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Show Knowledge of the Hxij{cnce of a GO'D. Book IV. 1 !hall be forgiven by my Reader, if 'I go over fome parts of tliis Argu~ ment a a in and enlarge a little more uport them. ~ g gTh~rc is no Truth more evident, than that fomethinf. mufi be fro~ Eternity. I never yet heard of any one fo unreafona~ e, or that could fu pofe fo maoifefi a ~ntradtchort, a~ a Ttmc, whereto there 'Yas erfett!f nothing. This' bemg of all Abfurdtttes the grcatdl,_ to tmagme pl noth"tn t 1at pure « the perfect Negation and Abfence of all Bethgs, ihould ~::~, , .. ever produce any real Exifience. . ' It being then unavoidable for all rattonal Creatures, to conclude, that fomething has exified from Etermty. :r.et us next fee what lnnd of thmg tha~t- mufi be. . · 1 W ld 1 M k 9. There are but two fort• of Beuigs til t 1c .or , t 1~! , an nows or concet vcs. . . . . . Firff, Such as are purely rnatertal, Wtthotlt &nfe '· PerceptiOn, or n1ought, as the clippings of our Beards, and pnnng of our Nat!s. Secondly, Scn!ible, thinlnng, perce!~tng Bemg~, fuch a~ we find our felvcs to be, which if you p!eafe, we Wt!l heieaftcr call cogttatt'!'e and m· cogitative Beings; which to our pr_efent P?rJ!Ib(e, lf for nothtng elfe, are, perhaps better Terms, than matertal and tmb!arerta!. ~- 10: If then there mufi be fomcr!ling eterrfal, l.et us fee what _fort of Jleing it mull be. An~ to t~at, it is ver~ obvious to Reafon, that tt mull necdTarily be a cogitative Betng. For tt ts as tmp?lli~le ~o concetve, that ever bare incogitative Matter fhould produce a dunktng tntclhgent Jlemg, as that nothing ihould of it felff.roouce Matter. Let us foppofe any pare of Matter eternal, great or fmal, we n,.nfind•it,in it felf,able to produce nothing. For Example; let ~s fupt>ofe the Matter of die next Peble, we tneet with, eternal, clofely umted, and the' parts lirmly at rcfi tog~ther, if there were n6 other Being in the-World, Mufr it not etetnaUy rematn fo, a dead inaCl:ive Lump? Is it pollib!e to coneeive it can odd Motion td it felf, being . purely Matter, or produce any thing? Ma.tter then, by. its oWn Strength, cannot produce 1~ It felf fo muCh. as Monon: the MottoA it has, mufi a!fo be from Etermty, or eJIC;!Jeo produced, and added td Matter by fome other Being more powerful tb:in Matter; Matter,as ts evt• dent, having not Power to produce Motion in ittfe!f. But le~ us fuppofe Motion eternal too; yet Matter, i•ctigftatiw Mdner and,Mduon, whatever changes it ·might produce of Figure an!! Btt1k, could >ever product Thought : Knowledge will fiiU be as far beyonil the Power !if Motton an& Matter to produce, as Matter is beyond the Powc~ of• nothing to produce. And I appeal to every one's own 'Thoughts, whether he cannot as eafil}'" conceive Matter produced by nothing, as Thought to· be produced by pure Matter, when before there was no fuch thing as Thought,or an i"nteliigent Beingexifiing. Divide Matter mto as minute parts as you wt!l,( w1Jtch we are apt to imagine a fort of fpiritualizing, or making a thinking thing of it,)vary the Figure and Motion of it,as much as you plcafe,aGlobe,Cube, . Cone, Prifm, Cylinder,&r. whofe Diametrcs are but (a.) A Gry ii ~~of • 1;,,, •finr ,! of An tooooooth part of a Gry{ «)will operate nootherwife' '"'"i 'j;fi"~" •f 1' f"'t?~'~ {"~· upon other Bodies of proportionable Bulk, than thofe :,!fo D;~a;::m 0 ;,: ~: /arh:;e :/1~; of an inch or foot Diametre ; and you may as nt· drgrm, 4Yttilche1u4fto ()1/C Secondol tionally expect to produce Senfc' Thought' and 1" 111!. 