centre, by the projectile force impressed upon them by an all-powerful hand. If we take a survey of the earth, on which we tread, we see in it such footsteps of skill, power, and contrivance, that we cannot but say, the hand which made it is Divine; it must be one of skill, who has enriched it with the beautiful and useful variety of land and sea, plains and rivers, hills and vales, trees and flowers, corn and fruit, shady groves and crystal springs, painted meadows and purling streams. Every part of the inanimate creation, which raises pleasure in our imagination, may prove the being of God to us, whether it be the beautiful and variegated profusion of flowers that adorns the delightful gardens, the gay enamel that paints the agreeable meadows, or the curious drapery that vests the shady groves: If we consider the tribes of brute creatures, they manifest to us the greatness of their Maker: If we regard ourselves, we cannot but say we are fearfully and wonderfully made; therefore, when we ruminate on the exquisite art, and consummate workmanship, which is laid out in the formation of our bodies, and on the nobler part of us, that thinking, intelligent substance, that distinguishes us from brutes, we cannot but conclude that we have a Creator of infinite power.

When we think on the works of nature, with any exactness, we cannot but conclude, that there is a supreme Potentate, who made and upholds the heavens, Acts xiv. 15, 17. and xvii. 25, 28. the earth, the seas, and all things therein, who gives to all life and breath, in whom we live, move, and have our being, and who has not left himself without witness to the consciences of any; seeing, by his bounty, he sustains the sons of men, and fills their hearts with food and gladness. This has been the belief of all refined nations; and it has not been proved, that any people have been yet

*

The Atheists have boasted of their having found out a people who have no notion of a superior power, the Hottentots about the Cape of Good Hope. We need not much grudge them the honour of having their opinions patronized by those who are, as far as we know, the most beastly and lazy of the human race; but, however, they are not so far brutified, as to have no belief of any thing above them; as any one may find, who consults M. Kolben's account of the Cape of Good Hope, lately translated into English, though in a very foolish manner.

discovered, who are so over-run with ignorance and barbarism, as to have no notion of a power above them. David has indeed told us, Psal. xiv. 1. that, The fool hath said in his heart there is no God; but this may be understood of his secret wishing that there was no God, and being ready sometimes to flatter himself with the hopes that things are as he wishes: Or rather, this fool of nature may be reckoned a person who has denied his reason so far, as to bring himself to believe, that he was not made by God for himself, and that he has no motive, on his own account, to give him laws, and to punish the breach of them, and that consequently he is not accountable to him.

We have a very pregnant and melancholy proof of the imperfection of the light of nature, since the fall, in the unworthy representations some of the Heathen world gave of God, and the hideous and blemishing fictions they invented concerning him. Though they knew him in part from his works, they glorified him not as God, but grew vain in their imaginations, and introduced a rabble of inferior deities, whom they represented as not free from vicious passions, and they acted so much beneath the dignity of human nature, as to bow down before stones and logs. They worshipped the creature, besides the Creator; that is, with subordinate worship; and so invented the irrational scheme of subordinate gods, and inferior worship, which has been so much applauded for refined reason, by many of their foolish disciples, who call themselves Christians. The picture of the ancient Heathens is most admirably drawn by the apostle Paul, that great demolisher of Paganism, in the following words: Rom. i. 19—23, 25. What may be known of Gd is manifest in them; for God has shewed it them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darken

ed. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served they creature more than the Creator, who is God blessed for ever. What can shew more the insufficiency of the light of nature, to be a rule to men in matters of religion, than this, that such as were convinced from the works of God, that there was a supreme God, of eternal power, should venture to worship with him, and besides him, idols, and that not only images of men, the noblest creatures of the lower world, but besides these, logs of wood, and blocks of marble, cut into the shapes of the most contemptible creatures, such as serpents, nay, of monsters, such as are only the creatures of fancy, and have no existence in nature. And this was done not only by the rude vulgar, but by the litest men among the Pagans.

