are againft a free and fair en- 
 quiry, I fhall give them no further trouble. 
 
 Alc. — Our opinions will fland the tell. We fear no 
 trial. Proceed as you pleafe. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then that, from what you have granted, 
 it fhould follow, things may be natural to men, though 
 they do not actually fhew themfelves in all men, nor in 
 equal perfection ; there being as great difference of cul- 
 ture, and every other advantage, with refpe£l: to human 
 nature, as is to be found with refpe£l to the vegetable na- 
 ture of plants ; to ufe your own fimilitude. Is it fo, or 
 not .? 
 
 Alc — It is.
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 47 
 
 EuPH. — Anfwer me, Alciphron^ do not men, In all 
 times and places, when they arrive at a certain age, ex- 
 prefs their thoughts by fpeech ? 
 
 Alc. — They do. 
 
 EupH. — Should it not feem then, that language is na- 
 tural ? 
 
 Alc— It fliould. 
 
 EuPH. — And yet there is a great variety of languages. 
 
 Alc. — I acknowledge there is. 
 
 EuPH. — From all this, will it not follow, a thing may 
 bs natural, and yet admit of variety ? 
 
 Alc. — I grant it will. 
 
 EuPH. — Should it not feem, therefore, to follow, that 
 a thing may be natural to mankind, though it have not 
 thofe marks, or conditions, affigned j though it be not ori- 
 ginal, univerfal, and invariable ? 
 
 Alc. — It Ihould. 
 
 EupH. — And that confequently religious worihip, and 
 civil government, may be natural to man, notwithftand- 
 ing they admit of fundry forms, and^ different degrees of 
 perfection ? 
 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EupH. — You have granted already, that reafon is na- 
 tural to mankind. 
 
 Alc. — I have. 
 
 EuPH. — Whatever, therefore, is agreeable to reafon, 
 is agreeable to the nature of man. 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EupH. — Will it not follow, from hence, that truth 
 and virtue are natural to man ? 
 
 Alc. — Whatever is reafonable, I admit to be natural. 
 
 EuPH. — And as thofe fruits, which grow from the mofl 
 generous and mature flock, in the choicefl foil, and with 
 the beft culture, are moft efteemed ; even fo ought we 
 not to think, thofe fublime truths which are the fruits of 
 mature thought, and have been rationally deduced by men
 
 48 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 of the beft and moft improved underftandings, to be the 
 choiceft produ<9:ions of the rational nature of man ? And 
 if fo, being in fa£t reafonable, natural, and true, they 
 ought not to be efteemed unnatural whims, errors of edu- 
 cation, and groundlefs prejudices, becaufe they are raifed 
 and forwarded, by manuring and cultivating our tender 
 minds ; becaufe they take early root, and fprout forth 
 betimes, by the care and diligence of our inftru^tors. 
 
 Alc. — Agreed, provided ftiil they may be rationally 
 deduced. But to take this for granted, of what men vul- 
 garly call the truths of morality and religion, would be 
 begging the quellion. 
 
 EuPH. — You are in the right ; I do not, therefore, take 
 for granted, that they are rationally deduced : I only fup- 
 pofe that, if they are, they muft be allowed natural to man, 
 or in other words, agreeable to, and growing from, the 
 moft excellent and peculiar part of human nature. 
 
 Alc. — I have nothing to obje£t to this. 
 
 EuPH. — What Ihail we think then of your former afler- 
 tions .'' That nothing is natural to man, but what riiay be 
 found in all men, in all nations and ages of the world : 
 That to obtain a genuine view of human nature, we mufl: 
 extirpate all the eiFefts of education and inftru£l:ion, and 
 regard only the fenfes, appetites, and paffions, which are 
 to be found originally in ail mankind : that, therefore, the 
 notion of a God can have no foundation in nature, as not 
 being originally in the mind, nor the fame in all men. Be 
 pleafed to reconcile thefe things with your late conceflions, 
 which the force of truth feems to have extorted from you. 
 
 XV. Alc. — ^Tell me, Euphranor^ whether truth be not 
 one and the fame uniform invariable thing : And, if fo, 
 whether the many different and inconfiftent notions, which 
 men entertain of God and duty, be not a plain proof, there 
 is no truth in them. 
 
 EuPH.-— That truth is conftant and uniform I freely
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 49 
 
 own, and that confequently opinions repugnant to each 
 other cannot be true : But I think it will not hence fol- 
 low, they are all alike falfe. If among various opinions 
 about the fame thing, one be grounded on clear and evi- 
 dent reafons ; that is to be thought true, and others only 
 fo far as they confift with it. Reafon is the fame, and, 
 rightly applied, will lead to the .fame conclufions, in all 
 times and places. Socrates^ two thoufand years ago, feems 
 to have reafoned himfelf into the fame notion of a God, 
 which is entertained by the Philofophers of our days, i£ 
 you will allow that name to any, who are not of your fecV. 
 And the remark of Confucius y that a man fhould guard in 
 his youth againft luft, in manhood againft fa6i:ion, and in 
 old age againft covetoufnefs, is as current morality in Eu- 
 rope as in China, 
 
 Alc. — But ftill it would be a fatisfad^ion, if all men 
 thought the fame way, difference of opinions implying un- 
 certainty. 
 
 EuPH. — ^Tell me, Alciphron, what you take to be the 
 caufe of a lunar ecllpfe. 
 
 Alc. — The fhadow of the earth interpofing between 
 the fun and moon. 
 
 EuPH. — Are you aflured of this ? 
 
 Alc. — Undoubtedly. 
 
 EuPH. — Are all mankind agreed In this truth .? 
 
 Alc. — By no means. Ignorant and barbarous people 
 affign different ridiculous caufes of this appearance. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then, there are different opinions 
 about the nature of an eclipfe. 
 
 Alc. — There are. 
 
 EuPH. — And neverthelefs one of thefe opinions is true. 
 
 Alc> — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Diverfity, therefore, of opinions about a thing, 
 doth not hinder, but that thing may be, and one of the 
 opinions concerning it may be true. 
 
 Alc— This I acknowledge. 
 G
 
 50 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. L] 
 
 EuPH. — It fhould feem, therefore, that your argument 
 againll the belief of a God, from the variety of opinions 
 about his nature, is not conclufive. Nor do I fee, how you 
 can conclude againll the truth of any moral or religious 
 tenet, from the various opinions of men upon the fame 
 fubje£b. Might not a man as well argue, that no hiftori- 
 cal account of a matter of fa£t can be true, when different 
 relations are given of it ? or may we not as well infer, 
 that becaufe the feveral fe£i:s of Philofophy maintain differ- 
 ent opinions, none of them can be in the right, not even 
 the Minute Philofophers themfelves ? 
 
 During this converfation Lyficles feemed uneafy, like 
 one, that wilhed in his heart there was no God. Alciphroriy 
 faid he, methinks you fit by very tamely, while Euphranor 
 faps the foundation of our tenets. Be of good courage, 
 replied Alciphron^ a fkilful gamefter has been known to 
 ruin his adverfary, by yielding him fome advantage at firfl. 
 I am glad, faid he, turning to Euphranor^ that you are 
 drawn in to argue and make your appeals to reafon. For 
 my part, wherever reafon leads, I fhali not be afraid to 
 follow. Know then, Euphranory that I freely give up 
 what you now contend for. I do not value the fuccefs of 
 a few crude notions, thrown out in a loofe difcourfe, any 
 more than the Turlis do the lofs of that vile infantry, which 
 they place in the front of their armies, for no other end 
 but to wafte the powder, and blunt the fwords of their 
 enemies. Be afTured, I have in referve a body of other- 
 guefs arguments, which I am ready to produce. I will 
 undertake to prove. 
 
 EuPH. — O Alciphron ! I do not doubt your faculty of 
 proving. But before I put you to the trouble of any far- 
 ther proofs, I fhould be glad to know, whether the notions 
 of your Minute Philofophy are worth proving. I mean, 
 whether they are of ufe and fervice to mankind ? 
 
 XVI. Alc. — As to that, give me leave to tell you, a
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 51 
 
 thing may be ufeful to one man's views, and not to anoth- 
 er's : But truth is truth, whether ufeful or not, and mufl: 
 not be meafured by the convenience of this or that man, 
 or party of men. 
 
 EuPHc — But is not the general good of mankind to be 
 regarded as a rule or meafure of moral truths, of all fuch 
 truths as dire61: or influence the moral actions of men ? 
 
 Alc. — That point is not clear to me. I know, indeed, 
 that legiflators, and divines, and politicians, have always 
 alledged, that it is neceffary, to the well-being of mankind, 
 that they fhould be kept in awe by the llavilh notions of 
 religion and morality.* But granting all this, how will it 
 prove thefe notions to be true ? convenience is one thing, 
 and truth is another. A genuine Philofopher, therefore, 
 will overlook all advantages, and confider only truth itfelf, 
 as fuch. 
 
 EupH. — Tell me, Akiphroriy is your genuine Philofopher 
 a wife man, or a fool ? 
 
 Alc. — Without queftion, the wifeft of men. 
 
 EuPH. — Which is to be thought the wife man, he who 
 a£ls with defign, or he who a£ts at random ? 
 
 Alc. — He who a£i:s with deCgn. 
 
 EuPH. — Whoever a£ts with defign, a£ts for fonic end. 
 Doth he not .? 
 
 Alc. — He doth. 
 
 EuPH. — And a wife man for a good end ? 
 
 Alc. — True. 
 
 EuPH. — And he flieweth his wifdom, in making choice 
 of fit means to obtain his end. 
 
 Alc. — I acknowledge it. 
 
 EuPK. — By how much, therefore, the end propofed is 
 more excellent, and by how much fitter the means em- 
 ployed are to obtain it, fo much the wifer is the agent to 
 be efteemed. 
 
 Alc. — This feems to be true. 
 
 * The moral virtues are the political oflFspring, which flattery begot up- 
 on pride. Fable of the Bees, part the firft p. 37.
 
 52 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 EuPH.- — Can a rational agent propofe a more excellent 
 end than happinefs ? 
 
 Alc.--— He cannot. 
 
 EuPH.— — Of good things, the greater good is mofl: ex- 
 cellent. 
 
 Alc. — Doubtlefs. 
 
 EupH. — Is not the general happinefs of mankind a 
 greater good, than the private happinefs of one man, or 
 of fome certain men ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EupH. — Is it not, therefore, the moft excellent end ? 
 
 Alc. — -It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH.— — Are not then thofe who purfue this end, by 
 the propereft methods, to be thought the wifeft men ? 
 
 Alc. — I grant they are. 
 
 EuPH. — Which is a wife man governed by, wife or 
 fooiifh notions. 
 
 Alc— 'By wife, doubtlefs. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then to follow, that he, who promotes 
 the general well-being of mankind, by the proper neceifa- 
 ry means, is truly wife, and acls upon wife grounds. 
 
 Alc. — It fliould feem fo. 
 
 EuPH. — And is not folly of an oppofite nature to wif- 
 dom ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Might it not, therefore, be inferred, that 
 thofe men are fooiifh, who go about to unhinge fuch 
 principles, as have a neceflary connexion with the general 
 good of mankind ? 
 
 Alc. — Perhaps this might be granted : but, at the 
 fame time, I mult obferve, that it is in my power to de- 
 ny it. 
 
 EuPH. — How ! you will not furely deny the conclu- 
 lion, when you admit the premifes. 
 
 Alc. — I would fain know upon what terms we ar- 
 gue ', v/hethcr, in this progrefs of queilion and anfwer,
 
 [Dial. I.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 53 
 
 if a man makes a flip, it be utterly irretrievable ? For, 
 if you are on the catch, to lay hold of every advantage, 
 without allowing for furprife or inattention, I muft tell 
 you, this is not the way to convince my judgment. 
 
 EuPH. O Alciphron ! I aim not at triumph, but at 
 
 truth. You are therefore at full liberty to unravel all, 
 that hath been faid, and to recover, or corre6t, any flip, 
 you have made. But then, you mufl diftindly point it 
 out, otherwife it will be impofTible ever to arrive at any 
 conclulion. 
 
 Alc. — I agree with you, upon thefe terms, jointly to 
 proceed in fearch of truth, for to that I am fincerely de- 
 voted. In the progrefs of our prefent inquiry, I was, it 
 feems, guilty of an overfight, in acknowledging the gene- 
 ral happinefs of mankind to be a greater good than the 
 particular happinefs of one man. For in fa£l:, the indi- 
 vidual happinefs of every man alone conftitutes his own 
 entire good. The happinefs of other men making no 
 part of mine, is not, with refpe£l to me, a good ; I m.ean 
 a true natural good. It cannot therefore be a reafonabie 
 end, to be propofed by me, in truth and nature (for I do 
 not fpeak of political pretences) Cnce no wife man will 
 purfue an end v/hich doth not concern him. This is the 
 voice of nature. Oh nature ! thou art the fountain, ori- 
 ginal, and pattern of all that is good and wife. 
 
 EuPH. — You would like then to follow nature, and 
 propofe her as a guide and pattern for your imitation. 
 
 Alc- — Of all things. 
 
 EuPH. — "Whence do you gather this refpe£l; for na- 
 ture ? 
 
 Alc. — From the excellency of her productions. 
 
 EuPH. — In a vegetable, for inftance, you fay there 
 is uie and excellency, becaufe the feveral parts of it are 
 fo connected, and fitted to each other, as to proteft and 
 nourifti the whole, make the individual grow, and propa- 
 gate the kind \ and becaufe^ in its fruits, or qualities, it is
 
 54 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. I.] 
 
 adapted to pleafe the fenfe, or contribute to the benefit of 
 man. 
 
 Alc. — Even fo. 
 
 EupH. — In like manner, do you not infer the excel- 
 lency of animal bodies, from obferving the frame and 
 iitnefs of their feveral parts, by which they mutually 
 confpire to the well-being of each other, as well as of 
 the whole ? Do you not alfo obferve a natural union, and 
 confent, between animals of the fame kind, and that even 
 different kinds of animals have certain qualities, and in- 
 ftin6ts, whereby they contribute to the exercife, nourifh- 
 ment, and delight of each other ? Even the inanimate, 
 unorganized elements, feem to have an excellence rela- 
 tive to each other. Where was the excellency of water, 
 if it did not caufe herbs and vegetables to fpring from the 
 earth, and put forth flowers and fruits ? And what 
 would become of the beauty of the earth, if it was not 
 warmed by the fun, moiftened by water, and fanned by 
 air ? Throughout the whole fyftem of the vifible and na- 
 tural world, do you not perceive a mutual connexion and 
 correfpondence of parts ? And is it not from hence, that 
 you frame an idea of the perfection and order, and beau- 
 ty of nature ? 
 
 Alc — All this I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — And have not the ftoics heretofore faid (who 
 were no more bigots than you are) and did you not your- 
 felf fay, this pattern of order was worthy the imitation of 
 rational agents ? 
 
 Alc, — I do not deny this to be true. 
 
 EuPH. — Ought we not therefore to infer the fame 
 union, order, and regularity, in the moral world, that 
 we perceive to be in the natural ? 
 
 Alc We ought. 
 
 EupH. — Should it not therefore feem to follow, that 
 reafonable creatures were, as the philofophical emperor * 
 
 * M. Antonin. 1. 4.
 
 [Dial. L] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 55 
 
 obferves, made one for another ; and confequently, that 
 man ought not to confider himfelf as an independent in- 
 dividual, whofe happinefs is not conne<Sted with that of 
 other men , but rather as the part of a whole, to the 
 common good of which he ought to confpire, and order his 
 ways and actions fuitably, if he would live according to 
 nature ? 
 
 Alc. — Suppofing this to be true, what then ? 
 
 EuPH. — Will it not follow, that a wife man (hould 
 confider, and purfue his private good, with regard to, 
 and in conjunction with, that of other men ? in granting 
 of which, you thought yourfelf guilty of an overfight ; 
 though, indeed, the fympathy of pain and pleafure, and 
 the mutual afFe£i:ions, by which mankind are knit toge- 
 ther, have been always allowed a plain proof of this point : 
 And though it was the conftant do£lrine of thofe, who 
 were efteemed the wifeft, and moft thinking men among 
 the ancients, as the platonifts, peripatetics, and ftoics ; 
 to fay nothing of chriftians, whom you pronounce to be 
 an unthinking, prejudiced fort of people. 
 
 Alc. — I (hail not difpute this point with you. 
 
 EuPH. — Since, therefore, we are fo far agreed, (hould 
 it not feem to follow, from the premifes , that the belief 
 of a God, of a future ftate, and of moral duties, are the 
 only wife, right, and genuine principles of human con- 
 duct, in cafe they have a neceflary connexion with the 
 well-being of mankind ? This conclufion you have been 
 led to by your own conceflions, and by the analogy of 
 nature. 
 
 Alc. — I have been drawn into it, ftep by ftep, through 
 feveral preliminaries, which I cannot well call to mind ; 
 but one thing I obferve, that you build on the neceflary 
 connexion, thofe principles have with the well-being of 
 mankind ; which is a point neither proved nor granted. 
 
 Lys. — This I take to be a grand fundamental prejudice, 
 as I doubt not, if I had time I could make appear. But
 
 56 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. L] 
 
 it is now late, and we will, if you think fit, defer this 
 fubje£t till to-morrow. Upon which motion of Lyft-' 
 clesy we put an end to our converfation for that even- 
 ing-
 
 THE 
 
 SECOND DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Vulgar Error ^ That Vice is hurtful. II. The Benefit of 
 DrunkennefSf Gaming^ and Whoring. III. Prejudice 
 againfi Vice wearing off. IV. Its Ufefulnefs illufirated 
 in the Infiances ^ Callicles ^W Telefilla. V. The Rea- 
 foning o/'Lyficies in behalf of Vice examined. VI. TVrong 
 to punifh Actions when the DoBrines, •whence they fiow^ are 
 tolerated. VII. Hazardous Experiment of the Minute 
 Philofophers. VIII. Their Doclrine of Circulation and 
 Revolution, IX. Their Senfe of a Reformation. X. Rich- 
 es alone not the Public Weal. XI. Authority of Minute 
 Philofophers : their Prejudice againfi Religion, XII. Ef" 
 feels of Luxury : Virtue^ whether notional ? XIII. Pleaf 
 ure of Senfe. XIV. What fort of Pleafure mofi natural 
 to Man. XV. Dignity of Human Nature. XVI. PleaJ^- 
 ure mifiaken. XVII. Amufemefits, Mifery^ and Cow- 
 ardife of Minute Philfophers. XVIII. Rakes cannot 
 reckon, XIX. Abilities and Succefs of Minute Philofophers. 
 XX. Happy Fffetls of the Minute Philofophy in particular 
 Infiances. XXI. Their free Notions about Government, 
 
 XXII. England the proper Soil for Mi?iute Philofophy, 
 
 XXIII. The Policy and Addrefs of its Profefihrs. XXIV. 
 Alerit of Minute Philofophers towards the Public. XXV. 
 Their Notions and CharaBer. XXVI. Their Tendency 
 towards Popery and Slavery. 
 
 X ^ EXT morning Alciphron and Lyfides faid, the 
 weather was fo fine, they had a mind to fpend the day 
 abroad, and take a cold dinner under a fhade, in fome 
 pleafant part of the country. Whereupon, after break- 
 fa ft, we went down to a beach, about half a mile ofFj 
 where we walked on the fmooth fand, with the ocean on 
 
 H
 
 58 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 one hand, and on the other wild broken rocks, intermix- 
 ed with (hady trees and fprings of water, till the fun be- 
 gan to be uneafy. We then withdrew into a hollow 
 glade, between two rocks, where we had no fooner feat- 
 ed ourfelves, but Lyjides^ addrefllng himfelf to Euphra- 
 nor, .faid, I am now ready to perform what I undertook 
 kft evening, which was to fhew, there is nothing in 
 that necefiary connexion, which fome men imagine, be- 
 tween thofe principles, you contend for, and the public 
 good. I freely own, that if this queftion was to be de- 
 cided by the authority of legiflators, or philofophers, it 
 rnuft go againft us. For thofe men generally take it for 
 . granted, that vice is pernicious to the public \ and that 
 ■; men cannot be kept from vice, but by the fear of God, 
 jand the fenfe of a future ftate ; whence they are induced 
 ^ to think, the belief of fuch things necefTary to the well- 
 being of human kind. This faife notion hath prevailed 
 for many ages in the world, and done an infinite deal of 
 mifchief, being, in truth, the caufe of religious cllablifh- 
 ments, and gaining the protection and encourageme-nt of 
 laws and magiflrates to the clergy and their fuperllitions. 
 Even fome of the wifeft among the ancients, who agreed 
 with our fe£l in denying a Providence, and the immor- 
 tality of the foul, had neverthelefs the weaknefs to lie 
 under the commion prejudice, that vice was hurtful to 
 focieties of men. But England hath, of late, produced 
 great phiiofophers, who have undeceived the world, and 
 proved to a demondration, that private vices are public 
 benefits. This difcovery was referved to our times, and 
 our feci hath the glory of it. 
 
 Cri. — It is poffible fome men, of fine underftanding, 
 might, in former ages, have had a glimpfe of this impor- 
 tant truth : But, it may be prefumed, they lived in igno- 
 rant times, and bigoted countries, which were not ripe 
 for fuch a difcovery. 
 
 Lys. — Men of narrow capacities and fhort fight, being 
 able to fee no further than one link in a chain of confe-
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 59 
 
 quences, are fliocked at fmall evils, which attend upon 
 vice. But thofe, who can enlarge their view, and look 
 through a long feries of events, may behold happinefs re- 
 fulting from vice, and good fpringing out of evil, in a 
 thoufand inftances. To prove my point, I fhall not trou- 
 ble you with authorities, or far-fetched arguments, but 
 bring you to plain matter of fact. Do but take a view of 
 each particular vice, and trace it through its efFe£ls and 
 confequences, and then you will clearly perceive the 
 advantage it brings to the public. 
 
 II. Drunkennefs, for inftance, is by your fober mor- 
 alifls thought a pernicious vice -, but it is for want of 
 confidering the good effects that flow from it. For, in 
 the firft place, it increafes the malt tux, a principal branch 
 of his majefty's revenue, and thereby promotes the fafety, 
 ftrength, and glory of the nation. Secondly, it employs a 
 great number of hands, the brewer, the maltftcr, the plough- 
 man, the dealer in hops, the fmith, the carpenter, the 
 brafier, the joiner, with all other artificers, neceflary to 
 fupply thofe enumerated, with their refpeO:ive initru- 
 ments and utenfils. All which advantages are procured 
 from drunkennefs, in the vulgar way, by flrong beer. — 
 This point is fo clear, it will admit of no difpute. But 
 while you are forced to allow thus much, I forefee you 
 are ready to object againft drunkennefs, occafioned by 
 wine and fpirits, as exporting wealth into foreign coun- 
 tries. But do you not reflect on the number of hands, 
 which even this fets on work at home : The diftillers, the 
 vintners, the merchants, the faiiors, the (hipwrights, 
 with all thofe who are employed towards victualing and 
 fitting out (hips, which, upon a nice computation, will 
 be found to include an incredible variety of trades and 
 callings. Then for freighting our fhips, to anfwcr thefe 
 foreign importations, all our manufactures throughout 
 the kingdom are employed, the fpinners, the weavers,
 
 6o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 the dyers, the wool-combers, the carriers, the packers : 
 And the fame may be faid of many other manufaftures, 
 as well as the woollen. And if it be further confidered, 
 how many men are enriched by all the forementioned 
 ways of trade and bufinefs, and the expenfes of thefe 
 men, and their families, in all the feveral articles of con- 
 venient and fafliionable living, whereby all forts of trades 
 and callings, not only at home, but throughout all parts, 
 wherever our commerce reaches, are kept in employment ; 
 you will be amazed at the wonderfully extended fcene of 
 benefits which arife from the fingle vice of drunkennefs, 
 fo much run down and declaimed againfl; by all grave re- 
 formers. With as much judgment, your half-witted folk 
 are accuftomed to cenfure gaming. And indeed (fuch is 
 the ignorance and folly of mankind) a gamefter and a 
 drunkard are thought no better than public nuifances, 
 when, in truth, they do, each in their way, greatly con- 
 duce to the public benefit. If you look only on the fur- 
 face and firfl appearance of things, you will no doubt 
 think playing at cards a very idle and fruitlcfs occupation. 
 But dive deeper, and you Ihall perceive this idle amufe- 
 ment employs the card-maker, and he fets the paper-mills 
 at work, by which the poor rag-man is fupported j not 
 to mention the builders, and workers in wood and iron, 
 that are employed in erecting and furnifhing thofe mills. 
 Look ftill deeper, and you fhall find that candles and chair- 
 hire, employ the induftrious and the poor, who, by thefe 
 means, come to be relieved by fharpers and gentlemen, 
 who would not give one penny in charity. But you will 
 fay, that niany gentlemen and ladies are ruined by play, 
 without confidering, that what one man lofes, another 
 gets, and that confequently as many are made as ruined : 
 Money changeth hands, and in this circulation, the life 
 of bufinefs and commerce confiils. When money is fpent, 
 it is all one to the public who fpends it. Suppofe a fool 
 of quality becomes the dupe of a man of mean birth and
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 6t 
 
 circumftance, who has more wit. In this cafe, what 
 harm doth the public fuftain ? Poverty is relieved, inge- 
 nuity is rewarded, the money flays at home, and has a 
 lively circulation, the ingenious Iharper being enabled to 
 fet up an equipage, and fpend handfomely, which can- 
 not be done without employing a world of people. But 
 you will perhaps object, that a man reduced by play may 
 be put upon defperatc courfes, hurtful to the public. 
 Suppofe the worft, and that he turns highwayman, fuch 
 a man hath a fliort life, and a merry. "While he lives, 
 he fpends, and, for one that he robs, makes twenty the 
 better for his expenfe. And when his time is come, a 
 poor family may be relieved by fifty or a hundred pounds 
 fet upon his head. A vulgar eye looks on many a man 
 as an idle or mifchievous fellow, whom a true philofo- 
 pher, viewing in another light, confiders as a man of 
 pleafant occupation, who diverts himfelf, and*benefits the 
 public : And that with fo much eafe, that he employs a 
 multitude of men, and fets an infinite maehine in motion, 
 without knowing the good he does, or even intending to 
 do any ; which is peculiar to that gentleman-like way of 
 doing good by vice. I was confidering play, and that 
 infenfibly led me to the advantages, which attend robbing 
 on the highway. Oh the beautiful and never enough ad- 
 mired connexion of vices ! It would take too much time 
 to fhew how they all hang together, and what an infinite 
 deal of good takes its rife from every one of them. One 
 word for a favorite vice, and I fhall leave you to make out 
 the reft yourfelf, by applying the fame way of reafoning 
 to all other vices. A poor girl, who might not have the 
 fpending of half a crown a week, in what you call an hon- 
 eft way, no fooner haft the good fortune to be a kept 
 miftrefs, but (he employs milliners, laundrefles, tire- 
 women, mercers, and a number of other trades, to the 
 benefit of her country. It would be endlefs to trace and 
 purfue every particular vice through its confequences and
 
 da MINUTE PHILOSOPHEPv. [Dial. II.] 
 
 efFe£ls, and fhew the vaft advantage they all are of to the 
 public. The true fprings that actuate the great machine 
 of commerce, and make a flourifhing (late, have been hi- 
 therto little underftood. Your moralifts and divines have, 
 for fo many ages, been corrupting the genuine fenfe of 
 mankind, and filling their heads with fuch abfurd princi- 
 ples, that it is in the power of few men to contemplate 
 real life with an unprejudiced eye. And fewer ftill have 
 fufficient parts and fagacity to purfue a long train of con- 
 fequences, relations and dependences ; which muft be 
 done, in order to form a juft and intire notion of the pub- 
 lic weal. But, as I faid before, our fe£t hath produced 
 men capable of thefe difcoveries, who have difplayed 
 them in a full light, and made them pubUc for the benefit 
 of their country. 
 
 III. Oh ! Said Ettphranor, who heard this difcourfe 
 with great attention, you Lyftcles are the very man I want- 
 ed, eloquent and ingenious, knowing in the principles of 
 your fedt, and willing to impart them. Pray tell me, do 
 thefe principles find an eafy admiflion in the world ? 
 
 Lys.— ~They do among ingenious men, and people 
 of fafhion, though you will fometimes meet with ftrong 
 prejudices againft them in the middle fort, an efl^e£t of 
 ordinary talents and mean breeding. 
 
 EupH. — I (hould wonder if men were not fhocked at 
 notions of fuch a furprifing nature, fo contrary to all laws, 
 education and religion. 
 
 Lys. — They would be fliocked much more, if it had 
 not been for the Ikilful addrefs of our Philofophers j who, 
 confidering that moil men are influenced by names, rather 
 than things, have introduced a certain polite way of fpeak- 
 ing, which lefTens much of the abhorrence and prejudice 
 againft vjce. 
 
 EuPH. — Explain me this. 
 
 Lys.— Thus, in our dialed!:, a vicious man, is a man of
 
 [DiAL.IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 6^ 
 
 plcafure : A fharper is one that plays the whole game : 
 A lady is fald to have an affair : A gentleman to be gal- 
 lant : A rogue in bufinefs, to be one that knows the 
 world. By this means, we have no fuch things as fots, 
 debauchees, whores or rogues, in the beau ?nondey who may 
 cjijoy their vices without ineurring difagreeable appella- 
 tions. 
 
 EupH.— -Vice then is, it feems, a fine thing with an ug- 
 ly name. 
 
 Lys. — Be aflured it is. 
 
 EuPH. — It fhould feem then, that P/ato's fearing left 
 youth might be corrupted, by thofe fables which repre- 
 fented the gods vicious, was an effe£l of his weaknefs 
 and ignorance. 
 
 Lys. — It was, take my word for it. 
 
 EupH. — And yet P/ato had kept good company, and liv- 
 ed in a court. And Ciceroy who knew the wbrld well, 
 had a profound cfteem for him. 
 
 Cri. — I tell you, Euphranor^ that Plato and 2lw//y might, 
 perhaps, make a figure in Athens^ or Rome : But were they 
 to revive here in our days, they would pafs but for under- 
 bred pedants, there being at riioft coff'ee-houfes in London^ 
 feveral able men, who could convince them they knew 
 nothing in, what they are valued fo much for, morals and 
 politics. 
 
 Lys. — How many longr-headed men do I know, both in 
 the court-end and the city, with five times Plato's fenfe, 
 who care not one ftraw what notion their fons have of 
 God or virtue ! 
 
 IV. Cri. — I can illuftratc this do£lrine of Lyfcksy by 
 examples, that will make you perceive its force. Cleophon^ 
 a Minute Philofopher, took ftrii^ care of his fon's educa- 
 tion, and entered him betimes in the principles of his itdi, 
 Callicles (that was his fon's name) being a youth of parts, 
 made a notable progrefs •, infomuch that, before he became
 
 64 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IL] 
 
 of age, he killed his old covetous father with vexation, and 
 foon after ruined the eftate he left behind him ; or, in 
 other words, made a prefent of it to the public, fpreading 
 the dunghill, colle£led by his anceftors, over the face of 
 the nation, and making out of one overgrown eftate, fev- 
 cral pretty fortunes for ingenious men, who live by the 
 vices cf the great. Telefdla^ though a woman of quality 
 and fpirit, made no figure in the world, till (he was in- 
 ftru61:ed by her hufband in the tenets of the Minute Phi- 
 lofophy, which he wifely thought would prevent her giv- 
 ing any thing in charity. From that time fhe took a turn 
 towards expenfive diverfions, particularly deep play : by 
 which means fhe foon transferred a confiderable ihare of 
 his fortune, to feveral acute men, fkilled in that myftery, 
 who wanted it more, and circulate it quicker than her 
 hufband would have done, who, in return, hath got an heir 
 to his eftate, having never had a child before. That fame 
 Telejilla^ who was good for nothing fo long as fhe believed 
 her catechifm, now fhines in all public places, is a lady of 
 gallantry and fafhion, and has by her extravagant parade 
 in lace, and fine clothes, raifed a fpirit of expenfe in other 
 ladies, very much to the public benefit, though it muft be 
 owned, to the mortification of many frugal hufbands. 
 
 While Crito related thefe fads with a grave face, I 
 could not forbear fmiling ; which Lyficles obferving, fuper- 
 ficial minds, faid he, may perhaps find fomething to ridi- 
 cule in thefe accounts : But all, who are mafters of a juft 
 way of thinking, muft needs fee, that thofe maxims, the 
 benefit whereof is univerfal, and the damage only particu- 
 lar to private perfons or families, ought to be encouraged 
 in a wife commonwealth. For my part, faid Euphranor^ I 
 profefs myfelf to be rather dazzled and confounded, than 
 convinced by your reafoning, which, as you obferved your- 
 felf, taking in the connexion of many diftant points, requires 
 great extent of thought to comprehend it. I muft there- 
 fore intreatyouto bear with my defeds, fuffer me to take
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 6^ 
 
 to pieces what is too big to be received at once : And 
 where I cannot keep pace with you, permit me to follow 
 you, ftep by ftep, as faft as I can. 
 
 Lys. — There is reafon in what you fay. Every one 
 cannot fuddenly take a long concatenation of argument. 
 
 V. EuPH. — Your feveral arguments feem to center in 
 this, that vice circulates money, and promotes induftry, 
 which caufeth a people to flourifti. Is it not fo ? 
 
 Lys — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — And the reafon that vice produceth this efFe6l:, 
 is, becaufe it caufeth an extravagant confumption, which 
 is the moft beneficial to the manufacturers, their encour- 
 agement confiding in a quick demand and high price. 
 
 Lys. — True. 
 
 EuPH.— Hence you think, a drunkard moft beneficial to 
 the brewer and the vintner, as caufing a quick confump- 
 tion of liquor, inafmuch as he drinks more than other men. 
 
 Lys. — Without doubt. 
 
 EuPH. — Say, Lyftclesy who drinks moft, a fick man or a 
 healthy ^ 
 
 Lys.— A healthy ? 
 
 EuPH. — And which is healthieft, a fober man or a 
 drunkard ? 
 
 Lys. — A fober man. 
 
 EuPH. — A fober man therefore, in health, may drink 
 more than a drunkard when he is fick. 
 
 Lys. — He may. 
 
 EuPH. — What think you, will a man confume more 
 meat and drink in a long life or a fhort one ? 
 
 Lys. — In a long. 
 
 EuPH. — A fober healthy man, therefore. In a long 
 life, may circulate more money, by eating and drinking, 
 than a glutton or drunkard, in a ftiort one. 
 
 Lys. — What then .? 
 
 EuPH.- — Why then, it fliould feem, that he may be 
 I
 
 ^6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IL] 
 
 more beneficial to the public, even in this way of eating 
 and drinking. 
 
 Lys. — I fhall never own that temperance is the way to 
 promote drinking. 
 
 EuPH. — But you will own that ficknefs leflens, and 
 death puts an end to all drinking. The fame argument 
 will hold, for aught I can fee, with refpecSt to all other 
 vices that impair men's health, and fhorten their lives. 
 And, if we admit this, it will not be fo clear a point, that 
 vice hath merit towards the public. 
 
 Lys. — But admitting that fome artificers, or traders, 
 might be as well encouraged by the fober men as the vi- 
 cious ; what (hall we fay of thofe, who fubfift altogether 
 by vice and vanity ? 
 
 EuPH. — If fuch there are, may they not be otherwife 
 employed without lofs to the public ? Tell me, Lyftclesy is 
 there any thing in the nature of vice, as fuch, that renders 
 it a public bleffmg, or is it only the confumption it occa- 
 lions ? 
 
 Lys. — I have already (hewn how it benefits the nation, 
 by the confumption of its manufactures. 
 
 EuPH. — And you have granted, that a long and healthy 
 life confumes more than a (hort and fickly one ; and you 
 will not deny, that many confume more than one. Upon 
 the whole then, compute and fay, which is moft likely to 
 promote the induftry of his countrymen, a virtuous marri- 
 ed man, with a healthy numerous offspring, and who feeds 
 and clothes the orphans in his neighborhood, or a fafliion- 
 able rake about town. I would fain know, whether money 
 fpent innocently, doth not circulate as well as that fpent 
 upon vice. And if fo, whether, by your own rule, it doth 
 not benefit the public as much ? 
 
 Lys. — What I have proved, I proved plainly, and there 
 is no need of more words about it. 
 
 EuPH. — You feem to me, to have proved nothing, un- 
 lefs you can make it out, that it is impoffible to fpend si
 
 £DiAL. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 67 
 
 fortune innocently. I fhould think the public weal of 3 
 nation confiils in the number and good condition of its 
 inhabitants : Have you any thing to objedl to this ? 
 
 Lys. — I think not. 
 
 EupH. — To this end which would moll conduce, the 
 employing men in open air, and manly exercife, or in fe- 
 dentary bufmefs within doors ? 
 
 Lys.- — The former, I fuppofe. 
 
 EuPH. — Should it not feem therefore, that building, 
 gardening, and agriculture, would employ men more ufe- 
 fully to the public, than if tailors, barbers, perfumers, 
 diftillers, and fuch arts were multiplied. 
 
 Lys. — All this I grant ; but it makes againft you. For 
 what moves men to build and plant but vanity, and what 
 is vanity but vice ? 
 
 EuPH. — But if a man fhould do thofe things for his 
 convenience or pleafure, and in proportion to his fortune, 
 without a foolifh oftentation or overrating them beyond 
 their due value, they would not then be the efFedt of vice ; 
 and how do you know but this may be the cafe ? 
 
 Cri. — One thing I know, that the readied way to 
 quicken that fort of induftry, and employ carpenters, ma- 
 fons, fmiths, and ail fuch trades, would be to put in prac- 
 tice the happy hint of a celebrated Minute Philofopher ; 
 who, by profound thinking, has difcovered, that burning 
 the city of London would be no fuch bad adlion, as filly 
 prejudiced people might poffibly imagine ; inafmuch as it 
 would produce a quick circulation of property, transferring 
 it from the rich to the poor, and employing a great num- 
 ber of artificers of all kinds. This, at leaft, cannot be deni- 
 ed, that it hath opened a new way of thinking to our incen- 
 diaries, of which the public hath of late begun to reap the 
 benefit. 
 
 EupH. — I cannot fufficiently admire this ingenious 
 thought.
 
 68 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. XL] 
 
 VI. But methinks it would be dangerous to make fuch 
 notions public. 
 
 Cri. — Dangerous ! to whom ? 
 
 EuPH. — In the firft place, to the publiflier. 
 
 Cri. — That is a miftake ; for fuch notions have been 
 publifhed and met with due applaufe, in this moft wife and 
 happy age of free- thinking, free-fpeaking, free^writing, 
 and free-acting. 
 
 EuPH. — How ! may a man then publifh and pra£i:ife 
 fuch things with impunity ? 
 
 Cri. — To fpeak the truth, I am not fo clear as to the 
 practical part. An unlucky accident now and then befals an 
 ingenious man. The Minute Philofopher, MagirtiSy being 
 defirous to benefit the public, by circulating an eftate pof- 
 fefled by a near relation, who had not the heart to fpend it, 
 foon convinced himfelf, upon thefe principles, tliat it 
 would be a very worthy action to difpatch out of the way 
 fuch a ufelefs fellow, to whom he was next heir. But for 
 this laudable attempt, he had the misfortune to be hanged 
 by an under-bred judge and jury. Could any thing be 
 more unjuft ? 
 
 EuPH. — Why unjuft ^. 
 
 Cri. — Is it not unjuft to punifti actions, when the prin- 
 ciples, from which they directly follow, are tolerated and 
 applauded by the public 1 can any thing be more inconfift- 
 ent, than to condemn in prdClice, what is approved in fpec- 
 ulation ? truth is one and the fame ; it being impoflible a 
 thing ihould be practically wrong, and fpeculatively right. 
 Thus much is certain, Magtrus v/as perfect mafter of all 
 this theory, and argued moft acutely about it with a friend 
 cf mine, a^little before he did the fa6t, for which he died. 
 
 Lys. The beft on't is, the world every day grows wi- 
 
 fer J though it muft be owned, the writers of our fc£t have 
 not yet fliaken oiT all refpeCt for human laws, whatever 
 they may do as to divine. It fecms they venture no fur- 
 ther, than to recommend an inward principle of vice, ope- 
 rating under an outward reflraint cf human laws.
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 69 
 
 Cri. — That writer, who confiders man only as an in- 
 
 ftrument of paflion, who abfolves him from all ties of con- 
 fclence and religion, and leaves him no law to refpeft or 
 to fear, but the law of the land, is to be fure a public bene- 
 fit. You miftake, Euphi-ancr^ if you think the Minute 
 Philofophers idle theorifts : They are men of practical 
 views. 
 
 EuPH. — As much as I love liberty, I fliould be afraid 
 to live among fuch people : it would be, as Seneca fome- 
 where exprefleth it, in lihertate htllis ac tyrannis faviore. 
 
 Lys. — What do you mean by quoting Plato and Seneca ? 
 Can you imagine a free-thinker is to be influenced by the 
 authority of fuch old-fafhioned writers ? 
 
 EuPH. — You, Lsficles, and your friend, have quoted to 
 me ingenious moderns, profound fine gentlemen, with new 
 names of authors in the Minute Philofophy, to whofe 
 merits I am a perfe£^ ftranger. Suffer me, in my turn, to 
 cite fuch authorities as I know, and have pafled for many 
 ages upon the world. 
 
 VII. But, authority apart, what do you fay to expe- 
 rience .'' My obfervation can reach as far as a private fam- 
 ily : and fome wife men have thought, a family may be 
 confidercd as a fmall kingdom, or a kingdom as a great 
 family. Do you admit this to be true ? 
 
 L^s. — If I fay yesy you will make an inference •, and 
 if I fay noy you will demand a reafon. The bell way is, 
 to fay nothing at all. There is, I fee, no end of anfwer- 
 ing. 
 
 EuPH. — If you give up the point you undertook to 
 prove, there is an end at once : But if you hope to con- 
 vince me, you m.uft anfwer my queflions, and allow me 
 the liberty to argue and infer. 
 
 Lys. — Well, fuppofe I admit that a kingdom may be 
 confidered as a great family. 
 
 EuPH . — I fhall afk you then, v/hether ever you knew
 
 70 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [1)ial. IL] 
 
 private families thrive by thofe vices you think fo benefi- 
 cial to the public ? 
 
 Lys. — Suppofe I have not ? 
 
 EuPH. — Might not a man, therefore, by a parity of 
 reafon, fufpe6l their being of that benefit to the public ? 
 
 Lys. — Fear not, the next age will thrive and flourifh. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray tell me, Lyfdesy Suppofe you faw a 
 fruit of a new untried kind ; would you recommend it 
 to your own family to make a full meal of ? 
 
 Lys. — I would not. 
 
 EuPH. — Why then would you try, upon your own 
 country, thefe maxims, which were never admitted in any 
 other ,? 
 
 Lys.— —The experiment muft begin fomewhere; and 
 we are refolved our own country fliall have the honor and 
 advantage of it. 
 
 EuPH. — O Lyficles ! hath not Old England fubfiiled 
 for many ages without the help of your notions ? 
 
 Lys. — ^She has. 
 
 EuPH. — And made fome figure ? 
 
 Lys. — I grant it. 
 
 EuPH. — Why then fliould you make her run the rifle 
 of a new experiment, when it is certain ftie may do with- 
 out it ? 
 
 Lys. — But we would make her do better. We would 
 produce a change in her, that never was feen in any nation. 
 
 EuPH. — Salliiji obferves, that a little before the down- 
 fall of the Roman greatnefs, avarice (the effcdl of luxury) 
 had erafed the good old principles of probity and juftice, 
 had produced a contempt for religion, and made every 
 thing venal : while ambition bred diffimulation, and cauf- 
 ed men to unite in clubs and parties, not from honorable 
 motives, but narrow and interefted views. The fame 
 hiftorian obferves, of that ingenious free-thinker, Catiline^ 
 that he made it his bufinefs to infinuate himfelf into the 
 acquaintance of young men, whofe minds, unimproved
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 71 
 
 by years and experience, were more eafily feduced. I 
 know not how it happens, but thefe paflages have occur- 
 red to my thoughts more than once during this converfa- 
 tion. 
 
 Lys. — Salliift was a fententious pedant. 
 
 EupH. — But confult any hiftorian : look into any wri- 
 ter. See, for inftance, what Xenophon and Livy fay of 
 Sparta and Romey and then tell me, if vice be not the lik§- 
 lieft way to ruin and enflave a people. 
 
 Lys. — When a point is clear by its own evidence, I 
 never think it worth while to confult old authors about it. 
 
 Cri. — It requires much thought and delicate obferva- 
 tion, to go to the bottom of things. But one who hath 
 eome at truth with difficulty, can impart it with cafe. I 
 will therefore, Euphranor, explain to you in three words 
 (what none of your old writers ever dreamed of) the 
 true caufe of ruin to thofe ftates. You mult know, that 
 vice and virtue, being oppofite and contradictory princi- 
 ples, both working at once in a ftate, will produce con- 
 trary effects, which inteftine difcord muft needs tend to 
 the diflblution and ruin of the whole. But it is the de- 
 fign of our Minute Philofophers, by making men wicked 
 upon principle, a thing unknown to the ancients, fo to 
 weaken and deftroy the force of virtue, that its efFe£ts 
 fliall not be felt in the public. In which cafe, vice be- 
 ing uncontrouled, without let or impediment of princi- 
 ple, pure and genuine, without allay of virtue, the na- 
 tion muft doubtlefs be very flourifhing and triumphant. 
 
 EuPH. — ^Truly, a noble fcheme ! 
 
 Cri. — And in a fair way to take effect. For our young 
 proficients in the Minute Philofophy, having, by a rare 
 felicity of education, no tinfture of bigotry or prejudice, 
 do far outgo the old ftanders and profeiTors of the fe6t ; 
 who, though men of admirable parts ; yet, having had 
 the misfortune to be imbued in their childhood with fome 
 religious notions, could never after get entirely rid of
 
 72 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dul. II.] 
 
 tliem ; but fliil retain fome fmall grains of confcience and 
 fuperllition, which are a check upon the nobleft genius. 
 In proof of this, I remember that tlie famous Minute 
 Philofopher, old Demodicusy came one day from converfa- 
 tion upon bufinefs with Titnander, a young gentleman of 
 the fame fe6t, full of aftonifhment. I am furprifed, faid 
 he, to fee fo young, and withal fo complete a villain, and, 
 fuch was the force of prejudice, fpoke of Timander, with 
 abhorrence, not confidering that he was only the more 
 egregious and profound philofopher of the two. 
 
 VIII. EuPH. — Though much may be hoped from the 
 unprejudiced education of young gentlemen, yet, it feems, 
 we are not to expecl a fettled and entire happinefs, before 
 vice reigns pure and unmixed : Till then, much is to be 
 feared from the dangerous flruggle between vice and vir- 
 tue, which may perchance overturn and diflblve this go- 
 vernment, as it hath done others. 
 
 Lys. — No matter for that, if a better comes in its place. 
 We have cleared the land of all prejudices towards go- 
 vernment or conftitution, and made them fly like other 
 phantafms before the light of reafon and good fenfe. Men, 
 who think deeply, cannot fee any reafon, why power 
 (hould not change hands, as well as property : or, why 
 the fafhion of a government fhould not be changed as 
 eafily as that of a garment. The perpetual circulating 
 and revolving of wealth and power, no matter through 
 what or whofe hands, is that which keeps up life and 
 fpirit in a ftate. Thofe who are even flightly read in 
 our philofophy, know that, of all prejudices, the fiUiefl 
 is an attachment to forms. 
 
 Cri. — To fay no more upon fo clear a point, the over- 
 turning a government may be juftified upon the fame prin- 
 ciples as the burning a town, would produce parallel efFe6ts, 
 and equally contribute to the public good. In both cafes, 
 the natural fprings of adion are forcibly exerted ; And in
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 73 
 
 this general induftry, what one lofes another gets, a quick 
 circulation of wealth and power making the fum total to 
 flourifii. 
 
 EupH. — And do the Minute Philofophers publifh thefe 
 things to the world ? 
 
 Lys. — It muft be confefled, our writers proceed in poli- 
 tics with greater caution, than they think necelTary, with 
 regard to religion. 
 
 Cri. — But thofe things plainly follow from their prin- 
 ciples, and are to be admitted for the genuine dodtrine of 
 the {eOi, exprefled, perhaps, with more freedom and 
 perfpicuity, than might be thought prudent by thofe, 
 who would manage the public, or not offend weak breth- 
 ren. 
 
 EuPH. — And pray, is there not need of caution, a 
 rebel, or incendiary, being chara£l:ers, that many men 
 have a prejudice againft ? 
 
 Lys. — Weak people, of all ranks, have a world of ab- 
 furd prejudices. 
 
 EuPH. — But the better fort, fuch as ftatefmen and le- 
 giflators ; do you think, they have not the fame indifpo- 
 iition towards admitting your principles ? 
 
 Lys. — Perhaps they m.ay j but the reafon is plain. 
 
 Cri. — This puts me in mind of that ingenious Philofo- 
 pher, the gamefter, Giauctis, who ufed to fay, that ftatef- 
 men and lawgivers may keep a ftir about ri^ht and wrong, 
 juft and unjuft, but that, in truth, property, of every kind, 
 had fo often pafled from the right owners, by fraud and 
 violence, that it was now to be ccmfidered as lying on the 
 common, and, with equal right, belonged to every one 
 that could feize it. 
 
 EuPH. — What are we to think then of laws and regu- 
 lations, relating to right and wrong, crimes and duties ? 
 
 Lys. — ^They ferve to bind vreak mijids, and keep the 
 vulgar in awe : But no fooner doth a true genius srife, 
 but he breaks his way to greatnefs, through all the tram- 
 
 K
 
 74 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 mels of duty, confcience, religion, law *, to all which he 
 {hewethhimfelf infinitely fuperior. 
 
 IX. EuPH. — You are, it feems, for bringing about a 
 thorough reformation. 
 
 Lys. — As to what is commonly called the. reformation, 
 I could never fee how, or wherein the world was the bet- 
 ter for it. It is much the fame as popery, with this differ- 
 ence, that it is the more prude-like and difagreeable thing 
 of the two. A noted writer of ours makes it too great a 
 compliment, when he computes the benefit of hooped- 
 petticoats to be nearly equal to that of reformation. Tho- 
 rough reformation is thorough liberty. Leave nature at 
 full freedom to work her own way, and all will be well. 
 This is what we aim at, and nothing fliort of this can come 
 up to our principles. CritOy who is a zealous proteftant, 
 hearing thefe words, could not refrain. The worft effete 
 of the reformation, faid he, was the refcuing wicked men 
 from a darknefs which kept them in awe. This, as it 
 hath proved, was holding out light to robbers and mur- 
 derers. Light, in itfelf, is good, and the fame light which 
 fliews a man the folly of fuperftition, might (hew him the 
 truth of religion, and the madnefs of atheifm. But to 
 make ufe of light, only to fee the evils on one fide, and 
 never to fee, but to run blindly upon the worfe extreme ; 
 this is to make the beft of things produce evil, in the fame 
 fenfe that you prove the worft: of things to produce good, 
 to wit, accidentally or indire£l:ly : And by the fame meth- 
 od of arguing, you may prove, that even difeafes are ufe- 
 ful ; but whatever benefit feems to accrue to the public, 
 either from difeafe of mind or body, is not their genuine 
 offspring, and may be obtained without them. Lyjtcles 
 was a little difconcerted by the affirmative air of Crito ; 
 but after a fnort paufe, replied brifkly, that to contemplate 
 the public good was not every one's talent. True, faid 
 Eiiphratwri I queftion whether every one can frame a no-
 
 fDiAL.IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 75 
 
 tion of the public good, much lefs judge of the mearxs to 
 promote it. 
 
 X. But you, Lyftcles, who are tnafter of this fubje£t, 
 will be pleafed to inform me, whether the public good of 
 a nation doth not imply the particular good of its individ- 
 uals ? 
 
 Lys. — It doth. 
 
 EuPH. — And doth not the good or happlnefs of a man 
 confift, in having both foul and body found and in good 
 condition, enjoying thofe things, which their refpeclive 
 natures require, and free from thofe things which are odi- 
 ous or hurtful to them, 
 
 Lys. — I do not deny all this to be true. 
 
 EuPH. — Now it would feem v/orth while to confider, 
 whether the regular decent life of a virtuous man may 
 not as much conduce to tliis end, as the mad fallies of in- 
 temperance and debauchery. 
 
 Lys. — I will acknowledge, that a nation may merely 
 fubfift, or be kept alive, but it is impoflible it fliould flour- 
 ifh without the aid of vice. To produce a quick circula- 
 tion of traffic and wealth in a ftate, there mud be exorbi- 
 tant and irregular motions in the appetites and paffions. 
 
 EuPH. — The more people a nation contains, and the 
 happier thofe people are, the more that nation may be 
 faid to flourifh. I think we are agreed in this point. 
 
 Lys. — We are. 
 
 EuPH. — You allow then, that riches are not an ultimate 
 end, but fhould only be confidered as the means to procure 
 happinefs. 
 
 Lys. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems, that means cannot be of ufs with- 
 out our knowing the end, and how to apply them to it. 
 
 Lys. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — Will it not follow, that in order to make a na- 
 tion flourifii, it is not fufficient to make it wealthy, with-
 
 75 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IL] 
 
 out knowing the true end and happinefs of mankind, and 
 how to apply wealth towards attaining that end ? In pro- 
 portion as thefe points are known and pra6lifed, I think 
 the nation fhould be likely to flourifli. But for a people, 
 who neither know nor praftife them, to gain riches, feems 
 to me the fame advantage that it would be for a lick man 
 to come at plenty of meat and drink, whigh he could not 
 ufe but to his hurt- 
 
 Lys. — This is mere fophiflry ; it is arguing witliout 
 perfuading. Look into common life *, examine the pur- 
 fuits of men •, have a due refpe£t for the confent of the 
 world ; and you will foon be convinced, that riches alone 
 are fufficient to m.ake a nation flourifhing and happy. 
 Give them riches, and they will make themfelves happy, 
 without that political invention, that trick of llatefmen 
 and Phiiofophers, called virtue. 
 
 XI. EuPH. — "Virtue then, in your account, is a trick 
 of ilatefmen. 
 Lys. It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Why then do your fagacious fe6t betray and 
 divulge that trick or fecret (late, which wife men have 
 judged neceiTary for the good government of the world ,•* 
 Lyficles hefitating, Crito made anfwer, that he prefumed it 
 was becaufe their fe6t, being wifer than all other wife men, 
 difdained to fee the world governed by wrong maxims, 
 and would fet all things on a right bottom. 
 
 EuPH. — Thus much is certain : If we look into all 
 inftitutions of government, and the political writings of 
 fuch as have heretofore pafied for wife men, we (hall find 
 a great regard for virtue. 
 
 Lys. — You Drali nnd a ftrong tin£lure of prejudice. 
 But, as I faid before, confult the multitude, if you would 
 find nature and truth. 
 
 EuPH. — But among country gentlemen, and farmers, 
 and the better fort of tradefmen, is not virtue a reputable 
 thing ?
 
 CDiAL. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 77 
 
 Lys. — You pick up authorities among men of low 
 life and vile education. 
 
 EuPH. — Perhaps we ought to pay a decent refpe6t to 
 the authority of Minute Philofophers. 
 
 Lys. — And I would fain know, whofe authority fhould 
 be more confidered, than that of thofe gentlemen, who are 
 alone above prejudice, and think for themfelves. 
 
 EupH. — How doth it appear, that you are the only un- 
 prejudiced part of mankind ? m?.y not a Minute Philofo- 
 pher, as well as another man, be prejudiced in favor of 
 the leaders of his feet ? May not an atheiftical education 
 prejudice towards atheifm ? what fhould hinder a man's 
 being prejudiced againfl religion, as well as for it ? or can 
 you afTign any reafon, why an attachment to pleafure, in- 
 tereft, vice or vanity, may not be fuppofed to prejudice 
 men againft virtue ? 
 
 Lys. — This is pleafant. What ! Suppofe thofe very 
 men influenced by prejudice, who are always difputing 
 againft it, whofe conftant aim it is to deteft and demolifh 
 prejudices of all kinds ! except their own, replied CritOy 
 for you muft pardon me, if I cannot help thinking they 
 have fome fmall prejudice, though not in favor of virtue. 
 
 XII. I obferv'e, Lxficles, that you allowed to Euphra- 
 noTy the greater number of happy people are in a ftate, 
 the more that ftate may be faid to flourifh : It follows 
 therefore. That fuch methods as multiply inhabitants are 
 good, and fuch as diminifh them are bad for the public. 
 And one would think no body need be told, that the 
 ftrength of a ftate confifts more in the number and fort 
 of people, than in any thing elfe. ^ut in proportion as 
 vice and luxury, thofe public blefTmgs encouraged by 
 this Minute Pnilofophy, prevail among us, fewer are 
 difpofed to marry, too many being diverted by pleafure, 
 difabled by difeafe, or frightened by expenfe. Nor doth 
 vice only thin a nation, but alfo debafeth it by a pu-
 
 78 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 ny degenerate race. I might add, that it is ruinous to our 
 manufactures ; both as it makes labor dear, and thereby 
 enables our more frugal neighbors to underfel us : and al- 
 fo, as it diverts the lower fort of people from honeft call- 
 ings to wicked projects. If thefe, and fuch confidera- 
 tions, were taken into the account, I believe it would be 
 evident to any man in his fenfes, that the imaginary bene- 
 fits of vice bear no proportion to the folid real woes that 
 attend it. Lyficles^ upon this, fhook his head, and fmi- 
 led at Critoy without vouchfafing any other anfwer. Af- 
 ter which, addreffing himfelf to Eitphramry there cannot, 
 faid he, be a ftronger inftance of prejudice, than that a 
 man fhould at this time of day preferve a reverence for that 
 idol, virtue, a thing fo effeClually expofed and exploded 
 by the moft knowing men of the age, who have fhewn, 
 that man is a mere engine, played upon and driven about 
 by fenfibie obje<9:s : and that moral virtue is only a name, 
 a notion, a chimera, an enthufiafm, or at beft a fafhion, 
 uncertain and changeable, like all other faftiions.* 
 
 EuPH. — What do you think, Lyficlesy of health ^ doth 
 it depend on fancy and caprice, or is it fomething real in 
 the bodily compofition of a man ? 
 
 Lys. — Health is fomething real, which refults from 
 the right conftitution and temperature of the organs, and 
 the fluids circulating through them. 
 
 EuPH. — This, you fay, is health of body. 
 
 Lys. — It is. 
 
 EupH. — And may we not fuppofe an healthy confti- 
 tution of foul, when the notions are right, the judgments 
 true, the will regular, the paflions and appetites direct- 
 ed to their proper obje£ts, and confined within due 
 bounds ? This, in regard to the foul, feems what health 
 is to tne body. And the man, whofe mind is fo conftituted, 
 
 * In morals, there is no greater certainty, than in fafhions. Fable of 
 the Bees, Part the Firft, p. 379.
 
 [Dial. H.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 79 
 
 is he not properly called virtuous ? And to produce this heal- 
 thy difpofition in the minds of his countrymen, fhould 
 not every good man employ his endeavors ? If thefe things 
 have any appearance of truth, as to me they feem to have, 
 it will not then be fo clear a point, that virtue is a 
 mere whim, or fafhion, as you are pleafed to reprefent 
 it : I muft ovni, fomething unexpectedly, after vt'hat had 
 been difcourfed in laft evening's conference, v^hich, if you 
 would call to mind, it might perhaps fave both of us feme 
 a-ouble. 
 
 Lys. — Would you knov/ the truth, Euphranor ? I 
 muft own, I have quite forgot all your difcourfe about 
 virtue, duty, and all fuch points, which, being of an 
 airy, notional nature, are apt to vanifh, and leave no 
 trace on a mind accuftomed only to receive imprefiion 
 from realities. 
 
 XIII. Having heard thefe words, Euphranor looked at 
 Cr'ito and me, and faid fmiling, I have miflaken my part : 
 it was mine to learn, and his to inftrucl:. Then addref- 
 fmg himfelf ^to Lyficks, Deal faithfully, faid he, and let 
 me know whether the public benefit of vice be, in truth, 
 that which makes you plead for it ? 
 
 Lys. — I love to fpeak frankly what I tJiink. Know then, 
 that private intereft is the firft and principal confideration 
 withphilofophers of our fe£l. Now, of all interefts, plea- 
 fure is that which hath the ftrongeft charms, and no plea- 
 fures like thofe which are heightened and enlivened by 
 licence. Herein confifts the peculiar excellency of our 
 principles, that they (hew people how to ferve their coun- 
 try by diverting themfelves, caufmg the two ftreams of 
 public fpirit and felf-love to unite and run in the fame 
 channel. I have told you already, that I admit a nation 
 might fubfift by the rules of virtue. But give me leave 
 to fay, it will barely fubfift in a dull, joylefs, infipid 
 ftate ; whereas, the fprightly exceffes of vice infpire men
 
 Bo MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 with joy. And where particulars rejoice, the public, 
 which is made up of particulars, muft do fo too : that is, 
 the public muft be happy. This I take to be an irrefra- 
 gable argument. But, to give you its full force, and 
 make it as plain as polTible, I will trace things from their 
 original. Happinefs is the end to which created beings 
 naturally tend, but we find that all animals, whether men 
 or brutes, do naturally and principally purfue real plea- 
 fare of fenfe ; which is therefore to be thought their fu- 
 preme good, their true end and happinefs. It is for this 
 men live ; and, whoever underftands life, muft allow 
 that man to enjoy the top and flower of it, who hath a 
 quick fenfe of pleafure, and withal, fpirit, fkill, and for- 
 tune, fufficient to gratify every appetite, and every tafte. 
 Niggards and fools will envy or traduce fuch a one, be- 
 caufe they cannot equal him. Hence, all that fober tri- 
 fling, in difparagement of what every one would be maf- 
 ter of if he could, a full freedom and unlimited fcope of 
 pleafure. 
 
 EuPH. — Let me fee whether I underftand you. Plea- 
 fure of fenfe, you fay, is the chief' pleafure. 
 
 Lys.'' — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — And this would be crampt and diminifhed by- 
 virtue. 
 
 Lys.— It v/ould. 
 
 EupK. — Teii me, Lyficks, is pleafure then at the 
 height when the appetites are fatisfied ? 
 
 Lys. — There is then only an indolence, the lively fenfe 
 of pleafure being paft. 
 
 EupH. — It muft feem, therefore, that the appetites 
 muft be always craving to preferve pleafure ahve. 
 
 Lys. — That is cur fenfe of the matter. 
 
 EupH. — ^The Greek philofopher, therefore, was in the 
 right, who confidered the body of a man of pleafure as a 
 leaky veflel, always filling, and never full. 
 
 Lys.—- You may divert yourfelf with allegories, if you
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. Sr 
 
 pteafe. But all the while ours is literally the true tafte of 
 nature. Look throughout the univerfe, and you fhall find 
 birds and fifhes, beafts and infecls, all kinds of animalsj 
 with which the creation fwarms, conftantly engaged, by 
 mftinft, in the purfuit of fenfible pleafure. And ih all man 
 alone be the grave fool, who thwarts, and crolles, and 
 fubdues his appetites, while his fellow creatures do all 
 moft joyfully and freely indulge them ? 
 
 EuPH. — How ! Lyficles I I thought, that being govern- 
 ed by the fenfes, appetites, and pafllons, was the mofl 
 grievous flavery : and that the proper bufmefs of free- 
 thinkers, or philofophers, had been to fet men free from 
 thft power of ambition, avarice, and fenfuality. 
 
 Lys.— You miftake the point. "We make men relifh 
 the world, attentive to their interefts, lively and luxurious 
 in their pleafures, without fear or reftraint either from 
 God or man. We defpife thofe preaching writers, who 
 ufed to difturb or cramp the pleafures and amufements of 
 human life. We hold, that a wife man, who meddles 
 with bufinefs, doth it altogether for his intereft, and re- 
 fers bis intereft to his pleafure. With us it is a maxim, 
 that a man (hould feize the m.oments as they fly. With- 
 out love, and wine, and play, and late hours, we hpld 
 life not to be worth living. I grant, indeed, that there 
 is fomething grofs and ill-bred in the vices of mean men, 
 which the genteel philofopher abhors. 
 
 Cri. — But to cheat, whore, betray, get drunk ; do all 
 thefe things decently, this is true wifdom and elegance of 
 tafte. 
 
 XIV. EuPH. — To me, who have been ufed to anotliei- 
 way of thinking, this new philofophy feems difficult to 
 digeft. I muft therefore beg leave to examine its princi- 
 ples, with the fame freedom that you do thnfe rf 
 other fefts. 
 
 Lys.™ Agreed. 
 
 L
 
 82 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 EuPH.»— You fay, if I miftake not, that a wife man 
 purfues only his private intereft, and that this confifts in 
 fenfual pleafure ; for proof whereof, you appeal to nature. 
 Is not this what you advance ? 
 
 Lys. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — You conclude, therefore, that as other ani- 
 mals are guided by natural inftinft, man too ought to 
 follow the diftates of fenfe and appetite. 
 
 Ly&: — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — But in this, do you not argue as if man had 
 only fenfe and appetite for his guides, on which fuppo- 
 fition there might be truth in what you fay ? But what 
 if he hath intelle6i:, reafon, a higher inftin6t, and a no- 
 bler life ? If this be the cafe, and you, being man, live 
 like a brute, is it not |*he way to be defrauded of your 
 true happinefs .'' to be mortified and difappointed ? Con- 
 fider moll forts of brutes : you fhall, perhaps, find them 
 have a greater (hare of fenfual happinefs than man. 
 
 Lys. — To our forrow, we do. This hath made feveral 
 gentlemen of our fe<5t envy brutes, and lament the lot 
 of human kind. 
 
 Cri. — It was a confideration of this fort, which infpir- 
 ed Erotylus w^ith the laudable ambition of wiftiing himfelf 
 a fnail, upon hearing of certain particularities difcovered 
 in that animal by a modern virtuofo. 
 
 EuPK. — Tell me, Lyficlesy if you had an inexhaufti- 
 ble fund of gold 'and filver, fliould you envy another for 
 having a little m°ore copper than you ? 
 
 Lys. — I fhoul'd not. 
 
 EupH — Are' not reafon, imagination, and fenfe, fa- 
 culties differing in kind, and in rank higher one than ano- 
 ther ? 
 
 Lys. — I do jtiot deny it. 
 
 EupH. — Their a£l:s, therefore, diifer in kind. 
 
 Lys. — They do. 
 
 EupH. — Confcquently, the pleafures perfe£i:ive of thofc 
 ads sre aifo different.
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 83 
 
 Lys. — They are. 
 
 EupH. — You admit, therefore, three forts of pleafure : 
 pleafure of reafon, pleafure of imagination, and pleafure 
 of {en(e. 
 
 Lys. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — And, as it is reafonable to think, the opera- 
 tion of the highefl and nobleft faculty to be attended with 
 the higheft pleafure, may we not fuppofe the two former 
 to be as gold or filver, and the latter only as copper ? 
 Whence it (hould feem to follow, that man need not en- 
 vy or imitate a brute. 
 
 Lys. — And neverthelefs there are very ingenious men 
 who do. And furely every one may be allowed to know 
 what he wants, and wherein his true happinefs confifts. 
 
 EuPH. — Is it not plain, that different animals have dif- 
 ferent pleafures ? Take a hog from his ditch or dunghill, 
 lay him on a rich bed, treat him with fweetmeats, and 
 mufic, and perfumes : All thefe things will be no enter- 
 tainment to him. Do not a bird, a beafl, a fifh, amufe 
 themfelves in various manners, infomuch that what is 
 pleafing to one, may be death to another ? Is it ever feen, 
 that one of thefe animals quits its own element, or way 
 of living, to adopt that of another ? And fhall man quit 
 his own nature to imitate a brute ? 
 
 Lys. — But fenfe is not only natural to brutes -, is it 
 not alfo natural to man ? 
 
 EuPH. — It is, but with this difference ; it maketh 
 the whole of a brute's, but is the loweft part, or faculty, 
 of a human foul. The nature of any thing is peculiarly 
 that which doth diftinguifh it from other things, not 
 what it hath in common with them. Do you allow this 
 to be true ? 
 
 Lys. — I do. 
 
 EuPH.— And is not reafon that which makes the prin- 
 cipal difference between man and other animals .'* 
 
 Lys. — It is.
 
 84 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.} 
 
 EuPH. — Reafon, therefore, being the principal part 
 of our nature, whatever is moft reafonable, fhould feem 
 moft natural to man. Muft we not, therefore, think ra- 
 tional pleafures more agreeable to human kind, than thofe 
 of fenfe ? Man and beaft, having different natures, feem 
 to have different faculties, different enjoyments, and dif- 
 ferent forts of happinefs. You can eafily conceive, that 
 the fort of life which makes the happinefs of a mole, or a 
 bat, would be a very wretched one for an eagle. And 
 may you not as well conceive, that the happinefs of a 
 brute can never conlHtute the true happinefs of a man ? 
 A beafl, without refleclion or remorfe, without forefight 
 or appetite of immortality, without notion of vice or 
 virtue, or order, or reafon, or knowledge ! What mo- 
 tives, what grounds can there be for bringing down man, 
 in whom ?re ail thefe things, to a level with fuch a crea- 
 ture ? What merit, what ambition, in the Minute Philo- 
 fopher, to make fuch an animal a guide or rule for hu- 
 man life ? 
 
 XV. Lys. — It is flrange, Riiphranory that one who 
 admits freedom of thought, as you do, ihould yet be 
 fuch a "flave to prejudice. You flill talk of order and 
 virtue, as of real things, as if our philofophers had never 
 demonFtrated, that they have no foundation in nature, 
 rjid are only the effeifls of education. I know, faid CritOy 
 how the Minute Philofophers are accuflomed to demon- 
 ftrate this point. They confider the animal nature of 
 man, or man fo far forth as he is animal : and it muft 
 be owned that, confidered in that light, he hath no fenfe 
 of duty, no notion of virtue. He, therefore, who ihould 
 look for virtue among mere animals, or human kind, as 
 fach, would look in the wrong place. But that philofo- 
 phey, who is attentive only to the animal part of his be- 
 ing, and raifeth his theories from the very dregs of our 
 fpccies, may, probably, upon fecoiid thoughts, find him- 
 fclf mifiaken.
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. t^ 
 
 Look you, Crkoy faid Lyftcles^ my argument is with 
 Euphranory to whom addreffing his difeourfe, I obferve, 
 faid he, that you ftand much upon the dignity of human 
 nature. This thing of dignity is an old worn-out notion, 
 which depends on other notions, old and ilaie and worn- 
 out, fueh as an immaterial fpirit, and a ray derived 
 from the Divinity. But, in thefe days, men of fenfe 
 make a jefl of all this grandeur and dignity : and many 
 there are, would gladly exchange their iliare of it, for 
 the repofe, and freedom, and fenfuality of a brute. But 
 comparifons are odious : waving, therefore, all inquiry 
 concerning the rcfpe6live excellencies of man and beaft, 
 and whether it is beneath a man to follow or imitate 
 brute animals, in judging of the chief good and conduct: 
 of life and manners, I fhall be content to appeal to the 
 authority of men themfelves, for the truth of my notions. 
 Do but look abroad into the world, and alk the common 
 run of men, whether pleafure of fenfe be not the only 
 true, folid, fubftantial good of their kind ? 
 
 EuPH. — But might not the fame vulgar fort of men 
 prefer a piece of fign-poft painting to one of RaphaePsy or 
 a Gruh'Jlreet ballad to an ode of Horace ? Is there not a 
 real diiTerence between good and bad writing ? 
 
 Lys. — There is. 
 
 EuPH. — And yet you will allow, there muft be a ma- 
 turity and improvement of underilanding, to difcern this 
 difference, which doth not make it, therefore, lefs real. 
 
 Lys. — I will. 
 
 EuPH. — In the fame manner, what fliould hinder, but 
 there may be, in nature, a true difference between vice 
 and virtue, although it requires fome degree of refledtion 
 and judgment to obferve it ? In order to know whether a 
 thing be agreeable to the rational nature of man, it feems, 
 one (hould rather obferve and confult thofe who have 
 mofl employed, or improved their reafon. 
 
 Lys. — Well, I fliall not infifl on confulting the com-
 
 $6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 mon herd of mankind. From the ignorant and grofs vul- 
 gar, I might myfelf appeal, in many cafes, to men of rank 
 and fafliion. 
 
 EupH. — They are a fort of men, I have not the honor to 
 know much of by my own obfervation. But I remember 
 a remark of Arijiotle, who was himfelf a courtier, and 
 knew them well. " Virtue, faith he, * and good fcnfe, 
 are not the property of high birth, or a great eftate. Nor, 
 if they, who poflefs thefe advantages, wanting a tafte for 
 rational pleafures, betake themfelves to thofc of fenfe 5 
 ought we, therefore, to efteem them eligible, any more 
 than we fliould the toys and paftimes of children, becaufe 
 they feem fo to them ?" And indeed, one may be allow- 
 ed to queftion, whether the trueft eftimate of things was 
 to be expected from a mind intoxicated with luxury, and 
 dazzled with the fplendor of high living. 
 
 Cumjliipet infants acies fulgorihus^ ^ cum 
 Acclinis falfis animus melior a r ecu/at » HoR. 
 
 CiitOf upon this, obferved, that he knew an Englijh no- 
 bleman, who, in the prime of life, profefleth a liberal art, 
 and is the firft man of his profeffion in the world : and 
 that he was very fure, he had more pleafure from the 
 excrcife of that elegant art, than from any fenfual enjoy- 
 ment within the power of one of the largeft fortunes, and 
 mofl bountiful fpirits in Great- Britain, 
 
 XVI. Lys. — But why need we have recourfe to the 
 judgment of other men in fo plain a cafe ? I appeal to 
 your own breaft : confult that, and then fay, if fenfual 
 pleafure be not the chief good of man. 
 
 EuPH. — -I, for my part, have often thought thofe plea- 
 fures, which are higheft in the efteem of fenfualifts, fo 
 far from being the chiefeft good, that it feemed doubtful, 
 upon the whole, whether they were any good at all, any 
 
 * Ethic, ad Nicom. 1. 10. c, 6.
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 87 
 
 more than the mere removal of pain. Are not our wants 
 and appetites uneafy ^ 
 
 Lys. — They arc. 
 
 EuPH. — Doth not fenfual pleafure confift in fatisfying 
 them ? 
 
 Lys. — It doth. 
 
 EupH. — But the cravings are tedious, the fatisfa£lion 
 momentary. Is it not fo ? 
 
 Lys. — It is, but what then ? 
 
 EuPH. — Why then, it (hould feem, that fenfual pleafure 
 is but a fhort deliverance from long pain. A long avenue 
 of uneafmefs leads to a point of pleafure, which ends in 
 difgufl or remorfe. 
 
 Cri. — And he who purfues this ignis fatuus imagines 
 himfelf a Philofopher and free-thinker. 
 
 Lys.— Pedants are governed by words and notions, 
 while the wifer men of pleafure follow faift, nature, and 
 fenfe. 
 
 Cri. — But what if notional pleafures fhould, in fa£V, 
 prove the moft real and lading } Pure pleafures of reafon 
 and imagination neither hurt the health, nor wafte the 
 fortune, nor gall the confcience. By them, the mind 
 is long entertained without loathing or fatiety. On the 
 other hand, a notion, (which, with you, it feems, pafleth 
 for nothing) often embitters the moft lively fenfual plea- 
 fures, which, at bottom, will be found alfo to depend upon 
 notion, more than perhaps you imagine : it being a vul- 
 gar remark, that thofe things are more enjoyed by hope 
 and foretafte of the foul, than by pofleflion. Thus much 
 is yielded, that adtual enjoyment is very fhort, and the 
 alternative of appetite and difguft long, as well as uneafy. 
 So that, upon the whole, it fhould feem thofe gentlemen, 
 who are called men of pleafure, from their eager purfuit 
 of it, do in reality, with great expenfe of fortune, eafe, 
 and health, purchafe pain. 
 
 Lys.- — You may fpin out plaufible arguments, but will,
 
 88 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. H.] 
 
 after all, find it a difficult matter to convince nr\e, that fo 
 many ingenious men ftiould not be able to diftinguiih be- 
 tween things fo direftly oppofite as pain and pleafure. 
 How is it poffible to account for this ? 
 
 Cri. — I believe a reafon may be affigned for it, but to 
 men of pleafure no truth is fo palitable as a fable. Jove 
 once upon a time having ordered, that pleafure and pain 
 fhould be mixed, in equal proportions, in every dofe of hu- 
 man life, upon a complaint that fome men endeavored to 
 feparate whathehad joined, and taking more than their fhare 
 of the f\^seet, v/ould leave all the four for others, comman- 
 ded Mercury to put a flop to this evil, by fixing on each 
 delinquent a pair of invifible fpeftacles, which fhould 
 change the appearance of things, making pain look like 
 pleafure, and pleafure like pain, labour like recreation, and 
 recreation like labour. From that time, the men of plea- 
 fure are eternally miftaking and repenting, 
 
 Lys. — If your doftrine takes place, I would fain know 
 what can be the advantage of a great fortune, which all 
 mankind fo eagerly purfue ? 
 
 Cri.— -It is a common faying with Eucraies^ that a great 
 fortune is an edged tooly nvhich a hundred may come at^ for 
 one nvho knows how to ufe it, fo much ealier is the art of get- 
 ting, than that of fpending. What its advantage is, I will 
 not fay, but I will venture to declare v/hat it is not. I am 
 fure that where abundance excludes want, and enjoyment 
 prevents appetite, there is not the quickeft fenfe of thofe 
 pleafures we have been fpeaking of : in which the footman 
 hath often a greater fliare than his lord, who cannot enlarge 
 his flomach in proportion to his eftate. 
 
 XVII. Reafonable and well-educated men, of all ranks, 
 have, I believe, pretty much the fame amufements, not- 
 withftanding the difference of their fortunes : but thofe 
 who arc particularly cliilinguiflTied, as men of pleafure, 
 fecm to pofTefs it in a very fmall degree.
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 89 
 
 EuPH. — I have heard, that among perfons of that char- 
 adler, a game of cards is efteemed a chief diverfion. 
 
 Lys. — Without cards, there could be no living for peo- 
 ple of fafliion. It is the moft delightful vi^ay of pafling an 
 evening, w^hen gentlemen and ladies are got together, who 
 would otherwife be at a lofs what to fay or do with them- 
 felves. But a pack of cards is fo engaging, that it doth 
 not only employ them, when they are met, but ferves to 
 draw them together. Quadrille gives them pleafure in 
 profpeft, during the dull hours of the day, they reflect on 
 it with delight, and it furnifties difcourfe when it is over, 
 
 Cri. — One would be apt to fufpe£l, thofe people of con- 
 dition pafs their time but heavily, and are but little the 
 better for their fortunes, whofe chief amufement is a 
 thing in the power of every footman, who is as well qual- 
 ified to receive pleafure from cards as a peer. I can eafi- 
 ly conceive that, when people of a certain turn are got 
 together, they (liould prefer doing any thing to the ennui 
 of their own converfation : but it is not eafy to conceive, 
 that there is any great pleafure in this. What a card- 
 table can afford, requires neither parts nor fortune to 
 judge of. 
 
 Lys. — ^Play is a ferious amufement; that comes to the 
 relief of a man of pleafure, after the more lively and af- 
 fecting enjoyments of fenfe. It kills time beyond any 
 thing j and is a moft admirable anodyne to divert or pre- 
 vent thought, which might, ctherwife, prey upon the 
 mind. 
 
