Very like a Philosopher, methinks, does the Great Mercurius Trismegistus (if we grant him to be the Author of the Books ascribed to him) speak, when he tells his Son, There can be no Religion more true or just,¹ then to know the things that are, and to acknowledge thanks for all things to him that made them; which thing I shall not cease to do: (he continues) Be Pious and Religious, O my Son! for he that does so is the best and highest Philosopher; and without Philosophy it is impossible ever to attain to the height and exactness of Piety and Religion. And ‘twas perhaps, Pyrophilus, to ingage us to an industrious industrious indagation of the Creatures, that God made Man so indigent, and furnish’d him with such a multiplicity of Desires; so that whereas other Creatures are content with those few obvious and easily attainable necessaries, that Nature has almost every where provided for them; In Man alone, every sense has store of greedy Appetites, for the most part of Superfluities and Dainties, that to relieve his numerous Wants, or satisfie his more numerous Desires, He might be oblig’d with an inquisitive Industry to Range, Anatomize, and Ransack Nature, and by that concern’d survey come to a more exquisite Admiration of the Omniscient Author. To illustrate this subject yet a little further, Pyrophilus, give me leave to observe to you, That Philosophers of almost all Religions have been, by the contemplation of the World, mov’d to consider it under the notion of a Temple: Ne adoremus (says Plutarch) Elementa, Coelum, Solem, Lunam, &c. specula sunt haec, in quibus artem illius singularem intueamur, qui mundum condidit, & adornavit; nec est aliud Mundus quam Templum ejus: Let us not venerate the Elements, the Heaven, the Sun, the Moon, &c. these are but Miroirs, wherein we may behold his excellent Art, who fram’d and adorn’d the World; nor is the World any thing else but his Temple: Homines (says Cicero) tuentur illum Globum, quem in Templo hoc medium vides, qui terra dicitur: Men abide upon that Globe which you see in the middle of this Temple, and is called the Earth; which Macrobius handsomely thus expounds: Quicquid humano aspectui subjicitur, Templum ejus vocavit qui solâ mente concipitur, ut qui haec veneratur ut templa, cultum tamen maximum debeat Conditori, sciatque quisquis in usum Templi hujus inducitur, ritu sibi vivendum sacerdotis: All that humane view reaches, he terms his Temple, who is apprehended by the minde alone; to the end that who so reverences these things as Temples, might render the greatest worship to the Maker; and every one that is brought to converse in this Temple, might know himself oblig’d to live like a Priest.

And the Lofty Seneca (to mention now no other Heathens) in divers passages of his excellent Writings, stiles the World a Temple; and I remember in his Treatise, De Beneficiis, he avers in terms not unworthy his Mind or his Subject, Totum mundum Deorum esse immortalium Templum,² solum quidem amplitudine illorum ac magnificentiâ dignum. That the whole World is the Temple of the immortal Gods, being alone worthy of their Grandeur and Magnificence. The assent of the Jewish Philosophers, to this Notion, you may be pleased to receive from their Eloquent Philo,³ who not only gives the World the Name of Temple, but gives us this account of that appellation; Templum Dei supremum & verè tale existimare totum hunc mundum, qui sacrartum quidem habet, purissimam rerum naturae partem, Coelum; ornamenta, stellas; sacerdotes, administros potentiae ejus, Angelos, & incorporeas animas. The whole VVorld is to be accounted the chiefest Template of God; the Sanctum Sanctorum of it is the purest part of the Universe, Heaven; the ornaments, the Stars; the Priests, the Ministers of His Power, Angels, and immaterial Souls. And as for Christian Philosophers, I suppose it would be needlesse to enumerate the passages wherein they adapt the Notion of the World already mention’d; and therefore I shall content my selfe to adde,⁴ that the Scripture it selfe seems to Authorise it by representing to us in the 8th and 9th Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Mosaical Tabernacle, as an adumbration of that Great Temple of the World; and particularly there is a signal Text in the latter of those Chapters,⁵ where it is said that Christ is not enter’d into Holy places made with Hands [χειροποίητα ἅγια] which are copies of the true [ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν] but into Heaven it selfe, now to appeare in the presence of God for us.

