The Exijlenceof GOD. 21 argued: ASrone,or whateycr elfe, l~ !lloving it [~If, i~ eith~r where it is, or where Jt~s not 5 if~ where it is,i rmoves not; J~where It ts not,rhen It WJll.be m.any piace,burwhere tt IS: While ~ this difpurin• humour contmued,one day he fell,and d1fplac thiS Shoulder.And fends m hafle for HerojiliH,"of excellent skill in Surgery. Buthe delirous firO: to cure his Brain, and then h~s Shoulder, told him.that his Artwas.needlefs m that cafe: For accordm~to your own opinion rhis Bone in the dJflocatmn ettber was where tt was, or where tt was not, and to alfcr; either, makes the difplacing of it equally impoffible. Therefore 'twas in vain to reduce it to the place from whence it was never parted. , And thus M kept him roaring out with pain and rage till he dcclar'd him~elf .convinc'd o~ the vanity of his irrefutable Argmnent. Now it; accordm~ to the llllpJety of Atheijlr, there IS _no God,_ why do~hey invoke him in their Adverlines? If there be, why do they deny hm1 m thelt Profpenty? There can no other Re>fon be affign'd but this, that in the O:ate of health their minds are difperlt, anddouded with blind folly~ in ficknefs they are ferious, and recover the judgment of Nature. As 'tis ordmary w1th d10:racted perfons, that m the approaches of Death their Reafon returns: Becaufe the Brain diO:empered by an excefs of heat, when rheSpiritsarewaftedat the laO:, is reduced to a convenient temper. CHAP. VI. The Belief ofthe 'Deity no Politick Invention. The a.lferti>~g that 'tu neceffary to preferve State.< in order,. io a ft;one proof of its Truth. No Hiftory intimates when thts bebefwas mtroduc d mto the World. The contmuance ofit, argues that its rife Wil6 not from a Civil decree. Princes themfelves are under the fears of the Deity. The multitude of fal[e Gods does not prejudice the natural notion of one true God. Idolatry was not univerfal. The Wor./hip of the only true God ir. preferved where Idolatry u aboli/h'd. I!. 'TIS Objected, that the beliefof the Deitywa~ at firll: introduc'd by the fpeci al invention of fame in power to preferve the civil State; and that Religion is only a politick curb to reO:rain the wild exorbitance and diforders ofthe multitude. This admits of an eafie refutation. 1 • Thofe corrupted minds that from pride orfenfuality prcfum'd to exempt Men from the Tribunal of Heaven, yet affirm'd that a Cuy might rather be preferved without Fire and Water, the moO: necelfary Elements, than without the religious belief of a God. · EgregiousloversofMa nkind! and therefore worthy ofeO:eemand credit, Gnce they divulge that Doctnne , that if believed, .the World nmO: fall into dreadful confulion by , therr own acknowledgmenr. But fuch lS the Drvme force of Truth, that is * enemies ,11,0:/,~: are conftrair;'d to give Tef\:irnony to it. For it is conceivable that an Error not in a hummar"m ~~~~u1~0t~~nfup~~~:~h~h~i~~{~~~e~ ~~~e~r~ht~~~:fc~ve~~0~o~~dt~~v~o~t fu~a\'1~~~ ~{;~;?:.~t~~ fequence on Government, fubvert all Societies, and expofe them to the greatefl: dangers> nunqlla.m i':itm How can they reconcile this with their declared Principle, that the natural end of . Ma~ •ff<.Pho.lib. 2 , is the knowledge of Truth? It were lefsO:range that the conO:antfeeding on deadly Poyfon, !honld be requilite to preferve the natural Life in health and vigour, and that the moO: proper food !hould be perniCious to it. So that the Objection if rightly confider'd will confirm the Religious beliefof a Deity. Indeed 'tis evident that all Civil Powers fuppofe the Notion ofa God to be an infeparable property of humane Nature, and thereby make thm Amhonty facred m the efleem of the People, as gerived from the Univerfal Monarch. Thus they make ufe of tliat natural love that is in Men to their own Perfans, their Lives, Liberties, and Children, as a powerful conflraint to Obedience. Is this affeCtion then fo natural and univerfal, the effect of Policy? None were ever fo vain as to pretend fo. And certainly the belief ofa God is as natural to a Man as the love to himfelfand his neareO: Relations. ' o. They can give no account of what they fo boldly Alfert. What Hiltorian ever recorded, that in fuch an Age, fuch a Prince introduc'dthe beliefofa Deity to make obedi· ence to his Laws to be a point of Religion? 'Tis true, Politicians have fometimes u'ed artifice
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