but even in the most public manner. I fhall here only add the judgement of Cicero; a man as able to pass a right judegment in this matter as ever lived. "Do you think," fays he, "that

thefe things [meaning the precepts of morality] had any in"fluence upon thofe men (excepting only a very few of them), "who taught, and writ, and difputed about them? No; who is "there of all the philofophers, whofe mind and life and manners "were comformable to right reason? who ever made his philofophy "to be the law and rule of his life, and not a mere boaft and fhow of his wit and parts? who obferved his own inftruétions, and "lived in obedience to his own precepts? On the contrary; many "of them were flaves to filthy lufts, many to pride, many to covetoufnefs, &c."

2. AND THOSE FEW OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, WHO DID INDEED SINCERELY ENDEAVOUR TO REFORM MANKIND, WERE YET THEMSELVES ENTIRELY IGNORANT OF SOME DOCTRINES ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE BRINGING ABOUT THAT

GREAT END.

Those few extraordinary men of the philofophers, who did indeed in good measure fincerely obey the laws of natural religion themfelves, and made it their chief bufinefs to inftruct and exhort others to do the fame, were yet themfelves entirely ignorant of fome doctrines abiolutely neceffary to the bringing about this great 'end, of the reformation and recovery of mankind.

In general: having no knowledge of the whole fcheme, order, and ftate of things, the method of God's governing the world, his defign in creating mankind, the original dignity of human nature, the ground and circumftances of men's prefent corrupt condition, the manner of the divine interpofition neceffary to their recovery, and the glorious end to which God intended finally to conduct them; having no knowledge (I fay) of all this, their whole attempt to discover the truth of things, and to inftruct others therein, was like wandering in the wide fea, without knowing whither they were to go, or which way they were to take, or having any guide to conduct them, And accordingly the wifeft of them were never backward to confefs their own ignorance and great blindness : that truth § was hid from them, as it were in an unfathomable depth: that they were much in the dark, and very dull and ftu

*Sed hæc eadem num cenfes apud eos ipfos valere, nif admodum paucos, a quibus "inventa, difputata, confcripta funt? Quotus enim quifque philofophorum invenitur, qui "fit ita moratus, ita animo ac vita conftitutus, ut ratio poftulat; qui difciplinam fuam non "oftentationem fcientiæ, fed legem vitæ putet; qui obtemperet ipfe fibi, & decretis fuis 66 par? Videre licet multos, libidinum fervos, &c." Cic. Tufculan. Quæftion. lib. II. Errant ergo velut in mari magno, nec quo ferantur intelligunt; quia nec viam "cernunt, nec ducem fequuntur." Lactant. lib. VI.

"Ex cæteris philofophis, nonne optimus & graviffimus quifque confitetur, multa fe t ignorare; & multa fibi etiam atque etiam esse discenda ?” Cic. Tusc. Quæft. 3. § Ἐν βύθω ἀλήθεια.

"Tui ergo te; Cicero, libri arguunt, quam nihil a philofophia difci poffit ad vitam. "Hæc tua verba funt: mihi autem non modo ad fapientiam cæci videmur; fed ad ea ipfa, quæ aliqua ex parte cerni videantur, hebetes & obtufi." Lactant. lib. III,

pid, not only as to the profounder things of wisdom, but as to fuch things alfo which feemed very capable of being in great part difcovered: nay, that even thofe things, which in themselves were of all others the most manifeft (that is, which, whenever made known, would appear moft obvious and evident), their natural understanding was of itself as unqualified to find out and apprehend, as the eyes of bats to behold the light of the fun: that the very first and most neceffary thing of all, the nature and attributes of God himfelft, were, notwithstanding all the general helps of reafon, very. difficult to them to find out in particular, and ftill more difficult to explain; it being much † more easy to say what God was not, than what he was: and, finally, that the method of inftructing men effectually, and making them truly wife and good, was a thing § very. obfcure and dark, and difficult to be found out. In a word, Socrates himself always openly profeffed, that he pretended to be wifer than other men only in this one thing, that he was duly fenfible of his own ignorance, and I believed that it was merely for that very reason, that the oracle pronounced him the wifeft of men. PARTICULARLY, THEY WERE VERY IGNORANT IN WHAT MAN

NER GOD MIGHT BE ACCEPTABLY WORSHIPPED.

