A CONFUTATION OF ATHEISM FROM THE STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF HUMAN BODIES. PART I. SERMON III. Preached May the 2d, 1692. ACTS, xvii. 27. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him; though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. I HAVE said enough in my last to shew the fitness and pertinency of the Apostle's discourse to the persons he addressed to; whereby it sufficiently appears that he was no babbler, as some of the Athenian rabble reproached him; not a oπepμoλóyos, a busy prating fellow; as in another language they say, sermones serere and rumores serere,a in a like mode of expression; that he did not talk at random; but was throughly acquainted with the several humours and opinions of his auditors. And, as Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so it is manifest from this chapter alone, if nothing else had been now extant, that St. Paul was a great master in all the learning of the Greeks. One thing further I shall observe from the words of the text, before I enter upon the subject which I proposed, that it requires some * Plautus, Virgil, Livius. industry and consideration to find out the being of God; we must seek the Lord, and feel after him, before we can find him by the light of nature. The search indeed is not very tedious nor difficult; he is not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. The consideration of our mind and understanding, which is an incorporeal substance independent from matter; and the contemplation of our own bodies, which have all the stamps and characters of excellent contrivance; these alone, though we look upon nothing abroad, do very easily and proximately guide us to the wise Author of all things. But however, as we see in our text, some thought† and meditation are necessary to it; and a man may possibly be so stupid, or wilfully ignorant or perverse, as not to have God in all his thoughts, or to say in his heart, There is none. And this being observed, we have an effectual answer to that cavil of the Atheists, who make it an objection against the being of God, that they do not discover him without any application, in spite of their corrupt wills and debauched understandings. If, say they, such a God, as we are told of, had created and formed us, surely he would have left upon our minds a native and indelible inscription of himself, whereby we must needs have felt him, even without seeking, and believed in him whether we would or no. So that these Atheists, being conscious to themselves that they are void of such belief, which, they say, if God was, would actually and necessarily be in them, do bring their own wicked doubting and denying of God as evidence against his existence; and make their very infidelity an argument for itself. To which we reply, that God hath endowed‡ mankind with powers and abilities, which we call natural light, and reason, and common sense; by the due use of which we cannot miss of the discovery of his being; and this is sufficient. But, as to that original notion and proposition, GOD IS, which the Atheist pretends [* in; 1st ed. " from."-D.] [t thought; so 1st ed.; ed. 1735. “ 'thoughts."-D.] should have been actually imprinted* on us, antecedently to all use of our faculties; we may affirm, that the absence of such a notion doth not give the least presumption against the truth of religion; because, though God be supposed to be, yet that notion, distinct from our faculties, would not be requisite; nor is it asserted by‡ religion. First, it would not be requisite; because, without any such primitive impression, we can easily attain to the knowledge of the Deity by the sole use of our natural reason. And again, such an impression would have rendered the belief of a God irresistible and necessary, and thereby have bereaved it of all that is good and acceptable in it. For as the§ taking away the freedom of human will, and making us mere machines under fatal ties and impulses, would destroy the very nature of moral virtue; so likewise, as to faith, there would be nothing worthy of praise and recompense in it, if there were left no possibility of doubting and¶ denying. And secondly, such a radical truth, GOD** Is, springing up together with the essence of the soul, and previous to all other thoughts, is not asserted by++ religion. No such thing, that I know of, is affirmed or suggested by the Scriptures. There are several topics there used against the atheism and idolatry of the heathens; such as the visible marks of divine wisdom and goodness in the works of the creation, the vital union of souls with matter, and the admirable structure of animate bodies, and the like. But, if our Apostle had asserted such an anticipating principle engraven upon our souls before all exercise of reason, what did he talk of seeking the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him? since, if the [ that original notion and proposition, GOD IS, which the Atheist pretends should have been actually imprinted; 1st ed. "any other original notion and proposition, that God is, actually imprinted."