Divine laws do not constitute and determine? And how can an oath of allegiance bind but by virtue of some Divine command, that obliges us not to violate our vows? By this it appears, that an atheist must be the worst of subjects; that his principles subvert the thrones of princes, and undermine the foundations of government and society, on which the happiness of mankind so much depends; and therefore it is not possible to conceive how there can be a greater disturber of the public peace, or a greater enemy to his prince and country, than a professed atheist, who propagates with zeal his destructive opinions. I have proved, in the following poem, that no hypothesis hitherto invented in favour of impiety has the least strength or solidity, no, not the least appearance of truth, to recommend it. A man must be deserted of Heaven, and inflexibly hardened, that cannot, or rather will not, see the unreasonableness of irreligious principles. I demand only a candid temper in the reader, and a mind pleased with truth, and delivered from the prejudices of atheistical conversation. A SUMMARY ACCOUNT OF THE FOLLOWING POEM, AND OF WHAT IS CONTAINED IN EACH BOOK. THE HE design of this work is to demonstrate the existence of a Divine Eternal Mind. The arguments used for this end are taken from the various marks of wisdom and artful contrivance, which are evident to observation in the several parts of the material world, and the faculties of the human soul. The first book contains the proof of a Deity, from the instances of design and choice, which occur in the structure and qualities of the earth and sea. The second pursues the proof of the same proposition, THERE IS A GOD, from the celestial motions, and more fully from the appearances in the solar system, and the air. In the third, the objections which are brought by atheistical philosophers against the hypothesis established in the two preceding books are answered. In the fourth, is laid down the hypothesis of the Atomists or Epicureans, and other irreligious philosophers, and confuted. In the fifth, the doctrine of the Fatalists, or Aristotelians, who make the world to be eternal, is considered and subverted In the sixth, the argument of the two first books is resumed, and the existence of God demonstrated from the prudence and art discovered in the several parts of the body of man. In the seventh, the same demonstration is carried on from the contemplation of the instincts in brute animals, and the faculties and operations of the soul of man. The book concludes with a recapitulation of what has been treated of, and a hymn to the Creator of the World. POEMS 义 OF SIR RICHARD BLACKMORE. CREATION; A PHILOSOPHICAL POEM. IN SEVEN BOOKS, Principio cœlum, ac terras camposque liquentes, Et quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus. BOOK I. THE ARGUMENT. Virg. I meditate to soar above the skies, To heights unknown, through ways untry'd to rise: While I this unexampled task essay, Thou dost the full extent of nature see, THE proposition. The invocation. The existence of a God demonstrated, from the marks of wis-Thou on the deep's dark face, immortal Dove! Thou with almighty energy didst move dom, choice, and art, which appear in the visible On the wild waves, incumbent didst display world, and infer an intelligent and free cause. This evinced from the contemplation, I. Of the Thy genial wings, and hatch primeval day. Order from thee, from thee distinction came, And all the beauties of the wondrous frame. Hence stampt on Nature we perfection find, Fair as th' idea in the Eternal Mind. Earth. 1. Its situation. 2. The cohesion of its parts, not to be solved by any hypothesis yet produced. 3. Its stability. 4. Its structure, or the order of its parts. 5. Its motion diurnal See, through this vast extended theatre and annual, or else the motion of the Sun in Of skill divine, what shining marks appear! both those respects. The cause of these motions not yet accounted for by any philosopher. 6. Creating power is all around exprest, Its outside or face; the beauties and convenien-The God discover'd, and his care confest. ces of it; its mountains, lakes, and rivers. II. The existence of a God proved from the marks and impressions of prudence and design, which 1. In its formation. 2. The appear in the sea. proportion of its parts in respect of the earthy. 3. Its situation. 4. The contexture of its parts. 5. Its brackish or briny quality. 6. Its flux and reflux. No more of courts, of triumphs, or of arms, Nature's high birth her heavenly beauties show; Th' imprison'd sea, that restless ebbs and flows, |