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It must be owned, that some of the Pagans have spoken admirably well concerning the supreme God," and have described him in a worthier manner, than many who might have used the advantage of a better light, who suppose that we are to have no farther notion of God, than of one invested with dominion; this shews, that though the light of nature, by which men have a notion of God, is much eclipsed, by the darkness introduced by the fall, yet it is not quite extinguished. But though the Pagans have said a great many good things about the Supreme, yet they never had any notion how affronting it was to the universal and the sole Potentate, to have any part of his glory given to others. We have many noble passages remaining, both of the poets and philosophers, which shew, that the knowledge of a God of infinite perfections, was not quite obliterated, which it would be

• I might have given here testimonies from the ancients, especially from the poets, wherein they have spoken exceedingly well of the supreme God; but I have formerly collected many of the most remarkable passages, and thrown them into the margin of my Treatise of Faith, pp. 12-17; thither, therefore, I shall beg leave to refer the reader.

endless to produce; but we do not find that this rational light, which, on some accounts, shined in them with great clearness, was sufficient to keep them from running into most gross absurdities. We may be contented, on this head, and on others, to take a view of the sentiments of Socrates, who has been styled a martyr for the unity of God; and has been, by a late writer,* whose pretended religion was only the Bible, very profanely, set in the same rank with Job. This man, it must be owned, was a judicious observer of men's actions; and, as he studied human nature exactly, so he did not set himself to frame schemes in private, which was the ruin of most of the other old philosophers: In this he took as good a method as could be expected from one in his circumstances, and did not run into such great absurdities as most other Heathens. In a conversation with an Athiest he argued for the being of a God, from the wisdom and skill which are to be seen in the works of nature, especially in the formation of man's body; and, when he came to closer reasoning with him, he used this warm manner : Have you any degree of knowledge? Do you think there is no superior knowledge elsewhere? Can you think that the great and enumerable wonders of your frame were put into such a beautiful order, merely by blind chance?" When the infidel objected, that he could not see the Author of nature, the philosopher answered, that the objector could not see his own soul, which animated

• The late Dr Samuel Clarke, whose mean and low words are these following: "There have been in almost every age, in the heathen world, some wise, and brave, and good men, who have made it their business to study and practice the duties of natural religion themselves, and so teach and exhort others to do the like. An eminent instance whereof, in the eastern nations, the Scriptures affords us in the history of Job.-Among the Greeks, Socrates seems to be an extraordinary example of this kind." Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, Prop. VI. It will appear, that there was no room for this betrayer of revelation to depress Job so far, as to make him an instance of the same kind with Socrates, if we consider that the Heathen Philosopher died as a fool dieth, using this mean expression; "Crito, we are indebted a cock to Esculapius; offer it, and do not forget." Whereas, the Scripture hero had light to make the following noble declaration, "If I had beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon walking in brightness, and my heart had been secretly enticed, or my mouth had kissed my hand, this had been an iniquity to have been punished by the magistrate, for I should have denied the God that is above." Jub xxxi. 26, 27, 28.

and governed his body; so that he might as well say, that it was merely by chance, and not by design, that he performed all rational, as well as animal functions. This disputer was not able to maintain that there was no God, but only would have insinuated, that God had not made man for himself, or designed him to be accountable to him; he did not despise a God, but he thought he was too glorious a Being to need his worship: He had a good answer to this, that the greater and more glorious the Being was, which deigned to take care of him, the more he ought to honour him. When he replied, that he did not think that God took care of human affairs, he was well confuted by what might be seen of God's care, concerning man, in ordering the members of his body in such a manner, as shewed him to be more the favourite of Providence, than any of the brute creatures, in giving him an upright posture, and the use of speech; and, above this, by what might be observed by the Divine kindness, in giving man a rational soul, of a noble nature, capable of discerning the works of Providence, and the Divine proceedings, as to worldly matters, and fitted to conduct the body, as to the common affairs of life; that man may guard against hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and sickness; that he may acquire knowledge, and keep in memory what he has attained. When it was objected, that it was not likely that God should see and know all things, it was well replied in these words: "Your soul, whilst in the body, governs it as its will; therefore, it may be concluded, that the wisdom which resides in the universe, governs all things at pleasure: your eye can take in the compass of some furlongs; and cannot the eye of God take in all things at once? Your mind can think on the state of affairs in different parts of the world; and cannot the wisdom of God take care of all things? If you will wait for Divine direction to guide you into things which carry an obscure face, you will know, that the Deity is so great, as to be able to see and hear all things, to be present every where, and to take the care of all things." Rea