An antidote against atheisme, or, An appeal to the natural faculties of the minde of man, whether there be not a God by Henry More ...

To the Honourable, the Lady ANNE CONWAY.

MADAME,

THe high opinion or rather certain knowledge I have of your singu∣lar Wit and Vertues, has emboldened, or to speak more properly, command∣ed me to make choice of none other then yourself for a Patronesse of this pre∣sent Treatise. For besides that I do your Ladiship that Right as also this present Age and succeeding Posterity, as to be a witnesse to the World of such emi∣nent Accomplishments & transcendent Worth; so I do not a little please my self, while I find my self assured in my own conceit that Cebes his mysterious & ju∣dicious Piece of Morality hung up in the Temple of Saturne, which was done in way of Divine Honour to the Wis∣dome of the Deity, was not more safely

and suteably placed then this carefull Draught of Natural Theology or Metaphysicks, which I have dedicated to so noble, so wise, and so pious a Perso∣nage. And for my own part it seems to me as reall a point of Religious wor∣ship to honour the Vertuous as to re∣lieve the Necessitous, w^ch Christianity terms no lesse then a Sacrifice. Nor is there any thing here of Hyperbolisme or high-flow'n Language, it being agreed upon by all sides, by Prophets, Apostles, and ancient Philosophers, that holy and good Men are the Temples of the Living God. And verily the Residence of Divinity is so conspicuous in that He∣roical Pulchritude of your noble Per∣son, that Plato if he were alive again might finde his timorous Supposition brought into absolute Act, & to the enra∣vishment

of his amazed Soul might be∣hold Vertue become visible to his out∣ward sight. And truly Madame, I must confesse that so Divine a Constitution as this, wants no Preservative, being both devoid & uncapable of Infection; and that if the rest of the World had attain'd but to the least Degree of this sound Complexion & generous frame of Minde, nay if they were but brought to an aequilibrious Indifferency, and, as they say, stood but Neutralls, that is, If as many as are supposed to have no love of God, nor any knowledge or experience of the Divine life, did not out of a base ignorant fear irreconcilably hate him, assuredly this Antidote of mine would either prove needless and superfluous, or, if Occasion ever called for it, a most certain Cure. For this Truth of the

Existence of God being as clearly demonstrable as any Theorem in Ma∣thematicks, it would not fail of win∣ning as firm and as universall Assent, did not the fear of a sad After-clap pervert mens Vnderstandings, and Prejudice and Interest pretend un∣certainty & obscurity in so plain a mat∣ter. But considering the state of things as they are, I cannot but pronounce, that there is more necessity of this my An∣tidote then I could wish there were. But if there were lesse or none at all, yet the pleasure that may be reaped in per∣usal of this Treatise, (even by such as by an holy Faith & divine Sense are e∣ver held fast in a full assent to the Con∣clusion I drive at) will sufficiently com∣pensate the pains in the penning therof. For as the best Eyes & most able to be∣hold

the pure Light do not unwillingly turn their backs of the Sun to view his refracted Beauty in the delightfull co∣lours of the Rainbow; so the perfectest Minds & the most lively possest of the Divine Image, cannot but take content∣ment & pleasure in observing the glori∣ous Wisdome & Goodness of God so fairly drawn out and skilfully variega∣ted in the sundry Objects of externall Nature. Which delight though it re∣dound to all, yet not so much to any as to those that are of a more Philosophicall & Contemplative constitution; & there∣fore Madame, most of all to Yourself, whose Genius I know to be so specula∣tive, & Wit so penetrant, that in the knowledge of things as well Natural as Divine you have not onely out gone all of your own Sexe, but even of that other al∣so,

whose ages have not given them over∣much the start of you. And assuredly your Ladiship's Wisedome and Judge∣ment can never be highly enough com∣mended, that makes the best use that may be of those ample Fortunes that Di∣vine Providence has bestow'd upon you. For the best result of Riches, I mean in reference to ourselves, is, that we finding ourselves already well provided for, we may be fully Masters of our own time: & the best improvement of this time is the Contemplation of God and Na∣ture, wherein if these present Labours of mine may prove so gratefull unto you and serviceable, as I have been bold to presage, next to the winning of Soules from Atheisme, it is the sweetest Fruit they can ever yield to

Your Ladiships humbly devoted Servant HENRY MORE.