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The Being and Perfections of God proved from his Works.

DISCOURSE I.

ROMANS i. 20.

For the invifible Things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly feen, being underflood by the Things that are made, even bis eternal Power and Godhead.

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HAT there is a God that made the World and all Things in it, and that he is poffeffed of all poffible Perfections, is a Principle that lieth at the Foundation of all Religion, and therefore it is of the highest Importance to us, to endeavour to get our Minds well established in the Belief of it, And these remarkable Words of the Apostle [ VOL. I.] Paul,

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Paul, direct us to that which hath been always accounted the strongest Evidence of this great Truth, and which is at the fame Time the most obvious to the common Senfe and Reafon of Mankind. For, by confidering the Works of Nature in this vaft, beautiful, and well-ordered System of the Universe, we are naturally led to acknowledge a fupreme, eternal, and abfolutely perfect Caufe and Author of all Things, infinitely powerful, wife, and good. This Argument hath been handled at large by many excellent Persons, with great Strength of Reafon and Compass of Learning. But I fhall content myself with treating it in a plain and popular Way: And, firft, fhall lay before you as briefly and clearly as I can, the Proofs of the Exiftence of God from the Works of Creation: And then fhall proceed to take a fummary View of thofe Excellencies and Perfections that effentially belong to the great Author and Parent of the Universe, and which, though invifible to the bodily Eye, are understood by the Things which he hath made.

I fhall confider the Proofs of the Exiftence of God as manifefted from the Works of Creation. And that we may the better feel the Force of this Argument, let us take a Rife from our own Existence, and

and then proceed to a general Survey of the feveral Parts of this vaft univerfal System as far as they come within our Notice, and obferve how they all confpire to lead our Thoughts to a most wife and powerful Cause and Author, which we call God.

There is nothing of which we are more certain than that we ourselves have a Being. And upon furveying our own Frame, we find, that even this Body of Flesh which we carry about with us, beareth evident Marks of the most wife Contrivance. It confifteth of an amazing Variety of Parts, many of them exquifitely minute and fine, all difpofed in the properest Situation for Convenience, Utility, or Beauty, most aptly correfponding to one another, and excellently fitted to their feveral Ends. and Ufes. When we observe the admirable Provifion that is made for the Circulation of the Blood, for receiving and digesting the Food, and diftributing proper Nourishment through the Body, as well as for ejecting and difcharging what is fuperfluous; the curious Structure of the Organs, which are defigned for carrying on the feveral Motions vital or fpontaneous, or that minister to the Senfes of seeing, hearing, fmelling, &c. or which contribute to the Ufe of Speech, which is of fuch vaft Advantage in human Life; when we confider

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confider these Things, together with the Dignity of the human Form and Afpect, we can scarce help breaking forth into that rapturous Strain of the devout Pfalmift, I will praise thee, far I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Pfal. cxxxix. 14. There appeareth a Wisdom in all this that is perfectly astonishing. After the diligent Enquiries of the most fagacious Anatomists for a long Succeffion of Ages, there are ftill many Things in the human Body that are not yet fully difcovered, and the more we know of them, the greater Matter we find for our Admiration.

But ftill more wonderful is the human Mind, or that noble Principle in us distinct from this corruptible Flesh, which is the Subject of the amazing Powers of Understanding, Will, Imagination, Memory, and of moral Qualities and Affections. We plainly find that we are capable of taking in numberless Ideas of Things, not only fenfible and corporeal, but fpiritual. and invifible. We are capable of contemplating the Beauty, Order, and Harmony of the Univerfe, and of ascending in our Thoughts above this Earth, and the Things of this prefent vifible World, to the abfolutely perfect Being, who is unfeen to an Eye of Senfe, and is infinite and eternal. We are capable of reflecting and comparing

comparing Things, of reasoning and judging, of looking back upon the past, of beholding Things prefent, and looking forward to the future. We are confcious to ourselves that we are moral Agents; that we have a Power of willing, and choofing, and of determining our own Actions, and paffing a Judgment upon them; and that we have an inward Sense of the moral Differences of Things, and of what is beautiful and deformed in Affections and Actions, and which, where it is not depraved by corrupt Habits and Prejudices, carrieth us to approve and admire the Things that are juft, and pure, and honeft, and lovely, and virtuous, and praiseworthy, and to disapprove and condemn the contrary; and, in a Word, that we are endued with Faculties which, if duly improved, are capable of fublime Attainments in Knowledge and Virtue.

We farther find, that this noble thinking Substance is very closely united to the Body in this prefent State, in a Manner which we are not able to explain, and this Union is governed by certain Laws, and confined within certain Bounds and Limits, it extendeth to fuch a Degree and no farther, by virtue of which there is a wonderful Connection established between certain Motions and Impreffions on the Body,

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