MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS: 450 not conscious in himself, that he can walk or stand still, rise or sit, move his finger to the north or to the south ? No, he can do none of these; he is but a mere machine, acted by certain invisible springs, dnd that when two things are offered him, he cannot choose or refuse this.or that, but is necessarily impelled to evert' thing that he thinks, or wills, or acts.* Enquire of him yet further, when he shuns the church, when he dwells at the tavern till midnight, when he seeks out the partners of his vices, and pur- sues forbidden pleasures, whether he does not feel his own self, or his own inward powers choosing and acting all this with free- dom ? He will own that he seems to choose and act these things ; but he still persists in direct contradiction to his own feeling and consciousness, that it is God acts all this in him and by him ; and while he feels himself so wilful and vile a criminal, blasphemes the blessed God, and makes Iran the author of all his crimes. Contrary to all the dictates of his conscience, he affirms there is no virtue or vice, no such things as good or evil actions in a. moral sense ; and consequently that. God hath provided no hea- ven or hell, no rewards or punishments for any thing which is done by us in this life : for whatsoever we seem to do, it is all really effected by the will of God putting the train of causes in motion at first, and none of lìs could ever act otherwise than we do. And yet alter all this mechanical account of -themselves, and this denial of all freedom, these men of matter and motion have the impu- dence, in opposition to common sense, reason, and grammar, to abuse language so far as to call themselves free-thinkers. Strange and prodigious! that men should ever hope for the honours of that title which their own opinions constantly disclaim ! That they should with such a steady effrontery deny what they feel conti- nually in themselves, and what they practise ten times in an hour ; to gratify a humour, and support a most absurd opinion, which takes away all virtue, order and peace from this world, and all hope and happiness from the next ! The third sort of men of this odd composition, are the deists among us. Apistus professes he is a friend to reason above all things, and he is led by nothing so much as reason; it is by reason that he believes there is a God who made, and who go -, vents all things ; that he is bound to honour this God, and obey his will ; that he must make it his business to love God and his neighbour, that there is an eternal difference between vice and virtue : that man is an intelligent and free agent ; and by reason he is convinced that there are rewards and punishments provided for man in a future state, according to his behaviour here. He be- lieves also by the force of reason, according to ancient history, and the secure conveyance of it by writing, that there was such a man as Jesus Christ, as well as he believes there was such a man as Julius Caesar; and as he confessés that this Julius was a Roman * See the true liberty of choice explained and proved-in a late Essay of the Freedom of Will in God and Man.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=