Upon what account, Pyrophilus, I esteem the World a Temple, I may elsewhere have occasion to Declare; but this for the present: It will not be rash to infer that if the World be a Temple, Man sure must be the Priest, ordain’d (by being qualifi’d) to celebrate Divine Service not only in it, but for it. For as in Schools, when the Prince or some munificent Benefactor confers some large possession or rich annuity upon the Foundation, though all the Boyes be concern’d in the benefit, yet because most of them are too young to be sensible of it, or too unlearned to be able to make the retribution of a handsome acknowledgment, either the Master or that other person of the Society, who is most capable and the best spoakesman, is by a kind of natural right engag’d to the duty of returning praise and thanks, not for himself alone, but in the name of all the rest: So in the World, where there are so many inanimate and irrational Creatures, that neither understand how much they owe to their Creator, by owing him even themselves, nor are born to a condition inabling them to acknowledg it; Man, as born the Priest of Nature, and as the most oblig’d and most capable member of it, is bound to returne Thanks and Praises to his Maker, not only for himselfe but for the whole Creation. In which sense we may reconcile those two current Assertions, That God made all things for His own Glory, and that God made all things for Man, and Man for himselfe. Since whether or no Man be a Microcosme or Little World in Paracelsus’s sense, if not as a resembler, yet as a representer of the Macrocosme or Great World, he presents with his own adorations the Homages of all the Creatures to their Creator, though they be ignorant of what is done, as Infants under the Law were of the sacrifices offered on their account. And in this Relation may the Creatures answer the Solemn invitation made them in the whole 148 Psalm, and numerous other Scriptures: which they may do (to borrow a barbarous but significant School-terme) objectively, though not formally; I mean, by proving occasions, though not singers of his praises, and being such objects as prompt and invite Man to pay God that praise upon their score, which they cannot actually pay him themselves; even God’s mutest works being capable of being said to praise him in the same sense (though in an incomparably transcendenter degree) that Solomon saies of his virtuous Woman (in the last Verse of the Proverbs) Let her own VVorks praise her in the Gates; that is, (Prov. 31.13) give the considerers of them occasion to extol her: and thus by man’s referring the knowledg of the Creature to the Creator’s Glory, it becomes in some sense, and congruously to its own Nature, the praiser of its Maker, as may seem intimated in this OEconomy of the Last part of one of the Psalmes, Blesse the Lord, all ye His Hosts,⁶ the Ministers of His that do His pleasure. Blesse the Lord, all His VVorks, in all places of His Dominion: Blesse the Lord, O my Soule. Where by shutting up the rest of God’s Creatures betwixt Angels and Man’s Soule, he seems to insinuate that the irrational Creatures blesse the Lord by the mouth of those that are Intelligent.

And truly, Pyrophilus, I fear it may relish a little of selfishnesse, to make such a disparity betwixt Perfections, all of them equal, because all of them infinite, as to let God’s mercy, because it most advantages us, so to ingrosse our thoughts, and wonder, as to make us neglect the contemplation of those other Glorious Attributes, his Power and his VVisdome, which were those that exacted both Man and Angels adoration, before sin gave occasion to the exercise of the first. And I shall not scruple to confesse unto you, that I dare not confine the Acts of Devotion to those which most men suppose to comprise the whole exercise of it; not that I at all undervalue, or would depreciate any, even the meanest practises of Devotion, which either Scripture or reason consonant to it recommends; but that I esteem that God may be also acceptably (and perhaps more nobly) serv’d and glorifi’d by our entertaining of high, rational, and as much as our nature is capable of worthy notions, attended with a profound and proportionable admiration of those divine Attributes and Prerogatives for whose manifesting he was pleas’d to construct this vast Fabrick.

