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and if matter thinks, it may direct it self to a certain end; and if it directs it self to a designed end, it has no need of any other principle to direct it thither; and the Existence of God will not be at all necessary in this regard.

And if Man directs himself to his proposed end, though he be supposed nothing else but matter, why should not the Heavens, the Elements, and other parts of the Universe, as well direct themselves to their general end, though in them, as well as in Men, we should acknowledge nothing but matter and motion?

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CHAP. VII.

That there are in the World certain Marks and Signs of Novelty, which lead us to the Truth of the Existence of God.

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workmanship

Ince the Universe is necessarily the of some Wisdom that made it in time, we need not be surprised to find fome marks velty in the Globe we inhabit.

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It is certain that the Earth receives f terations by the course of Time; the Rai fall upon the tops of Mountains and H down the Earth, and sensibly bring the The Rivers running a long w and from time to time, over make their Channels either And those of the greater fo quantity of Gravel along wi Sea, advance its Shores, or fo:

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it, like those at the Mouth of Nile, whose number from time to time has increased, according to the observation of the Learned,

Now though all these Alterations be very inconsiderable, and as it were insensible; yet it is evident, that an infinite extent of time would render them very sensible and apparent. There must needs have been formed before this time, an infinite number of those little Islands which are made out of the Gravel of the Rivers, or rather that the Sea would have been quite filled up, and the highest Hills brought down to a level, with the other parts of the Earth before this time; since Eternity contains an infinity of Ages to produce that Effect we speak of.

The novelty of the Earth which this confideration gives us sufficient afssurance of, agrees well enough with that of the Universe in general, which Reason has already help'd us to conceive. But we need not have recourse either to the one or the other, to prove the Existence of God. 'Tis sufficient for that purpose, to shew that Mankind is not without a first Head and a Be

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CHAP. VIII,

Containing some Arguments for the Existenc of God, taken from the consideration of So ciety. The first Argument drawn from th Succeffion of Generations.

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Here is nothing easier than to demonstra these Two Truths which seem to us de sive on this Subject; the one, that there wa first Man, who was himself without a Fath and was the Father of all Men yet living : 7 other, that supposing there was a first Man must necessarily be the Workmanship of the dom and power of a God.

'Tis plain that Mankind has a first Head yond which we cannot run our Thoughts | whether we consider the Succession of Ge tions, and that either ascending from our to our Ancestors, and the Ancestors of ou cestors, or beginning at top, and f from the Father to the Children, Co Root first, and then the Branches we consider those Marks of Novel first sight appear in Society, and perf only that Mankind has an Original, b its rise is not so ancient a Increas monly fancies. If we lo cestors, we must find out the Enquiries of our lose our selves in the rion.

For it will be to no purpose for the Incredulous to alledge for the defense of an eternal Succeffion of Generations, that this infinite gradation which so much puzzles us, and which the Philofophers call a Progression to infinity, and judge to be wholly contrary to right Reason, seems to be common to both Opinions: Because if the Atheist be forced to acknowledge that he draws his Original from his Father, and he again from fome other, without any end of that gradation; he that owns the Existence of God, is obliged likewife to believe that God existed a Thousand Ages -before the Creation of the World, and a Million before those Thousand ; and so on to infinity. But though the difficulty should be granted equal on both fides, we might reasonably reproach the Atheists for following an Opinion which includes all the difficulties of ours, without the fame light or evidence. In effect, if there be any thing incomprehensible in the Supream Being, which our Imagination does reject, 'tis his Infinity and his Eternity. If therefore you attribute this Eternity and Infinity to the Succession of Generations, you fall into all the difficulties which nion, with the disadvan

make you reje tage of not being fame eafe and

None ought to Duration in God. an Infinite Being kinds of Perfections and of it felf. And to ing, would be to Eut it is not fo which being nơi

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ciple which produces them, and to that which terminates them.

- Besides, there is a great deal of difference between an infinite progreffion which exists only in the weak Imagination of Men, and an infinite progreffion which we acknowledge in the thing it self. That we allow in God, is, according to our Opinion, of the first fort, since in God there is neither before, nor after, nor any Succeffion of duration; that he has produced Times and Ages and yet is not to be measured by Times and Age. himself; that properly and strictly speaking duration does not belong to him, because it can not be affirmed, but of such things only th had a beginning, and which continue in the state. But Duration in God, is the fame as bein and being is duration, though through the wea ness of our Conceptions, we are obliged to co der him under all the differences of Time; whe as that Progression which we acknowledge in Succeffion of Generations, is according to the credulous themselves, an infinite progression su sed in the thing it self, and not meerly th fect of Imagination.

And now if we begin at the Stock, and to the Branches, we shall soon be made fo of the same Truth. In effect, 'tis obser that when we run up the Succeffion of Gen to the first original, we go from multit Let us confider this Truth in the Peo Jews, whom we may suppose to be th of Abraham, without advancing any is doubtful or contested. If we trac cession of Generations upwards to than from that incredible Multitude of find at this Day in the World

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