) 



G O D. 



our kuowledge of nature." — " True fortitiidL- of iinder- 

 Oniiding cpnfilts in not fuffcring what we know to be dif- 

 turb^'d by \vh:\t we do not know. If we perceive an ufc- 

 ful end, and means adapted to that end, we perceive enough 

 for our conchilion. If thefe tilings be clear, no matter what 

 is obfciire. Tl^e argument is finilhed." — " Our ignorance 



rn many points need not fufpend our affurance of a few.'' 



«' Contrivance," fays our author, " if eitablifhed, appears 

 to me to prove every tiling which we wiih to prove. 

 Amongfl: other things, it proves the perfonalitf of the 

 Deity, as diftinguiilied from what is fometiniej called 

 riature, fometinies called a principle : wiiicli terms, in 

 the mouths of thole who ufe them philolophically, fcem 

 to be intended, to admit and exprefs an efficacy, but 

 to exclude and deny n perfonal agent. Now that wliich can 

 contrive, wliich can defign, mull be a perfon. Thefe capa- 

 cities conftitute perfo:iality, for they impl)- confcioufnefs and 

 thought. They require ihat which can perceive an end or 

 puipofo ; as well as the power of providing moans, and of di- 

 recting them to their end. They require a centre, in which 

 perfections unite, and from which volitions flow ; which is 

 mind. The afts of arriind prove the exigence of a mind ;" 

 and that, whatever it be, in which a mmd refides, is a perfon, 

 — " Whenever we fee marks of contrivance, we are led for its 

 caufe to an i/j/f/.'/f.-K? author. A-id this tranfition of the un- 

 derllanding is founded upon uniform experience." — " There 

 may be many fecond caufes, and many caufes of fecond 

 caufes, one behind anotiur, bet we;a whatweobferve of nature 

 and the Deity ; but there niufl be intelligence fomewhere ; 

 there mull be more in nature than what we fee ; and 

 amongfl the things unfeen, there mull be an intelligent de- 

 flgning author ;" — " after rJl the llruggles of a reluctant 

 philofophy, the neceffary refort is to a deity. The marks of 

 tl-fgn are too flrong to be got over. Delign muft have had a 

 deligner. The defigner mufl have been a perfon. Thai per- 

 fon is God." But we muft content ourfelves with earneftly 

 recommending the works from which thefe detached txtrafts 

 are made, to the perufal of our readers ; for we cannot do 

 juflice to the author's admirable reafoning 



Another argument to prove the exiftence of God, as the 

 creator and governor of the univerfe, may be deduced 

 from the univerfal confent of mankind, and the uniform 

 tradition of this belief through every nation and every 

 age ; it is impolTible to conceive, that a fallacy fo per- 

 petual and univerfal, fhould be impofed on the united rea- 

 fon of mankind. No credible and fati-,;fa(ilory account can 

 be given of this univerfal confent, withoul afcribing it to the 

 original conllitution of the human mind, in confequence of 

 which it cannot fail to difcern the exiftence of a deity, and 

 to the undeniable traces of his being, which his works af- 

 ford. Fear, llate-po'icy, and the prejudices of education, 

 to which the concurrence of mankind in this principle has 

 been fomctimcs refolved, are founded on this univerfal princi- 

 ple, fuppofe its being and influence, and are j'.ttuatcd by it. It 

 is much more reafonable to imagine, that tiie belief of a 

 God was antecedent to their operation, than that it (liould 

 have been produced by them ; and that it "as didtated by 

 reafon and confcience, independent of the paffions and poli- 

 cy of men. The uniform and univerfal tradition of this be- 

 lief, and of the creation of the world by the divine power, af- 

 fords concurring evidence both of the principle and of the 



faa. 



