The Analogy of Religion to the Constitution and Course of Nature

107

By will and character is meant that which, in speaking of men, we should express, not only by these words, but also by the words temper, taste, dispositions, practical principles: that whole frame of mind, from whence we act in one manner rather than another.

108

Chap. ii. (#I_CHAPTER_II)

109

P. 157 (#Page_157), &c.

110

Chap. ii. (#I_CHAPTER_II)

111

Dissert. II. (#DISSERTATION_II)

112

Serm. 2, at the Rolls.

113

Dissert. II. (#DISSERTATION_II)

114

However, I am far from intending to deny, that the will of God is determined, by what is fit, by the right and reason of the case; though one chooses to decline matters of such abstract speculation, and to speak with caution when one does speak of them. But if it be intelligible to say, that it is fit and reasonable for every one to consult his own happiness, then fitness of action, or the right and reason of the case, is an intelligible manner of speaking. And it seems as inconceivable, to suppose God to approve one course of action, or one end, preferably to another, which yet his acting at all from design implies that he does, without supposing somewhat prior in that end, to be the ground of the preference; as to suppose him to discern an abstract proposition to be true, without supposing somewhat prior in it, to be the ground of the discernment. It doth not therefore appear, that moral right is any more relative to perception, than abstract truth is; or that it is any more improper to speak of the fitness and lightness of actions and ends, as founded in the nature of things, than to speak of abstract truth, as thus founded.

115

P. 118 (#Page_118).

116

P. 110 (#FNanchor_67), &c.

117

Chap. ii. (#I_CHAPTER_II)

118

Dissertation II. (#DISSERTATION_II)

119

Pp. 68 (#FNanchor_6), 71 (#Page_71).

120

Serm. 8th, at the Rolls.

121

[Consult, in favor of the doctrine of necessity, atheistical writers generally; such as Fichte, Hegel, D’Holback, Comte, Crousse, Martineau, Leroux, and Holyoake – also, Belsham’s Essays, Collins on Liberty, Crombie on Phil. Necessity, Hobbes’ Liberty and Necessity, and Leviathan, Priestley on Liberty, Hartley on Man, and Edwards on the Will.Against the doctrine, see Beattie’s Works, Part 2; Replies to Hobbes by Bramhall and Lawson; Replies to Priestley by Palmer and Bryant; Grove on Liberty; Clarke’s Sermons at the Boyle Lectures; Gibb’s Contemplations; King’s Origin of Evil; Reid on the Mind; Watts on Liberty; Harris’ Boyle Lectures; Jackson’s Defence; Butterworth on Moral Government.]

122

[Maimonides makes use of the following similitude. “Suppose one of good understanding, whose mother had died soon after he was born to be brought up on an island, where he saw no human being but his father nor the female of any beast. This person when grown up inquires how men are produced. He is told that they are bred in the womb of one of the same species and that while in the womb we are very small and there move and are nourished. The young man inquires whether when thus in the womb we did not eat, and drink, and breathe, as we do now, and is answered, No. Then he denies it, and offers demonstration that it could not be so. For says he, if either of us cease to breathe our life is gone; and how could we have lived close shut up in a womb for months? So if we cease to eat and drink, we die, and how could the child live so for months? and thus he satisfies himself that it is impossible man should come into existence in such a manner.”]

123

[Let us imagine a person to be taken to view some great historical painting, before which hangs a thick curtain. The attendant raises the curtain a few inches. Can the spectator, from the unmeaning strip of foreground, derive any conception of the figures yet concealed? Much less is he able to criticize their proportions, or beauty, or perspective, or even the design of the artist? The small fragment of a tree, or flower, or animal, or building, may seem quite unmeaning and even ugly, though the whole would present beauty, fitness, or grandeur. Now the portion of God’s dominions within our survey, is as utterly insignificant, compared to the universe, and its interminable duration, as, an atom compared to a planet or a man’s age to eternity.The concluding observations of this chapter, abundantly remove every difficulty as to such ignorance being as valid against the proofs of religion, as it is against objections to it.]

124

[No truly philosophical mind can be arrogant; because the wider the range of thought, the greater are the discoveries of our ignorance. The young student may well hesitate to decide points, on which the profoundest thinkers take opposite sides, and when conscious of inability intrust himself to the guidance of those whose lives are best.]

125

Pp. 177 (#Page_177), 178 (#Page_178).

126

P. 173 (#Page_173), &c.

127

P. 175 (#FNanchor_124).

128

Pp. 72 (#FNanchor_12), 73 (#Page_73).

129

P. 68 (#FNanchor_6), and Part II. chap. vi. (#II_CHAPTER_VI)

130

Serm. at the Rolls, p. 312, 2d ed.

131

P. 172 (#Page_172), &c.