 Cri. — I readily comprehend, that no man upon earth 
 ought to prize anodynes for the fpleen, more than a man 
 of fafhion and pleafure. An ancient fage, fpeaking of 
 one of that character, faith, he is made wretched by dif- 
 appointments and appetites, lupeitai apotnnchanon^ kai ep'i- 
 thumon. And if this ^x^as true of the Greeks, who lived 
 in the fun, and had no fuch fpirit, I am apt to think it h 
 dill more fo of our modem Englijh. Something there is 
 
 M
 
 90 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. 11.] 
 
 in our climate and complexion, that makes idlenefs no 
 where fo much its own puniftiment as in Englandy where 
 an uneducated fine gentleman pays for his momentary 
 pleafures, with long and cruel intervals of fpleen ; for re- 
 lief of which, he is driven into fenfual excefles, that pro- 
 duce a proportionable depreflion of fpirits, which, as it 
 createth a greater want of pleafures, fo it leflens the abili- 
 ty to enjoy them. There is a caft of thought, in the 
 complexion of an Engiifiman^ which renders him the 
 mod unfuccefsful rake in the world. He is (as Arijiotle 
 expreiTeth it) at variance with himfelf. He is neither 
 brute enough to enjoy his appetites, nor man enough to 
 govern them. He knows and feels, that what he purfues 
 is not his true good ; his reflexion ferving only to ftiew 
 him that mifery, which his habitual floth and indolence 
 will not fuffer him to remedy. At length, being grown 
 odious to himfelf, and abhorring his own company, he 
 runs into every idle afiembly, not from the hopes of plea- 
 fure, but m.erely to refpite the pain of his own mind. — 
 LilUefs and uneafy at the prefent, he hath no delight in 
 reflefting on what is paft, or in the profpe£t of any 
 thing to come. This man of pleafure, when after a 
 wretched fcene of vanity and woe, his animal nature is 
 worn to the (lumps, wiChes and dreads death, by turns, 
 and is fick of living, without having ever tried or known 
 the true life of man. 
 
 EupH. — It is well this fort of life, which is of fo little 
 benefit to the owner, conduceth fo much to that of th.^ 
 public. But pray tell me, do thefe gentlemen fet up for 
 Minute Pliilofophers ? 
 
 Cri. — That fe6t, you muft know, contains two forts 
 of philofophers, the wet and the dry. Thofe I have been 
 defcribing, are of the former kind. They differ rather in 
 pra£i:ice than in theory. As an older, graver, or duller 
 man, from one that is younger, and more capable or fond 
 of pleafure. The dry philofophcr paffeth his time but
 
 [Dial. U.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 91 
 
 drily. He has the honor of pimping for the vices of more 
 fprightly men, who, in return, offer feme fmall incenfe 
 to his vanity. Upon this encouragement, and to make 
 his own mind eafy, when it is paft being pleafed, he 
 employs himfelf in juftifying thofe excefles he cannot 
 partake in. But to return to your queftion, thofe mifer- 
 able folk are mighty men for the Minute Philofophy. 
 
 EupH. — ^What hinders them, tlien, from putting an end 
 to their lives ? 
 
 CRi.~Their not being perfuaded of the truth of what 
 they profefs. Some, indeed, in a fit of defpair, do now 
 and then lay violent hands on themfelves. And, as the 
 Minute Philofophy prevails, we daily fee more examples 
 of fuicide. But they bear no proportion to thofe, who 
 would put an end to their lives, if they durft. My friend, 
 CliniaSy who had been one of them, and a philofopher of 
 rank, let me into the fecret hiftory of their doubts and 
 fears, and irrefolute'refolutions, of making away with 
 themfelves •, which laft, he aflures me, is a frequent to- 
 pic with men of pleafure, when they have drunk them- 
 felves into a little fpirit. It was by virtue of this mechan- 
 ical valour, the renowned philofopher, HermocmteSy fhot 
 himfelf through the head. The fame thing hath been 
 pradlifed by feveral others, to the great relief of their 
 friends. Splenetic, worried, and frightened oi;t of their 
 wits, they run upon their doom with the fame courage 
 as a bird runs into the mouth of a rattle-fnake ; not be- 
 caufe they are bold to die, but becaufe they are afraid to 
 live. Clinias endeavored to fortify his irreligion, by the 
 difcourfe and opinion of other Minute Philofophers, who 
 were mutually ftrengthened in their own unbelief by his. 
 After this manner, authority working in a circle, they 
 endeavored to atheize one another. But though he pre- 
 tended, even to a demonftration, againft the being of a 
 God, yet he could not inwardly conquer his own belief. 
 He fellfick, and acknowledged this truth j is now a fo-
 
 g2 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 ber man, and a chrlftian •, owns he was never fo happy 
 as fince he became fuch, nor fo wretched as while he was 
 a Minute Philofopher. And he, who has tried both con- 
 ditions, may be allowed a proper judge of both. 
 
 Lys. — Truly, a fine account of the brightefl and bra- 
 ved men of the age ! 
 
 Cri. — Bright and brave are fine attributes. But our 
 curate is of opinion, that all your free-thinking rakes are 
 either fools or cowards. Thus he argues j if fuch a man 
 doth not fee his true intereft, he wants fenfe ; if he doth, 
 but dare not purfue it, he wants courage. In this man- 
 ner, from the defe£l: of fenfe and courage, he deduceth, 
 that whole fpecics of men, who are fo apt to value them- 
 felves upon both thofe qualities. 
 
 Lys.- — As for their courage, they are at all times ready 
 to give proof of it : and, for their underftanding, thanks 
 to nature, it is of a fize not to be meafured by country 
 parfons. 
 
 XVIII. EuPH.— But Socrates f who was no country par- 
 fon, fufpefted your men of pleafure were fuch, through ig- 
 norance. 
 
 LYs.-*Ignorance ! of what .'' 
 
 EuFH.— Of the art of computing. It was his opinion, 
 that rakes cannot reckon.* And that, for want of this 
 fkiil, they make wrong judgments about pleafure, on the 
 right choice of which their happinefs depends. 
 
 Lys, — I do not underftand you. 
 
 Eupk. — Do you grant that fenfe perceiveth only fenfi- 
 ble things ? 
 
 Lys. — I do. 
 
 EupH. — Senfe perceiveth only things prefent. 
 
 Lys. — This too I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — Future pleafures, therefore, and pleafures of 
 the underftanding, are not to be judged of by fenfe. 
 
 * Plato in Pictag,
 
 [DiAL.IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 93 
 
 EuPH. — Thofe, therefore, who judge of pleafures by 
 fenfe, may find themfelves miftaken at the foot of the ac- 
 count. 
 
 f Cum lapidofa chiragra 
 Contudit articulos veteris ramalia fagiy 
 Turn craffhs transijfs dies hcemqiie pahijlrem^ 
 Et ftbi jam Jeri vitam itigemuere rellEiam. 
 
 To make a right computation, fliould you not consider 
 all the faculties, and all the kinds of pleafure, taking into 
 your account the future, as well as the prefent, and rating 
 them all according to their true value ? 
 
 Cri. — The Epicureans themfelves allowed, that plea- 
 fure, which procures a greater pain, or hinders a greater 
 pleafure, fhould be regarded as a pain ; and, that pain, 
 which procures a greater pleafure, or prevents a greater 
 pain, is to be accounted a pleafure. In order, therefore, to 
 make a true eftimate of pleafure, the great fpring of a£l:ion, 
 and that from whence the conduct of life takes its bias, 
 we ought to compute intellectual pleafures and future plea- 
 fures, as well as prefent and fenfible : We ought to make 
 allowance in the valuation of each particular pleafure, for 
 all the pains and evils, for all the difguft, remorfe, and 
 fhame that attend it : We ought to regard both kind and 
 quantity, the fincerity, the intenfenefs, and the duration of 
 pleafures. Let a free-thinker but bethink himfelf, how 
 little of human pleafure confifts in adlual fenfation, and 
 how much in profpecl ! let him then compare the prof- 
 pedl of a virtuous believer with that of an unbelieving 
 rake. 
 
 EuPH. — And all thefe points duly confidered, will not 
 Socrates feem to have had reafon of his fide, v/hen he 
 thought ignorance made rakes, and particularly their being 
 ignorant of what he calls the fcience of more and lefs, great- 
 
 t Perfius, Sat. 5.
 
 94 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 er and fmaller, equality and comparifon, that is to fay, of 
 the art of computing ? 
 
 Lys. — All this difcourfe feems notional. For real abili- 
 ties of every kind, it is well known we have the brighteft 
 men of the age among us. But all thofe, who know the 
 world, do calculate, that what you call a good chriflian, 
 who hath neither a large conscience nor unprejudiced mind, 
 muft be unfit for the affairs of it. Thus you fee, while 
 you compute yourfelves out of pleafure, others compute 
 you out of bufmefs. What then are you good for, with 
 all your computation ? 
 
 EupH. — I have all imaginable refpe£^ for the abilities 
 of free-thinkers. My only fear was, their parts might be 
 too lively for fuch flow talents as forecaft and computation, 
 the gifts of ordinary men. 
 
 XIX. Cri. — I cannot make the fame compliment that 
 Euphrajior does. For though I fhall not pretend to char- 
 a6i:erize the whole fe£l:, yet thus much I may truly affirm : 
 That thofe, who have fallen in my way, have been moftly 
 raw men of pleafure, old Iharpers in bufinefs, or a third 
 fort of lazy fciolifts, who are neither men of bufinefs, nor 
 men of fpeculation, but fet up for judges, or critics, in all 
 kinds, without having made a progrefs in any. Thefe, 
 among men of the world, pafs for profound theorifts, and, 
 among fpeculative men, would feem to know the world : 
 a conceited race, equally ufelefs to the affairs and ftudies 
 of mankind ! Such as thefe, for the mod part, feem to be 
 fec^aries of the Minute Philofophy. I will not deny that, 
 now and then, you may meet a man of eafy manners, that, 
 without thofe faults and affeftations, is carried into the 
 party by the mere dream of education, faftiion, or compa- 
 ny 5 all which do, in this age, prejudice men againft reli- 
 gion, even thofe who mechanically rail at prejudice. I 
 muft not forget, that the Minute Philofophers havs alfo a 
 ftrong party among the beaux and fine ladies ; and, as af- 
 fedations out of chara6i:er are often the ftrongeft, there is
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. g^ 
 
 nothing fo dogmatical and inconvincible as one of thefe 
 fine things, when it fets up for free-thinking. But, be 
 thefe profeifors of the fe£t never fo dogmatical, their au- 
 thority mull needs be fmall with men of fenfe. "Who 
 would choofe, for his guide, in the fearch of truth, one 
 whofe thoughts and time are taken up with drefs, vifits, 
 and diverfions ? Or whofe education hath been behind a 
 counter, or in an office ? Or whofe fpeculations have been 
 employed on the forms of bufinefs, who is only well read 
 in the ways and commerce of mankind, in ftock-jobbing, 
 purloining, fupplanting, bribing ! Or would any man in 
 his fenfes give a fig for meditations and difcoveries, made 
 over a bottle ? And yet it is certain, that inftcad of thought, 
 books, and fludy, moft free-thinkers are the profelytes of 
 a drinking club. Their principles are often fettled, and 
 decifions on the deepeft points made, when they are not 
 fit to make a bargain. 
 
 Lys. — You forget our writers, Crito. They make a 
 world of profelytes. 
 
 Cri. — So v/ould worfe writers in fuch a caufe. Alas I 
 how few read ! and of thefe, how few are able to judge ! 
 how many wifh your notions true ! How many had rather 
 be diverted than inflrufted ! hov/ many are convinced by 
 a title ! I may allow your reafons to be efFe£i:ual, without 
 allowing them to be good. Arguments, in themfelves of 
 fmall weight, have great efFe<3:, when they are recommend- 
 ed by a miflaken interefl, when they are pleaded for by 
 paflion, when they are countenanced by the humor of the 
 age : and, above all, with fome fort of men, when they are 
 againft law, government, and eftablifhed opinions : things 
 which, as a wife or good man would not depart fi;om with- 
 out clear evidence, a weak or a bad man, will afFe£l to dif- 
 parage on the flightelt grounds. 
 
 Lys. — And yet the arguments of our Philofophers 
 alarm. 
 
 Cri. — ^The force of their reafoning is not what alarms ;
 
 96 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 their contempt of laws and government is alarming : their 
 application to the young and ignorant is dangerous. 
 
 EuPH. — But without difputing or difparaging their tal- 
 ent at ratiocination, it feems very poffible their fuccefs 
 might not be owing to that alone. May it not, in fome 
 meafure, be afcribed to the defe6ls of others, as well as to 
 their own perfections r My friend, Eucrate^ ufed to fay, 
 that the church would thrive and flourifh beyond all oppo- 
 fition, if fome jfertain perfons minded piety more than 
 politics, prattles' than polemics, fundamentals than con- 
 fe£tarie3, fubftance than circumftance, things than notions, 
 and notions than words. 
 
 Lys. — Whatever may be the caufe, the efFe61:s are too 
 plain to be denied. And when a confidering man obferves 
 that our notions do, in this mofl learned and knowing age, 
 fpread and multiply, in oppofition to eftabliftied laws, and 
 every day gain ground againfl a body fo numerous, fo 
 learned, fo well fupported, protected, encouraged, for the 
 fervice and defence of religion : I fay, when a man ob- 
 ferves and confiders all this, he will be apt to afcribe it to 
 the force of truth, and the merits of our caufe ; which, 
 had it been fupported with the revenues and eftabhfhments 
 of the church and univerfities, you may guefs what a figure 
 it would make, by the figure that it makes without them. 
 
 EuPH. — -It is much to be pitied, that the learned profef- 
 fcrs of your feci: do not meet with the encouragement they 
 deferve. 
 
 Lys.— ^ All in due time. People begin to open their 
 eyes. It is not impoffible thofe revenues that, in ignorant 
 timesj v/ere applied to a wrong ufe, may, in a more enlight- 
 ened age, be applied to a better. 
 
 Cri. — But v/hy profeffors and encouragement for what 
 needs no teaching ? An acquaintance of mine has a moft 
 ingenious footman, that can neither write nor read, who 
 learned your whole fyftem in half an hour : He knows 
 when and how to nod, fhake his head^ fmile, and give a
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 97 
 
 hint, as well as the ableft fceptic, and is> in fa<Sl, a very 
 Minute Philofopher. 
 
 Lys. — Pardon me, it takes time to unlearn religious pre- 
 judices, and requires aftronghcad. 
 
 Cri. — I do not know how it might have been, once up- 
 on a time. But in the prefent laudable education, I know 
 feveral, who have been imbued with no religious notions at 
 all ; and others, who have had them fo very flight, that 
 they rubbed off without the leaft pains. 
 
 XX'. Panope, young and beautiful, under the care of 
 her aunt, an admirer of the Minute Philofophy, was kept 
 from learning the principles of religion, that ihe might not 
 be accuftomed to believe without a reafon, nor affent to 
 what fhe did not comprehend. Panope was not, indeed, 
 prejudiced with religious notions, but got a notion of intri- 
 guing, and a notion of play, which ruined her reputation 
 by fourteen, and her fortune by four and twenty. I have 
 often reflected on tjie different fate of two brothers in my 
 neighborhood. Cleoriy the elder, being defigned an accom- 
 plifhed gentleman, was fent to town, had the firft part of 
 his education in a great fchool : What religion he learned 
 there, was foon unlearned in a certain celebrated fociety, 
 which, till we have a better, may pafs for a nurfery of Mi- 
 nute Philosophers. Cleon dreffed well, could cheat at 
 cards, had a nice palate, underftood the myftery of the die, 
 was a mighty man in the Minute Philofophy. And hav- 
 ing fhined a few years, in thefe accomplifhments, he died 
 before thirty, childlefs and rotten, exprefling the utmofl 
 indignation that he could not outlive that old dog, his 
 father -, who, having a great notion of polite manners, and 
 knowledge of the world, had purchafed them to his favor- 
 ite fon, with much expenfe, but had been more frugal in 
 the education of Charephony the younger fon 5 who v/as 
 brought up at a country-fchool, and entered a commoner 
 in the univerfity, where he qualified himfelf for a parfou- 
 N
 
 98 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IL] 
 
 age in his father's gift, which he is now pofTefled of, to- 
 gether with the eftate of the family, and a numerous off- 
 fpring. 
 
 Lys. — A pack of unpoliflied cubs, I warrant. 
 
 Cri. — Lefs poliflied, perhaps, but more found, more 
 honeft, and likely to be more ufeful, than many who pafs 
 for fine gentlemen. Crales, a worthy juRice of the peace, 
 in this county, having had a fon mifcarry at London, by 
 the converfation of a Minute Philofopher, ufed to fay, 
 with a great air of complaint, if a man fpoils my corn, 
 or hurts my cattle, I have a remedy againft him ; but if 
 he fpoils my children, I have none. 
 
 Lys. — I warrant you, he was for penal methods : He 
 would have had a law to perfecute tender confciences. 
 
 Cri. — The tender confcience of a Minute Philofopher ! 
 He, who tutored the fon of Crates , foon after did juftice on 
 himfelf. For he taught Lycidas, a modeft young man, the 
 principles of his fe<£t. Lyddas, in return, debauched his 
 daughter, an only child : Upon which, Charmides, (that 
 v/as the Minute Philofopher's name) hanged himfelf. 
 Old Buhalhn^ in the city, is carking, and fbarving, and 
 cheating, that his fon may drink and game, keep miftrefT- 
 es, hounds, and horfes, and die in a jail. Buhalion, never- 
 thelefs, thinks himfelf wife, and paffeth for one that minds 
 the main chance. He is a Minute Philofopher, which 
 learning he acquired behind the counter, from the works 
 of Prodicus and Trypkon. This fame Buhallon was one 
 night at fupper, talking againft the immortality of the foul, 
 with two or three grave citizens, one of whom, the next 
 day, declared himfelf bankrupt, with five thoufand pound 
 oi Buhalion' s in his hands \ and the night following, he re- 
 ceived a note from a fervant, who had, during his lecture, 
 waited at table, demanding the fum of fifty guineas to be 
 laid under a ftone, and concluding with moft terrible 
 threats and imprecations. 
 
 Lys. — Not to repeat what hath been already demon-
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ^^ 
 
 ftrated, that the public is, at bottom, no fufFerer by fuch 
 accidents, which, in truth, are inconvenient only to private 
 perfons, who, in their turn, too, may reap the benefit of 
 them : I iay, not to repeat all that hath been demouftra- 
 ted on that head, I (hall only afk you, whether there would 
 not be rakes and rogues, although we did not make them ? 
 Believe me, the world always was, and always will be the 
 fame, as long as men are men. 
 
 Cri. — I deny that the world is always the fame. Hu- 
 man nature, to u^QAlciphron^s comparifon, is like land, better 
 or worfe, as it is improved, and according to the feeds or 
 principles fown in it. Though no body held your tenets, 
 I grant there might be bad men by the force of corrupt 
 appetites, and irregular paffions. But where men, to the 
 force of appetite and palTion, add that of opinion, and are 
 wicked from principle, there will be more men wicked, 
 and thofe more incurably and outrageoufly fo. The er- 
 ror of a lively rake lies in his paflions, and may be reform- 
 ed : But the dry rogue, who fets up for judgment, is in- 
 corrigible. It is an obfervation of Arijlotles^ that there 
 are two forts of debauchees, the akrates and the akolajlosy 
 of which the one is fo againft his judgment, the other 
 with it : And that there may be hopes of the former, but 
 none of the latter. And, in fa6t, I have always obferved, 
 that a rake, who was a Minute Philofopher, when grown 
 old, becomes a fharper in bufmefs. 
 
 Lys. — I could name you fevcral fuch, who have grown 
 moft noted patriots. 
 
 Cri. — -Patriots ! fuch patriots as Catiline and Marc 
 Antony. 
 
 Lys.— And what then ? Thofe famous Romans were 
 brave, though unfuccefsful. They wanted neither fenfe 
 nor courage ; and if their fchemes had taken effect, the 
 brifker part of their countrymen had been much the better 
 for them.
 
 TOO MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.j 
 
 XXI. The wheels of government go on, though wound 
 up by different hands : if not in the fame form, yet in 
 fome other, perhaps a better. There is an endlefs varie- 
 ty in things: weak men, indeed, are prejudiced towards 
 rules and fyftems in hfe and government; and think if 
 thefe are gone, all is gone : But a man of a great foul, and 
 free fpirit, delights in the noble experiment of blowing up 
 fyftems, and difTolving governments, to mould them anew, 
 upon other principles, and in another fliape. Take my 
 word for it, there is a plaftic nature in things, that feeks 
 its own end. Pull a Hate to pieces, jumble, confound, 
 and fhake together the particles of human fociety, and 
 then let thiem ftand a while, and you (hall foon fee them 
 fettle, of themfelves, in fome convenient order, where 
 heavy heads are loweft, and men of genius uppermoft. 
 
 EuPH. — Lyftcles fpeaks his mind freely. 
 
 Lys. — Where v/as the advantage of free-thinking, if it 
 were not attended wjth free-fpeaking, or of free-fpeaking, 
 if it did not produce free-acting ? we are for thorough, 
 independent, original freedom. Inward freedom, with- 
 out outward, is good for nothing, but to fet a man's judg- 
 ment at variance with his pra£tice. 
 
 Cri.— This free way of Lyficks may feem new to you : 
 it is not fo to me. As the Minute Philofophers lay it down 
 for a maxim, that there is nothing facred, of any kind, 
 nothing but what may be made a jeft of, exploded, and 
 changed, like the falhion of their clothes : fo nothing is 
 more frequent, than for them to utter their fchemes and 
 principles, not only in felect companies, but even in public. 
 In a certain part of the world, where ingenious men are 
 wont to retail their fpeculations, I remember to have feen 
 a Valetudinarian y in a long wig and a cloke, fitting at the 
 upper end of a table, with half a dozen difciples about 
 him. After he had talked upon religion, in a manner, 
 and with an air, that would make .one think atheifm eftab- 
 lilhed by law, and religion only tolerated, he entered upon
 
 [Dial, n.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. loi 
 
 civil government ; and obferved to his audience, that the 
 natural world was in a perpetual circulation. Animals, 
 faid he, which draw their fuftenance from the earth, mis 
 with that fame earth, and, in their turn, become food for 
 vegetables, which again nourifli the animal kind : The va- 
 pors that afcend from this globe, defcend back upon it in 
 fhowers : The elements alternately prey upon each other : 
 That which one part of nature iofeth, another gains ; the 
 fum total rem.aining always the fame, being neither bigger 
 nor lefler, better nor worfe, for all thefe inteftine changes. 
 Even fo, fgid this learned profeflbr, the revolutions in the 
 civil world, are no detriment to human kind : one part 
 whereof riles as the other falls, and wins by another's lofs. 
 A man, therefore, who thinks deeply, and hath an eye on 
 the whole fyftem, is no more a bigot to government than 
 to religion. He knows how to fuit himfelf to occafions, 
 and make the beft of every event : For the reft, he looks 
 on all tranflations of power and property from one hand to 
 another, with a philofophic indifference. Our le£lurer 
 concluded his difcourfe with a moft ingenious analyfis of 
 all political and moral virtues, into their firft principles and 
 caufes, fhewing them to be mere fafhions, tricks of ftate, 
 and illufions on the vulgar. 
 
 Lys. — We have been often told of the good effects of 
 religion and learning, churches and univerfities : But I 
 dare affirm, than a dozen or two ingenious men, of our 
 fe6t, have done more towards advancing real knowledge, 
 by extemporaneous lectures, in the compafs of a few 
 years, than all the ecclefiaftics put together, for as many 
 centuries. 
 
 EuPH. — And the nation, no doubt, thrives accord- 
 ingly. But, it feems, Crito, you have heard them dif- 
 courfe. 
 
 Cri. — Upon hearing this, and other le6i:ures of the 
 fame tendency, methought it was needlefs to eftabHfh 
 profeffors for the Minute Philofophy in either univerfity,
 
 101 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 \^.rhile there are fo many fpontaneous lecturers in every 
 corner of the ftreets, ready to open men's eyes, and rub 
 off their prejudices about religion, loyalty, and public 
 fpirit. 
 
 Lys.— If wifliing was to any purpofe, I could wifti for 
 a telefcope, that might draw into my view things future 
 in time, as well as diftant in place. Oh ! that I could 
 but look into the next age, and behold what it is that 
 we are preparing to be, the glorious harveft of our prin- 
 ciples ; the fpreading of which hath produced a vifible 
 trendency in the nation towards fomething great and new. 
 
 Cri. — One thing, I dare fay, you would expert to fee, 
 be the changes and agitations of the public what they 
 will, that is, every free-thinker upon his legs. You are 
 all fons of nature, who cheerfully follow the fortunes of 
 l^he common mafs. 
 
 Lys. — And it mud be owned we have a maxim, that 
 each fiould take care of one, 
 
 Cri. — Alas, Lyftcles, you wrong your own character. 
 You would fain pafs upon the world, and upon yourfelves, 
 for interefted, cunning men : But can any thing be more 
 difinterefled, than to facrifice all regards to the abflra6t- 
 ed fpeculation of truth ? Or can any thing be more void 
 of all cunning, than to publifh your difcoveries to the 
 vrorld, teach others to play the whole game, and arm 
 naankind againfl; yourfelves. 
 
 XXII. If a man may venture to fuggeft fo mean a 
 thought, as the love of their country, to fouls fired with 
 the love of truth, and the love of liberty, and grafping 
 the whole extent of nature, I would humbly propofe it 
 to you, gentlemen, to obferve the caution praftifed by 
 all other difcoverers, projectors, and makers of experi- 
 ments, who never hazard all on the firft trial. Would 
 It not be prudent to try the fuccefs of your principles, on 
 a fmall model, in feme remote corner ? For inftance, kt
 
 CDiAL. IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 103 
 
 up SI colony of atheifts in Monomotapay and fee how it 
 profpers, before you proceed any further at home : Hal£ 
 a dozen (hipload of Minute Philofophers might eafily be: 
 fpared upon fo good a defign. In the mean time, you, 
 gentlemen, who have found out, that there is nothing ta 
 be hoped or feared in another life ; that conscience is a 
 bugbear ; that the bands of government, and the cement 
 of human fociety, are rotten things, to be diffolved, and 
 crumbled into nothing, by the argumentation of every 
 Minute Pliilofopher ; be fo good as to keep thefe fublimc 
 difcoveries to yourfelves : Suffer us, our wives, our chil- 
 dren, our fervants, and our neighbors, to continue in the: 
 belief, and way of thinking, eftablifhed by the laws of 
 our country. In good eameft, I wifh you would go try 
 your experiments among the Hottentots or Turks. 
 
 Lys. — The Hottentots we think well of, believing them 
 to be an unprejudiced people ; but it is to be feared their 
 diet and cuiloms would not agree with our philofophers. 
 As for the Turks, they are bigots, who have a notion of 
 God, and a refpedl for Jefus Chrift. I queftion whether 
 it might be fafe to venture among them. 
 
 Cri. — Make your experiment then in fome other part 
 of Chriflendcm. 
 
 Ly s. — We hold all other chriftian nations to be much 
 under the power of prejudice : even our neighbors, the 
 Dutch, are too much prejudiced in favor of their religion, 
 by law eftablifhed, for a prudent man to attempt innova- 
 tions under their government. Upon the whole, it feems 
 we can execute our fchemes no where, with fo much fe- 
 curity, and fuch profpecb of fuccefs, as at home. Not 
 to fay, that we have already made a good progrefs. Oh ! 
 that we could but once fee a parliament of true, ftanch, 
 libertine free-thinkers ! 
 
 Cri. — God forbid ! I fhould be forry to have fuch men. 
 for my fervants, not to fay, for my mafters. 
 
 Lys. — In that we differ.
 
 104 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER [Dial. H.] 
 
 1 
 XXIII. But you will agree with me, that the right 
 way to come at this was, to begin with extirpating the 
 prejudices of particular perfons. We have carried on 
 this work, for many years, with much art and induftry, 
 and, at firft, with fecrecy, working like moles under 
 ground, concealing our progrefs from the public, and 
 our ultimate views from many, even of bur own profe- 
 lytes, blowing the coals between polemical divines, lay- 
 ing hold on, and improving every incident, which the 
 paffions or folly, of churchmen afforded, to the advantage 
 of our fe£^. As our principles obtained, we ftill pro- 
 ceeded to further inferences ; and, as our numbers mul- 
 tiplied, we gradually difclofed ourfelves and our opinions. 
 Where we are now, I need not fay. We have ftubbed, 
 and weeded, and cleared human nature to that degree, 
 that, in a little time, leaving it alone without any labor- 
 ing or teaching, you fhall fee natural and juft ideas fprout 
 forth of themfelves. 
 
 Cri. — But I have heard a man, who had lived long, 
 and obferved much, remark, that the worft and moft 
 unwholfome weed, was this fame Minute Philofophy. 
 We have had, faid he, divers epidemical diftempers in 
 the ftate, but this hath produced, of all others, the moft 
 deftruftive plague. Enthufiafm had its day, its efFe£i:s 
 were violent, and foon over : this infers more quietly, 
 but fpreads widely. The former bred a fever in the flate ; 
 this breads a confumption, and final decay. A rebellion, 
 or an invafion, alarms, and puts the public upon its de- 
 fence ; but a corruption of principles, works its ruin 
 more flowly perhaps, but more furely. This may be il- 
 luftrated by a fable, I fomewhere met with in the writings 
 of a Swijs philofopher, fetting forth the original of bran- 
 dy and gunpowder. The government of the north being 
 once upon a time vacant, the prince of the power of the 
 air convened a council in hell ; wherein, upon competi- 
 tion between two demons of rank^ it was determined they
 
 piAL. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 105 
 
 (hould both make trial of their abilities, and he fhould 
 fucceed, who did mod mifchief. One made his appear- 
 ance in the fhape of gunpowder, the other in that of bran- 
 dy : The former was a declared enemy, and roared with 
 a terrible noife, which made folks afraid, and put them 
 on their guard : the other pafled as a friend and phylician 
 through the world, difguifed himfelf with fweets, and 
 perfumes, and drugs, made his way into the ladies' cabi- 
 nets, and the apothecaries* fliops, and, under the notion 
 of helping digeflion, comforting the fpirits, and cheering 
 the heart, produced drre6l contrary efre6ls *, and, having 
 infenfibly thrown great numbers of human kind into 
 a fatal decay, was found to people hell and the grave fo 
 faft, as to merit the government, which he dill poflefles. 
 
 XXIV. Lys.—- Thofe who pkafe may amufe them- 
 felves with fables and allegories. This is plain EngliJ}?-— 
 Liberty is a good thing, and we are the fupport of liberty. 
 
 Cri. — To me it feems, that liberty and virtue were 
 made for each other. If any man wifii to enllave his 
 country, nothing is a fitter preparative than vice ; and 
 nothing leads to vice fo furely as irreligion. For my part; 
 I cannot comprehend, or find out, after having confidered 
 it in all lights, how this crying down religion, fliould be 
 the effect of honeft views towards a juft and legal liberty. 
 Some feem to propofe an indulgence in vice : others may 
 have in profpeci: the advantages which needy and ambi- 
 tious men are ufed to make in the ruin cf a flate : One 
 may indulge a pert petulant fpirit : Another hopes to be 
 efteemed among libertines, when he wants wit to pleafe, 
 or abilities to be ufeful. But, be men's views what they 
 will, let us examine what good your principles have done : 
 Who has been the better for the inftru61:ions of thefe Mi- 
 nute Philofophers ? Let us compare what wc are in refpe£l 
 of learning, loyalty, honefty, wealth, power, and public 
 fpirit, with what we have been. Free-thinking, (as it is 
 
 O
 
 io6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 called) hath wonderfully grown of late years. Let us fee 
 what hath groMm up with it, or wh?t efFe^ls it hath produ- 
 ced. To make a catalogue of ills is dlfagreeable : And 
 the only bleffing it can pretend to, is luxury : That fame 
 bleffing, which revenged the world upon old Rome : That 
 fame luxury, whichmakes a nation, like a difeafed pamper- 
 ed body, loqk full and fat, with one foot in the grave. 
 
 Lys. — You miftake the matter. There are no people 
 who think and argue better about the public good of a 
 ftate, than our feci: ; who have alfo invented many things 
 tending to that end, which we cannot, as yet, conveniently 
 put in practice. ia ' 
 
 Cri. — But one point tliere is, from which it muft be 
 owned, the public hath already received fome advantage, 
 which is the cffecl of your principles, flowing from them, 
 and fpreading as they do : I mean that old Roman practice 
 of felf-murder, which at once puts an end to all diftrefs, 
 ridding the world and themfeives of the miferable. 
 
 Lys. — You were pleafed before to make reflexions on 
 this cuftom, and laugh at the irrefolution of our free-think- 
 ers ; but I can aver, for matter of fa<Sl:, that j:hey have 
 often recommended it by their example, as well as argu- 
 ments •, and that it is folely owing to them, that a prac- 
 tice, fo ufeful and magnanimous, hath been taken out of 
 the hands of lunatics, and reilored to that credit among 
 men of fenfe, which it anciently had. In whatever light 
 you may confider it, this is, in facSb, a folid benefit. But 
 the beft efFe£l of our principles is, that light and truth fo 
 vifibly fpread abroad in the world. From how many pre- 
 judices, errors, perplexities, and contradictions, have we 
 freed the minds of our fellow-fubje6ls .'' how many hard 
 words, and intricate abfard notions, had pofTefTed the minds 
 of men, before our Philofophers appeared in the world 1 
 but now, even women and children have right and found 
 notions of things. What fay you to this, Crito F 
 
 Cri. — I fay, with refped: to thefe great advantages of
 
 [Dial. IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 107 
 
 deftroying men and notions, that I queftion, whether tlie 
 pubHc gains as much by the latter, as it lofethby the for- 
 mer. For my own part, I had rather my wife and children 
 all believed what they had no notion of, and daily pronoun- 
 ced words without a meaning, than that any one of them 
 fhould cut his throat, or leap out of a window. Errors 
 and nonfenfe, as fuch, are of fmall concern in the eye of 
 the public, which confidereth not the metaphyfical truth 
 of notions, fo much as the tendency they have to produce 
 good or evil. Truth itfelf is valued by the public, as it 
 hath an influence, and is felt in the courfe of life. You 
 may confute a whole flielf of fchoolmen, and difcover ma- 
 ny fpeculative truths, without any great merit towards 
 your country. But, if I am not miftaken, the Minute 
 Philofophers are not the men to whom we are moft be- 
 holden for difcoveries of that kind. This, I fay, mufl be 
 allowed ; fuppofmg, what I by no means grant, your notions 
 to be true. For, to fay plainly what I think, the tendency 
 of your opinions is fo bad, that no good man can endure 
 them, and your arguments for them fo weak, that no wife 
 man will admit them. 
 
 Lys. — Has it r]pt been proved as clear as the meridian 
 fun, that the politer fort of men lead much happier lives, 
 and fwim in plcafures, fmce the fpreading of our princi- 
 ples ? But, not to repeat or infill further on what has 
 been fo amply deduced, I f^iall only add, that the advan- 
 tages flowing from them, extend to the tendered age, and 
 the fcfter fex. Our principles deliver children from ter- 
 rors by night, and the ladies from fplenetic hours by day. 
 
 Cri. — Inftead of thofe old fafliioned things, prayers 
 and the bible, the grateful amufements of drams, dice, and 
 billet-doux have fucceeded. The fair fex have now no- 
 thing to do but drefs and paint, drink and game, adorn and 
 divert themfelves, and enter into all the fweet fociety of 
 life. But I thought, L^iftclesy the argument from pleafure 
 had been eshaufted : however, fince you have not done
 
 loS MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 with that point, let us once more, by Eiiphranor's rule, caft 
 up the account of pleafure and pain, as credit and debt, 
 under diftinfl articles. We will fet down in the life of 
 your fine lady, rich clothes, dice, cordials, fcandal, 
 late hours, againft vapours, diftalle, remorfe, lofles at play, 
 and the terrible diftrefs of ill fpent age, increafing every 
 day : fuppofe no cruel accident of jealoufy, no madnefs 
 or infamy of love ; yet at the foot of the account, you fhall 
 find that empty, giddy, gaudy, fluttering thing, not half fo 
 happy as a butterfly, or a gralhopper, on a fummer's day. 
 And for a rake, or man of pleafure, the reckoning will be 
 much the fame, if you place liftlefihefs, ignorance, rotten- 
 nefs, loathing, craving, quarrelling, and fuch qualities, or 
 accomplifhments, over-againft his little circle of fleeting 
 amufements ; long woe againft momentary pleafure : And, 
 if it be confidered, that when fenfe and appetite go off, 
 though he feek refuge from his confcience in the Minute 
 Philofophy, yet in this you will find, if you fift him to the 
 bottom, that he. afFecls much, believes little, knows no- 
 thing. 
 
 Upon which Lyficles, turning to me, obferved, that Crito 
 might difpute againft fa£l if he pieafed, but that every one 
 mull fee the nation was the merrier for their principles. 
 True, anfwered Crito ^ we are a merry nation indeed : young 
 men laugh at the old ; children defpife their parents ; and 
 fubje£l:s make a jefl of the government : happy efFefts of 
 the Minute Philofophy ! 
 
 XXV. Lys.— Infer what efle£l;s you pleafe, that will 
 not make our principles lefs true. 
 
 Cri. — Their truth is not what I am now confidering. 
 The point at prefent is the ufefulnefs of your principles : 
 And, to decide this point, we need only take a fhort 
 view of them, fairly propofed, and laid together : that 
 there is no God or providence ; that man is as the beafts 
 that perilh ; that his happinefs, as their's, confifts in obey-
 
 [DiAL.IL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 109 
 
 ing animal inftin£ts, appetites, and paflions ; that all flings 
 of confcience, and fenfe of guilt, are prejudices and erro]i;s 
 of education ; that religion is a ftate trick ; that vice is 
 beneficial to the public •, that the foul of man is corporeal, 
 and dillolveth like a flame or vapour ; that man is a ma- 
 chine, actuated according to the laws of motion ; that 
 confequently he is no agent or fubje£b of guilt ; that a 
 wife man will make his own particular individual intereft, 
 in this prefent life, the rule and meafure of all his adtions : 
 thefe, and fuch opinions, are, it feems, the tenets of a Mi- 
 nute Phiiofopher, who is himfelf, according to his own 
 principles, an organ played on by fenfible obje£ls, a bail 
 bandied about by appetites and pafTions : fo fubtle is he, 
 as to be able to maintain all this by artful reafonings ; fo 
 iharp-fighted and penetrating to the very bottom of things, 
 as to find out, that the moft interefted occult cunning is 
 the only true wifdom. To compleat his chara6ter, this 
 curious piece of clock-work, having no principle of action 
 within itfelf, and denying that it hath, or can have any 
 one free thought or motion, fets up for the patron of liber- 
 ty, and earneftly contends, for free-thinking. 
 
 Crito had no fooner made an end, but Lyftcles addrefl- 
 ed himfelf to Euphranor and me : Crito, faid he, has tak- 
 en a world of pains, but convinced me only of one fingle 
 point, to wit, that I muil defpair of convincing him. Ne- 
 ver did I, in the whole courfe of my life, meet with a man 
 fo deeply immerfed in prejudice ; let who will pull him 
 out for me. But I entertain better hopes of you. I can 
 anfwer, faid I, for myfelf, that my eyes and ears are al- 
 ways open to convidlion : I am attentive to all that pafles, 
 and, upon the whole, fiiall form, whether right or wrong, 
 a very impartial judgment. Crito, faid Euphranor, is a 
 more enterprifing man than I, thus to rate and lecture a 
 phiiofopher. For my part, I always find it eafier to 
 learn than to teach. I fliall therefore beg your affiftance 
 to rid me of fome fcruples about the tendency of your
 
 no MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IL] 
 
 opinions, which I find myfeif unable to mailer, though 
 ever fo willing. This done, though we fhould not tread 
 exadlly in the fame fteps, nor perhaps go the fame road *, 
 yet we fhall not run, in all points, diametrically oppofite 
 one to another. 
 
 XXVI. Tell me now, Lyfides, you who are a minute 
 obferver of things, whether a (hade be more agreeable at 
 morning of evening, or noon-day. 
 
 Lys — Doubtlefs at noon-day. 
 
 EupH. — And what difpofeth men to reft ^ 
 
 Lys. — Exercife. 
 
 EuPH. — When do men make the greateft fires ? 
 
 Lys. — In the coldeft weather. 
 
 EuPH. — -And what creates a love for iced liquors ? 
 
 Lys. — Exceffive heat. 
 
 EupH. — What if you raife a pendulum to a great height 
 on one fide ^ 
 
 Lys. — It will, when left to itfelf, afcend fo much the 
 higher on the other. 
 
 EuPH. — It fliould feem, therefore, that darknefs en- 
 fues from light, reft from motion, heat from cold, and, 
 in general, that one extreme is the confequence of ano- 
 ther. 
 
 Lys. — It (hould feem fo. 
 
 EuPH. — And doth not this obfervation hold in the civil, 
 as well as the natural world ? Doth not power produce 
 licence, and licence power } Do not whigs make tories, 
 andtories whigs ? Bigots make atheifts, and atheifts big- 
 ots ? 
 
 Lys. — Granting this to be true. 
 
 EuPH - — Will it not hence follow, that as we abhor 
 flavifti principles, we ftiould avoid running into licentious 
 ones' ? I am, and always was, a fincere lover of liberty, 
 legal Englijh liberty ; which I efteem a chief blefTmg, or- 
 nament, and comfort of life, and the great prerogative of
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. in 
 
 an Englljhman. But is it not to be feared, that, upon 
 the nation's running into a licentioufnefs, which hath 
 never been endured in any civilized country, men, feel- 
 ing the intolerable evils of one extreme, may naturally 
 fall into the other ? You mufl allow, the bulk of man- 
 kind are not philofophers, like you and Alciphrofi. 
 Lys. — This I readily acknowledge. 
 EuPH. — I have another fcruple about the tendency of 
 your opinions. Suppofe you fhould prevail, and deftroy 
 the proteftant church and clergy ; how could you come 
 . at the popifli ? I am credibly informed, there are a great 
 number of emilTaries of the church of Rome difguifed, in 
 Englarid : Who can tell what harvefl a clergy fo numer- 
 ous, fo fubtle, and fo well furniihed with arguments to 
 work on vulgar and uneducated minds, may be able to 
 make in a country defpoiled of all religion, and feeling the 
 want of it ^ Who can tell whether the fpirit of free-think- 
 ing, efiding with the oppofition, and the vanity with the 
 diitindlion, when the whole nation are alike infidels, who 
 can tell, I fay, whether, in fuch a junfture, the men of 
 genius themfelves may not affecl a new di(linc?cion, and 
 be the firll: converts to popery ? 
 
 Lys. — And fuppofe they fhould. Betv/een friends it 
 would be no great matter. Thefe are our maxinis ; In 
 the firft place, we hold it would be bed to have no reli- 
 gion at all. Secondly, we hold that all religions are indif- 
 ferent. If, therefore, upon trial, we find the country 
 cannot do without a religion, why not popery as well as 
 another ? I know feveral ingenious men of our fe£t, who, 
 if we had a popifh prince on the throne, would turn pa- 
 pifts to-morrow. This is a paradox, but I (hall explain it. 
 A prince whom we com.piiment with our religion, to be 
 fure, mufl be grateful. 
 
 EupK.- — I underftand you. But what becomes of 
 free-thinking all the while ? 
 
 Lys. — Oh ! we fhould have more than ever of that.
 
 112 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. II.] 
 
 for we fhould keep it all to ourfelves. As for the amufe- 
 ment of retailing it, the want of this would be largely 
 compeiifated by folid advantages of another kind. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then, by this account, the tendency, 
 you obferved in the nation towards fomething great and 
 new, proves a tendency towards popery and ilavery. 
 
 Lys. — Miilake us not, good Eitphranor. The thing 
 iirft in our intention is confummate liberty : But if this 
 will not do, and there muft, after all, be fuch things to- 
 lerated as religion and government, we are wifely willing 
 to make the beft of both. 
 
 Cri. — This puts me in mind of a thought I have of- 
 ten had, that Minute Philofophers are dupes of the jefuits. 
 The two moft avowed, profefled, bufy propagators of in- 
 fidelity, in all companies, and upon all occafions, that I 
 ever met with, were both bigoted papifts ; and being 
 both men of confiderable eftates, fuffered confiderably on 
 that fcore ; which it is wonderful their thinking dif- 
 ciples fhould never refie£t on. Hegemon^ a moft diftin- 
 guifhed writer among the Minute Philofophers, and hero 
 of the fe£b, I am well affured, was once a papift, and ne- 
 ver heard that he profefled any other religion. I know 
 that many of the church of Rome abroad, are pleafed with 
 the growth of infidelity among us, as hoping it may make 
 way for them. The emiiTaries of Kome are known to 
 have perfonated feveral other fefts, which, from time to 
 time, have fprung up among us ; and why not this of the 
 Minute Philofophers, of all others, the beft calculated to 
 ruin both church and ftate ? I myfelf have known a jefuit 
 abroad talk among E?igliJI) gentlemen like a free-thinker. 
 I am credibly informed, that jefuits, known to be fuch 
 by the Minute Philofophers at home, are admitted into 
 their clubs : and I have obferved them to approve, and 
 fpeak better of the jefuits, than of any other clergy what- 
 foever. Thofe who are not acquainted with the fubtle 
 fpirit, the refined politics, and wonderful economy of
 
 [Dial. II.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 113 
 
 that renowned fociety, need only read the account given 
 of them by the jefuit, Incbofer^ in his book De Monar- 
 chia Sol'ipforuin^ and thofe who are, will not be furprifed 
 that they fliould be able to make dupes of our Minute 
 Philofophers. Dupes, I fay, for I can never think they 
 fufpe£l: that they are only tools to ferve the ends of cun- 
 ninger men than themfelves. They feem to me drunk 
 and giddy with a falfe notion of liberty, and fpurred on, 
 by this principle, to make mad experiments on their coun- 
 try, they agree only in pulling down ail that flands in 
 their way ; without any concerted fcheme, and without 
 caring, or knowing, what to ere£l: in its (lead. To hear 
 them, as I have often done, defcant on the moral virtues, 
 refolve them into fliame, then laugh at fhame as a weak- 
 nefs, admire the unconfined lives of favages, defpife all 
 order and decency of education ; one would think the in- 
 tention of thefe philofophers was, when they had pruned 
 and weeded the notions of their fellow-fubje£t3, and di- 
 vefted them of their prejudices, to ftrip them of their 
 clothes, and fill the country with naked followers of na- 
 ture, enjoying all the privileges of brutality. 
 
 Here Crito made a paufe, and fixed his eyes on Alci- 
 phrofiy who during this whole converfation had fat thought- 
 ful and attentive, without faying a word j and with an air, 
 one while diflatisfied at what Lyjicles advanced, another, 
 ferene and pleafed, feemingto approve feme better thought 
 of his own. But the day being now far fpent, Alciphron 
 propofed to adjourn the argument till the following ; 
 when, faid he, I fhall fet matters on a new foundation, 
 and in fo full and clear a light, as, I doubt not, will give 
 intire fatisfadion. So we changed the difcourfe, and, af- 
 ter a repad upon cold provifions, took a walk on the ftrand, 
 and in the cool of the evening returned to Criu''u 
 
 P
 
 THE 
 
 THIRD DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Alciphron's Account of Honor. II. Character and CoU' 
 duEl of Men of Honor, III. ^enfe of moral Beauty, 
 IV. The Honefum or to\:2Xon of the Ancients. V. Tafte 
 for moral Beauty whether a fure Guide or Rule. VI. 
 Minute Philofophers ravifhed with the AhflraB Beauty of 
 Virtue. VII. "Their Virtue alone difmterefed and heroic, 
 
 VIII. Beauty offenftble Objects, luhaty and honv perceived. 
 
 IX. The Idea of Beauty explained by Painting and Archi^ 
 teciure. X. Beauty of the moral Sflem, wherein it con" 
 
 fifls. XI. It fuppofeth a Providence. XII. Influence of 
 to kalon and to prepon. XIII. Enthuftafm of Cratylus 
 compared with the fentiments of iVriilotle. XIV. Com^ 
 pared with the Stoical Principles. XV. Minute Philofc-^ 
 phers, their Talent for Railery and Ridicule. XVI. The 
 Wifdom of thofe nvho make Virtue alone its own Reward. 
 
 HE following day, as we fat round the tea-table, 
 in a fummer parlour, which looks- into the garden, Alciphron, 
 after the firll difh, turned down his cup, and, reclining back 
 in his chair, proceeded as follows. Above all the fetls up- 
 on earth, it is the peculiar privilege of ours, not to be tied 
 down by any principles. While other philofophers pro- 
 fefs a fervile adherence to certain tenets, ours aflert a no- 
 ble freedom, differing not only one from another, but very 
 often the fame man from himfelf. Which method of 
 proceeding, befide other advantages, hath this annexed to 
 it, that we are, of all men, the hardeft to confute. You 
 may, perhaps, confute a particular tenet, but then thi* 
 affefts only him who maintains it, and fo long only as he 
 maintains it. Some of our feci dogmatize more than
 
 ii6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.l 
 
 others, and in fome, more than other points. The do£lrine 
 of the uiefulnefs of vice is a point wherein we are not all 
 agreed. Some of us are great admirers of virtue. With 
 others, the points of vice and virtue are problem aticah 
 For my own part, though I think the do£trine maintained. 
 yefterday,by"Z-v/?r/W, an ingenious fpeculation ; yet, upon 
 the whole, there are divers reafons wJiich incline me to de- 
 part from it, and rather to efpoufe the virtuous fide of the 
 queftion ; with the fmalleft, perhaps, but the moft contem- 
 plative and laudable part of our lecl. It feemeth, I fay, 
 after a nice inquiry, and balancing on both fides, that we 
 ought to prefer virtue to vice ; and that fuch preference 
 would contribute both to the public weal, and the reputa- 
 tion of our philofophers. You are to know then, we have 
 among us feveral that, without one grain of religion, are 
 men of the niccd: honor, and, therefore, men of virtue, be- 
 caufe men of honor. Honor is a noble unpolluted fource 
 of virtue, without the leaft mixture of fear, interefl or fu- 
 perftition. Ij: hath ail the advantages, whhout the evils, 
 which attend religion. It is the mark of a great and fine 
 foul, and is to be found among perfons of rank and breed- 
 ing. It affe6ls the court, the fenate, and the camp, and, 
 in general, every rendezvous of people of fafhion. 
 
 EuPK.—— You fay then, that honor is the fource of vir- 
 tue. 
 
 Alc. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — Can a thing be the fource of itfelf ? 
 
 Alc— It cannot. 
 
 EuFH. — The fource, therefore, is diftinguiihed from 
 that of which it is the fource. 
 
 Alc. — Doubtlefs. 
 
 EuPH — Honor then is one thing, ^ind virtue another. 
 
 Alc. — I grant it. Virtuous a£i:ions are tlie efFe£\, and 
 honor is the fource or caufe of that efFe6^. 
 
 EupH. — Teil me. Is honor the will, producing ^hofe 
 aftions, or the final caufe for which they are produced, cr
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 117 
 
 right reafon, which is their rule and limit, or the obje£t 
 about which they are converfant ? or do you by the word 
 Honor, underftand a faculty, or appetite r all which are 
 fuppofed, in one fenfe or other, to be the fource of human 
 a(Slions. 
 
 Alc. — Nothing of all this. 
 
 EuPH. — Be pleafed then to give me fome notion or 
 definition of it. Alc'iphron^ having mufed a while, anfwer- 
 ed, that he defined honor to be a principle of virtuous ac- 
 tions. To which FAiphrancr replied ; if 1 underftand it 
 rightly, the word principle is varioully taken. Sometimes, 
 by principles, we mean the parts of v/hich a whole is com- 
 pofed, and into v.'hich it may be refolved. Thus the ele- 
 ments are faid to be principles of compound bodies. And 
 thus words, fyllabies, and 'etters are the principles of 
 fpeech. Sometimes, by principle, we mean a fmall par- 
 ticular feed, the growth or gradual unfolding of which 
 doth produce an organized body, animal or vegetable, in 
 its proper fize and fhape. Principles, at other times, are 
 fuppofcd to be certain fundamental theorems in arts and 
 fciences, in religion and politics. Let me know in which 
 of thele fenfes, or whether it be in fome other fenfe, that 
 you underftand the word, when you fay, honor is a princi- 
 ple of virtue. To this Alciphvcn replied, that, for his part, 
 he meant it in none of thofe fenfes, but defined honor to 
 be a certain ardor of enthufiafm that glowed in the breaft 
 of a gallant man. Upon this, Euphranor obferved, it was 
 always admitted to put the definition in place of the thing 
 defined. Is this allowed, faid he, or not ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — May we not, therefore, fay, that a man of hon- 
 or is a warm man, or an enthufiaft ? Alciphron hearing this, 
 declared, that fuch exadnefs was to no purpofe, that pe- 
 dants, indeed, may difpute and define, but could never reach 
 that high fenfe of honor, which diftinguifhed the fine gen- 
 tleman, and was a thing rather to be felt than explained.
 
 ii8 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER [Dial. III.] 
 
 II. Criio, perceiving that Alciphron could not bear being 
 preffed any farther on that article, and willing to give 
 fome fatisfa^lion to Euphramr^ faid. That of himfelf, in- 
 deed, he fliould not undertake to explain fo nice a point ; 
 but he would retail to them part cf a convcrfation he once 
 heard between Nicander, a Minute Philofopher, and Me- 
 nechsy a chriftian, upon the fame fubje<^, which was, 
 for fubftance, as follows : 
 
 M. From what principle are you, gentlemen, virtuous ? 
 
 N. From honor. We are men of honor. 
 
 M, May not a man of honor debauch another's wife, 
 or get drunk, or fell a vote, or refufe to pay his debts, 
 without lelTening or tainting his honor ? 
 
 iV. He may have the vices and faults of a gentleman : 
 but is obliged to pay debts of honor, that is, all fuch as 
 are contracted by play. 
 
 M. Is your man of honor always ready to refent af- 
 fronts, and engage in duels ? 
 
 N. He Is ready to demand and give a gentleman's fatis- 
 faClion, upon all proper occafions. 
 
 M. It fhould f':em, by this account, that to ruin tradef- 
 men, break faith to one's own wife, corrupt another man's, 
 take bribes, cheat the public, cut a man's throat for a 
 word, are all points confident with your principles of 
 honor. 
 
 N. It cannot be denied that we are men of gallantry, 
 men of fire, men who know the world, and all that. 
 
 M. It feems, therefore, that honor among infidels, is 
 like honefty among pirates : fomething confined to them- 
 felves, and which the fraternity may perhaps find their 
 account in, but every one elfe fliould be on his guard 
 againft. 
 
 By this dialogue, continued Critoy a man, who lives out 
 of the grand moncky may be enabled to form fome notion 
 of what the world calls honor, and mtn of honor. 
 
 EupH. — I muft intreat you not to put me off with Ni- 
 eander's opinion, whom, I know nothing of ^ but rather
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 119 
 
 give me your own judgment, drawn from your own ob- 
 fervation upon men of honor. 
 
 Cri. — If I muft pronounce, I can very fincerely afiure 
 you that, by all I have heard or feen, I could never find, 
 that honor, confidered as a principle diftincl from con- 
 fcience, religion, reafon and virtue, was more than an 
 empty name. And I do verily believe, that thofe who 
 build upon that notion have lefs virtue than other men ; 
 and that what they have, or feem to have, is owing to 
 falhion (being of the reputable kind) if not to a confcience 
 early imbued with religious principles, and afterwards re- 
 taining a tincture from them, without knowing it. Thefe 
 two principles feem to account for all that looks like vir- 
 tue in thofe gentlemen. Your men of fafliion, in whom 
 animal life abounds, a fort of bullies in morality, who 
 difdain to have it thought they are afraid of confcience ; 
 thefe defcant much upon honor, and affedi: to be called 
 men of honor, rather than confcientious or honefl men. 
 But, by all that I could ever obferve, this fpecious cha- 
 ra£ter, where there is nothing of confcience or religion 
 underneath, to give it life and fubftance, is no better than 
 a meteor or painted cloud. 
 
 EuPH. — I had a confufed notion, that honor was fome- 
 thing nearly connected with truth : and that men of hon- 
 or were the greatefh enemies to all hypocrify, fallacy, and 
 difguife. 
 
 Cri. — So far from that, an infidel, who fets up for the 
 niceft honor, (hall, without the leafl grain of faith or re- 
 ligion, pretend himfelf a chriilian, take any teft, join in 
 any a6l of worfhip, kneel, pray, receive the facrament, to 
 ferve an intereft. The fame perfon, without any im- 
 peachment of his honor, (hall mofl folemnly declare and 
 promife, in the face of God and the world, that he will 
 love his wife, and, forfaking all others, keep only to her, 
 when at the fame time it is certain, he intends never to 
 perform one tittle of his vow ; and convinceth the v/holc
 
 120 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 world of this, as foon as he gets her in his power, and her 
 fortuae, for the fake of which this man of untainted hon- 
 or makes no fcruple to cheat and lie. 
 
 EuPH. — We had a notion, here in the country, that it 
 was of all things mofc odious, and a matter of much rilk 
 and peril, to give the lie to a man of honor. 
 
 Cri. — It is very true. He abhors to take the lie, but 
 not to tell it. 
 
 ill. Alc'iphron^ having heard all this with great compo- 
 fure of mind and countenance, fpake as follows. The 
 word free-thinker, as it comprehends men of very different 
 forts and fentim^ents, cannot, in a ftri£i: fenfe, be faid to 
 conitltute one particular fe£l:, holding a certain fyftem of 
 pofitive and diftin(Sl: opinions. Though it muft be own- 
 ed,v/e do all agree in certain points of unbelief, or nega- 
 tive principles, which agreement, in fome fenfe, unites us 
 under the common idea of one fe6t. But then thofe nega- 
 tive principles, as they happen to take root in men of differ- 
 ent age, tem.per, and education, do produce various ten- 
 dencies, opinions, and chara£l:ers, widely differing one 
 from another. You are not to think that our greateft 
 ftrength lies in our greateft number, libertines, and mere 
 men of honor. No, we have among us philofophers of 
 a very different character, men of curious contemplation, 
 not governed by fuch grofs things as fenfe and cuftom, but 
 of an abftra^led virtue and fublime morals ; and the lefs 
 religious, the more virtuous. For virtue of the high and 
 difmterefted kind, no man is fo well qualified as an infidel, 
 it being a mean and felfifli thing to be virtuous through fear 
 or hope. The notion of a providence, and future ftate of 
 rewards and punifliments, may indeed tempt or fcare men 
 of abject fpirlt into praflices contrary to the natural bent 
 of their fouls, but will never produce a true and genuine 
 virtue. To p;o to the bottom of things, to analyfe virtue 
 into its firfi: principles, and fix a fcheme of morals on its 
 true bafis, you muft undcrftand, that there is an idea of
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 121 
 
 beauty natural to the mind of man. This all men defire, 
 this they are pleafed and delighted with, for its own fake, 
 purely from an inilinft of nature. A man needs no ar- 
 guments to make him difcern and approve what is beau- 
 tiful : it ftrikes at firft fight, and attracts without a rea- 
 fon. And as this beauty is found in the fhape and form 
 of corporeal things ; fo alfo is there analogous to it, a 
 beauty of another kind, an order, a fymmetry, and come- 
 linefs, in the moral world. And, as the eye perceiveth 
 the one, fo the mind doth, by a certain interior fenfe, 
 perceive the other ; which fenfe, talent, or faculty, is 
 ever quickefl and pureft in the nobleft minds. Thus, as by 
 fight, I difcern the beauty of a plant, or an animal, even 
 {o the mind apprehends the moral excellence, the beauty 
 and decorum of juftice and temperance. And, as we 
 readily pronounce a drefs becoming, or an attitude grace- 
 ful, we can, with tlie fame free untutored judgment, at 
 once declare, whether this or that condu6t, or adion, 
 be comely and beautiful; To relifli this kind of beauty, 
 there muft be a delicate and fine tafte : But where there 
 is this natural tafte, notliing further is wanting, either as 
 a principle to convince, or as a motive to induce men to 
 the love of virtue. And more or lefs there is of this tafte 
 or fenfe, in every creature that hath reafon. All ration- 
 al beings are by nature focial. They are drawn one to- 
 wards another, by natural affections. They unite arid in- 
 corporate into families, clubs, parties, and common- 
 wealths, by mutual fympathy. As by means of the fen- 
 fitive foul, our feveral diftincl parts and members do con- 
 fent towards the animal functions, and are connected in 
 one whole ; even fo, the feveral parts of thefe rational 
 fyftems, or bodies politic, by virtue of this moral or in- 
 terior fenfe, are held together, have a fellow-feeling, do 
 fuccour and protect each other, and jointly cooperate to- 
 wards the fame end. Hence that joy in fociety, that pro- 
 penfion towards doing good to our kind, that gratulation
 
 122 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 and delight in beholding the virtuous deeds of other men, 
 or in reflefting on our own. By contemplation of the 
 fitnefs and order of the parts of a moral fyftem, regular- 
 ly operating, and knit together by benevolent affeftions, 
 the mind of man attainetli to the higheft notion of beau- 
 ty, excellence, and perfeftion. Seized and v^rrapt with 
 this fublime idea, our philofophers do infinitely defpife 
 and pity whoever fhali propofe or accept any other mo- 
 tive to virtue. Intereft is a mean ungenerous thing, def- 
 troying the merit of virtue : and falfhood, of every kind, 
 is inconfiftent with the genuine fpirit of philofophy. 
 
 Cri.-— The love, therefore, that you bear to moral 
 beauty, and your paflion for abilra£l:ed truth, will notfuf- 
 fer you to think with patience of thofe fraudulent impofi- 
 tions upon mankind. Providence, the immortality of the 
 foul, and a future retribution of rewards and punifli- 
 ments ; which, under the notion of promoting, do, it 
 feems, deftroy all true virtue, and, at the fame time, con- 
 tradldl and difparage your noble theories, manifeftly 
 tending to the perturbation and difquiet of men's m.inds, 
 and filling them with fruitkfs hopes, and vain terrors. 
 
 Alc. — Men's firft thoughts, and natural notions, are 
 the bcft in moral matters. x\nd there is no need that 
 mankind (hould be preached, or reafoned, or frightened 
 into virtue, a thing fo natural and congenial to every hu- 
 man foul. Now if this be the cafe, as it certainly is, it 
 follows, that all the ends of fociety are fecured without 
 religion, and that an infidel bids fair to be the moil vir- 
 tuous man, in a true, fublime, and heroic fenfe. 
 
 IV. EuPH.— O Aldphron ! while you talk, I feel an 
 afFe^lion iil my foul, like the trembling of one lute upon 
 ftriking the unifon firings of another. Doubtlefs, there is 
 a beauty of the mind, a charm in virtue, a fymmetry and 
 proportion in the moral world. This moral beauty was 
 known to the ancients by the name of honejlumy or to ha-
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 123 
 
 Ion. And, in order to know its force and influence, it may 
 not be amifs to inquire, what it was underflood to be, 
 and what light it was placed in, by thofe who firft con- 
 fidered it, and gave it a name. To kalon, according to 
 Arijlotky is the epoineton^ or laudable : according to Plato^ 
 it is the edu^ or ophetimoriy pleafant, or profitable, which 
 is meant with refpe£^ to a reafonable mind, and its true 
 intereft. Now I would fain know, whether a mind, 
 which confiders an action as laudable, be not carried be- 
 yond the bare aftion itfelf, to regard the opinion of 
 othera concerning it ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EupH.— And whether this be a fufficient ground or 
 principle of virtue, for a man to a61: upon, when he 
 thinks himfelf removed from the eye and obfervation of 
 every other intelligent being ? 
 
 Alc. — It feems not. "^• 
 
 EuPH. — Again, I afk whether a man, who doth a 
 thing pleafant or profitable as fuch, muft not be fuppo- 
 fed to forbear doing it, or even to do the contrary, upon 
 the profpe£t of greater pleafure or profit? 
 
 Alc. — He muft. 
 
 EuPH.-— Doth it not follow from hence, that the beau- 
 ty of virtue, or to kaloriy in either Arijlotle^ or Plato's 
 fenfe, is not a fufficient principle, or ground, to engage 
 fenfual and v/orldiy-minded men in the practice of it } 
 
 Alc. — What then ? 
 
 EuPH.— Why, then it will follow, that hope of re- 
 ward, and fear of punifhment, are highly expedient to 
 caft the balance of pleafant and profitable on the fide of 
 virtue, and thereby very much conduce to the benefit of 
 human fociety. Alciphron^ upon this, appealed : Gen- 
 tlemen, faid he, you are witnefles of this unfair proceed- 
 ing of Euphranovy who argues againft us, from explica- 
 tions given by Plato and Arijlotky of the beauty of virtue, 
 which are things we have nothing to fay to 5 the philo-
 
 1^4 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 iophers of our fcS: abftrafting from all pralfe, pleafure, 
 and intereft, when they are enamoured and tranfport- 
 ed with that fublime idea. I beg pardon, replied Eu- 
 phramry for fuppofmg the Minute Philofophers, of our 
 days, think like thofe ancient fages. But you mull tell 
 me, Alciphvofiy fmce you do not think fit to adopt the 
 fenfe of Flato or Arijiotle^ what fenfe is it in which you 
 underftand the beauty of virtue ? Define it, explain it, 
 make me to underftand your meaning, that fo we may 
 argue about the fame thing, without which we can never 
 com.e to a conclufion, 
 
 V. Alc— Some things are better underftood by de- 
 finitions and defcriptions ; but I have always obferved, 
 that thofe, who would define, explain, and difpute about 
 this point, make the leaft of it. Moral beauty is of fo 
 peculiar and abftra61:ed a nature, fomething fo fubtile, 
 fine, and fugacious, that it will not bear being handled 
 and infpe£l:ed, like every grofs and common fubjeft. You 
 will, therefore, pardon me, if I ftand upon my pbilofoj)hic 
 liberty ; and choofe rather to intrench myfelf, within the 
 gerleral and indefinite fenfe, rather than, by entering into 
 a precife and particular explication of this beauty, per- 
 chance lofe fight of it ; or give you fome hold whereon to 
 cavil, and infer, and raife doubts, queries, and difficulties, 
 about a point as clear as the fun, when nobody reafons 
 upon it. 
 
 EuPH. — How fay you, Ahiphrony is that notion clear- 
 efl: when it is not confidered ? 
 
 Alc. — I fay, it is rather to be felt than underftood, a 
 £trti\nje?iefcaiqiwu An object, not of the difcurfive 
 faculty, but of a peculiar fenfe, which is properly called 
 the moral fenfe, being adapted to the perception of moral 
 beauty, as the eye to colours, or the ear to founds. 
 
 EuPH. — ^That men have certain inftiinftivc fenfations, 
 or paffions, from nature, which make them amiable and
 
 [Dial. HI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 12^ 
 
 ufeful to each other, I am clearly convinced. Such are 
 fellow-feeling with the diftreffed, a tendernefs for our 
 offspring, an affection towards our friends, our neighbors, 
 and our country, an indignation againft things bafe, cru- 
 el, or unjuft. Thefe paffions are implanted in the human 
 foul, with feveral other fears and appetites, averfions and 
 defires, fome of which are flrongeft and uppermoft in one 
 mind, others in another. Should it not, therefore, feem a 
 very uncertain guide in morals, for a man to follow his 
 paffion or invi^rd feeling ? And would not this rule infal- 
 libly lead different men different ways, according to the 
 prevalency of this or that appetite, or palTion ? 
 
 Alc. — I do not deny it. 
 
 EupH. — And will it not follow from hence, that duty 
 and virtue are in a fairer way of being pra6:ifed, if men 
 are led by reafon and judgment ; balancing low and fen- 
 fual pleafures with thofe of a higher kind, comparing pre- 
 fent loffes with future gains, and the uneafinefs and dif- 
 gufl of every vice, with the delightful practice of the 
 oppofite virtue, and the pieafing reflexions and hopes 
 which attend it ? Or, can there be a ftronger motive to 
 virtue, than the (hewing that, confidered in ail lights, it 
 is every man's true intereft ? 
 
 VI. Alc. — I tell you, Euphrancr^ we contemn the vir- 
 tue of that man, who computes and deliberates, and muft 
 have a reafon for being virtuous. The refined moralifls of 
 our fe£l are ravifhed and tranfported with the abftradl 
 beauty of virtue. They difdain all forenfical motives to 
 it ; and love virtue only for virtue's fake. Oh rapture ! 
 Oh enthufiafm! Oh the quinteffence of beauty ! Methinks 
 I could dwell for ever on this contemplation. But rather 
 than entertain myfelf, I muft endeavor to convince you. 
 Make an experiment on the firfl man you meet. Propofe 
 a villainous or unjufl action. Take his firft fenfe of the 
 matter, and you fhall find he detefts it. He may indeed
 
 126 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 be afterwards mifled by arguments, or overpowered by 
 temptation ; but his original, unpremeditated, and genu- 
 ine thoughts, are juft and orthodox. How can we account 
 for this, but by a moral fenfe, which, left to itfelf, hath as 
 quick and true a perception of the beauty and deformity of 
 human a6lions, as the eye hath of colors. 
 
 EuPH. — May not this be fufficiently accounted for, by 
 confcience, affection, paffion, education, reafon, cuftom, 
 religion, which principles and habits, for aught I know, 
 may be what you metaphorically call a moral fenfe I 
 
 Alc. — What I call a moral fenfe, is ftri^lly, properly, 
 and truly fuch, and, in kind, different from all thofe things 
 you enumerate. It is what all men have, though all may 
 not obferve it. Upon this, Euphranor fmiled, and faid, 
 Alciphron has tnade difcoveries where I leaft expe£led it. 
 For, faid he, in regard to every other point, I ftiould hope 
 to learn from him 5 but for the knowledge of myfelf, or 
 the faculties and powers of my own mind, I fliould have 
 looked at home. And there I might have looked long 
 enough, without finding this new talent, which even now, 
 after being tutored, I cannot comprehend. For Alciphron^ 
 I mud needs fay, is too fublime and enigmatical upon a 
 point, which, of all others, ought to be moft clearly under- 
 flood. I have often heard that your deepefl adepts and 
 oldefl profeflbrs in fcience are the obfcureft. Lyftcles is 
 young, and fpeaks plain. Would he but favor us with his 
 fenfe of this point, it might, perhaps, prove more upon a 
 level with my apprehenfion. 
 
 VII. Lyftcles {hook his head, and in a grave and earned 
 manner addrefled the company. Gentlemen, faid he, 
 Alciphron Hands upon his own legs. I have no part in 
 thefe refined notions he is at prefent engaged to defend. 
 If I muft fubdue my paffions, abftra61:, contemplate, be en- 
 amoured of virtue ; in a word, if I muft be an enthufiaft, 
 I owe fo much deference to the laws of my country, as
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 127 
 
 to choofe being an enthufiaft in their way. Befidesj it is 
 better being fo for feme end, than for none. This doc- 
 trine hath all the folid inconveniencies, without the amu- 
 fing hopes and profpeiSls of the chriftian. 
 
 Alc. — I never counted on Lyjides for my fecond in 
 this point ; which, after all, doth not need his affiftance or 
 explication. All fubje^ls ought not to be treated in the 
 fame manner. The way of definition and divifion is dry 
 and pedantic. Befides, the fubjeiSJ: is fometimes too ob- 
 fcure, fometimes too fimple, for this method. One while we 
 know too little of a point, another too much, to make it 
 plainer by difcourfe. 
 
 Cri. — To hear Alciphron talk, puts me in mind of that 
 ingenious Greeks who having wrapt a man's brother up in 
 a cloak, alked him whether he knew that perfon ? being 
 ready, either by keeping on, or pulling off the cloak, to 
 confute his anfwer, whatever it fhould be. For my part, 
 I believe, if matters were fairly ftated, that ration'al fatif- 
 fa£lion, that peace of mind, that inward comfort, and con- 
 fcientious joy, which a good chriftian finds in good aftions, 
 would not be found to fall fhort of all the ecftafy, rapture, 
 and enthufiafin fuppofed to be the effedl of that high and 
 undefciibed principle. In earneft, can any ecftafy be 
 higher, any rapture more affecting, than that which fprings 
 from the love of God and man, from a confcience void of 
 offence, and an inward difcharge of duty, with the fe- 
 cret delight, truft, and hope tliat attend it ? 
 
 Alc. — O Euphra?iory we votaries of truth do not envy, 
 but pity, the groundlefs joys and miftaken hopes of a 
 chriftian. And, as for confcience and rational pleafure, 
 how can we allow a confcience, without allowing a vindic- 
 tive Providence ? or how can we fuppofe, the charm of 
 virtue confifts in any pleafure, or benefit attending virtuous 
 adlions,* without giving great advantages to the chriftian 
 
 * There can never be lefs felf-enjoyment than in thefe fuppofed wife 
 charaAers, thefe fclfifh computers of happinefs and private good. Charac- 
 ter iftics, Vol. 3. p. 3ai.
 
 t28 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. Ill] 
 
 religion, which, it feems, excites its believers to virtue by 
 the higheft interefts and pleafures iij reverfion. Alas ! 
 fhould we grant this, there would be a door opened to all 
 thofe rufty declaimers upon the neceffity and ufefulnefs of 
 the great points of faith, the immortality of the foul, a fu- 
 ture ftate, rewards and punifhments, and the like exploded 
 conceits ; which, according to our fyftem and principles, 
 may perhaps produce a low, popular, interefted kind of 
 virtue, but muft abfoluteiy deftroy and extinguifti it in the 
 fubiimc and heroic fenfe. 
 
 VIII. EuPH. — What you now fay is very intelligible : 
 I wifti I underftood your main principle as well. 
 
 Alc— And are you then in earneft at a lofs ? Is it pof- 
 fible you fhould have no notion of beauty, or that, having 
 it, you fhould not know it to be amiable, amiable I fay, in 
 itfelf, and for itfelf ? 
 
 EuPH. — Pray tell me, Alciphrony are all mankind agreed 
 in the notion of a beauteous face ? 
 
 Alc— Beauty in human kind feems to be of a more 
 mixt and various nature : forafmuch as the paffions, fenti- 
 ments, and qualities of the foul being feen through and 
 blending with the features, work differently on differ- 
 ent minds, as the fympathy is more or lefs. But, with 
 regard to other things, is there no fteady principle of beau- 
 ty ? Is there upon earth, a human mind, without the idea 
 of order, harmony, and proportion ? 
 
 EupH. — "O Alciphro7iy it is my weaknefs, that I am apt 
 to be loft in abftraftions and generalities, but a particular 
 thing is better fuited to my faculties. I find it eafy to 
 confider and keep in view the objects of fenfe ; let us 
 therefore try to difcover what their beauty is, or wherein 
 it confifts ; and fo^ by the help of thefe fenfible things, as a 
 fcale or ladder, afcend to moral and intelle£l:ual beauty. 
 Be pleafed then to inform me, what it is we call beauty in 
 the objedls of i^niQ ?
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 129 
 
 Alc. — Every one knows beauty is that which pleafes. 
 
 EupR. — There is then beauty in the fmell of a rofe, 
 or the tafte of an apple. 
 
 Alc. — By no means. Beauty is, to fpeak properly, 
 perceived only by the eye. 
 
 EupH. — It cannot, therefore, be defined, in general, 
 that which pleafeth. 
 
 Alc. — I grant it cannot. 
 
 EuPH. — How then fhall wc limit or define it .•* Aid- 
 phron, after a fhort paufe, faid, that beauty confifled in. 
 a certain fymmetry, or proportion, pleafing to the eye. 
 
 EuPH. — Is this proportion one and the fame in all 
 things, or is it different in different kinds of things ? 
 
 Alc. — Different, doubtlefs. The proportions of an 
 ox would not be beautiful in an horfe. And we obferve, 
 alfo in things inanimate, that the beauty of a table, a 
 chair, a door, confills in different proportions. 
 
 EuPH. — Doth not this proportion imply the relation of 
 one thing to another ? 
 
 Alc — It doth. 
 
 EupH. — And are not thefe relations founded in fize 
 and fhape .'* 
 
 Alc — They are. 
 
 EuPH. — And, to make the proportions jufl, muft not 
 thefe mutual relations of fize and fhape, in the parts, be 
 fuch, as fhall make the whole complete and perfect in its 
 kind ? 
 
 Alc — I grant they muft. 
 
 EupH. — Is not a thing faid to be perfe£t in its kind, 
 when it anfwers the end for which it was made ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EaPH. — ^Thc parts, therefore. In true proportions, 
 mufl be fo related, and adjufled to one another, as that 
 they may befl confpire to the ufe and operation of the 
 whole, 
 
 Alc — It feems fo. 
 
 R
 
 130 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 EuPH. — But the comparing parts one with another, the 
 confidering them as belonging to one whole, and the re- 
 fering this whole to its ufe and end, fhould feem the 
 v/ork of reafon : fhould it not ? 
 
 Alc — It fliould. 
 
 EuPH. — Proportions, therefore, are not, ftri6i:ly fpeak- 
 ing, perceived by the fenfe of fight, but only by reafon, 
 through the medium of fight. 
 
 Alc. — This I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — Confequently beauty, in your fenfe of it, is 
 an objecl:, not of the eye, but of the mind. 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — The eye, therefore, alone, cannot fee that a 
 chair is handfome, or a door well proportioned. 
 
 Alc. — It feems to follow ; but I am not clear as to 
 this point. 
 
 EuPH. — Let us fee, if there be any difficulty in it. — 
 Could the chair you fit on, think you, be reckoned well 
 proportioned, or handfome, if it had not fuch a height, 
 breadth, widenefs, and was not fo far reclined, as to af- 
 ford a convenient f^^at .? 
 
 Alc. — It could not. 
 
 EuPH. — The beauty, therefore, or fymmetry of a 
 chair, cannot be apprehended, but by knowing its ufe, and 
 comparing its figure with that ufe, which cannot be done 
 by the eye alone, but is the effed: of judgment. It is, 
 therefore, one thing to fee an objc61:, and another to 
 difcern its beauty. 
 
 Alc — I admit this to be true. 
 
 IX. EuPH. — The archite£ls judge a door to be of a 
 beautiful proportion, when its height is double of the 
 breadth. But if you fhould invert a well proportioned 
 door, making its breadth become the height, and its height 
 the breadth, the figure would ftill be the fame, but with- 
 out that beauty in one fituation, which it had in another.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 131 
 
 What can be the csufe of this, but that in the foremention- 
 ed fuppofition, the door would not yield a convenient en- 
 trance to creatures of a human figure ? But, if in any- 
 other part of the univerfe, there fhould be fuppofed ra- 
 tional animals of an inverted ftature, they muft be fuppo- 
 fed to invert the rule for proportion of doors : and to 
 them that v/ould appear beautiful, v/hich, to us, was 
 difagreeable. 
 
 Alc. — Againfi: this^ I have no objection. 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alclphron^ is there not fomething 
 truly decent and beautiful in drefs ? 
 
 Alc. — Doubtlefs, there is. 
 
 EuPH. — Are any likelier to give us an idea of this 
 beauty in drefs, than painters and fculptors, whofe pro- 
 per bufinefs and ftudy it is, to aim at graceful reprefcnt- 
 ations ? 
 
 Alc. — I believe not. 
 
 EuPH. — Let us then examine the draperies of the 
 great mafters in thefe arts : How, for inftance, they ufe 
 to clothe a matron, or a man of rank. Call an eye on 
 thofe figures (faid he, pointing to fome prints after Ra- 
 phael and Guidoy that hung upon the wall) what appear- 
 ance, do you think, an Englifi courtier, or magiftrate, 
 with his Gothicy fuccinct, plaited garment, and his full- 
 bottomed wig ; or one of our ladies in her unnatural drefs, 
 pinched, and ftiffened, and enlarged with hoops, and 
 whale-bone, and buckram, muft make ; among thofe fi- 
 gures fo decently clad in draperies, that fall into fuch a 
 variety of natural, eafy, and ample folds ; that cover the 
 body without incumbering it, and adorn without altering 
 the fhape ? 
 
 Alc. — Truly, I think they muft make a very ridicu- 
 lous appearance. 
 
