The darknes of atheism dispelled by the light of nature a physico-theologicall treatise / written by Walter Charleton ...

S••CT. I.

THe Synopsis of my method, exhibited in the hem of the first Section of the first Chapter, was de∣signed as a clue to conduct the thoughts of my Reader along the series of those Attributes of the supreme Ens, which (as being of most gene∣ral concernment, and such as may be clearly de∣monstrated by the Light of Nature, even to those, who either never heard of, or except against the testimony of Holy Writ) I have promised to illustrate, by the conviction of Arguments de∣duced from that catholique Criterion, Reason; to whose Judi∣cature all Nations and Ages have readily submitted their assent: and therefore I am not necessitated here to insert any farther ex∣planation of the connexion and dependence of this Theme upon the precedent; but only, in avoydance of misconception, to ad∣vertise, that when I say, the Creation of the World ex nihilo, and the constant Conservation of the same in its primitive order and harmonious Coefficiency of causes subordinate, are the general operations of the Wisdome and Power of the First cause; I doe not intend, that those are Acts really distinct each from other (for in the demonstration of the Existence of God tis plainly, though succinctly evinced, that the Conservation of the Ʋniverse is no∣thing

but the Act of Creation prolonged or continued) but only conform my theory to the customary notions and terms of the Schools, and yeeld to the necessity of a division in the gross capa∣city of mans understanding, in order to the more gentle enforce∣ment of a stable beleif.

The Act of Conservation of all things in their originary stations, and the perpetual obedience of all second Causes, in their several motions, to the laws of his will, that elemented them; hath ever been called Providence divine: which derived high enough, seems to import, the constant operation of an infinite Wisdom, and infi∣nite Power, combined in the effusion of an infinite Goodness. This Providence (for to that Appellation, as most antient, most com∣mon, and therefore most familiar, I shall adhere) most Clerks have branched into General, whereby the government of the whole Universe is administred: and Particular, or special, whereby God doth take special care of mankind, and regulate the affairs of his master-peice. Now according to this necessary Divi∣sion, must I range my forces into two Files, and draw up one to defeat those Atheists, who have proclaimed open hostility against the First; and the other to subdue those, that have declared against the Second.

The Colonell to that black regiment, that fought against the opinion of the government of the World by the Sceptre of Divine Monarchy, is generally accounted Epicurus; but in the authen∣tique records of Stobaeus (Ecl. Phys. 25.) we may finde him to have been no more then Captain-lievtenant to Leucippus, who of all the Graecian Philosophers, whose doctrines have escaped the spunge of oblivion, was the first that appeared in the field against universal Providence, and not long after surrendred the staffe to Democritus the elder, whose immediate successor was Heraclitus, as we are told by Nemesius (De nat. Homin. 13.) But whoever led up the van, was closely followed by many both of the same and succeeding ages; the most eminent whereof were Dicaear∣chus (Cicero 4. Academ.) Strato (Idem de Divinat. 2.) Ennius (Idem de Nat. Deor. 3.) Lucretius (Libro ejus 2.) Velleius

(Cicero de Nat. Deor. 1.) Lucian (in bis Accus.) who like a facetious villain, personates Jupiter complaining of the oppression of overmuch business; nay the devout Father S. Hieron. (in Comment. in Abac.) seems to have espoused the quarrel, though doubtless upon another interest. His words I shall faithfully tran∣scribe for two important reasons. First because I would not ap∣pear to have fixt a scandal upon so venerable a Pillar of our Church, who otherwise hath deserved so amply of the Christian faith; that the consideration of the transcendent merits of his pious labours had once almost perswaded me to beleive the possi∣bility of justification by works. Secondly, to deliver his memory from the imputation of impiety; for it may be naturally collected from the syntax and scope of his discourse, that it was a noble esteem which he had of the majesty of the Divine Nature, whom he thought too fully taken up with the blisfull contemplation of his own perfections (in truth, the only Felicity God can be ca∣pable of) to be concerned in ordering the trifling occurrences of the world; and not any conceit of the insufficiency of omnipo∣tence, that cast him upon this rock. Caeterum absurdum est (says he) ad hoc Dei deducere majestatem ut sciat per momenta singula, quot nascantur culices, quotve moriantur: quot ci∣micum & pulicum & muscarum sit in terra multitudo: quanti pisces in aqua natent, & qui de minoribus major••m praedae ce∣dere debeant. Non simus tam fatui Adulatores Dei, ut dum po∣tentiam ejus ad ima detrahimus, in nosipsos injuriosi simus, ean∣dem rationabilium, quam irationabilium Providentiam esse dicentes.

