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Show No i~nate Principles. Bopk I. ty, Years old, Whether a Man, .beinl;\ a Creature, conlifling of Soul and Body be the fame Man, when hiS Boily ts changed i Whether Euphorbus and PytbagoraJ having had the fame Soul, were the fame Man, tho' they Ji<~ed (ev~al' ~ges. afunQer! l>lay, Whet,l)er t)le Coc;k tO+>, which had tT1e fame Soul, 'were not the fame with both .of them? Whereby, per. haps, it will appear, that ou.r Idea of famenefl,. tS not fo fecled an~ clear, a.sto deferve to be thought tnnote m us. For tf ,thofe uwa!¥ Ideo s, ar¢ hot clear and diflincr, fo as to beu!JtVcrfally l<'nown, and naf¢rally agreed on, ~~ey cannot be the Subjeils ofuniverfal, aljd ~ndoubtedTruths; but will be the unavoidableOccafiod' o( perpetuM'Uncertamty. for, I fuppofe, every ones Idea of Jdentity1 will not be t~e fame, that'Fytha_~;oras, and Thoufands otHers of his Followers,have : -(\qd w~tch thbi /hall be the ~rue? Which innate? Or are th9r~ tw\' dtfferent]d<a s ,of ldent(f), both mnate ~ 1 • §. 5· Norlet arf} .. ope think, ,that the ~eftions, I ~ave here.propofed, about the Jdenti.tr, 'bf Man, are bare,, ~mpfY Sp~latwns ; whtch tf they were, would be enough to fhew, That there was m the Underfiandings of Men p~ in110te Idea, of Identity. I-!e, that !hall, with a lirtle Atten! cion, ~e~t_on ihe Rtfurrtlciibn,, ani! confider, that Divine' Jufrice ffmll bring ~o, Jndgmentitthe !all:, ~ay, the ~er[fan:e Perfons,. to be h~ppy or mifel;tble in the or}t~r; who dtd wellor tll m tlu~ Ltfe, wtll lind tt, per· haps; :hot' ealle t9 refblv~ 'witl). 'bimfelf, 'wha't' mokes the fame Man, o~ whdei( Identity ~cinllfrs: A:nd lvill' not be forward to think h~, and every one, cvep Chililren'them~lves, h,avenaturally a clear Idea of lt. , ·~§! .t~ us cxarpini: t~t Pcinc.ip~e; ofMar,h~matic~s.:-h .. JI,~( t!Je ·~bole; u ~iu.tr•than a part,,f'h\S,I take t~ils. reckon tl amongfi tnnate Pnnctples, I am1'fure it has as good a Title aslinx, robe t!10ughr fd;:\Vhlch y~t, n9 Body COQ think it to q¢, wh~n,hC' col)liders the Idea's it cbhlprchenqs i~ it,W'hule and Part, ·rtre perfeClly"Relative; but tht Politive Jllea s, to whi¢9 they properly ~nd im111ediately belons, are ,Ext~nfion and Nll/Tlber, of wliicll a\bne, Who'!e abd Part, a~'Relaqons. So that i(Whble and Part ar~ i\thare /'dea's, EXtenlion and,Nplnber mG(l:lrefo rob, 'it IJeing imtJ6f· fible tohavG ~n"ldea of a Rela~ion without '\lah9g any ~t all of rh£ thing\& 'fltich it \>elon~s, and \n \~hich it Is f6u11de<l: ~oiv, WhetlJci the Minas of Men h~v·~ naturally imprinted cin them the Jllea's ofllxtehfion oro~ Nq[Tlbcr, I \eave to be''conlidered by'tl)ofe, who1are tile Parrbn\ of innate Principles. · v · I \ · · r • §?<J? 'Fhal God ir lb~e Jvorfolfe~d, ls, \v.j~.;Mut doubt, as'g~eat a Trutf~ asrtny ¢an eqter1riiqrb.ef\lindqfMa~,1attd d9\~rves the firlt \llaceamongO: ~II pracrleal Pririciples, •. But y;C't, it f."" li:t l}b%eiins I,Je t!},ou~ht ·inm1e, lin1ef$ t)(c> .(dea'fU'~of",an~ Wp/f/fi[f1,'are !nhlu{IThat.the fd•f1thc Terjl), WorfoY,h'!\a11ds foP0 ts not th tHe Undeillan?ln~'of Child~en, ~nq a Cha· t'.!Cje~h,:mptc~ oa~l\e ~irid iri'!1sllirft Ofig\.niiJ, I thi9~c~ ·wilj be eaftly1 gm(itea,1 by any&.fief that C\>~liders how lh\ill1ere be, amongfi growl), Mehl1.\v,hn h~ve:r'!:!edr and. di(tiricr Noti_on''o(\1'. 1-nd, ( lup('ofe, ther.e ca.ni!i't'l'le any th!n!1i more ndtculqu'i! than tQf:I,Y1 that Children have this ~ra~,lt:il.'Principl.~'lnna\e;' Tl\h'P'6ofl' is to M wol;fhippedi. anti" yet, tha~ 1e~'{lriow notw~\3tt1~:!c "Yorfhi£ ·ofGodis~which js their Duty. But to a&ljt tll~. ·· T1 '"· 1 :r ·t 1 • · §.Kif any Idea can lle imagin'd innate,the !Jell of God may ,of all other~; £or many Reafo?s,be thought f?; fincc. it is harc!.~o conceive, how there fhould. be mnate, Moral Pnnctp\es,. Wtt!