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Show OfMAN. 'Clmszy Clad/LIL Of MA N. PM: I. of the Gentiles)is very true. But the acknowledging of one God cuanxn Eternall,1nfinite,and Omnipotent,may more eafily be dcrivedfrom OF RELIGION. feverall vertues, and operations 5 than from the feare of what was to beliallthem in time to come. For he that from any eFFeét hee feeth come to pafle, ihould reafon tothe next and immediate caufe thereof, the defire men have to know the caufes of naturall bodies, and their Relzgwn,biit in Man Slicing there are no fignes, nor fruit of the feed ochZz'girm, that one] 5 there is no cauie to doubt, but 1-; m ml) peculiar .quality, fome in eth confifl and is alio onely in Man 5 found in other be to not , therof e degre nt emine fome in lcaf't or at _ _ _ _ Living creatures. And firi't, it is peculiar to the nature of Man, to be inquifitive into Fir/h from v- - 4, Rang/WI, 1,1 ngdifirzgf the Caufcs ofthe Events they fee,fome more, fome lefle 5 but all men FL" "15"" {0 much, as to be curious in the fearch of the caufes of their own . . _ good and evill fortune. Frrm ,1" Secondly, upon the fight of anything that hath a Beginning, to then "aft/lemme think alfo it had acaufe, which determined the fame to begin, WI" 3‘!" when it did, rather than fooner or later. 1:3 "fig" Thirdly, whereas there is no other Felicity of Beafls, but the en- fizz"; 2f; joying of their quotidian Food, Eafe, and Lufts; as havmg little, or ,1" Segue/[0f no forefight of the time to come, for want of obfervation, and memory of the order, confequence, and dependance of the things they zbmgi, fee 5 Man obferveth how one Event hath been produced by another; and remembreth in them Antecedence and Confequence 5 And when he cannot aflure himfelfe of the true caufes of things, (for the caufes of good and will fortune for the moit part are invifible,) he fuppo- {es caul‘es of them, either fuch as his own fancy fuggei'teth 5 or trui't- eth to the Authority ofother men, fuch as he thinks to be his friends, and wifer than liimielfe. 7 he mmm/l "We och- The two firft,make Anxiety. For being aiTured that there be caufes 5,1,5, we of allthings that have arrived hitherto, or {ball arrive hereafter 5 it is jinx/m of Impoflible fora man, who continually endeavoureth to fecure him- 1/): time to felte againft the evill he feares, and procure the good hC defireth, "Qt come. % to be in a perpetuall folicitudc of the time to come; So that every man, efpecially thofe that are over provident, are in an efiate like to that of Prometbcm. For as Framer/Jew, ( which interpreted, is, The Erudcm 7mm, ) was bound to the hill Caucafm, a place of large pro- ipt‘et, where, an Eagle feeding on his liver, devoured in the day, as much as was repayred in the night: So that man, which looks too fat bCiOl'C him, inthe care of future time, hath his heart allthe day long, gnawed on by feare of death, poverty3 or other calamity 5 and has no repole, nor paufe of his anxiety, but in fleep. "flair/amulet: T his perpetuallfeare, alwayes accompanying mankind in the ig$21:fifth 11:11:35: :1): Cfitfjliseitcyvere inhthe IDark, muflneeds have for object nothing [3.11" { ~ Ii , oiefwl ent ieie is nothing to be feen, there IS [fwd .7: P0 7‘ a _ A u 6‘, title ,1 0 t ieir good, or Will fortune, but fome "in" _ntr,01 gent [Ii-uzfialc: In which ienfe perhaps it was, that fomc and from thence to-the caufe of that caufe, and plonge Iiimfelfe rofoundly inthe puriuitof caufes51liall atlai't come to this, that t ere muff be ( as even the Heathen Philolbphe rs confefled) one Firit Mo- ver; that is, a Firfi,and an Eternall caui'e of all things 5 which is that which men mean b the name of God: And all this without thought of their fortune 5 t it folicitudc whereof, both enclines to fear, and hinders them from the i'carch ofthe caufes of other things5 and there- bv gives occafion of feigning ofas many Gods, as there be men that iEigne them. And for the matter, or fubilance of the Invifible Agents, fo fan- Ami fiappofé . eyed ., they could not by naturall Cogitation, fall uponany other con- them [near-ceipt, but that it was the fame with that ofthe Soule of man 5 and that Pom/L the Soule of man, was ofthe fame fubfiance, with that which appear eth in a Dream, to one thatfleepeth 5 or in a Looking-glaffe, to one that is awake 5 which, men not knowing that fuch apparitions are no- thing die but creatures of the Fancy, think to be reall, and external! Subhances5 and therefore call them Ghofts5 as the Latines called them Imagines,and umbm 5 and thought them Spirits, that is, thin aereall bodies 5 and thoie Invifible Agents,which they feared, to bee like them 5 fave that they appeagand vaniih when they pleafe. But the Opinion that fuch Spirits we're Incorporeall, or Immateriall, could never enter into themind of any man by nature-, becaufe, though i ien may put together words of contradictory iignification, as Spirit, dnd Iilt‘or'pnred/l 5 yet they can never have the imagination of any thing ani'wering to them: And therefore, menthat by their own me- ditation, arrive to the acknowledgement ofone Infinite, Omnipotent, and Eternall God, choofe rather to confefle he is Incomprehenfible, and abovetheirunderfiandiiw5than to define his Nature by Spirit Incorpurca/I, and then confeifi‘ their dc finition to be unintelligible : or if they give him iiieh atitle, it is nptDogman‘cal/y, with intention to make the Divine Nature undei‘iiood 5 but Film/l]; to honour him with attributes, of iignifications,as remme as they can from the groifeneile of Bodies V iiible. Then, for the way by which they think thefe Invifible Agents But [glow not wrought their caters -, that is to i‘ay,what immediate caufes they ufed, t1): w." [10W in bringing things to paile, men that know not what it is that we call they efj‘kft ab .1 .mfmg, ( that is, almofi all men ) have no other rule to guefle by, but 71] tlmg. by obi'crving. and remembring whatthey have feen to precede the hkc (fleet at ibme other time, or times before,without {eeing between the antecedent and whit‘qllcnt Event, any dependance or Connexion oi the old Poets l;ud,that the Gods were at firft created by humane at all : Andtlierei'ore fromthe like things pait, they exPcé‘t the like Hugs to come 5 and hope for good or evill luck3 fuperltitiouily, from hare :which ipoken of the Gods, (_ that is to fay, of the many Gods wimp thg [Eye no part at all in the cauiing of it: As the Athenians of H 7. did |