So that his diminution of the universality of Providence, may seem the pardonable effect of immoderate devotion, and but a high strained description of the glory of that essence, which in strict truth, can be concerned in nothing but it self; and must then appear to be undervalued, when most magnified by the extension of its influence to petty and trivial mutations, and conceived to act a part in the interludes of Flies, order the militia of Pismires, and decree what, and how many Gnats shall be devoured by swallowes in a summers day. But as for Epicurus, and the rest of that miscreant crew; tis more then probable, that a quite

different interest inveigled them into this dangerous error. For, first, their own writings bare record, that they made it the grand scope of their studies to promote Atheisme, by plotting how to undermine the received beleif of an omnipotent eternal Being, to murder the immortality of the Soul (the basis of all religion) and deride the Compensation of good and evil actions after death. In particular, Epicurus did not blush to profess that the chief end at which his Physiology was collineated, was this; ut mens ex perspectis causis conquiescat, neque aliam eamque divinam sub∣esse causam suspicando, felicitatem interturbet. And Secondly, the grounds upon which they erected this detestable negation of universal Providence, may sufficiently satisfie a heedfull enquirer; that not any intense honour or veneration of the most perfect and happy nature, transported their minds to this height of delusion: but rather a confi••med infidelity of the infinity of his Wisdome and Power, which is affirmed by us, that maintain the diffusion of Pro∣vidence over all, and descry the finger of Divinity in the smallest actions of inferior causes, though ne're so contemptible in the eyes of Humane reason. But a more ample knowledge of this doth offer it self to our thoughts, in the particular examination of their Ar∣guments: to which we therefore immediately address.

The First Argument they drew from the apparent incompati∣bility of business and happiness; or more plainly, from the vast disparity between the blisfull condition or contemplative quiet of the supreme Nature, and the trouble, or disturbance (for so their ignorance unfitly apprehended it) that must arise from the oversight and managery of such infinite variety of Actions, as are every minute performed within the immense Amphitheatre of the World. For Epicurus, indiscreetly attempting to take the altitude of the Divine Intellect, by the unequal Jacobs-staffe of the Humane; rashly inferred, that it could not be extended be∣low the sphear of its own mansion, and that no Intelligence could be so large, as not to be overwhelmed by that Ocean of Cares, that must flow from the multitude and diversity of con∣tinual emergencies here below. This he contracted into that sen∣tence; Quod est beatum & immortale, neque sibi habet, neque

alteri exhibet negotium; which so pleased him, that he reputed it a Cornerstone in the fabrick of science, and enacted it to stand in the front of those Sententiae ratae, which he dared Scepticity withall.

Nor did his sedulous Commentator Lucretius, recede an inch from the same text; but fondly commensurating the power of an Infinite wisdome, by the narrow capacity of his own finite reason, preached to the world; that to ascribe the government of sublunary affairs to the Gods, was impiety in the inference, and must implicitly destroy the fundamentals of their Divinity, which is made up of Beatitude and Immortality, neither of which can consist with the perpetual disquiet, and impetuous anxiety of mind, which the Administration of so vast and tumultuous a Common∣wealth, as this of the World, must introduce. For when he would impose, that the shoulders of Divinity, though a real Atlas, are too weak to sustain so great a weight, as that of Rector Gene∣ral; under a pretext of tender zeal (forsooth) he insimulates those of prophanation, Qui summum illud, quicquid est, tam tristi, atque multiplici ministerio polluunt, as Pliny expresses it: and therefore exclaims.

Nam (proh! Sancta Deûm tranquilla pectora pace, Quae placidum degunt aevum, vitamque serenam) Quis regere immensi summam? Quis habere profundi Indu-manu validas potis est moderanter habenas? Quis pariter Coelos omneis convertere? & omneis Ignibus aethereis terras suffire feraceis? Omnibus inque locis esse omni tempore praestò, Nubibus ut faciat tenebras, coelique serena Concutiat sonitu? tum fulmina mittat, & aedeis Saepe suas disturbet? & in diversa recedens Saeviat, exercens telum; quod saepe nocenteis Praeterit, exanimatque indignos, inque merenteis? &c. lib. 2.

Ah! since the happy and immortal Powers In c••lme content melt their eternal houres, Feasting on self-enjoyment; who can keep The rains of Nature? Who command the Deep?

To wind about the ponderous Sphears, what arme Hath strength enough? what Influence can warme The fruitfull earth with Fires aetherial? who Can fill all places, and all actions doe? To veil the face of Light with sable clouds, And wrap the lucid sky in sulph'ry shrouds: Whose Coruscations split the fluid aer, Convell the feet of Rocks, and with despair Affect poor Mortals into Quick silver: then turn, And with Granadoes his own Temples burn: Then dart his flames at Innocence, and wound Virtue, while guilty Vice continues sound?

Their other Argument is extracted from the conceived Ʋn∣certainty and irregularity of Contingencies, and the unaequal dispensation of good and evill; all things seeming to fall out accor∣ding to the giddy lottery of Chance, and as confusedly as if there were no Providence at all. This may be collected as well from that speech of Epicurus, charged upon him by that heroick Cham∣pian of Divine Monarchy, Lactantius; Nulla dispositio est, multa enim facta sunt aliter, quàm fieri debuerunt: as from the context of his Physiology, wherein having made it his Hypo∣thesis, that all bodies both coelestial and sublunary were at first configurated by Fortune, i. e. arose to such and such particular figures, by the casual segregation, convention and complexion of the General matter, divided into several masses; and that, by the inclination of their convenient Figures, they were adliged to such and such peculiar Motions, and accommodated to the ne∣cessary causation of determinate viciffitudes: he proceeds to re∣duce all succeeding events in the World to that primitive series of Causes, which made their own spontaneous eruption out of the Chaos, and attained to the certain rules of their future activity, at the same time they attained to their distinctions and single essences; denominating that chain of causalities, Nature, and holding her to be her own Directress, and by the law of innate tendency ob∣liged to a perpetual continuation of the same motions begun in

the first minute of the worlds composure; according to that ex∣clamation of Pontanus (Lib. 1. de Stellis.)