 EuPH. — And what do you think this proceeds from ? 
 Whence is it, that the eaftern nations, the Greeks and the 
 RofnanSi naturally run into the moft becoming drefles j
 
 132 , MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 while our Gothic gentry, after fo many centuries racking 
 their inventions, mending, and altering, and improving, 
 and whirling about in perpetual rotation of faftiions, have 
 never yet had the luck to liumble on any that was not ab- 
 furd and ridiculous ? Is it not from hence, that inftead 
 of confulting ufe, reafon, and convenience, they abandon 
 themfelves to fancy, the unnatural parent of monfters ? 
 Whereas the ancients, confidering the ufe and end of 
 drefs, made it fubfervient to the freedom, eafe, and conve- 
 nience of the body, and, having no notion of mending or 
 changing the natural fliape, they aimed only at Ihewing 
 it with decency and advantage. And, if this be fo, are 
 we not to conclude, that the beauty of drefs depends on 
 its fubferviency to certain ends and ufes ? 
 
 Alc. — -This appears to be true. 
 
 EuPH. — This fubordinate, relative nature of beauty, 
 perhaps will be yet plainer, if we examine the refpeflive 
 beauties of a horfe and a pillar. Firgil's defcription of 
 the former is, 
 
 — I//i ardua cervix, 
 
 Argutumque caput y brevis alvus^ ohefaque terga, 
 Luxuriatqite torts animofum pectus. 
 
 Now I would fain know, whether the perfections and 
 ufes of a horfe may not be reduced to thefe three points, 
 courage, ftrength, and fpeed ? and whether each of the 
 beauties enumerated, doth not occafion, or betoken, one 
 of thefe perfeftions ? After the fame manner, if we in- 
 quire into the parts and proportions of a beautiful pillar, 
 we fliall perhaps find them anfwer to this fame idea. Thofe 
 who have confidered the theory of architecture, tell us. * 
 the proportions of the three Grecian Orders were taken 
 from the human body, as the mod beautiful and perfe^ 
 
 * See the learned patriarch of Aquilcia's Commer.tary on Vitruvius. I. 
 4. c.i.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 133 
 
 produ£i;ion of nature. Hence were derived thofe grace- 
 ful ideas of columns, which had a chara£ter of ftrength 
 without clumfinefs, or of delicacy without weaknefs. — 
 Thofe beautiful proportions were, I fay, taken originally 
 from nature, which, in her creatures, as hath been already 
 obferved, referreth them to fome end, ufe, or defign. The 
 Gonjiezza alfo, or fwelling, and the diminution of a pillar, 
 is it not in fuch proportion, as to make it appear ftrong 
 and light at the fame time ? In the fame manner, mud 
 not the whole entablature, with its projections, be fo pro- 
 portioned, as to feem great, but not heavy, hght, but not 
 little : inafmuch as a deviation into either extreme would 
 thwart that reafon and ufe qf things, wherein their beauty 
 is founded, and to which it is fubordinate ? The entabla- 
 ture, and all its parts and ornaments, architrave, freeze, 
 cornice, triglyphs, metopes, modiglions, and the lefl, have 
 each an ufe, or appearance of ufe, in giviag firmnefs and 
 union to the building, in protecting it from the weather, 
 and calling off the rain, in rcprefenting the ends of beams 
 with their intervals, the production of rafters, and fo forth. 
 And, if we confider the graceful angels in frontispieces, 
 the fpaces between the columns, or the ornaments of their 
 capitals ; (hnll we not find, that their beauty rifeth from 
 the appearance of ufe, or the imitation of natural things, 
 whofe beauty is originally bounded on the fame principle ? 
 which is, indeed, the grand diftinCtion between Grecian 
 and Gothic architecture; the latter being fantaftical, and, 
 for the molt part, founded neither in nature, nor in rea- 
 fon, in neceflity nor ufe, the appearance of which, ac- 
 counts for all the beauty, grace and ornament, of the 
 other. 
 
 ' Cri. — What Euphranor hath faid, confirms the opinion, 
 I always entertained, that the rules of architecture were 
 founded, (as all other arts which fiourifhed among the 
 Greeks) in truth, and nature, and good fenfe. But the 
 ancients, who, from a thorough confideration of th«
 
 134 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 grounds and principles of art, formed their idea of beauty, 
 did not always confine themfelves ftriftly to the fame rules 
 and proportions : But, whenever the particular diftance, 
 pofition, elevation, or dimenfion of the fabric, or its parts, 
 feemed to require it, made no fcruple to depart from them, 
 without deferting the original principles of beauty, which 
 governed whatever deviations they made. This latitude, 
 or licence, might not, perhaps, be fafely trufted with moft 
 modern architects, who, in their bold fallies, feem to a6t 
 without aim or defign ; and to be governed by no idea, 
 no reafon, or prrnciple of art, but pure caprice, joined with 
 a thorough contempt of that, noble fimplicity of the an- 
 cients, without which there can be no unity, gracefulnefs, 
 or grandeur in their works ; which, of confequence, muft 
 ferve only to disfigure and difhonor the nation, being fo 
 many monuments to future ages of the opulence and ill 
 tafte of the prefent ; which, it is to be feared, would fuc- 
 ceed as wretchedly, and make as mad work in other affairs, 
 were men to follow, inftead of rules, precepts, and mod- 
 els, their own tafte and firft thoughts of beauty. 
 
 Alc. — I fhould now, methinks, be glad to fee a little 
 more diftin£lly, the ufe and tendency of this digreffion 
 upon architecture. 
 
 EupH. — Was not beauty the very thing we inquired 
 after ? 
 
 Alc. — It was. 
 
 EuFH. — What think you, Alciphron^ can the app-earance 
 of a thing pleafe at this time, and in this place, which 
 pleafed two thoufand years ago, and two thoufand miles 
 off, without fome real principle of beauty } 
 
 Alc. — It cannot. 
 
 EuPH. — And is not this the cafe with refpe£t to a juft 
 piece of architecture ? 
 
 Alc. — No body denies it. 
 
 EuPH. — Architecture, the noble offspring of judgm^cnt 
 and fancy, was gradually formed in the moft polite and
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 135 
 
 knowing countries of Afta^ Egypt, Gteece and Italy. It was 
 chcriihed and elleemed by the moft flourifhing dates, and 
 moft renowned princes, who, with vad expenfe, improved 
 and brought it to perfection. It feems, above all other 
 arts, peculiarly converfant about order, proportion, and 
 fymmetry. May it not, therefore, be fuppofed, on all ac- 
 counts, moft likely to help us to fome rational notion of 
 theyV nefcai quoi in beauty ? And, in eiFecSl, have we not 
 learned from this digreffion, that, as there is no beauty 
 without proportion, fo proportions are to be efteemed jufh 
 and true, only as they are relative to fome certain ufe or 
 end, their aptitude and fubordination to which end is, at 
 bottom, that which makes them pleafe and charm ? 
 Alc. — I admit all this to be true. 
 
 X. EuPH. — According to this doctrine, I would fain 
 know what beauty can be found in a moral fyllem, form- 
 ed, connected, and governed by chance, fate, or any other 
 blind unthinking principle ? forafmuchas, without thought, 
 there can be no end or defign ; and, without an end, there 
 can be no ufe ; and, without ufe, there is no aptitude or fit- 
 nefs of proportion, from whence beauty fprings. 
 
 Alc. — May we not fuppofe a certain vital principle of 
 beauty, order, and harmony, diftufed throughout the world, 
 without fuppoHng a Providence, Infpedling, punifhing, and 
 rewarding the moral actions of men ? without fuppofing 
 the immortality of the foul, or a life to come ; in a word, 
 without admitting any part of what is commonly called 
 faith, worfhip, and religion ? 
 
 Cri. — Either you fuppofe this principle intelligent, or 
 not intelligent : If the latter,' it is all one with chance, or 
 fate, which was juft now agreed agSinft : If the former, 
 let me intreat Alciphron to explain to me, wherein confifts 
 the beauty of a moral fyftem, with a Supreme Intelligence 
 at the head of it, which neither prote£ts the innocent, pun- 
 i(he3 the wicked, nor rewards the virtuous ? To fuppofe,
 
 136 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 indeed, a fociety of rational agents, acting under the eye of 
 Providence, concurring in one defign to promote the com- 
 mon benefit of the M^iole, and conforming their actions to 
 the eftabhftied laws and order of the Divine Paternal Wif- 
 dom : Wherein each particular agent {hall not confider 
 himfelf apart, but as the member of a great city, whofe 
 author and founder is God : In which the civil laws are 
 no other, than the rules of virtue, and the duties of reli- 
 gion : And where every one's true intereft is combined 
 with his duty : to fuppofe this, would be delightful : On 
 this fuppofition, a man need be no ftoic or knight-errant, 
 to account for his virtue. In fuch a fyftem, vice is mad- 
 nefs, cunning is folly, wifdom and virtue are the fame 
 thing, where, notwithftanding all the crooked paths and 
 by-roads, the wayward appetites and inclinations of men, 
 fovereign reafon is fure to reform whatever feems amifs, 
 to reduce that which is devious, make flraight that which 
 is crooked, and, in the laft a£l:, wind up the whole plot, 
 according to the exacSleft rules of wifdom and juftice. In 
 fuch a fyftem, or fociety, governed by the wifeft precepts, 
 enforced bythe higheft rewards and difcouragemcnts, it is 
 delightful to confider, how the regulation of laws, the dif- 
 tribution of good and evil, the aim of moral agents, do 
 all confpire, in due fubordination, to promote the noblell 
 end, to wit, the complete happinefs, or well-being, of the 
 whole. In contemplating the beauty of fuch a moral fyf- 
 tem, we may cry out, with the pfalmift, Fery excellent things 
 are fpohen of thee, though City of God, 
 
 XI. In a fyftem of fpirits, fubordinate to the will, and 
 under the direction, of the Father of fpirits, governing them 
 by laws, and condu£Hng them by methods^ fuitable to wife 
 and good ends, there will be great beauty. But in an in- 
 coherent fortuitous fyftem, governed by chance, or in a 
 blind fyftem, governed by fate, or in any fyftem where 
 Providence doth not prefide^ how can beauty be, which can-
 
 [Dial. IH.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 137 
 
 not be without order, which cannot be without defign ? 
 when a man is confcious that his will is inwardly conform- 
 ed to the divine will, producing order and harmony in the 
 univerfe, and condu6ling the whole by the jultefl methods 
 to the bell end : This gives a beautiful idea. But en ths 
 other hand, a confcioufnefs of virtue overlooked, negle(?:ed, 
 diftrelTed by men, and not regarded or rewarded by God, 
 ill-ufed in this world, without hope or profpe£l: of being 
 better ufed in another, I would fain know, where is the 
 pleafure of this reflexion, where is the beauty of this fcene ? 
 or, how could any man, in his fenfes, think the fpreading 
 fuch notions the way to fpread or propagate virtue in the 
 world ? Is it not, I befeech you, an ugly fyllem, in which 
 you can fuppofe no law, and prove no duty, wherein men 
 thrive by wickednefs, and fufFer by virtue ? Would it not 
 be a difagreeable fight to fee an honed man peeled by {harp- 
 ers, -to fee virtuous men injured and defpifed, while vice 
 triumphed ? An enthufiaft may entertain himfelf with 
 vifions, and fine talk, about fuch a fyftem ; but when it 
 comes to be confidered by men of cool heads, and clofe 
 reafon, I believe they will find no beauty nor perfe6lion 
 in it ; nor will it appear, that fuch a moral fyftem can 
 poflibly come from the fame hand, or be of a piece with 
 the natural, throughout which there fhines fo much order, 
 harmony, and proportion. 
 
 Alc— Your difcourfe ferves to confirm me in my opin- 
 ion. You may remember, I declared, that touching this 
 beauty of morality in the high fenfe, a man's firft thoughts 
 are bed j and that, if we pretend to examine, and infpe£l, 
 and reafon, we are in danger to lofe fight of it.* That, 
 in fa£l:, there is fuch a thing cannot be doubted, when we 
 confider that, in thefe days, fome of our philofophers have a 
 high fenfe of virtue, without the lead notion of religion, 
 
 * Men's firft thoughts on moral matters arc generally better than 
 their fecond : their natural notions better than thofe refined by ftudy. 
 Charaderiftics, Vol. i. p. 13. 
 
 s
 
 138 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 a clear proof of the ufefulnefs and efficacy of our prin- 
 ciples ! 
 
 XII. Cri. — Not to difpute the virtue of Minute Philo- 
 fophers, we may venture to call its caufe In queftion, and 
 make a doubt, vi^hether it be an inexplicable enthufiaftic 
 notion of moral beauty, or rather, as to me it feems, what 
 was already affigned by Euphranor^ complexion, cuftom, 
 and religious education ? but, allowing what beauty you 
 pleafe, to virtue in an irreligious fyftem, it cannot be lefs in 
 a religious, unlefs you will fuppofe that her charms dimin- 
 ifh, as her dowry increafeth. The truth is, a believer 
 hath all the motives from the beauty of virtue, in any fenfe 
 whatloever, that an unbeliever can poffibly have, befides' 
 o'thcr motives, which an Unbeliever hath not. Hence it is 
 plain, that thofe of your fe£l:, who have moral virtue, owe 
 it not to their peculiar tenets, which ferve only to leflen the 
 motives to virtue. Thofe, therefore, who are good, are 
 lefs good, and thofe who are bad, are more bad, than they 
 would have been, were they believers. 
 
 EupH. — <To me it feems, thofe heroic infidel inamora- 
 tos of abftrafted beauty, are much to be pitied, and much 
 to be admired. Lyftclesy hearing this, faid, with fome im- 
 patience, gentlemen, you (hall have my whole thoughts 
 upon^this point, plain and frank. All that is faid about a 
 moral fenfe, or moral beauty, in any fignificatlon, either of 
 Alciphron or Euphranor^ or any other, I take to be at bot- 
 tom mere bubble and pretence. The hilon and the prepo?ty 
 the beautiful and the decent, are things outward, relative, 
 and fuperficial, which have no efFe£i: in the dark, but are 
 fpecious topics to difcourfe and expatiate upon, as fome 
 formal pretenders of our fed:, though in other points 
 very orthodox, are ufed to do. But Ihould one of them get 
 into power, you would find him no fuch fool as Euphranor 
 imagines. He would foon fhew he had found out, that the 
 love of one's country is a prejudice : That mankind are
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 139 
 
 rogues and {lypocrites, and that it were folly to facrifice 
 one's lelf for the fake of fuch : That ail regards center in 
 this life, and that, as this life is to every man his own life, 
 it clearly follows that charity begins at home. Benevo- 
 lence to mankind is perhaps pretended, but benevolence to 
 himfelf is praclifed by the wife. The liveHer fort of our 
 philofophers do not fcruple to own thefe maxims ; and as 
 for the graver, if they are true to their principles, one may 
 guefs what they muft think at bottom. 
 
 Cri. — Whatever may be the effeA of pure theory upon 
 certain felect fpirits, of a peculiar make, or in feme other 
 parts of the world ; I do verily think that, in this country, 
 of ours, reafon, religion, law, are all together little enough 
 to fubdue the outward to the inward man ; and that it 
 muft argue a wrong head, and weak judgment, to fuppofe, 
 that, without them, men would be enamoured of the golden 
 mean. To which my countrymen, perhaps, are lefs incli- 
 ned than others, there being in the make of an Englifh mind 
 a certain gloom and eagernefs, which carries to the fad 
 extreme ; religion to fanaticifm ; free-thinking to atheifm ; 
 liberty to rebellion : Nor ihould we venture to be govern- 
 ed by tafte, even in matters of lefs confequence. The 
 beautiful in drefs, furniture, and building, is, as Euphratior 
 hath obferved, fomething real and well grounded : And 
 yet our Englijh do not find it out of themfelves. What 
 wretched v/ork do they and other northern people make, 
 when they follow their own tafte of beauty, in any of thefe 
 particulars, inftead of acquiring the true, which is to be 
 got from ancient models and the principles of art, as in the 
 cafe of virtue, from great models and meditation, fo far as 
 natural means can go ? But in no cafe is it to be hoped, 
 that to kalon will be the leading idea of \!\\z many, who 
 have quick fenfes, ftrong paJGTions, and grofs intellects. 
 
 XIII. Alc. — The fewer they are, the more ought we 
 to efteem, and admire fuch philofophers, whofe fouls arc 
 touched, and tranfported, with this fublime idea.
 
 740 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 Cri. — 'But then one might expect, from fuch philofo- 
 phers, fo much good fenfe, and philanthrophy, as to keep 
 their tenets to themfelves, and confider their weak breth- 
 ren, who are more ftrongly affe6led by certain fenfes and no- 
 tions of another kind, than that of the beauty of pure dif- 
 interefted virtue. Cratylus, a man prejudiced againft the 
 chriftian religion, of a crazy conftitution, of a rank above 
 moft men's ambition, and a fortune equal to his rank, had 
 little capacity for fenfual vices, or temptation to diflionefl 
 ones. Cratylus having talked himfeif, or imagined that he 
 had talked himfeif, into a ftoical enthufiafm about the 
 beauty of virtue, did, under the pretence of making men 
 heroically virtuous, endeavor to deflroy the means of ma- 
 king them reafonably and humanly fo. A clear inftance, 
 that neither birth, norbooks, norconverfation, can introduce 
 a knowledge of the world into a conceited mind, which 
 will ever be its own object, and contemplate mankind in 
 its own mirror ! 
 
 Alc. — Cratylus v/as a lover of liberty, and of his coun- 
 try, and had a mind to make men incorrupt and virtuous, 
 upon the pureft and moft difinterefted principles. 
 
 Cri.' — It is true, the main fcope of all his writings (as 
 he himfeif tells us) was to afiert the reality of a beauty 
 and charm in moral, as well as in natural fubjedls : to 
 demonftrate a taile, which he thinks more effectual than 
 principle : to recommend morals on the fame foot with 
 manners ; and fo to advance philofophy on the very foun- 
 dation of what is called agreeable and polite. As for re- 
 ligious qualms, the belief of a future flate of rewards and 
 punifbments, and fuch matters, this great man fticks not 
 to declare, that the liberal, polifhed, and refined part of 
 mankind, m.uft needs confider them only as children's tales, 
 and amufements of the vulgar. For the fake, therefore, 
 of tll^ better fort, he hath, in great goodncfs and wif- 
 dom, thought cf fomething elfe, to wit, a tafl:e or relifli : 
 thisj he sHVires uSj is^ at laft. what will influence : fince.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 141 
 
 according to him, whoever has any impreffion of gentili- 
 ty (as he calls it) or politenefs, is fo acquainted with the 
 decorum and grace of things, as to be really tranfported 
 with the comtemplation thereof.* His conduct feems juft 
 as wife, as if a monarch (hould give out, that there was 
 neither jail nor executioner in his kingdom, to enforce the 
 laws, but that it would be beautiful to obferve them, and 
 that, in fo doing, rnen would tafte the pure delight which 
 refults from order and decorum. 
 
 Alc. — After all, is it not true, that certain ancient 
 philofophers, of great note, held the fame opinion with 
 CraPjluSy declaring that he did not come up to the charac- 
 ter, or deferve the title of a good man, who praftifed 
 virtue for the fake of any thing but its own beauty ? 
 
 Cri. — I believe, indeed, that fome of the ancients 
 faid fuch things as gave occafion for this opinion. AriJ- 
 totle f diftinguifheth between two characters of a good 
 man, the one he calleth agathosy or fimply good, the other 
 kalos kagathos, from whence the compound term halohaga- 
 thia, which cannot, perhaps, be rendered by any one 
 word in our language. But his fenfe is plainly this : 
 agathos he defineth to be, that man to whom the good 
 things of nature are good : For, according to him, thofe 
 things, which are vulgarly efteemed the greateft goods, 
 as riches, honors, power, and bodily perfections, are 
 indeed good by nature ; but they happen, neverthelefs, 
 to be hurtful and bad to fome perfons, upon the account 
 of evil habits : inafmuch as neither a fool, nor an unjufb 
 man, nor an intemperate, can be at all the better for the 
 ufe of them, any more than a fick man for ufing tKe nou- 
 rifhment proper for thofe who are in health. But kalos 
 kagathos is that man, in whom are to be found all things 
 worthy, and decent, and laudable, purely as fuch, and 
 
 * See Charaileriflics, Vol. III. Mifcel- 5. cap, 3. and Mifcel 3. cap %■ 
 
 t Ethic ad Eudcmum, lib. 7- cap- ult.
 
 142 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 for their own fake, and who pra6lifeth virtue from 
 no other motive but the fole love of her own innate beauty. 
 That philofopher obferves, likewife, that there is a cer- 
 tain political habit, fuch as the Spartans, and others had, 
 who thought virtue was to be valued and pra£tifed on ac- 
 count of the natural advantages that attend it. For which 
 reafon, he adds, they are indeed good men, but they 
 have not the kalokagatMa, or fupreme confummate virtue. 
 From hence it is plain that, according to Arijlotle, 2l man 
 may be a good man, without believing virtue its own re- 
 ward, or being only moved to virtue by the fenfe of moral 
 beauty. It is alfo plain, that he diftinguifheth the politi- 
 cal virtue of nations, which the pubhc is every where 
 concerned to maintain, from this fublime and fpeculative 
 kind. It might alfo be obferved, that this exalted idea 
 did confift with fuppofing a Providence, which infpe£ts 
 and rewards the virtues of the beil men. For, faith he 
 in another place, * if the gods have any care of human 
 affairs, as it appears they have, it fhould feem reafonable 
 to fuppofe, that they are moft delighted with the moft ex- 
 cellent nature, and moft approaching their own, which is 
 the mind, and that they will reward thofe who chiefly 
 love and cultivate what is moft dear to them. The fame 
 philofoplier obferves, f that the bulk of mankind are not 
 naturally difpofed to be awed by fhame, but by fear : nor 
 to abftain from vicious pra61:ices, on account of their de- 
 formity, but only of the punifliment which attends them. 
 And again, | he tells us, that youth, being of itfelf 
 averfe from abftinence and fobriety, fliould be under the 
 reftrauit of lav/s, regulating their education and employ- 
 ment, and that the fame difcipline fhould be continued 
 even after they became men. For which, faith he, we 
 want laws, and, in one word, for the whole ordering of 
 life : inafmuch as the generality of mankind obey rather 
 
 * Ad Nicom. I. lo. c. 8- f Ibid. c. 9. \ Ibid.
 
 [Dial. Ill] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 143 
 
 force than reafon, and are influenced rather by penalties, 
 than the beauty of virtue j Zemiais e to halo. From all 
 which it is very phiin, what Arijlotle would have thought 
 of thofe, who fhould go about to leflen or deftroy the hopes 
 and fears of mankind, in order to make them virtuous on 
 this fole principle of the beauty of virtue. 
 
 XIV, Alc. — But, whatever the Stagirke and his peri- 
 patetics might think, is it not certain the ftoics maintain- 
 ed this do(3:rine in its higheft fenfe, aflerting the beauty 
 of virtue to be all-fufficient ; that virtue was her own re- 
 ward ; that this alone could make a man happy, in fpite 
 of all thofe things which are vulgarly eftecmed the greateft 
 woes and miferies of human life ? And all this they held 
 at the fame time that they believed the foul of man to be 
 of a corporeal nature, and in death diflipated like a flame 
 or vapour, 
 
 Cri. — It muft be owned, the ftoics fometimes talk, as if 
 they believed the mortality of the foul. Seneca, in a letter of 
 his to Lud/ius,{ipt2ks much like a Minute Philofopher, in this 
 particular. But in feveral other places, he declares himfelf of 
 a clear contrary opinion, affirming, that the fouls of men, 
 after death, mount aloft into the heavens, look down upon 
 earth, entertain themfelves with the theory of ccleftial 
 bodies, the courfe of nature, and the converfation of wife 
 and excellent men, who having lived in diftant ages and 
 countries upon earth, make one fociety in the other 
 world. It muft alfo be acknowledged, that Marcus An- 
 toninus fometimes fpeaks of the foul, as periftiing, or dif- 
 folving into its elementary parts : But it is to be noted, 
 that he diftlnguiftieth three principles in the compofition 
 of human nature, the foma^ pfuche, nous, * body, foul, 
 mind, or, as he other wife exprefl^eth himfelf, farkia, 
 pneumatlon, and egemonikon, fiefti fpirit, and governing 
 principle. What he calls the pfuche^ or foul, containing 
 
 * L. 3, c, 16.
 
 144 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. Ill] 
 
 the brutal part of our nature, is indeed reprefented as a 
 compound diflbluble, and actually diflblved by death i 
 But the musy or to egemonikony the mind, or ruhng princi- 
 ple, he held to be of a pure celeftial nature, theou apospaf- 
 may a particle of God, v/hich he fends back intire ^ to 
 the ftars and the Divinity. Befides, among all his 
 magnificent lemons, and fplendid fentiments, upon the 
 force and beauty of virtue, he is pofitive as to the being 
 of God, and that not merely as a plaftic nature, or foul 
 of the world, but in the ftri£t fenfe of a Providence, in 
 fpe^bing and taking care of human affairs. * 
 
 The doles, therefore, though their ftile was high, and 
 often above truth and nature, yet it cannot be faid, that 
 they fo refolved every motive to a virtuous life into the 
 fole beauty of virtue, as to endeavor to deftroy the belief 
 of the immortality of the foul, and a diftribijtive Providence. 
 After all, allowing the difinterefted ftoics (therein not un- 
 like our modern quietifts) to have made virtue its own fole 
 reward, in the mofl: rigid and abfolute fenfe, yet what is 
 this to thole who are no floics ? If we adopt the whole 
 principles of that fe£l:, admitting their notions of good and 
 evil, their celebrated apathy, and, in one word, fetting up 
 for complete (toics, we may poflibly maintain this doctrine 
 with a better grace : at lead, it will be of a piece, and con- 
 fident with the Vi^hole. But he who diall borrow this 
 fplendid patch from the doics, and hope to make a figure 
 by inferting it in a piece of modern com.pofition, feafoned 
 with the wit and notions of thefe times, will indeed make 
 a figure, but perhaps it may not be, in the eyes of a wife 
 man, the figure he intended. 
 
 XV. Though it mud be owned, the prefent age is very 
 indulgent to every thing that aims at profane raillery ; 
 which is alone fufficient to recommend any fantadical com- 
 pofition to the public. You may behold the tinfel of a 
 
 * Marc. Anf.onin. L a. §. ir.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER, 145 
 
 modern author pafs upon this knowing and learned age 
 for good writing ; afFe£led ftrains for wit ; pedantry for 
 politenefs ; obfcurities for depths ; rambUngs for flights ; 
 the moit aukward imitation for original humor ; and all 
 this upon the fole merit of a little artful profanenefs. 
 
 Aj.c. — Every one is not alike pleafed with writings of 
 humor, nor alike capable of them. It is the fine irony of 
 an author of quality, * That certain reverend authors, 
 
 * who can condefcend to lay-wit, are nicely qualified to hit 
 
 * the air of breeding and gentility, and that they will in 
 
 * time, no doubt, refine their manner to the edification of 
 ' the polite world ; who have been fo long feduced, by 
 ' the way of raillery, and wit/ The truth is, the various 
 tafte of readers, requireth various kinds of writers. Our 
 fe6t hath provided for this, with great judgment. To 
 profelyte the graver fort, we have certain profound men at 
 reafon and argument. For the coffee-houfes, and popu- 
 lace, we have declaimers of a copious vein. Of fuch a 
 writer, it is no reproach to fay, Jluit lutukntus ; he is the 
 fitter for his readers. Then, for men of rank and polite- 
 nefs, we have the fined:, and wittieft Railleurs in the world, 
 whofe ridicule, is the fure tell of truth. 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphroriy are thofe ingenious Rail- 
 lettrsy men of knowledge ? 
 
 Alc. — Very knowing. 
 
 EuPH. — Do they know, for inftance, the Copernican 
 fyftem, or the circulation of the blood ? 
 
 Alc. — One would think you judged of our fe£l:,by your 
 country neighbors : There is nobody in town, but knov/s 
 all thofe points. 
 
 EupH. — You believe then, antipodes, mountains in the 
 moon, and the motion of the earth. 
 
 Alc — We do. 
 
 EuPH. — Suppofe, five or ii:; centuries ago, a man had 
 maintained thefe notions among the leau>i efprits of an 
 EngUfi court •, how do you think they would have been 
 received .^ 
 
 T
 
 146 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial, III.] 
 
 Alc. — With great ridicule. 
 
 EuPH. — And now it would be ridiculous to ridicule 
 them. 
 
 Alc. — It would. 
 
 EupH. — But truth was the fame, then and now. 
 
 Alc. — It was. 
 
 EupH. — It ftiouid feem, therefore, that ridicule is no 
 fuch fovereign touchftone, and teft of truth, as you gentle- 
 men imagine. * 
 
 Alc. — One thing we know : Our raillery and farcafms 
 gall the black tribe, and that is our comfort. 
 
 Cri. — ^There is another thing, it might be worth your 
 while to know : That men, in a laughing fit, may applaud 
 a ridicule, which fhall appear contemptible when they 
 come to them.felves : Witnefs the ridicule of Socrates by 
 the comic poet, the humour and reception it met with, no 
 more proving that, than the fame will your's, to be juft, 
 when calmly confidered by men of fenfe. 
 
 Aix. — After ail, thus much is certain, our ingenious 
 men make converts by deriding the principles of religion. 
 And, take my word, it is the moft fuccefsful and pleafing 
 method of convitticn. Thefe authors laugh men out of 
 their religion, as Horace did out of their vices : Admijijl 
 circum pracordia ludurit. But a bigot cannot reliih or find 
 out their wit. 
 
 X\T. Cri. "VVit without wifdom, if there be fuch a 
 
 thing, is hardly worth finding. And, as for the wifdom 
 
 of thefe men, it is of a kind fo peculiar, one may well fuf- 
 
 peft it. Cicero was a man of fenfe, and no bigot, never- 
 
 thelefs he makes Scipio own himfelf much more vigilant 
 
 and vigorous in the race of virtue, from fuppofing heaven 
 
 the prize.* And he introduceth C^/c declaring, he would 
 
 never have undergone thofe virtuous toils for the fervicc 
 
 of the public, if he had thought his being was to end with 
 
 this life.f 
 
 * Somn. Sclplonis. + De SeneAute.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 147 
 
 Alc. — I acknowledge Cato^ Scipioy and Cicero, were 
 very well for their times : But you muft pardon me, if I 
 do not think they arrived at the high confummate virtue of 
 our modern free-thinkers. 
 
 EuPH.— It fliould feem then, that virtue flourifheth 
 more than ever among us. 
 
 Alc. — It ftiould. 
 
 EuPH. — And this abundant virtue is owing to the 
 method taken by your profound writers to recommend it. 
 
 Alc. — This I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — But you have acknowledged, that the enthufi- 
 aftic lovers of virtue are not the many of your feci, but 
 only a few feled fpirits. To which Alciphron making no 
 anfwer, Crito addrefled himfelf to Euphranor : To make, 
 faid he, a true eftimate of the worth and growth of modern 
 virtue, you are not to count the virtuous men, but rather 
 to confider the quality of their virtue. Now you muft 
 know, the virtue of thefe refined theorifts is fomething fo 
 pure and genuine, that a very little goes far, and, is in 
 truth, invaluable. To which that reafonable, interefted 
 virtue, of the old EngUJh, or Spartan kind, can bear no 
 proportion. 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphron, are there not difeafes of the 
 foul, as well as of the body .'' 
 
 Alc. — ^Without doubt. 
 
 EuPH.— And are not thofe difeafes, vicious habits ? 
 
 Alc. — They are. 
 
 EuPH. — And, as bodily diftempers are cured by phyfic, 
 thofe of the mind are cured by phiiofophy : are they not ? 
 
 Alc— I acknowledge it. 
 
 EuPH. — It feems, therefore, that phiiofophy is a medi- 
 cine for the foul of man. 
 
 Alc— It is. 
 
 EuPH. — How fhall we be able to judge of medicines, 
 or know which to prefer ? Is it not from the effects 
 wrought by them ? 
 
 Alc — Doubtlefs.
 
 ^148 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. III.] 
 
 EuPH.- — V/iiere an epidemical diflemper rages, fuppofe 
 a new phyfician Diould condemn the known eftablithed 
 pra61:ice, and recommend another method of cure : would 
 you not. In proportion as the bills of mortality increafed, 
 be tempted to fufpeft this new method, notwithftanding 
 all the plaufible difcourfe of its abettors ? 
 
 Alc. — This ferves only to amufe and lead us from the 
 quell ion. 
 
 Cri. — It puts me m mind of my friend, Lamprocksy 
 who needed but one argument againll infidels. I obferv- 
 ed, faid he, that, as infidelity grew, there grew corruption 
 of every kind, and new vices. This fimple obfervation^ 
 on matter of fuel, was fufficient to make him, notvvith- 
 ilanding the remonftrance of feveral ingenious men, imbue 
 and feafon the minds of his children betimes with the 
 principles of religion. The new theories, which our 
 acute moderns have endeavored to fubftitute in place of 
 religion, have had their full courfe in the prefent age, and 
 produced their t^tdi on the minds and manners of men. 
 That men are men, is a fure maxim : But it is as furc, 
 that Enghfmnen are not the fame men they were : whether 
 better or worfe, more or lefs virtuous, I need not fay. 
 Every one may fee and judge. Though, indeed, after 
 Arijlides had been banifned, and Socrates put to death at 
 Athens^ a man, without being a conjurer, might guefs what 
 the beauty of virtue could do in Efigland. But there is 
 now neither room nor occgifion for gueffing. We have 
 our own experience to open our eyes 5 which yet if we 
 continue to keep fhut, till the remains of religions educa- 
 tion are quite worn oft from the minds of men ; it Is to 
 he feared we fiiall then open them wide, not to avoid, but 
 to behold and lament our ruin. 
 
 Alc. — Be the-confequences what they will, I can never 
 bring myfelf to be of a mind with thofe, who meafure truth 
 by convenience. Truth is the only divinity that I adore. 
 Wherever truth ler.ds, I fliail follow.
 
 [Dial. III.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER- 149 
 
 EuPH. — You have then a paffion for truth ? 
 
 Alc. — Undoubtedly. 
 
 EuPH. — For ail truths ? 
 
 Alc. — For all. 
 
 EuPH. — ^To know, or to pubHfh them ? 
 
 Alc. — Both. 
 
 EupH. — What ! would you undeceive a child that was 
 taking phyfic .'' would you officioufly fet an enemy right, 
 that was making a wrong attack ? would you help an en- 
 raged man to his fword .'' 
 
 Alc — In fuch cafes, common fenfe directs one how to 
 behave. 
 
 EuPH. — Common fenfe, it feems then, muft be confult- 
 ed, whether a truth be falutary, or hurtful, fit to be declar- 
 ed, or concealed. 
 
 Alc — How ! you would have me conceal, and fliile 
 the truth, and keep it to myfelf ? Is this what you aim at ? 
 
 EuPH. 1 only make a plain inference from what you 
 
 grant. As for myfelf, I do not believe your opinions 
 true. And, although you do, you (hould not, therefore, 
 if you would appear confident with yourfelf, think it ne- 
 cefiary, or wife, to publifli hurtful truths. What fervice 
 can it do mankind, to leffen the motives to virtue, or what 
 damage to increafe them ? 
 
 Alc — None in the world. But I muft needs fay, 
 I cannot reconcile the received notions of a God, and 
 Providence, to my underftanding, and my nature abhors 
 the bafenefs of conniving at a falfliood. 
 
 EuPK. — Shall we, therefore, appeal to truth, and exam- 
 ine the reafons, by which you are withheld from believing 
 thefe points ? 
 
 Alc — With all my heart, but enough for the prefent. 
 We will make this the fubje^t of our next conference.
 
 THE 
 
 FOURTH DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Prejudices concerning a Deity. II. Rules laid down by 
 Alciphron, to he ohferved in proving a God. III. What 
 fort of Proof he expeBs. IV. Whence nve colleSl the Be- 
 ing cf other Thinking Individuals. V. The fame Method 
 a fortiori proves the being of a God. VI. AlciphronV 
 fecond Thoughts on this Point. VII. God fpeaks to Men. 
 VIII. How Dijlance is perceived by Sight. IX. The pro- 
 per ObjeBs of Sight at no dijlance. X. Lights^ Shades^ 
 and Colours^ varioufy comhinedy form a Language. XL 
 The Signification of this Language learned by Experience, 
 XII. God explaineth himfelf to the eyes cf Men by the ar- 
 bitrary Ufe of fenftble Signs. XIII. The Prejudice and 
 twefold AfpeEl of a Minute Philofopher. XIV. Godpre- 
 fent to Mankind^ informs, admonifhes, and direEls them 
 in a fenftble manner. XV. Admirable Nature and Ufe 
 of this vijual Language. XVI. Minute Philofophers 
 content to admit a God in certaift Senjes. XVII. Opinion 
 of feme y who hold that Knowledge and Wifdom are not pro- 
 perly in God. XVIII. Dangerous Tendency of this No- 
 tion. XIX. Its Original. XX. The Senfe of Schoolmen 
 upon it. XXI. Scholafiic Ufe of the Terms, Analogy and 
 Analogical, explained : Analogical Perfections of God mif- 
 underfood. XXII. God intelligent, wife and good, in 
 the proper Senfe of the Words. XXIII. OhjeElion from 
 moral Evil confidered. XXIV, Men argue from their 
 own DefeEls againfi a Deity. XXV. Religious Worflnp 
 reafenahle and expedient.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 151 
 
 Tj ARLY the next morning, as I looked out of 
 my window, I faw Alclphron v/alking in the garden, with 
 all the (igns of a man in deep thought. Upon which I 
 went down to him. Aldphron^ faid I, this early and 
 profound meditation puts me in no fmall fright. How 
 fo ! Becaufe I fhould be forry to be convinced there was 
 no God. The thought of anarchy in nature is to me 
 more fhocking than in civil life : inafmuch as natural con- 
 cerns are more important than civil, and the bafis of all 
 others. I grant, replied Alciphron^ that fome inconveni- 
 ence may poflibiy follow from difproving a God : but, as 
 to what you fay of fright and fhocking, all that is nothing 
 but prejudice, mere prejudice. Men frame an idea, or 
 chimera, in their own minds, and then fall down and 
 worlhip it. Notions govern mankind : but, of all notions, 
 that of God's governing the world, hath taken the deep- 
 eft root, and fpread the fartheft ; It is therefore, in phi- 
 lofophy, an heroical atchievment to difpoffefs this imagi- 
 nary monarch of his government, and banifh all thofe 
 fears and fped:res, which the light of reafon alone can 
 difpel ; 
 
 l^on radii folis, non 'lucida tela diet 
 Difcutiunt^ fed nature /pedes raticque. * 
 
 !My part, faid I, fhall be to ftand by, as I have hither- 
 to done, and takes notes of all that paiTeth during this 
 memorable event : while aMinute Philofopher, not fix foot 
 high, attempts to dethrone the Monarch of the univerfe. 
 Alas ! replied Alclphron^ arguments are not to be mea- 
 fured by feet and inches. One man may fee more than 
 a million : and a (hort argument, managed by a free- 
 thinker, may be fufficient to overthrow the moft gigantic 
 chimera. As we were engaged in this difcourfe, Crito 
 
 * Lucretius.
 
 152 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 and Euphranor joined us. I find you have been before- 
 hand with us to-day, faid Crito to Aldphron, and taken 
 the advantage of folitude and early hours, while Euphra- 
 nor and I were afleep in our beds. We may, therefore, 
 expefl: to fee atheifm placed in its bed light, and fup- 
 ported by the ilrongeft arguments. 
 
 II. Alc — The being of a God is a fubje£i: upon which 
 there has been a world of common-place, which it is need- 
 lefs to repeat. Give me leave, therefore, to, lay down certain 
 rules and limitations, in order to fhorten our prefent con- 
 ference. For, as the end of debating is to perfuade, all 
 thofe things which are foreign to this end, fhould be left 
 out of our debate. Firft then, let me tell you, I am not 
 to be perfuaded by metaphyfical arguments j fuch, for 
 inftance, as are drawn from the idea of an all-perfe£k 
 Being, or the abfurdity of an infinite progreffion of cauf- 
 cs. This fort of arguments I have always found dry and 
 jejune : and, as they are not fuited to my way of think- 
 ing, they may, perhaps, puzzle, but never will convince 
 me. Secondly, I am not to be perfuaded by the autho- 
 rity either of paft or prefent ages, of mankind in general, 
 or of particular wife men : all which palTeth for little or 
 nothing with a man of found argument and free thought. 
 
 Thirdly, all proofs drawn from utility, or convenience, 
 are foreign to the piirpofe. They may prove, indeed, 
 the ufefulnefs of the notion, but not the exiflence of the 
 thing. Whatever legiflators or ftatefmen may think, 
 truth and convenience are very different things to the rig- 
 orous eyes of a philofopher. And nov/, that I may not 
 feem partial, I will limit m.yfelf, alfo, not to object, in 
 the firft place, from any thing that may feem irregular, 
 or unaccountable in the works of nature, againft a caufe 
 of infinite power and wifdom : becaufe I already know 
 the anfwer you would make, to wit, that no one can 
 judge of the fymmetry and ufe of the parts of an in-
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 153 
 
 finite machine, which are all relative to each other, and 
 to the whole, without being able to comprehend the en- 
 tire machine, or the whole univerfe. And, in the fecond 
 place, I (hall engage myfelf not to object againft the juf- 
 tice, and providence of a Supreme Being, from the evil 
 that befalls good men, and the profperity which is often 
 the portion of wicked men in this life : becaufe I know 
 that, inftead of admitting this to be an objedion againft a 
 Deity, you would make it an argument for a future ftate ; 
 in which there fhall be fuch a retribution of rewards and 
 punifhments, as may vindicate the divine attributes, and 
 fet all things right in the end. Now thefe anfwers, 
 though they Ihould be admitted for good ones, arc, in truth, 
 no proofs of the being of a God, but only folutions of cer- 
 tain difficulties which might be objected, fuppofing it al- 
 ready proved by proper arguments. Thus much I thought 
 fit to premife, in order to fave time and trouble both to 
 you, and myfelf. 
 
 Cri. — I think that, as the proper end of our confer- 
 ence ought to be fuppofed the difcovery and defence of 
 truth, fo truth may be juftified, not only by perfuading its 
 adverfaries, but, where that cannot be done, by (hewing 
 them to be unreafonable. Arguments, therefore, which 
 carry light, have their effeft, even againft an opponenf 
 who ftiuts his eyes, becaufe they ftiew him to be obftinate 
 and prejudiced. Befides, this diftinction between argu- 
 ments that puzzle, and that convince, is leaft of all, ob- 
 ferved by Minute Philofophers, and need not, therefore, 
 be obferved by others, in their favor. But, perhaps^ 
 Euphranor may be willing to encounter you on your 
 own terms, in which cafe I have nothing farther to fay. 
 
 III. EuPH. — Alciphron ads like a fkilful general, who 
 as bent upon gaining the advantage of the ground, and 
 alluring the enemy out of their trenches. We, v/wo be- 
 lieve a God, are intrenched within tradition, cuftom, au- 
 
 U
 
 154 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.j 
 
 thority and law. And neverthelefs, inftead of attempting 
 to force us, he propofes that we fhould voluntarily, aban- 
 don thefe intr-enchments, and make the attack : when we 
 may a£t on the defenfive with much fecurity and eafe, 
 leaving him the trouble to difpoffefs us, of what we need 
 not refign. Thofe reafons (continued he, addreffing him- 
 felf to Ahiphron) which you have muftered up in this 
 morning's meditation, if they do not vi^eaken, mud eftab^ 
 lifli our belief of a God ; For the utmoft is to be expected 
 from fo great a m after in his profefiion, when he fets his 
 ftrength to a point. 
 
 Alc. — I hold the confufed notion of a Deity, or fome 
 invifible power, to be, of all prejudir,^s, the moft uncon- 
 querable. When half a dozen ingenious men are got to- 
 gether over a glafs of wine, by a chearful fire, in a room 
 well-lighted j we banifti with eafe all the fpedlres of fancy, 
 or education, and are very clear in our decifions. But as 
 I was taking a folitary walk before it was broad day-light, 
 in yonder grove, methought the point was not quite fo 
 clear : nor could I readily recorie6l the force of thofe ar- 
 guments, which ufed to appear fo conclufive at other times. 
 1 had, I know not, what awe upon my mind, and feemed 
 haunted by a fort of panic, which I cannot otherwife ac- 
 count for, than by fuppofmg it the effecl of prejudice : 
 Tor you muft know, that I, like the reft of the world, was 
 once upon a time, catechifed, and tutored into the belief 
 of a God, or Spirit. There is no furer mark of prejudice, 
 than the believing a thing without reafon. What neceflity 
 then can there be that I fhould fet myfelf the difficult talk 
 of proving a negative, when it is fufficient to obferve, that 
 there is no proof of the affirmative, and that the admit- 
 ting it without proof is unreafonable ? prove, therefore, 
 your opinion, or, if you cannot, you may indeed remain 
 in poffeffion of it, but you will only be poflefied of a pre- 
 judice. 
 
 EuPH.— *0 Alciphron I to content you, we muft prove.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 155 
 
 it feems, and we.muft prove upon your own terms. But, 
 in the firll place, let us fee what fort of proof you expe<Sl. 
 
 Alc. — Perhaps I may not expert it, but I will tell you 
 what fort of proof I would have : And that is, in ihort, 
 fuch proof, as every man of fenfe requires of a matter of 
 fa(Sf, or the exiflence of any other particular thing. For 
 inftance, fhould a man afk why I believe there is a king of 
 Great Britain ? I might anfwer, becaufe I had feeu him : 
 Or a king of ^pain ? becaufe I had feen thofe who favv'- 
 him. But as for this king of kings, I neither faw him 
 myfelf, nor any one ^Mt^ that ever did fee him. Stirely if 
 there be fuch a thing as God, it is very ftrange that he 
 fhould leave himfelf without a witnefs ; that men fliould 
 ftiil difpute his being ; and that there fliould be no one 
 evident, fenfible, plain proof of it, v/ithout recourfe to phi- 
 lofophy or metaphyfics. A matter of fa6l is not to be proved 
 by notions, but by facts. This is clear and full to the point. 
 You fee what I would be at. Upon thefe principles I 
 defy fuperftition. 
 
 EuPH. — You believe then, as far as you can fee. 
 
 Alc— That is my rule of faith. 
 
 EupH. — How ! will you not believe the exiflence of 
 tilings which you hear, unlefs you alfo fee them ? 
 
 Alc. — I will not fay fo neither. When I infifted on 
 feeing, I would be underftood to mean perceiving in gener- 
 al. Outward cbjedls make very different impreffions up- 
 on the animal fpirits, all which are comprifed under the 
 common name of fenfe. And whatever we can perceive 
 by any fenfe we may be fure of. 
 
 IV. EuPH. — What ! do you believe then tliere are fuch 
 things as animal fpirits "i 
 
 Alc. — Doubtiefs. 
 
 EuPH. — By what fenfe, do you perceive them ? 
 
 Alc. — I do not perceive immediately by any of my fen- 
 fes. I am neverthelefs perfuaded of their exiflence, be-
 
 1^6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 caufe I can coUeft it from their efFefts and operations. 
 They are the meflengers, which, running to and fro in 
 the nerves, preferve a communication between the foul 
 and outward objects. 
 
 EuPH. — You admit then, the being of a foul. 
 
 Alc. — Provided I do not admit an immaterial fubftance, 
 I fee no inconvenience in admitting there may be fuch a 
 thing as a foul. And this may be no more than a thin 
 fine texture of fubtile parts, or fpirits, refiding in the 
 brain. 
 
 EuPH. — I do not afk about its nature. I only afk 
 whether you admit that there is a principle of thought and 
 action, and whether it be perceivable by fenfe. 
 
 Alc. — I grant that there is fuch a principle, and that 
 it is not the objeft of fenfe itfelf, but inferred from appear- 
 ances which are perceived by ienk. 
 
 EuPH. — If I underftand you rightly, from animal func- 
 tions and motions, you infer the exiftence of animal fpirits ; 
 and from reafonable a^ls you infer the exiftence of a rea- 
 fonable foul. Is it not fo ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — It fliould feem therefore, that the being of 
 things, imperceptible to fenfe, may be collected from ef- 
 fects and figns, or fenfible tokens. 
 
 Alc. — It may. 
 
 EupH. — Tell me, Alciphrojiy is not the foul that which 
 makes the principal diftin61:ion between a real perfon and 
 a ihadow, a living man and a carcafs ? 
 
 ALc. — I grant it is. 
 
 EuPH. — I cannot, therefore, know that you, for inftance, 
 are a diftin61: thinking individual, or a living real man, by 
 furer, or otlier figns, than thofe from v/hich it can be infer- 
 red that you have a fouh 
 
 Alc — You cannot. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray tell me, are not all a6ls, immediately and 
 pioperly perceived by fenfe, reducible to motion ^ 
 
 Alc. — Tliey arc.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 157 
 
 EuPH. — From motions therefore, you Infer a mover, 
 or caufe : And from reafonable motions (or fuch as appear 
 calculated for a reafonable end) a rational caufe, foul, or 
 fpirit. 
 
 Alc. — Even fo. 
 
 V. EuPH. The foul of man ac^luates but a fmall body, 
 an infignificant particle, in refped: of the great mafles of 
 nature, the elements, and heavenly bodies, and the fyf- 
 tem of the world. And the wifdom that appears in thofe 
 motions, which are the effect of human reafon, is incom- 
 parably lefs than that which difcovers itfelf, in the ftruc- 
 ture and ufe of organized natural bodies, animal or veget- 
 able. A man, with his hand, can make no machine fo 
 admirable as the hand itfelf : Nor can any of thofe mo- 
 tions, by which we trace out human reafon, approach 
 the Ikill and contrivance of thofe wonderful motions of 
 the heart, and brain, and other vital parts, which do not 
 depend on the will of man. 
 
 Alc. — All this Is true. 
 
 EuPH. — Doth it not follow then, that from natural 
 motions, independent of man's will, may be inferred both 
 power and wifdom, incomparably greater than that of 
 the human foul ? 
 
 Alc. — It (hould fecm {o. 
 
 EuPH. — Further, is there not, in natural productions 
 and efFe(3:s, a vifible unity of council and defign ? Are 
 not the rules affixed and immoveable ^ Do not the fame 
 laws of motion obtain throughout .'* The fame in China 
 and here, the fame two thouf^md years ago, and at this 
 day ? 
 
 Alc. — All this I do not deny. 
 
 EuPH. — Is there not alfo a connexion, or relation, be- 
 tween animals and vegetables ; between both and the 
 elements ; between the elements and heavenly bodies j 
 fo that, from their mutual refpe£l§, influences, fubordina-
 
 158 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 tlons, and ufes, they may be coUe^ed to be parts of 
 one whole, confpiring to one and the fame end, and 
 fulfilHng the fame defign ? 
 
 Alc. — Suppoiing all this to be true. 
 
 EupH. — Will it not then follow, that this vaftly great 
 or infinite power and wifdom, muft be fuppofed in one 
 and the fame agent, fpirit or mind ; and that we have, 
 at leaft, as clear, full, and immediate certainty of the 
 being of this infinitely wife and powerful Spirit, as of 
 any one human foul whatfoever, befides our own ? . 
 
 Alc. — Let me confider : I fufpedi we proceed too 
 haftily. "What ! Do you pretend you can have the fame 
 afiurance of the being of God, that you can have of mine, 
 whom you aftually fee ftand before you, and talk to you ? 
 
 EuPH. — The very fame, if not greater. 
 
 Alc. — How do you make this appear ? 
 
 EuPH. — ^By the perfon Alciphron^ is meant an indivi- 
 dual thinking thing, and not the hair, fkin,.or vifible fur- 
 face, or any part of the outward form, colour, or fhape 
 of Alciphron. 
 
 Alc. — This I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — And in granting this, you grant that, in a 
 flri£t fenfe, I do not fee Alciphron^ i. e. that individual 
 thinking thing, but only fuch vifible figns and tokens, as 
 fuggeft and infer the being of that invifible thinking prin- 
 ciple, or foul. Even fo, in the felf fame manner, it feems 
 to me, that though I cannot, with eyes of flefh, behold 
 the invifible God ; yet I do, in the ftrifteft fenfe, behold 
 and perceive, by all my fenfes, fuch figns and tokens, fuch 
 efFe£ls and operations, as fuggeft, indicate, and demon- 
 ftrate an invifible God, as certainly, and with the fame 
 evidence, at leaft, as any other figns, perceived by fenfe, 
 do fuggeft to me the exiftence of your foul, fpirit, or 
 thinking principle ; which I am convinced of only by a 
 few figns or effects, and the motions of one fmali organ- 
 ized body : Whereas I do^^ at all times, and in all places.
 
 [Dial. IV.j MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 159 
 
 perceive fenfible figns, which evince the being of God. 
 The point, therefore, doubted or denied by you at the 
 beginning, now ieems manifedly to follow from the pre- 
 mifes. Throughout this whole enquiry, have we not 
 confidered every ftep with care, and made not the leaft 
 advance without clear evidence ? You and I examined 
 and aiTented fingly to each foregoing propofition : Whst 
 fliall we do then with the conclufion ? For my part, if 
 you do not help me out, I find myfelf under an abfolute 
 necefiity of admitting it for true. You muft, therefore, 
 be content, henceforward to bear the blame, if I live and 
 die in the belief of a God. 
 
 VI. Alc. — It muft be confeft, I do not readily find 
 an anfwer. There feems to be fome foundation for what 
 you fay. But, on the other hand, if the point was fo 
 clear as you pretend, I cannot conceive how fo many fa- 
 gacious men, of our feet, fhould be fo much in the dark, 
 as not to know or believe one fyllable of it. 
 
 EuPK. — O Alc'iphroUy it is not our prefent bufinefs to 
 account for the overfights, or vindicate the honor of thofe 
 great men, the free-thinkers, when their very cxiftence 
 is in danger of being called in queftion. 
 
 Alc. — How fo ? 
 
 EupH. — Be pleafed to recollc£l the concelTions you 
 have made, and then Taew me, if the arguments for a 
 Deity be not conclufive, by what better arguments you 
 can prove the exiftence of that thinking thing, which in 
 flriclnefs coriftitutes the free-thinker. 
 
 As loon as EttphraJier had uttered thefe words. Aid- 
 phron ftcpt fhort, and ftood in a pofture of meditation^ 
 while the reft of us continued our walk, and took two or 
 three turns, after which he joined us again with a fmiling 
 countenance, like one who had made fome difcovery. I 
 have found, faid he, what may clear up the point in dif- 
 pute, and give Euphranor entire fatisfadliion ; I would fay
 
 i6o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 an argument, which will prove the exiftence of a free- 
 thinker, the like whereof cannot be applied to prove the 
 exiftence of a God. You muft know then, that your 
 notion of our perceiving the exiftence of God, as certain- 
 ly and immediately as we do that of a human perfon, I 
 could by no means digeft, though I muft own it puzzled 
 me, till I had confidered the matter. At firft methought, 
 a particular ftru61:ure, fhape, or motion, was the moft 
 certain proof of a thinking, reafonable foul. But a little 
 attention fatisfied me, that thefe things have no neceflary 
 connexion with reafon, knowledge, and wifdom. And 
 that, allowing them to be certain proofs of a living foul, 
 they cannot be fo of a thinking and reafonable one. Up- 
 on fecond thought^, therefore, and a minute examina- 
 tion of this point, I have found, that nothing fo much 
 convinces me of the exiftence of another perfon as his 
 fpeaking to me. It is my hearing you talk, that, in 
 ftri£l: and philofophical truth, is to me the beft argument 
 for your being. And this is a peculiar argument, inappli- 
 cable to your'purpofe : For you will not, I fuppofe, pre- 
 tend that God fpeaks to man in the fame clear and fenfi- 
 ble manner, as one man doth to another. 
 
 VII. EuPH. — How ! is then the impreflion of found 
 fo much more evident than that of other fenfes ? Or, 
 if it be, is the voice of man louder than that of 
 thunder ? 
 
 Alc. — Alas ! You miftake the point. What I mean 
 is not the found of fpeech, merely as fuch, but the arbi- 
 trary ufe of fenfible figns, which have no fimilitude or ne- 
 ceflary connexion with the things fignified ; fo as by the 
 oppofite management of them, to fuggeft and exhibit to 
 my mind an endltfs variety of things , difi'ering in nature, 
 time, and place ; thereby informing me, entertaining me, 
 and direding me how to aft, not only with regard to 
 things near and prefent, but alfo, with regard to things
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. i6i 
 
 diftant and future. No matter whether thefe figns arc 
 pronounced or written, whether they enter by the eye or 
 the ear : Tliey have the fame ufe, and are equally proofs of 
 an intelligent, thinking, defigning caufe. 
 
 EuPH. — But what if it ftiould appear that God really 
 fpeaks to man j ihould this content you ? 
 
 Alc. — I am for admitting no inward fpeech, no holy 
 inftin6ls, or fuggeflions of light or fpirit. All that, you 
 muft know, pafTeth with men of fenfe for nothing. I£ 
 you do not make it plain to me, that God fpeaks to men, 
 by outward fenfible figns, of fuch fort, and in fuch man- 
 ner, as I have defined, you do nothing. 
 
 EuPH. — But if it fliall appear plainly, that God fpeaks 
 to men by the intervention and ufe of arbitrary, outward, 
 fenfible figns, having no refemblance or necefiary connex- 
 ion with the things they ftand for and fuggeft : If it fhall 
 appear, that by innumerable combinations of thefe figns, 
 an endlefs variety of things is difcovered, and made known 
 to us ; and that we are thereby inftrucled, or informed, 
 in their different natures ; that we are taught and admon- 
 ifhed what to fliun, and what to purfue ; and are diredled 
 how to regulate our motions, and how to z3: with refpedt 
 to things diftant from us, as well in time as place ; will 
 this content you ^ 
 
 Alc. — It is the very thing I would have you make out ; 
 for therein confifts the force, and ufe, and nature of lan- 
 guage. 
 
 VIII. EupH. — Look, Ahiphrony do you not fee the caf- 
 tie upon yonder hill ? 
 
 Alc. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — Is it not at a great diftance from you ? 
 
 Alc— It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphrotiy is not diftance a lifie turn- 
 ed end-wife to the eye ? 
 
 Alc. — Doubtlefs. 
 
 W
 
 i62 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 EupH. — And can a line, in that fituation, proje£b more 
 than one fingle point on the bottom of the eye ? 
 
 Alc. — It cannot. 
 
 EuPH. — ^Therefore the appearance of a long and of a 
 fhort diitance, is of the fame magnitude, or rather of no 
 magnitude at all, being, in all cafes, one fmgle point. 
 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPK. — Should it not follow, from hence, that diftance 
 is not immediately perceived by the eye ? 
 
 Alc — It (hould. 
 
 EuPH.' — Muft it not then be perceived by the media- 
 tion of fome other thing } 
 
 Alc. — It muft. 
 
 EuPH. — To difcover what this is , let us examine what 
 alteration there may be in the appearance of the fame ob- 
 je£l, placed at different diftances from the eye. Now I 
 find, by experience, that, when an objeft is removed flill 
 farther and farther off, in a dlreft line from the eye, its 
 vifible appearance flill grows lefTer and fainter : And this 
 change of appearance, being proportional and univerfal, 
 ieems to me to be, that by which we apprehend the various 
 degrees of diftance. 
 
 Alc — I have nothing to objecl to this. 
 
 EuPH. — But littlenefs or faintnefs, in their own nature, 
 feem to have no necefTary connexion with greater length 
 of diftance. 
 
 Alc — I admit this to be true. 
 
 EupH.- — Will it not follow then, that they could never 
 fuggeft it bst from experience .<* 
 
 Alc — ^Tt will. 
 
 EuPH. — That is to fay, we perceive diftance, not im- 
 ">' diately, but by mediation of a fign, which hath no like- 
 to it, or necefTary connexion with it, but only fuggefts 
 1 repeated experience, as words do things. 
 -. — Hold, EnphrafDv : Now I think of it, the wri- 
 ters I. 'ics tell us of an angle made by the two optic ax-
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 1^3 
 
 es, where they meet in the vlfible point or object ; which 
 angle, the cbtufer it is, the nearer it (hews the obje£l to be, 
 and by how much the acuter, by fo much the farther ofF; 
 and this from a neceiTary demonftrable connexion. 
 
 EuPH. — The mind then finds out the diftance of things 
 by geometry. 
 
 Alc It doth. 
 
 EuPH. — Should it not follow, therefore, that nobody 
 could fee, but thofe who had learned geometry, and knew 
 fomething of lines and angles ? 
 
 Alc. — There is a fort of natural geometry, which is 
 got without learning. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray inform me, Alciphron^ in order to frame 
 a proof of any kind, or deduce one point from another, 
 is it not neceffary, that I perceive the connexion of the 
 terms in the premifes, and the connexion of the premifes 
 with the conclufion : And, in general, to know one thing 
 by means of another, muft I not firft know that other 
 thing } when I perceive your meaning by your words, 
 muft I not firft perceive the words themfelves ? and muft 
 I not know the premifes, before I infer the conclufion ? 
 
 Alc. — All this is true. 
 
 EupH. — Whoever, therefore, collects a nearer diftance 
 from a wider angle, or a farther diftance from an acuter 
 angle, muft firft perceive the angles themfelves. And he 
 who doth not perceive tiiofe angles, can infer nothing from 
 them. Is it fo or not ? 
 
 Alc. — It is as you fay. 
 
 EuPH. — Alk now the firft man you meet, whether he 
 perceives or knows any thing of thofe optic angles ? or 
 whether he ever thinks about them, or makes any inferen- 
 ces from them, either by natural or artificial geometry t 
 What anfwer do you think he would make ? 
 
 Alc. — ^To fpeak the truth, I believe his anfwer would 
 be, that he knew nothing of thofe matters.
 
 i64 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 EuPH. — It cannot therefore be, that men judge of dif- 
 tance by angles : Nor confequently can there be any force 
 in the argument you drew from thence, to prove that dif- 
 tance is perceived by means of fomething which hath a 
 necelTary connexion with it. 
 
 Alc. — I agree with you. 
 
 IX. EuPH. — To me it feems, that a man may know 
 whether he perceives a thing or no : and if he perceives it, 
 whether it be immediately, or mediately : and if mediate- 
 ly, whether by means of fomething like, or unlike, necef- 
 farily, or arbitrarily connected with it. 
 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — And is it not certain, that diftance is perceived 
 only by experience, if it be neither perceived immediately 
 by itfelf, nor by means of any image, nor of any lines and 
 angles, which are like it, or have a neceflary connexion 
 with it ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Doth it not feem to follow, from what hath 
 been faid and allowed by you, that before all experience a 
 man would not imagine, the things he faw were at any 
 diftance from him ? 
 
 Alc. — How ! let me fee. 
 
 EuPH. — The littlenefs or faintnefs of appearance, or 
 any other idea or fenfation, not neceffarily connected with, 
 or refembling diftance, can no more fuggeft different de- 
 grees of diftance, or any diftance at all, to the mind, which 
 hath not experienced a connexion of the things fignifying 
 and fignified, than words can fuggeft notions before a 
 man hath learned the language. 
 
 Alc. — I allow this to be true. 
 
 EuPH. — Will it not thence follow, that a man born 
 blind, and made to fee, would, upon firft receiving his 
 fight, take the things he faw, not to be at any diftance 
 from him, but in his eye, or rather in his mind ?
 
 [f)iAL. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 165 
 
 Alc. — I muft own it feem fo : And yet, on the other 
 hand, I can hardly perfuade myfelf, that, if I were in fuch 
 a flate, I (hould think thofe objefts, which I now fee at 
 fo great a diftance, to be at no diftance at alL 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then, that you now think the obje£l:s 
 of fight are at a diftance from you. 
 
 Alc — Doubtlefs I do. Can any one queftion but yon- 
 der caftle is at a great diftance .'* 
 
 EuPH.- — Teil me, Alc'iphron^ can you difcern the doors, 
 windows, and battlements of that fame caftle } 
 
 Alc. — I cannot. At this diftance it feems only a 
 fmall round tower. 
 
 EuPH. — But I, who have been at it, know that it is 
 no fmall round tower, but a large fquare building, with 
 battlements and turrets, which it feems you do not fee. 
 
 Alc. — What will you infer from thence } 
 
 EupH. — I would infer, that the very obje£t, which 
 you ftriiStly and properly perceive by fight, is not that 
 thing which is feveral miles diftant. 
 
 Alc— Why fo ? 
 
 EuPH. — Becaufe a little round objeft is one thing, and 
 a great fquare objeci: is another. Is it not ? 
 
 Alc — I cannot deny it. 
 
 EupHo — Tell me, is not the vifible appearance alone 
 the proper objetl of fight } 
 
 Alc — It is. What think you now (faid Euphranory 
 pointing towards the heavens) of the vifible appearance of 
 yonder planet ? Is it not a round luminous fiat, not big- 
 ger than a fixpence ? 
 
 Alc — What then ? 
 
 EupH. — Tell me then, what you think of the planet 
 itfelf. Do you not conceive it to be a vaft opaque globe, 
 with feveral unequal rifings and vallies ^ 
 
 Alc — I do. 
 
 EupH. — How can you, therefore conclude, that the 
 proper object of your fight exifts at a diftance ^
 
 i66 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 Alc. — I confefs I know not. 
 
 EuPH. — For your farther conviction, do but confider 
 that crimfon cloud. Think you, that if you were in the 
 very place where it is, you would perceive any thing like 
 what you now fee ? 
 
 Alc. — By no means. I fliould perceive only a dark mift. 
 
 EupH. — Is it not plain, therefore, that neither the 
 caftle, the planet, nor the cloud, which you fee here, are 
 thofe real ones, which you fuppofe exift at a diftance ? 
 
 X. Alc. — ^What am I to think then ? Do we fee any 
 thing at all, or is it altogether fancy and illufion ? 
 
 EuPH. — Upon the whole, it feems the proper objects 
 of fight are light and colours, with their feveral fhades 
 and degrees ; all which, being infinitely diverfified and 
 combined, form a language wonderfully adapted to fug- 
 geft and exhibit to us the diftances, figures, fituations, 
 dimenfions, and various qualities of tangible objeCts : not 
 by fimilitude, nor yet by inference of neceflTary connexion, 
 but by the arbitrary impofition of Providence : juft as 
 words fugged the things fignified by them. 
 
 Alc. — How ! Do we not, ftri6tly fpeaklng, perceive 
 by fight fuch things as trees, houfes, men, rivers, and 
 the like ? 
 
 EuPH. — We do, indeed, perceive or apprehend thofc 
 things by the faculty of fight. But will it follow from 
 thence, that they are the proper and immediate objeds of 
 fight, any more than that all thofe things are the proper 
 and immediate objects of hearing, which are fignified by 
 the help of words, or founds ? 
 
 Alc — You would have us think then, that light, 
 fhades, and colours, varioufly combined, anfwer to the 
 feveral articulations of found in language ; and that, by 
 means thereof, all forts of objects are fuggefted to the 
 mind through the eye, in the fame manner as they arc 
 fuggefted, by words or founds, through the ear : that is.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 167 
 
 neither from neceflary deduftion to the judgment, nor 
 from fimilitude to the fancy, but purely and folely from 
 experience, cuftom, and habit. 
 
 EuPH. — I would not have you think any thing, more 
 than the nature of things obligeth you to think, nor fub- 
 mit in the lead to my judgment, but only to the force of 
 truth ; which is an impofition that I fuppofe the freed 
 thinkers will not pretend to be exempt from. 
 
 Alc. — You have led m.e, it feems, ftep by ftep, till 
 I am got I know not where. But I fhali try to get out 
 again, if not by the way I came, yet by fome other of 
 my own finding. Here Alciphroriy having made a fliort 
 paufc; proceeded as follows : 
 
 XI. Anfwer me, Euphranor^ fhould it not follow, 
 from thefe principles, that a man, born blind, and made 
 to fee, would at firfk fight not only not perceive their dif- 
 tance, but alfo not fo much as know the very things 
 ^themfelves which he faw, for inftance, men or trees I 
 which furely to fupport muft be abfurd. 
 
 EupH. — I grant, in confequence of thofe principles, 
 which both you and I have admitted, that fuch a one 
 would never think of men, trees, or any other obje£^s 
 that he had been accuftomed to perceive by touch, upon 
 having his mind filled with new fenfations of light and 
 colours, whofe various combinations he doth not yet un- 
 derftand, or know the meaning of ; no more than a Chi- 
 nefe^ upon firft hearing the words man and tree, would 
 think of the things fignified by them. In both cafes, there 
 muft be time and experience, by repeated a^ts, to ac quire 
 a habit of knowing the connexion between the figns and 
 things fignified ; that is to fay, of underitanding the lan- 
 guage, whether of the eyes or of the ears. And I con- 
 ceive no abfurdity in this. 
 
 Alc. — I fee, therefore, in ftritt philofophical truth, 
 that rock only in the fame fenfe that I may be faid to hear 
 it, when the word rock is pronounced.
 
 i6S MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 EuPH. — In the very fame. 
 
 Alc. — How comes it to pafs then, that every one fhall 
 fay he fees, for inftance, a rock, or a houfe, when thofe 
 things are before his eyes ; but no body will fay, he hears 
 a rock, or a houfe, but only the words or founds them- 
 felves, by which thofe things are faid to be fignified or 
 fuggeftcd, but not heard ? Befides, if vifion be only a 
 language, fpeaking to the eyes, it may be alked, "When 
 did men learn this language ? To acquire the knowledge 
 of fo many figns, as go to the making up a language, is a 
 work of fome difficulty. But will any man fay, he hath 
 fpent time, or been at pains, to learn this language of 
 vifion ? 
 
 EuPH. — No wonder, we cannot afPign a time beyond 
 our remoteft memory. If we have been all pra6tifing this 
 language, ever fince our firft entrance into the world ; 
 if the Author of nature conftantly fpeaks to the eyes of 
 all mankind, even in their earlieft infancy, whenever the 
 eyes are open in the light, whether alone or in company ; 
 It doth not feem to me at all ftrange, that men iliould not 
 be aware they had ever learned a language, begun fo ear- 
 ly, and pra£lifed fo conftantly, as this of vifion. And, 
 if we alfo confider, that it is the fame throughout the 
 whole world, and not, like other languages, differing in 
 different places ; it will not feem unaccountable, that men 
 fhould miftake the connexion between the proper obje6):s 
 of fight, and the things fignified by them, to be founded 
 in neceffary relation, or likenefs : Or, that they fhould 
 even take them for the fame things. Hence it feems eafy 
 to conceive, why men, who do not think, fhould con- 
 found, in this language of vifion, the figns with the things 
 fignified, otherwife than they are wont to do, in the vari- 
 ous particular languages, formed by the feveral nations 
 of men. 
 
 XII. It may be alfo worth while to obferve, that figns 
 being little confidered in themfelves, or for their own fake,
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 169 
 
 but only in their relative capacity, and for the fake of 
 ihofe things whereof they are figns, it comes to pafs, that 
 the mind often overlooks them, fo as to carry its attention 
 immediately on to the things fignified. Thus, for exam- 
 ple, in reading, we run over the characters with the flight- 
 eft regard, and pafs on to the meaning. Hence it is fre- 
 quent for men to fay, they fee words, and notions, and 
 things, in reading a book : whereas, in ftriClnefs, they fee 
 only the chara£ters, which fuggeft words, notions, and 
 things. And, by parity of reafon, may we not fuppofe, 
 that men, not refting in, but overlooking the immediate 
 and proper obje£ts of fight, as in their own nature of fmall 
 moment, carry their attention onward to the very thing 
 fignified, and talk as if they faw the fecondary obje£i:s ? 
 which, in truth and ftriclnefs, are not feen, but only fug- 
 gefted and apprehended by means of the proper obje£ts of 
 fight, which alone are feen. 
 
 Alc. — To fpeak my mind freely, this differtatlon grows 
 tedious, and runs into points too dry and minute for a 
 gentleman's attention. 
 
 I thought, faid Crito, we had been told, the Minute 
 Philofophers loved to confider things clofely and minutely. 
 
 Alc. — That is true, but in fo polite an age, who would 
 be a mere philofopher ? There is a certain fcholaftic accu- 
 racy, which ill fuits the freedom and eafe of a well-bred 
 man. But, to cut fhort this chicane, I propound it fairly 
 to your own confcience, whether you really think that 
 God himfelf fpeaks every day, and in every place, to the 
 eyes of all men ? 
 
 EupH. — ^That is really, and in truth, my opinion : and 
 it fhould be yours too, if you are confident with yourfelf, 
 and abide by your own definition of language. Since you 
 cannot deny, that the great mover and author of nature 
 conftantly explaineth himfelf to the eyes of men, by the 
 fenfible intervention of arbitrary figns, which have no fimil- 
 itude, or connexion, with the things fignified 5 fo as by 
 
 X
 
 I70 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 compounding and difpofing them, to fugged and exhibit 
 an endlefs variety of objects, differing in nature, time, and 
 place, thereby informing and dire6ling men how to a£l 
 with refpe£l to things diftant and future, as well as near 
 and prefent. In confequence, I fay, of your own fenti- 
 ments and conceffions, you have as much reafon to think, 
 the Univerfal Agent, or God, fpeaks to your eyes, as you 
 can have for thinking any particular perfon fpeaks to your 
 ears. 
 
 Alc. — I cannot help thinking, that fome fallacy runs 
 throughout this whole ratiocination, though perhaps I may 
 not readily point it out. It feems to me, that every other 
 fenfe may as well be deemed a language as that of vifion. 
 Smells and tafte, for inftance, are iigns that inform us of 
 other quaUties, to which they have neither likenefs nor 
 neceflary connexion. 
 
 EuPH. — That they are figns is certain, as alfo that lan- 
 guage, and all other figns, agree in the general nature of 
 lign, or fo far forth as figns. But it is as certain that all 
 figns are not language ; not even all fignificant founds, 
 fuch as the natural cries of anim.als, or the inarticulate 
 founds and interje6^ions of men. It is the articulation, 
 combination, variety, copioufnefs, extenfive and general 
 ufe, and eafy application of figns (all which are commonly 
 found in vifion) that conftitute the true nature of language. 
 Other fenfes may indeed furnifli figns ; and yet thofc figns 
 have no more right than inarticulate founds to be thought 
 a language. 
 
 Alc. — -Hold ! let me fee ! In language, the figns arc 
 arbitrary, are they not ? 
 
 EuPR.— ^They are. 
 
 Alc— And confequently, they do not always fuggeft 
 real matters of fad. ^ Whereas, this natural language, as 
 you call it, or thefe vifible figns, do always fuggeft things 
 in the fame uniform way, and have the fame conftant reg- 
 ular connexion with matters of hd. : whence it ihould
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER J71 
 
 {eem, the connexion was neceflary, and therefore, accord- 
 ing to the definition premifed, it can be no language. 
 How do you folve this objection ? 
 
 EuPH. — You may folve it yourfelf, by the help of a 
 pi£lure, or looking-glafs. 
 
 Alc. — You are in the right. I fee there is nothing in 
 it. I know not what elfe to fay to this opinion more, than 
 that it is fo odd and contrary to my way of thinking, that 
 I fhall never affent to it. 
 
 XIII. EuPH. — Be pleafed to recolle^l your own lec- 
 tures upon prejudice, and apply them in the prefent cafe. 
 Perhaps they may help you to follow where reafon leads, 
 and to fufpecl notions which are ftrongly riveted, without 
 having been ever examined. 
 
 Alc— —I difdain the fufpicion of prejudice. And I do 
 not fpeak only for myfelf. I know a club of moil ingen- 
 ious men, the freeft from prejudice of any men alive, 
 who abhor the notion of a God, and I doubt not, would 
 be very able to untie this knot. Upon which words of 
 Alciphron^ I, who had acted the part of an indifferent ftan- 
 der-by , obferved to him, that it mifbecame his character, 
 and repeated profeffions, to own an attachment to the 
 judgment, or build upon the prefumed abilities of other 
 men, how ingenious foever : and that this proceeding 
 might encourage his adverfarles to have recourfe to author- 
 ity, in which, perhaps, they would find their account more 
 than he. 
 
 Oh ! faid CritOy I have often obferved the conduct of 
 Minute Philofophers. When one of them has got a ring 
 of difciples round him, his method is to exclaim againft 
 prejudice, and recommend thinking and reafoning, giving 
 to underftand that himfelf is a man of deep refearches and 
 clofe argument, one who examines impartially, and con- 
 cludes warily. The fame man, in other company, if bechance
 
 172 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.l 
 
 to be prcfled with reafon, fhall laugh at logic, and aflume 
 the lazy fupine airs of a fine gentleman, a wit, a raillcur, 
 to avoid the drincfs of a regular and exaft inquiry. This 
 double face of the Minute Philofopher is of no fmall ufe 
 to propagate and maintain his notions. Though to me it 
 feems a plain cafe, that if a fine gentleman will fhake off 
 authority, and appeal from religion to reafon, unto reafon 
 he muft go : And if he cannot go without leading-ftrings, 
 furely he had better be led by the authority of the public, 
 than by that of any knot of Minute Philofophers. 
 
 Alc. — Gentlemen, this difcourfe is very irkfome and 
 needlefs. For my part, I am a friend to enquiry. I am 
 willing reafon (liould have its full and free fcope. I build 
 on no man's authority. I have no intereft in denying a 
 God. Any man may believe, or not believe, a God, as he 
 pleafes, for me. But after all, Euphranor muft allow me 
 to ftare a little at his conclufions. 
 
 EuPH. — The conclufions are yours as much as mine, 
 for you were led to them by your own conceflions. 
 
 XIV. — You, it feems, ftare to find, that God is not far 
 from every one of us ; and that in him we live and move 
 and have our being. You, who, in the beginning of this 
 morning's conference, thought it ftrange, that God fliould 
 leave himfelf without a witnefs, do now think it ftrange the 
 witnefs ftiould be fo full and clear ? 
 
 Alc. — I muft own I do. I was aware, indeed, of a 
 certain metaphyfical hypothefis, of our feeing all things in 
 God, by the union of the human foul with intelligible fub- 
 ftance of the Deity, which neither I, nor any one elfe could 
 make fenfe of. But I never imagined it could be pretend- 
 ed, that we faw God with our flelhly eyes, as plain as we 
 fee any human perfon whatfoever, and that he daily fpeaks 
 to our fenfes In a manlfeft and clear dialedl:. 
 
 Cri. — As for that metaphyfical hypothefis, I can make 
 no more of it than you. But I think it plain, this optic
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 175 
 
 language hath a neceflary connexion with knowledge, wif- 
 dom, and goodnefs. It is equivalent to a conftant creation, 
 betokening an immediate a£l of power and providence. It 
 cannot be accounted for by mechanical principles, by at- 
 oms, attractions, or effluvia. The inftantaneous produc- 
 tion and reprodudlion of fo many figns combined, dilTolved, 
 tranfpofed, diverfified, and adapted to fuch an endlefs va- 
 riety of purpofes, ever (liifting with the cccafions, and fuit- 
 cd to them, being utterly inexplicable and unaccountable 
 by the laws of motion, by chance, by fate, or the like blind 
 principles, doth fet forth and teftify the immediate opera- 
 tion of a Spirit or thinking Being : and not merely of a 
 Spirit, which every motion or gravitation may pofiibly in- 
 fer, but of one wife, good, and provident Spirit, who di- 
 rects, and rules, and governs the world. Some philofo- 
 phers, being convinced of the wifdom and power of the 
 Creator, from the make and contrivance of organized bo- 
 dies, and orderly fyftem of the world, did neverthelefs im- 
 agine, that he left this fyftem, with all its parts and con- 
 tents, well adjufted and put in motion, as an artift leaves 
 a clock, to go thenceforward, of itfelf, for a certain period. 
 But this vifual language proves, not a Creator merely, but 
 a provident Governor, actually and intimately prefent, and 
 attentive to all our interefts and motions, who watches 
 over our conduct, and takes care of our minuteft actions 
 and defigns, throughout the whole courfe of our lives, in- 
 forming, admoniftiing, and dire£ting inceflantly, in a moft 
 evident and fenfible manner. This is truly wonderful. 
 