More particularly: the manner in which God might be accepta-, bly worshipped, thefe men were entirely and unavoidably ignorant of. That God ought to be worshipped, is, in the general, as evident and plain from the light of nature as any thing can be: but in what particular manner, and with what kind of fervice he will be worfhipped, cannot be certainly discovered by bare reafon. Obedience to the obligations of nature, and imitation of the moral attributes of God, the wifeft philofophers cafily knew, was undoubtedly the most acceptable service to God. But fome external adoration feemed also to be neceflary; and how this was to be performed, they could not with any certainty difcover. Accordingly even the very best of them complied therefore generally with the outward religion of their country, and advised others to do the fame; and fo, notwithftanding all their wife difcourfes, they fell lamentably into the practice of the moft foolish idolatry. Lactantius obferves that Socrates himself **, at the conclufion of one of the braveft difcourfes that ever was made by any philofopher, fuperftitioufly ordered a facrifice to be offered for him to Æfculapius. But herein Lactantius was

* "Ωσπερ γὰς καὶ τὰ τῶν νυκτερίδων ὄμματα πρὸς τὰ φέγιο ἔχει τὸ μεθ ̓ ἡμέραν, ὕτω καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς ὁ τῆς πρὸς τὰ τῆ φύσει φανερώτατα παντων. Ariftot. Metaphyl. lib. II. cap.r. † Τὸν μὲν ἄν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τέδε τῷ παντὸς, εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον, καὶ εὑρόνια λέγειν εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον. Plato in Timmo.

"Profecto eos ipfos, qui fe aliquid certi habere arbitrantur, addubitare coget doctif"fimorum hominum de maxima re tanta diffenfio." Cic. de Natura Deor. lib. I.

"Utinam tam facilè vera invenire poffem, quam falfa convincere." Id. Ibid. Επι εὐξάμενα μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ. Καὶ μοι δύσβατός γέ τις τόπος φαίνεται καὶ ἐπίσκι» sv v oxolevò; nai duo diegeúin. Plato de Republ. lib. IV.

See Prato in Apologia Socratis.

** Εἶπεν, ὃ δὴ τελευταῖον ἐφθέγξατο. Ω Κρίτων, τῷ ̓Ασκληπιῷ ὀφείλομεν ἀλεκτρυόνα ἀλλὰ απόδοιε, καὶ μὴ ἀμελήσητε. Plato in Phædone.

"Illud vero nonne fummæ vanitatis; quod ante mortem familiares fuos rogavit, ut " Æfculapio gallum, quem voverat, pro fe facrarent.”- Lactant. lib III.

Q 2

certainly

certainly mistaken for Socrates undoubtedly spake this in mockery of Æfculapius; looking upon death as his trueft deliverance. Plato, after having delivered very noble and almost divine truths concerning the nature and attributes of the Supreme God,* weakly advifes men to worship likewife inferior gods, dæmons, and fpirits; and dared not to condemn the worshipping even of ftatues alfo and images, dedicated according to the laws of their country as if the honour they paid to lifelefs idols, could procure the favour and good-will of fuperior intelligences. And fo the corrupted and spoiled the best philofophy in the world, by adding idolatry to that worship, which he had wifely and bravely before proved to be due to the Creator of all things. After him, Cicero, the greateft and beft philofopher that Rome or perhaps any other nation ever produced, allowed § men to continue the idolatry of their an ceftors; advised them to conform themselves to the fuperftitious religion of their country, in offering fuch facrifices to different gods, as were by law established; and ** difapproves and finds fault with the Perfian Magi, for burning the temples of the Grecian gods, and aflerting that the whole univerfe was God's temple. In all which, he fondly contradicts himself, by ++ inexcufeably complying with the practices of those men, whom in many of his writings he largely and excellently proves to be extremely foolish upon account of thofe very practices. And to mention no more (for indeed thofe of a fower rank, the Minuter philofophers, as Tully calls them, are not worth the mentioning); that admirable moralift Epictetus, who, for a true fenfe of virtue, seems to have had no fuperior in the heathen world; even he alfo ‡‡ advises men to offer libations and facrifices to the gods, every one according to the religion and custom of his country.

AND IN WHAT METHOD GOD WOULD BE RECONCILED TO

RETURNING SINNERS.

