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His Majesty’s Sollicitor in the chief court of PARIS.
Sect. I. The Occasion of this Work.
You have frequently enquired of me, worthy Sir, (whom I know to be a Gentleman that highly deserves the Esteem of your Country, of the learned World, and, if you will allow me to say it, of myself also;) what the Substance of those Books is, which I wrote in defence of the Christian Religion, in my own Language.2 Nor do I wonder at your Enquiry; For you, who have with so great Judgment read every thing that is worth reading, cannot but be sensible with how much Philosophick Nicety (a) Raemundus Sebundus, with what entertain-<2>ing Dialogues Ludovicus Vives, and with how great Eloquence your Mornaeus, have illustrated this Matter. For which Reason it might seem more useful, to translate some
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of them into our own Language, than to undertake any thing new upon this Subject. But though I know not what Judgment others will pass upon me, yet have I very good Reason to hope that you, who are so fair and candid a Judge, will easily acquit me, if I should say, that after having read not only the fore-mentioned Writings, but also those that have been written by the Jews in behalf of the antient Jewish Dispensation, and those of Christians for Christianity, I chuse to make use of my own Judgment, such as it is; and to give my Mind that Liberty which at present is denied my Body; For I am persuaded that Truth is no other way to be defended but by Truth, and That such as the Mind is fully satisfied with; it being in vain to attempt to persuade others to that which you yourself are not convinced of: Wherefore I selected, both from the Antients and Moderns, what appeared to me most conclusive; leaving such Arguments as seemed of small Weight, and rejecting such Books as I knew to be spurious, or had Reason to suspect to be so. Those which I approved of, I explained and put in a regular Method, and in as popular a manner as I could, and likewise turned them into Verse, that they might the easier be remembred. For my Design was to undertake something which might be useful to my Countrymen, especially Seamen, that they might have an Opportunity to employ that Time which in long Voyages lies upon their <3> Hands, and is usually thrown away: Wherefore I began with an Encomium upon our Nation, which so far excells others in the Skill of Navigation; that by this means I might excite them to make use of this Art, as a peculiar Favour of Heaven; not only to their own Profit, but also to the propagating the Christian Religion: For they can never want Matter, but in their long Voyages they will every where meet either with Pagans as in China or Guinea; or Mahometans, as in the Turkish and Persian Empires, and in the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco; and also with Jews who are the professed Enemies of Christianity, and are dispersed over the greatest part of the World; And there are never wanting prophane Persons, who, upon occasion, are ready to scatter their Poison amongst the Weak and Simple, which Fear had forced them to conceal: Against all which Evils, my Desire was, to have my Countrymen well fortified; that they who have the best parts, might employ them in confuting Errors; and that the other would take heed of being seduced by them.
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Sect. II. That there is a God.
And that we may show that Religion is not a vain and empty thing; it shall be the Business of this first Book to lay the Foundation thereof in the Existence of the Deity: Which I prove in the following manner. That there are some Things which had a Beginning, is confessed on all Sides, and obvious to Sense: But these Things could not be the Cause of their own Existence; because that which has no Being, cannot act; for then it would have been before it was, which is impossible; whence it follows, that it derived its Being from something else: This is true not only of those Things which are now before our Eyes, or which we have formerly seen; but also of those things <4> out of which these have arisen, and so on, (a) till we arrive at some Cause, which never had any Beginning, but exists (as we say) necessarily, and not by Accident: Now this Being whatsoever it be (of whom we shall speak more fully by and by) is what we mean by the Deity, or God. Another Argument for the Proof of a Deity may be drawn from the plain Consent of all Nations, who have any Remains of Reason, any Sense of Good Manners, and are not wholly degenerated into Brutishness. For, Humane Inventions, which depend upon the arbitrary Will of Men, are not always the same every where, but are often changed; whereas there is no Place where this Notion is not to be found; nor has the Course of Time been able to alter it, (which is observed by (b) Aristotle himself, a Man not very credulous in these Matters;) wherefore we must assign it a Cause as extensive as all Mankind; and That can be no other than a Declaration from God himself, or a Tradition derived down from the first Parents of Mankind: If the former be granted, there needs
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no further Proof; if the latter, it is hard to give a good Reason why our first Parents should deliver to Posterity a Falsity in a Matter of so great <5> Moment. Moreover, if we look into those Parts of the World, which have been a long time known, or into those lately discovered; if they have not lost the common Principles of Human Nature, (as was said before) this Truth immediately appears; as well amongst the more dull Nations as amongst those who are quicker, and have better Understandings; and, surely, these latter cannot all be deceived, nor the former be supposed to have found out something to impose upon each other with: Nor would it be of any force against this, if it should be urged, that there have been a few Persons in many Ages, who did not believe a God, or at least made such a Profession; For considering how few they were, and that as soon as their Arguments were known, their Opinion was immediately exploded; it is evident, it did not proceed from the right use of that Reason which is common to all Men; but either from an Affectation of Novelty, like the Heathen Philosopher who contended that Snow was black; or from a corrupted Mind, which like a vitiated Palate, does not relish Things as they are: Especially since History and other Writings inform us, that the more vertuous any one is, the more carefully is this Notion of the Deity preserved by him: And it is further evident, that they who dissent from this antiently established Opinion, do it out of an ill Principle, and are such Persons whose Interest it is that there should be no God, that is, no Judge of human Actions; because whatever Hypotheses they have advanced of their own, whether an infinite Succession of Causes, without any Beginning; or a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms, or any other (a) it is attend-<6>ed with as great, if not greater Difficulties, and not at all more credible than what is already received; as is evident to any one that considers it ever so little. For that which some object, that they don’t believe
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a God, because they don’t see him; if they can see any thing, they may see how much it is beneath a Man, who has a Soul which he cannot see, to argue in this manner. Nor if we cannot fully comprehend the Nature of God, ought we therefore to deny that there is any such Being; for the Beasts don’t know of what sort Creatures Men are, and much less do they understand how Men, by their Reason, institute and govern Kingdoms, measure the Course of the Stars, and sail cross the Seas: These Things exceed their Reach: And hence Man, because he is placed by the Dignity of his Nature above the Beasts, and that not by himself, ought to infer; that He who gave him this Superiority above the Beasts, is as far advanced beyond Him, as He is beyond the Beasts; and that therefore there is a Nature, which, as it is more Excellent, so it exceeds his Comprehension.
Sect. III. That there is but one God.
Having proved the Existence of the Deity: we come next to his Attributes; the first whereof is, That there can be no more Gods than One. Which may be gathered from hence; because (as