 EuPH. — And is it not fo, that men fhould be encompaf- 
 fed by fuch a wonder, without refledting on it ? 
 
 XV. Something there is of divine and admirable in 
 this language, addrefied to our eyes, that may well awa- 
 ken the mind, and deferves its utmoft attention : it is 
 learned with fo little pains ; it expreileth the differences
 
 174 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 of things (o clearly and aptly ; it inftru£ls with fuch fa- 
 cility and difpatch, by one glance of the eye conveying a 
 greater variety of advices, and a more dillin6t knowledge of 
 things, than could be got by a difcourfe of feveral hours. 
 And, while it informs, it amufes and entertains the mind, 
 with fuch fingular pleafure and delight. It is of fuch ex- 
 cellent ufe, in giving a ftability and permanency to hu- 
 man difcourfe, in recording founds, and bellowing life 
 on dead languages, enabling us to converfe with men of 
 remote ages and countries. And it anfwers fo appofitc 
 to the ufes and neceflities of mankind, informing us more 
 diftin£lly of thofe objedls, whofe nearnefs and magni- 
 tude qualify them to be of greatell detriment or benefit 
 to our bodies, and lefs exa£l:ly, in proportion as their 
 littlenefs, or diftance, make them of lefs concern to us. 
 
 Alc.-— And yet thefe ftrange things afFe6t men but 
 little. 
 
 EuPH. — But they are not ftrange, they are familiar, 
 and that makes them to be overlooked. Things which 
 rarely happen ftrike ; whereas frequency leflens the ad- 
 miration of things, though in themfelves ever fo admira*- 
 ble. Hence a common man, who is not ufed to think 
 and make reflexions, would probably be more convinced 
 of the being of a God, by one fingle fentence heard once 
 in his life from the fky, than by all the experience he has 
 had of this vifual language, contrived with fuch exqui- 
 fite fkill, fo conftantly addreflfed to his eyes, and fo plain- 
 ly declaring the nearnefs, wifdom, and providence of 
 Him with whom we have to do. 
 
 Alc. — After all, I cannot fatisfy myfelf, how men 
 fhould be fo little furprifed, or amazed, about this vifive 
 feculty, if it was really of a nature fo furprifmg and ama- 
 zing. 
 
 EupH. — But let us fuppofe a nation of men blind from 
 their infancy, among v/hom a ftranger arrives, the only
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 175 
 
 man who can fee in all the country : Let us fuppofe this 
 ftr anger travelling with fome of the natives, and that one 
 while he foretells to them, that, in cafe they walk ftrait 
 forward, in half an hour they (hall meet men, or cattle, 
 or come to a houfe ; that, if they turn to the right, and 
 proceed, they (hall, in a few minutes, be in danger of 
 falling down a precipice ; that, fhaping their courfe to 
 the left, they .will, in fuch a time, arrive at a river, a 
 wood, or a mountain. What think you ? Mufl they not 
 be infinitely furprifed, that one, who had never been in 
 their country before, fhould know it fo much better than 
 themfelves ? And would not thofe predictions feem to 
 them as unaccountable and incredible, as prophefy to a 
 Minute Philofopher ? 
 
 Alc. — I cannot deny it. 
 
 EuPH. — But it feems to require intenfe thought, to be 
 able to unravel a prejudice that has been fo long forming, 
 to get over the vulgar error of ideas common to both 
 fenfes, and fo to diftinguifh between the objects of fight 
 and touch, which have grown (if I may fo fay) blended 
 together in our fancy, as to be able to fuppofe ourfelves 
 exactly in the ftate, that one of thofe men would be in, 
 if he were made to fee. And yet this I believe is pofli- 
 ble, and might feem worth the pains of a little thinking, 
 efpecially to thofe men whofe proper employment and 
 profelTion it is to think, and unravel prejudices, and con- 
 fute miftakes. I frankly own I cannot find my way 
 out of this maze, and fhould gladly be fet right by thofe 
 jWho fee better than myfelf. 
 
 Cri. — ^The purfuing this fubje£l: in their ov/n thoughts 
 would poflibly open a new fcene to thofe fpeculative gen- 
 tlemen of the Minute Philofophy. It puts me in mind of 
 a paflage in the Pfalmift, where he reprefents God to be 
 covered with light, as with a garment, and would, me- 
 thinks, be no ill comment on that ancient notion of fome
 
 176 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 eaftern fages. That God had light for his body, and truth 
 for his foul. 
 
 This converfation lafted till a fervant came to tell us 
 the tea was ready : upon which we walked in, and found 
 Lyjicles at the tea-table. 
 
 XVI. As foon as we fat down, I am glad, faid Aid- 
 phron, that I have here found my fecond, a frefh man, to 
 maintain our common caufe, which, I doubt, Lyftcks 
 will think hath fuffered by his abfence. 
 
 Lys.-— Why fo ? 
 
 Alc. — I have been drawn into fome concefiions you 
 won't like, 
 
 Lys. — Let me know what they are. 
 
 Alc. — Why, that there is fuch a thing as a God, and 
 that his exiftencc is very certain. 
 
 Lys. — Blefs me ! How came you to entertain fo wild 
 a notion ? 
 
 Alc. — ^You know we profefs to follow reafon wherev- 
 er it leads. And, in fhort, I have been reafoned into it. 
 
 Lys. — Reafoned ! You fhould fay, amufed with words, 
 bewildered with fophillry. 
 
 EuPH. — Have you a mind to hear the fame reafoning 
 that led Alciphron and me, ftep by flep, that we may ex- 
 amine whether it be fophiftry or no ? 
 
 Lys — As to that, I am very eafy. I guefs all that 
 can be faid on that head. It fhall be my bufinefs to help 
 my friend out, whatever arguments drew him in. 
 
 EuPH. — Will you admit the premifes, and deny the 
 conclufions ? 
 
 Lys. — What if I admit the conclufion ? 
 
 EuPH. — How ! will you grant there is a God ? 
 
 Lys. — Perhaps I may. 
 
 EuPH. — Then we are agreed. 
 
 Lys — :Perhaps not.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. J77 
 
 EuPH. — O L^icles ! you are a fubtle adverfary, I 
 know not what you would be at. 
 
 Lys. — You mud know then, that, at bottom, the be« 
 j.ng of God is a point, in itfelf, of fmall confequence, and 
 a man may make this conceffion v/ithout yielding much. 
 The great point is, what fenfe the word God is to be ta- 
 ken in. The very Epicureans allowed the being of gods, 
 but then they were indolent gods, unconcerned with hu- 
 man affairs. Hobbes allowed a corporeal god ; and Spino' 
 fa held the univerfe to be god. And yet nobody doubts 
 they were flanch free-thinkers. I could wi(h, indeed, 
 the word god were quite omitted, becaufe, in mod minds, 
 it is coupled with a fort of fuperftitious awe, the very 
 root of all religion. I fhall not, neverthelefs, be much 
 difturbed, though the name be retained, and the being 
 of God allowed in any fenfe, but in that of a Mind, which 
 knows all things, and beholds human adtions, like fome 
 judge, or magiftrate, with infinite obfervation and intelli- 
 gence. The belief of a God, in this fenfe, fills a man's 
 mind with fcruples, lays him under conftraints, and im- 
 bitters his very being : But, in another fenfe, it may be 
 attended with no great ill confequence. This, I know, 
 was the opinion of our greau Diagorasy who told me he 
 would never have been at the pains to find out a demon - 
 ftration that there was no God, if the received notion o£ 
 God had been the fame with that of fome fathers and 
 fchoolmen. 
 
 EupH. — Pray what was that ? 
 
 XVII. Lys. — You muft know, Diagoras, a man of 
 much reading and inquiry, had difcovered, that once upon 
 a time the moft profound and fpeculative divines, finding 
 it impoffible to reconcile the attributes of God, taken in 
 the common fenfe, or in any known fenfe, with human 
 reafon, and the appearances of things, taught, that th« 
 
 Y
 
 178 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV,] 
 
 words knowledge, wifdom, goodnefs, and fuch like, when 
 fpoken of the Deity, muft be underftood in a quite differ- 
 ent fenfe from what they fignify in the vulgar acceptation, 
 or from any thing that we can form a notion of, or con- 
 ceive. Hence, whatever objections might be made againfl 
 the attributes of God, they eafily folved, by denying thofe 
 attributes belonged to God, in this or that, or any known 
 particular fenfe or notion ; which was the fame thing as 
 to deny they belonged to him at all. And thus denying 
 the attributes of God, they, in effe£l:, denied his being,, 
 though perhaps they were not aware of it. Suppofe, for 
 inftance, a man fhould object that future contingencies 
 were inconfiftent with the fore-knowledge of God, becaufe 
 it is repugnant, that certain knowledge fhould be of an un- 
 certain thing : it was a ready and eafy anfwer to fay, that 
 this may be true, with Tefpe£t to knowledge, taken in the 
 common fenfe, or in any fenfe that we can polTibly form 
 any notion of : but that there would not appear the fame 
 inconfiftency, between the contingent nature of things, 
 and divine fore knowledge, taken to fignify fomewhat that 
 we know nothing of, which, in God, fupplies the place of 
 what we underftand by knowledge ; froni which it differs 
 not in quantity or degree of perfedion, but altogether, 
 and in kind, as light doth from found j and even more, 
 fince thcfe agree in that they are both fenfations : whereas 
 knowledge in God hath no fort of refemblance, or agree- 
 ment, with any notion that man can frame of knowledge. 
 The like may be faid of all the other attributes, which in- 
 deed may, by this means, be equally reconciled with every- 
 thing, or with nothing. But all men, who think, mufl 
 needs fee, this is cutting knots, and not untying them. 
 For how are things reconciled with the divine attributes, 
 when thefe attributes themfelvcs are, in every intelligible 
 fenfe, denied j and confequently the very notion of God 
 taken away, and nothing left but the name, without any
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 179 
 
 meaning annexed to it ? In fhort, the belief that tlicre is 
 an unknown fubjedl of attributes, abfolutely unknown, is a 
 very innocent do£lrine : which the acute Diagoras well 
 faw, and was, therefore, wonderfully delighted with this 
 fyftem. 
 
 XVIII. For, faid he, if this could once make its wa)', 
 and obtain in the world, there would be an end of all nat- 
 ural or rational religion, which is the bafis both of the Jew- 
 ifh and the chriftian : for he who comes to God, or enters 
 hirafelf in the church of God, mufl firfc believe that there 
 is a God, in fome intelligible fenfe : and not only that 
 there is fomething in general without any proper notion, 
 though never fo inadequate, of any of its qualities or attri- 
 butes : for this may be fate, or chaos, or plaftic nature, or 
 any thing elfe, as well as God. Nor will it avail to fay, 
 there is fomething in this unknown Being analogous to 
 knowledge and goodnefs : that is to fay, which produceth 
 thofe effects, which we could not conceive to be produced 
 by men in any degree, without knowledge and goodnefs. 
 For this is, in fa6t, to give up the point in difpute between 
 theifts and- atheifts, the queftion having always been, not 
 whether there was a principle (which point was allowed 
 by all philofophers, as well before as fmce Anaxagoras) 
 but whether this principle was a nous^ a thinking, intelligent 
 Being : that is to fay, whether that order, and beauty, and 
 ufe, vifible in natural efFecls, could be produced by any 
 thing but a mind or intelligence, in the proper fenfe of 
 the word ? and whether there muft not be true, real, and 
 proper knowledge in the firft caufe ? we will therefore ac- 
 knowledge, that all thofe natural eiFe^is, which are vulgarly 
 afcribed to knov/ledge and wifdom, proceed from a Being, 
 in which there is, properly fpeaking, no knowledge, or 
 wifdom at all, but only fomething elfe, which, in reality, 
 is the caufe of thofe things which men, for want of know-
 
 i8o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 ing better, afcribe to what they call knowledge, and wif- 
 dom, and underftandlng. You wonder, perhaps, to hear a 
 man of pleafure, who diverts himfelf as I do, philofophize 
 at this rate. But you (hould confider, that much is to be 
 got by converfing with ingenious men, which is a fhort 
 way to knowledge, that faves a man the drudgery of read- 
 ing and thinking. And now we have granted to you that 
 there is a God in this indifinite fenfe, I would fain fee 
 what ufe you can make of this concelllon. You cannot 
 argue from unknown attributes, or which is the fame thing, 
 from attributes in an unknown fenfe. You cannot prove, 
 that God is to be loved for his goodnefs, or feared for his 
 juftice, or refpe£i:ed for his knowledge : all which confe- 
 quences, we own, would follow from thofe attributes ad- 
 mitted in an intelligible fenfe. But we deny, that thofe, 
 or any other confequences, can be drawn from attributes 
 admitted in no particular fenfe, or in a fenfe which none of 
 us underfland. Since, therefore, nothing can be inferred 
 from fuch an account of God, about confcience, or wor- 
 fhip, or religion, you may even make the beft of it : and, 
 not to be fingular, we will ufe the name too, and fo at 
 once there is an end of atheifm. 
 
 EuPH. — This account of a Deity is new to me. I do 
 not like it, and tlierefore Ihall leave it to be maintained by 
 thofe who do. 
 
 XIX. Cri. — It is not new to me. I remember, not 
 long fince, to have heard a Minute Philofopher triumph 
 upon this very point ; which put me on enquring what 
 foundation there was for it, in the fathers, or fchoolmen. 
 And, for ought that I can find, it owes it original to thofe 
 writings, which have been publifhed under the name of 
 Dionyfius ihe Areopagite. The author of which, it muft 
 be owned, hath written upon the Divine Attributes in a 
 very fmgular flile. In his treatife of the Celeftial Hierar- 
 chy, * he faith, that God is fomething above all eflence 
 * De Hierarch Cteleil;. c. 2.
 
 [DiA^. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ig| 
 
 and life, uper pafan oujian hai zoen : and again, ill his trca- 
 tife of the Divine Names, f that he is above all wifdom 
 and underftanding, uper pafan fophian kai funefiriy ineffable 
 and innominable, arretos kai anonumos : the wifdom of 
 God he terms an unreafonable, unintelligent, and foolifh 
 wifdom *, ton alogon kai anoun kai mor an fophian. But the 
 feafon he gives, for expreffing himfelf in this ftrangc 
 manner, is, that the Divine Wifdom is the caufe of all 
 reafon, wifdom, and underfiianding, and therein are con- 
 tained the treafures of all wifdom and knowledge. He 
 calls God uperfophos and uperzos : As if wifdom and life 
 were words not worthy to exprefs the Divine Perfections : 
 And he adds, that the attributes, unintelligent and unper- 
 ceiving, muft be afcribed to the Diviaity, not hat elleipftn 
 by way of defecl:, but kath uperochen, by way of eminen- 
 cy : which he explains, by our giving the name of dark- 
 nefs to light inacceflible. And, notv/ithftanding the 
 harihnefs of his expreffions in fome places, he affirms, 
 over and over, in others, that God knows all things ; 
 not that he is beholden to the creatures for his knowledge, 
 but by knowing himfelf, from whom they all derive their 
 being, and in whom they are contained as in their caufe. 
 It was late before thefe writings appear to have been 
 known in the world : And, although they obtained credit, 
 during the age of the fchoolmen, yet fince critical learn- 
 ing hath been cultivated, they have loft that credit, and 
 are at this day given up for fpurious, as containing feve- 
 ral evident marks of a much later date than the age of Di- 
 onyfius. Upon the whole, although this method of grow- 
 ing in expreffion, and dwindling in notion, of clearing up 
 doubts by nonfenfe, and avoiding difficulties by running into 
 affe<9:ed contradi£lions, may perhaps proceed from a well- 
 meant zeal ; yet it appears not to be according to knov/- 
 ledge, and, inftead of reconciling atheills to truth, hath, 
 
 f De Nom, Div. c. 7.
 
 i82 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [DiaI. IV.3 
 
 I doubt, a tendency to confirm them in their own pcr- 
 fuafion. It fhould feem, therefore, very weak and rafh 
 in a chriftian to adopt this harfh language of an apocry- 
 phal writer, preferably to that of the holy fcriptures. I re- 
 member, indeed, to have read of a certain philofopher, who 
 lived fome centuries ago, that ufed to fay, if thefe fuppo- 
 fed works of Dionyftus had been known to the primitive 
 fathers, they would have furnifhed them admirable wea- 
 pons againft the heretics, and would have faved a world 
 of pains. But the event, fmce this difcovery, hath by 
 no means confirmed this opinion. It muft be owned, the 
 celebrated P/Vi/j" of Mira?jdula, among his nine hundred 
 conclufions (which that prince, being very young, propo- 
 fed to maintain by public difputation at Rome) hath this 
 for one ; to wit, that it is more impoper to fay of God, 
 he is an intellect, or intelligent Being, than to fay of a 
 reafonable foul, that it is an angel : which dodtrine, it 
 feems, was not relifhed. And Picus, when he comes 
 to defend it, fupports himfelf altogether by the example 
 and authority of Dionyfms, and in effedt explains it away 
 into a mere verbal defence, affirming, that neither Diony' 
 ftusy nor himfelf, ever meant to deprive God of know- 
 ledge, or to deny that he knows all things : But that, as 
 reafon is of kind peculiar to man, fo, by intelle£l:ion, he 
 underftands a kind of manner of knowing peculiar to an- 
 gels : And that the knowledge, which is in God, is more 
 above the intellection of angels, than angel is above man. 
 He adds that, as his tenet confifts with admitting the 
 mod perfect knowledge in God, fo he would by no 
 means be underftood to exclude from the Deity intellecftion 
 itfelf, taken in the common or general fenfe, but only 
 that peculiar fort of intelle6lion proper to angels, which 
 he thinks ought not to be attributed to God, any more 
 than human reafon. * Pkus, therefore, though he fpeaks 
 
 • Pic. Mirand. in Apolog. p. 155. Ed. Baf,
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 183 
 
 as the apocryphal Dionyfius, yet, when he explains him- 
 felf, it is evident he fpeaks like other men. And although 
 the forementioned books of the Celeftial Hierarchy, and of 
 the Divine Names, being attributed to a faint and martyr 
 of the apoftolical age, were refpetled by the fchoolmen ; 
 yet it is certain they rejeiSlcd, or foftened, his harih ex- 
 preffions, and explained away, or reduced, his doftrine 
 to the received notions taken from Holy Scripture, and 
 the light of nature. 
 
 XX. nomas Aquinas exprefleth his fenfe of this point 
 in the following manner. All perfediions, faith he, deri- 
 ved from God to the creatures, are in a certain higher fenfe, 
 or (as the fchoolmen term it) eminently in God. Whene- 
 ver, therefore, a name, borrowed from any perfection in the 
 creature, is attributed to God, we muft exclude from its 
 fignification every thing that belongs to the imperfe£l man- 
 ner, wherein that attribute is found in the creature. 
 Whence he concludes, that knowledge in God is not an 
 habit, but a pure a£l.* And again, the fame doctor ob- 
 ferves, that our intellect gets its notions of all forts of per- 
 fections from the creatures, and that as it apprehends thofe 
 perfections, fo it fignifies them by names. Therefore, faith 
 he, in attributing thefe names to God, we are to confider 
 two things ; firft, the perfections themfelves, as goodnefs, 
 life, and the like, which are properly in God ; and, fecond- 
 ly, the manner which is peculiar to the creature, and can- 
 not, ftriCtly and properly fpcaking, be faid to agree to the 
 Creator.! And although Suarezy with other fchoolmen, 
 teacheth, that the mind of man conceiveth knowledge and 
 will to be in God, as faculties or operations, by analogy on- 
 ly to created beings ; yet he gives it plainly as his opinion, 
 that, when knowledge is faid not to be properly in God, it 
 muft be underftood in a fenfe including imperfeCtion, fuch 
 
 * Sum. Theolog. p. i. Quaeft. 14. Art. I. 
 f Ibid- Quaeft. 13, Art. 3,
 
 i84 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 as difcurfive knowledge, or the like imperfect kind, found 
 in the creatures : and that, none of thofe imperfections in 
 the knowledge of men or angels, belonging to knowledge 
 as fuch, it will not thence follow, that knowledge, in its 
 proper fenfe, may not be attributed to God : And of knowl- 
 edge, taken in general, for the clear evident underftanding 
 of all truth, he exprefsly affirms, that it is in God, and that 
 this was never denied by any philofopher, who believed a 
 God.* It was indeed a current opinion in the fchools, 
 that even being itfelf fhould be attributed analogically to 
 God and the creatures. That is, they held that God, 
 the fupreme, independent, felf-originate caufe and fource 
 of all beings, mull not be fupofed to exift in the fame fenfc 
 with created beings, not that he exifts lefs truly or properly 
 than they, but only becaufe he exifts in a more eminent 
 and perfect manner. 
 
 XXI. But to prevent any man's being led, by miftak- 
 ing the fcholaftic ufe of the terms analogy and analogical, 
 into an opinion that we cannot frame, in any degree, a 
 true and proper notion of attributes, applied by analogy, 
 or, in the fchool phrafe, predicated analogically, it may 
 not be amifs to Inquire into the true fenfe and meaning 
 of thofe words. Every one knows, that analogy is a Greek 
 word, ufed by mathematicians, to fignlfy a fimilitude of 
 proportions. For inftance, when we obferVe that two is 
 to ^ix, as three is to nine, this fimilitude, or equality of 
 proportion, is termed analogy. And although propor- 
 tion ftriftly fignifies the habitude, or relation, of one 
 quantity to another, yet m a loofer and tranflated fenfe, 
 it hath been applied to fignlfy every other habitude : And 
 Gonfequently the term, analogy, comes to fignlfy all fimi- 
 litude of relations, or habitudes whatfoever. Hence, the 
 fchoolmen tell us, there is analogy between intelledl and 
 * Suarcz Difp. Metaph. Tom. 2. Difp. 30. Sed. 15.
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 185 
 
 fight : forafmuch as intclle£l is to the mind, what fight is 
 to the body ? and that he who governs the ftate, is analo- 
 gous to him who (tears a fhip. Hence a prince is analo- 
 gically ftiled a pilot, being to the ftate as a pilot is to his 
 vefTeL* For the farther clearing of this point, it is to be 
 obferved, that a two-fold analogy is diftinguiflied by the 
 fchoolmen, metaphorical and proper. Of the firft kind 
 there are frequent inftances in holy fcripture, attributing 
 human parts and paffions to God. When he is reprefent- 
 ed as having a finger, an eye, or an ear : when he is faid 
 to repent, to be angry, or grieved : every one fees the an- 
 alogy is merely metaphorical. Becaufe thofe parts and 
 paffions, taken in the proper fignification, muft in every 
 degree neceflarily, and from the formal nature of the thing, 
 include imperfection. When, therefore, it is faid, the fin- 
 ger of God appears in this or that event, men of common 
 fenfe mean no more, but that it is as truly afcribed to God, 
 as the works wrought by human fingers are to man : and 
 fo of the reft. But the cafe is different, when wifdom and 
 knowledge are attributed to God. Paffions and fenfes, 
 as fuch, imply defedt : but in knowledge fimply, or as 
 fuch, there is no defeat. Knowledge, therefore, in the 
 proper formal meaning of the word, may be attributed to 
 God proportionably, that is, preferving a proportion to the 
 infinite nature of God. We may fay, therefore, that as 
 God is infinitely above man, fo is the knowledge of God 
 infinitely above the knowledge of man, and this is what Caje- 
 tan calls Analogia proprie facia. And after this fame analogy, 
 we muft underftand all thofe attributes to belong to the Deity, 
 which, in them felves fimply, and as fuch, denote perfe£tion, 
 Wc may, therefore, confiftcntly with whathath been premi- 
 fed, affirm, that all forts of perfe£tion, which we can con- 
 ceive in a finite fpirit, are in God, but without any of that 
 sllay which is found in the creatures. This doctrine, 
 * v-de Cajfitan. «3e Nom, Analog, c. 3 
 
 z
 
 lU MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IVJ 
 
 therefore, of analogical perfe£lions in God, or our know- 
 ing God by analogy, feems very much mifunderftood, and 
 mifapplied, by thofe who would infer from thence, that 
 we cannot frame any dire£i: or proper notion, though never 
 fo inadequate, of knowledge or wifdom, as there are in the 
 Deity ; or underftand any more of them, than one born 
 blind can of light and colours. 
 
 XXII. And now, gentlemen, it may be expelled I 
 {hould a{k your pardon, for having dwelt fo long on a 
 point of metaphyfics, and introduced fuch unpoliflied and 
 unfafhionable writers, as the fchoolmen, into good compa- 
 ny : but as Lyficks gave the occafion, I leave him to an- 
 fwer for it. 
 
 Lys.-— I never dreamed of this dry diflertation. But, 
 if I have been the occafion of difcuffing thefe fcholaftic 
 points, by my unlucky mentioning the fchoolmen, it was 
 my firft fault of the kind, and I promife it fhall be the laft. 
 The meddling with crabbed authors of any fort, is none of 
 my ta(le> I grant, one meets, now and then, with a good 
 notion in what we call dry writers, fuch an one, for exam- 
 ple, as this I was fpeaking of, which I muft own ftruck 
 my fancy. But then, for thefe, we have fuch as Prodicus^ 
 x)V Diagoras, who look into obfolete books, and favc the 
 reft: of us that trouble. 
 
 Cri. — So you pin your faith upon them. 
 
 Lys. — It is only for fome odd opinions, and matters of 
 hO:, and critical points. Befides, we know the men to 
 whom we give credit : they are judicious and honeft, and 
 have no end to ferve but truth. And I am confident fome 
 author or other has maintained the forementioned notion 
 in the fame fcnfe as Diagoras related it. 
 
 Cri. — That may be. But it never was a received no- 
 tion, and never will, fo long as men believe a God : the 
 fame arguments that prove a firft: caufe, proving an intcUi-
 
 [Dial. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 187 
 
 gent caufe : intelligent, I fay, in the proper fenfc : wife 
 and good, in the true and formal acceptation of the words. 
 Otherwife it is evident, that every fyllogifm brought to 
 prove thofe attributes, or (which is the fame thing) to prove 
 the Being of a God, will be found to confift of four 
 terms, and confequently can conclude nothing. But, for 
 your part, Alciphroriy you have been fully convinced, that 
 God is a thinking intelligent Being, in the fame fenfe with 
 other fpirits, though not in the fame imperfed manner or 
 degree. 
 
 XXIII. Alc. — And yet I am not without my fcruples r 
 for, with knowledge you infer wifdom, and with wifdom 
 goodnefs. Though I cannot fee that it is either wife, or 
 good, to ena£t fuch laws as can never be obeyed. 
 
 Cri. — Doth any one find fault with the exadnefs of 
 gcoptietrical rules, becaufe no one in prafbice can attain to 
 it ? the perfection of a rule is ufeful, even though it is not 
 reached. Many may approach what all may fall fhort of. 
 
 Alc— But how is it poffible to conceive God fo good, 
 and man fo wicked ? It may, perhaps, with fome colour 
 be alledged, that a little foft (hadowiiig of evils fcts off the 
 bright and luminous parts of the creation, and fo contri- 
 butes to the beauty of the whole piece ; but, for blots fo 
 large and fo black, it is impoffible to account by that prin- 
 ciple. That there ftiould be fo much vice, and fo little 
 virtue upon earth, and that the laws of God's kingdom 
 fhould be fo ill obferved by his fubje£i:s, is what can never 
 be reconciled with that furpafling wifdom and goodnefs of 
 the Supreme Monarch. 
 
 EuPH. — ^Tell me, Akiphrotiy would you argue that a 
 ftate was ill adminftred, or judge of the manners of its 
 citizens, by the difordcrs committed in the goal or dun- 
 geon ? 
 
 ALC.-.-I would not.
 
 1 88 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IVJ 
 
 EuPH. — And, for ought we know, this fpot with the few 
 finners on it, bears no greater proportion to the univerfc 
 of intelligences, than a dungeon doth to a kingdom. It 
 feems, we are led not only by revelation, but by common 
 fenfe, obferving and inferring from the analogy of vifiblc 
 things, to conclude there are innumerable orders of intelli- 
 gent beings, more happy and more perfeft than man : 
 whofe life is but a fpan, and whofe place, this earthly globe, 
 is but a point, in refpe£t of the whole fyftem of God's 
 Creation. We are dazzled indeed with the glory and 
 grandeur of things here below, becaufe we know no better. 
 But I am apt to think, if we knew what it was to be an 
 angel for one hour, we fliould return to this world, though 
 it were to fit on the brighteft throne in it, with vaftly more 
 loathing and relu6lance, than we would now defcend into 
 a loathfome dungeon or fepulchre. 
 
 XXIV. Cri. — To me it feems natural, that fuch a 
 weak, paflionate, and fliort-fight creature as man, fhould 
 be ever liable to fcruples of one kind or other. But, as 
 this fame creature is apt to be over-pofitive in judging, and 
 over-hafty in concluding, it falls oiit, that thefe difficulties 
 and fcruples about God's condudi are made obje£^ions to 
 his Being. And fo men come to argue from their own 
 defe£ts, againft the divine perfections. And, as the views 
 and humours of men are different, and often oppofite, you 
 may fometimes fee them deduce the fame atheiftical con- 
 clufion from contrary premifes. I knew an inftance of 
 this in two Minute Philofophers of my acquaintance, who 
 ufed to argue each from his own temper againft a Provi- 
 dence. One of them, a man of a choleric and vindidlivc 
 fpirit, faid he could not believe a Providence : becaufe 
 London was not f wallowed up or con fumed by fire from 
 heaven : the flreets being, as he faid, full of people, who 
 ftiew no other belief or worfhip of God, but perpetually
 
 [PiAL. IV.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. iS^ 
 
 praying that he would damn, rot, fink, and confound them. 
 The other, being of an indolent and eafy temper, concluded 
 there could be no fuch thing as a Providence : for that a 
 Being of confummate wifdom muft needs employ himfdf 
 better, than in minding the prayers, and a£iions, and little 
 interefts of mankind. 
 
 Alc. — After all, if God have no palTions, how can it be 
 true that vengeance is his ? or how can he be faid to be 
 jealous of his glory ? 
 
 Cri. — We believe that God executes vengeance with- 
 out revenge, and is jealous without weaknefs, juft as the 
 mind of man fees without eyes, and apprehends without 
 hands. 
 
 XXV. Alc. — To put a period to this difcourfc, we 
 will grant, there is a God in this difpaffionate fenfe : but 
 what then ? What hath this to do with religion or divine 
 worftiip ? To what purpofe are all thefe prayers and prai- 
 fes, and thankfgivings, and finging of pfalms, which the 
 foolifti vulgar call ferving God ? What fenfe, or ufe, or 
 end is there in all thefe things ? 
 
 Cri. — We worfhip God, we praife and pray to hiffi, 
 not becaufe we think that he is proud of our worfhip, or 
 fond of our praife or prayers, and afFe£lcd with them as 
 mankind are : or that all our fervice can contribute in the 
 leaft degree to his happinefs or good : but becaufe it is 
 good for us, to be fo difpofed towards God : becaufe it is 
 juft and right, and fuitable to the nature of things, and 
 becoming the relation we ftand in to our Supreme Lord 
 and Governor. 
 
 Alc. — If it be good for us to worfhip God, it (hould 
 feem that the chriftian religion, which pretends to teach 
 men the knowledge and worihip of God, was of fome ufe 
 and benefit to mankind, 
 
 Cri. — Doubtlefs.
 
 f^ MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. IV.] 
 
 Alc— If this can be made appear, I ihall own myfelf 
 tcry much miftaken. 
 
 Cri.— It is now near dinner-time. Wherefore, if you 
 f leafe, we will put an end to this converfation for the pre- 
 fcnt, and to-morrow morning refume our fubje^
 
 >S><>^S>^;>lC;-c:;wc::•<>o;>.l;>c>ls;:.<;>.::::l.l:;:;^l:;::l.|-:.<:::M:r;<;:t.l;:;>.::;:.<::,^::>.::: :;!.,:;;>,::?< 
 
 THE 
 
 FIFTH DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Minute Phihfophers join in the Cry, and fellow the Scent 
 of others, II. Worfhip prefcribed by the Chrifiian Religi^ 
 on fuitable to God and Man. III. Power and Influence 
 of the Druids. IV. Excellency and Ufefulnefs of the 
 Chrifiian Religion, V. // ennobles Mankind, and males 
 them happy, VI. Religion neither Bigotry nor Superfli- 
 Hon, Vn. Rhyftcians and Phyftc for the Soul. VIII. 
 Character of the Clergy. IX. Natural Religion and Hu' 
 man Reafon not to be difparaged. X. Tendency and Ufe 
 of the Gentile Religion. XL Good EffeBs of Chriftiani- 
 ty. XII. Englifhmen compared with ancient Greeks 
 and Romans. XIII. The modern PraBice of Duelling. 
 XrV. CharaBer of the old Romans, how to be formed. 
 XV. Genuine Fruits of the Gofpel. XVI. Wars and 
 FaBions not an effeB of the Chrifiian Religion, XVII. 
 Civil Rage and Majfacres in Greece and Rome. XVIII. 
 Virtue of ancient Greeks. XIX. parrels of Polemical 
 Divims, XX. Tyranny, Ufurpation, Sophiflry of Ec^ 
 clefaflics, XXI. The Univerftties cenfured. XXII. Di- 
 vine Writings of a certain modern Critic. XXIII. Learn- 
 ing the EffeB of Religion. XXIV. Barbarifm of the 
 Schools. XXV. Re/f oration of Learning and polite Arts, 
 to whom owing. XXVI. Prejudice and Ingratitude of 
 Minute Philofophers. XXVII. Their Pretenfions and 
 ConduB inconftfient. XXVIIL Men and Brutes compare 
 ed with refpeB to Religion. XXIX. Chrijlianity the only 
 Means to efablifh Natural Religion. XXX. Free-think- 
 ers mifake their Talents ; have a flrong Imagination. 
 XXXI. Tithes and Church-lands. XXXII. Men diflin- 
 guijhedfrcm Human Creatures. XXXIII. Diflribution
 
 [Dial, V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 193 
 
 of Mankind into Birdr, Bea/Js, and Fijhes. XJCXIV. 
 Plea for Reafon allowed^ but Unfairnefs Taxed. XXXV. 
 Freedom a Bleffmg or Curfe^ as it is iifed, XXXVI. 
 Friejicraft not the reigning EviL 
 
 y Y E amufed ourfelves next day, every one to 
 his fancy, till nine of the clock, when word was brought 
 that the tea-table was fet in the library : which is a gallery 
 on the ground floor, with an arched door at one end, 
 opening into a walk of limes ; where, as foon as we had 
 drank tea, we were tempted by fine weather to take a 
 walk, which led us to a fmall mount, of eafy afcent, on 
 the top whereof we found a feat under a fpreading tree. 
 Here we had a profpeiSt, on one hand, of a narrow bay, 
 or creek, of the fea, inclofed on either fide by a coafl 
 beautified with rocks and woodS;, and green banks and 
 farm-houfes. At the end of the bay was a fmall town, 
 placed upon the flope of a hill, which, from the advantage 
 of its fituation, made a confiderable figure. Several fifh- 
 ing boats and lighters, gliding up and down on a furface as 
 fmooth and bright as glafs, enlivened the profpect. On 
 the other hand, we looked down on green paftures, flocks, 
 and herds, baflcing beneath in fun-fhine, while we, in 
 our fuperior fituation, enjoyed the freflinefs of air and 
 fhade. Here we felt that fort of joyful inftin(Sl:, which a 
 rural fcene and fine weather infpire ; and propofed no 
 fmall pleafure, inrefuming and continuing our conference, 
 without interruption, till dinner : But we had hardly 
 feated ourfelves, and looked about us, when we faw a. 
 fox run. by the foot of our mount into an adjacent thicket, 
 A few minutes after, we heard a confufed noife of the 
 opening of hounds, the winding of horns, and the roar- 
 rag of country fquires. While our attention was fuf- 
 oended bv this event, a fervant Cvime running out o'i
 
 194 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 breath, and told Crito, that his neighbor, Ctefippus, a 
 fquire of note, was fallen from his horfe attempting to 
 leap over a hedge, and brought into the hall, where he 
 lay for dead. Upon which we all rofe, and walked haf- 
 tily to the houfe, where we found Cteftppus juft come to 
 himfelf, in the midft of half a dozen fun-burnt fquires, 
 in frocks and fhort wigs, and jockey-boots. Being afked 
 how he did, he anfwered, it was only a broken rib.— 
 With fome difficulty Crito perfuaded him to lie on a bed 
 till the chirurgeon came. Thefe fox-hunters having been 
 up early at their fport, were eager for dinner, which was 
 accordingly haftened. They pafTed the afternoon in a 
 loud ruftic mirth, gave proof of Iieir religion and loyalty 
 by the healths they drank, talked of hounds and horfes, 
 znd. elections, and country affairs, till the chirurgeon, 
 who had been employed about Ctsfppus, defired he might 
 be put into Crito^s coach, and fent home, having refufed 
 to (lay all night. Our guefts being gone, we repofed 
 ourfelves after the fatigue of this tumultuous vifit, and 
 next morning affemblcd again at the feat of the mount. 
 Now LyJtcliSi being a nice man, and a bel efprity had an 
 infinite contempt for the rough manners and converfation 
 of fox-hunters, and could not reflect with patience that 
 he had loft, as he called it, fo many hours in their com- 
 pany. I flattered myfelf, faid he, that there had been none 
 of this fpecies remaining among us ; Strange that men 
 iliould be diverted with fuch uncouth noife and hurry, or 
 find pleafure in the fociety of dogs and horfes ! How 
 much more elegant are the diverfions of the town ! There 
 feems, replied Euphranor, to be fome refemblance between 
 fox-hunters and free-thinkers ; the former exerting their 
 animal faculties in purfuit of game, as you gentlemen em- 
 ploy your intellectuals in the purfuit of truth. The kind 
 of amufement is the fame, although the objedt be dif- 
 erent.
 
 [Dial. VJ MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 195 
 
 Lys. — I had rather be compared to any brute upon earth 
 than a rational brute. 
 
 Cri.— rYou would then have been lefs difpleafed with 
 my friend Pythoclesy whom I have heard compare the com- 
 mon fort of Minute Philofophers, not to the hunters, but 
 the hounds. For, faid he, you fhall often fee among the 
 dogs a loud babler, with a bad nofe, lead the unfKilful part 
 of the pack ; who join all in his cry, without following 
 any fcent of their own, any more than the herd of free- 
 thinkers follow their own reafon. 
 
 II. But Pythocles was a blunt man, and muft never have 
 known fuch reafoners among them, as you gentlemen, who 
 can fit fo long at an argument, difputc every inch of 
 ground, and yet know when to make a reafonable con- 
 ceflion. 
 
 Lys. — I do not know how it came to pafs, but methinks 
 Alc'iphron makes conceflions, for himfelf and me too. For 
 my own part, I am not altogether of fuch a yielding tem- 
 per : But yet I do not care to be fmgular neither. 
 
 Cri. — Truly, Alciphron^ when I confider where we are 
 got, and how far we are agreed, I conceive it probable we 
 may agree altogether in the end. You have granted that 
 a life of virtue is upon all accounts eligible, as moft con- 
 ducive both to the general and particular good of mankind : 
 And you allow, that the beauty of virtue alone is not a fuf- 
 ficient motive with mankind to the praftice of it This 
 led you to acknowledge, that the belief of a God would 
 be very ufeful in the world : And that, confequently, you 
 fhould be difpofed to admit any reafonable proof of his 
 being : Which point hath been proved, and you have ad- 
 mitted the proof. If then we admit a Divinity, why not 
 divine worfhip ? and if worfhip, why not religion to teach 
 this virorfhip ? and if a religion, why not the chriftian, if a 
 better cannot be afligned, and if it be already eftabUlhed
 
 uj6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.j 
 
 by the laws of our country, and handed down to us from 
 our Fore-fathers ? fhall we believe a God, and not pray to 
 him for future benefits, nor thank him for the paft ? nei- 
 ther truft in his prote£l:ion, nor love his goodnefs, nor praife 
 his wifdom, nor adore his power ? And if thefe things are 
 to be done, can we do them in a way more fuitable to the 
 dignity of God or man, than is prefcribed by the chriftian 
 reHgion ? 
 
 Alc. — I am not perhaps altogether fure that religion 
 mud be abfolutely bad for the public : But I cannot bear 
 to fee policy and religion walk hand in hand : I do not 
 like to fee human rights attached to the divine : I am for 
 no Pontifex Maximus^ fuch as in ancient or in modern 
 Rome : No high prieft, as in Judea : No royal pried, as in 
 £gypt and Sparta : No fuch things as the Dairos of Japan 
 or Lamas of Tartary. 
 
 III. I knew a little witty gentleman of our fe^t, who 
 was a great admirer of the ancient Druids. He had a 
 moral antipathy to the prefent eiUbliflied religion, but 
 ufed to fay, he (hould like well to fee the Druids and their 
 religion reftored, as it anciently flouriflied in Gaul and 
 Britain ; for it would be right enough that there (liould 
 be a number of contemplative men fet apart to preferve a 
 knowledge of arts and fciences, to educate youth, and 
 teach men the immortality of the foul, and the moral vir- 
 tues. Such, faid he, were the Druids of old, and I fhould 
 be glad to fee them once more eftablifned among us. 
 
 Cri. — How would you like, Alciphron, that priefts 
 fhould have power to decide ail controverfies, adjudge 
 property, diftribute rewards and punifhments ; that all 
 who did not acquiefce in their decrees fnould be excommu- 
 nicated, held in abhorrence, excluded from all honours 
 and privileges, and deprived of the common benefit of the 
 laws \ and that, now and then, a number of lay-men
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 197 
 
 ihould be crammed together in a wicker-idol, and burnt 
 for an offering to their Pagan Gods ? How {hould you like 
 living under fuch priefts and fuch a religion ? 
 
 Alc.^ — Not at all. Such a fituation would by no means 
 agree with free-thinkers. 
 
 Cri. — And yet fuch were the Druidsy and fuch their 
 religion, if wc may truft Cafar's account of them.* 
 
 Lys. — I am now convinced more than ever, that there 
 ought to be no fuch thing as an eftablilhed religion of any 
 kind. Certainly all the nations of the world have been 
 hitherto out of their wits. Even the Athenians themfelves, 
 the wifefl: and freed people upon earth, had, I know not 
 what, foolifh attachment to their eftabliflied church. 
 They offered, it feems, a talent as a reward to whoever 
 fnould kill Diagorasy the Me/iany a free-thinker of thofe 
 times, who derided their myfleries : And Protagoras, ano- 
 ther of the frtme turn, narrowly efcaped being put to death, 
 for having wrote fomething that fcemed to contradi£l: 
 their received notions of the Gods. Such was the treat- 
 ment our generous fe6l met with at Athens. And I make 
 no doubt, but thefe Druids would have facrificed many a 
 holocauft of free-thinkers. I would not give a fingle far- 
 thing to exchange one religion for another. Away with 
 all together, root and branch, or you had as good do no- 
 thing. No Druids or priefrs, cf any fort, for me : I fee 
 no occafion for any of them. 
 
 IV. EuPH. — What Lyftcles faith, puts me in mind of 
 the clofe of our laft conference, wherein it was agreed in 
 the following, to refume the point we were then entered 
 upon : to wit, the ufe or benefit of the chriftian religion, 
 which Alciphron expelled Crito fhould make appear. 
 
 Cri. — I am the readier to undertake this point, becaufe 
 I conceive it to be no difficult one, and that one great mark 
 
 * Dc Bello GaUico. 1. 6.
 
 ipS klNUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 of the truth of chriftianity is, in my mind, its tendency to 
 do good, which feems the north-ftar to conduct our judg- 
 ment in moral matters, and in all things of a praftic na- 
 ture ; moral or practical truths being ever conne6t:ed with 
 univerfal benefit. But to judge rightly of this matter, we 
 fhould endeavour to a£t like Lyficles upon another occafion, 
 taking into our view the fum of things, and confidering 
 principles as branched forth into confequences to the ut* 
 mod extent we are able. We are not fo much to regard 
 the humour, or caprice, or imaginary diftreifes, of a few 
 idle men, whqfe conceit may be offended, though their 
 confcience cannot be wounded ; but fairly to confidcr the 
 true intereft of individuals, as well as of human fociety. 
 Now, the chriftian religion, confidered as a fountain of light, 
 and joy, and peace, as a fource of faith, and hope, and char- 
 ity, (and that it is fo, will be evident to whoever takes his 
 notion of it from the gofpel) muft needs be a principle of 
 happinefs and virtue= And he who fees not, that the dc- 
 ftroying the principles of good a£l:ions muft deftroy good 
 a6lions, fees nothing : And he who, feeing this, fhall yet 
 perfift to do it, if he be not wicked, who is ? 
 
 V. To me it feems, the man can fee neither deep nor 
 far, who is not fenfible of his own mifery, finfulnefs and 
 dependence ; who doth not perceive, that this prefent 
 world is not defigned or adapted to make rational fouls 
 happy ; who would not be glad of getting into a better 
 ftate j and who would not be overjoyed to find that the 
 road leading thither, was the love of God and man, the 
 pra61:ifing every virtue, the living reafonably while we are 
 here upon earth, proportioning our efteem to the value 
 of things, and fo ufing this world as not to abufe it. For 
 this is what chriftianity requires. It neither injoins the 
 naftinefs of the cynic, nor the infenfibility of the ftoic. 
 Can there be a higher ambition than to overcome the world.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER, 199 
 
 or a wifer, than to fubdue ourfelves, or a more comfort-y 
 able doclrine, than the remiffion of fms, or a more joy- 
 ful profpe6i:, than that of having our bafe natures renew- 
 ed and aflimilated to the Deity, our being made fellow- 
 citizens with angels and fons of God ? Did ever Pytha- 
 goreans^ or Platonijlsy or Stoicsy even in idea or in wifh, 
 propofe to the mind of man purer means, or a nobler 
 end ? How great a (hare of our happinefs depends upon 
 hope ! How totally is this extinguifhed by the Minute 
 Philofophy ! On the other hand, how is it cheriftied and 
 raifed by the gofpel ! Let any man, who thinks in ear- 
 neft, but confider thefe things, and then fay, which he 
 tliinks deferveth beft of mankind, he who recommends, 
 or he who i)I»is down chriftianity ? Which he thinks like- 
 lier to lead a happy life, to be a hopeful fon, an honeft 
 dealer, a worthy patriot, he who fmcerely believes the 
 gofpel, or he who believes not one tittle of it ? He who 
 aims at being a child of God, or he who is contented to 
 be thought, and to be, one of Epicurus^s hogs ? And, in 
 fa6l, do but fcan the characters, and obferve the beha- 
 vior of the common fort of men on both fides ; obferve, 
 and fay which live moft agreeably to the dictates of rea- 
 fon ? How things ftiould be, the reafon is plain j how 
 they are, I appeal to fa6t. 
 
 VL Alc. — It is wonderful to obferve how things 
 change appearance, as they are viewed in different lights, 
 or by different eyes. The picture, Critoy that I form of 
 religion is very unlike yours, when I confider how it un- 
 mans the foul, filling it with abfurd reveries, and flavifh 
 fears : how it extinguifhes the gentle pafTions, infpiring a 
 fpirit of malice, and rage, and perfecution : When I 
 beheld bitter refentments and unholy wrath in thofe 
 very men, who preach up meeknefs and charity to others. 
 
 Cri. — It is very poflible, that gentlemen of your itSt 
 may think religion a fubje6l beneath their attention ; but
 
 200 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 yet it feems that whoever fets up for oppofing any doc- 
 trine^ ihould know what it is he difputes againft. Know 
 then, tiiat religion is the virtuous mean between incredu- 
 lity and fuperftition. We do not, therefore, contend 
 for fuperftitious follies, or for the rage of bigots. What 
 we plead for is, religion againft profanenefs, law againft 
 confufion, virtue againft vice, the hope of a chriftian 
 againll the defpondency of an atheift. I will not juftify 
 bitter refentments and unholy wrath in any man, much 
 lefs in a chriftian, and leaft of all in a clergyman. But 
 if failies of human palhon ftiould fometimes appear even in 
 the beft, it will not furprife any one who refle6ls on the 
 farcafms and ill manners with which they are treated by 
 the Minute Philofophers. For, as Cicero fomewhere ob- 
 ferves, Habet quendam acideum contumeliai quern pati pru^ 
 denies ac viri boni difficillime pojfunt. But although you 
 might fometimes obferve particular perfons, profefling 
 themfelves chriftians, run into faulty extremes of any 
 kind, through paffion and infirmity, while infidels of a 
 more calm and difpaflionate temper fiiall perhaps behave 
 better;— yet thefe natural tendencies, on either fide, 
 prove nothing, either in favor of infidel principles, or 
 againft chriftian. If a believer doth evil, it is owing to 
 the man, not to his belief. And if an infidel doth good, 
 it is owing to the man, and not to his infidelity. 
 
 VII. Lys. — To cut this matter Ihort, I fhall borrow 
 an allufion to phyfic, which one of you made ufe of 
 againft our feft. It will not be denied that the clergy 
 pafs for phyficians of the foul, and that religion is a fort 
 of medicine which they deal in and adminifter. If then 
 fouls, in great numbers, are difeafed and loft, how can 
 we think the phyfician fkilful, or his phyfic good ? It is 
 a common complaint, that vice increafes, and men grow 
 daily more and rr.ore '\v:cked. Jf a (hepherd's flock be
 
 tDiAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ^©i 
 
 difeafed or unfound, who is to blame but the (hepherd, 
 for negle£^Ing, or not knowing how to cure them ? A 
 fig, therefore, for fuch Ihepherds, fuch phyfic, and fuch 
 phyficians, who, like other mountebanks, with great 
 gravity and elaborate harangues, put off their pills to the 
 people, who are never the better for them. 
 
 EuPH. — Nothing feems more reafonable than this re- 
 mark, that men fhould judge of a phyfician and his phy- 
 fic, by its efFedls on the fick. But pray, Lyficles, would 
 you judge of a phyfician, by thofe Tick who take his phy- 
 fic and follow his prefcriptions, or by thofe who do not ? 
 
 Lys. — Doubtlefs by tliofe who do. 
 
 EuPH. — What {hall we fay then, if great numbers re- 
 fufe to take the phyfic, or, inftead of it, take poifon of a 
 dire£l: contrary nature, prefcribed by others, who make 
 it their bufinefs to difcredit the phyfician and his medi- 
 cines, to hinder men from ufing them, and to deftroy 
 their effect by drugs of their own ? Shall the phyfician be 
 blamed for the mifcarriage of thofe people ? 
 
 Lys. — By no means. 
 
 EuPH. — By a parity of reafon, fliould it not follow, 
 that the tendency of religious do£trincs ought to be judg- 
 ed of by the efFe£l:s which they produce, not upon all 
 who hear them, but upon thofe only who receive or be- 
 lieve them ? 
 
 Lys. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — Therefore, to proceed fairly, (hall we not 
 judge of the effects of religion by the religious, of faith by 
 the believers, of chriftianity by chriftians } 
 
 VIII. Lys. — But I doubt thefe fincere believers arc 
 very few, 
 
 EupH.— -But will it not fuffice to juflify our principles, 
 if, in proportion to the numbers which receive them, and 
 the degree of faith with which they are received, they 
 B b
 
 2C2 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.} 
 
 produce good effeifis ? Perhaps the number of believers 
 are not fo few as you imagine ; and if they were, whofe 
 fault is that fo much as of thofe who make it their pro- 
 fefled endeavor to leffen that number ? And who are 
 thofe but the Minute Philofophers ? 
 
 Lys. — I tell you, it is owing to the clergy thcmfelves, 
 to the wickednefs and corruption of clergymen. 
 
 EuPK.— And who denies that there may be Minute 
 Philofophers even among the clergy ? 
 
 Cri. — In fo numerous a body, it is to be prefumed 
 there are men of all forts. But notwithftanding the cru- 
 el reproaches caft upon that order by their enemies, an 
 equal obferver of men and things will, if I miftake not, 
 be inclined to think thofe reproaches owing as much to 
 other faults, as thofe of the clergy : Efpecially if he con - 
 fiders the declamatory manner of thofe who cenfure them. 
 
 EuPH.— My knowledge of the world, is too narrow for 
 me to pretend to judge of the virtue, and merit, and liber- 
 al attainments of men, in the feveral profefTions. Befides, 
 I fliouldnot care for, the odious work of comparifon : But 
 I may venture to fay, the clergy of this country where I 
 live, arc by no means a difgrace to it : On the contrary, 
 the people feem much the better for their example and 
 doctrine. But fuppofing the clergy to be (what all men 
 certainly are) finncrs, and faulty ; fuppofing you ipight 
 fpy out here and there among them even great crimes and 
 vices : what can you conclude againft the profeffion itfelf 
 from its unworthy profeflbrs, any more than from the 
 pride, pedantry, and bad lives of fome philofophers 
 againft philofophy, or of lawyers againft law ? 
 
 IX. Cri. — It is certainly right to judge of principles 
 from their efte£l:s, but then we muft know them to be 
 effects of thofe principles. It is the very method I have 
 obferved, with refped to religion and the Minute Philofo-
 
 tt)iAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 203 
 
 -phy. And I can honeftly aver, that I never knew any 
 man, or family, grow worfe in proportion as they grew reli- 
 gious : But I have often obferved, that Minute Philofophy 
 is the word thing which can get into a family, the readiell 
 way to impoverifh, divide, and difgrace it. 
 
 Alc. — By the fame method of tracing caufes from 
 their efFecls, I have made it my obfervation, that the love 
 of truth, virtue, and the happincfs of mankind are fpe- 
 cious pretexts, but not the inward principles that fet di- 
 vines at work : Elfe why ihould they affecl to abufe hu- 
 man reafon, to difparage natural religion, to traduce the 
 philofophers, as they univerfally do ? 
 
 Cri. — Not fo univerfally perhaps as you imagine. A 
 chriftian, mdeed, is for confining reafon within its due 
 bounds : And fo is every reafonable man. If we are for- 
 bid meddling with unprofitable queflions, vain philofophy, 
 and fcience, falfly fo called, it cannot be thence inferred, 
 that all inquiries into profitable queflions, ufeful philofo- 
 phy, and true fcience, are unlawful. A Minute Philofo- 
 pher may indeed impute, and perhaps a weak brother may 
 imagine, thofe inferences, but men of fenfe will never make 
 them. God is the common Father of lights : And all 
 knowledge, really fuch, whether natural or revealed, is 
 derived from the fame fource of light and truth. To 
 amafs together authorities upon fo plain a point, would be 
 needlefs. It mufl be owned, fome men's attributing too 
 much to human reafon, hath, as is natural, made others 
 attribute too little to it. But thus much is generally ac- 
 knowledged, that there is a natural religion, which may 
 be difcovered and proved by the light of reafon, to thofc 
 who are capable of fuch proofs. But it mufl be withal 
 acknowledged, that precepts and oracles from Heaven are 
 incomparably better fuited to popular improvement, and 
 the good of fociety, than the reafonings of philofophers : 
 And accordingly we do not find, that natural or rational
 
 204 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [DiAt. V."] 
 
 religion, as fuch, ever became the popular national reli- 
 gion of any country. 
 
 X. Alc. — It cannot be denied, that in all heathen coun- 
 tries, there have been received, under the colour of reli- 
 gion, a world of fables and fuperftitious rites. But I 
 queftion whether they were fo abfurd, and of fo bad influ- 
 ence, as is vulgarly reprefented, fince their refpe£live le- 
 giflators and magiftrates muft, without doubt, have thought 
 them ufefui. 
 
 Cri. — It were needlefs to inquire into all the rites and 
 notions of the Gentile world. This hath been largely done 
 when it was thought neceflary. And whoever thinks it 
 worth while, may be eafily fatisfied about them. But as 
 to the tendency and ufefulnefs of the heathen religion in 
 general, I beg leave to mention a remark of St. Auguf- 
 tinis^ who obferves that the heathens, in their religion, 
 had no aflemblies for preaching, wherein the people were 
 to be inftruded what duties or virtues the Gods required, 
 no place or means to be taught what Ferjius \ exhorts them 
 to learn. 
 
 Difciteque 6 miferiy ^ caufas cognofcite rerunty 
 ^uid fumuSf ^ quidnam viSluri gignimur. — 
 
 Alc. — This is the true fpirit of the party, never to al- 
 low a grain of ufe or goodnefs to any thing out of their 
 own pale : But we have had learned men, who have done 
 juftice to the religion of the Gentiles. 
 
 Cri. — We do not deny, but there was fomething ufefui 
 in the old religions of Rome and Greece^ and fome other 
 pagan countries. On the contrary, we freely own they 
 produced fome good effects on the people : But then thefe 
 good effects were owing to the truths contained in thofe 
 
 * De Civitate Dsi I. %. f Sat. 3.
 
 tDiAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 2©5 
 
 falfe religions : The truer, therefore, the more ufeful. I 
 believe you will find it a hard matter to produce any ufe- 
 ful truth, any moral precept, any falutary principle, or 
 notion, in any Gentile fyftem, either of religion or philo- 
 fophy, which is not comprehended in the chriftian, and 
 cither enforced by ftronger motives, or fupported by bet- 
 ter authority, or carried to a higher point of perfection. 
 
 XL Alc. — Confequently you would have us think 
 ourfelves a finer people than the ancient Greeks or Romans. 
 
 Cri. — If by finer, you mean better, perhaps we are : 
 And if we are not, it is not owing to the chriftian religion, 
 but to the want of it. 
 
 Alc. — You fay perhaps we are. I do not pique my- 
 felf on my reading : But fhould be very ignorant to be ca- 
 pable of being impofed on in fo plain a point. What ! 
 compare Cicero or Brutus to an Englijh patriot, or Seneca to 
 one of our parfons ! Then that invincible conftancy and 
 vigour of mind, that difintcrefted and noble virtue, that 
 adorable public fpirit you fo much admire, are things 
 in them fo well known, and fo different from our man- 
 ners, that I know not how to excufe your perhaps. Eu^ 
 phranor, indeed, who pafleth his life in this obfcure cor- 
 ner, may poflibly miftake the chara£l:ers of our times : 
 But you, who know the world, how could you be guilty of 
 fuch a miftake ? 
 
 Cri.—- O Ak'iphron ! I v/ould by no means detradi; from 
 the noble virtue of ancient heroes : But I obferve thofe 
 great men were not the Minute Philofophers of their 
 times : And that the beft principles upon which they a£t- 
 cd, arc common to them with chriftians, of whom it 
 would be no difficult matter to aflign, if not in our own 
 times, yet within the compafs of our own hiftory, many 
 inftances, in every kind of worth and virtue, public or 
 private, equal to the moft celebrated of the ancients. 
 Though perhaps their ftory might not have been fo well
 
 1^6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 told, fet ofF with fuch fine lights and colourings of ftile, 
 or fo vulgarly known and confidered by every fchool-boy. 
 But though it Ihould be granted, that here and there a 
 Greek or Roman genius, bred up under ftri£t laws, and 
 fevere difcipline, animated to pubHc virtue by ftatues, 
 crowns, triumphal arches, and fuch rewards and monu- 
 ments of great anions, might attain to a charafter and 
 fame beyond other men •, yet this will prove only, that 
 they had more fpirit, and lived under a civil polity more 
 wifely ordered, in certain points, than ours : Which advan- 
 tages of nature and civil inftitution will be no argument 
 for their religion, or againft ours. On the contrary, it 
 feems an invincible proof of the power and excellency of 
 the chriftian religion, that, without the help of thofe ci- 
 vil inftitutions and incentives to glory, it ihould be able to 
 infpire a phlegmatic people with the noblefl: fentiments, 
 and foften the* rugged manners of northern boors into 
 gentlenefs and humanity : And that thefe good qualities 
 Ihould become national, and rife and fall in proportion to 
 the purity of our religion, as it approaches to, or recedes 
 from the plan laid down in the gofpel. 
 
 XII. To make a right judgment of the effects of the 
 chwftian religion, let us take a furvey of the prevailing 
 notions and manners of this very country where we live, 
 and compare them with thofe of our heathen predeceflbrs. 
 
 Alc. — I have heard much of the glorious light of the 
 gofpel, and fhould be glad to fee fome efFe£ts of it in my 
 own dear country, which, by the by, is one of the moft 
 corrupt and profligate upon earth, notwithflanding the 
 boafted purity of our religion. But it would look mean 
 and diffident, to afFe6i: a comparifon with the barbarous 
 heathen, from whence we drew our original; If you 
 would do honor to your religion, dare to make it with 
 the moft renowned heathens of antiquity.
 
 iDiAU v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 207 
 
 Cri. — It is a common prejudice, to defpife the pre- 
 fent, and over-rate remote times and things. Something 
 of this feems to enter into the judgments men make of the 
 Greeks and Romans. For though it mud be allowed, 
 thofe nations produced fome noble fplrits, and great pat- 
 terns of virtue : yet, upon the whole, it feems to me, they 
 were much inferior, in point of real virtue and good mo- 
 rals, even to this corrupt and profligate nation, as you 
 are now pleafed to call it, in difhonor to our religion ; 
 however you may think fit to chara£terife It, when you 
 would do honor to the Minute Philofophy. This, I think, 
 will be plain to any one, who (hall turn off his eyes from 
 a few fhining charadlers, to view the general manners 
 and cuftoms of thofe people. Their infolent treatment of 
 captives, even of the higheft rank and fofter fex, their 
 unnatural expofing of their own children, their bloody 
 gladiatorian fpe£l:acles, compared with the common no- 
 tions of Engltjhmejiy are to me a plain proof, that our 
 minds are much foftened by chriftianity. Could any 
 thing be more unjuft, than the condemning a young lady 
 to the mod infamous punlfhment, and death, for the 
 guilt of her father, or a whole family of flaves, perhaps 
 fome hundreds, for a crime committed by one ? Or more 
 abominable than the bacchanals and unbridled iufts of 
 every kind ? which, notwithftanding all that has been 
 done by Minute Philofophers to debauch the nation, and 
 their fuccefsful attempts on fome part of it, have not yet 
 been matched among us, at leaft not in every circum- 
 ftance of impudence and affrontery. While the Romans- 
 were poor, they were temperate ; but, as they grew rich, 
 they became 'luxurious to a degree that is hardly believed 
 or conceived by us. It cannot be benied, the old Roman 
 fpirlt was a great one. But it is as certain, there have 
 been numberlcfs examples of the moft refolute and clear 
 courage in Britons , and, in general, from a religious caufe.
 
 2o8 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VJ 
 
 Upon the whole, it feems an inftance of the greateft 
 blindnefs and ingratitude, that we do not fee and own 
 the exceeding great benefits of chriftianity, which, to 
 omit higher confidcrations, hath fo vifibly foftened^ polifh- 
 ed, and embelliflied our manners. 
 
 XIII. Alc. — O Crko, we are alarmed at cruelty in a 
 foreign fhape, but overlook it in a familiar one. Elfe 
 how is it poflible that you (hould not fee the inhumanity 
 of that barbarous ouftom of duelling, a thing avowed and 
 tolerated, and even reputable among us ? Or that, fee- 
 ing this, you fhould fuppofe o^r Engli/hmen of a more 
 gentle difpofition than the ©Id Romans, who were alto- 
 gether ftrangers to it ? 
 
 Cri. — I will by no means make an apology for every 
 Goth that walks the ftreets, with a determined purpofe to 
 murder any man who Ihall but fpit in his face, or give 
 him the lie. Nor do I think the chriftian religion in the 
 leaft anfwerable, for a praf^ice fo directly oppofite to its 
 precepts, and which obtains only among the idle part of 
 the nation, your men of fafnion 5 who, inftead of law, 
 reafon, and religion, are governed by fafhion. Be plea- 
 fed to confider, that what may be, and truly is, a moft 
 fcandalous reproach to a chriftian country, may be none 
 at all to the chriftian religion : For the pagan encouraged 
 men in feveral vices, but the chriftian in none. 
 
 Alc— Give me leave to obferve, that what you now 
 fay is foreign to the purpofe. For the queftion, at prc- 
 fent, is not concerning the refpe(3:ive tendencies of the 
 pagan and the chriftian religions, but concerning our man- 
 ners, as actually compared with thofe of ancient heath- 
 ens, who, I aver, had no fuch barbarous cuftom as duel- 
 ing. 
 
 Cri.— And I aver that, bad as this is, they had a 
 worfe ; and that was poifoning. By which we have rea-
 
 tDiAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. aop 
 
 fon to think there were many more lives deftroyed, than 
 by this Gothic crime of duelling : inafmuch as it extended 
 to all ages, fexes, and characters, and as its efFefts were 
 more fecret and unavoidable : and as it had more tempt- 
 ations, intereft as well as paflion, to recommend it to 
 wicked men. And for the fa6l, not to wafte time, I re- 
 fer you to the Roman authors themfelves. 
 
 Lys.— It is very true, duelling is not fo general a nufance 
 as poifoning, nor of fo bafe a nature. This crime, if it 
 be a crime, is in a fair way to keep its ground, in fpite 
 of the law and the gofpel. The clergy never preach 
 againft it, becaufe themfelves never fufFer by it ; and the 
 man of honor muft never appear againft the means of 
 vindicating honor. 
 
 Cri.— Though It be remarked by fome of your fe<f^, 
 that the clergy are not ufed to preach againft duelling, 
 yet I neither think the remark itfelf ju^, nor the reafon 
 •affigned for it. In efFedt, one half of their fermons, all 
 that is faid of charity, brotherly love, forbearance, meek- 
 nefs, and forgiving injuries, is dire6tly againft this wick- 
 ed cuftom ; by which the clergy themfelves are fo far 
 from never fufFering, that perhaps they will be found, all 
 things confidered, to fufFer oftner than other men. 
 
 Lys. — How do you make this appear ? 
 
 Cri. — An obferver of mankind may remark two kinds 
 of bully, the fighting and the tame, both public nufances : 
 the former (who is the more dangerous animal, but by 
 much the lefs common of the two) employs himfelf whol- 
 ly and folely againft the laity, while the tame fpecies exert 
 their talents upon the clergy. The qualities conftituent 
 of this tame bully, are natural rudenefs, joined with a de- 
 licate fenfe of danger. For, you muft know, the force 
 of inbred infolence, and ill manners, is not diminiftied, 
 though it acquire a new determination, from the fafliion- 
 able cufton^ of calling men to account for their behavior. 
 
 C c
 
 210 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 Hence you may often fee one of thefc tame bullies ready 
 to burfl with pride and ill humour, which he dares not 
 vent, till a parfon has come in the way to his relief. And 
 the man of raillery, who would as foon bite off his tongue, 
 as break a jcft on the profeflion of arms, in the prefence 
 of a military man, (hall inftantly brighten up, and af- 
 fume a familiar air with religion and the church before 
 ecclefiailics. Dorcouy who pafleth for a poltron and ftu- 
 pid in all other company, and really is fo, when he is 
 got among clergymen, effects a quite oppofite chara6ler. 
 And many Dorcons there are, which owe their wit and 
 courage to this pafTive order. 
 
 XIV. Alc. — But to return to the point in hand, can 
 you deny, the old Romans were as famous for juftice and 
 integrity, as men in thefe days for the contrary qualities ? 
 
 Cri. — The character of the Romans is not to be taken 
 from the fentiments of Tully or Cato^s a£tions, or a fliin--^ 
 ing palTage, here and there, in their hiftory, but from the 
 prevailing tenor of their lives and notions. Now if they 
 and our modern Britons are weighed in this fame equal 
 balance, you will, if I miftake not, appear to have been 
 prejudiced in favor of the old Romans againft your own 
 country : Probably becaufe it profefleth chriftianity. 
 "Whatever inftances of fraud or injuftice may be feen in 
 chriftians, carry their own cenfure with them, in the care 
 that is taken to conceal them, and the fhame that attends 
 their difcovery. There is, even at this day, a fort of 
 modefty in all our public councils and deliberations. 
 And I believe, the boldeft of our Minute Philofophers 
 would hardly undertake in a popular alTembly, to propofe 
 any thing parallel to the rape of the Sabinesy the moll un- 
 juft ufage of Lucius Tarquinius CollatinuSy or the ungrate- 
 ful treatment of Camillus, which, as a learned father ob- 
 ferves, were inftances of iniquity agreed to by the public
 
 [Dial, v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. an 
 
 body of the Romans. And if Rome, in her early days, 
 were capable of fuch flagrant injuftice, it is nroft certain 
 {he did not mend her manners, as Ihe grew great in wealth 
 and empire, having produced monfters in every kind of 
 wickednefs, as far exceeding other men, as they furpaf- 
 fed them in power. I freely acknowledge, the chriftian 
 religion hath not had the fame influence upon the nation, 
 that it would, in cafe it had been always profefled in its pu- 
 rity, and cordially believed by all men. But I will ven- 
 ture to fay, that if you take the Roman hiftory from one 
 end to the other, and impartially compare it with our own, 
 you will neither find them fo good, nor your countrymen 
 fo bad as you imagine. On the contrary, an indifferent eye 
 may, I verily think, perceive a vein of charity and jullice, 
 the eff'ed^ of chriftian principles, run through the latter ; 
 which, though not equally difcernible in all parts, yet 
 difclofeth itfelf fufficiently to make a wide difference upon 
 the whole, in fpite of the general appetites and pafllons 
 of human nature, as well as of the particular hardnefs 
 and roughnefs of the block, out of which we were hewn. 
 And it is obfervable (what the Roman authors themfelves 
 often fuggefl:) that, even their virtues and magnanimous 
 a£lions rofe and fell with a fenfe of Providence and a fu- 
 ture ftate, and a philofophy the neareft to the chriftian 
 religion. 
 
 XV. Crito having fpoke thus, paufed. But Alciphron 
 addrefliing himfelf to Etiphranor and me, faid, it is natural 
 for men, according to their feveral educations and preju- 
 dices, to form contrary judgments upon the fame things, 
 which they view in very different lights. Crito^ for in- 
 ftance, imagines that none but falutary effects proceed 
 from religion ; On the other hand, if you appeal to the 
 general experience and obfervation of other men, you
 
 212 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER, [Dial. V.] 
 
 {hall find it grown into a proverb, that religion is the root 
 of evil. 
 
 Tanium Religw potuit fuadere malorum. 
 
 And this, not only among Epicureans ^ or other ancient 
 heathens, but among moderns fpeaking of the chriftian 
 religion. Now methinks it is unreafonable to oppofc 
 againfl the general concurring opinion of the world, the 
 obfervation of a particular perfon, or particular fet of 
 zealots, whofe prejudice fticks clofe to them, and evef 
 mixeth with their judgment ; and who read, collect, and 
 obferve with an eye not to difcover the truth, but to de- 
 fend their prejudice. 
 
 Cri. — Though I cannot think with Alciphron, yet I 
 muft own I admire his addrefs and dexterity in argument. 
 Popular and general opinion is by him reprefented, on 
 certain occafions, to be a fure mark of error. But when 
 it ferves his ends that it fhould feem otherwife, he can as 
 eafily make it a charader of truth. But it will by no 
 means follov/, that a profane proverb, ufed by the friends 
 and admired authors of a Minute Philofopher, muft there- 
 fore be a received opinion, much lefs a truth grounded 
 on the experience and obfervation of mankind. Sadnefs 
 may fpring from guilt or fuperftition, and rage from big- 
 otry : But darknefs might as well be fuppofed the natural 
 t^tdi of "funfhine, as fuilen and furious paflions to pro- 
 ceed from the glad tidings and divine precepts of the gof- 
 pel. What is the fum and fubftance, fcope and end, of 
 Chrift's religion, but the love of God and man ? To which 
 all other points and duties (whether pofitive or moral) 
 are relative and fubordinate, as parts or means, as Hgns, 
 principles, motives, or effects. Now I would fain know, 
 how it is polTible for evil or wickednefs, of any kind, td 
 fpring from fuch a fource. I wdli not pretend, there are
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 213 
 
 no evil qualities in chriftians, nor good in Minute Philo- 
 phers. But this I affirm, that whatever evil is in us, our 
 principles certainly lead to good : And vv^hatever good 
 there may be in you, it is mod certain your principles lead 
 to evil. 
 
 XVI. Alc. — It mufl be owned, there is a fair outfide, 
 and many plaufible things may be faid, for the chriftian 
 religion, taken fimply as it lies in the gofpel. But it is the 
 obfervation of one of our great writers, that the firft 
 chriftian preachers very cunningly began with the faireft 
 face and the bell moral do£l:rines in the world. It was 
 all love, charity, meeknefs, patience and fo forth. But 
 when by this means they had drawn over the world and 
 got power, they foon changed their appearance, and 
 ihewed cruelty, ambition, avarice, and every bad quality, 
 
 Cri.— That is to fay, fome men very cunningly preach- 
 ed and underwent a world of hardfhips, and laid down 
 their lives to propagate the beft principles, and the beft 
 morals, to the end that others, fome centuries after, might 
 reap the benefit of bad ones. Whoever may be cunning, 
 there is not much cunning in the maker of this obferv- 
 ation. 
 
 Alc— And yet ever fince this religion hath appeared in 
 the world, we have had eternal feuds, fadlions, maffa- 
 ores, and wars,^ the very reverfe of that hymn with 
 which it is introduced in the gofpel : Glory he to God on 
 high^ on Earthy Peace, Good-will toivards Men, 
 
 Cri. — This I will not deny. I will even own, that 
 the gofpel, and the chriftian religion, have been often the 
 pretex-s for thefe evils : but it will not thence follow they 
 were the caufe. On the contrary, it is plain, they could 
 not be the real proper caufe of thefe evils *, becaufc a re- 
 bellious, proud, revengeful, quarrelfome fpirit is direftly 
 oppofite to the whole tenor, and mod exprefs precepts of
 
 214 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 chriftianlty : A point fo clear, that I fhall not prove it. 
 And fecondly, becaufe all thofe evils you mention were as 
 frequent, nay, much more frequent, before the chriftian 
 religion was known in the world. They are the common 
 produ£t of the paflions and vices of mankind, which are 
 fometimes covered with the mafk of religion by wicked 
 men, having the fprm pf godlinefs, without the power of 
 it. This truth feems fo plain, that I am furprifed how 
 any man of fenfe, knowledge, and candour can make a 
 doubt of it. 
 
 XVII. Take but a view of heathen Rcme ; what a 
 fcene is there of fa<9;ion, and fury, and civil rage ? Let 
 any man confider the perpetual feuds, between the Pa- 
 tricians and Plebeians y the bloody and inhuman fa6lions of 
 Marius and Sylla^ Cinna and OBaviuSy and the vaft hav- 
 ock of mankind, during the two famous triumvirates. — 
 To be fhort, let any man of common candor, and com- 
 mon fenfe, but caft an eye, from one end to the other 
 of the Roman (lory, and behold that long fcene of feditions, 
 murders, maffacres, profcriptions, and defolations, of 
 every kind, enhanced by every cruel circumftance of rage, 
 rapine, and revenge ; and then fay, whether thofe evils 
 were introduced into the world with the chriftian reli- 
 gion, or whether they are not lefs freqtient now than be- 
 fore ? 
 
 Alc. — The ancient Romans, it muft be owned, had a 
 high and fierce fpirit, which produced eager contentions,' 
 and very bloody cataftrophes. The Greeks, on the other 
 hand, were a polite and gentle fort of men, foftened by 
 arts and philofophy. It is impollible to think of the little 
 ftates and cities of Greece, without wiftiing to have lived 
 in thofe times, without admiring their policy, and envy- 
 ing their happinefs. 
 
 Cri. — Men are apt to confider the dark fides of what 
 they poflefs, and the bright ones of things out of their
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 215 
 
 leach. A fine climate, elegant tafte, polite amufements, 
 love of liberty, and a moft ingenious inventive fpirit for 
 arts and faiences, were indifputable prerogatives of an- 
 cient Greece. But, as for peace and quietnefs, gentie- 
 nefs and humanity, I think we have plainly the advant- 
 age : For thofe envied cities, compofed of gentle Greeks^ 
 were not without their fadlions, which perfecuted each 
 other with fuch treachery, rage, and malice, that, in re- 
 fpe£t of them, our fa£tious folk are mere lambs. To be 
 convinced of this truth, you need only look into Thucy- 
 dides ; * where you will find thofe cities, in general, in- 
 volved in fuch bitter factions, as for fellow citizens, with- 
 out the formalities of war, to murder one another, even 
 in their fenatc houfcs and their temples ; no regard 
 being had to merit, rank, obligation, or nearnefs of 
 blood. And if human nature boiled up to fo vehement a 
 pitch in the politeft people, what wonder that favage na- 
 tions Ihould fcalp, roft, torture, and deftroy each other, 
 as they are known to do ? It is therefore plain, that, 
 without religion, there would not be wanting pretexts for 
 quarrels and debates ; all which can very eafily be ac- 
 counted for by the natural infirmities and corruption of 
 men. It would not perhaps be fo eafy to account for the 
 blindnefs of thofe, who impute the moft hellifh effects to 
 the moft divine principle, if they could be fuppofed in 
 carneft, and to have confidered the point. One may 
 daily fee ignorant and prejudiced men, make the moft 
 abfurd blunders : But that free-thinkers, divers to the 
 bottom of things, fair inquirers, and openers of eyes, 
 fhould be capable of fuch a grofs miftake, is what one 
 would not expedl. 
 
 XVIII. Alc— -The reft of mankind we could more 
 eafily give up : but as for the Greeks^ men of the moft 
 refined genius exprefs an high efteem of them : not only 
 
 * Thucyd. I. 3.
 
 fti5 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 on account of thofe qualities which you think fit to al- 
 low them, but alfo for their virtues. 
 
 Cri. — I (hall not take upon me to fay how far fomc 
 men may be prejudiced againft their country, or whether 
 others may not be prejudiced in favor of it. But, upon 
 the fulleft and moft equal obfervation that I am able to 
 make, it is my opinion, that, if by virtue is meant truth, 
 juftice, gratitude, there is incomparably more virtue, at 
 this day, in England^ than at any time could be found 
 in ancient Greece. Thus much will be allowed, that we 
 know few countries, if any, where men of eminent worth, 
 and famous for deferving well of the public, met with 
 harder fate, and were more ungratefully treated, than in 
 the moft polite and learned of the Grecian ftates. Though 
 Socrates, it muft be owned, would not allow, that thofe 
 ftatefmen, by adorning the city, augmenting the fleet, or 
 extending the commerce of Athensy deferved well of their 
 country ; or could with j uilice complain of the ungrate- 
 ful returns made by their fellow citizens, whom, while 
 they were in power, they had taken no care to make bet- 
 ter men, by improving and cultivating their minds with 
 the principles of virtue, which, if they had done, they 
 needed not to have feared their ingratitude. If I were to 
 declare my opinion, what gave the chief advantage to 
 Greeks and Romans y and other nations, which have made 
 the greateft figure in the world, I fhould be apt to think 
 it was a peculiar reverence for their refpe£live laws and 
 inftitutions, which infpired them with fteadinefs and 
 courage, and that hearty generous love of their country ; 
 by which they did not merely underftand, a certain lan- 
 guage or tribe of men, much lefs a particular fpot of 
 earth, but included a certain fyftem of manners, cuftoms, 
 notions, rites, and laws, civil and religious. 
 
 Alc. — Oh ! I perceive your drift, you would have us 
 reverence the laws and religious inftitutions of our eoun-
 
 fDiAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 217 
 
 try. But herein we beg to be excufed, If we do not think 
 fit to imitate the Greeks^ or to be governed by any autho- 
 rity whatfoever. 
 
 Cri. — So far from it. If mahometanifm were aftab- 
 lifhed by authority, I make no doubt, thofe very free- 
 thinkers, who at prefent applaud Turkifti maxims and 
 manners, to that degree, you would think them ready to 
 turn 'Turks J would then be the firfl: to exclaim againft theme 
 
 Alc. — But to return : As for wars and factions, I 
 grant they ever were, and ever will be, in the world, upon 
 fome pretext or other, as long as men are men. 
 
