for the Proof of a Deity may be drawn from the plain Consent of all Nations, who have any Remains of Reason, any Sense of Good Manners, and are not wholly degenerated into Brutishness. For, Humane Inventions, which depend upon the arbitrary Will of Men, are not always the same every where, but are often changed; whereas there is no Place where this Notion is not to be found; nor has the Course of Time been able to alter it, (which is observed by (b) Aristotle himself, a Man not very credulous in these Matters;) wherefore we must assign it a Cause as extensive as all Mankind; and That can be no other than a Declaration from God himself, or a Tradition derived down from the first Parents of Mankind: If the former be granted, there needs
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no further Proof; if the latter, it is hard to give a good Reason why our first Parents should deliver to Posterity a Falsity in a Matter of so great <5> Moment. Moreover, if we look into those Parts of the World, which have been a long time known, or into those lately discovered; if they have not lost the common Principles of Human Nature, (as was said before) this Truth immediately appears; as well amongst the more dull Nations as amongst those who are quicker, and have better Understandings; and, surely, these latter cannot all be deceived, nor the former be supposed to have found out something to impose upon each other with: Nor would it be of any force against this, if it should be urged, that there have been a few Persons in many Ages, who did not believe a God, or at least made such a Profession; For considering how few they were, and that as soon as their Arguments were known, their Opinion was immediately exploded; it is evident, it did not proceed from the right use of that Reason which is common to all Men; but either from an Affectation of Novelty, like the Heathen Philosopher who contended that Snow was black; or from a corrupted Mind, which like a vitiated Palate, does not relish Things as they are: Especially since History and other Writings inform us, that the more vertuous any one is, the more carefully is this Notion of the Deity preserved by him: And it is further evident, that they who dissent from this antiently established Opinion, do it out of an ill Principle, and are such Persons whose Interest it is that there should be no God, that is, no Judge of human Actions; because whatever Hypotheses they have advanced of their own, whether an infinite Succession of Causes, without any Beginning; or a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms, or any other (a) it is attend-<6>ed with as great, if not greater Difficulties, and not at all more credible than what is already received; as is evident to any one that considers it ever so little. For that which some object, that they don’t believe
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a God, because they don’t see him; if they can see any thing, they may see how much it is beneath a Man, who has a Soul which he cannot see, to argue in this manner. Nor if we cannot fully comprehend the Nature of God, ought we therefore to deny that there is any such Being; for the Beasts don’t know of what sort Creatures Men are, and much less do they understand how Men, by their Reason, institute and govern Kingdoms, measure the Course of the Stars, and sail cross the Seas: These Things exceed their Reach: And hence Man, because he is placed by the Dignity of his Nature above the Beasts, and that not by himself, ought to infer; that He who gave him this Superiority above the Beasts, is as far advanced beyond Him, as He is beyond the Beasts; and that therefore there is a Nature, which, as it is more Excellent, so it exceeds his Comprehension.
Sect. III. That there is but one God.
Having proved the Existence of the Deity: we come next to his Attributes; the first whereof is, That there can be no more Gods than One. Which may be gathered from hence; because (as was before said) God exists necessarily, or is self-<7>existent. Now that which is necessary or self-existent, cannot be considered as of any Kind or Species of Beings, but as actually existing, (a) and is therefore a single Being: For if you imagine many Gods, you will see that necessary Existence belongs to none of them; nor can there be any Reason why two should rather be believed than three, or ten than five: Beside the Abundance of particular Things of the same kind, proceeds from the Fruitfulness of the Cause, in proportion to which more or less is produced; but God has no Cause, or Original. Further, particular different Things, are endued with peculiar Properties, by which they are distinguished from each other; which do not belong to God, who is a necessary Being. Neither do we find any Signs of many
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Gods; for this whole Universe makes but one World, in which there is but (a) One Thing that far exceeds the rest in Beauty; viz. the Sun; and in every Man there is but One Thing that governs, that is, the Mind: Moreover, if there could be two or more Gods, free Agents, acting according to their own Wills, they might will contrary to each other; and so One be hindered by the Other from effecting his Design; now a Possibility of being hindred is inconsistent with the Notion of God. <8>
Sect. IV. All Perfection is in God.
That we may come to the Knowledge of the other Attributes of God; we conceive all that is meant by Perfection, to be in Him, (I use the Latin Word Perfectio, as being the best that Tongue affords, and the same as the Greek τελειότης). Because whatever Perfection is in any Thing, either had a Beginning, or not; if it had no Beginning, it is the Perfection of God; if it had a Beginning, it must of necessity be from something else: And since none of those things that exist, are produced from nothing, it follows, that whatever Perfections are in the Effects, were first in the Cause, so that it could produce any thing endued with them; and consequently they are all in the first Cause. Neither can the first Cause ever be deprived of any of its Perfections: Not from any thing else; because that which is Eternal, does not depend upon any other thing, nor can it at all suffer from any thing that they can do: Nor from itself, because every Nature desires its own Perfection.
Sect. V. And in an infinite Degree.
To this must be added, that these Perfections are in God, in an infinite Degree: Because those Attributes that are finite, are therefore limited, because the Cause whence they proceed has communicated so much of them and no more; or else, because the Subject was capable of no more. But no other Nature communicated any of its Perfections to God; nor
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does he derive any thing from any One else, he being (as was said) necessary or self-existent. <9>
Sect. VI. That God is Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient and compleatly Good.
Now seeing it is very evident, that those Things which have Life are more perfect, than those which have not; and those which have a Power of Acting, than those which have none; those which have Understanding, than those which want it; those which are good, than those which are not so; it follows from what has been already said, that these Attributes belong to God, and that infinitely: Wherefore he is a living infinite God; that is eternal, of immense Power, and every way good without the least Defect.
Sect. VII. That God is the Cause of all Things.
Every Thing that is, derives its Existence from God; this follows from what has been already said. For we conclude that there is but One necessary self-existent Being; whence we collect, that all other Things sprung from a Being different from themselves: For those Things which are derived from something else, were all of them, either immediately in themselves, or mediately in their Causes, derived from Him who had no Beginning, that is, from God, as was before