0' ,!of 11 rnVum. r have 11ffifled- Knowledge by putting together in a certain Figure ~-1~t:d:/C,,!Je~ita d;;{::;:, ~~':if;::;~:.;z and Motiod grofs Particles of Matter, as by thofe tl~:1t 1wncs to rbem; btc4ttft, 1 tbin/r.., Jt are the very minuteft, that do ary where exdt. fo:~~~~bbe,rfl::'~:~:~w;~;JC:,;11t:~; They knock, impel!, and refift one another, j.uft as · commooumitb of Lmm. the greater do, and that is aU they can do. :;o tl•j[ Chap .X. KnoYJJ!edge of the Exijlence of a GO'D. if we. will fuppofe nothing fir{\, or eternal , . Matter can never begin to be. If ~ve fuppofe bare Matter, Wtthout MotiOn, eternal, Motion can never begm to be: lfw~ fuppofe only Matter and Motion firfi, or eternal; Thought c~n never begm to be. Whatfoever therefore is eternal, mufi be a c_ogttative. Bcm~, a Sptrtt: Whatfoever is fir !I of all Things, mufi· necetTanly contam !nIt, and aCluaUy ha~e, at leafi, all the PerfeCl:ions that ~never after extfi: nor can tt ever gtve to another any per(eCl:ion that tt h~th not, etther aCl:~a!ly m. tt fe!f, or at !eafi in a higher degree. , ,~. I r. /fther,cfore It be evident, that fomethi•g necetTarily mufi exifl from Eterm~v, . tts alfo as ev1dent, that that Somethiwg •n•fl necefiari!y 6e a COJJfatrue Bung : For tt ts as tmpollible, that incogitative Matter fl10u)d produce a cogttattve lkmg, as that nothing, or the negation of all Being lhould produce a pofitive llciog, or Matter. ' ,9. u . Thou!'h this difcovery of the .ecef{ary Exiflence of an eUrHal M~nd, do futlictently lead us mto the Knowledge of a G 0 D; firti:e it wu! hence follow, . that all other knowing Beings that have a beginning, mu:l: depend on lum, and have no other ways of !\now ledge, or extent of Power, than what he gtves them: and therefore if he made thofe he made alfo the lefs-~xcdlent pieces of this Univerfe, all inanimate llei~gs , Whereby Ius Ommfctence, Power, and Providence, will be efiablifhed and aU his other Attributes necetTari!y follow: yet to dear up thiS a Jittl~ farther, we wtll fee what Doubts can be raifed againfi it. . §. I 3. Firfl, Perhaps it will be faid, that·though it be as clear ~s demonfiratton can make tt! that there mufi be an eternal Being, and that· Bemg mufi a!fo be know~ng : Yet IS does not follow , but that thinking f!emg_ may alfo be mate~Ial. Let It ll,e fo ; it equally fiill follows, that th~re!S~ GOD .. Fortftherebe an Eternal, Omnifcient; OmnipOtent Be!ng, tt ts certat~, that there IS a GOD, whether ¥OU imagine that ~mg to be matenai, ot no. But ~erem, I fuppofe, lies the danger and de' Celt of that Suppo!itton.: There bemg no way to avoid the demonfiration, that there is an eternal knowing Being, Men, devoted to Matter would willingly have it granted, that this knowing Being is material· and then letting fl ide out of their Minds, or the Difcourfe, the demonfir~tion whereby an eternol knowing Being was proved n~c~ITarily to exifi, would orguea!I to be Matter, and fo deny a GOD, that ts, an eternal cogitative Bemg : whereby they are fo far from efiabliilting, that they defiroy their own Hypothefis. Fo~ if there can be, in their Opinion, eternai M:itter, Wtthout an eternal cogttattve Bemg, they manifefily fepar:tte Matte~ and Tluokmg, and fuppole no necetTary connexion of the one with the other and fo. efiabliil1 the neceffity of an etema! Spirit , but not of Matter; Iince .'t has been proved already , that an eternal cogitative Being, is unavotdably to be granted. Now if Thinking and Matter may be fepa· rated, tbe eternal Exifleni:eof Matter, will not follow from the eternal Exi· f/ence of a cogitative Being, and they fuppofe it to no purpofe. • ~- 14- But now let us fee bow they can fatisfie themfelves, or others that this eurnal thinking Being is material. ' Firfl, I would a~k them, Whether they imagine, that all Matter, every parttcle of Matter, thinks r TillS, I fuppofe, they will fcarce lay; fince ~len there )Vould be as many eternal thinking Beings, as there are Parttcles of Matter , and fo an infinity of Gods. And yet if they will not aliow Matter as Matter ; that is, every Particle of Matter to be as well cogitative, as extended, they will have as hard a task to make out to the1r own Reafons, cogitative Being out of incogitative Porticles, as an extended Being, out ofunextended Parts, if! may fo fpeak. 5 f 2. ·§. I} • |