 XIX. But there is a fort of war and warriors peculiar 
 to chriftendom, v/hi^h the heathens had no notion of : I 
 mean difputes in theology and polemical divines, which 
 the world hath been wonderfully peftered with : Thefe 
 teachers of peace, mecknefs, concord, and what not ! If 
 you take their word for it j but if you caft an eye 
 upon their practice, you find them to have been in 
 all ages the mofl contentious, quarrelfome, difagreeing 
 crew that ever appeared upon earth- To obferve the 
 {kill and fophiftry, the zeal and eagernefs, with which 
 thofe barbarians, the fchool-divines, fplit hairs, and con- 
 teft about chimeras, gi\^es me more indignation, as being 
 more abfurd, and a greater icandal to human reafon, than 
 all the ambitious intrigues, cabals, and politics of the 
 court of Rome. 
 
 Cri. — If divines are quarrelfome, that is not io far 
 forth as divine, but as undivine and unchriflian. Juftice 
 is a good thing ; and the art of healing is excellent ; ne- 
 verthelefs, in the adminiftring of juftice, or phyfic, men 
 may be wronged or poifoned. But as wrong cannot be 
 juftice, or the effefl: of juftice, fo poifon cannot be med- 
 icine, or the efFe£l of medicine ; fo neither can pride or 
 ftrife be religion, or the effect of religion. Having pre- 
 mifed this, I acknowledge, you rnay often fee hot-headed 
 D d
 
 2i8 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 bigots engage themfelves in religious as well as civil par- 
 ties, without being of credit or fervice to either. And 
 as for the fchoolmen in particular, I do not in the leaft, 
 think the chriflian religion concerned in the defence of 
 them, their tenets, or their method of handling them : 
 But, whatever futility there may be in their notions, or 
 inelegancy in their language, in pure juftice to truth one 
 muft ov/n, they neither banter, nor rail, nor declaim in 
 their writings, and are fo far from fhewing fury or paf- 
 (ion, that perhaps an impartial judge will think, the 
 Minute Philofophers are by no means to be compared with 
 them, for keeping clofe to the point, or for temper and 
 good manners. But after all, if men are puzzled, wran- 
 gle, talk nonfenfe, and quarrel about religion ; fo they 
 do about law, phyfic, politics, and every thing eJfe of 
 moment. I aik, whether in thefe profeflions, or in. any 
 other, where men have refined and abftradted, they do 
 not run into difputes, chicane, nonfenfe, and contradic- 
 tions, as well as in divinity ? And yet this doth not hinder 
 but there may be many excellent rules, and juft notions, 
 and ufeful truths, in all thofe profeffions. In all difputes 
 human paffions too often mix themfelves, in proportion as 
 the fubje£l is conceived to be more or lefs important. 
 But we ought not to confound the caufe of' man with 
 the caufe of God, or make human follies an objection to 
 divine truths. It is eafy to diftinguifli what looks like 
 wifdom from above, and what proceeds from the paffion 
 and weaknefs of men. This is fo clear a point, that one 
 would be tempted to think, the not doing it was an effedy 
 not of ignorance, but of fomething worfe. 
 
 XX. The condu£t we object to Minute Philofophers, 
 is a natural confequence of their principles. Whatfoever 
 they can reproach us with, is an efFeft, not of our princi- 
 ples, but of human paflion and frailty.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 219 
 
 Alc. — This is admirable. So we muft no longer ob- 
 ject to chrlftians the abfurd contentions of councils, the 
 cruelty of inquifitions, the ambition and ufurpations of 
 churchmen. 
 
 Cri. — You may object them to chriftians, but not to 
 chriftianity. If the Divine Author of our religion, and 
 his difciples, have fowed a good feed ; and together vi^ith 
 this good feed, the enemies of his gofpel (among whom 
 are to be reckoned the Minute Philofopheis of all ages) 
 have fowed bad feeds, whence fpring tares and thiflles j 
 is it not evident, thefe bad weeds cannot be imputed to the 
 good feed, or to thofe who fowed it ? Whatever you do 
 or can objeft againfh ecclefiaftical tyranny, ufurpation, or 
 fophiftry, may, without any blemifh or difadvantage to 
 religion, be acknowledged by all true chriftians : Provi- 
 ded ftill, that you impute thofe wicked effects to their 
 true caufe, not blaming any principles or perfons for them, 
 but thofe that really produce or juftify them. Certainly, 
 as the interefts of chriftianity are not to be fupported by 
 unchriftian methods, whenever thefe are made ufe of, it 
 muft be fuppofed there is fome other latent principle 
 which fets them at work. If the very court of Rome hath 
 been known, from motives of policy, to oppofe fettling 
 the inquifition in a kingdom, where the fecular power 
 hath endeavored to introduce it in fpite of that court : * 
 We may well fuppofe, that elfewhere factions of ftate, 
 and political views of princes, hath given birth to tranfaftions 
 feemingly religious, wherein, atbottom, neither religion, nor 
 church, nor churchmen, were at allconfidered. As no man of 
 common fenfe and honefty will engage in a general defence 
 of ecclefiaftics, fo I think no man of common candour 
 can condemn them in general. Would you think it reafon- 
 sble to blame all ftatefmen, or lawyers, orfoldiers, for the 
 
 * P. Paolo iiloria dell' Inquifizionc. p. 43^
 
 220 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V,] 
 
 faults committed by thcfe of their profeflion, though in 
 other times, or in other countries, and influenced by oth- 
 er maxims and other difcipline ^ And if not, why do you 
 meafure with one rule to the clergy, and another to the 
 laity ? Surely the heft reafon that can be given for this is 
 prejudice. Should any man rake together all the mifchiefs 
 that have been committed in all ages and nations, by fol- 
 diers and lawyers, you would, I fuppofe, conclude from 
 thence, not that the Hate fiiould be deprived of thofe ufe- 
 ful profcflions, but only that their exorbitances {hould be 
 guarded againft and punifhed. If you took the fame equi- 
 table courfe with the clergy, there would indeed be lefs 
 to be faid againft you : But then you would have muth 
 lefs to fay. This plain obvious confideration, if every 
 one who read confidered^ would leflen the credit of your 
 declaimers. 
 
 Alc. — But when all is faid that can be faid, it mufl 
 move a man's indignation to fee reafonable creatures, un- 
 der the notion of ftudy and learning, employed in read- 
 ing and writing fo many voluminous trafts cie land caprind. 
 
 Cri. — I (hall not undertake the vindication of theolog- 
 ical writings, a general defence being as needlefs as a 
 general charge is groundlefs. Only let them fpeak for 
 themfelves : And let no man condemn them upon the 
 word of a Minute Philofopher. But we will imagine 
 the very worft, and fuppofe that a wrangling pedant in di- 
 vinity difputes, and ruminates, and writes, upon a refined 
 point, as ufelefs and unintelligible as you pleafe. Sup- 
 pofe this fame perfon bred a layman, might he not have 
 employed himfelf in tricking bargains, vexatious law-fuits, 
 fadions, feditions, and fuch like amuf^ments, with much 
 more prejudice to the public ? Suffer then curious wits to 
 fpin cobwebs : Where is the hurt } 
 
 Alc. — The mifchief is, what men want in light they 
 commonly make up in heat : Zeal, and ilhnature, being
 
 fDiAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 22» 
 
 weapons conftantly exerted by the partifans, as well as 
 champions, on either fide : And thofe perhaps not mean 
 pedants or book-worms. You fhall often fee even the 
 learned and eminent divine, lay himfelf out in explaining 
 things inexplicable, or contend for a barren point of the- 
 ory, as if his life, liberty or fortune were at flake. 
 
 Cri. — No doubt all points in divinity are not of equal 
 moment. Some may be too fine fpun, and others have 
 more ftrefs laid on them than they deferve. Be the fub- 
 jedl what it will, yow fhall often obferve that a point bv 
 being controverted, firiglcd out, examined, and nearly 
 infpecied, groweth confiderable to the fame eye, that, 
 perhaps, would have overlooked it in a large and com.pre- 
 henfive view. Nor is it an uncommon thing, to behold 
 ignorance and zeal, united in men, who are born with a 
 fpirit of party, though the church, or religion, have in 
 truth but fmall fhare in it. Nothing is eafier than to 
 make a Caricatura (as the painters call it) of any profef- 
 fion upon earth : But, at bottom, there will be found no- 
 thing fo flrange in all this charge upon the clergy, as the 
 partiality of thofe who cenfure them, in fuppofing the 
 common defeats of mankind peculiar to their order, or 
 the efFe£l: of religioiis principles. 
 
 Alc. — Other folks may difpute or fquabble as they 
 pleafe, and nobody mind them ; but it feems thefe ven- 
 erable fquabbles of the clergy pafs for learning, and inter- 
 eft mankind. To ufe the words of the moft ingenious 
 chara6i:erizer of our times, " A ring is made, and read- 
 ers gather in abundance. Every one takes party, and en- 
 courages his own fide. This fhall be my cham.picn ! 
 This man for my money ! Well hit on our fide ! Again 
 a good flroke ! There he was even with him ! Have at 
 him the next bout ! Excellent fport !''* 
 
 * Charaaerlfiics, Vol. III. c. <%.
 
 222 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.j 
 
 Cri. — Methinks I trace the man of quality and breed- 
 ing in this delicate fatire, which fo politely ridicules thofe 
 arguments, anfwers, defences, and replications, which 
 the prefs groans under. 
 
 Alc. — To the infinite wafle of time and paper, and 
 all the while nobody is one whit the wifer. And who 
 indeed can be the wifer for reading books upon fubje£l:s 
 quite out of the way, incomprehenfible, and moft wretch- 
 edly written ? What man of fenfe or breeding would not 
 abhor the infection of prolix pulpit eloquence, or of that 
 dry, formal, pedantic, ftiff, and clumfy flile, which 
 fmells of the lamp and college ? 
 
 XXI. They who have the weaknefs to reverence the 
 univerfities as feats of learning, muft needs think this a 
 ftrange reproach 5 but it is a very juft one. For the moil 
 ingenious men are now agreed, that they are only nurfe- 
 ries of prejudice, corruption, barbarlfm, and pedantry. 
 
 Lys. — For my part, I find no fault with univerfities. — 
 All I know is, that I had the fpending three hundred 
 pounds a year in one of them, and think it the chearful- 
 cfl time of my life. As for their books and ftile, I had 
 net leifure to mind them. 
 
 Cri. — Whoever hath a mind to weed, will never want 
 work ; and he that fhall pick out bad books on every fub- 
 je61:, v/ill foon fill his library. I do not know what theo- 
 logical writings Alciphron and his friends may be conver- 
 fant in ; but I will venture to fay, one may find among 
 our Englijh divines, many writers, who, for compafs of 
 learning, v/elght of matter, flrength of argument, and 
 purity of ftile, are not inferior to any in our language. — 
 It is not my defign to apologize for the univerfities : what- 
 ever is amifs in them (and what is there perfect among 
 men ?) I heartily wifh amended. But I dare affirm, be- 
 caufe I know it to be true^ that any impartial obferver.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ^23 
 
 although they fhould not come up to what in theory he 
 might wifh or imagine, will ncverthelefs find them much 
 fuperior to thofe that, in fact, are to be found in other 
 countries, and far beyond the mean picture that is drawn 
 of them by Minute Philofophers. It is natural for thofe 
 to rail moft at places of education, who have profited leaft 
 by them. Weak and fond parents will alfo readily im- 
 pute to a wrong caufe, thofe corruptions themfelves have 
 occafioned, by allowing their children more money than 
 they knew how to fpend innocently. And too often a 
 gentleman, who has been idle at the college, and kept 
 idle company, will judge of a whole univerfity from his 
 own cabal. 
 
 Alc. — Crito miftakes the point. I vouch the authori- 
 ty, not of a dunce, or a rake, or abfurd parent, but of 
 the moft confummate critic this age has produced. This 
 great man chara6i;erizeth men of the church and uni- 
 verfities with the fineft touches, and moft mafterly pen- 
 cil. What do you think he calls them ? 
 
 EuPH. — What ? 
 
 Alc. — Why, the black tribe, magicians, formalifts, 
 pedants, bearded boys •, and, having fufficiently derided 
 and exploded them, and their mean ungenteel learning, 
 he fets moft admirable models of his own for good writ- 
 ing : And it muft be acknowledged, they are the fineft 
 things in our language ; as I could eafily convince you, 
 for I am never without fomething of that noble writer 
 about me. 
 
 EuPH. — Is he then a noble writer .'* 
 
 Alc— I tell you he is a nobleman. 
 
 EuPH. — But a noble man who writes, is one thing, 
 and a noble writer is another. 
 
 Alc. — Both chara£l:ers are coincident, as you may fee. 
 
 XXII. Upon which Alciphron pulled a treatife out of 
 his pocket, intitled A Soliloquyy or Advice to an Author. —
 
 224 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 Would you behold, fald he, looking round upon the 
 company, a noble fpecimen of fine writing : do but dip 
 into this book, which Crito opening, read verbatim as fol- 
 lows. * 
 
 ^ Where then are the Pleafures nvhich ambition promifes^ 
 
 * And love affords P H.iv's the gay world enjofd f 
 
 * Or are thofe to be ejleent'd no pleafures^ 
 
 * Which are lojl by dullnefs and inaSiion ? 
 
 * But indolence is the highejl pleafure. 
 
 * To live and not to feel ! To feel no trouble* 
 
 * What good then F Life itfelf And is 
 
 ' This properly to live ? Is Jleeping life ? 
 
 * Is this what Ifhouldfludy to prolong ? 
 
 * Here the 
 
 * Fantaflic tribe itfelf feems fcandaliz^d. 
 
 * A civil war begins : The major part 
 
 * Of the capricious dames do range themfelves 
 
 * On reafor^s fide^ 
 
 * And declare againfl the languid fr en, 
 
 * Ambition hlufhes at the offer dfweet. 
 
 * Conceit and vanity take fuperior airs. 
 
 * Ev'n luxury herfelf in her polite 
 
 * And elegant humour^ reproves th^ apoflate 
 
 * Si/ler. 
 
 * And marks her as an alien to true pleafure, 
 
 * Away thou 
 
 ' Drowfy phantom ! Haunt me no n^ore^for I 
 ^ Have learn' dy from better than thy ftfterhood^ 
 
 * That life and happinefs conffi in aSlion 
 ^ And employment. 
 
 * But here a bufy form folicits us^ 
 
 ' ABive, indujlriousy watchfuly anddefpifing 
 
 * Bains and labor. She wears the ferious 
 
 Part 3. %tSi. 0,.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 225 
 
 * Countenance of virtue y but ivith features 
 
 * Of anxiety and difquiet. 
 
 ^ What isHfhe mutters ? What looks fJje on ivith 
 ' 8uch admiration and aflonifhment ? 
 
 * Bags ! Coffers ! Heaps of fhining metal ! What ! 
 ' For thefervice of luxury P For her ? 
 
 * Thefe preparations P Art thou then her friend^ 
 
 * Grave Fancy ! Is it for her thou toiVfl P 
 
 * iVi?, but for provifion againfi nvant, 
 
 * But luxury apart ! tell me noiVf 
 
 * Hafl thou not already a competence P 
 
 * ^Tis good to be fe cure againfi the fear 
 
 * Offlarving. Is ihere then no death but this P 
 
 * No other paffage out of life P Are other doors 
 
 * Securd, if this be bar'd P Say avarice I 
 
 * T'hou emptiefl of phantoms ^ is it not vile 
 
 * Convardife thou fervfl P What further have I then 
 
 * To do ivith thee (thou doubly vile dependent) 
 
 * When once I have difmifs'd thy patronefsy 
 
 * And defptfed her threats ? 
 
 * Thus I contend ivith fancy and opinion^ 
 
 Euphranory having heard thus far, cried out, What f 
 will you never have done with your poetry ? another 
 time may ferve : But why (hould we break off our con- 
 ference to read a play ? You are miftaken, it is no play 
 nor poetry, replied Alciphrony but a famous modern cri- 
 tic moralizing in profe. You muft know this great man 
 hath (to ufe his own words) revealed a grand arcatium to 
 the world, having inftru£led mankind in what he calls 
 Mirrour-writingy felfdifcourfmg praBicey and author-prac^ 
 iiccy and fhewed, " That by virtue of an intimate recefs, 
 we may difcover a certain duplicity of foul, and divide 
 oury^^into two parties, or (as he varies the phrafe) prac- 
 tically form the dual number." In confequence whereof 
 
 E e
 
 226 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VJ 
 
 he hath found out that a man may argue with hin^felf : 
 And not only with himfelf, but alfo with notions, l^ti- 
 ments, and vices, which, by a marvellous profopopoeia, he 
 converts into fo many ladies : And fo converted, he con- 
 futes and confounds them in a divine ilrain. Can any 
 thing be finer, bolder, or more fublime ? 
 
 EuPH. — It is very wonderful. I thought indeed you 
 had been reading a piece of a tragedy. Is this he who 
 defpifeth our univerfities, and fets up for reforming the 
 ftile and tafte of the age ? 
 
 Alc.-— The very fame. This is the admired critic of 
 our times. Nothing can ftand the teft of his correct 
 judgment, which is equally fevere to poets and parfons. 
 " The Briti/h mufes, (faith this great man) lifp as in their 
 " cradles : And their ftammering tongues, which nothing 
 *' but youth and rawnefs can excufe, have hitherto fpoken 
 " in wretched pun arid quibble. Our dramatic ^hakefpear^ 
 ** our Fletcher^ John/on^ and our Epique Milton, prefervc 
 " this ftile. And, according to him, even our later au- 
 " thors, aiming at a falfe fublime, entertain our raw fancy 
 *' and unpra6iifed ear, which has not yet had leifure to 
 " form itfelf, and become truly mufical." 
 
 EupH. — Pray what effect may the lefTons of this great 
 man, in whofe eyes our learned profeiTors are but bearded 
 boys, and our moft celebrated wits but wretched punfters, 
 have had upon the pUbHc ? Hath he rubbed off the col- 
 lege ruft, cured the rudenefs and rawnefs of our authors, 
 and reduced them to his own attic ftandard ^ Do they 
 afpire to his true fublime, or imitate his chafte unaffeded 
 ftile ? 
 
 Alc. — Doubtlefs the tafte of the age is muft mended : 
 In proof whereof his writings are univerfally admired. 
 When our author publifhed this treatife, he forefaw the 
 public tafte would improve apace : That arts and letters 
 would grov/ to great perfection : That there would be a
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 227 
 
 happy birth of genius : Of all which things he fpoke, as 
 he faith himfelf, in a prophetic ftile. 
 
 Cri. — And yet, notwithllanding the prophetical predic- 
 tions of this critic, I do not find that any fcience hath 
 throve among us of late, fo much as the Minute Philofo- 
 phy. In this kind, it mud be confeiied, we have had 
 many notable productions. But whether they are fuch 
 mafter-pieces for good writing, I leave to be determined 
 by their readers. 
 
 XXIII. In the mean time I mufl: beg to be excufed, if 
 I cannot believe your great man on his bare word, when 
 he v/ould have us think, that ignorance and ill tafte are 
 owing to the chriftian religion or the clergy, it being my 
 fincere opinion, that whatever learning or knowledge we 
 have among us, is derived from that order. If thofe, 
 who are fo fagacious at difcovering a mote in other eyes, 
 would but purge their own, I believe they might eafily 
 fee this truth. For what but religion could kindle and 
 preferve a fpirit towards learning, in fuch a northern 
 rough people ? Greece produced men of active and fubtile 
 genius. The public conventions and emulations of 
 their cities forwarded that genius : And their natural cu- 
 riofity was amufed and excited by learned converfations, 
 in their public walks, and gardens, and porticoes. Our 
 genius leads to amufements of a grofler kind : We breathe 
 a grofler and a colder air : And that curiofity which was 
 general in the Athenians, and the gratifying of which was 
 their chief recreation, is among our people of fafhion 
 treated like affeCtation, and, as fuch, banifhed from polite 
 afiemblies and places of refort : And without doubt 
 would, in a little time, be banifhed the country j If it were 
 not for the great refervoirs of learning, where thofe for- 
 maliflis, pedants, and bearded boys, as your profound 
 critic calls them, are maintained by the liberality and pi- 
 ety of our predccelTors. For it is as evident that religion
 
 ^28 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 was the caufe of thofe feminaries, as It is that they are 
 the caufe or fource of all the learning and tafte which is 
 to be found, even in thofe very men who are the declared 
 enemies of our religion and public foundations. Every 
 one, who knows any thing, knows we are indebted for 
 our learning to the Greek and Latin tongues. This thofe 
 fevere cenfors will readily grant. Perhaps they may not 
 be fo ready to grant, what all men muft fee, that we are 
 indebted for thofe tongues to our religion. What elfe 
 could have made foreign and dead languages in fuch re- 
 queft among us I V/hat could have kept in being and 
 handed them down to our times, through fo many dark 
 ages, in which the world was wafted and disfigured by 
 wars and violence ? What, but a regard to the holy fcrip- 
 tjures, and theological writings of the fathers and doc- 
 tors of the church ? And, in faO.', do we not find that the 
 learning of thofe times was folely in the hands of ecclefi- 
 aftics ; that they alone lighted the lamp in fucceffion one 
 from another, and tranfmitted it down to after-ages ; and 
 that ancient books were colle£l:ed and preferved in their 
 colleges and feminaries, when all love and remembrance 
 of polite arts and ftudies was extinguiftied among the lai- 
 ty, whofe ambition intirely turned to arms ? 
 
 XXIV. Alc. — There is, I muft needs fay, one fort of 
 learning undoubtedly of chriftian original, and peculiar 
 to the univerfities ; where our youth fpend feveral years in 
 acquiring that myfterious jargon of fcholafticlfm, than 
 which there could never have been contrived a more ef- 
 fectual method, to perplex and confound human under- 
 ftanding. It is true, gentlemen are untaught by the world 
 what they have been taught at the college : but then their 
 time is doubly loft. 
 
 Cri. — But what If this fcholaftic learning was not of 
 chriftian, but of mahometan original, being derived from
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 229 
 
 the Arabs? And what if this grievance of gentlemen's 
 fpending feveral years in learning and unlearning this jar- 
 gon, be all grimace, and a fpecimen only of the truth and 
 candour of certain Minute Phiiofophers, who raife great 
 invecS^ives from flight occafions, and judge too often with- 
 out inquiring. Surely it would be no fuch deplorable lofs 
 of time, if a young gentleman fpent a few months upon 
 that fo much defpifed and decried art of logic, a furfeit 
 of which is by no means the prevailing nufance of this 
 age. It is one thing to wafte one's time in learning and 
 unlearning the barbarous terms, wiredrawn diftin^tions, 
 and prolix fophiftry of the fchooimen ; and another to 
 attam fome exaflnefs in defigning and arguing : Things 
 perhaps not altogether beneath the dignity even of a Mi- 
 nute Philofopher. There was indeed a tim.e, when logic 
 was confidered as its own obje£t : And that art of rea- 
 ibning, inflead of being transferred to things, turned alto- 
 gether upon words and abftra6tions : Which produced a 
 fort of leprofy in all parts of knowledge, corrupting and 
 converting them into hollow verbal difputations in a mod 
 impure dialedt. But thofe times are pafTed : And that 
 which had been cultivated as the principal learning for 
 fome ages, is now confidered in another light : And by 
 no means makes that figure in the univerfities, or bears 
 that part in the ftudies of young gentlemen educated there, 
 which is pretended by thofe admirable reformers of reli- 
 gion and learning, the Minute Phiiofophers. 
 
 XXV. But who are they that encouraged and produ- 
 ced the reftoration of arts and polite learning ? What 
 Ihare had the Minute Phiiofophers in this affair ? Matthias 
 CorvinuSy king of Hungary, AlphonfuSy king of Naples, 
 Cofmus de Medicisy PictiSy of Mirandu/a, and other princes 
 and great men, famous for learning themfelves, and for 
 encouraging it in others, with a munificent liberality,
 
 230 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 were neither Turks nor Gentiles, nor Minute Philofo- 
 phers. Who was it that tranfplantcd and revived the 
 Greek language and authors, and with them all polite arts 
 and literature in the weft ? Was it not chiefly Bejfarion^ 
 a cardinal, Marcus Mufurus^ an archbifliop, Theodore 
 Gazay a private clergyman ? Has there been a greater 
 and more renowned patron, and reftorer of elegant ftudies 
 in every kind, fince the days of Augujlus Cafar, than Leo^ 
 the tenth pope of Rome ? Did any writers approach the 
 purity of the Clajfics nearer than the cardinals, Bemhus 
 and Sadoletusy or than the bifhops, Jovius and Vida P not 
 to mention an endlefs number of ingenious ecciefiaftics, 
 who flourifhed on the other fide of the j^Ips, in the gold- 
 en age (as the Italians call it) of Leo the tenth, and 
 wrote, both in their own language and the Lathi, after 
 the befl: models of antiquity. It is true, this firft 
 recovery of learning preceded the Reformation, and light- 
 ed the way to it : but the religious controverfies, which 
 enfued, did wonderfully propagate and improve it in all 
 parts of Chriftendom. And furely the Church of Efjg^ 
 land is, at leaft, as well calculated for the encourage- 
 ment of learning, as that of Rome. Experience confirms 
 this obfervation ; and I believe the Minute Philofophers 
 will not be fo partial to Rome as to deny it. 
 
 Alc. — It is impoflfible your account of learning beyond 
 the Alps (hould be true. The noble critic in my hands, 
 having complimented the French^ to whom he allows 
 fome good authors, afferts of other foreigners, particularly 
 the Italians, " That they may be reckoned no better than 
 the corrupters of true learning and erudition." 
 
 Cri.— With fome forts of critics, dogmatical cenfures 
 and conclufions are not always the refult of perfe£l: know- 
 ledge, or exact inquiry : And if the harrange upon tafte, 
 truth of art, ajuft piece, grace of ftile, attic elegance, 
 and fuch topics, they are to be underftood only as thofe
 
 [Dial, v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 231 
 
 that would fain talk themfelves into reputation for cour- 
 age. To hear Thrafyjjiachus fpeak of refentment, duels, 
 and points of honor, one would tliink him ready to burll 
 with valour. 
 
 Lys. — Whatever merit this writer may have as a demoHfti- 
 er, I always thought he had a very little as a builder. It 
 is natural for carelefs writers to run into faults they 
 never think of : But for an exaft and fevere critic to {hoot 
 his bolt at random, is unpardonable. If he, who pro- 
 fefles, at every turn, an high efteem for polite writing, 
 fliould yet defpife thofe who moft excel in it, one would be 
 tempted to fufpe£t his tafte. But if the very man, v/ho, 
 of all men, talk moft about art and tafte, and critical 
 fkill, and would be thought to have moft confidered 
 thofe points, (hould often deviate from his own rules, 
 into the falfe fublime, or the mauvaife plafanterie j what 
 reafonabk man would follow the tafte and judgment of 
 fuch a guide, or be feduced to climb the fteep afcent, or 
 tread in the rugged paths of virtue, on his recommenda- 
 lion ? . 
 
 XXVI. Alc. — But to return, methinks Crito makes 
 no compliment to the genius of his country, in fuppcfmg 
 that Englifimen might not have wrought out of themfelves, 
 all art and fcience, and good tafte ; without being behold- 
 en to church, or univerfities, 6r ancient languages. 
 
 Cri. -What might have been, is only conjecture.— 
 What has been, it is not difficult to know. That there is 
 a vein in Britain^ of as rich an ore as ever was in any 
 country, I will not deny ; but it lies deep, and will coft 
 pains to come at : and extraordinary pains require an ex- 
 traordinary motive. As for what lies next the furface, it 
 feems but indifferent, being neither fo good, nor in fuch 
 plenty, as in fome other countries. It was the compar- 
 ifon of an ingenious Florentine^ that the celebrated poems
 
 232 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 of TaJTo and Ariojlo are like two gardens, the one of cucum- 
 bers, the other of melons. In the one you fhall find few 
 bad, but the beft are not a very good fruit \ in the other 
 much the greater part are good for nothing, but thofe that 
 are good are excellent. Perhaps the fame comparifon 
 may hold good between the Englijh and fome of their 
 neighbors. 
 
 Alc. — But fuppofe we fhould grant, that the chriftlan 
 religion and its feminaries might have been of ufe, in pre- 
 ferving or retrieving polite arts and letters ; what then ? 
 Will you make this an argument of its truth ? 
 
 Cri. — I will make it an argument of prejudice and in- 
 gratitude in thofe Minute Philofophers, who obje£l: dark- 
 nefs, ignorance, and rudenefs, as an efFe£t of that very 
 thing, which, above ail others, hath enlightened and ci- 
 vilized, and embellifhed their country : which is as truly 
 indebted to it for arts and fciences (which nothing but re- 
 ligion was ever known to have planted in fuch a latitude) 
 as for that general fenfe of virtue and humanity, and the 
 belief of a Providence and future ftate, which all the ar- 
 gumentation of IMinute Piiilofophers hath not yet been able 
 to abolifh. 
 
 XXVII. Alc. — It is ftrange you fhould ftill perfift to 
 argue, as if all the gentlemen of our fe£t were enemies to 
 virtue, and downrigh atheiits : Though I have aflured 
 you of the contrary, and that we have among us feveral, 
 wh > profefs tbemfelves in the interefls of virtue and natu- 
 ral religion, and have alfo declared, that I myfelf do now 
 argue upon that foot. 
 
 Cri. — How can you pretend to be in the intereft of 
 natural religion, and yet be profeffed enemies of the chrif- 
 ftian, the only cfliabHfhed religion which includes what 
 ever is excellent in the natural, and which is the only 
 means of making thofe precepts, duties, and notions, fo
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 233 
 
 called, become reverenced tliroughoiit the world ? Would 
 not he be thought weak or infincere, who (hould go 
 about to perfuade people, that he was much in the inter- 
 efts of an earthly monarch ; that he loved and admired 
 his government ; when at the fame time he (hewed him- 
 felf on all occafions, a mod bitter enemy of thofe very 
 perfons, and methods, which, above all others, contribu- 
 ted moft to his fervice, and to make his dignity known 
 and revered, his laws obferved, or his dominion extended ? 
 And is not this what Minute Philofophers do, while they 
 fet up for advocates of God and religion, and yet do all 
 they can to difcredit chriftians and their worfhip ? It muft 
 be owned, indeed, that you ar^ue againft chriftianity, as 
 the caufe of evil and wickednefs in the world : But with 
 fuch arguments, and in fuch a manner, as might equally 
 prove the fame thing of civil government, of meat and 
 drink, of every faculty and profeffion, of learning, of 
 eloquence, and even of human reafon itfelf. After all, 
 even thofe of your fe£b who allow themfelves to be called 
 deifts, if their notions are thoroughly examined, will, I 
 fear, be found to include little of religion in them. As 
 for the Providence of God, watching over the condu£l of 
 human agents, and difpenfmg bleflings or chailifements, 
 the immortality of the foul, a final judgment, and future 
 ilate of rewards and punifhm.ents ; how few, if any, of 
 your free-thinkers have made it their endeavor to poflefs 
 men's minds with a ferious fenfe of thofe great points of 
 natural religion ! How many, on the contrary, endeavor 
 to render the belief of them doubtful or ridiculous ! It 
 muft be owned, there may be found men, that, without 
 any regard to thefe points, make fome pretence to reli- 
 gion : But who can think them in earneft ? You (hall 
 fometimes fee, the very ringleaders of vice and profane- 
 nefs write like men, that would be thought to have virtue 
 and piety at heart. This may perhaps prove them incon- 
 
 F f
 
 234 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 (iftcnt uTiters, but can never prove them to be innocent. 
 When a man's declared principles and peculiar tenets are 
 utterly fubverfive of thofe things -, whatever fuch a one 
 faith of virtue, piety, and religion, will be underftood 
 as mere difcretion and compliance with common forms. 
 
 Lys. — To fpeak the truth, I, for my part, had never 
 any liking to religion of any kind, either revealed or un- 
 revealed : And I dare venture to fay the fame for thofe 
 gentlemen of our fe61: that I am acquainted with, having 
 never obferved them guilty of fo much meannefs, as even 
 to mention the name of God with reverence, or fpeak 
 with the leaft regard of piety, or any fort of worfhip. 
 There may, perhaps, be found one or two formal preten- 
 ders to enthufiafm and devotion, in the way of natural 
 religion, who laughed at chriftians for publifhing hymns 
 and meditations, while they plagued the world with as 
 bad of their own : But the fprightly men make a jell of 
 all this. It feems to us mere pedantry. Sometimes, in- 
 deed, in good company one may hear a word dropt in 
 commendation of honor and good-nature : But the for- 
 mer of thefe, by ConmiJfeurSy is always underftood to 
 mean nothing but fafhion : As the latter is nothing but 
 temper and conftitution, which guides a man juft as appe- 
 tite doth a brute. 
 
 XXVIII. And after all thefe argument^ and notions, 
 which beget one another without end, to take the matter 
 fhort : Neither I nor my friends, for our fouls, could ever 
 comprehend, why man might not do very well, and gov- 
 ern himfelf without any religion at all, as well as a brute, 
 which is thought the fiUier creature of the two. Have 
 brutes inftin£t:s, fenfes, appetites, and paflions, to fteer 
 and conduft them ? So have men, and reafon, over and 
 above, to confult upon occafion. From thefe premifes we 
 conclude, the road of human life is fufficiently lighted 
 without religion.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 23^ 
 
 Cri. — Brutes having but fmall power, limited to things 
 prefent or particular, are fufficlently oppofed and kept in 
 order, by the force or faculties of other animals, and the 
 Ikill of man, without confclence or religion : But con- 
 fclence Is a neceffary balance to human reafon, a faculty 
 of fuch mighty extent and power, efpeclally toward mif- 
 chief. Befides, other animals are, by the law of their na- 
 ture, determined to one certain end, or kind of being, 
 without inclination or means either to deviate or go beyond 
 it. But man hath in him a will and higher principle ; 
 by virtue whereof he may purfue different or even contra- 
 ry ends ; and either fall fhort of, or exceed the perfeftion 
 natural to his fpecies In this world ; as he is capable, ci- 
 ther by giving up the reins to his fenfual appetites, of 
 degrading himfelf Into the condition of brutes, or elfe, 
 by well ordering and improving his mind, of being tranf- 
 formed into the fimilitude of angels. Man alone, of all 
 animals, hath underftanding to know his God. What 
 avalleth this knowledge, unlefs it be to enoble man, and 
 ralfe him to an imitation and participation of the Divinity ? 
 Or what could fuch enoblement avail, if to end with this 
 life ? Or how can thefe things take effedt, without reli- 
 gion ? But the points of vice and virtue, man and beaft, 
 fenfe and intellect, have been already at large canvaffed. 
 What ! Lyftcles, would you have us go back where we 
 were three or four days ago ? 
 
 Lys. — By no means : I had much rather go forward, 
 and make an end as foon as poflible. But to fave trouble, 
 give me leave to tell you, once for all, that, fay what you 
 can, you (hall never perfuade me, fo many ingenious agree- 
 able men are in the wrong, and a pack of fnarling four 
 bigots in the right. 
 
 XXIX. Cri.— -O Lyficlesy I neither look for religion 
 among bigots, nor reafon among libertines j each kind
 
 2q6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 difgrace their feveral pretenfions : the one owning no re- 
 gard even to the plained and moft important truths, 
 "U'hiic the others exert iin angry zeal for points of leaft 
 concern. And farely whatever there is of filiy, narrow, 
 and uncharitable in the bigot, the fame is in great meafure 
 to be imputed to the conceited ignorance, and petulant 
 profanenefs of the Ubertine. And it is not at all unlikely, 
 that as Hbcrtines make bigots, fo bigots (liould make liber- 
 tines, the extreme of one party being ever obferved to 
 produce a contrary extreme of another. And although, 
 while thefe adveriarles draw the rope of contention, rea- 
 fon and religion are often called upon : Yet are they per^ 
 haps very little confidered or concerned in the ccnteft. 
 Lyficlesy injdead of anfwering Critoy turned fhort upon 
 Alciphron, It was always my opinion, faid he, that no- 
 thing could be fillier than to think of deftroying chriftian- 
 ity, by crying up natural religion. Whoever thinks highly 
 of the one, can never, with any confiffcency, think mean- 
 ly of the other ; it being very evident, that natural reli- 
 gion, without revealed, never v/as and never can be ef- 
 tabliflied or received any where, but in the brains of a few 
 idle fpeculative men. I was aware what your conceflions 
 would come to. The belief of God, virtue, a future 
 fcate, and fuch fine notions are, as every one may fee 
 with half an eye, the very bafis and corner-ftone of the 
 chriftian religion. Lay but this foundation for them to 
 build on, and you Ihall foon fee what fuperftru6lures our 
 men of divinity will raife from it. The truth and impor- 
 tance of thofe points once admitted, a man need be no 
 conjurer to prove, upon that principle, the excellency and 
 ufefulnefs of the chriftian religion : And then, to be fure, 
 there muft be priefts to teach and propagate this ufeful 
 religion : And if priefts, a regular fubordination, without 
 doubt, in this worthy fociety, and a provifion for their 
 maintenance : Such as may enable them to perform all
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 237 
 
 their rites and ceremonies with decency, and keep' their 
 facred chara6i:er above contempt. And the plain confe- 
 quence of all this is, a confederacy between the prince and 
 the priefthood, to fubdue the people : So we have let in at 
 once upon us, a long train of ecclefiaftical evils, prieft- 
 craft, hierarchy, inquifition. We have loft our liberty 
 and property, and put the nation to vaft expence, only to 
 purchafe bridles and faddles, for their own mouths and 
 their own backs. 
 
 XXX. This being fpoke with fome fharpnefs of tone, 
 and an upbraiding air, touched Alciphron to the quick, 
 who replied nothing, but Iliewed confufion in his looks. 
 Crito fmiling, looked at Euphranor and me, then cafting 
 an eye on the two philofophers, fpoke as follows : If I 
 may be admitted to interpofe good offices, for prevent- 
 ing a rupture between old friends and brethren, in opinion, 
 I would obferve, that in this charge of Lyficlesy there is 
 fomething right, and fomething wrong. It feems right 
 to aflert as he doth, that the real belief of natural rehgion 
 will lead a man to approve of revealed : But it is as wrong 
 to ailert, that inquifitions, tyranny, and ruin, muft fol- 
 low from thence. Your free-thinkers, without offence 
 be it faid, feem to miftake their talent. They imagine 
 ftrongly, but reafon weakly \ mighty at exaggeration, 
 and jejune in argunient ! Can no method be found, to 
 relieve them from the terror of that fierce and bloody ani- 
 mal, an En^liJJj parfon .? Will it not fuffice to pare his tal- 
 ons without chopping off his fingers .'' Then they are fuch 
 wonderful patriots for liberty and property ! When I hear 
 thefe two words in the mouth of a Minute Philofopher, I 
 am put in mind of the Tejle di Ferro at Rome. His holi- 
 nefs, it feems, not having power to affign penfions on 
 Spaniflj benefices to any but natives of Spairiy always keeps 
 at Rome two Spaniardsy called Tefte di Ferro,, who have
 
 238 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 the name of all fuch penfions, but not the profit, which 
 goes to Italians. As we may fee every day, both things 
 and notions placed to the account of liberty and property, 
 which in reality neither have, nor are meant to have, any 
 (hare in them. "What ! Is it impoffible for a man to be a 
 chriftian, but he muft be a flave ? Or a clergyman, but he 
 muft have the principles of an inquifitor ? I am far from 
 fcreeningand juflifying appetite of domination or tyrannical 
 power in ccclefiaftics. Some, who have been guilty in that 
 refpecS:, have forely paid for it, and it is to be hoped they 
 always will. But having laid the fury and folly of the 
 ambitious prelate, is it not time to look about and fpy 
 whether, on the other hand, fome evil may not pofllbly 
 accrue to the ftate, from the overflowing zeal of an inde- 
 pendent whig ? This I may affirm, without being at any 
 pains to prove it, that the worft tyranny this nation ever 
 felt, was from the hands of patriots of that ftamp. 
 
 XXXI. Lys. — I do not know. Tyranny is a harfti 
 word, and fometimes mifapplied. When fpirited men 
 of independent maxims create a ferment, or make a 
 a change in the ftate ; he that lofeth is apt to confider 
 things in one light, and he that wins in another. In the 
 mean time, this is certainly good poficy, that we fliould 
 be frugal of our money, and referve it for better ufes, 
 than to expend on the church and religion. 
 
 Cri. — Surely the old apologue of the belly and mem- 
 bers need not be repeated to fuch knowing men. It (hould 
 feem as needlefs to obferve, that all other ftates, which 
 ever made any figure in the world for wifdom and polite- 
 nefs, have thought learning defcrved encouragement, as 
 well as the fword : that grants for religious ufes were as 
 fitting as for knights fervice : and foundations for propa- 
 gating piety, as necelTary to the public welfare and de-
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 239 
 
 fence, as either civil or military eftablilhments. In for- 
 mer times, when the clergy were a body much more nu- 
 merous, wealthy, and powerful : when in their Hate of 
 celibacy they gave no pledges to the public : when they 
 enjoyed great exemptions and privileges above their fel- 
 low fubjects : when they owned obedience to a foreign 
 potentate, the cafe was evidently and widely different 
 from what it is in our days. And the not difcerning, 
 or not owning this difference, is no proof either of faga- 
 city or honefty in the Minute Philofophers. But I afk, 
 who are at this expenfe, and what is this expenfe fo 
 much complained of ? 
 
 Lys. — As if you had never heard of church-lands and 
 tithes ! 
 
 Cri. — But I would fain know, how they can be charg- 
 ed as an expenfe, either upon the nation, or private men. 
 Where nothing is exported, the nation lofeth nothing : 
 and it is all one to the public, whether money circulates 
 at home through the hands of a vicar or a fquire. Then 
 as for private men, who, for want of thought, are full 
 of complaint about the payment of tithes ; can any man 
 juflly complain of it as a tax, that he pays what never 
 belonged to him ? The tenent rents his farm with this 
 condition, and pays his landlord proportionably lefs, than 
 if his farm had been exempt from it : So he lofeth no- 
 thing ; it being all one to him whether he pays his paf- 
 tor or his landlord. The landlord cannot complain that 
 he has not what he hath no right to, either by grant, pur- 
 chafe, or inheritance. This is the cafe of tithes : and as 
 for the church-lands, he furely can be no free-thinker, 
 nor any thinker at all, who doth not fee that no man,, 
 whether noble, gentle, or plebeian, hath any fort of 
 right or claim to them, which he may not, with equal 
 juftice, pretend to all the lands in the kingdom. 
 
 Lys. — At prefent indeed we have no right, and that 
 is our complaint.
 
 240 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 Cri. — You would have then what you have no right 
 to. 
 
 Lys. — Not fo neither : what we would have is, firft a 
 right conveyed by law, and, in the next place, the lands 
 by virtue of fuch right. 
 
 Cri. — In order to this, it might be expedient, in the 
 firft place, to get on a£t paiTed for excommunicating from 
 all civil rights every man that is a chriftian, a fcholar, 
 and wears a black coat, as guilty of three capital offences 
 againft the public weal of this realm. 
 
 Lys. — To deal frankly, I think it would be an excel- 
 lent good aft. 
 
 Cri. — It would provide at once for feveral deferving 
 men, rare artificers in wit, and argument, and ridicule ! 
 who have, too many of them, but fmall fortunes, with a 
 great arrear of merit towards their country, which they 
 have fo long enlightened and adorned gratis. 
 
 EupH. — Pray tell me, Lyficles, are not the clergy le- 
 gally pofleffed of their lands and emoluments ? 
 
 Lys. — Nobody denies it. 
 
 EupH. — Have they not been poffefled of them from 
 time immemorial } 
 
 Lys. — ^This too I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — They claim then by law and ancient prefcrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Lys. — They dc. 
 
 EupH. — Have the oldell families of the nobility a bet- 
 ter title ? 
 
 Lys. — I believe not. It grieves me to fee many over- 
 grown eftates in the hands of ancient families, on account 
 of no other merit, but what they brought with them into 
 the world. 
 
 EuPH. — May you not then as well take their lands 
 too, and beftow them on the Minute Philofophers, as 
 perfons of more merit }
 
 tDfAL. v.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 2^1 
 
 Lys. — So much the better. This enlarges our view, 
 and opens a new fcene : It is very delightful, in the con- 
 templation of truth, to behold how one theory grows out 
 of another. 
 
 Alc. — Old P^tus ufed to fay, that if the clergy were 
 deprived of their hire, we fhouid lofe the moft popular 
 argument againft them. 
 
 Lys. — But fo long as men live by religion, there will 
 never be wanting teachers and writers in defence of it. 
 
 Cri. — And how can you be fure they would be want- 
 ing, though they did not live by it, fince it is well known 
 chriflianity had its defenders, even when men died by it ^ 
 
 Lys. — One thing I know, — there is a rare nurfery of 
 young plants growing up, who have been carefully guard- 
 ed againft every air of prejudice, and fprinkled with the 
 dew of our choiceft principles : mean while, wifhes are 
 wearifome : and, to our infinite regret, nothing can be 
 done, fo long as there remains any prejudice in favor of 
 old cuftoms, and laws, and national conftitutions, which, 
 at bottom, we very well know, and can demonftrate, to 
 be only words and notions. 
 
 XXXII. But I can never hope, Cr'iio, to make you 
 think my fchemes reafonable. We reafon each right up- 
 on his own principles, and fnall never agree till we quit 
 our principles, which cannot be done by reafoning. We 
 all talk of juft, and right, and wrong, and public good, 
 and all thofe things. The names may be the fame, but 
 the notions and conclufions very diiterent, perhaps dia- 
 metrically oppoute : and yet each may admit of clear 
 proofs, and be inferred by the fame way of reafoning. 
 For inilance, the gentlemen of the club which I frequent, 
 define man to be a fociable animal : confequently we ex- 
 clude from this difinition all thofe human creatures, of 
 whom it may be faid, v/e had rather have their room 
 
 G rr
 
 242 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 than their company. And fuch, though wearing the 
 ihape of man, are to be efteemed in all account of reafon, 
 not as men, but only as human creatures. Hence it 
 plainly follows, that men of pleafure, men of humour, 
 and men of wit, are alone properly and truly to be con- 
 iidered as men. Whatever, therefore, conduceth to the 
 emolument of fuch, is for the good of mankind, and 
 confequently very juft and lawful, although feeming to be 
 attended with lofs or damage- to other creatures : inafmuch 
 as no real injury can be done in life or property to thofe, 
 who know not how to enjoy them. This we liold for 
 clear and well conne<5led reafoning. But others may 
 view things in another light, affign different definitions, 
 draw other inferences, and perhaps confider, what we 
 fuppofe the top and flower of the creation, only as a wart 
 or excrefcence of human nature. From all which there 
 mud enfue a very different fyftem of morals, politics, 
 rights, and notions. * 
 
 Cri. — If you have a mind tfo argue, we will argue : If 
 you have more mind to j eft, we will laugh with you. 
 
 Lys. — — ■ -'Ridentcm d'lcere verum 
 
 ^lid vetat P 
 
 This partition of our kind into men and human creatures, 
 puts me in mind of another notion broached by one of our 
 club, whom we ufed to call the Pythagorean. 
 
 XXXIII. He made a threefold partition of the human 
 fpecies, into birds, beafts, and fifties, being of opinion 
 that the road of life lies upwards, in a perpetual afcent 
 through the fcale of being : In fuch fort, that the fouls of 
 infects, after death, make their fecond appearance in the 
 (hape of perfe^: animals, birds, beafts, or fifties ; which, 
 upon their death, are preferred into human bodies, and,
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 243 
 
 in the next ftage, into beings of a higher and more psrfecl 
 kind. This man we coniidered at firft as a fort of here- 
 tic; becaufe his fcheme feemed not to confilt with our 
 fundamental tenet, the mortahty of the foul : But he juf- 
 tified the notion to be innocent, inafniuch as it included 
 nothing of reward or punifliment, and was not proved by 
 any argument, which fuppofed or implied either incorpo- 
 real fpirit, or Providence, being only inferred, by way of 
 analogy, from what he had obferved in human aiFairs, 
 the court, the church, and the army; v/herein the ten- 
 dency is always upwards from lower pofts to higher. Ac- 
 cording to this fyftem, the fifnes are thofe men who fwim 
 in pleafure, fuch as petits matures, bons vivansy and honefc 
 fellows. The beafts are dry, drudging, covetous, 
 rapacious folk, and all thofe adidled to care and bufinefs 
 like oxen, and other dry land animals, which fpend their 
 lives in labor and fatigue. The birds are airy, notional 
 men, enthufiafts, projectors, poets, philofophers, and 
 fuch like. In each fpecies every individual retaiifing a 
 tincSlure of his former flate, which conftitutes what is 
 called genius. If you allc me which fpecies of mankind 
 I like beft, I anfwer, the flying filh : that is, a man of 
 animal enjoyment, v/ith a mixture of whim. Thus you 
 fee we have our creeds and our fyftems, as well as graver 
 folks : with this difference, that they are not ilrait-laced, 
 but fit eafy, to be flipped off or on, as humour or occafion 
 ferves. And now I can, with the greateft equinimity 
 imaginable, hear my opinions argued againft, or confuted. 
 
 XXXrV. Alc. — -It were to be wifiied all men were of 
 that mind. But you fliall find a fort of men, whom I 
 need not name, that cannot bear with the leaft temper, to 
 have their opinions examined, or their faults cenfured. — 
 They are againft reafon, becaufe reafon is againft them. 
 For our parts, we are all for liberty of confcience. If
 
 244 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.l 
 
 our tenets are abfurd, we allov;^ them to be freely argued 
 and infpe^led : and, by a parity of reafon, we might hope 
 to be allowed the fame privilege, with refpe£t to the opi- 
 nions of other men. 
 
 Cri. — O Alciphron 1 Wares that will not bear the 
 light are juftly to be fufpe6led. Whatever, therefore, 
 moves you to make this complaint, take my word, I never 
 will : But as hitherto I have allowed your reafon its full 
 fcope, fo for the future I always fliall. And, though I 
 cannot approve of railing or declaiming, not even in my- 
 felf, whenever you have fliewed me the way to it : yet 
 this I will anfwer for, that you fhall ever be allowed to 
 reafon as clofely and as llrenuoufly as you can. But, for 
 the love of truth, be candid, and do not fpend your 
 ilrength, and our time, in points of no fignificancy, or 
 foreign to the purpofe, or agreed between us. We al- 
 low that tyranny and llavcry are bad things : but why 
 iliould we apprehend them from the clergy at this time ? 
 Rites and ceremonies, we own, are not points of chief 
 moment in religion : but why fhould we ridicule things, 
 in their own nature, at lead indifferent, and which bear 
 the (tamp of fupreme authority ? That men, in divinity, 
 as well as other fubjeds, are perplexed with ufelefs dif- 
 putes, and are like to be fo as long as the world iafts, I 
 freely acknowledge : But why rnuft all the human weak- 
 jicfs and millakes of clergymen be imputed to wicked de- 
 figns ? Why indifcriminately abufe their chara£l:er and 
 tenets ? Is this like candor, love of truth, free-thinking } 
 It is granted there may be found, now and then, fpleen 
 and ill-breeding in the clergy : But are not the famie faults 
 incident to Englifi laymen, of a retired education and 
 country life ? I grant there is infinite futility in the 
 fchoolmen : But I deny that a volume of that doth fo 
 much mifchief, as a page of Minute Philofophy. That 
 weak or wicked men fhould^ by favor of the world, creep
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 245 
 
 into power and high fiations in the church, is nothing 
 wonderful : and that, in fuch ftations, they fhould behave 
 like themfelves, is natural to fuppofe. But all the while 
 it is evident, that not the golpel, but the world ; not the 
 fpirit, but the flefh ; not God, but the devil, puts them up- 
 on their unworthy atchievements. We make no difficulty 
 to grant, that nothing is more infamous than vice and ig- 
 norance in a clergyman i nothing more bafe than a hypo- 
 crite, more frivolous than a pedant, more cruel than an 
 inquifitor. But it mufb alfo be granted by you, gentle- 
 men, that nothing is more ridiculous and abfurd, than 
 for pedantic, ignorant and corrupt men, to call the firft 
 ftone, at every fhadow of their own defc6is and vices in 
 other men. 
 
 XXXV. Alc— When I conGder the deteftable ftate of 
 flavcry and fuperltition, I feel my heart dilate and expand 
 itfelf to grafp that ineflimable blefTmg of independent 
 liberty. This is the facred and high prerogative, the very 
 life and health of our Ehglijh conflitution. You muft 
 not, therefore, think it ft range, if with a vigilant and curi- 
 ous eye, we guard it againft the minuteft appearance of 
 evil. You muft even fuffer us to cut round about, and 
 very deep, and make ufe of the magnifying glafs, the bet- 
 ter to view and extirpate every the leaft fpeck, which 
 fhall difcover itfelf in what we are careful and jealous to 
 prefervc, as the apple of our eye. 
 
 Cri.— As for unbounded liberty, I leave it to favages, 
 among whom alone I believe it is to be found : But, for 
 the reafonable legal liberty of our conftitution, I moft 
 heartily and fincerely wifn it may for ever fubfift and 
 flourifti among U3. You and all other EngUfhmen cannot 
 be too vigilant, or too earneft, to preferve this goodly 
 frame, or to curb and difappoint the wicked ambition 
 .of whoever, layman or ecclefiaftic, fliall attempt to 
 change our free and gentle government into a flavifh or
 
 24^ MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 fevere one. But what pretext can this afford for your 
 attempts againfl religion, or indeed, how can it be con- 
 fident with them ? Is not the proteftant religion a main 
 part of our legal conilitution ? I remember to have heard 
 a foreigner remark, that we of this ifiand were very good 
 proteftants, but no chriflians. But whatever Minute Phi- 
 lofophers may wiih, or foreigners fay, it is certain our 
 laws fpeak a diiFerent language. 
 
 Alc. — This puts me in mind of the wife reafoning of a 
 certain fage magiftrate, who, being preffed by the raillery 
 and arguments of an ingenious man, had irothing to fay 
 for his religion, but that ten millions of people, inhabiting 
 the fame ifland, might, whether right or wrong, if they 
 thought good, eflablilh laws for the worfhipping of God 
 in their temples, and appealing to him in their courts of 
 juftice. And that in cafe ten thoufand ingenious men 
 fhould publicly deride and trample on thofe laws, it might 
 be juft and lawful for the fai<l ten millions to expel the 
 faid ten thoufand ingenious men out of their faid ifland. 
 
 EuPH. — And pray, what anfwer would you make to 
 this remark of the fage magiftrate ? 
 
 Alc— -The anfwer is plain. By the law of nature, 
 which is fuperior to all pofitive inftitutions, wit and knowl- 
 edge have a right to command folly and ignorance. I fay, 
 ingenious men have, by natural right, a dominion over fools. 
 
 EuPH. — What dominion over the laws and people of 
 Great Britairiy Minute Philofophers may be in titled to by 
 nature, I (hall not difpute, but leave to be confidered by 
 the public. 
 
 Alc. — This doctrine, it muft be owned, was never 
 thoroughly underftood before our own times. In the laft 
 age, Hobhes and his followers, though otherwife very 
 great men, declared for the religion -of the magiftrate ; 
 Probably becaufe they were afraid of the magiftrate : But 
 times are changed, and the magiftrate may now be afraid 
 of us.
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 247^ 
 
 Cri. — I allow the maglftrate may well be afraid of you 
 in one fenfe, I mean afraid to truft you. This brings to 
 my thoughts a paflage on the trial of Leander for a capital 
 offence. That gentleman having picked out and excluded 
 from his jury, by peremptory exception, all but fome 
 men of falhion and pleafure, humbly moved, when Dorcon 
 was going to kifs the book, that he might be required to 
 declare upon honour, whether he believed either God or gof- 
 pel. Dorcon^ rather than hazard his reputation as a man of 
 honour and free-thinker, openly avowed, that he believed in 
 neither. Upon which, the court declared him unfit to ferve" 
 on a jury. By the fame reafon, fo many were fet afide, as 
 made it neceffary to put off the trial. "We are very eafy, 
 replied Alciphroriy about being trufted to ferve on juries, 
 if we can be admitted to ferve in lucrative employments. 
 
 Cri. — But what if the government iliould injoin, that 
 every one, before he is fworn into office, fliould make the 
 fame declaration which Dorcon was required to make ? 
 
 Alc. — God forbid ! I hope there is no fuch defign on 
 foot. 
 
 Cri. — Whatever defigns may be on foot, thus much is 
 certain ; the chriftian reformed religion is a principal 
 part and corner-ilone of our free conftitution ; and I ver- 
 ily think, the only thing that makes us deferving of free- 
 dom, or capable of enjoying it. Freedom is either a 
 blefling or a cure, as men ufe it. And to me it feems, 
 that if our religion were once deftroyed from among us, 
 and thofe notions, which pafs for prejudices of a chriftian 
 education, erafed from the minds of Britons^ thebeil thing 
 that could befal us would be the lofs of our freedom. 
 — Surely a people wherein there is fuch reftlefs am- 
 bition, fuch high fpirits, fuch animofity cf faction, fo 
 great interefts in conteft, fuch unbounded licence of fpeech 
 and prefs, amidft fo much wealth and luxury, nothing 
 but thofe veteres avia, which you pretend to extirpate, 
 could have hitherto kept from ruin.
 
 248 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. V.] 
 
 XXXVI. Under the chriftian religion this nation hath 
 been greatly improved. From a fort of favages we have 
 grown civil, polite, and learned. We have made a de- 
 cent and noble figure, both at home and abroad. And, as 
 our religion decreafeth, I am afraid we fhall be found to 
 have declined. Why then (liould we perfift in the dan- 
 gerous experiment } 
 
 . Alc. — One would think, Crito, you had forgot the 
 many calamities occafioned by churchmen and religion. 
 
 Cri. — And one would think, you had forgot what was 
 anfvvered this very day to that objection. But not to repeat 
 eternally the fame things, I ihail obferve in the firft place, 
 that if we reflect on the paft ftate of chriftendom, and of 
 our own country in particular, with our feuds and factions 
 fubfifting, while we were all of the fame religion, for in- 
 llance, that of the white and red rofes, fo violent and 
 bloody, and of fuch long continuance ; we can have no 
 affurance that thofe ill humors, which have fince fhewn 
 themfelves under the malk of religion, would not have 
 broke out with feme other pretext, if this had been want- 
 ing. I obferve in the fecond place, that it will not fol- 
 low, from any obfervations you can make on our hillory, 
 that the evils, accidentally occafioned by religion, bear 
 any proportion either to the good effefts it hath really pro- , 
 duced, or the evils it hath prevented. Laftiy, I obferve, 
 that the beft things may, by accident, be the occafion of 
 evil ; which accidental effe£l is not, to fpeak properly and 
 truly, produced by the good thing itfelf, but by fome evil 
 thing, which, being neither part, property, nOr efFeft of 
 it, happens to be joined v/ith it. But I (hould be alham- 
 ed to infift and enlarge on fo plain a point. Certainly 
 whatever evils this nation might have formerly fuftained 
 from fuperftition, no man of common fenfe will fay, the 
 evils felt, or apprehended at prcfent, are from that quarter. 
 Piieftcraft is not the reigning diilemper at this day. And
 
 [Dial. V.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 249 
 
 it will be owned, that a wife man, who takes upon him to 
 be vigilant for the public weal, fliould touch proper things 
 at proper times, and not prefcribe for a furfeit when the 
 diftemper is a confumption. 
 
 Alc. — I think we have fufficiently difcufled the fub- 
 jc£t of this day's conference. And now, let Lyjicles take 
 it as he will, I muft, in regard to rny own character, as a 
 fair impartial adverfary, acknowledge there is fomething 
 in what Crito hath faid, upon the ufefulnefs of the chrif- 
 tian religion. I will even own to you that fome of our 
 feet are for allowing it a toleration. I remember, at a 
 meeting of feveral ingenious men, after much debate, we 
 came fucceffively to divers refolutions. The firft was, 
 that no religion ought to be tolerated in the flate : But 
 this, on more mature thought, was judged impracticable. 
 The fecond was, that all religions iliould be tolerated, but 
 none countenanced except atheifm : But it was apprehend- 
 ed, that this might breed contentions among the lower 
 fort of people. We came, therefore, to conclude, in the 
 third place, that fome religion or other fhould be eftab- 
 iiftied for the ufe of the vulgar. And, after a long difpute 
 what this religion (hould be, Lyfis^ a brifk young man^ 
 perceiving no figns of agreement, propofed, that the 
 prefent religion might be tolerated, till a better was found. 
 But allowing it to be expedient, I can never think it true, 
 fo long as there lie unanfwerable obje(9:ions againft it, 
 which, if you pleafe, I fhall take the liberty to propofe 
 at our next meeting. To which we all agreed. 
 H Ii
 
 T H E 
 
 SIXTH DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Points agreed. II. Sundry Pretences to Revelation. III. 
 Uncertainty of Tradition. IV. Object and Ground of 
 Faith. V. SQ7ne Books difputed^ others evidently fpurious, 
 VI. Stile and Compofition of Holy Scripture. VII. Dif- 
 fculties occurring therein. VIII. Ohfcurity not always a 
 DefeB. IX. Infpiration neither impoffihle nor abfurd. 
 X. OhjeBions from the Form and Matter of Divine ReV' 
 elation^ confidered. XI. Infidelity an FffeEi of Narrow- 
 nefs and Prejudice. XII. Articles of Chrrjlian Faith not 
 unreafonable. XIII. Guilt the natural Pare7it of Fear. 
 XIV. Things unknown, reduced to the Standard of what 
 JHen know. XV. Prejudices againft the Iticartiatioit of 
 the Son of God. XVI. Ignoratice of the divine Econo- 
 my, a Source of Difficulties. XVII. Wifdom of Gody 
 Foolifknejs to Man. XVIII. Reajlny no blind Guide. 
 XIX. Ufefalnefs of Divine Revelation. XX. Prophe- 
 cies, whence ohfcure. XXI. Eaflern Accounts of time 
 older than the Mofaic. XXII. The Humor of Egyptians, 
 AfTyrians, Chaldeans, and other Nations extending their 
 Antiquity beyond Truth, accounted for. XXIII. Reofons 
 confirming the Mofaic Account. XXIV. Profane Hiflo- 
 rians inconfiflent. XXV. Celfus, Prophyry, and Jul- 
 ian. XXVI. The Tefimony of Jofephus confidered. 
 
 XXVII. Attcfation of Jews and Gentiles to Chrijlianity. 
 
 XXVIII. Forgeries and Herefies. XXIX. Judgment 
 and Attention of Minute Philofophers. XXX. Faith and 
 Miracles. XXXI. Probable Arguments a fufficient 
 Ground of Faith. XXXII. The Chrijlian Religion able 
 tejland the Teji of rational Inquiry.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 251 
 
 J_ HE following day being Sunday, our philofophers 
 lay long in bed, while the reft of us went to church in 
 the neighboring town, where we dined at Euphratior'sy 
 and after evening fervice returned to the two philofophers, 
 whom we found in the library. They told us, that, if 
 there was a God, he was prefent every where, as well as 
 at church ; and that if we had been ferving him one way, 
 they did not neglect to do as much another ; inafmuch as 
 a free exercife of reafon muft be allowed the molt accept- 
 able fervice and worfhip, that a rational creature can of- 
 fer to its Creator. However, faid Alciphroriy if you, 
 gentlemen, can but folve the difficulties which I fhall pro- 
 poie to-morrow morning, I prom.ife to go to church next 
 Sunday. After fome general converfation of tliis kind, 
 we fat down to a light fupper, and the next m-orning af- 
 fembled at the fame place, as the day before : Where be- 
 ing all feated, I obferved, that the foregoing week our 
 conferences had been carried on for a longer time, and 
 with lefs interruption than I had ever known, or well 
 could be, in town : Where men's hours are fo broken by 
 vifits, bufinefs, and amufements, that whoever is content 
 to forni his notions from converfation only, muft needs 
 have them very (battered and imperfect. And what have 
 we got, replied Alciphron, by all thefe continued confer- 
 ences ? For my part, I think myfelf juft where I was, 
 with refpe6t to the main point that divides us, the truth 
 of the chriftian religion. I anfwered : That fo many 
 points had been examined, difcufled, and agreed between 
 him and his adverfaries, that I hoped to fee them come 
 to an intire agreement in the end. For, in the firit place, 
 faid I, the principles and opinions of thofe who are called 
 free-thinkers, or Minute Philofophers, have been pretty 
 clearly explained. It hath been alfo agreed, that vice is 
 not of that benefit to the nation, which fome men ima- 
 
 \
 
 2s2 
 
 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 mne : That virtue is highly ufeful to mankind : But that 
 the beauty of virtue is not alone fufHcient to engage them 
 in the pradife of it : That, therefore, the beUef of a God 
 and Providence ought to be encouraged in the ftate, and 
 tolerated in good company, as an ufeful notion. Further, 
 it hath been proved that there is a God : That it is reafon- 
 able to v/orfliip him : And that the vi'orfliip, faith, and 
 principles prefcribed by the chriftian reiigicn have an ufe- 
 ful tendency. Admit, replied Alciphrotiy addrelTmg him- 
 ie!f to Crito, all that Dion faith to be true, yet this 
 doth not hinder my being juft where I v^^as, vi'ith refpeft 
 to the main point. Since there is nothing in all this that 
 proves the truth ef the chridian religion : Though each 
 of thofe particulars enumerated, may, perhaps, prejudice 
 in its favor. I am, therefore, to fufpecl myfelf at prefent 
 for a prejudiced perfon •, prejudiced, I fay, in favor of 
 chridianity. This, as I am a lover of truth, puts me up- 
 on my guard againft deception. I muft, therefore, look 
 fnarp, and well confider every ftep I take. 
 
 II. Cri. — You m.ay remember, Akiphron, you propo- 
 fed for the fubje£l: of cur prefent conference the confider- 
 ation of certain difficulties and objedions, which you had 
 to offer againft the chriftian religion. We are now ready 
 to hear and confider whatever you fhall think fit to produce 
 of that kind. Atheifm, and a wrong notion of chrif- 
 tianity, as of fometliing hurtful to mankind, are great 
 prejudices; the removal of which may difpofe a man to 
 .argue with candor, and fubm.it to reafonable proof : But 
 the removing prejudices againft an opinion, is not to be 
 reckoned prejudicing in its favor. It may be hoped, there- 
 fore, that you will be able to do juftice to your caufe, 
 without being fond of it. 
 
 Alc. — O Crito ! That man may thank his ftars to whom 
 nature hath given a fublime foul, who can raife himfelf
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 253 
 
 above popular opinions, and, looking down on the herd 
 of mankind, behold them fcattered over the furface of 
 the vi^hole earth, divided and fubdivided into numberlefs 
 nations and tribes, differing in notions and tenets, as in 
 language, manners, and drefs. The man who takes a 
 general view of the world and its inhabitants, from this 
 lofty (land, above the reach of prejudice, fe ems to breathe 
 a purer air, and to fee by a clearer light : But how to im- 
 part this clear and extenfive view to thofe who are wan- 
 dering beneath in the narrow dark paths of error. This 
 indeed is a hard talk : Yet hard as it is, I fhail try if by 
 ;iny means, 
 
 Clara tu<£ pojjim pnzpandere lumifia menii. Lucret. 
 
 Know then, that all the various cafts or fe£ls of the fons 
 of men have each their faith, and their religious fyftem, 
 germinating and fprouting forth from that common grain 
 of enthufiafm, which is an original ingredient in the com- 
 pofition of human nature. They ihall each tell of inter- 
 courfe with the invifible world, revelations from Heaven, 
 divine oracles, and the likr. All which pretenfions, when 
 I regard with an impartial eye, it is impoflible I fhould af- 
 fent to all, and I find within myfelf fomething that with- 
 holds me from afTenting to any of them. For although 
 I may be willing to follow, fo far as common fenfe and 
 the light of nature lead ; yet the fame reafon, that bids 
 me yield to rational proof, forbids me to admit opinions 
 without proof. This holds in general againft all revela- 
 tions whatft:)ever. And be this my firft objecSlion againft 
 the chriflian In particular. 
 
 Cri. — As this obje6lion fuppofes there is no proof or 
 reafon for believing the chriftian revelation, if good rea- 
 fon can be afTigtied for fuch belief, it comes to nothing. 
 Now I prefume you will grant, the authority of the re-
 
 254 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 porter Is a true and proper reafon for believing reports : 
 And the better this authority, the jufter claim it hath to 
 our aflent : But the authority of God, is, on all accounts, 
 the beft : Whatever, therefore, comes from God, it is 
 moft reafonabie to believe. 
 
 III. Alc. — This I grant, but then It muft be proved 
 to come from God. 
 
 Cri. — And are not miracles, and the accompliftiments 
 of prophecies, joined with the excellency of its doctrines, 
 a fufficient proof that the chriftian religion came from 
 Godf 
 
 Alc. — Miracles, indeed, would prove fomething ; but 
 what proof have we of thefe miracles .? 
 
 Cri. — Proof of the fame kind that we have, or can 
 have, of any fafts done a great way off, and a long time 
 ago. We have authentic accounts tranfmitted down to 
 us from eye-witneffes, whom we cannot conceive tempt- 
 ed to impofe upon us by any human motive whatfoever : 
 inafmuch as they a£i:ed therein contrary to their interefts, 
 their prejudices, and the very principles in which they 
 had been nurfed and educated. Thefe accounts were 
 confirmed by the unparalleled fubverfion of the city of 
 Jerufalemy and the difperfion of the Jeivi/h nation, which 
 is a (landing teftimony to the truth of the gofpel, particu- 
 larly of the predictions of our blefled Saviour. Thefe 
 accounts, within lefs then a century, were fpread through- 
 out the world, and believed by great numbers of people. 
 Thefe fame accounts were committed to v/riting, . tranfla- 
 ted into feveral languages, and handed down with the 
 fame refpeCt and confent of chriflians in the mofl diftant 
 churches. Do you not fee, faid Alciphron, flaring full 
 at Crito, that all this hangs by tradition .'^ And tradition, 
 take my word for it, gives but a weak hold : It is a 
 chain, whereof the firft links may be flronger than flecl,
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 255 
 
 and yet the laft weak as wax, and brittle as glafs. Ima- 
 gine a pi£lure copied fucceffively by an hundred painterSj 
 one from another j how like muft the laft copy be to the 
 original ! How lively and diftin6t will an image be, af- 
 ter an hundred reflexions between two parallel mirrours I 
 Thus like, and thus lively, do I think a faint vanilhing 
 tradition, at the end of fixteen or feventeen hundred 
 years. Some men have a falfe heart, others a wrong 
 head : and where both are true, the memory may be 
 treacherous. Hence there is ftill fomething added, fome- 
 thing omitted, and fomething varied from the truth : 
 And the fum of many fuch additions, deductions and al- 
 terations, accumulated for feveral ages, doth, at the foot 
 of the account, make quite another thing. 
 
 Cri. — Ancient fa(^s we may know by tradition, oral 
 or written : And this latter we may divide into two kinds, 
 private and public, as writings are kept in the hands of 
 particular men, or recorded in public archives. Now all 
 thefe three forts of tradition, for ought I can fee, concur 
 to atteft the genuine antiquity of the gofpels. And they 
 arc ftrengthened by collateral evidence from rites inftitu- 
 ted, feftivals obferved, and monuments ereCled by anci- 
 ent chriftians, fuch as churches, baptifteries, and fepul- 
 chres. Now, allowing your objection holds againft oral 
 tradition, fingly taken, yet I can think it no fuch difficult 
 thing to tranfcribe faithfully. And things once commit- 
 ted to writing, are fecure from flips of memory, and may 
 with common care be preferved intire fo long as the manu- 
 fcript lafts : And this, experience (hews, may be above a 
 thoufand years. The Alexandrine manufcript is allowed 
 to be above twelve hundred years old : and it is highly 
 probable there were then extant copies four hundred years 
 old. A tradition, therefore, of above fixteen hundred 
 years, need have only two or three links in its chain. — 
 And thefe links, notwithftanding that great length of
 
 2S<5 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 time, may be very found and intire. Since no reafona- 
 ble man will deny, that an ancient manufcript may be of 
 much the fame credit now, as when it was firft written. 
 We have it on good authority, and it feems probable that 
 the primitive chriftians were careful to tranfcribe copies 
 of the gofpels and epiftles for their private ufe : and that 
 other copies were preferved as public records, in the feve- 
 ral churches throughout the world : and that portions 
 thertfof were conllantly read in their aflemblies. Can 
 more be faid to prove the writings of claflic authors, or 
 ancient records of any kind, authentic ? Alciphrony ad- 
 dreffing his difcourfe to Euphranor, faid, it is one thing 
 to filence an adverfary, and another to convince him.— 
 What do you think, Euphranor ? 
 
 EuPH. — Doubtlefs it is. 
 
 Alc. — But what I want is, to be convinced. 
 
 EuPH. — That point is not fo clear. 
 
 Alc. — But if a man had ever fo much mind, he can- 
 not be convinced by probable arguments againft demon- 
 ilration. 
 
 EuPH. — I grant he cannot. 
 
 rV. Alc. — Now it is as evident as demonftration can 
 make it, that no divine faith can poffibly be built upon 
 tradition. Suppofe an honeft credulous countryman ca- 
 techifed and ie6i:ured every Sunday by his parilli-prieft : 
 it is plain he believes in the parfon, and not in God. He 
 knows nothing of revelations, and docfbrines, and mira- 
 cles, but what the prieft tells him. This he believes, 
 and this faith is purely human. If you fay he has the 
 liturgy and the bible for the foundation of his faith, the 
 difficulty (till recurs. For, as to the liturgy, he pins his 
 faith upon the civil magiftrate, as well as the ecclefiaftic, 
 neither of which can pretend divine infpiration. Then 
 for the bible, he takes both that and his prayer book on
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 257 
 
 truft from the printer, who, he believes, made true edi- 
 tions from true copies. You fee then faith, but what 
 faith ? Faith in the prieft, in the magiftrate, in the 
 printer, editor, tranfcriber, none of which can, with 
 any pretence, be called divine. I had the hint from Cra- 
 tylus : it is a fhaft out of his quiver, and, believe me, a 
 keen or^e. 
 
 EupH. — Let me take and make trial of this fame (haft 
 in my hands. Suppofe then your countryman hears the 
 magiftrate declare the law from the bench, or fuppofc 
 he reads it in a (tatute book. What think you, is the 
 printer, or the juftice, the true and proper obje6l of his 
 faith and fubmiffion ? Or do you acknowledge a higher 
 authority whereon to found thofe royal a£ls, and in which 
 they do really terminate .'* Again, fuppofe you read a 
 pafiage in Tacitus that you believe true \ would you fay 
 you aflented to it on the authority of the printer, or tranf- 
 criber, rather than the hiftorian .'' 
 
 Alc. — ^Perhaps I would, and perhaps I would not. 
 I do not think myfelf obliged to anfwer thefe points. 
 What is this but transfering the queftion from one 
 fubje£t to another ? That which we confidered was 
 neither law nor profane hiftory, but religious tradition, 
 and divine faith. I fee plainly what you aim at, but (hall 
 never take for an anfwer to one difficulty, the ftarting of 
 another. 
 
 Cri. — O AlciphroTiy there is no taking hold of you, 
 who expeft that others (hould (as you were pleafed to 
 exprefs it) hold fair and ftand firm, while you plucked 
 out their prejudices : How fliall he argue with you, but 
 from your conceffions, and how can he know what you 
 grant, except you will be pleafed to tell him ? 
 
 EuPH. — But, to fave you the trouble, for once I will 
 fuppofe an anfwer. My queftion admits but of two an- 
 fwers : take your choice. From the one it will follow, 
 
 li
 
 258 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 that by a parity of reafon, we can eafily conceive, how a 
 man may have divine faith, though he never felt infpira- 
 tion, or faw a miracle : inafmuch as it is equally poflible 
 for the mind, through whatever conduit, oral or fcriptu- 
 ral, divine revelation be derived, to carry its thought and 
 fubmifiion up to the fource, and terminate its faith, not 
 in human, but divine authority : not in the inftrument or 
 veffel of conveyance, but in the great origin itfelf, as its 
 proper and true obje£l. From the other anfwer it will 
 follow, that you introduce a general fcepticifm into hu- 
 man knowledge, and break down the hinges on which 
 civil government, and all the affairs of the world, turn 
 and depend. In a word, that you would deftroy human 
 faith, to get rid of divine. And how this agrees with 
 your profefling that you want to be convinced, I leave 
 you to confider. 
 
 V. Alc. — I xhould in earnefl: be glad to be convinced 
 one v/ay or other, and come to fome conclufion. But I 
 have fo many objections in ftore, you are not to count 
 much upon getting over one. Depend on it, you (hall 
 find me behave like a gentleman and lover of truth. I 
 will propofe my objeftions briefly and plainly, and ac- 
 cept of reafonable anfwers as fall as you can give them. 
 Come, Euphrajjory make the moft of your tradition : you 
 can never make that a conftant and univerfal one, which 
 is acknowledged to have been unknown, or at heft difput- 
 ed in the church for feveral ages : And this is the cafe of 
 the canon of the New Teftament. For though we have 
 now a canon, as they call it, fettled ; yet every one mull 
 fee and own, that tradition cannot grow ftronger by age ; 
 and that what was uncertain in the primitive times, can- 
 not be undoubted in the fubfequent. What fay you to 
 this, Euphrmior ? 
 
 EuPH. — I fhould be glad to conceive your meaning clear- 
 ly before I return an anfwer. It feems to me this objec-
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 259 
 
 tion of yours fuppofeth, that v.'here a tradition h^th been 
 conftant and undifputed, fuch tradition may be admitted 
 as a proof ; but that where the tradition is defective, the 
 proof muft be fo too. Is this your meaning ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Confequently the gofpels and epilliles of Saint 
 Paulf which were univerfally received in the beginning, 
 and never fince doubted of by the church, muft, not- 
 withllanding this objeftion, be in reafon admitted as ge- 
 nuine. And if thefe books contain, as they really do, 
 all thofe points that come into controverfy between you 
 and me, what need I difpute with you about the authority 
 of fome other books of the New Teftament, which came 
 later to be generally known and received in the church ? 
 If a man afTents to the undifputed books, he is no longer 
 an infidel -, though he fhould not hold the Revelations, or 
 the epiftle of Saint James or Judey or the latter of Saint 
 Peter^ or the two lail of Saint Jchn^ to be canonical. — 
 The additional authority of thefe portions of Holy Scrip- 
 ture may have its weight, in particular controverfies be- 
 tween chriftians, but can add nothing to arguments a- 
 gainft an infidel, as fuch. Wherefore, though I believe 
 a fubfequent age might clear up what was obTcure or du- 
 bious in a foregoing, and that good reafons may be af- 
 Cgned for receiving thefe books, yet thofe reafons fecm 
 now befide our purpofe. When you are a chriftian, it 
 will be then time enough to argue this point. And you 
 will be the nearer being fo, if the way be fhortened by 
 omitting it for the prefent. 
 
 Alc. — Not fo near neither, as you perhaps imagine: 
 For, notwithftanding all the fair and plaufible things you 
 may fay about tradition, when I confider the fpirit of for- 
 gery which reigned in the primitive times, and refle6l on 
 the feveral gofpels, a(Sls, and epiftles, attributed to the 
 apoftles, which yet are acknowledged to be fpurious, I 
 confefs I cannot help fufpeding the whole.
 
 26o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphron^ do you fufpe£t all Plato^s 
 writings for fpurious, becaufe the dialogue upon death, 
 for inftance, is allowed to be fo ? Or will you admit none 
 of Tulr/s writings to be genuine, becaufe Sigonius impof- 
 ed a book of his own writing for Tully% treatife de Confo- 
 latione, and the impofture paflcd for fome time on the 
 world ? 
 
 Alc. — Suppofe I admit for the works of 'Tully and 
 Plato thofe that commonly pafled for fuch. What then ? 
 