The exiftence of God is alfo farther evinced by thofe ar- 

 guments which have been ufually alleged to prove, that the 

 world had a beginning, and, therefore, that it n.uft h.ive 

 been created by the em rgy of divine power. In proof ot 

 this, the hiftory of ^'«fes, confidered mertly as the moll 



ancient hiftorian, defcrves particular regard. His tcftiraony 

 is confirmed by the mod ancient writers among the heathen:-, 

 both poets and hiftorians. It may be alfo fairly alleged, 

 tliat we have no hiltory or tradition more aricient than that 

 which agrees with the received opinion of the world's begin- 

 ning, and of the manner in which it was produced ; and thjit 

 the moft ancient hillories were written long after that time. 

 And this confidcration is urged by Lucretius, the famo';5 

 Epicurean, as a ftrong prefumption that the world had a be- 

 ginning. 



-Si nulla fuit genitalis ori<'o 



Terrarum et cali, fernperquc xtern.i fuerc : 

 Cur fupra belluni Thebanum, et funera Trojx, 

 Non alias ahi quoque res cecincrc poetE ?" 



Befides, the origin and progrefs of learning, and the moft. 

 ufeful arts, confirm the notion of the worlds beginning, 

 and of the common era of its creation ; to which alfo may 

 be added, tliat tlie world itf If, being material and corrupti- 

 ble, muft have had a beginning ; and many phenomena occur 

 to the obfervation of tlie aftronomcr and iiatur.il hiftorian, 

 which, furnifti a ftrong prefumption that it could have had no 

 long duration, and that it gradually tends to diffolution. From 

 all thefe conllderations we may inter the exiftence, attributes, 

 and providence of God. If we admit n.Iraeles, as facts mi- 

 tlienticated by credible hiftory, thefe, conlidered as devia- 

 tions from the eilabhfhed courfe of nature, aflord indcpeud- - 

 ent evidence of the being of God. See MlR.ici.i;. 



God is alfo ufed in fpeaking of the falfe deities of the hea- 

 thens, many of which were only creatures to which divine 

 honours and worfhip were fuperflitioufly paid. 



The Greeks and Latins, it is obfervable, did not mean, by 

 the name God, an all-perfeCl being, whereof eternity, infi- 

 nity, oniniprefence, &c. were eTential attributes : witii them, 

 the word only implied an excellent and fuperior nature ; and, 

 accordingly, they give the appellation gods to all beings 

 of a rank, or clafs, Jiigher an;! more ]>erfeft than that of 

 men ; and efpecially to thofe who were inferior agents in the 

 divine adminiflration, all fubjecl to tiie one fupreine. 



Thus men thcmfelves, according fo tlieir fyftem, -might 

 become gids, after death ; inafmuch ?.s their fouls might at- 

 tain to a degree of excellence fuperitn- to what they were ca- 

 pable of in life. 



The firft divines, f iiher Boffu obferves, were the poets : 

 the two fundions, thougli now fe])ar..ted, were originally 

 combined ; or, rather, were one and the fan'.e thing. Now 

 the great variety of attributes in God, that is, the number of 

 relations, capacities, and circumllances, wherein thev had 

 occalion to confider him, put thef^ poets,' &c. under a ne- 

 cefHty of making a partition, and of feparating the divine 

 attributes i;ito feveral perfons : becaufe the wCaknefs of the 

 human mind could not conceive fo much power and aClion v.\ 

 tlie fimplieity of one fingle divine nature. Thus the omni- 

 potence of God came to be reprefentc d under th'" perfon and 

 appellation of Jupiter ; the wifdom of God imder that of 

 Minerva ; the jufticeof God Under that of .luno. 



I'ho firll idols, or falfe gods, that are faid to have- been 

 adored, were the liars, fun, moon, &c. on account of the 

 light, lieat, and otlier benefits which we derive from them. 

 (See Idcu ATRY.) Afterwards the cr.i-tli c.-'meto b? deified, 

 for furnifning fruits neceffary for the fubliite:;cc of men and 

 animals ; tlun tire and water became objCtls of divine wor- 

 fhip, for their ufefidnefs to human life. In protefs of lime, 

 and bv degrees, gods became multiplied to infinity ; and 

 there was Icarcc any thing but the \\ cakuefs, or caprice of 

 I Icxe 



