CHAP. IV. In which we shall examine the Arguments that prove the Existence of God. WE E have thought this Preliminary Dif course by fo much the more useful, as the Illusions we have reason to fear in treating of Matters of Religion are entertained unawares, when we don't fufpect them, and insensibly leading us into incredulity, form as it were a double Bulwark in our Understanding, against which the Solidity and force of Arguments are generally ineffectual. But having laid down the principal Causes of our Errors, 'tis a Matter still of much greater importance, to mention also those of Truth, of which there are Four different Kinds: Nature, which is the United Body of all visible Creatures: Society, which is a Multitude of Men united under the form of Government : The Heart of Man, which is a little World, containing as many Wonders in it as the greater: And lastly, Religion, which convinces us better than any other Object, of the Existence of God, as it will appear by the sequel of this Work. To convince us of the being of a Supream Wifdom, we need bat open our Eyes, and look over the Wonders of Nature: For although the confideration of the Heavens and the Stars, and of ir Beauty and their Light, their Vastness and ortions, their perpetual Motion, and those derful Revolutions which render them so just 1 constant in their different Variations, should not not convince us of this truth, yet we should find the plain Marks of it in the Waves, and on the Sea-Shore, in the Plants, and in the production of Herbs and Fruits, and in the diversity and instinct of Animals, in the structure of our Body, and the Lineaments of our Faces. And indeed, as all the Men who have informed me that there is such a City as Rome, could not combine together to impose upon my Credulity; so it is impossible, that all the parts of Nature, should conspire to deceive me, by shewing me the Characters of a pretended Wisdom which does not really exist. It is certain also, that this latter Argument, has in some respect, the advantage over the former, in as much as all Men have in themselves the Principles of Error and Imposture, whereas the parts of Nature are free from any such De-fects; and so the general Testimony of Men is less infallible than the general Testimony of the parts of the Universe, if I may be allowed to use this Expression, to fignifie that perfect agreement of all the works of Nature, which feems contrived on purpose to set before our Eyes the Wifdom of their Maker. We need then but only confider, whether we can upon due reflection, forbear acknowledg ing those Characters of Wisdom in Nature, which we think we have observed there. Wisdom every one knows, imports Two things, viz. A Design and the Choice of certain Means conducing to that Design. We only therefore defire to know whether you can observe any De sign in the Works of the Universe, or whether you perceive any Cause acting there for fome end, C2 end, which surely is not very difficult to find out: For certainly we must be void of all ReaSon, if we doubt whether our Eyes were made to fee, our Ears to hear, our Nose to smell, our Voice to make our selves understood by one another, our Feet to walk, the Soles of our Feet flat, to enable us to keep upright; our Heart to make or receive the Blood, our Veins to contain it, our Spirits to put it in motion, our Arteries to beat and drive the Blood to the Veins, our Nerves to receive the Spirits; and when we fee that our Eyes are not placed in our Feet, from whence they could not perceive any Objects, that our Mouth hath a Communication with our Stomach, without which, we should be utterly deprived of Nourishment, how can we believe that all this was so framed, without any manner of Design ? And this Wisdom is every where perceived all over the Universe, whether we examine any single Body, or contemplate the whole Mass of ail Corporeal Beings: For do but consider Light, the noblest and most beautiful of all the parts of the Universe, and we shall find 'tis not without fome reason that it is united into certain Globes which continually diffuse it, without ever being exhausted; that these Globes are placed at so just and proportionate a distance from the Earth, ar They always seem in a perpetual a whether it be a real or i maginaer meets with the least ObStack to stop it. lower, and consider the fevewings even to us, the Stars; it bears uitfulness of the the Earth, and the abundance of our Farvel: it conveyeth Sounds to our Eas, and Coor to our Eyes; it causes our Feliration, and tr Motion of our Longs, the force and agnation of Flame, the Vegetation of Plants, and re Life f Animals. Confider farther bow this Ar and this Lirie unite with the Organs of Humane Buasir without the Eye of Men, Larer is bu Larme and without Light, the Eye of Maris Dur Eina ness: Observe those admirable Dependences wuCE are the Causes that the Heavens row or feet IS rowl in the vast wide face of the World, pr curing the welfare of an Arm, who ar as he seems to be in the corner of a love, WRICE is it felf but a Point in compariion of oner parts of the Universe, eciors all these wonderful Works, whose greatness is to difproportioned to his own, and poletes whatever the Heavens and the Stars feem to have of mot worth and value. Who has taught the Air, the Winds, the Ren and other Meteors to contribute to the fruitfidness of the Earth? Why doch the Sun in order to it, impart his Heat and Light, the Stars their Influences, the Sea its Clouds, the Air its Dew and Coolness, and each Seafom the Temperature of its different Qualities? What makes the dry and barren Earth, the Mother of fo many Vegetables, so wonderful in their Vertues and Fro ductions; and of fo many excellent Trees and exquisite Fruits? Why must those Fruits needs be of a Temper proper to be changed into the substance of Animals, and to preserve their Lives? How comes it to pass that those Animals are informed by Hunger and Thirst, when 'tis time to C3 take take such Food as is appointed for their Sustenance? And how is it on the contrary, that they are taught by the repugnance of their Appetites, and fullness of Stomach, when they have taken what is sufficient for the good of their Nature, and this by a Law which cannot be violated but by such Diseases as disorder the Natural Oeconomie of their Primitive Temper? , To what purpose were all the Fruits of the Earth, if there were not Animals to be nourish'd by them? And what would those Animals do without the Fruits of the Earth? How should the different species of Animals be preserved without that passionate Inclination the Male has for the Female? And what would that Inclination signifie, if it did not serve for the propagation of Animals? Why does Nature in Places where no Corn grows, produce Cocoes to supply the want thereof, those wonderful Trees whose Pith is Bread, whose Juice is Wine, and the Down wherewith their Leaves are covered, Cotton to cloath Men withal? Why in the Isle of Fiero, where there is neither Spring nor River for the Inhabitants to drink of, is there a Tree perpetually covered with a Cloud, which makes Water distil from its Branches? Nature forming a miraculous Spring in the Air, to supply the defects of the Earth; so that all the Beasts and Inhabitants of that Island, have abundantly enough from thence wherewith to quench their Thirst. : In spight of all our Endeavours to the contrary, we cannot but freely acknowledge the parts of Nature are not thus lin ther without some Design. The Ear not be situated as it is, nor the Sun al enlighten the Two Hemispheres with fo ! D |