 EupH. — Why then I would fain know, whether it be 
 eq-ual and impartial in a free-thinker, to meafure the cred- 
 ibility of profane and facred books by a different rule. 
 Let us know upon what foot we chriftians are to argue 
 with Minute Philofophers : Whether we may be allowed 
 the benefit of common maxims in logic and criticifm ? 
 If we may, be pleafed to afiign a reafon why fuppofiti- 
 tious writings, which in the ftile, and manner, and matter, 
 bear vifible marks of impofture, and have accordingly 
 been rejected by the church, can be made an argument 
 againft thofe which have been univerfally received, and 
 handed down by an unanimous conftant tradition. I 
 know nothing truly valuable that hath not been counter- 
 feited : Therefore this argument is univerfal : But that 
 which concludes againft all things is to be admitted againft 
 none. There have been in all ages, and in all great focie- 
 ties of men, many capricious, vain, or wicked impoftors, 
 who, for different ends, have abufed the world by fpurious 
 writings, and created work for critics both in profane and 
 facred learning. And it would feem as filly to reje£t: the 
 true writings of profane authors for the fake of the fpu- 
 rious, as it would feem unreafonable to fuppofe, that 
 among the heretics and feveral fe£i:s of chriftians, there 
 fhould be none capable of the like impofture. 
 
 Alc — I fee no means for judging: It is all dark and 
 doubtful, mere guefs-work, at fo great a diftance of time.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 261 
 
 Cri. — But if I know, that a number of fit perfons met 
 together in council, did examine and diftinguifli authen- 
 tic writings from fpurious, relating to a point of the 
 higheft concern, in an age near the date of thofe wri- 
 tings ; though I at the diilance of many more centuries 
 had no other proof; yet their deciflion may be of weight 
 to determine my judgment. Since it is probable they 
 might have had feveral proofs and reafons for what they 
 did, and not at all improbable, that thofe reafons might 
 be loft in fo long a tra£l of time. * 
 
 VI. Alc. — But, be the tradition ever fo well attefted, 
 and the books ever fo genuine, yet I cannot fuppofe them 
 wrote by perfons divinely infpired, fo long as I fee in 
 them certain charadlers inconfiftent with fuch a fuppofi- 
 tion. Surely the pureft language, the moft perfedl ftile, 
 the exa£left method, and, in a word, all the excellencies of 
 good writing, might be expected in a piece compofed or 
 didtated by the Spirit of God : But books, wherein wc 
 find the reverfe of all this, it were impious, not to reje61:, 
 but to attribute to the divinity. 
 
 EuPH. — Say, Alctphron^ are the lakes, the rivers, or 
 the ocean bounded by ftraight lines ? Are the hills and 
 mountains exa£t cones or pyramids ? Or the ftars caft in- 
 to regular figures ? 
 
 Alc. — They are not. 
 
 EupH. — But in the works of infects, we may obferve 
 figures as exadt as if they were drawn by the rule and 
 compafs. 
 
 Alc. — We may. 
 
 EupH. — Should it not feem, therefore, that a regular 
 cxa£lnefs, or fcrupulous attention to what men call the 
 rules of art, is not obferved in the great produdions of 
 the author of nature ? 
 
 Alc. — It fhould. 
 
 * Vide Can. Ix. Council, Lnodicen,
 
 262 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 EuPH. — And when a great prince declareth his will in 
 laws and edicts to his fubje£ts, is he careful about a pure 
 ftilcj or elegant compofition ? Does he not leave his fecre- 
 taries and clerks to exprefs his fenfe in their own words ? 
 Is not the phrafe, on fuch occafions, thought proper, if it 
 conveys as much as was intended ? And would not the 
 divine ftrain of certain modern critics be judged afFe£led 
 and improper for fuch ufes ? 
 
 Alc. — It muft be owned, laws, and edicts, and grants, 
 for folcecifm and tautology, are very offenfive to the har- 
 monious ears of an ingenious man. 
 
 EuPH. — Why then ftiould we expe£l in the oracles of 
 God an exa£l:nefs, that would be mifbecoming and be- 
 neath the dignity of an earthly monarch, and which 
 bears no proportion, or refemblance, to the magnificent 
 works of the creation ? 
 
 Alc. — But granting that a nice regard to particles and 
 critical rules is a thing too little and mean to be expelled ^ 
 in divine revelations ; and that there is more force, and 
 fpirit, and true greatnefs, in a negligent unequal ftile, than 
 in the well turned periods of a polite writer : Yet what 
 is all this to the bald and flat compofitions of thofe you 
 call the divine penmen ? I can never be perfuaded, the 
 Supreme Being would pick out the pooreft and meaneft of 
 fcribler-s for his fecretaries. 
 
 EuPH. — O AlciphroTiy if I durft follow my own judg- 
 ment, I fhould be apt to think there are noble beauties in 
 the ftile of the Holy Scripture : In the narrative parts, a 
 ftrain fo fimple and unaffected : In the devotional and 
 prophetic, fo animated and fublimc : And in the dodri- 
 nal parts, fuch an air of dignity and authority, as feems to 
 fpeak their original divine. But I ftiall not enter into a 
 difpute about tafte ; much lefs fet up my judgment, on fo 
 nice a point, againft that of the wits, and men of genius, 
 with which your fed abounds. And I have no tempta-
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 263 
 
 tion to it, inafmuch as it feems to me, the oracles of God 
 are not the lefs fo for being delivered in a plain drefs, 
 rather than in the enticing luords cf mar^s ivifdom, 
 
 Alc— This may perhaps be an apology for fome fim- 
 plicity and negligence in writing. 
 
 VII. But what apology can be made for nonfenfe, 
 crude nonfenfe ? Of which I could eafily affign many in- 
 ftances, having once in my life read the fcripture thorough 
 with that very view. Look here, faid he, opening a bi- 
 ble, in the forty-ninth Pfalm, the author begins very mag- 
 nificently, calling upon all the inhabitants of the earth to 
 give ear, and affuring them his mouth (hall fpeak of wif- 
 dom, and the m.editation of his heart fhall be of undcr- 
 ftanding. 
 
 ^id dignum tanto feret hie prcmijffhr hiatu P 
 
 He hath no fooner done with his preface, but he puts 
 this fenfelefs queftion. * Wherefore (hould I fear in the 
 * days of evil ; when the wickednefs of my heels (hall 
 ** compafs me about ?* The iniquity of my heels ! What 
 nonfenfe after fuch a folemn introduftion ! 
 
 EuPH. — For my own part, I have naturally weak eyes, 
 and know there are many things that I cannot fee, which 
 are neverthelefs diftln6i:ly feen by others. I do not there- 
 fore conclude a thing to be abfolutely invifible, becaufe it 
 is fo to me. And fince it is poflible it may be with my 
 underftanding, as it is with my eyes, I dare not pronounce 
 a thing to be nonfenfe, becaufe I do not underftand it. 
 Of this pafTage many interpretations are given. The 
 word rendered heels, may fignify fraud or fupplantation : 
 By fome it is tranflated, pad wickednefs, the heel being 
 the hinder part of the foot -, by others, iniquity in the end 
 of my days, the heel being one extremity of the body ',
 
 264 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 by fome, the iniquity of my enemies that may fupplant 
 me ; by others, my own faults or iniquities, which I have 
 pafied over as light matters, and trampled under my feet. 
 Some render it, the iniquity of my ways : Others, my 
 tranfgreffions, which are like flips, and Hidings of the 
 heel. 
 
 And after all, might not the expreflion, fo harfli and 
 odd to Englijh ears, have been very natural and obvious 
 in the Hebreiv tongue, which, as every other language, 
 had its idioms ? the force and propriety whereof may as 
 eafily be conceived loft in a long tra£t of time, as the fig- 
 nification of divers Hebreiv words, which are not now in- 
 telligible, though nobody doubts but they had once a 
 meaning, as well as the other words of that language. — 
 Granting, therefore, that certain paflages in the Holy 
 Scripture may not be underftood, it will not thence fol- 
 low, that its penmen wrote nonfenfe : For I conceive non- 
 fenfe to be one thing, and unintelligible another. 
 
 Cri.— An Englip gentleman of my acquaintance, one 
 day entertaining fome foreigners at his houfe, fent a fcr- 
 vant to know the occafion of a fudden tumult in the 
 yard, who brought him word the horfes were failed to- 
 gether by the ears : His guefts inquiring what the matter 
 was, he tranflated it literally, Les Chevaux font tombez en' 
 femblepar les oreilles. Which made them ftare : what ex- 
 prefled a very plain fenfe in the original Englijhy being 
 incomprehenfible when rendered, word for word, into 
 French. And I remember to have heard a man excufe 
 the bulls of his countrymen, by fuppofing them fo many 
 literal tranflations. 
 
 EuPH. — But not to grow tedious, I refer to the critics 
 and commentators, where you will find the ufe of this 
 remark, which clearing up feveral obfcure paflages you 
 took for nonfenfe, may poflibly incline you to fufpett 
 your own judgment of the reft. In this very pfalm you
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 265 
 
 have pitched on, the goodfenfe and moral contained in what 
 follows, fhould, methinks, make a candid reader judge 
 favorably of the original fenfe of the author, in that part 
 which he could not underftand. Say, Alciphroti^ in read- 
 ing the clafiics, do you forthwith conclude every paffage 
 to be nonfenfe that you cannot make fenfe of ? 
 
 Alc. — By no means : Difficulties muft be fuppofed to 
 rife from different idioms, old cuftoms, hints and illu- 
 (ions, clear in one time or place, and obfcure in another, 
 
 EuPH. — And why will you not judge of fcripture by 
 the fame rule ^. Thofe fources of obfcurity you mention, 
 are all common, both to facred and profane writings : 
 And there is no doubt, but an exafter knowledge, in 
 language, and circumftances, would, in both, caufe diffi- 
 culties to vanifh, hke fhades before the light of the fun. 
 Jeremiah^ to defcribe a furious invader, faith : Behold^ he 
 Jhall come up as a Lion from the fivelling of Jordan againji 
 the habitation of the flrong. One would be apt to think 
 this paffage odd and improper, and that it had been more 
 reafonable to have faid, a Lion from the mountain or the 
 defert. But travellers, as an ingenious man obferves, who 
 have feen the river Jordan, bounded by low lands with 
 many reeds or thickets, affording fhelter to wild beafts, 
 (which being fuddenly diflodged by a rapid overflowing of 
 the river, rufti into the upland country) perceive the force 
 and propriety of the comparifon ; and that the difficulty 
 proceeds, not from nonfenfe in the writer, but from igno- 
 rance in the reader. 
 
 Alc — Here and there a difficult paffage may be clear- 
 ed : But there are many which no art or wit of man can 
 account for. What fay 3'ou to thofe difcoveries, made 
 by fome of our learned writers, of falfe citations from the 
 Old Teftament found in the gofpel ? 
 
 EuPH. — That fome few paffages are cited by the writers 
 of the New Teftament out of the 01d> and by the fathers 
 
 K k
 
 266 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 out of the New, which are not in fo many words to be 
 found in them, is no new difcovery of Minute Philofo- 
 phers, but was known and obferved long before by chrif- 
 tian writers ; who have made no fcruple to grant, that 
 fome things might have been inferted by carelefs or mifta- 
 ken tranfcribers into the text, from the margin, others 
 left out, and others altered ; whence fo many various 
 readings. But thefe are things of fmall moment, and 
 that all other ancient authors have been fubje£t to ; and 
 upon which no point of dodrine depends, which may not 
 be proved without them. Nay further, if it be any ad- 
 vantage to your caufe, it hath been obferved, that the 
 eighteenth Pfahny as recited in the twenty-fecond chapter 
 of the fecond book of Samuel^ varies in above forty places, 
 if you regard every little literal difference : And that a 
 critic may now and then difcover fmall variations, is what 
 nobody can deny. But to make the moft of thefe concef- 
 fions, what can you infer from them, more than that the 
 defign of the Holy Scripture was not to make us exa£tly 
 knowing in circumftantials ? And that the fpirit did not 
 dictate every particle and fyilable, or preferve them from 
 every minute alteration by miracle ? which to believe, 
 would look like rabbinical fuperftition. 
 
 Alc. — But what marks of divinity can poffibly be in 
 writings which do not reach the exa6i:nefs even of human 
 art ? 
 
 EuPH. — I never thought nor expected that the Holy 
 Scripture fliould (hew itfelf divine, by a circumftantial 
 accuracy of narration, by exa£lnefs of method, by ftridl- 
 ly obferving the rules of rhetoric, grammar, and criticifm, 
 in harmonious periods, in elegant and choice expreffions, 
 or in technical definitions and partitions. Thefe things 
 would look too like a human compolitlon. Methinks 
 there is in that fimple, unafFe6led, artlefs, unequal, bold, 
 figurative ftile of the Holy Scripture, a character fingu-
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 267 
 
 larly great and majeftic, and that looks more like divine 
 infpiration, than any other compofitlon that I know. 
 But, as I faid before, I fhall not difpute a point of criti- 
 cifm with the gentlemen of your fe61:, who, it fttems, are 
 the modern ftandard for wit and tafte. 
 
 Alc. — Well I fhall not infifc on fmall flips, or the in- 
 accuracy of citing or tranfcribing : And I freely own, 
 that repetitions, want of method, or want of exa^lncfs 
 in circumftances, are not the things that ohiefly ftick with 
 me ; no more than the plain patriarchal manners, or the 
 peculiar ufages and cuftoms of the Jews and firft chriflians, 
 fo different from ours ; and that to reje£l the fcripture on 
 fuch accounts would be to a61: like thofe French wits, who 
 cenfure Horner^ becaufe they do not find in him the flile, 
 notions, and manners of their own age and country. 
 Was there nothing elfe to divide us, I fhould make no 
 great difficulty of owning, that a popular uncorre61: flile 
 might anfwer the general ends of revelation, as well 
 perhaps, as a mors critical and exa£l one. But the ob- 
 fcurity flill flicks with me. Methinks if the Supreme 
 Being had fpoke to man, he would have fpoke clearly to 
 him, and that the word of God fliould not need a com- 
 ment. 
 
 VIII. EuPH. — You feem, Alciphrouy to think obfcuri- 
 ty a defe£l ; but if it fhould prove to be no defe£l, there 
 would then be no force in this objedion. 
 
 Alc. — I grant there would not. 
 
 'EuPH. — ^Pray tell me, are not fpeech and flile inflru- 
 mental to convey thoughts and notions, to beget knowledge, 
 opinion, and affent t 
 
 Alc. — ^This is true. 
 
 EuPH. — And is not the perfe<£l;ion of an inflrument to 
 be meafured by the ufe to which it is fubfervient ? 
 
 Alc. — ^It is.
 
 268 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 EuPH.— Whatjtherefore, is a defe£l; in one inftrument, 
 may be none in another. For inftance, edged tools are 
 in general defigned to cut •, but the ufes of an axe and a 
 razor being difFerent, it is no defe£l in an axe, that it 
 hath not the keen edge of a razor : Nor in the razor, that 
 it hath not the weight or ftrength of an axe. 
 
 Alc— 'I acknowledge this to be true. 
 
 EuPH.— — And may we not fay in general, that every 
 inftrument is perfe<St which anfwers the purpofe or inten- 
 tion of him who ufeth it ? 
 
 Alc— We may. 
 
 EupH-— Hence it feems to follow, that no man's fpeech 
 is defective- in point of clearnefs, though it fhould not be 
 intelligible to all men, if it be fufficiently fo to thofe, who 
 he intended, fhould underftand it : Or though it fhould 
 not in all parts be equally clear, or convey a perfe6l knowl- 
 edge, where he intended only an imperfed^ hint. 
 
 Alc. — -It feems fo. 
 
 EupH. — Ought we not, therefore, to know the intention 
 of the fpeaker, to be able to know whether his ftile be ob- 
 fcure through defe^l: or defign ? 
 
 Alc. — We ought. 
 
 EuPH. — But is it pofTible for man to know all the ends 
 and purpofes of God's revelations ^ 
 
 Alc. — It is not. 
 
 EuPH. — How then can you tell, but the obfcurity of 
 fome parts of fcripture may well confift with the purpofe 
 which you know not, and confequently be no argument 
 againft its coming from God ? The books of Holy Scrip- 
 ture were written in ancient languages, at diftant times, on 
 fundry occafions, and very difFerent fubjeiSts. Is it not 
 therefore reafonable to imagine, that fome parts or pafla- 
 ges might have been clearly enough underftood by thofe, 
 for whofe proper ufe they were principally defigned, and 
 yet feem obfcure to us, who fpeak another language, and
 
 piAL. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 269 
 
 live in other times ? Is it at all abfurd or unfuitable to the 
 notion we have of God or man, to fuppofe that God may 
 reveal, and yet reveal with a referve, upon certain remote 
 and fublime fubje£ls, content to give us hints and glimpfes, 
 rather than views ? May we not alfo fuppofe from the rea- 
 fon of things, and the analogy of nature, that fome 
 points, which might otherwife have been more clearly ex- 
 plained, were left obfcure merely to encourage our dili- 
 gence and modefty ? Two virtues, which, if it might 
 not feem difrefpe£l:ful to fuch great men, I would recom- 
 mend to the Minute Philofophers. L%ficks replied, this 
 indeed is excellent : You expecl that men of fcnfe and 
 fpirit fliould in great humility put out their eyes, and 
 blindly fwallow all the abfurdities and nonfenfe that (hall 
 be offered to them for divine revelation. 
 
 EupH. — On the contrary, I would have them open 
 their eyes, look fharply, and try the fpirit, whether it is 
 of God : and not fupinely and ignorantly condemn in the 
 grofs, all religions together, piety with fuperftition, truth 
 for the fake of error, matter of fa£t for the fake of fic- 
 tion : a condu£t, which, at firil fight, would feem ab- 
 furd in hiftory, phyfic, or any other branch of human in- 
 quiry ! But to compare the chriftian fyftern, or Holy 
 Scriptures, with other pretences to divine revelation, to 
 confider impartially the doctrines, precepts, and events 
 therein contained ; weigh them in the balance with any 
 other religious, natural, moral, or hiftorical accounts ; 
 and diligently to examine all thofe proofs, internal and 
 external, that for fo many ages have been able to influ- 
 ence and perfuade fo many wife, learned, and inquifitive 
 men : Perhaps they might find in it certain peculiar cha- 
 rafters, which fufficiently diflinguifn it from all other re- 
 ligions and pretended revelations, whereon to ground a 
 reafonable faith. In which cafe I leave them to confider, 
 whether it would be right to reje6l with peremptory fcorn.
 
 270 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 a revelation fo diftinguiflied and attefted, upon account 
 of obfcurity in feme parts of it ? and whether it would 
 fecm beneath men of their fenfe and fpirit to acknowledge, 
 that, for ought they know, a light inadequate to things, 
 may yet be adequate to the purpofe of Providence ? and 
 whether it might be unbecoming their fagacity, and cri- 
 tical fkill, to own, that literal tranflations from books 
 in an ancient oriental tongue, wherein there are fo many 
 peculiarities, as to the manner of writing, the figures of 
 fpeech, and the idioms fo remote from all our modern 
 languages, and in which we have no other coeval writ- 
 ings extant, might well be obfcure in many places, efpe- 
 cially fuch as treat of fubjecls fublime and difficult in their 
 own nature, or allude to things, cufloms, or events, 
 very diltant from our knowledge ? And laftly, whether 
 it might not become their character, as impartial and un- 
 prejudiced men, to confider the bible in the fame light 
 they would profane authors ? Men are apt to make great 
 allowance for tranfpofitions, omiffions, and literal errors 
 of tranfcribers, in other ancient books, and very great 
 for the difference of ftile and manners, efpeclally in eaft- 
 ern writings, fuch as the remains of Zoroajler and Confu^ 
 dus, and why not in the prophets ? In reading Horace 
 or Perftusy to make out the fenfe, they will be at the 
 pains to difcover a hidden drama, and why not in Solomon 
 or St. Paul P I hear there are certain ingenious men, 
 who defplfe king David's poetry, and yet profefs to ad- 
 mire Homer and Pindar. If there be no prejudice or af- 
 fe£1:ation in this, let them but make a literal verfion from 
 thofe authors into Englijh profe, and they will then be 
 better able to judge of the pfalms. 
 
 Alc. — You may difcourfe and expatiate j but notwith- 
 ftanding all you have faid, or (hall fay, it is a clear point, 
 that a revelation which doth not reveal, can be no better 
 than a contradiction in terms.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 271 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphron, do you not acknowledge 
 the light of the fun to be the moft glorious produftion of 
 Providence in this natural world ? 
 
 Alc — Suppofe I do. 
 
 EuPH. — This hght, neverthelefs, which you caonot 
 deny to be of God's making, fhines only on the furface 
 of things, fhines not at all in the night, fhines imperfect- 
 ly in the twilight, is often interrupted, refraCted, and 
 obfcured, reprefents diflant things, and fmall things du- 
 bioufly, imperfe6i:ly, or not at all. Is this true or no ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPK. — Should it not follow, therefore, that to expect 
 in this world a conftant uniform light from God, with- 
 out any mixture of fhade or my fiery, would be departing 
 from the rule and analogy of the creation ? and that con- 
 fequently it is no argument the light of revelation is not 
 divine, becaufc it may not be fo clear and full as you ex- 
 pect ; or becaufe it may not equally ihine at all times, or 
 in all places. 
 
 Alc. — As I profefs myfelf candid and indifferent 
 throughout this debate, I muft needs own you fay fome 
 plaufible things, as a man of argument will never fail to 
 do in vindication of his prejudices. 
 
 IX. But, to deal plainly, I muft tell you once for all, 
 that you may queftion and anfwer, illuftrate and enlarge 
 forever, without being able to convince me that the chrif- 
 tian religion is of divine revelation. I have faid feveral 
 things, and have many more to fay, which, believe me, 
 have weight not only with myfelf, but with many great 
 men, my very good friends, and will have weight, what- 
 ever Euphranor can fay to the contrary. 
 
 EuPH — O Alciphron ! I envy you thehappinefs of fuch 
 acquaintance. But, as my lot fallen in this remote corn- 
 ^ deprives me of that advantage, I am obliged to make
 
 272 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 the moll of this opportunity, wliich you and Lyftcles have 
 put into my hands. I confider you as two able chirurge- 
 ons, and you were pleafed to confider me as a patient, 
 whofe cure you have generoufly undertaken. Now a pa- 
 tient muft have full liberty to explain his cafe, and tell all 
 his fymptoms, the concealing of which might prevent a 
 perfect cure. You will be pleafed, therefore, to under- 
 ftand me, not as objecting to, or arguing againft, either 
 your (kill or medicines, but only as fetting forth my own 
 cafe, and the effe£l:s they have upon me. Say, Alciphron^ 
 did you not give me to underftand, that you would ex- 
 tirpate my prejudices ? 
 
 Alc. — It is true : a good phyfician eradicates every 
 fibre of the difeafe. Come, you fhallhave a patient hear- 
 ing. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray, was it not the opinion of Plato y that 
 God infpired particular men, as organs or trumpets, to 
 proclaim and found forth his oracles to the world } * And 
 was not the fame opinion alfo embraced by others the 
 greateft writers of antiquity ? 
 
 Cri. — Socrates feems to have thought that all true po- 
 ets fpok6 by infpiration ; and Tullyy that there was no 
 extraordinary genius without it. This hath made fomc 
 of our afFe£led free-thinkers attempt to pafs themfelves 
 upon the world for enthufiafts. 
 
 Alc. — What would you infer from all this ? 
 
 EuPH. — I would infer, that infpiration fhould feem 
 nothing impoflible or abfurd, but rather agreeable to the 
 light of reafon, and the notions of mankind. And this, 
 I fuppofe you will acknowledge, having made it an ob- 
 jedtion againft a particular revelation, that there are fo 
 many pretences to it throughout the world. 
 
 Alc. — O Euphranor, he who looks into the bottom of 
 tilings, and refolves them into their firft principles, is 
 
 * Plato in lone.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 273 
 
 not eafily amufed with words. The word infpiration founds 
 indeed big, but let us, if you pleafe, take an original 
 view of the thing fignified by it. To infpire, is a word 
 borrowed from the Latirty and, flricSlly taken, means no 
 more than to breathe or blow in : nothing, therefore, can 
 be infpired, but what can be blown or breathed, and 
 nothing can be fo, but wind or vapour, which indeed may 
 fill or pufr up men, with fanatical and hypochondriacal 
 ravings. This fort of infpiration I readily admit. 
 
 EuPH. — What you fay is fubtle, and I know not what 
 efFe£t it might have upon me, if your profound dif- 
 courfe did nbt hinder its own operation. 
 Alc. — How fo ? 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, AlciphroJiy do you difcourfe, or do 
 you not .'' To me it feems that you difcourfe admiraWy. 
 Alc. — Be that at it will, it is certain I difcourfe. 
 EuPH. — But when I endeavor to look into the bottom 
 of things, behold ! a fcruple rifeth in my mind how this 
 can be ; for to difcourfe is a word of Latiii derivation, which 
 originally fignifies to run about *, and a man cannot run 
 about, but he muft change place, and move his legs ; fo 
 long therefore as you fit on this bench, you cannot be faid 
 to difcourfe. Solve me this difficulty, and then perhaps 
 I may be able to folve yours. 
 
 Alc. — You are to know, that difcourfe is a word bor- 
 rowed from fenfible things, to exprefs an invifible aclion 
 of the mind, reafoning or inferring one thing from ano- 
 ther : And, in this tranflated fenfe, we may be faid to 
 difcourfe, though we fitflill. 
 
 EuPH. — And may we not as well conceive, that the 
 term infpiration might be borrowed from fenfible things, 
 to denote an a6lion of God, in an extraordinary manner, 
 influencing, exciting, and enlightening the mind of a 
 Prophet or an Apoflle ? Who, in this fecondary, figura- 
 tive, and tranflated fenfe, may truly be faid to be infpired, 
 
 L 1
 
 274 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 though there fhould be nothing hi the cafe of that wind 
 or vapour impHed in the original fenfe of the word ? It 
 feems to me, that we may by looking into our own minds 
 plainly perceive certain inftin61:s, impulfes, and tendencies, 
 which at proper periods and occafions fpring up unac- 
 countably in the foul of man. We obferve very vifible 
 figns of the fame in all other animals. And thefe things 
 being ordinary and natural, what hinders but we may con- 
 ceive it poiTible for the human mind, upon an extraordi- 
 nary account, to be moved in an extraordinary manner, 
 and its faculties ftirred up and actuated by a fupernaturai 
 power ? That there are, and have been, and are likely to 
 be wild vifions, and hypochondriacal ravings, no body 
 can deny : But to infer from thence, that there are no 
 true infpirations would be too like concluding, that fome 
 men are not in their fenfes, becaufe other men are fools. 
 And though lam no prophet, and confequently cannot 
 pretend to a clear notion of this matter ; yet I fhall not 
 therefore take upon me to deny, but a true prophet or in- 
 fpired perfon might have had as certain means of difcern- 
 ing between divine infpiration and hypochondriacal fancy, 
 as you can between ileeping and waking, till you have 
 proved the contrary. You may meet in the book of 'Jer- 
 emiah with this pafiage : * The prophet that hath a dream, 
 
 * let him tell a dream : And he that hath my word, let 
 
 * him fpeak my word faithfully : what is the chaff to the 
 
 * wheat, faith tlie Lord ? Is not my word like as a fire., 
 ^ faith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the 
 
 * rock in pieces ?' * You fee here a difl:in£l:ion made be- 
 tween wheat and chaff, true and fpurious, with the migh- 
 ty force and power of the former. But I beg pardon for 
 quoting Scripture to you. I make my appeal to the gen- 
 eral fenfe of mankind, and the opinion of the wifeft 
 
 * Jcrem. xxiil. 28, 29.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 275 
 
 heathens, which feems fufficient to conclude divine infpi- 
 ration poflible, if not probable, at lealt till you prove the 
 contrary. 
 
 X. Alc— The poflibility of infpirations and revela- 
 tions I do not think it neceffary to deny. Make the befl 
 you can of this conceflion. 
 
 EuPH. — Now what is allowed poflible we may fuppofe 
 in fa6l. 
 
 Alc. — We may. 
 
 EuPH. — Let us then fuppofe, that God had been pleaf- 
 ed to make a revelation to men ; and that he infpired fome 
 as a means to inftrudt others. Having fuppofcd this, can 
 you deny, that their infpired difcourfes and revelations 
 might have been committed to writing, or that being 
 written, after a long tra£l: of time they might become in 
 feveral places obfcure ; that fome of them might even 
 originally have been lefs clear than others, or that they 
 might fufFer fome alteration by frequent tranfcribing, as 
 other writings are known to have done ? Is it not even ve- 
 ry probable that all thefe things would happen ? 
 
 Alc. — I grant it. 
 
 EuPH.—— And granting this, with what pretence can 
 you reje£l the Holy Scripture as not being divine, upon 
 the account of fuch figns or marks, as you acknowledge 
 would probably attend a divine revelation tranfmitted down 
 to us, through fo many ages ? 
 
 Alc.-— But allowing all that in reafon you can defire, 
 and granting that this may account for fome obfcurity, 
 may reconcile fome fmall differences, or fatisfy us how 
 fome difhculties might arife by inferting, omitting, or 
 changing here and there a letter, a v/ord, or perhaps a 
 fentence : Yet thefe are but fmall matters, in refpe61: of 
 the much more confiderable and weighty objections I 
 could produce, againfl the confelTed doctrines, or fubje^l- 
 matter of thofe writings. Let us fee what is contained
 
 2)6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 in thefe facred books, and then judge whether it is prob- 
 able, or poflible, fuch revelations fhould ever have been 
 made by God ? Now I defy the wit ,of man to contrive 
 any thing more extravagant, than the accounts we there 
 find of apparitions, devils, miracles, God man ife ft in the 
 flefti, regeneration, grace, felf-denial, refurreclion of the 
 dead, and fuch like agri /omnia : Things fo odd, unac- 
 countable, and remote from the apprehenfion of man- 
 kind, you may as foon walh a blackniore white, as clear 
 them of abfurdity. No critical fkill can juftify them, 
 no tradition recommend them, I will not fay for divine 
 revelations, but even for the inventions of men of fenfe. 
 EuPH. — I had always a great opinion of your fagacity, 
 but now, Alcipkron, I confider you as fomething more 
 than man : Elfe how fhould it be poflible for you to know, 
 what or how far it may be proper for God to reveal ? Me- 
 thinks it may confift, with all due deference to the greateft 
 of human underftandings, to fuppofe them ignorant of 
 many things, which are not fiiited to their faculties, or lie 
 out of their reach. Even the councils of princes lit often 
 beyond the ken of their fubje6ls, who can only know fo 
 much as is revealed by thofe at the helm ; and are often 
 unqualified to judge of the ufefulnefs and tendency even 
 of that, till in due time the fcheme unfolds, and is ac- 
 counted for by fucceeding events. That many points con- 
 tained in Holy Scripture are remote from the common ap- 
 prehenfions of mankind, cannot be denied. But I do not 
 fee, that it follows from thence, they are not of divine 
 reyplation. On the contrary, fliould it not feem reafona- 
 ble to fuppofe, that a revelation from God fhould contain 
 fomething different in kind, or more excellent in degree, 
 than what lay open to the common fenfe of men, or could 
 even be difcovered by the moft fagacious philofopher ^ 
 Accounts of feparate fpirits, good or bad, prophefies, 
 miracles, and fuch things, are undoubtedly Grange : But
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 277 
 
 I would fain fee how you can prove them impofiible or 
 abfurd. 
 
 Alc. — Some thhigs there are fo evidently ahfurd, that 
 it would be almoft as filly to difprove them as to believe 
 them : And I take thefe to be of that clafs. 
 
 XI. EuPH.— — But is it not polTible, fume men may 
 fhew as much prejudice and narrownefs in rejedl:ing ail 
 fuch accounts, as others might eafmefs and credulity in 
 admitting them ? I never duril make my own obfervation 
 or experience the rule and meafure of things fpiritual, fu- 
 pernatural, or relating to another v/orld, bccaufe I iliould 
 think it a very bad one, even for the vifible and natural 
 things of this : It would be judging hke the Siawrfey who 
 was pofitive it did not freeze in Holland.^ becaufe he had 
 never known fuch a thing as hard water, or ice, in his 
 own country. I cannot comprehend why any one, who 
 admits the union of the foul and body, fliould pronounce 
 it impolfible for the human nature to be united to the di- 
 vine, in a manner inefFalbe and incomprehenfible by reafon. 
 Neither can I fee any abfurdity in admitting, that finfui man 
 may become regenerate, or a new creature, by the grace 
 of God reclaiming him from a carnal life, to a fpiritual 
 life of virtue and holinefs. And fince the being governed 
 by fenfe and appetite, is contrary to the happinefs and 
 perfe^ion of a rational creature, I do not at all wonder 
 that we are prefcribed feli-denial. As for the refurreclion 
 of the dead, I do not conceive it fo very contrary to the anal- 
 ogy of nature, when I behold vegetables left to rot in the 
 earth, rife up again with new life and vigor, or a worm 
 to all appearance dead, change its nature, and that, 
 which in its firft being crawled on the earth, become a 
 new fpecies, and fly abroad with wings. And indeed 
 »when I confider, that the foul and body are things fo ve- 
 ry different and heterogeneous, I can fee no reafon to be
 
 278 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 pofitive, that the one muft necefTarily be extlnguiflied 
 upon the diflblution of the other ; efpecially fince I find 
 in myfelf a ftrong natural defire of immortality, and I 
 have not obferved that natural appetites are wont to be 
 given in vain, or merely to be frudrated. Upon the 
 whole, thofe points which you account extravagant and 
 abfurd, I dare not pronounce to be fo till I fee good rea- 
 fon for it. 
 
 XII. Cri.-^ — No, AlciplDron, your pofitive airs muft not 
 pafs for proofs ; nor will it fuffice to fay, things are con- 
 trary to common fenfe, to make us think they are fo : By 
 common fenfe, I fuppofe, fliould be meant either the ge- 
 neral fenfe of mankind, or the approved reafon of think- 
 ing men. Now I believe that all thofe articles, you have, 
 with fo much capacity and fire, at once fummed up and 
 exploded, may be fhewn to be not difagreeable, much 
 iefs contrary to common fenfe, in one or other of thefe 
 acceptations. That the Gods might appear and converfe 
 among men, and that the Divinity might inhabit human 
 nature, were points allowed by the heathens ; and for 
 this I appeal to their poets and philofophers, whofe tefti- 
 monies are fo numerous and clear, that it would be an 
 aflront to repeat them to a man of any education. And 
 though the notion of a devil may not be fo obvious, or 
 fo fully defcribed, yet there appear plain traces of it, ei- 
 ther from reafon or tradition. The later Platonijlsy as 
 Porphyry and lamblichus, are very clear in the point, al-. 
 lowing that evil demons delude and tempt, hurt and pof- 
 fefs mankind. That the ancient Greeks, Chaldeans, and 
 Egyptians^ believed both good and bad angels, may be 
 plainly collefted from Plato, Plutarch, and the Chaldeafi 
 oracles. Origen obferves, that almoft all the Gentiles, 
 who held the being of demons, allowed there were bad 
 ones.* There is even fomething as early as Hcmer, that 
 
 * Orlgcn. I. 7. contra Cclfum.
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 279 
 
 is thought by the learned cardinal, BeJfario7i^\ to allude to 
 the fall of fatan, in the account of Ate^ whom the poet 
 reprefents as caft down from heaven by Jove^ and then 
 wandering about the earth, doing michief to mankind. 
 This fame Ate is faid by Hefiody to be the daughter of 
 difcord ; and by Euripides y in his HippolytuSy is mention- 
 ed as a tempter to evil. And it is very remarkable, that 
 Plutarchy in his book De vitando are alienoy fpeaks after 
 Empedoclesy of certain demons that fell from heaven, and 
 were banifhed by God, Daimcfies theelatoi kai auranopeties. 
 Nor is that lefs re markable, which is obferved by Fici" 
 ?nis from Pkerecydes Syrusy that there had been a down- 
 fal of demons, who revolted from God : and that Opiofie- 
 us (the old ferpent) was head of that rebellious crew.**— • 
 Then as to the other articles, let any one confider what 
 the Pythagcrea?is taught, of the purgation and lufiSy or de- 
 liverance of the foul : What moft philofophers, but efpe- 
 cially the Jloicsy of fubduing our paffions : What Plato 
 and Hierocles have faid of forgiving injuries : What the 
 acute and fagacious Arijlotle writes, in his Ethics to A7- 
 comachusy of the fpiritual and divine life, that life which, 
 according to him, is too excellent to be thought human ; 
 info much as man, fo far forth as man, cannot attain to 
 it 'y but only fo far forth as he hath fomething divine in 
 him : And particularly, let him reflect on what Socrates 
 taught, to wit, that virtue is not to be learned from men, 
 that it is the gift of God, and that good men are not good 
 by virtue of human care or diligence, ouh einai duthropinen 
 epinedeian e agafhoi agathci gigtio7itai* Let any man, who 
 really thinks, but confider what other thinking men have 
 thought, who cannot be fuppofed prejudiced in favor of 
 revealed religion ; and he will fee caufe, if not to think 
 
 t In calumnlat Platonis, 1 3. c. 7. 
 
 ** Vid. Argum. in Phsdrum Platonis. 
 
 * Vid, Plat, in Protag. & alibi paflim.
 
 28o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 with reverence cf the chriftlan do£lrines of grace, felf- 
 denial, regeneration, fa n(^iii cation, and the reft, even 
 the moft myfterious, at lead to judge more modeftly and 
 warily, than he who fliall, with a confident air, pro- 
 nounce them abfurd, and repugnant to the reafon of 
 mankind. And in regard to a future ftate, the common 
 fenfe of the Gentile world, modern or ancient, and the 
 opinions of the wifeft men of antiquity, are things fo well 
 known, that I need fay nothing about them. To me it 
 feems, the Minute Philofophers, when they appeal to 
 Veafon and common fenfe, mean only the fenfe of their 
 own party : A coin, how current foever among them- 
 felves, that of other men will bring to the touchftone, 
 and pafs for no more than it is worth. 
 
 Lys. — Be thofe notions agreeable to what or whofe 
 fenfe they may, they are not agreeable to mine. And if 
 I am thought ignorant for this, I pity thofe who think 
 me fo. 
 
 Xin. I enjoy myfeif, and follow my own courfes, 
 without remorfe or fear : Which I fhould not do, if my 
 head were filled with enthufiafm ; whether gentile or 
 chriftian, philofophical or revealed, it is all one to me. 
 Let others knew or believe what they can, and make the 
 beft on't, I, for my part, am happy and fafe in my igno- 
 rance. 
 
 Cri. — Perhaps not fo fafe neither. 
 
 Lys. — Why, furely you won't pretend that ignorance 
 is criminal ? 
 
 Cri. — Ignorance alone is not a crime. But that wilful 
 ignorance, afFe£led ignorance, ignorance from lloth, or 
 conceited ignorance, is a fault, might eafily be proved by 
 the teftimony of heathen writers : And it needs no proof 
 to fhew that if ignorance be our fault, we cannot be ic- 
 cure in it as an excufe.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 281 
 
 Lys. — Honcft Crito feems to hint, that a man (hould 
 take care to inform himfelf, while alive, left his neglect 
 be punifhed when he is dead. Nothing is fo pufillani- 
 mous and unbecoming a gentleman as fear : Nor could 
 you take a likelier courfe to fix and rivet a man of honor 
 in guilt, than by attempting to frighten him out of it. 
 This is the ftale, abfurd ftratagem of priefts, and that 
 which makes them, and their rehgion, more odious and 
 contemptible to me, than all the other articles put toge- 
 ther. 
 
 Cri. — I would fain know why it may not be reafona- 
 ble for a man of honor, or any man who has done amifs, 
 to fear ? Giiilt is the natural parent of fear ; and nature 
 is not ufed to make men fear, where there is no occalion. 
 That impious and profane men fhould expedi divine pun- 
 ifliment, doth not feem fo abfurd to conceive : And that, 
 under this expectation, they (hould be uneafy, and even 
 afraid, how confiftent foever it may or may not be with 
 honor, I am fure confifts with reafon, 
 
 Lys. — That thing of hell and eternal puniftiment is the 
 moft abfurd, as well as the moft difagreeable thought that 
 ever entered into the head of mortal man. 
 
 Cri. — But you muft own, that it is not an abfurdity pe- 
 culiar to chriftians, fince Socrates, that great free-thinker 
 of Athensy thought it probable there might be fuch a 
 thing as impious men for ever punifhed in hell. * It is 
 recorded of this fame Socrates y that he has been often 
 known to think for four and twenty hours together, fixed 
 in the fame pofture, and wraped up in meditation. 
 
 Lys. — Our modern free-thinkers are a more lively fort 
 of men. Thofe old philofophers were moft of them 
 whimfical. They had, in my judgment, a narrow, timor- 
 ous way of thinking, which by no means came up to the 
 frank humor of our times. 
 
 • Vid. Platon. in Gorgia. 
 
 M m
 
 282 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Cri.— But I appeal to your own judgment, if a man, 
 who knows not the nature of the foul, can be aflured by 
 the light of reafon, whether it is mortal or immortal ? 
 
 An ftmul inter eat nohijcum morte peremptay 
 An tenehras orci vlfat vajiafque lacunas P 
 
 Lys. — But what if I know the nature of the foul ? 
 What if I have been taught that whole fecret by a modern 
 free-thinker ? A man of fcience who difcovered it not by 
 a tirefome introverfion of his faculties, not by amufing 
 himfelf in a labyrinth of notions, or ftupidly thinking for 
 whole days and nights together, but by looking into things, 
 and obfcrving the analogy of nature. 
 
 XIV. This great man is a philofopher by fire, who has 
 made many procefles upon vegetables. It is his opinion 
 that men and vegetables are really of the fame fpecies ; 
 that animals are moving vegetables, and vegetables fixed 
 animals 5 that the mouths of the one, and the roots of the 
 other, ferve to the fame ufe, differing only in pofition 5 
 that blolToms and flowers anfwer to the moft indecent and 
 concealed parts in the human body ; that vegetable and 
 animal bodies are both alike organized, and that in both 
 there is life, or a certain motion and circulation of juices, 
 through proper tubes or velTels. I fhall never forget this 
 able man's unfolding the nature of the foul in the follow- 
 ing manner. The foul, faid he, is that fpecific form, or 
 principle, from whence proceed the diftin61: qualities or 
 properties of things. Now, as vegetables are a more Am- 
 ple and lefs perfedl compound, and confequently more ea- 
 fily analyfed than animals, we will begin with the con- 
 templation of the fouls of vegetables. Know then, that 
 the foul of any plant, rofemary for inftance, is neither 
 more nor lefs than its eflential oil. Upon this depends
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 2B3 
 
 its peculiar fragrance, tafte, and medicinal virtues, or, in, 
 other words, its life and operations. Separate or extract 
 this cfTential oil by chymic art, and you get the foul of 
 the plant : What remains being a dead carcafs, without 
 any one property or virtue of the plant, which is preferv- 
 ed entire in the oil, a drachm whereof goes further than 
 feveral pounds of the plant. Now this fame eflential oil 
 is itfelf a compofition of fulphur and fait, or of a grofs 
 un£tuous fubftance, and a fine fubtile principle or volatile 
 fait imprifoned therein. This volatile fait is properly the 
 eflence of the foul of the plant, containing all its virtue, 
 and the oil is the vehicle of this mod fubtile part of the 
 foul, or that which fixes and individuates it. And as, 
 upon feparation of this oil from the plant, the plant died, 
 fo a fecond death, or death of the foul, enfues upon the 
 refolution of this eflential oil into its principles ; as ap- 
 pears by leaving it expofed for fome time to the open air, 
 fo that the volatile fait, or fpirit, may fly off; after which 
 the oil remains dead and-infipid, but without any fenfible 
 diminution of its weight, by the lofs of that volatile ef- 
 fcnce of the foul, that ethereal aura, that fpark of enti- 
 ty, which returns and mixes with the folar light, the uni- 
 verfal foul of the world, and only fource of life, whether 
 vegetable, animal, or intelle£lual ; which differ only ac- 
 cording to the grofsnefs or finenefs of the vehicles, and 
 the different textures of the natural alembics, or, in other 
 words, the organized bodies, where the abovementioned 
 volatile cflTence inhabits and is elaborated, where it a<3:s 
 and is a6ted upon. This chymical fyfl:em lets you at once 
 into the nature of the foul, and accounts for all its phaeno- 
 mena. In that compound which is called man, the foul, 
 or eflential oil, is what commonly goes by the name of 
 animal fpirit : For you muft know, it is a point agreed 
 by chymift:s, that fpirits are nothing but the more fubtile 
 oils. Now in proportion, as the efl^ential oil of the ve-
 
 2B4 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 getable man is more fubtile than that of other vegetables, 
 the volatile fait that impregnates it is more at liberty to 
 ad: : Which accounts for thofe fpecific properties and ac- 
 tions of human kind, which diftinguifh them above other 
 creatures. Hence you may learn why, among the wife an- 
 cients, fait was another name for wit, and, in our times, a 
 dull man is faid to be infipid or infulfe. Aromatic oils, 
 matured by great length of time, turn to falts : This fhews 
 why human kind grow wifer by age. And what I have 
 faid of the twofold death or dillblution, firft, of the com- 
 pound, by feparating the foul from the organical body, 
 and fecondly, of the foul itfelf, by dividing the volatile fait 
 from the oil, illuftrates and explains that notion of cer- 
 tain ancient philofophers : That as the man was a com- 
 pound of foul and body, fo the foul was compounded of 
 the mind, or intellect, and its aethereal vehicle : And that 
 the feparation of foul and body, or death of the man, is, 
 after a long tra61; of time, fucceeded by a fecond death 
 of the foul itfelf ; to wit, the feparation or deliverance 
 of the intellect from its vehicle, and re-union with the 
 fun. 
 
 EuPH. — O LyftckSf your ingenious friend has opened a 
 new fcene, and explained the moft obfcure and difficult 
 points in the cleareft and eafieft manner. 
 
 Lys. — I muft own this account of things ftruck my 
 fancy. I am no great lover of creeds or fyftems : But 
 when a notion is reafonable, and grounded on experience, 
 I know how to value it. 
 
 Cri. — In good earnelt, Lyficlesy do you believe this ac- 
 count to be true ? 
 
 Lys. — Why then, in good earneft, I do not know 
 whether I do or no. But I can afTure you the ingenious 
 artift himfelf has not the leaft doubt about it. And to 
 believe an aitifl in his art, is a juft maxim and fhort way 
 to fcience.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. ^8^ 
 
 Cri.— But what relation hath the foul of man to chy* 
 mic art ? The fame reafon, that bids me trull a fkilful 
 artift in his art, inclines me to fufpeft him out of his art. 
 Men are too apt to reduce unknown things to the ftandard 
 of what they know, and bring a prejudice or tincture 
 from things they have been converfant in, to judge there- 
 by of things in which they have not been converfant. I 
 have known a fiddler gravely teach, that the foul was har- 
 mony ; a geometrician very pofitive, that the foul mud be 
 extended ; and a phyfician, who having pickled half a do- 
 zen embryos, and diflected as many rats and frogs, grew 
 conceited, and affirmed there was no foul at all, and that 
 it was a vulgar error. 
 
 Lys. — My notions fit eafy. I fhall hot engage in pe- 
 dantic difputes about them. They who don't like them 
 may leave them. 
 
 EuPK. — This, I fuppofe, is faid much like a gentle- 
 man. 
 
 XV. But pray, Lyftcks, tell me whether the clergy 
 come within that general rule of yours : That an artifl 
 may be trufted in his art ^ 
 
 Lys. — By no means. 
 
 EuPH. — Why fo ? 
 
 Lys. — Becaufe I take myfelfto know as much of thofc 
 matters as they do. 
 
 EupH. — But you allow that, in any other profeffion, 
 one that hath fpent much time and pains, may attain 
 more knowledge, than a man of equal or better parts, 
 who never made it his particular bufinefs. 
 
 Lys. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — And neverthelefs, in things religious and di- 
 vine, you think all men equally knowing. 
 
 Lys. — I do not fay all men. But I think all men of 
 fenfe competent judges.
 
 tU MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 EuPH.— What ! are the divine attributes and difpenfa- 
 tions to mankind, the true end and happinefs of rational 
 creatures, with the means of improving and perfecting 
 their beings, more eafy and obvious points, than thofc 
 which make the fubjeCt of every common profeffion ? 
 
 Lys.— Perhaps not : but one thing I know, fome 
 things are fo manifeftly abfurd, that no authority (hall 
 make me give into them. For inftance, if all mankind 
 fhould pretend to perfuade me that the Son of God was 
 born upon earth in a poor family, was fpit upon, buffeted, 
 and crucified, lived like a beggar, and died like a thief, I 
 (hould never believe one fyllable of it. Common fenfe 
 {hews every one, what figure it would be decent for an 
 earthly prince, or ambaffador, to make ; and the Son of 
 God, upon an embaffy from heaven, muft needs have 
 made an appearance beyond all others of great eclat, and, 
 in all refped:s, the very reverfe of that which Jefus Chrifl 
 is reported to have made, even by his own hiftorians. 
 
 EuPH. — O Lyftclesy though I had ever fo much mind 
 to approve and applaud your ingenious reafoning, yet I dare 
 not affent to this for fear of Crito, 
 
 Lys. — Why fo ? 
 
 EuPH. — ^Becaufe he obferved jufl: now, that men judge 
 of things they do not know, by prejudices from things 
 they do know. And I fear he would object that you, 
 who have been converfant in the grand mondey having your 
 head filled with a notion of attendants, and equipages, 
 and liveries, the familiar badges of human grandeur, are 
 lefs able to judge of that which is truly divine : and that 
 one who had feen lefs, and thought more, would be apt 
 to imagine a pompous parade of worldly greatnefs, not 
 the moft becoming the author of a fpiritual religion, that 
 was defigned to wean men from the world, and raife them 
 above it.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 287 
 
 Cri. — Do you think, Lyjicles^ if a man (hould make 
 his entrance into London^ in a rich fuit of clothes, with a 
 hundred gilt coaches, and a thoufand laced footmen, that 
 this would be a more divine appearance, and have more 
 of true grandeur in it, that if he had power with a word 
 to heal all manner of difeafes, to raife the dead to life, 
 and ftill the raging of the winds and fea ? 
 
 Lys. — Without all doubt it muft be very agreeable to 
 common fenfe to fuppofe, that he could reftore others to 
 life, who could not fave his own. You tell us, indeed, 
 that he rofe again from the dead : but what occafion was 
 there for him to die, the juft for the unjuft, the Son of 
 God for wicked men ? And why in that individual place I 
 Why at that very time above all others ? Why did he 
 not make his appearance earlier, and preach in all parts 
 of the world, that the benefit might have been more ex- 
 tenfive and equal? Account for all thefe points, and re- 
 concile them, if you can, to the common notions and 
 plain fenfe of mankind. 
 
 Cri. — And what if thofe, as well as many other points, 
 (hould lie out of the road that we are acquainted with \ 
 muft we, therefore, explode them, and make it a rule to 
 condemn every proceeding as fenfelefs, that doth not 
 fquarc with the vulgar fenfe of man ? That, indeed, 
 which evidently contradicts fenfe and reafon, you have a 
 right to difbelieve. And when you are unjuft ly treated, 
 you have the fame right to complain. But I think you 
 (hould diftingui(h between matter of debt and matter of 
 favor. Thus much is obferved in all intercourfe between, 
 man and man ; wherein a6fcs of mere benevolence are 
 never infifted on, or examined and meafured with the 
 fame accurate line as matters of juftice. Who but a Mi- 
 nute Philofopher would, upon a gratuitous diftribution 
 of favors, inquire, why at this time, and not before ? 
 why to thefe perfons, and not to others } Various are the
 
 288 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 natural abilities and opportunities of human kind. How 
 wide a difference is there in refpe6t of the law of nature, 
 between one of our ftupid ploughmen and a Minute Phi- 
 lofopher ! Between a Laplander and an Athenian ! That 
 condutt, therefore, which feems to you partial or une- 
 qual, may be found as well in the difpenfation of natural 
 religion as of revealed, and if fo, why it fhould be 
 made an objection againft the one more than the other, 
 I leave you to account. For the reft, if the precepts and 
 certain primary tenets of religion appear, in the eye of 
 reafon, good and^. ufeful ; and if they are alfo found to 
 be fo by their effects, we may, for the fake of them, admit 
 certain other points, or do£i:rines, recommended with them, 
 to have a good tendency, to be right and true ; although 
 we cannot difcern their goodnefs or truth by the mere light 
 of human reafon, which may well be fuppofed an infuf- 
 ficient judge of the proceedings, counfels and defigns, of 
 Providence, and this fufficeth to make our convidion rea- 
 fonable. 
 
 * 
 XVI. It is an allowed point, that no man can judge of 
 this or that part of a machine taken by itfelf, without 
 knowing the whole, the mutual relation or dependence 
 of its parts, and the end for which it was made. And, 
 as this is a point acknowledged in corporeal and natural 
 things, ought we not, by a parity of reafon, to fufpend 
 our judgment concerning the moral fitnefs of a fingle un- 
 accountable part of the divine economy, till we are more 
 fully acquainted with the moral fyftem, or world of fpi- 
 rits, and are let into the defigns of God's providence, and 
 have an extenfive view of his difpenfations paft, prefent, 
 and future ? Alas ! Lyftclesy what do you know even of 
 yourfelf, whence you come, what you are, or whither 
 you are going ? To me it feems, that a Minute Philofo- 
 pher is like a conceited fpeftator, v/ho never looked be-
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 289 
 
 hind the fcenes, and yet would judge of the machinery ; 
 who from a tranfient glimpfe of a part only of fome one 
 fcene, would take upon him to cenfure the plot of a play. 
 
 Lys. — As to the plot I won't fay ; but in half a fcene 
 a man may judge of an abfurd a£tor. With what color 
 or pretext can you juftify the vindictive, froward, whim- 
 fical behavior of fome infpired teachers or prophets ? Par- 
 ticulars, that ferve neither for profit nor pleafure, I make a 
 (hift to forget : but, in general, the truth of this charge I 
 do very well remember. 
 
 Cri. — You need be at no pains to prove a point, I ihall 
 neither juftify nor deny. I would only beg leave to ob- 
 ferve, that it feems a fure fign of fincerity in the facred 
 writers, that they fhould be fo far from palliating the de- 
 fe£ls, as to publifh even the criminal and abfurd acSlions 
 of thofe very perfons, whom they relate to have been in- 
 fpired. For the reft, that there have been human paf- 
 fions, infirmities, and defe<9:s in perfons infpired by God, 
 I freely own : nay, that very wicked men have been in- 
 fpired, as Balaam^ for inftance, and Caiaphasy cannot be 
 denied. But what will you infer from thence ? Can you 
 prove it impofilble that- a weak or finful man fhould be- 
 come an inftrument to the fpirit of God, for conveying 
 his purpofe to other finners, or that divine light may not, 
 as well as the light of the fun, fhine on a foul velTel with- 
 out polluting its rays ? 
 
 Lys. — To make fhort work, the right way would be 
 to put out our eyes, and not judge at all. 
 
 Cri. — I do not fay fo, but I think it would be right, if 
 fome fanguine perfons, upon certain points, fufpe6ted their 
 own judgment. 
 
 Alc. — But the very things faid to be infpired, taken by 
 themfelves, and in their own natyre, are fometimes fo 
 wrong, to fay no worfe, that a man may pronounce them 
 not to be divine at firft fight ; without troubling his head 
 
 N n
 
 29® MIN-JTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 about the fyftetn of Providence or connexion of events : 
 As one may fay that grafs is green, without knowing or 
 confidering how it grows, what ufes it is fubfervient to, or 
 how it is connefted with the mundane fyftem. Thus, for 
 inftance, the fpoiling of the Egyptians^ and the extirpa- 
 tion of the Canaanites^ every one, at firft glance, fees to be 
 cruel and unjuft, and may, therefore, without deliberating, 
 pronounce them unworthy of God. 
 
 Cri. — But, Alciphron^X.0 judge rightly of thefe things, 
 mav it not be proper to confider, how long the IfraeUtes 
 had v/rought under thofe fevere tafk-mafters of Egypty 
 what injuries and hardfliips they had fuftained from them, 
 what crimes and abominations the Canaanites had been 
 guilty of what right God hath to difpofe of the things of 
 this world, to punifti delinquents, and to appoint both 
 the manner and the indruments of his juitice ? Man, 
 who has not fuch a right over his fellow-creatures, who is 
 himfelf a fellow-fmner with them, who is Uable to error 
 as well as paffion, whofe views are imperfect:, who is gov- 
 erned more by prejudice than the truth of things, may not 
 improbably deceive himfelf, when he fets up for a judge 
 of the proceedings of the holy, , omnifcient, im.paflivs 
 Creator and Governor of all things. 
 
 XVII. Alc. — Believe me, Crito, men are never fo in- 
 duftrious to deceive themfclves, as when they engage to 
 defend their prejudices. You would fain reafou us out of 
 all ufe of our reafon ; can any thing be more irrational ^ 
 To forbid us to reafon on the divine difpenfations, is to fup- 
 pofe they will not bear the teft of reafon *, or, in other 
 words, that God a6ls without reafon, which ought not to 
 be admitted, no, not in any fingle inftance : For if in 
 one, why not in another r Whoever, therefore, allows a 
 God, muft allow that he always ads reafonably. I will 
 not, therefore, attribute to him anions and proceedings that
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 291 
 
 are unreafonable. He hath given me reafon to judge with- 
 al : and I will judge by that unerring light, lighted frpm 
 the univerfal lamp of nature. 
 
 Cri.— O Alciphron ! as I frankly own the common re- 
 mark to be true, that when a man is againll reafon, it is 
 a fhrewd fign, reafon is againft him *, fo I (hculd never go 
 about to difluade any one, much lefs one, who fo well 
 knew the value of it, from ufmg that noble talent. On 
 the contrary, upon all fubje^ls of moment, in my opin- 
 ion, a man ought to ufe his reafon ; but then, whether 
 it may not be reafonable to ufe it with feme deference to 
 fuperior reafon, it will not, perhaps, be amifs to confid- 
 er. He, who hath an exa^t view of the meafure, and of 
 the thing to be meafured, if he applies the one to the other, 
 may, I grant, meafure exa6tly. But he, who undertakes 
 to meafure without knowing either, can be no more ex- 
 a£t than he is modeft. It may not, neverthelefs, be im- 
 pofTible to find a man, who, having neither an abftrafl: 
 idea of moral fitnefs, nor an adequate idea of the divine 
 economy, fhall yet pretend to m.eafure the one by the 
 other. 
 
 Alc. — It mull furely derogate from the wifdom of 
 God, to fuppofe his conduft cannot bear being infpedled, 
 not even by the twilight of human reafon. 
 
 EuPH. — You allow, then, God to be wife ? 
 
 Alc. — I do. 
 
 EuPH. — What ! infinitely wife ? 
 
 Alc. — Even infinitely. 
 
 EuPH. — His Wifdom, then, far exceeds that of man. 
 
 Alc — Very far. 
 
 EuPH. — ^Probably more than the wifdom of man, that 
 of a child. 
 
 Alc. — Without all quefllon. 
 
 Eupn. — What think you, Alciphron, mufl not the con- 
 du£l of a parent feem very unaccountable to a child, when
 
 292 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Its inclinations are thwarted, when it is put to learn the 
 letters, when it is obliged to fwallow bitter phyfic, to 
 part with what it likes, and to fufFer, and do, and fee 
 many things done contrary to its own judgment, however 
 reafonable or agreeable to that of others ? 
 
 Alc. — This I grant. 
 
 EuPH. — Will it not, therefore, follow from hence, by a 
 parity of reafon, that the little child, man, when it takes 
 upon it to judge of the fchemes of parental Providence ; 
 and a thing of yefterday, to criticife the economy of tl\e 
 Ancient of Days ; will it not follow, I fay, that fuch a 
 judge, of fuch matters, mud be apt to make very errone- 
 ous judgments .'' efteeming thofe things in themfelves un- 
 accountable, which he cannot account for, and conclud- 
 ing of fome certain points, from an appearance of arbi- 
 trary carriage towards him, which is fuited to his infancy 
 and ignorance, that they are in themfelves capricious or 
 abfurd, and cannot proceed from a wife, juft, and be- 
 nevolent God. This fmgle. confideration, if duly attend- 
 ed to, and applied, would, I verily think, put an end to 
 many conceited reafonings againft revealed religion. 
 
 Alc. — You v/ould have us then conclude, that things, 
 to our wifdom unaccountable, may neverthelefs proceed 
 from an abyfs of wifdom, which our line cannot fathom : 
 And that profpe£l:s viewed but in part, and by the broken 
 tinged light of our intelle^ls, though to us they may 
 feem difproportionate and monftrous, may, neverthelefs, ap- 
 pear quite otherwife to another eye, and in a different fit- 
 uation : In a word, that as human wifdom is but childilh 
 folly, in refpeci: of the divine, fo the wifdom of God 
 may fometimes feem fooliflmefs to m.an. 
 
 XVIII. EuFH. — I would not have you make thefe con- 
 clufions, unlefs in reafon, you ought to niake them : 
 But if they are reafonable, why fhculd you not make
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 293 
 
 Alc.-— Some things may feem reafonable at one time, 
 and not at another : And I take this very apology you 
 make, for credulity and fuperllition, to be one of thofe 
 things. When I view it in its principles, it feems 
 naturally«to follow from juft concelTions : But when I con- 
 fider its confequences, I cannot agree to it. A man had 
 as good abdicate his nature, as difclaim the ufe of reafon. 
 A do6i:rine is unaccountable, tlierefore it muft be divine I 
 
 EuPH.— Credulity and fuperftition are qualities fo dif- 
 agreeable and degrading to human nature, fo furely an ef- 
 fect of weaknefs, and fo frequently a caufe of wickednefs, 
 that I fhould be very much furprifed to find a juft courfe 
 of reafoning lead to them. I can never think, that reafon 
 is a blind guide to folly, or that there is any connexion 
 between truth and falfliood, no more than I can think a 
 thing's being unaccountable a proof that it is divine : 
 Though at the fame time, I cannot help acknowledging, it 
 follows from your own avowed principles, that a thing's 
 being unaccountable, or incomprehenfible to our reafon, is 
 no fure argument to conclude it is not divine ; efpecially 
 when there are collateral proofs of its being fo. A child 
 is influenced by the many fenfible effe6bs it hath felt, of 
 paternal love, and care, and fuperior wifdom, to believe 
 and do feveral things with an implicit faith and obedience : 
 And if we, in the fame manner, from the truth and rea- 
 fonablenefs which we plainly fee in fo many points within 
 our cognifance, and the advantages which we experi- 
 ence from the feed of the gofpel fown in good ground, 
 were difpofed to an implicit belief of certain other points, 
 relating to fchemes we do not know, or fubjefis to which 
 our talents are perhaps difproportionate, I am tempted to 
 think it might become our duty, without difhonoring our 
 reafon j which is never fo much difnonored, as when it is 
 foiled, and never in more danger of being foiled, than 
 by judging where it hath neither means nor right to 
 judge.
 
 294 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Lys. — I would give a good deal to fee that ingenious 
 game Iter, Glaucus^ have the handling of Euphranor one 
 night at our club. I own he is a peg too high for me in 
 fome of his notions : But then he is admirable at vindica- 
 ting human reafon againfl the impofitions of pricftcraft. 
 
 XIX. Alc— He would undertake to make it as clear as 
 day light, that there was nothing worth a ft raw in chrif- 
 tianlty, but what every one knew, or might know, as 
 well without as with it, before as fince Jefus Chrifl. 
 
 Cri. — That great man, it feems, teacheth, that com- 
 mon fenfe alone is the pole-ftar, by which mankind ought 
 to fteer ; and that what is called revelation muft be ridic- 
 ulous, becaufe it is unneceflary and ufelefs, the natural 
 talents of every man being fufEcient, to make him happy, 
 good, and wife, without any further correfpondence with 
 heaven either for light or aid. 
 
 EuPH.— I have already acknowledged how fenfible I 
 am, that my fituation in this obfcure corner of the country 
 deprives me of many advantages, to be had from the 
 converfation of ingenious men in town. To make my- 
 feif fome amends, I am obliged to converfe with the dead, 
 and my own thoughts, which laft I know are of little 
 weight againft the authority of Glaucusy or fuch like great 
 men in the Minute Philofophy. But what fliall we fay to 
 Socrates, for he too was of an opinion very different from 
 that afcribed to Glaucus ? 
 
 Alc. — For the prefent, we need not infift on authorities, 
 ancient or modern, or inquire which was the greater man 
 Socrates or Glaucus, Though, methinks, for fo much as 
 authority can fignify, the prefent times, gray and hoary 
 with age and experience, have a manifeft advantage over 
 thofe that are falfly called ancient. But not to dwell on au- 
 thorities, I tell you in plain Engli/Ij, Euphranor, we do 
 not want your revelations : And that for this plain reafon,
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 29^ 
 
 thofe, that are clear, every body knew before, and thofe, 
 that are obfcure, no body is the better for. 
 
 EuPK.— As it is impollible, that a man fliould believe 
 the practical principles of the chriftian religion, and not 
 be the better for them : So it is evident, that thofe princi- 
 ples may be much more eafily taught as points of faith> 
 than demonftrated or difcovcred as points of fcience. 
 This I call evident, becaufe it is plain fa6l. Since vfc 
 daily fee, that many are inltruded in matters of faith j 
 that few are taught by fcientific demonftration ; and that 
 there arc ftill fewer, who can difcover truth for themfelves. 
 Did Minute Philofophers but refle^l, how rarely men are 
 fwayed or governed by mere ratiocination, and how often 
 by faith, in the natural, or civil concerns of the world ! 
 How little they know, and how much they believe ! How 
 uncommon it is to meet with a man who argues juftly, 
 who is in truth a mafter of reafon, or walks by that rule I 
 How much better (as the world goes) men are qualified to 
 judge of faclg than of reafonings, to receive truth upon 
 teRimony than to deduce it from principles ! How general 
 a fpirit of truft or reliance runs through the whole fyftem 
 of life and opinion ! And, at the fame time, how feldom 
 the dry light of unprejudiced nature is followed or to be 
 found ! I fay, did our thinking men but bethink themfelves 
 of thefe things, they would perhaps find it difficult to af- 
 fign a good reafon, why faith, which hath fo great a 
 (hare in every thing elfe, fhould yet have none in religion. 
 But to come more clofely to your point, whether it was 
 pofiible for mankind to have known all parts of the chrif- 
 tian religion, befides myfteries and ppfitive inftitutions, is 
 not the queftion between us ; and that they actually did 
 not know them, is too plain to be denied. This, perhaps, 
 was for want of making a due ufe of reafon. But, as 
 to the ufefulnefs of revelation, it feems much the fame 
 thing whether men could not knov/, or would not be at
 
 7.^6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 the pains to know the doctrines revealed. And as for 
 thofe do£trines, which were too obfcure to penetrate, or 
 too fublime to reach, by natural reafon •, how far mankind 
 may be the better for them is more, I had almoft faid, 
 than even you or Glaucus can tell. 
 
 XX. Alc. — But whatever may be pretended as to ob- 
 fcure do£lrines and difpenfations, all this hath nothing to 
 do with prophecies •, which, being altogether relative to 
 mankind, and the events of this world, to which our far 
 culties are fureiy well enough proportioned, one might ex- 
 pe£l {hould be very clear, and fuch as might inform in- 
 ftead of puzzling us. 
 
 EuPH. — And yet it muft be allowed, that as fome prophe- 
 cies are clear, there are others very obfcure : but, left to 
 myfelf, I doubt I fhould never have inferred from thence 
 that they were not divine. In my own way of thinking, 
 I fhould have been apt to conclude, that the prophecies, we 
 underftand, are a proof for infpiration : But that thofe we 
 do not underftand are no proof againft it. Inafmuch as 
 for the latter our ignorance, or the referve of the Holy Spirit 
 may account : but for the other, nothing, for ought that 
 I fee, can account but infpiration. 
 
 Alc. — Now I know feveral fagacious men, who con- 
 clude very differently from you, to wit, that the one fort 
 of prophecies a^re nonfenfe, and the other contrived after 
 the events. Behold the difference between a man of free 
 thought and one of narrow principles ! 
 
 EuPH. — It feems then, they rejedl the revelations be- 
 caufe they are obfcure, and DanleFs prophecies becaufe 
 they are clear. 
 
 Alc. — Either way, a man of fenfe fees caufe to fufpe^ 
 there has been foul play. 
 
 EuPH. — Your men of fenfe are, it fcems, hard to 
 pleafe.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 29-^ 
 
 Alc. — Our Philofophers are men of piercing eyes. 
 EuPH. — I fuppofe fuch men never make trancient judg- 
 ments from trancient views, but always eftablifti fixed 
 conclufions upon a thorough infpedlion of things. For 
 my own part, I dare not engage with a man, who has 
 examined thofe points fo nicely, as it may be prefumed, 
 you have done : But I could name fome eminent writers 
 of our own, now living, whofe books on the fubje£t of 
 prophecy have given great fatisfa6tion to gentlemen, 
 who pafs for men of fenfe and learning, here in the 
 country. 
 
 Alc. — You muft know, Euphranor^ I am not at lei- 
 fure to perufe the learned writings of divines, on a fub- 
 je£i: which a man may fee through with half an eye. To 
 me it is fufhcient, that the point itfelf is odd and out of 
 the road of nature. For the reft, I leave them to difpute 
 and fettle among themfelves, where to fix the precife time 
 when the fcepter departed from Judah : Or whether in 
 Daniel^s prophecy of the Mejfiah we fliould compute by 
 the Chaldean or the jtdian year. My only conclufion 
 concerning all fuch matters is, that I will never trouble 
 myfelf about them. 
 
 EuPH. — To an extraordinary genius, v/ho fees things 
 with half an eye, I knov/ not what to fay : But for the 
 reft of mankind, one would think it (hould be verv rafh 
 in them to conclude, without much and exa^l inquiry, on 
 the unfafe fide of a queftion v/hich concerns their chief 
 intereft. 
 
 Alc. — Mark it v/ell : A true genius in purfuit of truth, 
 makes fwift advances on the wings of general maxims, 
 while little minds creep and grovel amidft mean particu- 
 larities. I lay it down for a certain truth, that by the 
 fallacious arts of logic and criticifm, ftraining and for- 
 cing, palliating, patching and diftinguifhing, a man may 
 iuftify or make out any thing : And this remark, with 
 
 O o
 
 19S MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 one or two about prejudice, faves me a world of trouble. 
 EuPH. — You, Alciphron, who foar fublime on ftrong 
 and free pinions, vouchfafe to lend a helping hand to 
 thofe, whom you behold intangled in the birdlime of pre- 
 judice. For my part, I find it very poffible to fuppofe 
 prophecy may be divine, although there ihould be fome 
 obfcurity at this diftance, with refpe£l to dates of time, 
 or kinds of years. Youyourfelf own revelation poffible : 
 And allowing this, I can very eafily conceive it may be 
 odd, and out of the road of nature. I can, without 
 amazement, meet in holy fcriptures divers prophecies, 
 whereof I do not fee the completion, divers texts I do 
 not underiland, divers myfleries above my comprehen- 
 fion, and ways of God to me unaccountable. Why may 
 not fome prophecies relate to parts of hiftory I am not 
 well enough acquainted with, or to events not yet come 
 to pafs .'' It feems to me, that prophecies unfathomed by 
 the hearer, or even the fpeaker himfelf, have been after- 
 ward verified and underftood in the event : and it is one 
 of my maxims, that, ivhat hath heeiiy may he. Though 
 I rub mine eyes, and do mine utmoft to extricate myfelf 
 from pi-ejudice, yet it ftill feems very poffible to me, that, 
 what I do not, a more acute, more attentive, or more 
 learned man may underftand : At leaft thus much is 
 plain : the difficulty of fome points or paflages doth not 
 hinder the clearnels of others : And thofe parts of fcrip- 
 ture which we cannot interpret, we are not bound to know 
 the fenfe of. What evil or what inconvenience, if we 
 cannot comprehend what we are not obliged to compre- 
 hend, or if we cannot account for thofe things, which it 
 doth not belong to us to account for } Scriptures not un- 
 derftood, at one time, or by one perfen, may be under- 
 ftood at a nother time, or by other perfons. May we not 
 perceive, by retro fpe£t on what Is paft, a certain progrefs 
 from darker to lighter, in the feries of the divine econo- 
 my towards man ? And may not future events clear up
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 2:99 
 
 fuch points, as at prefent exercife the faith of believers ? 
 Now, I cannot help thinking (fuch is the force either of 
 truth or prejudice) that in all this, there is nothing drain- 
 ed or forced, or which is not reafonable and natural to 
 fuppofe. 
 
 XXI. Alc. — Well Euphranor, I will lend you a help- 
 ing hand, fince you defire it, but think fit to alter my 
 method : For you mufl know, the main points of chrif- 
 tian belief have been infufed fo early, and inculcated fo 
 often, by nurfes, pedagogues, and priefts : That, be 
 the proofs ever fo plain, it is a hard matter to convince a 
 mind thus tinctured and ftained, by arguing againft re- 
 vealed religion from its Internal characters. I Ihall there- 
 fore fet myfelf to condder things in another light, and ex- 
 amine your religion by certain external characters, or cir- 
 cumftantials, comparing the fyftem of revelation with 
 collateral accounts of ancient heathen writers, and (hew- 
 ing hov/ ill it confifts with them. Know then, that the 
 chriftian revelation fuppofing the Jewijh^ it follows that if 
 the Jenvijh be deftroyed, the chriftian muft of courfe fall 
 to the ground. Now, to make (hort work, I (hall at- 
 tack this Jewi/Ij revelation in its head. Tell me, are we 
 not obliged, if we believe the Mofaic account of things, 
 to hold the world was created not quite fix thoufand years 
 sgo ? 
 
 EuPH. — I grant we are. 
 
 Alc— What will you fay now, if other ancient re- 
 cords carry up the hiftory of the world many thoufand 
 years beyond this period ? What if the Egyptians and 
 Chlnefe have accounts extending to thirty or forty thoufand 
 years ? What if the former of thefe nations have obferv- 
 cd tv.'clve hundred eclipfes, during the fpace of forty-eight 
 thoufand years, before the time of Alexander the Great ? 
 What if the Chinsfe have alfo many obfervations antece-
 
 3O0 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 dent to the Je'wJjIj account of the creation ? What if the 
 Chaldeans had been obferving the ftars for above four hun- 
 dred thoufand years ? And what fhali we fay, if we have 
 fucceflions of kings and their reigns, marked for fcveral 
 thoufand years before the beginning of the world, affign- 
 cd by Mofes P Shall we reject the accounts and records of 
 all other nations, the mod famous, ancient, and learned 
 in the v/orld, and preferve a blind reverence for the legif- 
 lator of the Jews P 
 
 EuPH. — And pray, if they deferve to be rejected, why 
 fhould we not rejecl them ? What if thofe monftrous 
 chronologies contain nothing but names without actions 
 and manifeft fables ? What if thofe pretended obfervations 
 of Egyptians and Chaldeans, were unknown or unregarded 
 by ancient aftronomers ? What if the Jefuits have fhewn 
 the inconfiftcncy of the like Chhiefe pretenfions with the 
 truth of Ephemerides ? What if the moft ancient Chinefe 
 obfervations allowed to be autlientic, are thofe of two 
 fixed flars, one in the winter folftice, the other in the ver- 
 nal equinox, in the reign of their king Taoy which was 
 fmce the flood .? * 
 
 Alc- — You muft give me leave to obferve the Ramp 
 milBonaries are of fmall credit in this point. 
 
 EuPK. — But what knowledge have we, or can we have, 
 of thofe Chinefe affairs, but by their means ? The fame 
 perfons that tell us of thefe accounts refute them : If we 
 reject their authority in one cafe, what right have we to 
 build upon it in another ? 
 
 Alc. — When I conilder, that the Chinefe have annals of 
 more than forty thoufand years, and that they are a learn- 
 ed, ingenious, and acute people, very curious and addifted 
 to arts and fciences, I profefs I cannot help paying fome 
 regard to their accounts of time. 
 
 * 3ianchini Hiflor. Unlverf. c. 17.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 3or 
 
 EupH, — Whatever advantage their fituation and polit- 
 ical maxims may have given them, it doth not appear, they 
 are fo learned or fo acute in point of fcience as the Euro- 
 peans. The general character of the Chinefey if we may 
 believe Trigaltius and other writers, is that they arc men 
 of .a trifling and credulous curionty, addicted to fearch 
 after the philofopher's (lone, and a medicine to make men 
 immortal, to aftrology, fortune-telling, and prefages of 
 all kinds. Their ignorance in nature and mathematics is 
 evident, from the great hand the Jefuits make of that 
 kind of knowledge among them. But what fliall we think 
 of thofe extraordinary annals, if the very Chinefe them- 
 felves give no credit to them for more than three thoufand 
 years before Jefus Chrifi P If they do not pretend to have 
 begun to write hiftory above four trioufand years ago ? 
 And if theoldeft books.they have now extant in an intelli- 
 gible character, are not above tvv^o thoufand years old ? 
 One would think a man of your fagacity, fo apt to fuf- 
 pe£t every thing out of the common road of nature, 
 fhould not, v/ithout the cleared proof, admit thofe annals 
 for authentic, v/hich record fuch ftrange things as the 
 fun's not fetting for ten days, and gold raining three days 
 together. Tell me, Alciphrcn, can you really believe 
 thefe things, without inquiring by what means the tradi- 
 tion was preferved, through what hands it palTed, or what 
 reception it met with, or who firfl committed it to wri- 
 ting ? 
 
 Alc. — To omit the Chinefe and their ftory, it will ferve 
 my purpofe as well to build on the authority of Manetho 
 that learned Egyptian prieft, who had fuch opportunities 
 of fearching into the mofl ancient accounts of time, and 
 copying into his dynafties the moil venerable and authentic 
 records infcribed on the pillars of Hermes. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray, Alciphrouy where were thofe chronolo- 
 gical pillars to be fcen ?
 
 302 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 I 
 
 Alc. — In the Seriadical land. 
 
 EupH. — And where is that country ? 
 
 Alc. — I do not know. 
 
 EupH. — How were thofe records preferved for fo many 
 ages down to the time of this Hermes, who is faid to have 
 been the firft inventor of letters ? 
 
 Alc— I do not know. 
 
 EupH. — Did any other writers, before or fince Mane^ 
 thoy pretend to have feen, or tranfcribed, or known any 
 thing about thefe pillars ? 
 
 Alc. — Not that I know. 
 
 EuPH. — Or about the place where they are faid to have 
 been ? 
 
 Alc. — If they did, it is more than I know. 
 
 EtrpH.— Do the Greek authors that went Into Egypt, 
 and confulted the Egyptian priefts, agree with thefe ac- 
 counts of Manetho P 
 
 Alc— -Suppofe they do not. 
 
 EuPK. — Doth Diodorus, who lived fmce Manetho, fol- 
 low, cite, or fo much as mention this fame Manetho P 
 
 Alc — What will you infer from all this ? 
 
 EuPH. — If I did not know you and your principles, and 
 hov/ vigilantly you guard againft impofture, I fhould infer 
 that you were a very credulous man. For what can we 
 Call it but credulity to believe moft incredible things on 
 moft llender authority, fuch as fragments of an obfcure 
 writer, difagreeing with all other hiftorians, fupported 
 by an obfcure authority of Hertnes^s- pillars, for which 
 you mud take his word, and which contain things fo Im- 
 probable as fucceffions of gods and demi-gods, for ma- 
 ny thoufand years* Vulcan alone having reigned nine thou- 
 fand ? There is little in thefe venerable dynafties of Mim- 
 etho, befides names and numbers : And yet in that little 
 we meet with very ftrange things, that would be thought 
 romantic in another writer : For inftance, the Nile over-
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 303 
 
 flowing with honey, the moon grown bigger, a fpeaking 
 lamb, feventy kings who reigned as many days, one after 
 another, a king a day. * If you are known, Akiphron^ 
 to give credit to thefe things, I fear you will lofe the hon- 
 our of being thought incredulous. 
 
 Alc— And yet thefe ridiculous fragments, as you 
 would reprefent them, have been thought worth the pains 
 and lucubrations of very learned men. How can you ac- 
 count for the work that the great Jofeph Scaiiger and Sir 
 Jchn Marjham make about them ? 
 