-D.] [† affirm, that; 1st ed. "affirm against the Atheists, that."-D.] [ asserted by ; 1st ed. " pretended to by.”—D.] [§ the; 1st ed. " by.”—D.] [¶ and; 1st ed. “ or."-D.] [ would; 1st ed. "it would."-D.} [** GOD; 1st ed. " that God.”—D.] [++ asserted by: 1st ed. "pretended to by."-D.] knowledge of him was in that manner innate and perpetual, there would be no occasion of seeking, nor any hap or hazard in the finding. Such an inscription would be self-evident without reasoning* or study, and could not fail constantly to exert its energy in their minds. What did he talk of the Unknown God, and ignorantly worshipping? when, if such an original signature were always inherent in their hearts, God could not be unknown to, or ignorantly worshipped by any. That primary proposition would have been clear, and distinct, and efficacious, and universal in the minds of men. St. Paul, therefore, it appears, had no apprehension of such a first notion, nor made use of it for an argument; which (sincet whosoever hath it, must needs know that he hath it) if it be not believed before by the adversary, is false; and, if it be believed, is superfluous; and is of so frail and brittle a texture, that, whereas other arguments are not answered by bare denying without contrary proof, the mere doubting and disbelieving of this must be granted to be ipso facto the breaking and confuting of it. Thus much, therefore, we have proved against the Atheists; that such an original irresistible notion is neither requisite upon supposition of a Deity, nor is pretended to by religion; so that neither the absence of it is any argument against the being of God, nor a supposed false assertion of it an objection against the Scripture. "Tis enough that all are furnished with such natural powers and capacities, that if they seriously reflect, if they seek the Lord with meditation and study, they cannot fail of finding and discovering him: whereby God is not left without witness, but the Atheists without excuse. And now I haste to the second proposition deduced from the text, and to the argument of the present discourse, that the original|| structure of human bodies, whereby they are fitted to live, and [* reasoning; 1st ed. “ any ratiocination."-D.] [t since; 1st ed. " seeing that."”—D.] [ Atheists; 1st ed. “ Atheist."-D.] [§ Atheist; 1st ed. "Atheists."-D.] [ and to the argument of the present discourse, that the original; 1st ed. " and the argument of my present discourse, that the organical."—D.] move, and be vitally informed by the soul, is unquestionably the workmanship of a most wise, and powerful, and beneficent Maker. First, 'tis allowed and acknowledged by all parties, that the bodies of men and other animals are excellently well fitted for life, and motion, and sensation; and the several parts of them well adapted and accommodated to their particular functions. The eye is very proper and meet for seeing, the tongue for tasting and speaking, the hand for holding and lifting, and ten thousand operations beside: and so for the inward parts; the lungs are suitable for respiration, the stomach for concoction, the lacteous vessels for the reception of the chyle, the heart for the distribution of the blood to all the parts of the body. This is matter of fact, and beyond all dispute; and in effect is no more than to say, that animals are animals; for, if they were deprived of these qualifications, they could not be so. This, therefore, is not the matter in question between us and the Atheists: but the controversy is here. We, when we consider so many constituent parts in the bodies of men, all admirably compacted into so noble an engine; in each of the very fingers, for example, there are bones, and gristles, and ligaments, and membranes, and muscles, and tendons, and nerves, and arteries, and veins, and skin, and cuticle, and nail; together with marrow, and fat, and blood, and other nutritious juices; and all those solid parts of a determinate size, and figure, and texture, and situation; and each of them made up of myriads of little fibres and filaments, not discoverable by the naked eye; I say, when we consider how innumerable parts must constitute so small a member as the finger, we cannot look upon it or the whole body, wherein appears so much fitness, and use, and subserviency to infinite functions, any otherwise than as the effect of contrivance and skill, and consequently the workmanship of a most intelligent and beneficent Being. And though now the propagation of mankind be* in a settled method of [* be; 1st ed. " is.”—D.] |