תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

în it all, without any philosophic truth; the advantages of mankind being so notoriously conspicuous above those of brutes.

But as for evils in general, from whence the Atheist would conclude the God of the Theist to be either impotent or envious; it hath been already declared, that the true original of them is from the necessity of imperfect beings, and the incompossibility of things; but that the Divine art and skill most of all appeareth in bonifying these evils, and making them, like discords in music, to contribute to the harmony of the whole, and the good of particular persons.

-

a

Moreover, a great part of those evils, which men are afflicted with, is not from the reality of things, but only from their own fancy and opinions, according to that of the moralist, Tapáso τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐ τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ τὰ περὶ τῶν πραγμάτ Twv Soyuara. It is not things themselves, that disturb men, but only their own opinions concerning things. And therefore it being much in our own power to be freed from these, Providence is not to be blamed upon the account of them. Pain is many times nearly linked with pleasure, according to that Socratic fable,' That when God could not reconcile their contrary natures (as he would) he tied them head and tail together. And good men know, that pain is not the evil of the man, but only of the part so affected (as Socrates also), To aλyour ev т okéλel μével, It goes no further than the leg where it is.-But this is many times very serviceable to free us from

2

Epictet. in Enchiridio, cap. v. Vide etiam M. Antoninum, lib. iv. §. 3. p. 97. et lib. v. §. xix. p. 159.

b Apud Platon. in Phædone, p. 376.

the greater evils of the mind; upon which all our happiness dependeth. To the Atheists, who acknowledge no malum culpæ, no evil of fault (turpitude, or dishonesty), death is the greatest and most tragical of all evils. But though this, according to their forlorn hypothesis, be nothing less than an absolute extinction of life; yet, according to the doctrine of the genuine Theists, which makes all souls substantial, no life of itself (without Divine annihilation) will ever quite vanish into nothing, any more than the substance of matter doth. And the ancient Pythagoreans and Platonists have been here so kind, even to the souls of brutes also, as that they might not be left in a state of inactivity and insensibility after death, as to bestow upon them certain subtile bodies, which they may then continue to act in. Nor can we think otherwise, but that Aristotle, from this fountain, derived that doctrine of his in his second book, De Gen. An. c. 3. * where, after he had declared the sensitive soul to be inseparable from body, he addeth wάons ouv yuxnc δύναμις ἑτέρου σώματος ἔοικε κεκοινωνηκέναι καὶ θειοτέρου τῶν καλουμένων στοιχείων· ὡς δὲ διαφέρουσι τιμιότητι αἱ ψυχαὶ καὶ ἀτιμίᾳ ἀλλήλων, οὕτω καὶ ἡ τοιαύτη διαφέρει φύσις All souls therefore seem to have another body, and diviner than that of the elements; and as themselves differ in dignity and nobility, so do these bodies of theirs differ from one another.And afterward calling this subtile body TVεvμa, or a spirit, he affirmeth it to be, ἀνάλογον τῷ τῶν ἄστρων στοιχείῳ, analogous to the element of the stars. Only as Galen, and St. Austin, and others, have conceived, Aristotle deviated here from the

a P. 618. tom. ii, oper.

Pythagoreans in this, that he supposed the sensitive soul itself to be really nothing else, but this very subtile and star-like body, and not a distinct substance from it, using it only as a vehicle. Nevertheless, he there plainly affirmeth the mind or rational soul to be really distinct from the body, and to come into it from without pre-existing; and consequently should acknowledge also its after-immortality. But whatsoever Aristotle's judgment were (which is not very material) it is certain, that dying to the rational or human soul is nothing but a withdrawing into the tyringhouse, and putting off the clothing of this terrestrial body. So that it will still continue after death, to live to God, whether in a body, or without it. Though according to Plato's express doctrine, the soul is never quite naked of all body, he writing thus ; ἀεὶ ψυχὴ ἐπιτεταγμένη σώματι, τότε μὲν ἄλλῳ τότε δὲ ἄλλῳ· the soul is always De Leg. x. conjoined with a body, but sometimes p. 903. [p. 672.] of one kind, and sometimes of another-which many Christian doctors also, as is before declared, have thought highly probable. However, our Christian faith assures us, that the souls of good men shall at length be clothed with spiritual and heavenly bodies, such as are, in Aristotle's language, ανάλογα τῷ τῶν ἄστρων στοιχείῳ, analogous to the element of the stars.-Which Christian resurrection, therefore, to life and immortality, is far from being, as Celsus reproached it, okwλńkwv ¿λπiç, the mere hope of worms.-And thus much shall suffice, in way of confutation, of the first atheistic objection against Providence, which is the twelfth argumentation propounded in the second chapter. a Apud Origin, contra Celsum, lib. v. p. 240.

a

The thirteenth atheistic argument, or second objection against Providence, is from the seeming confusion of human affairs; that all things fall alike to all; the innocent and the nocent, the pious and the impious, the religious and the profane: nay, that many times the worser causes and men prevail against the better, as is intimated in that passage of the poet, though in the person of a Theist,

[ocr errors]

Victrix causa Deo placuit, sed victa Catoni;

And that the unjust and ungodly often flow in all kind of prosperity, whilst the innocent and devout worshippers of the Deity, all their lives long, conflict with adversity. Whereas, were there a God and providence, as they conceive, profane and irreligious persons would be presently thunderstruck from heaven, or otherwise made remarkable objects of Divine vengeance, as also the pious miraculously protected and rescued from evil and harms.

b

C

Now we grant indeed, that this consideration hath too much puzzled and staggered weak minds in all ages. Because "sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore is the heart of the sons of men fully set in them to do evil." And the Psalmist himself was sometime much perplexed with this phenomenon, the prosperity of the ungodly, who "set their mouths against heaven, and whose tongue walketh through the earth;" so that he was tempted to think, "he had cleansed his heart in vain, and washed his

a Lucan. lib. i. vers. 131.

b Eccles. viii. 11.

c Psal. lxxiii.

hands in innocency;" (till at length, entering into the sanctuary of God, his mind became illuminated, and his soul fixed in a firm trust and confidence upon Divine Providence; "Whom have I in heaven but thee," &c. "My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.") For, as some will from hence be apt to infer, That there is no God at all, but that blind chance and fortune steer all, (“ the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God;"") so will others conclude, That though there be a God, yet he either does not know things done here below, ("how does God know? Thus did some and is there knowledge in the Most in Plato from High?") or else will not so far humble clude, vas himself, or disturb his own ease and quiet, as to concern himself in our low human affairs.

hence con

μὲν Θεοὺς, τῶν

are wiv Mary DeLeg.

ἀμελεῖν πραγ

x. [p. 664.]

First of all therefore, we here say, that it is altogether unreasonable to require, that Divine Providence should miraculously interpose upon every turn in punishing the ungodly, and preserving the pious, and thus perpetually interrupt the course of nature (which would look but like a botch or bungle, and a violent business), but rather carry things on αψόφῳ κελεύθῳ, in a still and silent path, and shew his art and skill in making things of themselves fairly unwind, and clear up at last into a satisfactory close. Passion and self-interest is blind, or short-sighted; but that, which steers the whole world, is no fond, pettish, impatient, and passionate thing, but an impartial, disinterested, and uncaptivated nature. Nevertheless, it is certain, that sometimes we have not wanted ina Psal. xiv. 1. b.Psal. Ixxii. 2.

« הקודםהמשך »