8o Jln Expojition upon the a mo!l: perftd: Mind, and comprehenrive Underftanding? For certainly, i f a ftrong and maftering Rcafon be required only to imitate the \ V'orks of Nature) much more then to produce them. . Arid why had not thofe Atoms that could thus fortuitoufJy frame a World why had they n6t built Houfes too, and Cities, and woven US Garments, that fo by very good Chance we might have found thefe Neceffaries ready ptovidcd to our hands and favcd the trouble and labour of mJking them? Did evet any Atoms full into'fi 1 ch exact order, and kni t fo artifici:i.lly together, as to frame .:1 Clock Or a Watch or anY: other piece of i~geniolls Mech:11~ifm? And will the Athe~{t r.hcn be fo pny 'as to bel ~eve that thcfe little dnfts of Bemgs, fhonld by rneer hazard meet and JOin together to frame the whole World, and befrow fuch various forms and motions UJJOI\ Creatures, as ""e daily fee and admire? Look but upon the mofr contemptible Worm that crawls, we rhall find it a far more excellent piece of Mechanifrn, a far tnore curious Engine, than any that ever the Art or Wit of Man could frame. And fhall Chance make thefe! yCa, Creatures of a mote wonderful compofitre, which yet could never make a Watch or a Clock, bt any of thofe ~gines which we have con.. trived for the ufe and fervice of Life? And what will they fay to the acc1irate Operations of Scnfe and Reafon?Is it poffiblethat one fmall Duit thould fee or feel a no~ ther.? and if no~ one, then not ~en th<?ufan~ put together. ShalT their Confiyuratiw on-g1ve them th1s Faatlty; which thetr Bemg and Subfiancttdoth not? WJ 1 ich 1 Iha\l then believe, When I rh.11l be convinced that a Statue carv~ the moft ~xquilitly that Art can perform, can any more fee or tafte, or feel, than 1t could wh1lft it was rude and unformed Wood. But fuppofc that Senfe could be caus'd by meer Matter put in motion; yet what fhall we fay to the refined Sp~ulations, and profound Difqmrfcs of Reafon? Is it likely, or indeed poffible, that little Corpufcles fhould re flea, and argue, that Atoms fhonld nllke Syllbgifms, or draw up Parties between Pro and Con? Or wi ll the Atheift grant, that t here is no other difference between: llimfelf and a meer fcnfelcfs Block, but only configuration of Parts? and that when he difiJutes moft fubtily for his Caufe, all his Reafons and Arguments are but a li t tle Duft th>lt flies up and down in his Brains? But that the agitation of material Par - tides, lhould produce any fpr ightly aCts of Wit and Difconrfe, is fo monfiroufly abhorrem to true Rcafon, that I doubt I fhall neTcr be perfuaded to beli eve it until fame cunning Man convince me, that the High-way too is in a deep Speculition and teeming with fome notable Difcourfe, whenfoever the Duft is frirrcd and flie; about it. · And yet, forfooth, Men muft own now-a-days be Atheifrs, that they may he ratioml; and think it an high demonftration of their Parts and Ingenuity, to Doubt ~f :i Deity, and ca11 all Religion into queftion. Whereas, were any thing in the Belief of a God, and the moll: myfterious Points of our Religion, half fo abfi1rd and ridiculous as there is in Atheifm, I fhould moft readily explode it, and count it altogether unworthY to be entertained by any Man that is ingenious and rational. 2 • Secondi)•, Therefore, others being preft with the huge and monftrous Abfhrditics of this way of g iving an account of the Appearances of Nature, they hold, That the World is from Eternity, and never had any beginning at all. And thefe are the .Ariftotelian Atheifts. r. But Firft, It is altogether unreafonable tO deny a God, and yet grant that very thing for which alone they deny him.. . The o~ly :eaf~n that tempts Atheifl:s to deny a Deity, is, becaitfe they cannot concetve a Betng mfimte and ete.rna l ; .1nd therefore, when they yield the \V" orld to be fo, what do they elfe but r un m to the.f3:rne Inconveniency which they would avoid.; and that they m~y not grant o~e ~ternal Being, grant innumerable? So fatal it ts for Errour to be mconfiftent Wtth Jt felf, and to trip np its Own Principles. 2 • Secondly, If the World be Eternal, there mu~ of. neceffity have been paft an infinite fucccffion of Ages. Now, our Underftandmg IS as much 1_10n-plufl: to conceive this, as an infinite Being that fhould create the World: (or tf the World had no beginning, then an i.nfinite number of Days, and Years, yea, ofn!illions of Years and Generations of Men, are already a8:ually paft and gon. And 1f they are pafr, then they arc come to an end: and fo we fhall have bo7h a number that is aCtually infinite, and.likewife fomewhat infinit~ and eter"nal that IS come to an end. A very ptopcrConfequencc for one that avoids the Belief of a Deity, becaufe he would be Rational, and cannot conceive a Being that is Infinite. Again;
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=