~out ~rt mnate Idea of a Dei f) \ Wtthoutll Notton of a Law·maker, .tt ~ tmpo(fible to have" Notion of ill Law, •nd an·Obhgatton to obferve tt. • tlelides the Atheifls taken notice ' J ' of _chap. IV. No' innatePrincij/es. of ammigfl the Ancients, and left branded upon the Records ol Hiftory, hath not Navigation difcovered,irt thefe latter Ages, whole Nations: nt the Bay of So/dania,(«) inBra/tl,(ib )and theCarihee fflands,&c.amonglllvhom (•) ll,.h,.apud there was to be found no Notio~1 of a God. Nicolaus del ]echo in /}teriJ,ex JJ)'j~~'d~\~: Paraq11aria 'e Caaig,uarum converfion~ /;a!c habtt. Repui eam ,t'eHiem nul- ry,c. 16. /um 1Jome11 bnhere, quod Deum, & Hominis an imam /igniftcet, nuDa focra ba!Jet, nulla Idola. Re!ati~ triplex de r~lms lndicis Cdaig,uarMm ~~· . And, perhaps, if we ll10uld, with attention, mind the Lives, and Difcourfes of People n6t fo far of, we Q1ould have too much Reafon to fear, that' many, in more civilized Countries, have no very firong, and clear Impreffions of a Deity upon their Minds; and that theComplaihts of Athcifin, made from the Pulpits, arc not without Reafm1. And though only fonie pro-fligate Wretches own it ' too bnrefacedly now; yet, perhaps, •We lhould l1ear,more than we do,of it from other~1did not the fear of the Magiltrate'~ 'Sword, or their Neighbour's Cenfure, tie up Peoples, Tongu~s; which, were ~he 1\\>prchenlions of Pllnilllment1 or Shame taken away, \vould as bpenly proclaim their At!Jeifm, as their Lives do. ~·9· llut had all Mankind, every wh'ere, a Notion 'of a God, (whereof r,et Hiflory tells us the contrary) it would not from thence follow, (hat 1he Idea ofhi:n was innate. For, though no Nation \vere to be found without a Name, and fome few dark Notions o~ him ; yet tliat would not prove them to be n:~cural lmpreffior\s on the Mind, no more tl1an the Names of Fire, or the Sun, Heat, pr Number, d~ prove the Idea's they {land for, tel be innate, becaufe the Names of thofe things, and the lclea''s of them, are fo univcrfally received,aod kno1vn among([ Mankind. Nor, pn the contrary, is the want of fuch a Name, or the abfence ·of fuch a Notion out of Men's Minds, any Argument agaiQfl ~he Being of a God, ,any rnore,than it would be a Proof, ,ihdt there was· no Load-fiope in the World, becaufe a great part of Mankind, had neither a N,otion of any fuch thing, nor a Name for it; or be any , /hew of Argut,nent, tO prove, that there are no difiinCl:, and various fpecie~ of 1\ngels, or intelligent Beings above us, becaufe we have no Ideo's of fuch difllnfx fpecies. for Men,being furnifi1ed with Words, by the com !)I on Language of their own Countries, can fcarce avoid hn~•ing fome lliftd of Idea'~ of thofe things, whofe Names, thofc they converfe with, h,fve occalion frequently to mention t9 them : and if it carry witll it the . ,Notion of Excejlepcy, Greatnefs, or fomcthing extraordinary; if ApprehenJion apd Coqa;rnrnent acco!)lpany it; if the Fear of abfolure and iil:~fiftible PO\iler fee it on )!pon the (\find, the Idea is likely to link deeper, and fprcad the far: ther; efpfcially if it be fuch an !dta as is agreea~l!: t'd the common light of Reafon1 and naturally deducible from every par~. of qur llndw)ed_g'e, as that of a God is. Fqr the vilible marks pf excr3brdinary Wift\oh) and J'ower, appear fo plainly in all the Wdrks of the <Oreat'i6r.t1 tl\!11 h·r,ationa[ treature; who will but fcrioutly refleCt on theJll, cannqt mifs t;he ' difcovery of i beiry: And the influence, that tflF dill:qye'ry of fu~ll >i',Being plUlt nqchif;trily have on the Minds bf all, that have but once beard of it, ~~ fo grci.~and carries fucb a wcightofThought aodt;Scimmunication with it, that !t fcems flrangcr to me, that a whole Nation of Men n1ould be ~ny where found fo brutitlJ, as to want the Nqt1oo of a God; than that they filoij[d be without any Notion of Numbers, pr Fire. ~· 1 o. The Name of God being once· mentioned in any p:trt ·of the World, to exprefs afuperior, powerful, wife, inviliqle Being, .t;he fuita· blcnefs of fuch a Notion to the Principles of commbn ~eafon, and tliG !ntcrefi Men will always'h:we to meprion it often, ·mun nc!ceiErilyifpread it |