Quid vexare Deos frustr à juvat? ordine certo Fert Natura vices; labuntur & ordine certo Sydera; tam varios rerum patientia casus. Illa suos peragunt motus, servant que tenorem Sorte datum, &c.

What boot's it man with fruitless praiers to fret The Ears o'th Gods; when Natures Laws are set, Beyond Repeal or Alteration? The radiant Lamps of heaven still move on In their old tracks: nor can the Planets stray, In all their wandrings, from their native way; Or change that Tenor, which at first they got Consign'd unto them, by their proper Lot.

The result of all which is, that Epicurus would perswade, that the Universe is a Commonwealth, wherein every single member is, by the signature and necessity of its particular constitution, instructed in, and impelled upon the praecise performance of its peculiar office; so as not to want the direction of any Superintendent, or to conform to the directions of a General Councel: and seems to allow this only difference between the universal Politie of the World, and the particular Republique of mankind; that in this, men frequently make deflexions from the general scope, by rea∣son of the seductions of their unstable and irregular judgments; but in that, all individuals punctually keep to their primitive assigna∣tions, and so conspire to the satisfaction of the common interest, by reason of the constancy of their natures, and unalterable necessity of their forms. And this Abridgement of his doctrine, Plutarch (de Fato) hath prepared to our hands, when personating Epicurus, he thus argues; Nulla est opus sapientia ordinis instruendi in exercitu, si militum quivis sua sponte noverit locum, ordinem, stationem, quam accipere debet & tueri: neque etiam opus oli∣toribus, Fabrisve murariis, si aqua illeic ultrò afsluat indigen∣tibus irratione plantis; heic lateres, ligna, lapidesque eas, natura duce, motiones at que inclinationes subeant, quibus in sua loca, inque expetitam concinnitatem coeant, &c.

Now for the other part of the Argument, viz. the unequal distribution of Good and Evill, and the ordinary intervention of many effects inconsistent with the justice and righteous admini∣stration of Divinity: this is clearly hinted by Lucretius, who makes it the main scope of his sixth Canto, to alienate mens minds from the beleif of an Ʋniversal moderator, by several instances of events, that seem to hold too visible an affinity to Temerity and Inconsideration, to have any relation at all to the judicious method requisite to Providence; and particularly towers himself over that one example of the Thunder-bolt, as if his reason had slown to a pitch above all possibility of contradiction, when yet the summary of all that bold discourse, abstracted by an impartial hand, amounts to no more then this.

Since we observe the Thunder-bolt (1.) To be, for the most part, discharged on the heads of the Innocent, and not the Guilty: (2.) To batter Sancta Deûm delubra, the Temples of the Gods themselves, more frequently then common buildings: (3.) To be idly spent at random, upon the sea and void Campanias; and so seems not to have been the Artillery of Divine Vengeance, pre∣pared for the punishment of impious mortals: (4.) To be gene∣rated, like other meteors, by natural Causes, being a fulphureous exhalation compacted in the clouds, and thence darted ala volec, or at a venture, on whatever is situate in the level of its projection: it appears an absurdity of timerous superstition to beleive, that every single occurrence is praeordained by Wisdom, or that all ex∣temporary Accidents have their praescripts in the book of Fate.

And these are the Goliah objections, or nerves of the Atheists Remonstrance against Ʋniversal Providence; which though ma∣ny of the Fathers, and particularly S. Clement (in 5. Strom.) have decreed to be filed amongst those impious questions, that deserve no answer but a whip, like the doubts of a Mahometan in point of faith: yet since promise hath made it my duty, to en∣devour the demonstration of the Attributes of the divine nature (such at least as occurre to the contemplation of a meer Philoso∣pher, who hath wholly referred himself to the Testimonies of the Light of Nature) by the conviction of Reason alone; I am confident so clearly and fully to confute, that no man, who

hath not stubbornly put out the eye of his soul, shall in the future remain a Sceptick, as to this particular.

Notes

• Article 1. The Authors reasons for his present adhe∣rence to the common dis∣crimination of Providence from Creation.
• Article 2. The Definiti∣on and received Division of di∣vine Provl∣dence.
• Article 3. A short list of the principal ethnick Physio∣logists, who, in order to thei•• propagation of Atheism, have attempted the eradication of this magisterial verity of divine Providence: & a gentle cure of S. Hieroms wound, caused by his venial lapse from the same.
• Article 4. The Atheists first Argument against univer∣sal Providence, with the absurd and malicious comment of Lucretius there∣upon.
• Article 5. Their second Argument: and its convenient dissection into two parts, viz.
• 1. The irregulari∣ty of contin∣gencies: and
• 2. The unequal or injust di∣stribution of good and evill.