To which purpose I consider, that in the Life to come, when we shall questionless glorifie God exactliest, we shall have little either need or use of Faith, Prayer, Liberality, Patience, and resembling Graces; but our Worship will chiefly consist in elevated Notions, and a prostrate Veneration of Gods Omnipotence, Wisdom, Goodness, and other Perfections; and such a one as this is represented in the Apocalyps, to be the present employment of the Blest Spirits in Heaven, where the Elders that assist about the Throne of God, are describ’d, casting their Crowns before it, and saying to him that sits on it, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honor, and Power: for thou hast created all things, (Rev. 4.11) and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

By this time, Pyrophilus, I hope you begin to think, that the Doctrine that tends to deter Men from enquiring into Nature, is as well derogatory from Gods Glory, as prejudicial to Mans Interests. And indeed, I purpos’d to content my self with the having disperst throughout the past Discourse, the grounds of answering their Objection against the study of Physiology, who pretend it is apt to make Men Atheists: But because I am much concern’d to have you satisfied of so important a Truth, as that which we have hitherto been laboring to evince, I must beg your leave, Pyrophilus, to adde, ex abundanti (as they speak) to what has been already alledg’d, some things that may more directly answer the Objection of our Adversaries, and manifest how little their severity is befriended, either by Scripture, Reason, or Experience.

And first, it seems not at all probable, That if the Omniscient Author of Nature knew that the study of his Works did really tend to make Men dis-believe his Being or Attributes, he would have given Men so many Invitations, and almost Necessities, to study and contemplate the Nature of his Creatures: Of these Invitations divers have been mention’d already, and more might be added to them, if we thought it requisite. But what has been above alledg’d, will make us forbear the annexing of any, save that of the ancient Institution of the Sabbath, which many eminent Divines do not groundlesly hold to have been ordain’d to commemorate the Creation, and give Men the opportunity every Seventh Day to contemplate God in his Works, as he himself was pleas’d to rest on the first Seventh Day, and contemplate Himself in the works of the first six. And though our Western Churches, for certain Reasons (not here to be inquir’d into) have long since disus’d the Solemnizing of the Saturday, and appointed the Sunday for the Celebration of both the Works of the Redemption, and Creation of the World together; yet ‘tis evident enough that the Primitive Christians did for the most part keep the Saturday as Holy-day, as well as the Sunday: For that ancient Book (whoever be resolv’d to have written it) which goes under the Name of Clement’s Constitutions, affords us, among others, these two memorable Passages to our purpose: And first,⁷ Τὸ Σάββατον μὲν τοι (says he) καὶ τὴν κυριακὴν ἑορτάζετε. Keep the Sabbath and the Lords Day as Holy-days; that being dedicated to the remembrance of the Creation, and this to that of the Redemption: To which we shall adde this second Passage of the same Author, Ἑξαπλασίαζέτωσαν οἱ δοῦλοι, &c. Let Servants work for five days; but on the Sabbath, and the Lords-day, let them attend in the Church the Doctrine of Godliness. To which purpose, I remember the most Learned Grotius observes,⁸ That the converted Emperor Constantine, forbad the compelling Christians to appear before Tribunals on either of those Days, as being their Festivals: Nay, and if Modern Travellers do not mis-inform me, I finde that divers of the Eastern Churches, particularly the Abyssine Christians, to this day do as well sanctifie the Sabbath-day in commemoration of Gods having created the World, as the Lords-day to commemorate the Resurrection of Christ. And as for the Jews sense of the Fourth Commandment, some of the Learnedst of their Criticks are pleas’d to distinguish betwixt the Words Zachôr and Smôr, Remember and Keep, imploy’d in the Command of solemnizing the Sabbath: For, the remembring of it they hold to be an act of Religion, performable by all Man-kinde that are capable of it, and acquainted with its having been commanded; though the keeping of it Holy they suppose onely enjoyn’d to the Israelites: On, which occasion, I remember I was one Sabbath-day entertain’d at his own Lodgings, by a Learned Jew (who taught me the Holy Language) with Meat then newly dress’d: to remove my wonder at which, he told me, That it was dress’d by Christians, who, being Gentiles, were not oblig’d to the strict and legal observation of the Sabbath. But whatever be to be thought of this Jewish Notion, yet questionless if the Fourth Commandment do not, at least, divers other Passages of Scripture do much discountenance their severity, who would fright Men from the indagation of Nature. And he that shall duly consider divers Texts obvious enough in the Book of Job, and the Psalms (besides other parts of the Bible) will not readily conclude, that Natural Philosophy and Divinity are at such variance, as the Divines we deal with would perswade us. (Rom. 1.20) St Paul seems to inform us, that the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal Power and God-head: So that they that were mention’d before are without excuse. And though I ignore not, that not onely several of the Socinians following their Master Socinus, but some few Orthodox Writers, are pleas’d to give a very differing Interpretation of that Text, and make the ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου, to signifie those things of God that have been Invisible ever since the Creation of the World, and referring the ποιήματα to things not made, as we Translate it, but done (as the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles) yet I see no necessity why the ποιήματα should be taken in a sense exclusive of the Creation, and not at least admitted to take in all the Ways and Methods imployed by God to manifest the invisible things there intimated unto Man: And certainly, however St Paul may be suppos’d to appear but darkly, yet Job was clearly of a differing Opinion from theirs, who teach, That the study of Nature leads to Atheism: For ask now the Beasts (says he) and they will teach thee, (Job 12.7, 8, 9) and the Fowls of the Air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the Earth, and it shall teach thee, and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? And consonantly hereunto (which ‘twere not amiss for our Adversaries to take notice of) we may observe, That almost all the Writers of Natural Theology, and the most also of those that have labored to demonstrate the Truth of Christian Religion (divers of whom have been as well Profound Divines, as otherwise Eminent Scholars) have undertaken to evince, by the consideration of the Universe, both that there is a God, and that he is the Author of it: Which I the rather mention, Pyrophilus, because I would not be mistaken, as if I disputed against Divines in general, or were guilty of the least Irreverence towards a Faculty, in whose Study I have thought my self oblig’d, as a Christian, to spend much of my time; and especially, I would not appear dis-respectful to Divines in England, where they have already been but too much vilified, though questionless for their Sins against God, yet, I fear, not without the Sin of their Oppressors.