But ftill more particularly: that which of all other things, thefe beft and wifeft of the philofophers were moft abfolutely and una

* Πρῶτον μὲν, φαμὲν, τιμὰς τὰς μετ ̓ ὀλυμπίας τε καὶ τὰς τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντας θεὺς, τοῖς χθονίοις ἄν τις θεοῖς ἄξια καὶ δεύτερα καὶ ἀξιτερὰ νέμων, ὀρθόταλα τὰ τῆς ἐυσεβείας σκοπού τυγχάνοι. Μετὰ θεὺς δὲ τάσδε, καὶ τοῖς δεύμασιν ἔγ ̓ ἔμφρων ὀργιάζοιτ' ἄν— Επακολυθεῖ δ αὐτοῖς ἱδρύματα ίδια εταιρείων θεών κατὰ νόμον ὀργιαζόμενα. Plato de Legib. lib. IV.

† Τὰς μὲν γὰρ τῶν θεῶν ὁρῶντες σαφῶς, τιμῶμεν. τῶν δὲ εἰκόνας αγάλματα ἱδρυτάμενοι, ὡς ἡμῖν ἀγάλλεσι, καίπερ ἀψύχους ὅλας, ἐκείνους ἡγάμεθα τὰς ἐμψύχους θεὺς πολλὴν διὰ ταυτ' εὔνοιαν καὶ χάριν ἔχειν. Plato de Legib. lib. XI.

† Τὰ Πλάτωνι οὐκ απιθάνως μὲν εἰρήμενα, ἢ μὴν καὶ διέθεντο τὸν φιλόσοφον αξίως κἂν αὐτῶ ἀναγραφῆναι ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων ευσεβείᾳ, ἣν ἐχρῆν μὴ νοθεύειν, μηδὲ μιάνειν τῇ aldokonalesia. Orig. adverf. Celf. lib. VI.

"A patribus acceptos Deos placet coli." Cic. de Legib. lib. II.

"Item illud ex inftitutis pontificum & arufpicum non mutandum eft, quibus hoftiis "immolandum cuique Deo." Id. ibid.

**Nec fequor Magos Perfarum, quibus auctoribus Xerxes inflammâffe templa Græciæ dicitur, quod parietibus includerent deos, quorum hic mundus omnis templum effet &. "domus. Melius Græci atque noftri, qui, ut augerent pietatem in Deos, eafdem illos, 66 quas nos, urbes incolere voluerunt." 1d. ibid.

++" Video te, Cicero, terrena & manufacta venerari. Vana effe intelligis, & tamen ❝ eadem facis, quæ faciunt ipfi, quos ipfe ftultiffimos confiteris.-Si libenter errant etiam ii, qui errare le fentiunt, quanto magis vulgus indoctum ?" Lactant. lib. II.

Τί Σπένδειν δὲ καὶ θύειν, καὶ ἀπάρχεσθαι κατὰ τὰ πώτρια ἑκάς, προσήκει Epictet.cap.38.

voidably

voidably ignorant of, and yet which of all other things was of the greatest importance for finful men to know, was the method by which fuch as have erred from the right way, and have offended God, may yet again reftore themselves to the favour of God, and to the hopes of happiness. From the confideration of the goodnefs and mercifulnefs of God, the philofophers did indeed very reafonably hope, that God would fhew himself placable to finners, and might be fome way reconciled; but when we come to enquire more particularly, what propitiation he will accept, and in what manner this reconciliation must be made, here nature ftops, and expects with impatience the aid of fome particular revelation. That God will receive returning finners, and accept of repentance instead of perfect obedience, they cannot certainly know, to whom he has not declared that he will do fo. For though this be the most probable and only means of reconciliation that nature fuggefts; yet whether this will be alone fufficient, or whether God will not require fomething further, for the vindication of his justice, and of the honour and dignity of his laws and government, and for the expreffing more effectually his indignation against fin, before he will restore men to the privileges they have forfeited, they cannot be fatisfacto rily affured. For it cannot pofitively be proved from any of God's attributes, that he is abfolutely obliged to pardon all creatures all their fins at all times barely and immediately upon their repenting. There arifes therefore from nature no fufficient comfort to finners, but anxious and endless folicitude about the means of appeafing the Deity. Hence thofe divers ways of facrificing, and numberless fuperftitions, which overfpread the face of the heathen world, but were fo little fatisfactory to the wifer part of mankind, even in those times of darkness, that the more confidering philofophers could not forbear frequently declaring, that they thought those rights could avail little or nothing towards appeafing the wrath of a provoked God, or making their prayers acceptable in his fight; but that fomething ftill feemed to them to be wanting, though they knew not what.