 EuPH. — I do not pretend to account for it. To fee 
 Scaliger add another Julian period to make room for fuch 
 things as Manetho's dynafties, and Sir Johfi Marfiam take 
 fo much learned pains to piece, patch, and mend thofe 
 obfcure fragments, to range them in fynchronifms, and 
 try to adjull them with facred chronology, or make them 
 confiftent with themfelves and other accounts, is to me 
 very ftrange and unaccountable. Why they, or EufebiuSy 
 or yourfelf, or any other learned man fhould imagine thofe 
 things deferve any regard, I leave you to explain. 
 
 XXII. Alc. — After all, it is not eafy to conceive what 
 fhould move, not only Matiethoy but alfo other Egyptian 
 priefts, long before his time, to fet up fuch great preten- 
 ces to antiquity, all which, however differing one from 
 another, agree in this, that they overthrow the Mofaic hif- 
 tory. How can this be accounted for, without fome real 
 foundation? What point of pleafure, or profit, or power, 
 could fet men on forging fucceffions of ancient names, 
 and periods of time for ages before the world began ? 
 
 EupH. — Pray, Alciphron^ is there any thing fo ftrange 
 or lingular in this vain humor of extending the antiquity 
 of nations beyond the truth ? Hath it not been obferved 
 in moft parts of the world ? Doth it not even in our own 
 times fhcv/ itfclf, efpecially among thofe dependent and 
 
 * Seal. Can, Ifaj. 1. ^,
 
 304 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 fubdued people, who have Httle elfe to boafl of. To pafs 
 over others of our feliow-fubje6l:s, who, in proportion 
 as they are below their neighbors in wealth and power, 
 lay claim to a more remote antiquity ; are not the preten- 
 fions of IriJIjms7iy in this way, known to be very extrava- 
 gant ? If I may truft my memory, O' Flaherty ^ in his 
 Ogygia, mentions fome tranfa6lions in Ireland before the 
 flood. The fame humor, and from the fame caufe, ap- 
 pears to have prevailed in Sicily , a country, for fome cen- 
 turies paft, fubje£l to the dominion of foreigners : during 
 which time, the Sicilians have publifhed divers fabulous 
 accounts, concerning the original and antiquity of their 
 cities, wherein they vie with each other. It is to be prov- 
 ed by ancient infcriptlons, whofc exiftence or authority 
 feems on a level with that of Hermes^s pillars, that Paler- 
 mo was founded in the days of the patriarch, Ifaac, by a 
 colony of Hebrews, Phceniciatis, and Syrians, and that a 
 grandfon of Efau had been governor of a tower fubfifting 
 within thefe two hundred years in that city. * The anti- 
 quity of Mejfina hath been carried ftill higher, by fome 
 who would have us think it was enlarged by Nimrod. + 
 The like pretenfions are made by Catania, and other towns 
 of that ifland, who have found authors of as good credit 
 as Manctho to fupport them. Now I (hould be glad to 
 know why the Egyptians, a fubdued people, may not 
 probably be fuppofed to have invented fabulous accounts 
 from the fame motive, and like others valued themfelves 
 on extravagant pretenfions to antiquity, when in all other 
 refpe^ts they were fo much inferior to their mafters ? 
 That people had been fuccefliveiy conquered by Ethiopians, 
 Ajfyrians, Babylonians, Perfians, and Grecians, before it 
 appears that thofe wonderful dynafties of Manetho and the 
 pillars of EIer?nes were ever heard of; as they had been 
 
 * Fazelli Hlft. Slcul. decad. i. 1. 8. 
 t Reina Notizie Iftoriche di Meflioa.
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 305 
 
 by the two fir ft of thofe nations before the time of FioLn 
 himfelf, the earlieft Greek that is known to have confulted 
 the priefts of Egypt : Whofe. accounts were fo extrava- 
 gant that even the Greek hiftorians, though unacquainted 
 with Holy Scripture, were far from giving an intire credit 
 to them. Herodotus making a report upon their authority, 
 faith, thofe, to whom fuch things feem credible, may make 
 the beft of them, for himfelf declaring that it was his 
 purpofe to write what he heard.* And both he and Dio- 
 dorus do, on divers occafions, fhew the fame diffidence in 
 the narratives of thofe Egyptian priefts. And as we ob- 
 ferved of the Egyptians^ it is no lefs certain that the Phoe' 
 nicianiy AJJyrians, and Chaldeans were each a conquered 
 and reduced people, before the reft of the world appear 
 to have any thing of their pretenfions to fo remote anti- 
 quity. 
 
 Cri. — But what occafion is there to be at any pains to 
 account for the humor of fabulous writers ? Is it not fuf- 
 ficient to fee that they relate abfurdities •, that they are 
 unfupported by any foreign evidence ; that they do not 
 appear to have been in credit, even among their own 
 countrymen, and that they are inconfiftent one with ano- 
 ther ? That men (hould have the vanity to impofe on the 
 world by falfe accounts, is nothing ftrange : it is much 
 more fo, that after what has been done towards unde- 
 ceiving the world by fo many learned critics, there fliould 
 be men found capable of being abufed by thofe paltry 
 fcraps of Manethoy Berofus^ CtefiaSy or the like fabulous 
 or counterfeit writers. 
 
 Alc. — Give me leave to obferve, thofe learned critics 
 may prove to be ecclefiaftics, perhaps fomc of them pa- 
 pifts. 
 
 Cri. — What do you think of Sir Ifaac NeivtoJi, v/as he 
 either papift or ecclefiaftic ? Perhaps you may not allow 
 him to have been in fagacity or force of mind equal to the 
 ♦ Herodotus in Euterpe.
 
 3o6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 great men of the Minute Philofophy : But it cannot be 
 denied that he had read and thought much upon the fub- 
 jed:, and that the refuit of his inquiry was a perfect con- 
 tempt of all thofe celebrated rivals to Mofes. 
 
 Alc. — It hath been obferved by ingenious men, that 
 Sir Ifaac Newton, though a layman, was deeply prejudi- 
 ced, witnefs his great regard to the bible. 
 
 Cri. — And the fame may be faid of Mr. Lockcy Mr. 
 Boyle y Lord Bacon ^ and other famous laymen, who, how- 
 ever knowing in fome points, muft neverthelefs be allow- 
 ed not to have attained that keen difcernment, which is 
 the peculiar diftin6tion of your itOi. 
 
 XXIII. But perhaps there may be other reafons bc- 
 iide prejudice, to incline a man to gives Mofes the pre- 
 ference, on the truth of whofe hiftory the government, 
 manners, and religion of his countrymen were founded 
 and framed ; of whofe hiflory there arc manifeft traces 
 in the mod ancient books, and traditions of the GentileSy 
 particularly of the Brachmans and Perfees ; not to men- 
 tion the general atteflation of nature, as well as antiqui- 
 ty, ' to his account of a deluge ; whofe hiftory is confirm- 
 ed by the late invention of arts and fciences, the gradual 
 peopling of the world, the very names of ancient nations, 
 and even by the authority and arguments of that renown- 
 ed philofopher, Lucretius, who, on other points, is fo 
 much admired and followed, by thofe of your fetl. 
 Not to mention, that the continual decreafe of fluids, 
 the (inking of hills, and the retardation of planetary mo- 
 tions, afford fo many natural proofs, which fhew this 
 world had a beginning ; as the civil or hiftorical proofs 
 abovementioned, do plainly point out this beginning, to 
 have been about the time affigned in Holy Scripture. 
 After all which, I beg leave to add one obfervation more. 
 To any one, who confiders that, on digging into the
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 307 
 
 earth, fuch quantities of fhells, and, in fome places, 
 bones and horns of animals are found, found and entire, 
 after having lain there in all probability fome thoufands of 
 years, it fhould feem probable, that gems, medals, and 
 implements in metal or (tone, might have laded intire, 
 buried under ground forty or fifty thoufand years, if the 
 world had been fo old. How comes it then to pafs, that 
 no remains are found, no antiquities of thofe numerous 
 ages, preceding the fcripture accounts of time ; no frag- 
 ments of buildings ; no public monuments ; no intaglias, 
 cammcoes, ftatues, ballb relievos, medals, infcriptions, 
 utenfils, or artificial works of any kind, are ever difcov- 
 ered, which might bear teftimony to the exiftence of 
 thofe mighty empires, thofe fuccefTions of monarchs, 
 heroes, and demi-gods, for fo many thoufand years ? 
 Let us look forward, and fuppofe ten or twenty thoufand 
 years to come, during which time, we will fuppofe, that 
 plagues, famines, wars, and earthquakes fliall have made 
 great havock in the world ; is it not highly probable, 
 that at the end of fuch period, pillars, vafes, and ftatues 
 now in being of granite, or porphyry, or jafper, (flones 
 of fuch hardnefs, as we know them to have lafted two 
 thoufand years above ground, without any confiderable 
 alteration) would bear record of thefe, and paft ages ? 
 Or that fome of our current coins might then be dug up, 
 or old walls and the foundations of buildings (hew them- 
 felves, as well as the fhells and ftones of the primeval 
 world, are preferved down to our times ? To me, it feems 
 to follow, from thefe confiderations, which common 
 fenfe and experience, make all men judges of, that we 
 may fee good reafon to conclude, the world was created 
 about the time recorded in the Holy Scripture. And if 
 we admit a thing fo extraordinary as the creation of this 
 world, it fhould feem that we admit fomething ftrange, 
 and odd, and new to human apprehenfion, beyond any 
 other miracle whatfoever.
 
 3g8 minute philosopher. [Dial. VI] 
 
 XXIV. Alciphron fat mufing and made no anfwer, 
 whereupon Lxficles exprefl'ed himfelf in the following 
 manner. I mud own, I fliould rather fuppofe with 
 Lucrt'tlusy that the world was made by chance, and that 
 men grew out of the earth like pompions, than pin my 
 faith on thofe wretched fabulous fragments of oriental 
 hiftory. And as for the learned men, who have taken 
 pains to illuftrate and piece them together, they appear to 
 me no better than fo many mufty pedants. An ingenious 
 free-thinker m^ay, perhaps, now and then make fome ufe 
 of their lucubrations, and play one abfurdity againft ano- 
 ther. But you are not, therefore, to think, he pays any 
 real regard to the authority of fuch apocryphal writers, or 
 believes one fyllable of the Chinsfey Babyloniany or Egyptran 
 traditions. If we feem to give them a preference before 
 the bible, it is only becaufe they are not eftablilhed by 
 law. This is my plain fenfe of the matter, and I dare 
 fay it is the general fenfe of our fe£l: ; who are too ration- 
 al to be in earnell on fuch trifles, though they fometimes 
 give hints of deep erudition, and put on a grave face to 
 divert themfelves with bigots. 
 
 Alc. — Since Lsjlcles will have it fo, I am content not 
 to build on accounts of time, preceding the Mofaic. I 
 muft neverthelefs beg leave to obferve, there is another 
 point of a different nature, againft which there do not lie 
 the fame exceptions, that deferves to be confidered, and 
 may ferve our purpofe as well. I prefume it will be al- 
 lowed that hiflorians, treating of times within the Mofaic 
 account, ought by impartial men to be placed on the fame 
 fcot with Mcfes. It m.ay therefore be expe<3:ed, that 
 thofe, who pretend to vindicate his vv^ritings, fhould re- 
 concile theni with parallel accounts of other authors, treat- 
 ing of the fame times, things, and perfons. And, if 
 we are not attached fingly to Mofesy but take our notions 
 from other writers^ and the prob^ibility of things, we
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 50$* 
 
 ihall fee good caufe to believe, the Je-ws were only a crew 
 of leprous Egyptians^ driven from their country on account 
 of that loathfome diftemper : And that their religion, 
 pretended to have been delivered from heaven at Mount 
 ^inaiy was in truth learned in Egypt^ and brought from 
 thence. 
 
 Cri. — Not to infift, on what cannot be denied, that 
 an hiftorian, writing of his own times is to be believed, 
 before others who treat of the fame fubjec):, feveral ages 
 after, it feems to me that it is abfurd to expe£l we fhould 
 reconcile Mcfcs with profane Iiidorians, till you have firft 
 reconciled them one with another. In anfwer, therefore, 
 to what you obferve, I defire you would confider in tlie 
 firfl place, that Manethoy Cheremo7iy and Lyfimacktis had 
 publiflied inconfiftent accounts of the Jeius, and their go- 
 ing forth from Egypt : * In the fecond place, that their 
 language is a plain proof, they were not of Egyptiatty but 
 either of Pheniciatjy of Syriany or of Chaldean original : 
 And in the third place, that it doth not feem very proba- 
 ble to fuppofe, their religion, the balls or fundamental 
 principle of which was the worfhip of one only Supreme 
 God, and the principal defign of which was to abolifli 
 idolatry, could be derived from Egypty the mod idolatrous 
 of all nations. It mufl be owned, the feparate (ituatlon 
 and inftitutions of the JcwSy occafioned their being treat- 
 ed by fome foreigners, with great ignorance and contempt 
 of them, and their original. -But Siraboy who is allowed 
 to have been a judicious and inquifitive writer, though he 
 was not acquainted with their true hiftory, makes more 
 honorable mention of them, lie relates that 7l<f -5/^/, with 
 many other wormippers of one infinite God, not approv- 
 ing the image worihip of the Egyptians and other nations, 
 went out from Egypt and fettled in Jerufaleniy where they 
 built a temple, to one only God without images, f 
 
 * Tofeph. contra Apion. I. i. | Strab. 1. 16,
 
 310 MINUTEPHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 XXV. Alc. — We who aflert the caufe of hberty againfl 
 religion, in thefe later ages of the world, lie under great 
 difadvantages, from the lofs of ancient books, which 
 cleared up many points to the eyes of thofe great men, 
 CelfuSy Porphyyyy and Julian, which at a greater diflance, 
 and with lefs help, cannot fo eafily be made out by us : 
 But, had we thofe records, I doubt not, we might demol- 
 ifh the whole fyftem at once. 
 
 Cri.— And yet I make fome doubt of this ; becaufc 
 thofe great men, as you call them, with all thofe advanta- 
 ges could not do it. 
 
 Alc. — ^That mud needs have been owing to the dul- 
 nefs, and ftupidity of the world, in thofe days, when 
 the art of reafoning was not fo much known and cultiva- 
 ted as of late : But thofe men of true genius faw through 
 the deceit themfelves, and were very clear in their opin- 
 ion, which convinces me, they had good reafon on their 
 fide. 
 
 Cri. — And yet that great man Celfus feems to have had 
 very flight and inconftant notions : one while, he talks 
 like a thorough Epicurean ; another, he admits miracles, 
 prophecies, and a future ftate of rewards and punifliments. 
 What think you, Alciphron, is it not fomething capricious 
 in fo great a man, among other ^advantages which he 
 afcribes to brutes above human kind, to fuppofe they are 
 magicians and prophets ; that they have a nearer com- 
 merce and union with the divinity ; that they know more 
 than men ; and that elephants, in particular, are of all 
 others moft religious animals, and flri£i: obfervers of an 
 oath. * 
 
 Alc— A great genius will be fometimes whimfical. 
 But what do you fay to the emperor, Julian, was not he 
 an extraordinary man .'* 
 
 Cri. — He feems by his writings, to have been lively 
 and fatirical. Further, I make no difficulty of owning 
 
 * Origen. contra Celfum. I. 4,
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 311 
 
 that he was a generous, temperate, gallant, and facetious 
 emperor : But at the fame time it muft be allowed, be- 
 caufe his own heathen panegyrift, Ammianus Alarcellinus^ * 
 allows it, that he was a prating, light, vain, fuperftitious 
 fort of man. And, therefore, his judgment, or author- 
 ity can be but 6c fmall weight with thofe, who are not 
 prejudiced in his favor. 
 
 Alc. — But of all the great men, who wrote againft 
 revealed religion, the greateft without queftion was that 
 truly great man, Porphyryy the lofs of whofe invaluable 
 work can never be fufficiently lamented. This profound 
 philofopher went to the bottom and original of things. 
 He moil learnedly confuted the fcriptures, fhewed the ab- 
 furdity of the Mofaic accounts, undermined and expo- 
 fed the prophecies, and ridiculed allegorical interpreta- 
 tions, f The moderns, it muft be owned, have done 
 great things, and fhewn themfelves able men : Yet I can- 
 not but regret the lofs of what was done by a perfon of 
 fuch vaft abilities, and who lived fo much nearer the foun- 
 tain-head ; though his authority furvives his writings, and 
 muft ftill have its weight, with impartial men, in fpite of 
 the enemies of truth. 
 
 Cri. — Porphyry, I grant, was a thorough infidel, tho' 
 he appears by no means to have been incredulous. It 
 feems he had a great opinion of wizards and necromanc- 
 ers, and b;;lieved the myfteries, miracles, and prophecies 
 of Theurgijls and Egyptian priefts. He was far from be- 
 ing an enemy to obfcure jargon, and pretended to extra- 
 ordinary extafies. In a word, this great man appears to 
 have been as unintelligible as a fchoolman, as fuperfti- 
 tious as a monk, and as fanatical as any quietift or qua- 
 ker : and, to complete his charadter as Minute Philofo- 
 pher, he was under ftrong temptations to lay violent 
 
 * Am, Marcellln. 1. 45. 
 
 f Luc. Holftenius de vita & fcrlptls Porphyril,
 
 312 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. L^ial. VI.] 
 
 hands on himfelf. We may frame a notion of this patri- 
 arch of infidelity, from his judicious way of thinking up- 
 on other points, as well as the chriftian religion. So fa- 
 gacious was he as to find out, that the fouls of infefts, 
 when feparated from their bodies, become rational : that 
 demons of a thoufand ftiapes affift in m-sking philtrums 
 and charms, whofe fpirituai bodies are nourilhed and fat- 
 tened by the fleams of libations and facrifices : That the 
 "ghofts of thofe, who died violent deaths, ufe to haunt and 
 appear about their fepulchres. This fame egregious phi- 
 lofopher advifeth a wife man not to eat fiefh, left the impure 
 foul of the brute that was put to violent death fliould en- 
 ter, along with the flefh into thofe who eat it. He adds, 
 as a matter of fa£l:, confirmed by many experiments, that 
 thofe who would infinuate into them fe Ives the fouls of 
 fuch animals, as have the gift of foretelling things to come, 
 need only eat a principal part, the heart, for inftance, of 
 a flag or a mole, and fo receive the foul of the animal, 
 which will prophefy in them like a God.* No wonder 
 if men, whofe minds were preoccupied by faith and tenets 
 of fuch a peculiar kind, fhould be averfe from the recep- 
 tion of the gofpel. Upon the whole, we defire to be ex- 
 cufed, if we do not pay the fame deference to the judg- 
 ment of men, that appear to us whimfical, fuperflitious, 
 weak, and vifionary, which thofe impartial gentlemen do, 
 who admire their talents, and are proud to tread in their 
 footfteps. 
 
 Alc. — Men fee things in different views : what one 
 admires another contemns : it is even poffible for a preju- 
 diced mind, whofe attention is turned towards the faults 
 and blemifhes of things, to fancy fome fliadow of defedi 
 in thofe great lights, which in our ov;n days have enlight- 
 ened, and ftill continue to enlighten the world. 
 
 * Vide Porphyrium de abfllnentla, de facrlficlls, de pils, & dcmonibui.
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 313 
 
 XXVI. But pray tell me, Crko, what you think of 
 Jofephus ? He is allowed to have been a man of learning 
 and judgment. He was himfelf an alTerter of revealed 
 religion. And chrillians, when his authority ferves their 
 turn, are ufed to cite him with refpecl. 
 
 Cri. — All this I acknowledge. 
 
 Alc. — Muft it not then feem very ftrange, and very 
 fufpicious to every impartial inquirer, that this learned 
 Jeiji^ writing the hiftory of his own country, of that 
 very place, and thofe very times, where and when Jefus 
 Chrtji made his appearance, fhould yet fay nothing of the 
 charafter, miracles, and dodlrine of that extraordinary 
 perfon ? Some ancient chriftians were fo fenlible of this, 
 that, to make amends, they inferted a famous paflage in 
 that hiftorian -, which impofture hath been fufficiently de- 
 tected by able critics in the laft age. 
 
 Cri. — Though there are not wanting able critics on 
 the other fide of the queftion, yet, not to enter upon the 
 difcuflion of that celebrated paflage, I am content to give 
 you all you can defire, and fuppofe it not genuine, but 
 the pious fraud of fome wrong-headed chriftian, who 
 could not brook the omiffion in Jofephus : But this will 
 never make fuch omiflion a real objection againft chrif- 
 tianity. Nor is there, for ought I can fee, any thing in 
 it whereon to ground either admiration or fufpicion ; in- 
 afmuch as it fhould feem very natural, fuppofing the gof- 
 pel account exa<Elly true, {or Jofephus to have faid nothing 
 of it ; confidering that the view of that writer was to give 
 his country fome figure in the eye of the world, which 
 had been greatly prejudiced againft the Jews, and knew 
 little of their hiftory, to which end the life and death of 
 our Saviour would not in any wife have conduced ; con- 
 fidering that Jofephus could not have been an eye-witnefs 
 of our Saviour or his miracles ; confidering that he was 
 a Fharifee of quality and learning, foreign as well as 
 
 0.1
 
 314 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 Jeiuijh, one of great employment in the ftate, and that the 
 gofpel was preached to the poor ; that the firft inftruments 
 of fpreading it, and the firft converts to it, were mean and 
 illiterate, that it might not feem the work of man, or be- 
 holden to human intereft or power ; confidering the gen- 
 eral prejudice of the Jews, who expe£i:ed in the Mefftah 
 a temporal and conquering prince *, which prejudice was 
 as ftrong, that they chofe rather to attribute our Sav- 
 iour's miracles to the devil, than to acknowledge hin; to 
 be the Chrift : Confidering alfo the hellifh diforder and 
 confufion of the Jenv'ip ftate in the days of Jofephus ; 
 when men's minds were filled and aftoniftied with unpar- 
 alleled wars, diflenfions, maflacres, and feditions of that 
 devoted people. Laying all thefe things together, I do 
 not think it ftrange, that fuch a man, writing with fuch 
 a view, at fuch a time, and in fuch circumftances, ihould 
 omit to defcribe our blefled Saviour's life and death, or 
 to mention his miracles, or to take notice of the ftate of 
 the chriftian church, which was then as a grain of muft- 
 ard feed, beginning to take root and germinate. And 
 this will feem ftill lefs ftrange, if it be confidered, that 
 the apoftles, in a few years after our Saviour's death, de- 
 parted from Jerufalemy fetting themfelves to convert the 
 Gentiksy and were difperfed throughout the world \ that 
 the converts in Jerufakm were not only of the meaneft of 
 the people, but alfo few ; the three thoufand added to 
 the church in one day, upon Feter\ preaching in that city, 
 appearing to have been not inhabitants, but ftrangers 
 from all parts, aflembled to celebrate the feaft of Pente- 
 coft ; and that all the time of Jofephus y and for feveral 
 years after, during a fuccefiion of fifteen biftiops, the 
 chriftians at Jerufakm obferved the Mofatc law, * and 
 were confequently, in outward appearance, one people 
 
 ♦ Sulp. Sever. Sacr, Hift. la, &Eufeb. Chron. lib. pofter.
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 315 
 
 with the reft of the Jeivs^ which muft have made them 
 lefs obfervable. I would fain know what reafoii we have 
 to fuppofe, that the gofpel, which, in its firfts propaga- 
 tion, feemed to overlook the great or confiderable men 
 of this world, might not alfo have been overlooked by 
 them, as a thing not fuited to their apprehcnfions and 
 way of thinking ? Befides, in thofe early times might not 
 other learned Jeivs^ as well as Gamaliel ^^ fufpend their 
 judgment of this new way, as not knowing what to make 
 or fay of it, being on one hand, unable to quit the notions 
 and traditions in which they were brought up, and, on 
 the other, not daring to refift or fpeak againft the gofpel, 
 left they fhould be found to fight againft God ? Surely at 
 all events, it could never be expelled, that an uncon- 
 verted Je'W (hould give the fame account of the life, mi- 
 racles, and do61:rines of Jffus Chrifly as might becom.e a 
 chriftian to have given : Nor, on the other hand, was it 
 at all improbable, that a man of fenfe (hould beware to 
 leflen or traduce what, for ought he knew, might have 
 been a heavenly difpenfation ; between which two courfes, 
 the middle was to fay nothing, but pafs it over, in a 
 doubtful, or a refpe£iful filence. And it is obfervable, 
 that where this hiftorian occafionally mentions Jefus Chriji 
 in his account of St. James's death, he doth it without 
 any refle^lion, or faying, either good or bad, though at 
 the fame time, he (hev/s a regard for the apoftle. It is 
 obfervable, I fay, that fpeaking of Jefusy his expreflion 
 is, who was called the Chrift, not who pretended to be 
 the Chrift, or who was falfely called the Chrift, but Am- 
 ply, tou legomenou Ckrifiou. * It is evident, Jofephus 
 knew there was fuch a man as Jefusy and that he was 
 faid to be the Chrift, and yet he condemns neither him nor 
 his followers *, which to me feems an argument in their 
 favor. Certainly, if we fuppofe Jofephus to have known, 
 
 t Ads V. * Jof. Ant. 1. ao. c. 8.
 
 3i6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 or been perfuaded, that he was an impoftor, it will be 
 difficult to account for his not faying fo in plain terms. 
 But, if we fuppofe him in Gamaliel's way of thinking, 
 who fufpended his judgment, and was afraid of being 
 found to fight againft God, it fliould feem natural for 
 him to behave in that very manner, which, according to 
 you, makes againft our faith, but I verily think, makes 
 for it : But what if Jofephus had been a bigot, or even a 
 faddiiceey an infidel, an atheift ? What then ! we readily 
 grant there might have been perfons of rank, poHticians, 
 generals, and men of letters, then as well as now, Jeivsy 
 as well as Rnglipjmen^ who believed no revealed religion : 
 And that fome fuch perfons might poflibly have heard of 
 a man in low life, who performed miracles by magic, with- 
 out informing themfelves, or perhaps ever inquiring 
 about his miffion and do£trine. Upon the whole, I can- 
 not comprehend why any man fhould conclude againft the 
 truth ©f the gofpel, from Jofephus* s omitting to fpeak of it, 
 any more than from his omitting to embrace it. Had the 
 firft chriftians been chief priefts and rulers, or men of fci- 
 ence and learning, like Ph'ilo and Jofephus, it might per- 
 haps with better colour have been objected, that their re- 
 ligion was of human contrivance, than now that it hath 
 pleafed God by weak things to confound the ftrong. This 
 I think fufficientiy accounts, why, in the beginning, the 
 gofpel might overlook or be overlooked by men of a cer- 
 tain rank and charaiSler. 
 
 XXVil. Alc. — And yet it feems an odd argument in 
 proof of any dodrine, that it was preached by fimple 
 people, to fimple people. 
 
 Cri. — Indeed if there was no other atteftation to the 
 truth of the chriftian religion, this rauft be owned a very 
 weak one. But if a do£lrine begun by inftruments, 
 mean^ as to all human advantages, and making its firft
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 317 
 
 progrefs among thofe, who had neither wealth, nor art, nor 
 power, to grace or encourage it, fiiouldin a fhort time, by- 
 its own innate excellency, the mighty force of miracles, 
 and the demonftration of the fpirit, not only without, 
 b ut againft, all worldly motives, fpread through the world, 
 and fubdue men of all ranks and conditions- of life, would 
 it not be very unreafonable to reject or fufpe^i it, for the 
 want of human means ? And might not this with much 
 better reafon be thought an argument of its coming from 
 God ? 
 
 Alc— But ftill an inquifitive man will want the tefti- 
 mony of men of learning and knowledge. 
 
 Cri. — But from the firfl: century onwards, there was 
 never wanting the teftimony of fuch men who wrote 
 learnedly in defence of the chriftian religion, who lived, 
 many of them, when the memory of things Avas frefh, 
 who had abilities to judge, and means to know, and who 
 gave the cleared proofs of their conviction and fincerity. 
 
 Alc. — But all the while thefe men were chriftians, 
 prejudiced chriftians, and therefore their teftimony is to 
 be fufpe£led, 
 
 Cri. — It feems then you would have Jews or heathens 
 attcft to the truths of chriftianity. 
 
 Alc. — That is the very thing I want. 
 
 Crl — But how can this be ? Or if it could, would 
 not any rational man be apt to fufpect fuch evidence, and 
 afk, how it was poflible for a man really, to believe fuch 
 things himfelf, and not become a chriftian ? The apoftles 
 and firft converts were themfelves Jawsy and brought up 
 in a veneration for the law of Mojts^ and in all the preju- 
 dices of that people : Many fathers, chriftian philofo- 
 phers, and learned apologifts for the faith, who had been 
 bred Gentiles^ were without doubt imbued with prejudices 
 of education : And if the finger of God, and force of 
 truth converted both the one and the other from JudaJjm.^
 
 3i8 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 or Gentili/m, in fpite of their prejudices, to chriftianity, 
 is not their teftimony fo much the ftronger ? You have 
 then the fufFrages of both Jews and Geniilesy attefting to 
 the truth of our religion, in the earlieft ages. But to 
 expert or defire the atteftation of Jews remaining Jews^ 
 or of Gentiles remaining Gentilesy feems unreafonable : 
 ^or can it be imagined that the teftimony of men, who 
 were not converted themfelves, fliould be the likeheft to 
 convert others. We have indeed, the teftimony of hea- 
 then writers to prove, That about the time of our Saviour's 
 birth, there was a general expectation in the eaft, of a 
 Mejfiahf or prince, who (hould found a new dominion : 
 That there were fuch people as chriftians : That they were 
 cruelly perfecuted, and put to death : That they were 
 innocent and holy in life, and worftiip : And that there 
 did really exift in that time, certain perfons, and faiSls 
 mentioned in the New Teftament : And for other points, 
 we have learned fathers, feveral of whom had been, as 
 I already obferved, bred heathens, to atteft their truth. 
 
 Alc. — For my part, I have no great opinion of the 
 capacity or learning of the fathers, and many learned men, 
 cfpecially of the reformed churches abroad, are of the 
 fame mind, which faves me the trouble of looking myfelf, 
 into their voluminous writings. 
 
 Cri.— I fhall not take upon me to fay, with the Minute 
 Philofopher, Pomponatiusy* that Origen, Baft/, Augiijiiney 
 and divers other fathers, were equal to PlatOt Ariftotky 
 and the greateft of the Gentiles^ in human knowledge. 
 But, if I may be allowed to make a judgment from what 
 I have feen of their writings, I ftiould think feveral of 
 them men of great parts, eloquence, and learning, and 
 much fuperior to thofe who feem to undervalue them. 
 Without any affront to certain modern critics, or tranfla- 
 tors, Erafmus may be allowed a man of fine tafte, and a 
 
 * Lib. dt immortalitate animx.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 31^ 
 
 fit judge of fenfe and good writing, though his judgment 
 in this point was very different from theirs. Some of our 
 reformed brethren, becaufe the Romanijis attribute too 
 much, feem to have attributed too little to them, from a 
 very ufual, though no very judicious oppofition : Which 
 is apt to lead men to remark defecS^s, without making 
 proper allowances, and to fay things which neither piety, 
 candor, nor good fenfe require them to fay. 
 
 XXVIII. Alc. — But though I ihould acknowledge, 
 that a concurring teflimony of many learned and able men 
 throughout the firft ages of chriftianity may have its weight, 
 yet when I confider the great number of forgeries and 
 herefics that fprung up in thofe times, it very much weak- 
 ens their credit. 
 
 Cri. — Pray, Alciphrorty would it be allowed a good ar- 
 gument in the mouth of a papift againft the reformation, 
 that many abfurd fe£ls fprung up at the fame time with 
 it ? Are we to wonder, that when good feed is fowing, 
 the enemy (hould fow tares .^ But at once to cut off fever- 
 al objedions, let us fuppofe in fact, what you do not de- 
 ny poffible, tliat there is a God, a devil, and a revelation 
 from heaven committed to writing many centuries ago. 
 Do but take a view of human nature, and confider, what 
 would probably follow upon fuch a fuppofition : And 
 whether it is not very likely, there (hould be half-believers, 
 miftaksn bigots, holy frauds, ambitious, interefted, dif- 
 puting, conceited, fchifmatical, heretical, abfurd men 
 among the profeffors of fuch revealed religion, as well as 
 after a courfe of ages, various readings, omiffions, tranf- 
 pofitions, and obfcurities in the text of the facred oracles ? 
 And if fo, I leave you to judge, whether it be reafona- 
 ble to make thofe events an objection againft the bging of 
 a thing, which would probably and naturally follow upon 
 the fuppofal of its being. 
 
 Alc. — After all, fay what you will, this variety of 
 opinions muft needs (hake the faith of a reafonable man.
 
 320 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Where there are fo many difFerent opinions on the fame 
 point, it is very certain they cannot all be true, but it is 
 certain they may all be falfe. And the means to find out 
 the truth ! When a man of fenfe fets about this inquiry, 
 he finds himfelf on a fudden, ftartled and amufed with 
 hard words and knotty queftions. This makes him aban- 
 don the purfuit, thinking the game not worth the chace. 
 
 Cri. — But would not this man of fenfe do well to con- 
 fider, it muft argue want of difcernment, to rejeft divine 
 truths for the fake of human folHes ? Ufe but the fame 
 candor and impartiality in treating of religion, that you 
 would think proper on other fubjeds. We defire no more, 
 and expert no lefs. In law, in phyfic, in politics, where- 
 ever men have refined, is it not evident they have been al- 
 ways apt to run into difputes and chicane ? But will that 
 hinder you from admitting there are many good rules, and 
 juft notions, and ufeful truths in all thofe profeflions. 
 Phyficians may difpute, perhaps vainly and unintelligibly, 
 about the animal fyftem : They may affign difFerent cau- 
 fes of diflempers, fome explaining them by the elementa- 
 ry qualities, hot and cold, moid and dry, others by chy- 
 niical, others by mechanical principles : Yet this doth not 
 hinder but the bark may be good for an ague, and rhu- 
 barb for a flux. Nor can it be inferred from the difFer- 
 ent fecis, which, from time to time, have fprung up in 
 that profefFion, the dogmatic, for inftance, empiric, me- 
 thodic, galenic, paracelfian, or the hard words, and 
 knotty queflions, and idle theories, which have grown 
 from them, or been ingrafted on them, that therefore we 
 fiiould deny the circulation of the blood, or reject their 
 excellent rules about exercife, air, and diet. 
 
 Alc. — It feems you would fcreen religion by the ex- 
 ample of other profefTions, all which have produced fe(9;s 
 and difputes as well as chriftianity, which according to 
 you may in itfelf, be true and ufeful, notv/ithftanding
 
 [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 321 
 
 many falfe and fruitlefs notions Ingrafted on It, by the 
 wit of man. But certainly if this had been obferved, or « 
 beheved by many acute reafoners, they would never have 
 made the multiphcity of religious opinions, and contro- 
 verfies, an argument againft religion in general. 
 
 Cri. — How fuch an obvious truth fhould efcape men 
 of fenfe and inquiry, I leave you to account : But I can 
 very eafily account for grofs miftakes in thofe, who pafs 
 for free-thinkers, without ever thinking : Or, if they do 
 think, whofe meditations are employed on other points of 
 a very different nature, from a ferious and impartial inqui- 
 ry about religion. 
 
 XXIX. But to return : What, or where Is the profef- 
 fion of men, who never fplit Into fchifms, or never talk 
 nonfenfe ? Is it not evident, that, out of all the kinds of 
 knowledge, on which the human mind is employed, there 
 grow certain excrefcences, which may be pared off like 
 the clippings of hair, or nails in the body, and with no 
 worfe confequence. Whatever bigots or enthufiafts, 
 whatever notional or fcholaftic divines may fay or think, 
 it is certain, the faith derived from Chrift, and his apof- 
 tles, was not a piece of empty fophiftry : They did not 
 deliver and tranfmit down to us henen apaten gumnen gm^nen 
 to ufe the expreffion of a holy confefTor.* And to pretend to 
 demolifh their foundation for the fake of human fuperftruc- 
 ture, be it hay or ftubble, or what It will, Is no argument of 
 juft thought or reafon ; any more than it is of fairnefs, to fup- 
 pofe a doubtful fenfe fixed, and argue from one fide of 
 the queftion in difputed points. Whether, for inftance, 
 the beginning of Genefis is to be underftood in a literal or 
 allegorical fenfe } Whether the book of Job be an hifliory 
 or a parable ? Being points difputed between chriftians, 
 an infidel can have no right to argue from one fide of the 
 
 * Socr. Hiftor. Ecclef. 1. 
 
 R r
 
 52i MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 queftion in thofe, or the like cafes. This or that tenet 
 of a feet, this or that controverted notion is not what wc 
 contend for at prefent, but the general faith, taught by 
 Chrift and his apoftles, and preferved by univerfal and 
 perpetual tradition, in all the churches down to our own 
 times. To tax or ftrike at this divine doftrine, on account 
 of things foreign and adventitious, the fpeculations and 
 difputes of curious men, is in my mind, an abfurdity of 
 the fame kind, as it would be to cut down a fine tree, 
 yielding fruit and fhade, becaufe its leaves afforded nour- 
 ilhment to caterpillers, or becaufe fpiders may now and 
 then weave cobwebs among the branches. 
 
 Alc. — To divide and diftinguifh would take time. We 
 have feveral gentlemen very capable of judging in the 
 grofs, but that want attention for irkfome and dry ftudies 
 or minute inquiries. To which, as it would be very hard 
 to oblige men againft their will, fo it mufl be a great wrong 
 to the world, as well as themfelves, to debar them from 
 the right of deciding according to their natural fenfe of 
 things. 
 
 Ori.-- It were to be wifhed thofc capable men would 
 employ their judgment and attention on the fame objects. 
 If theological inquires are unpalatable, the field of nature 
 is wide. How many difcoveries to be made ! How ma- 
 ny errors to be corrected in arts and fciences ! How many 
 vices to be reformed in life and manners ! Why do men 
 fingle out fuch points as are innocent and ufeful, when 
 there are fo many pernicious mift?.kes to be amended ? 
 Why fet themfelves to deflroy the hopes of human kind 
 and encouragements to virtue ? Why delight to judge 
 where they difdain to inquire ? Why not employ their no- 
 ble talents on the longitude or perpetual motion ? 
 
 Alc. — I wonder you would not fee the difference be- 
 tween points of curiofity and religion. Thofe employ 
 only men of a genius or humor fuited to them : But all
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 323 
 
 mankind have a right to cenfure, and are concerned to 
 judge of thefe, except they will blindly fubmit to be gov- 
 erned, by the ftale wifdom of their anceftors and the ef- 
 tablifhed laws of their country. 
 
 Cri.— 'It fhould feem, if they are concerned to judge, 
 they are not lefs concerned to examine before they judge. 
 
 Alc. — But after ail the examination, and inquiry, that 
 mortal man can make about revealed religion, it is im- 
 poflible to come at any rational fure footing. Strange 
 things are told us, and in proof thereof, it is faid, that 
 men have laid down their lives. But it may be eafily 
 conceived, and hath been often known, that men have 
 died for the fake of opinions, the belief of which, v/heth- 
 er right or wrong, had once pofleffed their minds. 
 
 Cri. — I grant you may find inftances of men dying for 
 falfe opinions which they believed. But can you affign 
 an inftance of a man's dying for the fake of an opinion, 
 which he did not believe. This cafe is inconceivable : 
 And yet this muft have been the cafe, if the witnefles 
 of Chrift's miracles and refurre£tion are fuppofed impof- 
 tors. 
 
 XXX. There is, indeed, a deal of fpecious talk about 
 faith, founded upon miracles : But when I examine this 
 matter thoroughly, and trace chriftian faith up to its origin- 
 al, I find it refts upon much darknefs, and fcruple, and 
 uncertainty. Inftead of points evident or agreeable to hu- 
 man reafon, I find a wonderful narrative of the Son of 
 God tempted in the wildernefs by the devil, a thing ut- 
 terly unaccountable, without any end, or ufe, or reafon 
 whatfoever. I meet with ftrange hiftories of apparitions 
 of angels and voices from heaven, with furprifing accounts 
 of demoniacs, things quite out of the road of common 
 fenfe or obfervation, with feveral incredible feats, faid to 
 have been done by divine power, but more probably the 
 inventions of men : Nor the lefs likely to be fo, becaufe
 
 324 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VL] 
 
 I cannot pretend to fay with what view, they were invent- 
 ed. Defigns deeply laid are dark, and the lefs we know, 
 the more we fufpecl : But, admitting them for true, I 
 fhall not allow them to be miraculous, until I thoroughly 
 know the power of what are called fecond caufes and the 
 force of magic. 
 
 Cri.— You feem, Alclphron^ to analyfe not faith, but 
 infidelity, and trace it to its principles ; which, from your 
 own account, I collect to be dark and doubtful fcruples 
 and furmifes, hailinefs in judging, and narrownefs in 
 thinking, grounded on a fanciful notion, which over-rates 
 the little fcantling of your own experience, and on real 
 ignorance of the views of Providence, and of the quali- 
 ties, operations, and mutual refpeds of the feveral kinds 
 of beings, which are, or may be, for ought you know, 
 in the univerfe. Thus obfcure, uncertain, conceited, and 
 conje£lural are the principles of infidelity. Whereas, on 
 the other hand, the principles of faith feem to me, points 
 plain and clear. It is a clear point, that this faith in 
 Chrift was fpread abroad throughout the world foon after 
 his death. It is a clear point, that this was not &St^t^ 
 by human learning, pohtics, or power. It is a clear point, 
 that in the early times of the church, there were feveral 
 men of knowledge and integrity, who embraced this faith, 
 not from any, but againfh ail temporal motives. It is a 
 clear point, that, the nearer they v/ere to the fountain- 
 head, the more opportunity they had to fatisfy themfelves 
 as to the truth of thofe fa6ls, which they believed. It is 
 a clear point, that the lefs intereft there was to pcrfuade, 
 the more need there was of evidence to convince them. 
 It is a clear point, that they relied on the authority of 
 thofe, who declared themfelves eye-witnclTes of the mira- 
 cles and refurrctlion of Chrift. It is a clear point, that 
 thofe profeffed eye-witnefies fuffered much for this, their 
 attcftation, and finally fealed it with their blood. It is a
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 32^ 
 
 clear point, that thefe witnefles, weak and contemptible 
 as they were, overcame the world, fpread more light, 
 preached purer morals, and did more benefit to mankind, 
 than all the philofophers and fages put together. Thefe 
 points appear to me clear and fure, and, being allowed 
 fuch, they are plain, juft, and reafonable motives of af- 
 fent : They ftand upon no fallacious ground, they contain 
 nothing beyond our fphere, neither fuppofing more knowl- 
 edge, nor other faculties, than we are really mafters of : 
 And if they (hould not be admitted for morally certain, 
 as I believe they will, by fair and unprejudiced inquirers, 
 yet the allowing them to be only probable, is fulficient to 
 ftop the mouth of an infidel. Thefe plain points, I fay, 
 are the pillars of our faith, and not thofe obfcure ones, by 
 you fuppofed, which are in truth, the unfound, uncertain 
 principles of infidelity, to a rafti, prejudiced, and aflum- 
 ing fpirit. To raife an argument, or anfwer an objedlion, 
 from hidden powers of nature or magic, is groping in 
 the dark : But by the evident light of fenfe, men might 
 be fufficiently certified of fenfible efFe^ls, and matters of 
 fact, fuch as the miracles and refurreflion of Chrifi: : And 
 the teilimony of fuch men might be tranfmitted to after- 
 ages, with the fame moral certainty, as other hiftorlcal 
 narrations : And thofe fame miraculous fa^ls, compared 
 by reafon with the doftrines they were brought to prove, 
 may afford to an unbiaiTed mind, ftrong indications of their 
 coming from God, or a fuperior principle, whofe good- 
 nefs retrieved the moral world, whofe power commanded 
 the natural, and whofe Povidence extended over both. — 
 Give me leave to fay, tiiat nothing dark, nothing incom- 
 prehenfible, or myfterious, or unaccountable, is the ground 
 or motive, the principle or foundation, the proof or rea- 
 fon of our faith, although it may be the objeft of it. 
 For it muft be owned, that, if by clear and fure princi- 
 ples, we are rationally led to believe a point lefs clear j we
 
 325 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI] 
 
 do not, therefore, rejeft fuch point, becaiife it is myfte- 
 rious to conceive, or difficult to account for j nor would 
 it be right fo to do. As for Jews and Gentiles^ ancient- 
 ly attributing our Saviour's miracles to magic, this is fo 
 far from being a proof againft them, that to me it feems, 
 rather a proof of the fa<3:s, without difproving the caufe 
 to which we afcribe them. As we do not pretend 
 to know the nature and operations of demons, the 
 hiftory, laws, and fyftem of rational beings, and the 
 fchemes or views of Providence, fo far as to account for 
 every a£lion and appearance, recorded in the gofpel : So 
 neither do you know enough of thofe things, to be able 
 from that knowledge of yours, to Gbje£l againft accounts 
 fo well attefted. It is an eafy matter to raife fcruples 
 upon many authentic parts of civil hiftory, which, requir- 
 ing a more perfect knowledge of fa6ts, circumftances, 
 and councils, than we can come at to explain them, muft 
 be to us inexplicable. And this is ftill more eafy, with 
 refpe£l to the hiftory of nature ; in which, if furmifes 
 were admitted for proofs againft things odd, ftrange, and 
 unaccountable ; if our fcanty experience were made the 
 rule and meafure of truth, and all thofe phenomena re- 
 jected, that we, through ignorance of the principles, 
 and laws, and fyftem of nature, could not explain ; we 
 fhould indeed make difcoveries, but it would be only of our 
 own blindnefs and prefumption. And why, that men 
 are fo eafily and fo often gravelled in common points, in 
 things natural and vifible, fhould yet be fo (harp-fighted 
 and dogmatical about the invifiblc world, and its myfte- 
 ries, is to me a point utterly unaccountable by all the 
 rules of logic and good fenfe. Upon the whole, there- 
 fore, I cannot help thinking that there are points, fufli- 
 ciently plain, and clear, and full, whereon a man may 
 ground a reafonable faith in Chrift : But that the attacks 
 of Minute Philofophers, againft this faith, are grounded 
 upon darknefs, ignorance and prefumption.
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 327 
 
 Alc. — I doubt I (hall ftill remain In the dark, as to the, 
 proofs of the chriftian religion, and always prefume there 
 is nothing in them. 
 
 XXXI. For how is It poflible, at this remote diflance,. 
 to arrive at any knowledge, or frame any demonftratlon 
 about it ? 
 
 Cri. — What then ? Knowledge, I grant, in a ftri6t 
 fenfe, cannot be had without evidence, or demonftra- 
 tlon : but probable arguments are a fufficient ground of 
 faith. Who ever fuppofed that fcientifical proofs arc 
 neceflary to make a chriftian ^ Faith alone is required, 
 and, provided that, in the main, and upon the whole, 
 men are perfuaded, this faving faith may confift with 
 fome degrees of obfcurity, fcruple, and error. For, al- 
 though the light of truth be unchangeable, and the fame 
 in its eternal fource, the father of lights : Yet, with 
 refpe£t to us, it is varioufly weakened and obfcured, by 
 palling through a long diftance, or grofs medium, where 
 it is intercepted, diftorted, or tinctured by the prejudi- 
 ces and pafTions of men. But, all this, notwithftanding, 
 he that will ufe his eyes, may fee enough for the pur- 
 pofes, either of nature or of grace ; though by a light 
 dimmer indeed, or clearer, according to the place, or the 
 diftance, or the hour, or the medium. And it will be 
 fufficient, if fuch analogy appears between the difpenfa- 
 tions of grace and nature, as may make it probable 
 (although much ftiould be unaccountable in both) to fup- 
 pofe them derived from the fame author, and the work- 
 manfhlp of one, and the fame hand. 
 
 Alc. — Thofe who faw, and touched, and handled 
 y^fus ChriJ} after his refurre6tion, if there were any fuch, 
 may be faid to have feen by a clear light : But to us, the 
 light is very dim, and yet it is expe6ted we fhould believe 
 this point as well as they. For my part, I believe with
 
 328 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Spimfa, that Chrift's death was literal, but his refurrec- 
 rion allegorical. * 
 
 Cri. — And for my part, I can fee nothing in this cel- 
 ebrated infidel, that (hould make me defert matters of fa£^, 
 and moral evidence, to adopt his notions. Though I muft 
 needs own, I admit an allegorical refurrre£i:ion, that 
 proves the real : to wit, a refurrei^ion of Chrift's difcl- 
 ples from weaknefs to refolution, from fear to courage, 
 from defpair to hope : of v/hich, for ought I can fee, no 
 rational account can be given, but the fenfible evidence, 
 that our Lord was truly, really, and literally rifen from 
 the dead : But as it cannot be denied, that his difciples, 
 who were eye-witnefles of his miracles and refurredlion, 
 had ftronger evidence than we can have of thefe points : 
 So it cannot be denied, that fuch evidence was then more 
 neceflary, to induce men to embrace a new inftitution, 
 contrary to the whole fyftem of their education, their 
 prejudices, their paflions, their interefts, and every hu- 
 man motive. Though to me it feems, the moral evidence 
 and probable arguments within our reach, are abundantly 
 fufficient to make prudent, thinking men, adhere to the 
 faith, handed down to us from our anceftors, eflabliflied 
 by the laws of our country, requiring fubmiffion in points 
 above our knowledge, and for the reft, recommending 
 do£lrlnes, the moft agreeable to our intcreft, and our 
 reafon. And, however ftrong the light might have been 
 at the fountain-head, yet its long continuance and propa- 
 gation, by fuch unpromifing inftruments throughout the 
 world, have been very wonderful. We may now take a 
 more comprehenfive view of the connexion, order, and 
 progrefs of the divine difpenfations, and by a retrofpedi 
 on a long feries of paft ages, perceive a unity of defign, 
 running throughout the whole, a gradual difclofing, and 
 fufilling the purpofes of Providence, a regular progrefs 
 
 • Vid- Spinofse Epill. ad Oldenburgiuqn,
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 329 
 
 from types to anti-types, from things carnal to things 
 fpiritual, from earth to heaven. We may behold Chrill 
 crucified, that ftumbling-block to the Jeivs, and fooliih- 
 nefs to the Greeks, putting a final period to the temple 
 yrorfhip of the one, and idolatry of the other, and that 
 iione, which was cut out of the mountain without hands, 
 and brake in pieces all other kingdoms, become itfelf a 
 great mountain. 
 
 XXXII. If a due reflexion on thefe things be not fuf- 
 ficient to beget a reverence for the chriftian faith in the 
 minds of men, I (hould rather impute it to any other 
 caufc, than a wife and cautious incredulity : When I fee 
 their eafinefs of faith in the common concerns of life, 
 where there is no prejudice or appetite to bias or difturb 
 their natural judgment : When I fee thofe very men that, 
 in religion, will not ftir a ftep without evidence, and at 
 every turn expecb demonilratlon, truft their health to a 
 phyfician, and their lives to a failor, with an implicit faith, 
 I cannot think they deferve the honor of being thought 
 more incredulous than other men : Or that they are more 
 accuftomed to know, and for this reafon lefs inclied to 
 believe. Qn the contrary, one is tempted to fufpedl, that 
 ignorance hath a greater fliare than fcience in our modern 
 infidelity : And that it proceeds more from a wrong head, 
 or an irregular will, than from deep refearches. 
 
 Lys. — We do not, it muft be owned, think that learn- 
 ing, or deep refearches, are neceflary to pafs a right judg- 
 ment upon things. I fometimes fufpe6t that learning is 
 apt to produce and juftify whims, and fincerely believe 
 we (hould do better without it. Our fe£l are divided on 
 this point, but much the greater part think with me. I 
 have heard more than once, very obferving men remark, 
 that learning was the true human means which prefervcd 
 religion in the world : And that, if we had it in our power 
 to prefer blockheads in the church, all would fbon be right. 
 
 S s
 
 330 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Cri. — Men muft be ftrangely in love with their opin- 
 ions, to put out their eyes rather than part with them. 
 But it has been often remarked by obferving men, that 
 there are no greater bigots than infidels. 
 
 Lys. — What ! A free-thinker, and a bigot, impoffible ! 
 
 Cri. — Not fo impoffible neither, that an infidel ftiould 
 be bigoted to his infidelity. Mcthinks I fee a bigot, 
 wherever I fee a man over-bearing, and pofitive without 
 knowing why, laying the greateft ftrefs on points of fmall- 
 eft moment, hafty to judge of the confcience, thoughts, 
 and inward views of other men, impatient of reafoning 
 againft his own opinions, and choofing them with incli- 
 nation rather than judgment, an enemy to learning, and 
 attached to mean authorities. How far our modern infi- 
 dels agree with this defcription, I leave to be confidered 
 by thofe who really confider and think for themfelves. 
 
 Lys. — We are no bigots, we are men that difcover diffi- 
 culties in religion, that tie knots and raife fcruples, which 
 difturb the repofe, and interrupt the golden dreams of 
 bigots, who therefore cannot endure us. 
 
 Cri. — They who call about for difficulties, will be 
 fure to find, or make them upon every fubje£l: : But he 
 that would, upon the foot of reafon, ere6l himfelf into 
 a judge, in order to make a wife judgment on a fubjedi 
 of that nature, will not only confider the doubtful and 
 difficult parts of it, but take a comprehenfive view of the 
 whole, confider it in all its parts and relations, trace it to 
 its original, examine its principles, efi^edls, and tenden- 
 cies, its proofs internal and external : he will diftinguifti 
 between the clear points and the obfcure, the certain and 
 uncertain, the eflential and the circumftantial, between 
 what is genuine and what foreign. He will confider the 
 different forts of proof, that belong to different tilings : 
 where evidence is to be expected : Where probability may 
 fuffice ; And where it is reafonable to fuppofe there fliould
 
 [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 331 
 
 be doubts and fcruples. He will proportion his pains and 
 exa^lnefs to the importance of the inquiry, and check 
 that difpofition of his mind to conclude all thofe notions, 
 groundlefs prejudices, with which it was imbued before 
 it knew the reafon of them. He will filence his paflions, 
 and liften to truth. He will endeavor to untie knots as 
 well as to tie them, and dwell rather on tlie light parts of 
 things, than the obfcure. He will balance the force of 
 his underftanding with the difficulty of the fubjeft, and 
 to render his judgment impartial, hear evidence on all 
 fides, and fo far as he is led by authority, choofe to follow 
 that of the honeftcft and wifeft men. Now it is my fin- 
 cere opinion, the chriftian religion may well ftand the 
 teft of fuch an inquiry. 
 
 Lys. — But fuch an inquiry would coft too much pains 
 and time. We have thought of another method, the 
 bringing religion to the teft of wit and hum^our : This v^ 
 find a much fliorter, eafier, and more effe£lual way> 
 And, as all enemies are at liberty to choofe their weapons, 
 we make choice of thofe we are moft expert at : And we 
 are the better pleafed with this choice, having obferved 
 that of all things, a foiid divine hates a jeft. 
 
 EuPH. — To confider the whole of the fubjecl, to read 
 and think on all fides, to object plainly, and anfwer di- 
 redtly, upon the foot of dry reafon and argument, would 
 be a very tedious and troublefome affair. Befides it is at- 
 tacking pedants at their ov/n weapons. How much more 
 delicate and artful is it, to give a hint to cover one's felf, 
 with an ssnigma, to drop a double entendre^ to keep it in 
 one's power to recover, and flip afide, and leave his an- 
 tagonift beating the air ? 
 
 Lys. — This hath been pra<£lifed with great fuccefs, and 
 I believe it the top method to gain profelytes, and con- 
 found pedants*
 
 332 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.] 
 
 Cri. — I have feen feveral things written in this way, 
 which, I fuppofe, were copied from the behavior of a fly 
 fort of fcorners, one may fometimes meet with. Sup- 
 pofe a conceited man that would pafs for witty, tipping 
 the wink upon one, thrufting out his tongue at another ; 
 one while waggiftily fmiling, another with a grave mouth 
 and ludicrous eyes ; often affecting the countenance of 
 one who fmothered a jeft, and fometimes biirfting out in 
 a horfe-laugh : What a figure would this be, I will not 
 fay in the fenate or council, but in a private vifit among 
 well-bred men ? And yet this is the figure that certain great 
 authors, who in this age, would pafs for models, and do 
 pafs for models, make in their polite and elaborate writings 
 on the .moft weighty points. 
 
 Alc. — I, wh6 profefs myfelf an admirer, an adorer 
 of reafon, am neverthelefs obliged to own, that in fome 
 cafes, the fharpnefs of ridicule can do more than the 
 ftrength of argument. But if we exert ourfelves in the 
 ufe of mirth and humor, it is not for want of other wea- 
 pons. It fhall never be faid, that a free-thinker was afraid 
 of reafoning. No Critoy we have reafons in flore : The 
 beft are yet to come.: And if we can find an hour for an- 
 other conference before we fet out to-morrow morning, 
 I'll undertake you (hall be plied with reafons, as clear, 
 and home, and clofe to the point as you could wi(h.
 
 < '.■■■■OOiZX'A 
 
 THE 
 
 SEVENTH DIALOGUE. 
 
 I. Chnjiian Faith impojftble. II. Words Jland for Ideas, 
 III. No Knowledge or Faith ivithout Ideas. IV. Gracey 
 no Idea of it. V. Suggefing Ideas not the only life of 
 Words. VI. Force as dijicult to form an Idea of as 
 Grace. VII. Notwithjlanding whichy ufeful Propofttions 
 may he formed concernijig it. VIII. Belief of the Trini^ 
 ty and other Myfieries not abfurd. IX. Miflakes about 
 Faith an Occafton of profane Raillery. X. Faithy its true 
 Nature and Efe5is. XI. Illujlrated by Science. XII. 
 By Arithmetic in particular. XIII. Sciences converfant 
 about Signs. XIV. The true End of Speech, Reafony 
 Science, and Faith. XV. Metaphyftcal ObjeElions as 
 Jlrong againfl Human Sciences as Articles of Faith. XVI. 
 No Religion y becaufe no Human Liberty . XVII. Farther 
 Proof againfl Human Liberty. XVIII. Fatalifm a Con- 
 fequence of erroneous Suppofttions'. XIX. Man an ac^ 
 countable Agent. XX. Inconftflency, Singularityy and 
 Credulity of Minute Philofophers. XXI. Untroden Paths 
 and new Light of the Minute Philofophers. XXII. So- 
 phiflry of the Minute Philofophers. XXIII. Minute Phi- 
 lofophers ambiguous , enigmatical y unfathomable. XXIV. 
 Scepticifm of the Minute Philofophers. XXV. How a 
 Sceptic ought to behave. XXVI. Minute Philofophers, 
 ^hy difficult to convince. XXVII. Thinking, not the ep- 
 
 , idemical Evilof thefe times. XXVIII. Infidelity y not an 
 EffeB of Reafon or Thought, its true Motives affigned. 
 XXIX. Variety of Opinions about ReligioUy EffeBs there* 
 of XXX. Method for proceeding with Minute Philofo- 
 phers. XXXI. Wa7it of Thought, and want of Educa^ 
 tion, DefeBs of the prefent Age,
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 33^ 
 
 ^T. 
 
 HE philofophers having refolved to fet out for 
 London next morning, we aflenibled at break of day in 
 the library. Alciphron began with a declaration of his 
 fincerity, affuring us, he had very maturely and with a 
 moft unbiafTed mind confidered all that had been faid, the 
 day before. He added that, upon the whole, he could 
 not deny feveral probable reafons were produced for em- 
 bracing the chriftian faith. But, faid he, thofe reafons 
 being only probable can never prevail againft abfolute cer- 
 tainty and demonflration. If therefore, I can demon- 
 strate your religion to be a thing altogether abfurd and in- 
 confiftent, your probable arguments in its defence do, from 
 that moment, lofe their force, and with it, all right to be 
 anfwered or confidered. The concurring teftimony of 
 fmcere and able witnefles hath, without queftion, great 
 weight in human affairs. I will even grant, that things 
 odd and unaccountable to human judgment or experience, 
 may fometimes claim our aflent on that fole motive. — 
 And I will alfo grant it poflible, for a tradition to be con- 
 veyed with moral evidence through many centuries. But 
 at the fame time, you will grant to me, that a thing de- 
 monftrably an,d palpably falfe, is not to be admitted on any 
 teftimony v/hatever, which at beft can never amount to 
 demonft ration. To be plain, no teftimony can make 
 nonfenfe fenfe : No moral evidence can make contradic- 
 tions confiftent. Know then, that as the ftrength of our 
 caufe doth not depend upon, fo neither is it to be deci- 
 ded by any critical points of hiftory, chronology, or lan- 
 guages. You are not to wonder, if the fame fort of 
 tradition and moral proof, which governs our aflent with" 
 refpe£l to fa6ls in civil or natural hiftory is not admitted 
 as a fufEcient voucher for metaphyfical abfurdities and ab- 
 folute impoflibilitles. Things obfcure and unaccountable 
 in human affairs, or the operations of nature, may yet
 
 336 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 be poflible, and, if well attefted, may be aflented unto : 
 But religious affent, or faith, can be evidently fhewn in its 
 own nature to be impradicablc, impoflible, and abfurd. 
 This is the primary motive to infidelity. This is our cita- 
 del and fortrefs, which may, indeed, be graced with out- 
 works of various erudition, but, if thofe are demoliftied, 
 remains in itfelf, and of its own proper ftrength impreg- 
 nable. 
 
 EuPH, — This, it muft be owned, reduceth our inquiry 
 within a narrow compafs : Do but make out this, and I 
 {hall have nothing more to fay. 
 
 Alc— Know then, that the (hallow mind of the vul- 
 gar, as it dwells only on the outward furface of things, 
 and confiders them in the grofs, may be eafily impofed on. 
 Hence a blind reverence for religious faith and myftery. 
 But when an acute philofopher comes to difle£l and analyfe 
 thefe points, the impofture plainly appears : And as he 
 has no blindnefs, fo he has no reverence for empty no- 
 tions, or, to fpeak more properly, for mere forms of 
 fpeech, which mean nothing, and are of no ufe to man- 
 kind. 
 
 II. Words are figns : They do or (hould ftand for ideas ; 
 which fo far as they fuggeft they are fignificant. But 
 words that fuggeft no ideas are infignificant. He who an- 
 nexeth a clear idea to every word he makes ufe of, fpeaks 
 fenfe : But where fuch ideas are wanting, the fpeaker ut- 
 ters nonfenfe. In order, therefore, to know whether any 
 man's fpeech be fenfelefs and infignificant, we have no- 
 thing to do but lay afide the words and confider the ideas 
 fuggefted by them. Men, not being able immediately to 
 communicate their ideas one to another, are obliged to 
 make ufe of fenfible figns, or words ; the ufe of which is 
 to raife thofe ideas in the hearer, which are in the mind 
 of the fpeaker : And if they fail of this end, they fcrve to
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 337 
 
 no purpofe. He, who really thinks hath a train of ideas 
 fucceeding each other and connefted in his mind : And 
 when he expreffeth himfelf by difcourfe, each word fug- 
 gefts a diftin^l idea to the hearer or reader j who by that 
 means hath the fame train of ideas in his, which was in 
 the mind of the fpeaker or writer. As far as this efFecSl is 
 produced, fo far the difcourfe is intelligible, hath fenfe 
 and meaning. Hence it follows, that whoever can be 
 fuppofed to underlland what he reads or hears, mud have 
 a train of ideas raifed in his mind, correfpondent to the 
 train of words read or heard. Thefe plain truths, to 
 which men readily aflent in theory, are but little attended 
 to in pra£tice, and therefore deferve to be enlarged on, 
 and inculcated however obvious and undeniable. Man- 
 kind are generally averfe from thinking, though apt enough 
 to entertain difcourfe either in themfelves or others : The 
 €fFe£l: whereof is, that their minds are rather ftored with 
 names than ideas, the hulk of fcience rather than the 
 thing. And yet thefe words without meaning do often 
 make diftin£lions of parties, the fubje£l; matter of their 
 difputes, and the object of their zeal. This is the mofl 
 general caufe of error, which doth not influence ordina- 
 ry minds alone, but even thofe who pafs for acute and 
 learned philofophers, arc often employed about names in- 
 ftead of things or ideas, and are fuppofed to know when 
 they only pronounce hard words, without a meaning. 
 
 III. Though it is evident that, as knowledge is the per- 
 ception of the connexion or difagreement between ideas, 
 he who doth not dillindlly perceive the ideas marked by 
 the terms, fo as to form a mental propofition anfwering to 
 the verbal, cannot pofTibly have knowledge : No more 
 can he be faid to have opinion or faith which imply a weaker 
 aflent, but ftill it mufi: be to a propofition, the terms of 
 which, are underftood as clearly, although the agreement 
 T t
 
 338 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 or difagrecment of the ideas may not be fo evident, as in 
 the cafe of knowledge. I fay, all degrees of affcnt 
 whether founded on reafon or authority, more or lefs co- 
 gent, are internal a£l:s of the mind, which alike terminate 
 in ideas as their proper obje6i; : Without which there can 
 be really no fuch thing as knowledge, faith, or opinion. 
 We may perhaps raife a dull and difpute about tenets 
 purely verbal : But what is this at bottom, more than 
 mere trifling ? All which will be eafily admitted with ref- 
 pe£t to human learning and fcience ; wherein it is an al- 
 lowed method to expofe any doctrine or tenet, by flrip- 
 ping them of the words, and examining what ideas are 
 underneath, or whether any ideas at all ? This is often 
 found the (horteft way to end difputes, which might oth- 
 erv/ife grow, and multiply without end, the litigants nei- 
 ther underftanding one another nor themfelves. It were 
 needlefs to illuftrate what (hines by its own light, and is ad- 
 mitted by all thinking men. My endeavor (hall be only 
 to apply it in the prefent cafe. I fuppofe I need not be at 
 any pains to prove, that the fame rules of reafon and good 
 fenfe, which obtain in all other fubje6ts, ought to take 
 place in religion. As for thofe, who confider faith and 
 reafon as two di{lin£i: provinces, and would have us think 
 good fenfe has nothing to do where it is moil concerned, 
 I am refolved never to argue with fuch men, but leave 
 them in quiet poireffion of their prejudices. And now, for 
 the particular application of what I have faid, I fhall not 
 fingle out any nice difputed points of fchool divinity, or 
 thofe that relate to the nature and eflence of God, which 
 being allowed infinite you might pretend to fcreen them, 
 under the general notion of difficulties attending the na- 
 ture of infinity. 
 
 IV. Grace is the main point in the chriftian dlfpenfa- 
 tion, nothing is oftner mentioned or more confidered
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 339 
 
 throughout the New Teftament ; wherein it is reprefent- 
 ed as fomewhat of a very particular kind, diflin£t from 
 any thing revealed to the Jenvs^ or known by the light of 
 nature. This fame grace is fpoken of, as the gift of God, 
 as coming by Jefus Chrift^ as reigning, as abounding, as 
 operating. Men are faid to fpeak through grace, to be- 
 lieve through grace. Mention is made of the glory of 
 grace, the riches of grace, the ftewards of grace. Chrif- 
 tians are faid to be heirs of grace, to receive grace, grow 
 in grace, be ftrong in grace, to ftand in grace, and to 
 fall from grace. And laftly, grace is faid to juftify, and 
 to fave them. Hence chriftianity is ftiled the covenant 
 or difpenfation of grace. And it is well known, that no 
 point hath created more controverfy in the church, than 
 this do(3:rine of grace. What difputes about its nature, 
 extent, and efFefbs, about univerfal, efficacious, fufiicient, 
 preventing, irrefillible grace, have employed the pens of 
 proteftant as well as popifh divines, of Janfemjls and Mo" 
 linijis, of Lutheransy Calvinijtsy and Arminiansy as I have 
 not the lead curiofity to know, fo I need not fay. It fuf- 
 ficeth to obferve, that there have been, and are flill fub- 
 fifting great contefts upon thefe points. Only one thing 
 I (hould defire to be i»formed of, to wit, what is the clear 
 and diftin£t idea marked by the word grace ? I pre- 
 fume a man may know the bare meaning of .a term, with- 
 out going into the depth of all thofe learned inquiries. 
 This furely is an eafy matter, provided there is an idea an- 
 nexed to fuch term. And if there is not, it can be nei- 
 ther the fubje^t of a rational difpute, nor the object of 
 real faith. Men may indeed impofe upon themfelves or 
 others, and pretend to argue and believe, when at bottom 
 there is no argument or belief, farther than mere verbal 
 trifling. Grace taken in the vulgar fenfe, either for beau- 
 ty, or favor, I can eafily underftand. But when it de-
 
 340 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 notes an ad^Ive, vital, ruling principle, influencing and ope- 
 rating on the mind of man, diftin<3: from every natural 
 power or motive, I profefs myfelf ajtogether unable to 
 underftand it, or frame any diftincSl idea of it : And, 
 therefore, I cannot aflent to any propofition concerning 
 it, nor confequently have any faith about it : And it is a 
 felf-evident truth, that God obligeth no man to impolTibil- 
 ities. At the requeft of a philofophical friend, I did caft 
 an eye on the writings he (hewed me of fome divines, 
 and talked with others, on this fubje6l, but after all I had 
 read or heard, could make nothing of it, having always 
 found, whenever I laid afidc the v/ord grace, and looked 
 into my own mind, a perfeft vacuity or privation of all ideas* 
 And, as I am apt to think men's minds and faculties arc 
 made much alike, I fufpeft that other men, if they 
 examined what they call grace, with the fame exa£i;nefs 
 and indifference, would agree with me, that there was 
 nothing in it but an empty name. This is not the only 
 inftance, where a word often heard and pronounced, is 
 believed intelligible, for no other reafon but becaufe it is 
 familiar. Of the fame kind are many other points reput- 
 ed neceflary articles of faith. That which in the prefent 
 cafe impofeth upon mankind, I take to be partly this. 
 Men fpeak of this holy principle, as of fomething that 
 a£l:s, moves, and determines, taking their ideas from cor- 
 poreal things, from motion, and the force or Momentum 
 of bodies, which being of an obvious and fenfible nature 
 they fubftitute in place of a thing fpiritual, and incompre- 
 henfible, which is a manifefl delufion. For though, the 
 idea of corporeal force be ever fo clear and intelligible, 
 it will not, therefore, follow, that the idea of grace, a 
 thing perfectly incorporeal, muft be fo too. And though, 
 "we may reafon diftin6:ly, perceive, aflent, and form opin- 
 ions about the one, it will by no means follow that we 
 can do fo of the other. Thus it comes to pafs, that a
 
 [Dial. VU.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 341 
 
 clear fenfible idea of what is real, produceth, or ra ther 
 is made a pretence for an imaginary, fpiritual faith, that 
 terminates in no obje£t ; a thing impoflible ! For there 
 can be no aflent, where there are no ideas : And where 
 there is no aflent, there can be no faith : And what can- 
 not be, that no man is obliged to. This is as clear as any 
 thing in Euclid. 
 
 V. EuPH.— Be the ufe of words or names, what it 
 will, I can never think it is to do things impoflible. Let 
 us then inquire what it is ? And fee if we can make fenfe 
 of our daily practice. Words, it is agreed, are figns : 
 It may not, therefore, be amifs to examine the ufe of oth- 
 er figns, in order to know that of words. Counters, for 
 infl:ance, at a card-table are ufed, not for their own fake, 
 but only as figns fubfl:ituted for money, as words are for 
 ideas. Say now, Alciphrotiy is it necefl^ary every time 
 thefe counters are ufed, throughout the whole progrefs of 
 a game, to frame an idea of the dift;in<St fum or value, 
 that each reprefents ? 
 
 Alc. — By no means : It is fuflicient, the players at 
 firfl: agree on their refpe^tive values, and at lafl fubfl:itute 
 thofe values in their fl:ead. 
 
 EuPH. — And in cafl;ing up a fum, where the figures 
 Hand for pounds, {hillings, and pence, do you think it 
 neceflary, throughout the whole progrefs of the operation, 
 in each flep, to form ideas of pounds, {hillings, and 
 pence ? 
 
 Alc. — I do not, it will fuffice, if in the conclufion, 
 thofe figures direct our a£l:ions with refpect to things. 
 
 EuPH. — From hence, it feems to follow, that words 
 may not be infignificant, although they fliould not every 
 time they are ufed, excite the ideas they fignify in our 
 minds, it being fuflicient, that we have it in our power 
 to fubftitute things or ideas for their figns when there is
 
 34^ MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 dccafion. It feems alfo to follow, that there may be 
 another ufe of words, befides that of marking and fug- 
 gelling diftind ideas, to wit, the influencing our condu£l: 
 and actions ; which may be done, cither by forming rules 
 for us to a£t by, or by raifing certain paflions, difpofitions, 
 and emotions in our minds. A difcourfe, therefore, that 
 dire(3:s how to a£t, or excite to the doing or forbearance 
 of an action may, it feems, be ufeful and fignificant, al- 
 though the words whereof it is compofed, fliould not bring 
 each a diftin^b idea into our minds. 
 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray tell me, Alciphrouy is not an idea altogeth- 
 er inactive ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EupH.— An agent, therefore, an active mind, or fpirit, 
 cannot be an idea, or like an idea. Whence it fliould 
 feem to follow, that thofe words, which denote an a£tive 
 principle, foul, or fpirit, do not, in a ftri£l, and proper 
 fenfe, ffcand for ideas : And yet they are not infignificant 
 neither : Since I under (land what is fignified by the term /, 
 or myfelfy or know what it means, although it be no idea, 
 nor like an idea, but that which thinks and wills, and 
 apprehends ideas and operates about them. Certainly it 
 muft be allowed that we have fome notion, that we un- 
 derftand, or know what is meant by the terms myfelf^ nvill^ 
 memory^ love^ hate^ and fo forth, although, to fpeak 
 cxadly, thefe words do not fuggefl: fo many diftidl ideas. 
 
 Alc— What would you infer from this ? 
 
 EuPH.—- What hath been inferred already, that words 
 may be fignificant, although they do not ftand for ideas.* 
 The contrary whereof having been prefumed, feems to 
 have produced the doctrine of ab{lra£l; ideas. 
 
 Alc. — ^Will you not allow then, that the mind can ab- 
 ftraa ? 
 
 * See the Principles of Human Knowledge. Sed, 135. and the Intro- 
 iudlion. Se6l. %o.
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 343 
 
 EupH. — I do not deny it may abftra£t in a certain 
 fenfe ; inafmuch as thofe things that can really exift, or 
 be really perceived afunder, may be conceived afunder, 
 or abftradted one from the other ; for inftance, a man's 
 head from his body, colour from motion, figure from 
 weight. But it will not thence follow, that the mind can 
 frame, abftra^l general ideas, which appear to be impof- 
 fible. 
 
 Alc— And yet It is a current opinion, that every fub- 
 ftantive name marks out, and exhibits to the mind, one 
 diftin6l: idea feparate from all others. 
 
 EuPH. — Pray, Alciphrotty is not the word numbery fuch 
 a fubftantive name ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Do but try now, whether you can frame an 
 idea of number, in abftra£t exclufive of all figns, words, 
 and things numbered. I profefs, for my own part, I 
 cannot. 
 
 Alc. — Can it be fo hard a matter to form a fimple idea 
 of number, the obje£l of a moft evident demonftrable 
 fcience ^ Hold, let me fee, if I cannot abftra£l the idea 
 of number, from the numeral names and characters, and 
 all particular numerable things. Upon which, Alciphvon 
 paufed a while, and then faid : To confefs the truth, I do 
 not find that I can. 
 
 EupK. — But though, it feems, neither you nor I can 
 form diftinCt, fimple ideas of number, we can neverthe- 
 lefs, make a very proper and fignificant ufe of numeral 
 names. They diredl us in the difpofition, and manage- 
 ment of our affairs, and are of fuch neceflary ufe, that 
 we ftiouJd not know how to do without them. And yet, 
 if other men's faculties may be judged of by mine, to 
 attain a precife, fimple abftradi idea of number, is as diffi' 
 cult as to comprehend any myftery in religion.
 
 344 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial.VIL] 
 
 VI. But to come to your own inftance, let us examine 
 what idea we can frame of force abftra<3:ed from body, 
 motion, and outward fenfible effe£^s. For niyfelf, I do 
 not find that I have or can have any fuch idea. 
 
 Alc— Surely every one knows what is meant by force. 
 
 EuPH. — And yet I queftion whether every one can 
 form a diftin£t idea of force. Let me intreat you. Aid" 
 phrcn, be not amufed by terms, lay afide the word force^ 
 and exclude every other thing from your thoughts, and 
 then fee what precife idea you have of force. 
 
 Alc. — Force is that in bodies, which produceth motion 
 and other fenfible efFe6ls. 
 
 EuPH. — It is then fomething diftin6l from thofe effe£ls. 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EupH. — Be pleafed now to exclude the confideration of 
 its fubje6t and efFedls, and contemplate force itfelf in its 
 own precife idea. 
 
 Alc. — I profefs I find it no fuch eafy matter. 
 
 EupH. — Take your own adviccj^ and fhut your eyes to 
 aflift your meditation. Upon this, Alciphron having clof- 
 ed his eyes, and mufed a few minutes, declared he could 
 make nothing of it. And that, replied Euphranor^ which 
 it feems neither you nor I can frame an idea of, by your 
 own remark of men's minds and faculties being made 
 much alike, we may fuppofe others have no more an idea 
 of than we. 
 
 Alc. — We may. 
 
 EuPH. — But, notwithftanding all this, it is certain 
 there are many fpeculations, reafonings, and difputes, 
 refined fubtilities, and nice diftind^ions, about this fame 
 force. And to explain its nature, and diftinguifh the fe- 
 veral notions or kinds of it, the terms, gravity, reaEiioriy 
 vis inertiay vis injtta, vis impreffa, vis mortua, vis viva, 
 impetusy momentum, folicitatio, conatus, and divers other 
 fuch like expreffions, have been ufed by learned men ;
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 34- 
 
 and no fmall controverfies have arifen about the notions or 
 definitions of thefe terms. It has puzzled men to know 
 whether force is fpiritual or corporeal, whether it remains 
 after action, how it is transferred from one body to ano- 
 ther. Strange paradoxes have been framed about its na- 
 ture, properties, and proportions : For inftance, that 
 contrary forces may at once fubfift in the fame quiefcent 
 boily : That the force of percufTion in a fmall particle is 
 infinite : For which, and other curiofities of the fame 
 fort, you may confult Borellus de vi percufflonisy the Lez' 
 ivni Academiche of Torricelli, the exercitatlons of Hermanns ^ 
 and other writers. It is well known to the learned world, 
 what a controverfy hath been carried on, between mathe- 
 maticians, particularly Monfieur Leibnitz and Monfieur 
 Papin in the Leipfic Acla Eruditorum^ about the propor- 
 tion of forces : Whether they be each to other in a pro- 
 portion compounded of the fimple proportion of the bo- 
 dies and the celerities, or in one compounded of the fimple 
 proportion of the bodies, and the duplicate proportions of 
 the celerities .'' A point, it feems, not yet agreed : As in- 
 deed the reality of the thing itfelf is made a queftion. 
 Leibnitz diflingulllied between the nifus elementaris, and 
 the impetus, which is formed by a repetition of the nifus 
 elementarisy and feems to think they do not exift in nature, 
 but are made only by an abflra^lion of the mind. The 
 fame author, treating of original, a£live force, to illuflrate 
 his fubje6l hath recourfe to the fubftantial forms and En- 
 telecheia of Arijiotle. And the ingenious TorricelU faith of 
 force and Impetus^ that they are fubtile abftra6ts and fpir- 
 itual qulntelfences : And concerning the momentum and 
 the velocity of heavy bodies falling, he faith they are un 
 certo che and un non fo che, that is plain Englifhy he knows 
 not what to make of them. Upon the whole, therefore, 
 may we not pronounce, that excluding body, time, fpace, 
 motion, and all its fenfible meafures, and efFeds, we 
 
 U u
 
 346 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.l 
 
 Ihall find it as difficult to form an idea of force, as of ^ 
 grace ? 
 