In the next place I consider, That since Physiology is said to tempt to Atheism, but by enabling Men to give an account of all the Phaenomena of Nature, by the knowledge of Second Causes, without taking in the First, it will not be so easie a matter as many presume, for the contemplation of Nature, to turn a considering Man Atheist. For we are yet, for ought I can finde, far enough from being able to explicate all the Phaenomena of Nature by any Principles whatsoever. And even of the Atomical Philosophers, whose Sect seems to have the most ingeniously attempted it, some of the eminentest have themselves freely acknowledged to me, their being unable to do it convincingly to others, or so much as satisfactorily to themselves: And indeed, not onely the Generation of Animals is a Mystery, which all that Naturalists have said to explain it, hath been far enough from depriving of that Name; but we see that to explicate all the various Phaenomena that belong to that single inanimate, and seemingly homogeneous Body, Mercury, so as not to make any Hypothesis assum’d to make out one of its Properties or Effects incongruous to any other Hypothesis requisite to the explanation of any of the rest, hath been hitherto found so difficult, that if our Posterity be not much happier Unriddlers, then our Fore-Fathers, or we have been, it is like to prove a Task capable of defeating the Industry and Attempts, I say not of more then one Philosopher, but of more then one Age; even our Chymical Tortures hitherto, having, from that deluding Proteus, forc’d no Confessions that bring us not more Wonder then Satisfaction, and do not Beget almost as many Scruples as they Resolve.

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Footnotes

1. Merc. Trism. lib. 1. Englished by Dr. Everard. ↩

2. Sen. li. 7. cap. 7. ↩

3. Philo Jud. de Monarchia. ↩

4. Heb. 8.2, 5. ↩

5. Heb. 9.24. ↩

6. Ps. 103: ↩

7. Lib. 7. cap. 24. ↩

8. See of the Abyssine or Aethiopian Christians; and likewise of the Maronites in the East, in reference to their Celebration of the Saturday, Alex: Rasse in his view of all Religions, and the Authors by him cited. ↩