*

3. AND OTHER DOCTRINES ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY IN OR

DER TO REFORM MANKIND, THE BEST PHILOSOPHERS WERE VERY DOUBTFUL AND UNCERTAIN ABOUT.

Some other doctrines abfolutely neceffary likewife to the bringing about this great end of the reformation of mankind; though there was indeed fo much proof and evidence of the truth of them to be drawn from reason, as that the best philofophers could not by any means be entirely ignorant of them; yet fo much doubtfulness, uncertainty, and unfteadiness, was there in the thoughts and affertions of these philofophers concerning them, as could not but very much diminish their proper effect and influence upon the hearts and lives of men. I inftance in the immortality of the foul, the

• See Plato's Alcibiades 2, throughout.

"Præterea nihil apud eos certi eft, nihil quod à fcientia veniat ;-& nemo paret, ❝quia nemo vult ad incertum laborare." Lactant. lib. III.

03

certainty

certainty of a future ftate, and the rewards and punishments to be distributed in a life to come. The arguments which may be drawn from reafon and from the nature of things, for the proof of these great truths, feem really (as I have before fhewn) to come very little fhort of ftrict demonftration; and accordingly the wifeft philofophers (as has likewife been fhewn before) did indeed fometimes seem to have reasoned themselves into a firm belief of them, and to have been fully convinced of their certainty and reality, even fo far as to apply them to excellent purposes and uses of life. But then, on the other hand, a man cannot, without fome pity and concern of mind, observe how strangely at other times the weight of the fame arguments feems to have flipt (as it were) out of their minds; and with what wonderful diffidence, wavering, and unfteadinefs, they discourse about the fame things. I do not here think it of any very great moment, that there were indeed fome whole fects of philoTophers, who abfolutely denied the immortality of the foul, and peremptorily rejected all kind of expectation of a life to come (though, to be fure, this could not but in fome measure shock the common people, and make them entertain fome fufpicion about the ftrength of the arguments used on the other fide of the queftion by wifer men; yet) I fay, it cannot be thought of any very great moment, that fome whole fects of philofophers did indeed abfolutely deny the immortality of the foul; because thefe men were weak reafoners in other matters alfo, and plainly low and contemptible philofophers, in comparison of thofe greater geniufes we are now fpeaking of. But that which I now obferve, and which I fay cannot be observed without fome pity and concern of mind, is this, that even thofe great philofophers themselves, the very best and wisest, and moft confiderate of them that ever lived, notwithstanding the undeniable ftrength of the arguments which fometimes convinced them of the certainty of a future ftate, did yet at other times exprefs themselves with fo much hefitancy and unfteadiness concerning it, as, without doubt, could not but extremely hinder the proper effect and influence which that moft important confideration ought to have upon the hearts and lives of men. "I am now," faid Socrates, a little before his death *, "about to leave this world; and

ye are ftill to continue in it: which of us have the better part "allotted us, God only knows:" + feeming to exprefs fome doubtfulness, whether he fhould have any exiftence after death, or not. And again, at the end of his moft admirable difcourfe concerning the immortality of the foul; "I would have you to know," faid he to his friends who came to pay him their last visit ‡, “that I "have great hopes I am now going into the company of good men; 66 yet I would not be too peremptory and confident concerning it.

* Ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀποθανεμένω, ὑμῖν βιωσομένοις· ὁπότεροι δὲ ἡμῶν ἔρχονται ἐπὶ ἄμεινον πράγμα, άδηλον παντὶ πλὴν ἢ τῷ θεῷ. Plato in Apolog. Socr. +" Quod præter eos negat fcire quenquam, fcit ipfe, utrum melius fit; nam dixit antè. Sed fuum illud,. nihil ut affirmet, tenet ad extremum." Cic. Tufc. Qu. lib. I. † Νῦν δὲ ὅ ἔσε ὅτι παρ' ἄνδρας τε ἐλπίζω αφίξεσθαι αγαθῶς, καὶ τῦτο μὲν ἐκ ἂν πάνυ διίσχυρισαίμην. Plato in Phad.

"But,