 Alc— I do not know what to think of it. 
 
 VII. EuPH. — And yet, I prefume, you allow there 
 are very evident propofitions or theorems, relating to force, 
 which contain ufeful truths : for inftance, that a body 
 with conjunct forces, defcribes the diagonal of a, paralle- 
 logram, in the fame time that it would the fides with fep- 
 arate. Is not this a principle of very extenfive ufe ? Doth 
 not the do£lrine of the compofition and refolution of for- 
 ces depend upon it, and in confequence thereof, number- 
 lefs rules and theorems, directing men how to aO:, and 
 explaining Phenomenay throughout the mechanics and 
 mathematical philofophy ? And if, by confidering this 
 doctrine of force, men arrive at the knowledge of many 
 inventions in mechanics, and are taught to frame engines, 
 by means of which things difficult, and otherwife impof- 
 fible may be performed -, and if the fame doctrine, which 
 is fo beneficial here below, ferveth alfo as a key to difcov- 
 er the nature of the celeftial motions ; fhall we deny that 
 it is of ufe, either in pra6lice or fpeculation, becaufe we 
 have no diltin^l idea of force ? Or that which we admit 
 with regard to force^ upon what pretence can we deny, 
 concerning grace ? If there are queries, difputes, per- 
 plexities, diverfity of notions and opinions about the one, 
 fo there are about the other alfo : If we can form no pre- 
 cife diftindl idea of the one, fo neither can we of the 
 other. Ought we not, therefore, by a parity of reafon 
 to conclude, there may be poffibly divers true and ufeful 
 propofitions concerning the one, as well as the other ? 
 And that grace may, for ought you know, be an objedt 
 of our faith, and influence our life and actions, as a 
 principle, deftrudive of evil habits, and produftive of 
 good ones, although we cannot attain a diftin£t idea of
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 347 
 
 it, feparatCj or abfl;ra£ted from God, the Author, from 
 man, the fubject, and from virtue and piety its efFeds ? 
 
 Vni. Shall we not admit the fame method of arguing^ 
 the fame rules of logic, reafon, and good fenfe to obtain 
 in things fplritual, and things corporeal, in faith and fci- 
 ence ? And (hall we not ufe the fame candor, and make 
 the fame allowances in examining the ravelations of God, 
 and the inventions of men ? For ought I fee, that philo- 
 fopher cannot be free from bias, and prejudice, or be faid 
 to weigh things in an equal balance, who (hall maintain 
 the do(SLrine of force, and reject that of grace, who fhall 
 admit the abftract idea of a triangle, and at the fame 
 time ridicule the holy trinity. But, however partial or 
 prejudiced other Minute Philofophers might be, you have 
 laid it down for a maxlm^ that the fame logic, which ob- 
 tains in other matters, muft be admitted in religion. 
 
 Lys.— I think, Alciphro7i^ it would be more prudent to 
 abide by the way of wit and humor, than thus to try re- 
 ligion by the dry teft of reafon and logic. 
 
 Alc.—- Fear not : By all the rules of right reafon, it 
 is abfolutely impolTible that any myflery, and leaft of all 
 the trinity, fhould really be the object of man's faith. 
 
 EuPH. — I do not wonder you thought fo, as long as 
 you maintained that no man could aflent to a propofition 
 without perceiving or framing in his mind, dlftin^t ideas 
 marked by the terms of it. But although terms are figns, 
 yet having granted, that thofe figns may be fignifiicant, 
 though they fhould not fugged ideas reprefented by tliem, 
 provided they ferve to regulate and influence our wills, 
 paflions, or conduct, you have confequentiy granted, that 
 the mind of man may aflent to propofitions containing 
 fuch terms, when it is fo directed or affected by them, 
 notwithllanding it fhould not perceive diflincl ideas mark- 
 ed by thofe terms. Whence It feems to follow, that a
 
 348 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 man may believe the doclrine of the trinity, if he finds 
 it revealed in Holy Scripture, that the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghoft are God, and that there is but one 
 God ? Although he doth not frame in his mind, any ab- 
 ftra^:, or diflinci: ideas of trinity, fubftance, or perfonai- 
 ity, provided, that this doftrine of a Creator, Redeemer, 
 and San6lifier makes proper impreffions on his mind, 
 producing therein, love, hope, gratitude, and obedience, 
 and thereby becomes a lively operative principle, influ- 
 encing his life and actions, agreeably to that notion of fa- 
 ying faith which is required in a chriilian. This, I fay, 
 whether right or wrong, feem.s to follow from your own 
 principles, and conceflions. But, for further fatisfa£cion, 
 it may not be amifs to inquire, whether there be any thing 
 parrallel to this chriftian faith, in the Minute Philofophy. 
 Suppofe a fine gentleman or lady of fafhion, who are too 
 much employed to think for themfelves, and are only free- 
 thinkers at fecond hand, have the advantage of being be- 
 times initiated in the principles of your ie£ky by converfing 
 with men of depth and genius, who have often declared 
 it to be their opinion, the world is governed either by fate, 
 or by chance, it matters not which : Will you deny it pof- 
 fible for fuch perfons to yield their' aflent to either of thefe 
 propofitions ? 
 
 Alc. — I will not. 
 
 EuPH. — x\nd may not fuch their aflent, be properly 
 C^Wed faith F 
 
 Alc. — It may. 
 
 EuPH. — And yet it is pofiible, thofe difciples of the 
 Minute Philofophy may not dive fo deep, as to be able to 
 frame any abftra6l, or precife, or any determinate idea 
 whatfoever, either of fate, or of chance. 
 
 Alc. — This too, I grant. 
 
 EupK. — So that according to you, this fame gentleman 
 or lady, may be faid to believe, or have faith, where they 
 have not ideas.
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 349 
 
 Alc. — They may. 
 
 EuPH.— And may not this faith, or perfuafion produce 
 real effects, and (hew itfelf in the conduct, and tenor 
 of their lives, freeing them from the fears of fuperfti- 
 tion, and giving them a true reUih of the world, with a 
 noble indolence, or indifference about what comes after. 
 
 Alc. — It may. 
 
 EuPH. — And may not chriilians, with equal reafon, 
 be allowed to believe the dignity of our Saviour, or that 
 in him, God and man, makp one perfon, and be verily 
 perfuaded thereof, fo far as for fuch faith or belief, to be- 
 come a real principle of life and condu<Sl: ? inafmuch as 
 by virtue of fuch perfuafion, they fubmit to his govern- 
 ment, believe his doctrine, and practife his precepts, al- 
 though they frame no ab(lra£l idea of tlie union between 
 the divine and human nature •, nor may be able to -clear 
 up the notion of perfon to the contentment of a Minute 
 Philofopher. To me, it feems evident, that if none but 
 thofe who had nicely examined, and could tliemfelves ex- 
 plain the principle of individuation in man, or untie the 
 knots and anfwer the objedlions, which may be raifed even 
 about human perfonal identity, would require of us to ex- 
 plain the divine myfteries, we fiiould not be often called 
 upon, for a clear and diftinct idea of perfon in relation to 
 the trinity, nor would the difficulties on that head, be of- 
 ten objected to our faith. 
 
 Alc. — Methinks, there is no fuch myftery in perfonal 
 identity. 
 
 EuPH.—Pray, in what do you take it to confift ? 
 
 Alc. — In confcicufnefs. 
 
 EuPH. — Whatever is pofTible, may be fuppofed. 
 
 Alc. — It may. 
 
 EuPH. — We will fuppofe now (which is poffible in x\vt 
 nature of tilings, and reported to be fa£l) that a perfon, 
 tlirough fome violent accident or diilemper, ftiould fall in-
 
 350 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 to fuch a total oblivion, as to lofe all confcioufnefs of his 
 paft life, and former ideas. I afk, is he not ft ill the fame 
 perfon ? 
 
 Alc— -He is the fame man, but not the fame perfon. 
 Indeed, you ought not to fuppofe that a perfon lofeth Its 
 former confcioufnefs ; for this is impoffible, though a man 
 perhaps may ; but then he becomes another perfon. In 
 the fame perfon, it *muft be owned, fome old ideas may 
 be loft, and fome new ones got : But a total change is in- 
 confiftent with identity of perfon. 
 
 EuPH. — Let us then fuppofe that a perfon hath ideas, 
 and is confcious during a certain fpace of time, which 
 we will divide into three equal parts, whereof the later 
 terms are marked by the letters, A, B, C. In the firft 
 part of time, the perfon gets a certain number of ideas, 
 which are retained in A : during the fecond part of time, 
 he retains one half of his old ideas, and lofeth the other 
 half, in place of which he acquires as many new ones : 
 So that in B, his ideas are half old and half new. And in 
 the third part, we fuppofe him to lofe the remainder of 
 the ideas acquired in the iirft, and to get new ones in 
 their ftead, which are retained in C, together with thofe 
 acquired in the fecond part of time. Is this a poffible 
 fair fuppofition ? 
 
 Alc. — It is. 
 
 EuPH. — Upon thefe premifes, I am tempted to think, 
 one may demenftrate, that perfonal identity doth not 
 condft in confcioufnefs. 
 
 Alc. — As how ? 
 
 EupH. — You ftiall judge ; but thus it feems to me. 
 
 The perfons in A and B are the fame, being confcious 
 of common ideas by fuppofition. The perfon in B is (for 
 the fame reafon) one and the fame with the perfon in C. 
 Therefore the perfon in A, is the fame with the perfon in C, 
 by that undoubted axiom, ^ce oonveniunt uni tertio con- 
 veniunt inter fe. But the perfon in C hath no idea in
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 351 
 
 common with the perfon in A. Therefore, perfonal iden- 
 tity doth not confift in confcioufnefs. What do you 
 think, Alciphrony is not this a plain inference ? 
 
 Alc. — I teil you what I think : You will never afliil 
 my faith by puzzling my knowledge. 
 
 IX. EuPH. — There is, if I miftake not, a pra6iical faith, 
 or aflent, which fheweth itfelf in the will and actions of 
 a man, although his underftanding may not be furniflied 
 with thofe abftra6l, precife, diftin£t ideas, which, what- 
 ever a philofopher may pretend, are acknowledged to be 
 above the talents of common men ; among whom, ne- 
 verthelefs, may be found, even according to your own 
 conceflion, many inftances of fuch pracStical faith, in 
 other matters which do not concern rehgion. "What 
 fliould hinder, therefore, but that doctrines relating to 
 heavenly myfteries, might be taught in this faving fenfe 
 to vulgar minds, which you may well think incapable of 
 all teaching and faith in the fenfe you fuppofe. Which 
 miftaken fenfe, faid CritOy has given occafion to much 
 profane and mifapplied raillery. But all this may very 
 juflly be retorted on the Minute Phllofophcrs themfelves, 
 who confound fcholafticifm with chrifiiianity, and im- 
 pute to other men thofe perplexities, chimeras, and in- 
 confident ideas, which are often the workmanifhip of their 
 own brains, and proceed from their own wrong way of 
 thinking. Who doth not fee that fuch an ideal abflra£l- 
 ed faith is never thought of by the bulk of chriftians, huf- 
 bandmen, for inflance, artifans, or fervants ? Or what 
 footfleps are there in the Holy Scripture to make us think, 
 that the wiredrawing of ab{lra6i ideas was a talk injoined 
 either Jews or chriftians ? Is there any thing in the law 
 or the prophets, the evangeUfts or apoftles, that looks 
 like it ? Every one, v/hofe underftanding is not pervert- 
 ed by fcience, falfely fo called, may fee the faving faith
 
 352 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 of chrillians is quite of another kind, a vital operative 
 principle, productive of charity and obedience. 
 
 Alc — What are v^e to think then of the difputes and 
 deciiions of the famous council of Nice^ and fo many fub- 
 fequent councils ? What was the intention of thofe vene- 
 rable fathers, the Homooufians and the Homoioufians ? Why 
 did they difturb themfelves and the world with hard words 
 and fubtle controverfies ? 
 
 Cri. — Whatever their intention was, it could not be 
 to beget nice abftra£led ideas of myfteries in the minds 
 of common chriftians, this being evidently impofTible : 
 Nor doth it appear that the bulk of chriftian men did, in 
 thofe days, think it any part of their duty, to lay afide 
 the words, (hut their eyes, and frame thofe abftra6l: ideas ; 
 any more than men now do of force, time, number, or 
 feveral other things, about which they neverthelefs believe, 
 know, argue, and difpute. To me it feems, that what- 
 ever was the fource of thofe controverfies, and hov/foever 
 they were managed, wherein human infirmity muft be 
 fuppofed to have had its fliare, the main end was not, on 
 cither fide, to convey precife pofitive ideas to the minds 
 of men, by the ufe of thofe contefted terms, but rather a 
 negative fenfe, tending to exclude polytheifm on the one 
 hand, and fabcllianifm on the other.* 
 
 Alc. — But what fliall we fay to fo many learned and 
 ingenious divines, who, from time to time, have obliged 
 the world with new explications of myfteries, who hav- 
 ing themfelves profefledly labored to acquire accurate ideas, 
 would recommend their dlfcoveries and fpeculations to 
 others for articles of faith ? 
 
 Cri. — To all fuch innovators in religion, I would fay 
 with Jerome, " Why, after fo many centuries, do you 
 pretend to teach us what was untaught before ? Why ex- 
 plain what neither reter nor Paul thought neceflary to be 
 
 * Vid. Sozomen, 1. 2. c. 8.
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 353 
 
 explained ? f " And it muft be owned, that the explication 
 of myfteries in divinity, allowing the attempt as fruitlefs 
 as the purfuit of the philofopher's ftone in chymiftry, or 
 the perpetual motion in mechanics, is no more than they, 
 chargeable on the profeffion itfelf, but only on the wrong- 
 headed profeflbrs of it. 
 
 X. It feems, that what hath been now faid, may be 
 applied to other myfteries of our religion. Original fm, 
 for inftance, a man may find it impoffible to form an idea 
 of an abftract, or of the manner of its tranfmiffion, and 
 yet the belief thereof may produce in his mind a falutary 
 fenfe of his own unworthinefs, and the goodnefs of his 
 Redeemer : From whence may follow good habits, and 
 from them good adlions, the genuine eiFefts of faith : which 
 confidered in its true light, is a thing neither repugnant nor 
 incomprehenfible, as fome men would pcrfuade us, but fuit- 
 ed even to vulgar capacities, placed in the will and afF'clions 
 rather than in the underftanding, and producing holy lives, 
 rather than fubtile theories. Faith, I fay, is not an indo- 
 lent perception, but an operative pcrfuafion of mind, 
 which ever worketh fome fuitable a6lion, difpofition, or 
 emotion in thofe who have it : As it were eafy to prove 
 and illuftrate by innumerable inftances taken from human 
 affairs. And, indeed, while the chriftian religion is con- 
 fidered as an inftitution fitted to ordinary minds, rather 
 than to the nicer talent, whether improved or puzzled, 
 of fpeculative men ; and our notions about faith are ac- 
 cordingly taken from the commerce of the world, and 
 practice of mankind, rather than from the peculiar fyf- 
 tems of refiners •, it will, I think, be no dlfiicult matter 
 to conceive and juftify the meaning and ufe of our belief 
 of myfteries, againft the moft confident aflertions and ob- 
 jections of the Minute Philofophers, who are eafily to be 
 
 f Hieronym, ad Pammachium & Oceanum de erroribus Origcnis. 
 W w
 
 354 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 caught in thofe very fnares, which they have fpun and 
 fpread for others. And that humor of controverfy, the 
 mother and nurfe of hereiies, would doubtlefs very much 
 abate, if it was confidered that things are to beratedj not 
 by the colour, fliape, or ftamp, fo truly as by the weight. 
 If the moment of opinions had been by fome litigious di- 
 vines made the meafure of their zeal, it might have fpar- 
 ed much trouble both to themfelves and others. Cer- 
 tainly one that takes his notions of faith, opinion, and 
 aflent from common fenfe, and common ufe, and has ma- 
 turely weighed the nature of figns and language, will not 
 be fo apt to controvert the wording of a myftery, or to 
 break the peace of the church, for the fake of retaining 
 or rejeding a term. But, to convince you, by a plain 
 inftance, of the efficacious neceflary ufe of faith without 
 ideas : We will fuppofe a man of the world, a Minute 
 Philofopher, prodigal and rapacious, one of large appe- 
 tites and narrow circumllances, who {hall have it in his 
 power at once to fcize upon a great fortune by one villan- 
 ous aft, a fingle breach of trull, which he can commit 
 with impunity and fecrecy : Is it not natural to fuppofe 
 him arguing in this manner ? All mankind in their fenfes 
 purfue their intereft. The interefts of this prefent life 
 are either of mind, body, or fortune. If I commit this 
 faft, my mind will be eafy (having nought to fear here or 
 hereafter) my bodily pleafures will be multiplied, and my 
 fortune enlarged. Suppofe now, one of your refined 
 theorifts talks to him about the harmony of mind and af- 
 feftions, inward worth, truth of character, in one word, 
 the beauty of virtue ; which is the only intereft he can 
 propofe, to turn the fcale againft all other fecular interefts 
 and fenfual pleafures , would it not, think you, be a vain 
 attempt ? I fay, in fuch a jun£lure what can the moft 
 plaufible and refined philofophy of your fett offer, to dif- 
 fuade fuch a man from his purpofe, more than affuring
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 355 
 
 him that the abfl:ra£i:ed delight of the mind, the enjoy- 
 ments of an interior moral fenfe, the to kalon are what 
 conftitute his true intereft ? And what efFed: can this have 
 on a mind callous to all thofe things, and at the fame time 
 ftrongly afFe£i:ed with a fenfe of corporeal pleafures, and 
 the outward intereft, ornaments, and conveniencies of 
 life ? Whereas that very man, do but produce in him a 
 fincere belief of a future ftate, although it be a myftery, 
 although it be what eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor 
 hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, he (hall 
 neverthelefs, by virtue of fuch belief, be withheld from 
 executing his wicked proje£l : And that for reafons which 
 all men can comprehend, though no body can the object 
 of them. I will allow the points infifted on by your re- 
 fined moralifts to be as lovely and excellent as you pleafe 
 to a reafonable, refle6ling, philofophical mind. But I 
 will venture to fay, that, as the world goes, few, very 
 few, would be influenced by them. We fee, therefore, 
 the neceflary ufe as well as the powerful effe<5ts of faith, 
 even where we have not ideas. 
 
 XI. Alc— It feems, Euphranor and you, would per- 
 fuade me into an opinion, that there is nothing fo (ingularly 
 abfurd as we are apt to think, in the belief of myfteries r 
 And that a man need not renounce his reafon to maintain 
 his religion. But if this were true, how comes it to pafs, 
 that, in proportion as men abound in knowledge, they 
 dwindle in faith ? 
 
 EuPH. — O Alcipkron, I have learned from you, that 
 there is nothing like going to the bottom of things, and 
 analyfmg them into their firft principles. I fhall there- 
 fore make an eflay of this method, for clearing up the 
 nature of faith : With what fuccefs I fhall leave you to 
 determine : For I dare not pronounce myfelf on my own 
 judgment, whether it be right or wrong : But thus it
 
 356 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 feems to me. The obje£lIons made to faith are by no 
 means an efFe6t of knowledge, but proceed rather from 
 an ignorance of what knowledge is : Which ignorance 
 may poflibiy be found even in thofe who pafs for mafters 
 of this or that particular branch of knowledge. Science 
 and faith agree in this, that they both imply an aflent of 
 the mind : And, as the nature of the firft is mod clear 
 and evident, it fnould be firft confidercd in order to caft a 
 light on the other. To trace things from their original, 
 it feems that the human mind, naturally furniflied with 
 the ideas of things particular and concrete, and being de- 
 igned, not for the bare intuition of ideas, but for action 
 or operation about them, and purfuing her own happinefs 
 therein, ftands in need of certain general rules or theo- 
 rems to dire6l her operations in this purfuit : The fupply- 
 ing which want is the true, original, reafonable end of 
 studying the arts and fciences. Now thefe rules being 
 general, it follows, that they are not to be obtained by 
 the mere confideration of the original ideas, or particular 
 things, but by the means of marks or figns, which, being 
 fo far forth univerfal, become the immediate inflruments 
 and materials of fcience. It is not, therefore, by mere 
 contemplation of particular things, and much lefs of their 
 abftracSt general ideas, that the mind makes her progrefs, 
 but by an appofite choice and Ikilful management of figns ; 
 For inftance, force and number, taken in concrete with 
 their adjunfts, fubje£l:s, and figns, are what every one 
 knows : And confidered in abftra6l, fo as making precife 
 ideas of themfelves, they are what no body can compre- 
 hend. That their ab(lra£l nature, therefore, is not the 
 foundation of fcience, is plain : And that barely confid- 
 ering their ideas in concrete, is not the method to advance 
 in the refpedive fcience, is what every one that refle6ls 
 may fee ; nothing being more evident, than that one, who 
 c;in neither write nor read, in common ufe, underftands
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 357 
 
 the meaning of numeral words, as well as the beft philo- 
 fopher or mathematician. 
 
 XII. But here lies the difference : the one who under- 
 flands the notation of numbers, by means thereof is able 
 to exprefs briefly and diftin£lly all the variety and degrees 
 of number, and to perform with eafe and difpatch feveral 
 arithmetical operations, by the help of general rules. Of 
 all which operations, as the ufe in human life is very evi- 
 dent, fo it is no lefs evident, that the performing them de- 
 pends on the aptnefs of the notation. If we fuppofe 
 rude mankind, without the ufe of language, it may be 
 prefumed, they would be ignorant of arithmetic : But 
 the ufe of names, by the repetition whereof in a certain 
 order they might exprefs endlefs degrees of number, 
 would be the flrft ilep towards that fcience. The next 
 Hep would be, to devife proper marks of a permanent 
 nature, and vifible to the eye, the kind and order whereof 
 mull be chofe with judgment, and accommodated to the 
 names. Which marking or notation would, in propor- 
 tion as it was apt and regular, facilitate the invention and 
 application of general rules, to afiift the mind in reafon- 
 ing and judging, in extending, recording, and commu- 
 nicating Its knowledge about numbers : in which theory 
 and operations, the mind is immediately occupied about 
 the figns or notes, by mediation of which it is directed to 
 a£l: about things, or number in concrete (as the logicians 
 call it) without ever confidering the limple, abftratSl:, in- 
 tellectual, general idea of number. The figns, indeed, 
 do in their ufe imply relations or proportions of things : 
 but thefe relations are not abftra£i: general ideas, being 
 founded in particular things, and not making of themfelves 
 diftin£t Ideas to the mind, exclufive of the particular 
 ideas and the figns. I imagine one need not think much 
 to be convinced, that the fcience of arithmetic, in its rife,
 
 358 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 operations, rules and theorems, is altogether converfant 
 about the artificial ufe of figns, names, and characters. 
 Thefe names and characters are univerfal, inafmuch as 
 they are figns. The names are referred to things, the 
 characters to names, and both to operation. The names 
 being few, and proceeding by a certain analogy, the cha- 
 ra£lers will be more ufeful, the fimpler they are, and 
 the more aptly they exprefs this analogy. Hence the 
 old notation by letters was more ufeful than words writ- 
 ten at length : And the modern notation by figures, ex- 
 preffing the progrefTion or analogy of the names by their 
 fimple places, is much preferable to that, for eafe and ex- 
 pedition, as the invention of algebraical fymbols is to this 
 for extenfive and general ufe. As arithmetic and algebra 
 are fciences of great clearnefs, certainty, and extent, 
 which are immediately converfant about figns, upon the 
 fkillful ufe and management whereof they intirely depend, 
 fo a little attention to them may poflfibly help us to judge 
 of the progrefs of the mind in other fciences ; which, 
 though differing in nature, defign, and objeCt, may yet 
 agree in the general methods of proof and inquiry. 
 
 XIII.— If I miftake not, all fciences, fo far as they are 
 univerfal and demonftrable by human reafon, will be 
 found converfant about figns as their immediate objeft, 
 though thefe in the application are referred to things : The 
 reafon whereof is not difficult to conceive. For as the 
 mind is better acquainted with fome fort of objects, which 
 are earlier offered to it, flrike it more fenfibly, or are 
 more eafily comprehended than others, it feems naturally 
 led to fubflitute thefe objects for fuch as are more fubtile, 
 fleeting, or difficult to conceive. Nothing, I fay, is more 
 natural, than to make the things we know, a flep to- 
 wards thofe we do not know : and to explain and repre- 
 fent things lefs familiar by others which are more fo.—
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 359 
 
 Now, it is certain we imagine before we refled ; and we 
 perceive by fenfe before we imagine : and of all our fen- 
 fes the fight is the moft clear, diftind, various, agreea- 
 ble, and comprehenfive. Hence it is natural to aflift in- 
 telledl by imagination, immagination by fenfe, and other 
 fenfes by fight. Hence figures, metaphors, and types. 
 We illuftrate fpiritual things by corporeal : we fubftitute 
 founds for thoughts, and written letters for founds -, em- 
 blems, fymbols, and hieroglyphics for things too obfcurc 
 to flrike, and too various or too fleeting to be retained. 
 We fubftitute things imaginable for things intelligible, 
 fenfible things for imaginable, fmaller things for thofe 
 that are too great to comprehend eafily, and greater things 
 for fuch as are too fmall to be difcerned diftindlly, pre- 
 fent things for abfent, permanent for perifhing, and vifi- 
 ble for invifible. Hence the ufe of models and diagrams. 
 Hence lines are fubftituted for time, velocity, and other 
 things of very different natures. Hence we fpeak of fpi- 
 rits in a figurative ftyle, expreffing the operations of the 
 mind by allufions and terms, borrowed from fenfible 
 things, fuch as apprehend, conceive, rejiecl, difcourfe, and 
 fuch like : And hence thofe allegories which illuftrate 
 things intelledlual by vifions exhibited to the fancy. PlatOy 
 for inftance, reprefents the mind prefiding in her vehicle 
 by the driver of a winged chariot, which fometimes 
 moults and droops and is drawn by two horfes, the one 
 good, and of a good race, the other of a contrary kind ; 
 fymbolically exprefling the tendency of the mind towards 
 the divinity, as ftie foars or is borne aloft by two inftin£ls 
 like wings, the one in the intelle61: towards truth, the 
 other in the will towards excellence, which inftin£i:s 
 moult or are weakened by fenfual inclinations : exprefling 
 alfo her alternate elevations and depreflions, the ftruggles 
 between reafon and appetite, like horfes that go an une- 
 qual pace, or draw diflTerent ways, embarrafling the foul
 
 36o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 in her progrefs to perfection. I am inclined to think the 
 doctrine of figns a point of great importance, and gene- 
 ral extent, which if duly confidered, would c aft no fmall 
 light upon things, and afford a juft and genuine folution 
 of many difficulties. 
 
 XIV. Thus much, upon the whole, may be faid of 
 all figns : That they do not always fuggeft ideas fignified 
 to the mind : That when they fuggeft ideas, they are not 
 general abftra6^ ideas : That they have other ufes bcfides 
 barely ftanding for and exhibiting ideas, fuch as raifing 
 proper emotions, producing certain difpofitions or habits 
 of mind, and direfibing our actions in purfuit of that 
 happlnefs, which is the ultimate end and defign, the pri- 
 mary fpring and motive, that fets rational agents at work : 
 That figns may imply or fuggeft the relations of things ; 
 which relations, habitudes, or proportions, as they can- 
 not be by us underftood but by the help of figns, fo being 
 thereby expreiied and confuted they dire6l and enable us 
 to a6t with regard to things : That the true end of fpeech, 
 reafon, fcience, faith, alTent, in all its different degrees, 
 is not merely, or principally, or always the imparting or 
 acquiring of ideas, but rather fomething of an active, 
 operative nature, tending to a conceived good ; which 
 may fometiraes be obtained, not only although the ideas 
 marked are not offered to the mind, but even although 
 there fhould be no poffibillty of offering or exhibiting any 
 fuch idea to the mind : For inftance, the algebraic mark, 
 which denotes the root of a negative fquare, hath its ufe 
 in logiftic operations, although it be impoffible to form 
 an idea of any fuch quantity. And what is true of alge- 
 braic figns, is alfo true of v/ords or language, modern al- 
 gebra being in fa£l a more (liort, appofite, and artificial 
 fort of language, and it being poffible to exprefs by words 
 at length, though lefs conveniently, all the fteps of an al-
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 361 
 
 gebraical procefs. And it muft be confefled, that even 
 the mathematical fciences themfelves, which above all oth- 
 ers are reckoned the moft clear and certain, if they are 
 confidered, not as inftruments to dire6l our practice, but 
 as fpeculations to employ our curiofity, will be found to 
 fall (hort in many inftances of thofe clear and diftincl ideas, 
 which, it feems, the Minute Philofophers of this age, 
 whether knowingly or ignorantly, expe^ and infift upon 
 in the myfteries of religion. 
 
 XV. Be the fcience or fubje£l what it will, whenfoe- 
 ver men quit particulars for generalities, things concrete 
 for abftraftions, when they forfake pra6tical views, and 
 the ufeful purpofes of knowledge for barren fpeculation, 
 confidering means and inftruments as ultimate ends, and 
 loboring to obtain precife ideas, which tliey fuppofe indif- 
 criminately annexed to all terms, they will be fare to em- 
 barrafs themfelves with difficulties and difputes. Such 
 are thofe which have fprung up in geometry about the na- 
 ture of the angle of contact, the dodrine of proportions, 
 of indivifibles, infinitefimals, and divers other points ; 
 notwithftanding all which, that fcience is very rightly ef- 
 teemed an excellent and ufeful one, and is really found 
 to be fo in many occafions of human life ; wherein it gov- 
 erns and directs the adlions of men, fo that by the aid or 
 influence thereof, thofe operations become juft and accu- 
 rate, which would otherwife be faulty and uncertain. 
 And from a parity of reafon, we fhould not conclude any 
 other do6lrines which govern, influence, or dire£l the 
 mind of man to be, any more than that, the lefs true or 
 excellent, becaufe they aflx)rd matter of controverfy and 
 ufelefs fpeculation to curious and licentious wits : Partic- 
 "ularly thofe articles of our chriftian faith, which, in pro- 
 portion as they are believed, perfuade, and, as they per- 
 fuade, influence the lives and actions of men. As to the 
 
 X X
 
 362 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 perplexity of contradi£tions and abftrafted notions, in all 
 parts, whether of human fcience or divine faith, cavillers 
 may equally objed:, and unwary perfons incur, while the 
 judicious avoid it. There is no need to depart from the 
 received rules of reafoning to juflify the belief of chrif- 
 tians. And if any pious men think otherwife, it may be 
 fuppofed an effect, not of religion or of reafon, but only 
 of human weakncfs. If this age be fmgularly produ£live 
 of infidels, I (hall not, therefore, conclude it to be more 
 knowing, but only more prefuming, than former ages : 
 And their conceit, I doubt, is not the effedt of confider- 
 ation. To me it feems, that the more thoroughly and 
 extenfively any man fhall confider^and fcan the principles, 
 objeds, and methods of proceeding in arts and fciences, 
 the more he will be convinced, there is no weight in thofe 
 plaufible objeftions that are made againft the myfteries of 
 faith, which it will be no difficult matter for him to main- 
 tain or j uflify in the received method of arguing, on the 
 common principles of logic, and by numberlefs avowed 
 parrallel cafes, throughout the feveral branches of human 
 knowledge, in all which the fuppofition of abftradl ideas 
 creates the fame difficulties. 
 
 Alc. — According to this do£lrine, all points may be 
 alike maintained. There will be nothing abfurd in pope- 
 ry, not even tranfubftantiation. 
 
 EuPH. — Pardon me. This do6lrine juftifies no article 
 of faith, which is not contained in fcripture, or which is 
 repugnant to human reafon, which implies a contradic- 
 tion, or which leads to idolatry or wickednefs of any kind ; 
 All which is very diffi^rcnt from our not having a diftin£t 
 or an abftradl idea of a point. 
 
 XVI. Alc. — I will allow, Euphvanor^ this reafoning 
 of yours to have all the force you meant it fnould have. 
 I freely own there may be myfteries : That we may be-
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 363 
 
 lieve, where we do not underftand : And that faith may 
 be of ufe, although its object is not difl:in£lly apprehended. 
 In a word, I grant there may be faith and myfteries in oth- 
 er things, but not in religion : And that for this plain rea- 
 fon : becaufe it is abfurd to fuppofe, there fhould be any 
 fuch thing as religion : And if there be no religion, it fol- 
 lows there cannot be religious. faith or myfteries. Reli- 
 gion, it is evident, implies the worfhip of a God, which 
 worfhip, fuppofeth rewards and punifhments, which fuppofe 
 merits and demerits, a6lions good and evil, and thefe fup- 
 pofe human liberty, a thing impoffible : and confequently 
 religion a thing built thereon, muft be an unreafonable ab- 
 furd thing. There can be no rational fears where there 
 is no guilt, nor any guilt where there is nothing done, 
 but what unavoidably follows from the ftructure of 
 the world and the laws of motion. Corporeal objects 
 ftrike on the organs of fenfe, whence enfues a vibra- 
 tion in the nerves, which being communicated to the foul, 
 or animal fpirit in the brain or root of the nerves, produ- 
 ceth therein that motion called volition : And this produ- 
 ceth a new determination in the fpirits, caufing them to 
 flow into fuch ner\'es as muft neceflarily by the laws of 
 mechanifm produce fuch certain a£i:ions. This being the 
 cafe, it follows, that thofe things, which vulgarly pafs for 
 human a61:ions, are to be efteemcd mechanical, and that 
 they are fallly afcribed to a free principle. There is, 
 therefore, no foundation for praife or blame, fear or hope, 
 reward or punifhment, nor confequently for religion, 
 which, as I obferved before, is built upon and fuppofeth 
 thofe things. 
 
 EuPH. — You imagine, Alciphron^ if I rightly under- 
 ftand you, that man is a fort of organ played on by out- 
 ward obje£ls, which according to the different {hape and 
 texture of the nerves, produce different motions and effedle 
 therein.
 
 364 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 Alc. — Man may, indeed, be fitly compared to an or- 
 gan : but a puppet is the very thing. You mull know, 
 that certain particles iffuing forth in right lines from all fen- 
 fible objects, compofe fo many rays, or filaments, which 
 drive, draw, and a61:uate every part of the foul and bo- 
 dy of man, juft as threads of wires do the joints of that 
 little wooden machine vulgarly called a Puppet : With 
 this only difference that the latter are grofs and vifible to 
 common eyes, whereas, the former are too fine and fubtle 
 to be difcerned by any but a fagacious free-thinker. 
 This admirably accounts for all thofe operations, wlwch 
 we have been taught to afcribe to a thinking principle 
 v/ithin us. 
 
 EuPH. — This is an ingenious thought, and mufl be of 
 great ufe in freeing men from all anxiety about moral no- 
 tions, as it transfers the principle of a6lion from the hu- 
 man foul to things outward and foreign. But I have my 
 fcruples about it. For you fuppofe the mind in a literal 
 fenfc to be moved, and its volitions to be mere motions. 
 Nov/, if another (hould affirm, as it is not impoflible fome 
 or other may, that the foul is incorporeal, and that mo- 
 tion is one thing, and volition another, I would fain know 
 how you could make your point clear to fuch a one. It 
 muft be owned very clear to thofe, who admit the foul to 
 be corporeal, and all her adts to be but fo many motions. 
 Upon this fuppofition, indeed, the light wherein you place 
 human nature is no lefs true, than it is fine and new. But 
 let any one deny this fuppofition, which is eafily done, and 
 the whole fuperftru£lure falls to the ground. If we grant 
 the abovcmentioned points, I will not deny a fatal necefil- 
 ty mull enfue. But I fee no reafon for granting them. 
 On the contrary, it feems plain, that motion and thought 
 are two things as really and as manifeftly diftinfi; as a 
 triangle, and a found. It feems, therefore, that in or- 
 der to prove the neceffity of human adions, you fuppofe
 
 [Dial. Vn.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 36^ 
 what wants proof as much as the very point to beproved. 
 
 XVII. Alc— But fuppofing the mind incorporeal, I 
 fliall, neverthelefs, be able to prove my point. Not to 
 amufe you with far-fetched arguments, I fhall only de- 
 fire you to look into your own breaft and obfers^e how 
 things pafs there, when an obje£l offers itfelf to the mind. 
 Firft the underftanding confiders it : in the next place, the 
 judgment decrees about it, as a thing to be chofen or re- 
 je(3:ed, to be omitted or done, in this or that manner : 
 And this decree of the judgment doth neceflarily deter- 
 mine the will, whofe office is merely to execute what is 
 ordained by another faculty : Confequently there is no 
 fuch thing as freedom of the will. For that which Is ne- 
 celTary, cannot be free. In freedom, there fhould be an 
 indifference to either fide of the queflion, a power to a6t 
 or not to aft, without prefcrlption or control : and with- 
 out this indifference and this power, it is evident, the will 
 cannot be free. But it is no Icfs evident, that the will is 
 not indifferent in its actions, being abfolutely determin- 
 ed and governed by the judgment. Now whatever moves 
 the judgment, whether the greatefl prefent uneafinefs, 
 or the greatefl apparent good, or whatever elfe it be, it 
 is all one to the point in hand. The will being ever con- 
 cluded and controlled by the judgment, is in all cafes 
 alike under neceffity. There is indeed, throughout the 
 whole of human nature, nothing like a principle of free- 
 dom, every faculty being determined in all its afts by 
 fomething foreign to it. The underftanding, for inftanpe, 
 cannot alter its idea, but muft necefTarlly fee it fuch as 
 it prefents itfelf. The appetites, by a natural neceffity, 
 are carried towards their refpeftive objetls. Reafon 
 cannot infer indifferently any thing from any thing, but 
 is limitted by the nature and connexion of things, and 
 the eternal rules of regfoning. And as th'S is confeffedly
 
 366 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 the cafe of all other faculties, fo it equally holds with re- 
 fpe<^ to the will itfelf, as hath been already fhewn. And 
 if we may credit the divine charafterizer of our times, 
 this, above all others, muft be allowed the moft flavifli 
 faculty. " Appetite (faith that noble writer) which is el- 
 der brother to reafon, being the lad of ftronger growth, 
 is fure on every conteft to take the advantage of drawing 
 all to his own fide : and will, fo highly boafted, is but 
 at bcft a foot-ball, or top, between thoTe young fters who 
 prove very unfortunately matched, till the youngeft, in- 
 ftead of now and then a kick or lafli, bellowed to little pur- 
 pofe, forfakes the ball or top itfelf, and begins to lay 
 about his elder brother." 
 
 Cri. — This beautiful parable, for ftile and manner, 
 might equal thofe of a known Englijh writer, in low life, 
 renowned for allegory, were it not a little incorre£l:, ma- 
 king the weaker lad find his account in laying about the 
 ftronger. 
 
 Alc. — This is helped by fuppofing the ftronger lad the 
 greater coward. But, be that as it will, fo far as it re- 
 lates to the point in hand, this is a clear ftate of the cafe. 
 The fame point may be alfo proved from the prefcience of 
 God. That which is certainly foreknown, will certainly 
 be. And what is certain, is neceflary. And neceflary ac- 
 tions cannot be the efFe£i of free-will. Thus you have 
 this fundamental point of our free-thinking philofophy 
 demonftrated different ways. 
 
 EuPH. — Tell me, Alciphron^ do you think it implies a 
 contradi«5lion, that God fhould make a creature free ? 
 
 Alc.-— I do not. 
 
 EuPH. — It is then poflible there may be fuch a thing. 
 
 Alc. — This I do not deny. 
 
 EupH. — You can, therefore, conceive and fuppofe fuch 
 a free agent. 
 
 Alc. — Admitting that I can ; what then ?
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 367 
 
 EuPH. — Would not fuch an one think that he a£led ? 
 
 Alc. — He would. 
 
 EupH. — And condemn himfelf for fome actions, and 
 approve himfelf for others ? 
 
 Alc. — This too I grant. 
 
 EupH.— Would he not think he deferved reward or 
 puniftiment ? 
 
 Alc. — He would. 
 
 EuPH. — And are not all thefe characSters adually 
 found in man ? 
 
 Alc. — They are. 
 
 EupH. — ^Tell me now, what other character of yqur 
 fuppofed free agent may not actually be found in man ? 
 For if there is none fuch, we muft conclude, that man 
 hath all the marks of a free agent. 
 
 Alc. — Let me fee ! I was certainly overfeen in grant- 
 ing it poflible, even for Almighty Power, to make fuch 
 a thing as a free-agent. I wonder how I came to make 
 fuch an abfurd conceflion, after what had been, as I ob- 
 ferved before, demonftrated fo many different ways. 
 
 EuPH. — Certainly whatever is pofhble may be fuppof- 
 ed : And whatever doth not imply a contradiction is pof- 
 fible to an infinite power : Therefore if a rational agent 
 implieth no contradiction, fuch a being may be fuppofed. 
 Perhaps from this fuppofition I might infer man to be 
 free : But I will not fuppofe him that free agent j fmce, 
 it feems, you pretend to have demonftrated the contrary. 
 O Alctphrcriy it is vulgarly obferved, that men judge of 
 others by themfelves. But in judging of me by this 
 rule, you may be miftaken. Many things are plain to 
 one of your fagacity, which are not fo to me, who am 
 often puzzled rather than enlightened by thofe very 
 proofs, that, with you, pafs for clear and evident. And, 
 indeed, be the inference never fo juft, yet fo long as the 
 premifes are not clear, I cannot be thoroughly convinced.
 
 3(58 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Pial. VIL] 
 
 You muft give me leave, therefore, to propofe fome quef- 
 tions, the folution of vi^hich, may perhaps, fhew what at 
 prefent I am not able to difcern. 
 
 Alc — I fhall leave what hath been faid with you, to 
 confider and ruminate upon. It now time to fet out on 
 our journey : there is, therefore, no room for a long 
 firing of queftion and anfwer. 
 
 XVIII. EuPH. — I (hall then only beg leave in a fumma- 
 ry manner, to make a remark or two on what you have 
 advanced. In the firft place, I obferve, you take that for 
 granted which I cannot grant, when you afTert whatever 
 is certain, the fame to be neceiTary. To me, certain and 
 neceflary feem very different 5 there being nothing in the 
 former notion that implies conftraint, nor confequently 
 which may not confift with a man's being unaccountable 
 for his a£lions. If it is forefeen that fuch an adion fhall 
 be an efFed of human choice and liberty : In the next 
 place, I obferve, that you very nicely abftra£l and diftin- 
 guifh the actions of the mind, judgment, and will : That 
 you make ufe of fuch terms as power, faculty, ad, deter- 
 mination, indifference, freedom, neceflity, and the like, 
 as if they flood for diflin£t abftra£l ideas : And that this 
 fuppofition feems to infnare the mind into the fame per- 
 plexities and errors, which, in all other inftances, are ob- 
 ferved to attend the do£trine of abflraclion. It is felf-evi- 
 dent, that there is fuch a thing as motion : And yet there 
 have been found, philofophers, who, by refined reafon- 
 ing, would undertake to prove there was no fuch thing. 
 Walking before them was thought the proper way to con- 
 fute thofe ingenious men. It is no lefs evident, that man 
 is a free agent : And though by abftradled reafonings you 
 fhould puzzle me, and feem to prove the contrary, yet fo 
 long as I am confcious of my own actions, this inward 
 evidence of plain facl, will bear me up againft all your
 
 [Dial. VH.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 369 
 
 reafonings, however fubtle and refined. The confuting 
 plain points by obfcurv^ ones, may perhaps convince me of 
 the ability of your philofophers, but never of their tenets. 
 I cannot conceive why the acute Cratylus ftiould fuppofe 
 a power of a6ling in the appetite and reafon, and none at 
 all in the will. Allowing, I fay, the diftindiion of three 
 fuch beings in the mind, I do not fee how this could be 
 true. But if I cannot abftract and diftinguifh fo many 
 beings in the foul of man fo accurately as you do, I do 
 not find it neceffary, fince it is evident te me in the grofs 
 and concrete that I am a free agent. Nor will it avail to 
 fay, the will is governed by the judgment, or determined 
 by the obje(S»:, while, in every fudden common caufe, I 
 cannot difcern nor abftrail the decree of the judgment 
 from the command of tlie will ; while I know the fenfible 
 objedl to be abfolutely inert : And iaftly, while I am con- 
 fcious that I am an active being, who can and do deter- 
 mine myfelf. If I ftiould fuppofe things fpiritual to be 
 corporeal, or refine things a£tual and real into general 
 abftra£ted notions, or by metaphyfical fkill fplit things 
 fimple and individual into manifold parts, I do not know 
 what may follow : But if I take things as they are, and 
 afk any plain untutored man, whether he a^ls or is free 
 in this or that particular a6lion, he readily afTents, and I 
 as readily believe him from what I find within. And thus, 
 by an indutlion of particulars, I may conclude man to 
 be a free agent, although I may be puzzled to define or 
 conceive a notion of freedom in general and abftradl. 
 And if man be free, he is plainly accountable. But if 
 you fliall define, abftracl, fuppofe, and it (hall follow 
 that according to your definitions, abn:ra£lions, and fup- 
 pofitions, there can be no freedom in man, and you ftiall 
 thence infer that he is not accountable, I fliall make bold 
 to depart from your metaphyfical abftradted fcnfe, and ap- 
 peal to the common fenfe of mankind. 
 
 Y y
 
 370 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 XIX. If we confider the notions that obtain in the 
 world, of guilt and merit, praife and blame, accountable 
 and unaccountable, we fhall find the common queftion in 
 order to applaud or cenfure, acquit or condemn a man, is, 
 whether he did fuch an a<^ion ? and whether he was him- 
 felf when he did it ? Which comes to the fame thing. It 
 fhould feem, therefore, that in the ordinary commerce of 
 mankind, any perfon is efteemed accountable fimply as he 
 is an agent. And though you fhould tell me that man is 
 inactive, and that the fenfible objects a6t upon him, yet 
 my own experience affures me of the contrary. I know 
 I acl, and what I a6!:, I am accountable for. And if this 
 be true, the foundation of religion and morality remains 
 unfhaken. Religion, I fay, is concerned no farther than 
 that man fhould be accountable : And this he is according 
 to my fenfe, and the common fenfe of the world, if he 
 ads : And that he doth a£t is felf-evident. The grounds, 
 therefore, and ends of religion are fecured : whether 
 your philofophic notion of liberty agrees with man's ac- 
 tions or no ', And whether his anions are certain or con- 
 tingent j the queftion being not whether he did it with a 
 free will, or what determined his will ; not whether it 
 was certain or foreknown that he would do it, but only 
 whether he did it wilfully : As what muft intitle him to 
 the guilt or merit of it. 
 
 Alc. — But ftiil the queftion recurs, whether man be 
 free ? 
 
 EuPH. — To determine this queftion, ought we not firft 
 to determine what is meant by the word free P 
 
 Alc. — We ought. 
 
 EuPH.— In my opinion, a man is faid to be free, fo 
 far forth as he can do what he will. Is this fo, or is it not ? 
 
 Alc. — It feems fo. 
 
 EuPH. — Man, therefore, adling according to his will, is 
 to be accounted free.
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 371 
 
 Alc. — This I admit to be true, in the vulgar fenfe. 
 But a philofopher goes higher, and inquires whether man 
 be free to will ? 
 
 EuPH. — That is, whether he can will as he wills ? I 
 know not how philofophical it may be to alk this queftion, 
 but it feems very idle. The notions of guilt, and merit, 
 juftice, and reward, are in the minds of men, antecedent 
 to all metaphyfical difquifitions : And according to thofe 
 received natural notions, it is not doubted that man is ac- 
 countable, that he acts, and is felf-determined. 
 
 XX. But a Minute Philofopher (hall, in virtue of wrong 
 fuppofitions, confound things moft evidently diftindt ; bo- 
 dy, for inftance, with fpirit, motion with volition, cer- 
 tainty with neceflity j and an abftrafler, or refiner, fhall fo 
 analyfe the moft nmple inftantaneous a£l: of the mind, as 
 to diftinguifh therein divers faculties and tendencies, prin- 
 ciples and operations, caufes and effects ; and having ab- 
 ftratled, fuppofed, and reafoned upon principles gratui- 
 tous and obfcurc, he will conclude it is no a^ at all, and 
 man no agent, but a puppet, or an organ, played on by 
 outward objects, and his will a top or a foot-ball. And 
 this palTeth for philofophy and free-thinking. Perhaps this 
 may be what it pafleth for, but it by no means feems a 
 natural or juft way of thinking. To me it feems, that if 
 we begin from things particular and concrete, and thence 
 proceed to general notions and concluiions, there will be 
 no difficulty in this matter. But if we begin with gen- 
 eralities, and lay our foundation in abftradt ideas, we fliall 
 find ourfelves intangled and lofl: in a labyrinth of our own 
 making. I need not obferve, what every one muft fee, 
 the ridicule of proving man no agent, and yet pleading for 
 free thought and aftion, of fetting up at once for advo- 
 cates of liberty and neceffity. I have haftily thrown to- 
 gether thefe hints or remarks, on what you call a funda*
 
 372 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 mental article of the Minute Philofophy, and your meth- 
 od of proving it, which feems to furnifli an admirable fpe- 
 cimen of the fophiftry of abflra£b ideas. If in this fum- 
 mary way, I have been more dogmatical than became me, 
 you mull excufe what you occafioned, by declining a joint 
 and leifurely examination of the truth. 
 
 Alc. — I think we have examined ' matters fufficiently. 
 
 Cri. — To all you have faid againil human liberty, it is 
 a fufficient anfwer to obferi'e, that your arguments proceed 
 upon an erroneous fuppofition either of the foul's being 
 corporeal, or of ab(lra£l: ideas : not to mention other grofs 
 miitakes and gratuitous principles. You might as v/ell 
 fuppofe, that the foul is red or blue, as that it is folid. 
 You might as well make the will any thing elfe as motion. 
 And whatever you infer from fuch premifes, which (to 
 fpeak in the fofteft manner) are neither proved nor probable, 
 I make no difficulty to rejeft. You diftinguifh in all hu- 
 man actions between the laft decree of the judgment and 
 the a6b of the will. You confound certainty with neceffi- 
 ty. You inquire, and your inquiry amounts to an abfurd 
 queftion : Whether man can will as he wills ? As evident- 
 ly true as is this identical propbfition, fo evidently falfe 
 muft that way of thinking be, which led you to make a 
 queftion of it. You fay, the appetites have by neceffity 
 of nature a tendency towards their refpe£tive objefts. 
 This we grant, and withal that appetite, if you pleafe, 
 is not free. But you go farther, and tell us the underftand- 
 ing cannot alter its idea, nor infer indifferently any thing 
 from any thing. What then ! Can we not a£t at all if 
 M^e cannot alter the nature of obje6ls, and may we not 
 be free in other things if we are net at liberty to make ab- 
 furd inferences ^ You take for granted, that the mind is 
 inactive, but that its ideas a6l upon it : As if the contra- 
 ry were not evident to every man of common fenfe, who 
 cannot but know, that it is the mind which confiders its
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 373 
 
 ideas, choofes, reje(Els, examines, deliberates, decrees, in 
 one word, acts about them, and not they about it. Upon 
 the whole, your premifes being obfcure and falfe, the fun- 
 damental point, which you pretend to demonftrate fo many 
 different ways, proves neither fenfe nor truth in any. And, 
 on the other hand, there is not need of much inquiry to be 
 convinced of two points, than v/hich none are more evi- 
 dent, more obvious, and more univerfally admitted by men 
 of all forts, learned or unlearned, in all times and places, 
 to wit, that man acls and is accountable for his a^iions. 
 Whatever abftraclers, refiners, or men prejudiced to a 
 falfe hypothefis may pretend, it is, if I miftake not, evi- 
 dent to every thinking man of common fenfe, that human 
 minds are fo far from being engines, or foot-balls, a£led up- 
 on and bandied about by corporeal cbje61:3, without any in- 
 ward principle of freedom or a£lion, that the only origi- 
 nal true notions that we have of freedom, agent, or action, 
 are obtained by reflecting on ourfelves, and the operations 
 of our own minds. The fingularity and credulity of Mi- 
 nute Philofophers, who fuffer themfelves to be abufed by 
 the paralogifms of three or four eminent patriarchs of in- 
 fidehty in the laft age, is, I think, not to be matched -, 
 there being no inftance of bigotted fuperflltion, the ring- 
 leaders whereof have been able to feduce their followers, 
 more openly and more v/idely from the plain dilates of 
 nature and common fenfe. 
 
 XXI. Alc. — It has been always an objedlion againfi: 
 the difcoverers of truth, that they depart from received 
 opinions. The character of fingularity is a tax on free- 
 thinking : And as fuch we moft willingly bear it, and glo- 
 ry in it. A genuine philofopher is never modell in a falfe 
 fenfe, to the preferring authority before reafon, or an old 
 and common opinion before a true one. Which falfe mod- 
 efty; as it difcourages men from treading in untroden paths.
 
 374 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 or ftriking out new light, is above all other qualities the 
 greatefl enemy to free-thinking. 
 
 Cri.-— Authority in difputable points will have its weight 
 with a judicious mind, which yet will follow evidence 
 wherever it leads. Without preferring, we may allow it 
 a good fecond to reafon. Your gentlemen, therefore, of 
 the Minute Philofophy, may fpare a world of common 
 place upon reafon, and light, and difcoveries. We are not 
 attached to authority againll reafon, nor afraid of untroden 
 paths that lead to truth, and are ready to follow a new 
 light, when we are fure it is no ignis fatuus. Reafon may 
 oblige a man to believe againft his inclinations : But why 
 fhould a man quit falutary notions, for others not lefs un- 
 reafonable than pernicious ? Your fchemes, and princi- 
 ples, and boafted demonftrations have been at large pro- 
 pofed and examined. You have (hifted your notions, 
 fucceffively retreated from one fcheme to another, and in 
 the end renounced them all. Your obje£l:ion5 have been 
 treated in the fame manner, and with the fame event. If 
 we except all that relates to the errors and faults of par- 
 ticular perfons, and difficulties which, from the nature of 
 things, we are not obliged to explain ; it is furprifing to 
 fee, after fuch magnificent threats, how little remains, 
 that can amount to a pertinent objection againft the chrif- 
 tian religion. What you have produced has been tried by 
 the fair teft of reafon : And though you fnould hope to 
 prevail by ridicule when you cannot by reafon, yet in the 
 upfhot I apprehend you will find it impra£i:icable to de- 
 ftroy all fenfe of religion. Make your countrymen ever 
 fo vicious, ignorant, and profane, men will ftill be difpo- 
 fed to look up to a Supreme Being. Religion, right or 
 wrong, will fubfift in fome fhape or other, and fome 
 worfhip there will furely be, either of God or the 
 creature. As for your ridicule, can any thing be more 
 ridiculous, than to fee the moft unmeaning men of the
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 375 
 
 age fct up for free-thinkers, men fo ftrong in afiertion, 
 and yet fo weak in argument, advocates for freedom intro- 
 ducing a fatality, patriots trampling on the laws of their 
 country, and pretenders to virtue dellroying the motives 
 of it ? Let any impartial man but call an eye on the opin- 
 ions of the Minute Philofophers, and then fay if any 
 thing can be more ridiculous, than to believe fuch things, 
 and at the fame time laugh at credulity. 
 
 XXII. Lys. — Say what you will, we have the laughers 
 on our fide : And as for your reafoning, I take it to be an- 
 other name for fophiftry. 
 
 Cri.— And I fuppofe, by the fame rule, you take your 
 own fophifms for arguments. To fpeak plainly, I know 
 no fort of fophifm that is not employed by Minute Philo- 
 fophers againft religion. They are guilty of tl Petitio Pri?i- 
 cipiiy in taking for granted that we believe contradictions ; 
 of mn Caufa prs Caufa^ in affirming that uncharitable feuds 
 and difcords are the effecSls of chriftianity ; of Ignoratio 
 elenchiy in expelling demonftration where we pretend on- 
 ly to faith. If I was not afraid to offend the delicacy of 
 polite ears, nothing were eafier than to affign inftances of 
 every kind of fophifm, which would fhew how ficilful 
 your own philofophers are in the pradice of that fophiftry 
 you impute to others. 
 
 EuPH. — For my own part, if fophiftry be the art or 
 faculty of deceiving other men, I muft acquit thefe gen- 
 tlemen of it. They feem to have led me a progrefs through 
 atheifm, libertinifm, enthufiafm, fatalifm, not to convince 
 me of the truth of any of them, fo much as to confirm 
 me in my own way of thinking. They have expofed their 
 fairy ware not to cheat but divert us. As I know them 
 to be profeiTed mafters of ridicule, fo in a ferious fenfe I 
 know not what to make of them.
 
 373 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 Alc. — You do not knov/ what to make of us ! I (hould 
 be forry you did. He muft be a fuperficial philofopher 
 that is foon fathomed. 
 
 XXIII. Cri. — The ambiguous charadler is, it feems, 
 the furs way to fame and efteem in the learned world, as 
 it ftands conftituted at prefent. When the ingenious read- 
 er is at a lofs to determine whether his author be atheift or 
 deift, or polytheill, ftoic or epicurean, fceptic or dogma- 
 tift, infidel or enthufiaft, in jeft or in earneft, he concludes 
 him, without hefitation, to be enigmatical and profound. 
 In faft, it is true of the moft admired writers of the age, 
 that no man alive can tell what to make of them, or what 
 they would be at. 
 
 Alc. — We have among us, moles that dig deep under 
 ground, and eagles that foar out of fight. We can a(Sfc 
 ail parts, and become all opinions, putting them on or off 
 with great freedom of wit and humor. 
 
 EupH. — It feems then, you are a pair of infcrutable, un- 
 fathomable, faflilonable philofophers. 
 
 Alc— -It cannot be denied. 
 
 EupH. — But, I remember, you fet out with an open 
 dogmatical air, and talked of plain principles, and evident 
 rejfoning, promifed to make things as clear as noon-day, 
 to extirpate wrong notions, and plant right in their Head. 
 Soon after, you began to recede from your firfl notions 
 and adopt others : you advanced one while, and retreated 
 another, yielded and retracted, faid and unfaid ; And after 
 having followed you through fo many untroden paths and 
 intricate mazes, I find myfclf never the nearer. 
 
 Alc. — Did we not tell you, the gentlemen of our {cO: 
 are great proficients in raillery ? 
 
 EuPK. — But, methinks, it is a vain attempt, for a plain 
 man of any fettled belief or principles to engage with fuch 
 ilippery, fugitive, changeable philofophers. It feems as if
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 377 
 
 a man fhould fland Hill in the fame place, while his adver- 
 fary choofes and changes his (ituation, has full range and 
 liberty to- traverfe the field, and attack him on all fides, 
 and in all fliapes, from a nearer or farther diftance, on 
 horfeback or on foot, in light or heavy armour, in clofe 
 fight or with mifhve weapons. 
 
 Alc— -It muft be owned, a gentlemen hath great ad* 
 vantage over a flrait-laced pedant, or bigot. 
 
 EupH. — But after all, what am I the better for the con- 
 verfation of two fuch knowing gentlemen ? I hoped to 
 have unlearned n\y errors, and to have learned truths from 
 you, but, to my great difappointment, I do not find that 
 I am either untaught or taught. 
 
 Alc. — To unteach men their prejudices, is a difHcuIt 
 talk : And this mufl firft be done, before we can pretend 
 to teach them the truth. Befides, we have at prefent no 
 time to prove and argue. 
 
 EuPH. — But fuppofe my mind white paper, and with- 
 out being at any pains to extirpate my opinions, or prove 
 your own, only fay what you would write thereon, or 
 what you would teach me in cafe I were teachable. Be 
 for once in carnefl, and let me know fome one conclufion 
 of yours before we part : Or I fhall intreat Crito to violate 
 the laws of hofpitality, towards thofe, who have violated 
 the laws of philofophy, by hanging out falfe lights to one 
 benighted in ignorance and error. I appeal to you (faid he, 
 turning to Crito) whether thefe philofophical knight-errants 
 fhould not be confined in this caille of yours, till they 
 make reparation. Euphranor has reafon, faid Crito y and 
 my fentence is that you remain here in durance, till you 
 have done fomething towards fatisfying the engagement t 
 am under, having promifed, he fhould know your opin^ 
 ions from yourfelves, which you alfo agreed to, 
 
 Z z
 
 378 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 XXIV. Alc. — Since it muft be fo, I will now reveal 
 what I take to be the fum and fubftance, the grand arcan- 
 um and ultimate conclufion of our fe6t, and that in two 
 words, PANTA UPOLEEPSIS. 
 
 Cri. — You are then a downright fceptic. But, fceptic 
 as you are, you own it probable there is a God, certain 
 that the chriftian religion is ufeful, poffible it may be true, 
 certain that if it be, the Minute Phiiofophers are in a bad 
 way. This being the cafe, how can it be queftioned what 
 courfe a wife man fhould take ? Whether the principles of 
 chriRians or infidels are trueft, may be.made a queftion, 
 but which are lafeft can be none. Certainly if you doubt 
 of all opinions, you muH: doubt of your own : And then 
 for ought you know, the chriftian may be true. The 
 more doubt, the more room there is for faith, a fceptic, of 
 all men, having the leaft right to demand evidence. But, 
 w^hatever uncertainty there may be in other points, thus 
 much is certain : Either there is, or is not a God : There 
 is, or is not a revelation : Man either is, or is net an 
 agent : The foul is, or is not immortal. If the negatives 
 are not fure, the afhrmatives are poffible. If the negatives 
 are improbable, the afErmatives are probable. In propor- 
 tion, as any of your ingenious men, finds himfeif unable 
 to prove any one of thefe negatives, he hath grounds to 
 fufpe£t he may be miftaken. A Minute Philofopher, 
 therefore, that would a«Sl: a confiftent part, fhould have 
 the diffidence, the modefty, and the timidity, as well as 
 the doubts, of a fceptic 5 not pretend to an ocean of light, 
 and then lead us to an abyfs of darknefs. If I have any 
 notion of ridicule, this is moil ridiculous. But your ridi- 
 culiiig what, for ought you know, may be true, I can 
 make no fenfe of. It is neither acling as a wife man, 
 with regard to your own intereft, nor as a good man, with 
 regard to that of your country.
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 379 
 
 XXV. Ttilly faith fomewhere, aut undlque religionem 
 iolle aut ufquequaque conferva : Either let us have no religion 
 at all, or let it be refpe6led. If any fingle inftance can 
 be fhewn of a people, that ever profpered without fome re- 
 ligion, or if there be any religion, better than the chriftian, 
 propofe it in the grand aflembly of the nation to change 
 our conftitution, and either live without relgioin, or in- 
 troduce that new religion. A fceptic, as well as other 
 men, is member of a community, and can diftinguifh 
 between good and evil, natural or political. Be this then 
 his guide as a patriot, though he be no chriftian. Or, if 
 he doth not pretend even to this difcernment, let him not 
 pretend to correcl or alter, what he knows nothing of: 
 Neither let him that only doubts, behave as if he could de- 
 monftrate. Timagoras is v/ont to fay, I find my country 
 in poiTeffion of certain tenets : They appear to have an 
 ufeful tendency, and, as fuch, are encouraged by the legif- 
 lature : They make a main part of our conftitution : I do 
 not find thefe innovators can difprove theni, or fubftitute 
 things more ufeful and certain in their ftead : Out of re- 
 gard, therefore, to the good of mankind, and the laws of 
 rny country, I {hall acquiefce in them. I do not fay 
 Timagoras is a chriftian, but I reckon him a patriot. Not 
 to inquire in a point of fo great concern, is folly, but it 
 is ftill a higher degree of folly, to condemn without inquir- 
 ing. Lyftcles feemed heaitily tired of this converfation. It 
 is now late, faid he to Alciphron, and all things are ready 
 for our departure. Every one hath his own way of think- 
 ing : And it is as impoflible for me to adopt another man's, 
 as to make his complexion and features mine. Alcipkron 
 pleaded that, having complied with Ruphranor''?, conditions, 
 they were nov/ at liberty : And Euphranor anfwered that, 
 all he defired, having been to know their tenets, he had 
 nothing further to pretend.
 
 38o MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.} 
 
 XXVI. The philofophers being gone, I obferved to 
 Crko how unaccountable it was, tliat men fo eafy to con- 
 fute fhould yet be fo difficult to convince. This, faid Crito^ 
 is accounted for by Arijlctle^ who tells us that arguments 
 have not an eff^rft on all men, but only on them whofe 
 minds are prepared by education and cuftom, as land is 
 for Seed.* Make a point never fo clear, it is great odds, 
 that a man, v/hofe habits and the bent of whofe mind lie 
 a contrary way, (hall be unable to comprehend it. So 
 weak a thing is reafon in competition with inclination. I 
 replied, this anfwer might hold with refpe6l to other per- 
 fons and other times : But when the queflion was of 
 inquifitive men, in an age, wherein reaf::)n was fo much 
 cultivated, and thinking fo much in vogue, it did not feem 
 fatisfaftory. I have knov/n it remarked, faid Crito^ by a man 
 of muchobfervation, that in theprsfentage, thinking is more 
 talked of, but lefs pra6lifed, than in ancient times : And that 
 fince the revival of learning, men have read much and 
 wrote much, but thought little : Infomuch that with us to 
 think clofelyand juftly, is the Icaft part of a learned man, 
 and none at all of a polite man. The free-thinkers, it 
 muft be owned, make great pretenfions to thinking, and 
 yet they fhew but little exaftnefs in it. A lively man, 
 and what the world calls a man of fenfe, are often deftitute 
 of this talent \ which is not a mere gift of nature, but* 
 muft be improved and perfected, by much attention and 
 exercife on very different fubjecrs : A thing of more pains 
 and time, than the hafty men of parts in our age care to 
 lake. Such were the fentiments of a judicious friend: 
 And, if you are not already fuiiicientiy convinced of thefe 
 truths, you need only caft an eye on the dark and confuf- 
 ed, but neverthelefs admired v/riters of this famous fe£t : 
 And then you will be able to judge, whether thofe 
 
 * f thic. ad Nicom. i. lo. c. 9.
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 381 
 
 •who are led by men of fuch wrong heads, can have very 
 good ones of their own. Such, for inftance, was Spimfa, 
 the great leader of our modern infidels, in whom are to 
 be found many fchemes and notions, much admired and 
 followed of late years : Such as undermining religion, 
 under the pretence of vindicating and explaining it : The 
 maintaining it, not neceflary to believe in Chrift according 
 to the flefh : The perfuading men, that miracles are to be 
 underftood only in a fpiritual and alegorical fenfe : That 
 vice is not fo bad a thing as we are apt to think : That men 
 are mere ma(;liines, impelled by fatal necefiity. I have 
 heard, faid I, Spinofa reprefented as a man of clofe argu- 
 ment and demonftration. He did, replied Crito^ dempn- 
 ftrate j but it was after fuch a manner, as any one may 
 demonftrate any thing. Allow a man the privilege to 
 make his own definitions of common words, and it will 
 be no hard matter for him to infer conclufions, which in 
 one fenfe fhall be true, and in another falfe, at once 
 feeming paradoxes and manifeft truifms. For example, 
 let but Spinofa define natural right to be natural power, 
 and he will eafily demonflrate, that nvhatever a man can 
 do, he hath a right to do. * Nothing can be plainer than 
 the folly of this proceeding •, but our pretenders to the 
 lumen ficcumy are fo pailionately prejudiced againft reli- 
 gion, as to fwallow the grofleft nonfenfe and fophiftry 
 of weak and wicked wiiters for demonftration. 
 
 XXVII. And fo great a noife do thefe men make, with 
 their thinking, reafoning, and demonflvating, as to prej- 
 udice fome welUnieaning perfons againft all ufe and im- 
 provement of reafon. Honeft Demea, having feen a 
 neighbor of his ruined by the vices of a free-thinking 
 fon, contracted fuch a prejudice againft thinking, that 
 he would not fuffcr his own to read Euclid^ being told it 
 
 • Tra.<lat- Politic, c. 5,
 
 382 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 might teach him to think j till a friend convinced him 
 the epidemical diftemper was not thinking, but only the 
 want and afFeflation of it. I know an eminent free- 
 thinker, who never goes to bed, without a gallon of wine 
 in his belly, and is fure to replenifli before the fumes arc 
 off his brain, by which means he has not had one fober 
 thought thefe (ev^n years ; another, that would not for 
 the world, lofe the privilege and reputation of free-think- 
 ing, who games all night, and lies in bed all day : And 
 as for the outfide, or appearance of thought in that mea- 
 gre Minute Philofopher, IbyaiSy it is an efFe<^, not of 
 thinking, but of carking, cheating, and writing in an 
 office. Strange, faid he, that fuch men (hould fet up 
 for free-thinkers ! But it is yet more flrange, that other 
 men ftiould be out of conceit with thinking and reafon- 
 ing, for the fake of fuch pretenders. I anfwered, that 
 fome good men conceived an oppofition between reafon 
 and religion, faith and knowledge, nature and grace ; 
 and that, confequently, the way to promote religion, 
 was to quench the light of nature, and difcourage all 
 rational inquiry. 
 
 XXVIII. How right the intentions of thefe men may be, 
 replied CritOy I fliall not fay ; but furely their notions are 
 very wrong. Can any thing be more difhonorable to re- 
 ligion, than the reprefenting it as an unreafonable, unnat- 
 ural, ignorant inftitution ^ God is the Father of all lights, 
 whether natural or revealed. Natural concupifence is one 
 thing, and the light of nature another. You cannot, 
 therefore, argue from the former againft the latter : Nei- 
 ther can you from fcience, falfely fo called, againft real 
 knowledge. Whatever, therefore, is faid of the one in 
 Holy Scripture, is not to be interpreted of the other. I 
 infifted that human learning in the hands of divines, had 
 from time to time created- great difputes and divifions in
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 383 
 
 the church. As ab{lra£ted metaphyfics, replied Crito, 
 have always had a tendency to produce difputes among 
 chriftiansj as well as other men j fo it fhould feem, that 
 genuine truth and knowledge would allay this humor, 
 which makes men facrilice the undifputed duties of peace 
 and charity to difputable notions. After all, faid I, what- 
 ever may be faid for reafon, it is plain, the fceptics and 
 infidels of the age are not to be cured by it. I will not 
 difpute this point, faid Crito ; in order to cure a diftem- 
 per, you (hould confider what produced it. Had men 
 reafoned themfelves into a wrong opinion, one might hope 
 to reafon them out of it. But this is not the cafe *, the 
 infidelity of Minute Philofophers feeming an efFe£l of 
 very different motives from thought and reafon. Little 
 incidents, vanity, difguft, humor, inclination, without 
 the lead affiftance from reafon, are often known to make 
 infidels. Where the general tendency of a dodrine is 
 difagreeable, , the mind is prepared to rehfli and improve 
 every thing that with the leaft pretence feems to make 
 againft it. Hence the coarfe manners of a country cu- 
 rate, the polite manners of a chaplain, the wit of a Mi- 
 nute Philofopher, a jeft, a fong, a tale can ferve inftead 
 of a reafon for infidelity. Bupalus preferred a rake in the 
 church, and then made ufe of him as an argument againft 
 it. Vice, indolence, faction, and fafhion produce Mi- 
 nute Philofophers, and mere petulancy, not a few.— 
 Who then can expect a thing fo irrational and capricious 
 fliould yield to reafon ? It may, neverthelefs, be wortli 
 while to argue againft fuch men, and expofe their falla- 
 cies, if not for their own fake, yet for the fake of others ; 
 as it may leflen their credit, and prevent the growth of 
 their fe£l;, by removing a prejudice in their favor, which 
 fometimes inclines others as well as themfelves to think 
 they have made a monopoly of human reafon.
 
 3S4 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. Vll.j 
 
 XXIX. The moft general pretext which looks like 
 reafon, is taken from the variety of opinions about re- 
 ligion. This is a refting ftone to a lazy and fuperjdcial 
 mind. But one of m.ore fpirit and a jufter way of 
 thinking, makes it a ftep whence he looks about, and 
 proceeds to examine, and compare the differing inftitu- 
 tions of religion. He will obferve, which of thefe is 
 the moft fublime and rational in its doctrines, moft ven- 
 erable in its myfteries, moft ufeful in its precepts, moft 
 decent in its worftiip ? Which createth the nobleft hopes, 
 and moft worthy views ? He will confider their rife and 
 progrefs, which oweth leaft to human arts or arms ? 
 Which flatters the fenfes and grofs inclinations of men ? 
 Which adorns and improves the moft excellent part of 
 our nature ? Which hath been propagated in the moft 
 wonderful manner ? Which hath furmounted the greateft 
 difficulties, or fhev/ed the moft difinterefted zeal and fm- 
 cerity in its profeftbrs ? He will inquire, which beft 
 accords with nature and hiftory ? He will confider, what 
 favours of the world, and what looks like wifdom from 
 above ? He will be careful to feparate human allay from 
 that which is divine ; and upon the whole, form his 
 judgment like a reafonable free-thinker. But inftead of 
 taking fuch a rational courfe, one of thofe hafty fceptics 
 fhall conclude without demurring, that there is no wif- 
 dom in politics, no honefty in dealings, no knowledge in 
 philofophy, no truth in religion : And all by one and the 
 fame fort of inference, from the numerous examples of 
 folly, knavery, ignorance, and error, which are to be 
 met with in the world. But, as thofe, who are unknow- 
 ing in every thing elfe, imagine themfelves ftiarp-fighted 
 in religion, this learned fophifm is ofteneft levelled againft 
 rhriftianity.
 
 [Dial. VII.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 385 
 
 XXX. In my opinion, he that would convince an 
 infidel, who can be brought to reafon, ought in the firft 
 place, clearly to convince him of the being of a God, it 
 feeming to me, that any man, who is really a theift, can- 
 not be an enemy to the chriftian religion : And that the 
 ignorance or difbelief of this fundamental point, is that 
 which, at bottom, conftitutes the Minute Philofopher. 
 I imagine they, who are acquainted with the great authors 
 in the Minute Philofophy, need not be told of this. The 
 being of a God is capable of clear proof, and a proper 
 object of human reafon : whereas, the myfteries of his 
 nature, and indeed, whatever there is of myftery in re- 
 ligion, to endeavor to explain and prove by reafon, is a 
 vain attempt. It is fufficient, if we can (liew there is 
 nothing abfurd, or repugnant in our belief of thofe 
 points, and, inftead of framing hypothefis to explain 
 them, we ufe our reafon only for anfwering the objec- 
 tions brought againft them. But, on all occafions, we 
 ought to diftinguifli the ferious, modeft, ingenuous man 
 of fenfc, who hath fcruples about religion, and behaves 
 like a prudent man in doubt, from the Minute Philofo- 
 phers, thofe profane and conceited men, who muft needs 
 profelyte others to their own doubts. When one of this 
 ftamp prefents himfelf, we fhould confider what fpecies 
 he is of : Whether a firfl or a fecond-hand philofopher, 
 a libertine, fcorner, or fceptic ? Each character requiring 
 a peculiar treatment. Some men are too ignorant to be 
 humble, without which, there can be no docility : But 
 though a man muft, in fome degree, have thought, and 
 confidered, to be capable of being convinced, yet it is 
 poffible the moft ignorant may be laughed out of his 
 opinions. I knew a woman of fenfe, reduce two Mi- 
 nute Philofophers, who had been long a nuifance to the 
 neighborhood, by taking her cue from their predominant 
 affectations. The one fet up for the moft incredulous 
 A a a
 
 386 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VIL] 
 
 man upon eartii, the other for the moil unbounded free- 
 dom. She obferved to the firft, that he, v/ho had cre- 
 dulity fufEcient to truft the moft valuable things, his life 
 and fortune, to his apothecary and lawyer, ridiculoully 
 afFex^ed the chara^ler of incredulous, by refufmg to 
 trull his foul, a thing in his own account but a mere tri- 
 fle, to his parilh-prieft. The other being what you call a 
 beau, (he made fenfible how abfolute a flave he was in 
 point of drefs, to him the moft important thing in the 
 world, while he was earneflly contending for a liberty of 
 thinking, with which he never troubled hi& head ; and, 
 how much more it concerned, and became him, to aflert 
 an independency on fafhion, and obtain fcope for his 
 genius, where it was beft qualified to exert itfelf. The 
 Minute Philofophers, at firft hand, are very few, and, 
 confidered in themfelves, of fmall confequence : But their 
 followers, who pin their faith upon them, are numerous, 
 and not lefs confident than credulous ; there being fome- 
 thing in the air and manner of thefe fecond-h'and philo- 
 fophers, very apt to diiconcert a man of gravity and ar- 
 gument, and much more difficult to be bore than the 
 weight of their cbjedions. 
 
 XXXI. Crito having made an end, Euphranor declar- 
 ed it to be his opinion, that it would much conduce to 
 the public benefit, if, inftead of difcouraging free-think- 
 ing, there v/as erected in the midft of this free country, 
 a dianoetic academy, or feminary for free-thinkers, pro- 
 vided with retired chambers, and galleries, and fhady 
 walks, and groves ♦, where, after feven years fpent in 
 filcnce and meditation, a man might commence a genuine 
 free-thinker, and from that time forward, have licence to 
 think what he pleafed, and a badge to diftinguifli him 
 from counterfeits. In good carneft, faid CritOy I ima- 
 gine that thinking is the great deftderatum of the prefent
 
 [Dial. VIL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 387 
 
 age : and that the real caufe of whatever is amifs, may 
 juftly be reckoned the general negledl of education, in 
 thofe who need it moft, the people of fafnion. What 
 can be expefted where thofe, who have the rnofc influence, 
 have the lead fenfe, and thofe who are fare to be follow- 
 ed, fet the worft example ? Where youth fo uneducated 
 are yet fo forward ? Where modefly is efteemed pufilla- 
 nimity, and a deference to years, knowledge, religion, 
 laws, want of fenfe and fpirit ? Such untimely growth 
 of genius would not have been valued, or encouraged by 
 the wife men of antiquity ; whofe fentiments on this point 
 are fo ill fuited to the genius of cur times, that it is to be 
 feared, modern ears could not bear them. But, how- 
 ever ridiculous fuch maxims might feem to our Britijh 
 youth, who are fo capable and fo forward to try experi- 
 ments, and mend the conftitution of their country : I 
 believe it will be admitted by men of fenfe, that if the 
 governing part of mankind, would in thefe days, for ex- 
 periment's fake, confider themfelves in that old Homerical 
 light as paftors of the people, whofe duty it was to im- 
 prove their flock, they would foon find, that this is to be 
 done by an education, very different from the modern, 
 and otherguefs maxims, than thofe of the Minute Philo- 
 fophy. If our youth were really inured to thought and 
 reflexion, and an acquaintance with the excellent writers 
 of antiquity, we fhould fee that licentious humour, vul- 
 garly called free-thinkingy banifhed from the prefence of 
 gentlemen, together with ignorance and ill taile ; whicli, 
 as they are infeparable from vice, fo men follow vice for 
 the fake of pleafiire, and fly from virtue, through an ab- 
 horrence of pain. Their minds, therefore, betimes fhould 
 be formed and accuitomed to receive pleafure and pain 
 from proper objefts, or, which is the fame thing, 
 to have their inclinations and averfions rightly placed. 
 Kalos chairein e nufein. This, according to Plato and
 
 388 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VII.] 
 
 Artftctley was the crthe paideiay the right education. * 
 And thofe, who, in their own minds, their health, or 
 their fortunes, feel the curfed effecls of a wrong one, 
 would do v^ell to confider, they cannot better make 
 amends for what was amifs in themfelves, than by pre- 
 venting the fame in their pofterity. While Crito was 
 faying this, company came in, which put an end to our 
 convcrfation. 
 
 * Plato in Protag. & Arlftot. ethic, ad Nicom. 1. a. c. Z. & 
 J. lo. c. 9. 
 
 FINIS,
 
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 AMILY BIBLES, folio, with references, apocrypha, 
 and plates — and almod every edition of the Bible to 
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 Henry's Commemtaries, or an expofition of all the books 
 of the Old and New Tcftaments, 6 Vols. 4to. 
 
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