as placing a temptation before man, which an omniscient Being must know man could not refift, and yet dooming him and all his pofterity to eternal mifery, because he fell into it. In short, a moft gracious intention of the Almighty to render his creature man for ever happy, appears to be entirely fruftrated before it is well begun to be executed, and a delightful and noble apparatus for that purpose destroyed or rendered useless almost as foon as prepared; all which must have been foreseen, and might have been prevented, by the all-wife and omnipotent Creator. AND now concerning this defcription of man and his creation, I would afk, if it had been given by a Heathen or Mahometan, whether a fenfible chriftian would not have been apt to exprefs himself in the following manner? What arrogance, what impiety, what luciferian pride is here fhewn in representing a poor despicable reptile, formed of the duft, and probably the loweft, the wickedeft, and moft unworthy of all rational beings', as made in the IMAGE and after the LIKENESS OF 1 Reader! be not difpleased at this true description of the human species: if thou art a virtuous and a pious man, then art thou as a lilly among thorns, as a diamond among rubbish, as an angel among men. It is certain, that a worse character is not here given of man than the fcripture gives for the fame author, who hath reprefented him as made IN THE IMAGE AND AFTER THE LIKENESS OF GOD, the invifible, incomprehensible, almighty Creator of the univerfe? Of whom it might well be faid, as it was with great strength and beauty of expreffion by Ifaiah, "To whom will ye liken God? or what "likeness will ye compare unto him? Who "hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? and meted out heaven with a "fpan, and comprehended the duft of the "earth in a measure, and weighed the moun"tains in fcales, and the hills in a balance? "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, "and are counted as the small duft of the "balance: behold, he taketh up the ifles as little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to “ him less than nothing a very 66 m NOTWITHSTANDING LIKENESS OF GOD, fays alfo, in the fixth chapter of the fame book, (Genesis) “ God faw, that the wicked"ness of man was great in the earth, and that every "imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 66 continually. And it repented the Lord that he had "made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." But if it be faid, that the firft man was created innocent, and this account given of his pofterity, who were all born after his fall; yet pray how much in the likeness of an all-wife, omnipotent, and unchangeable God, muft a poor weak wretched creature be, who in his most perfect ftate disobeyed his Maker, and knowingly incurred fo grievous a penalty as eternal mifery for himself and all that were to follow him, only for the fake of eating perhaps an apple or a fig? m Isaiah xl. 12, 15, 17, 18. NOTWITHSTANDING the glorious and inconceivable majefty of the Deity, of which even this noble and fublime defcription can give us but a very imperfect idea, and the infinite difparity between God and man, yet the author of Genefis hath, left it should not be fufficiently obferved, four times in the compass of two verfes, repeated, that God created man in his own image and after his likeness". Does this favour of inspiration? If a writer took upon him to give an account of the creation of the world, concerning which there could be no traditional or hiftorical knowledge, (for certainly man could not tell what happened before he had a being) "A reverend divine, who hath taken much pains to vindicate this strange text, after producing fome ridiculous conceits of certain Jewish rabbies concerning it, and telling us his own opinion wherein this likenefs of God and man confifts, cites an expreffion of one, who cried out with extafy, Non homo fum, fed Deus, quoniam naturâ immortalis fum. And of this enormous rant our divine fays, "bold as the expreffion was, it is in fact (under "modest restrictions) not far from the truth." And a little lower he adds, "it is very reasonable to suppose, that the departed fouls of good men will be ✶ ✶✶ to "all eternity approaching ftill nearer the glorious per"fections of the Deity, till perhaps, in process of time, "Man will be spiritualized to fuch a degree, as to excel in dignity the highest order of created Beings, as much "as thofe fons of glory excel man in his present dejected "ftate." The Doctrine of endless Torments freely and impartially debated, &c. By John Maud, M. A. Vicar of St. Neots, &c. p. 17: a being) or if men undertook to foretel future contingencies, they had indeed occafion for divine revelation: nevertheless, might not one write a book of Genefis, and others pretend to prophecy, without being divinely infpired? BEFORE We take leave of this narrative of the creation and fall of man, &c. that the reader may fee it has not been here treated more freely than by a very eminent and learned divine, it is thought proper to fubjoin some extracts from a tranflation of the Archæologia Philofophica of the Rev. Dr. Burnet, dedicated by him to the late king William. Indeed it reflects great difhonour on any account or fyftem of things, whether religious, or civil, or philofophical, if they will not bear a strict. and free examination; and whatever fools, bigots, or hypocrites may fay or pretend, it is in the highest degree fcandalous, and preju-. dicial to true religion and the interest of society, to prevent, or even difcourage fuch examination; and perfecution, for so bad à purpose, is deftructive of that liberty which all mankind are intitled to, and confequently a crime of the most malignant nature. BUT let us hear this excellent author: "Great," fays he, "is the force of custom "and a pre-conceived opinion over human " minds. Wherefore these fhort obferva "tions or accounts of the firft original of "men and things, which we receive from "the mouth of Mofes, are embraced without "the least demur or examination of them. "But had we read the fame doctrine in an"other; for example, in a Greek philosopher, "or in a rabbinical or Mahometan doctor; . we should have ftopped at every period "with our minds full of objections and scruples "." "WHAT if an evil spirit, crafty and "knowing, had by his fubtlety over-reached a poor filly woman, who had not as yet feen "the fun either rife or fet, who was but "newly come off the mould, and wholly "unexperienced in all things? Certainly a person who had so great a price fet upon her head, as the falvation of mankind, "might well have deferved a guard of angels. "Ay, but perhaps, you will fay, the woman ought to have taken care not to violate a "law established upon pain of death: the day you eat thereof, you fhall furely die. «*** Die! what does that mean? fays the poor ignorant virgin, who as yet had not "feen any thing dead, no not fo much as a "flower P" "ALL Pages 9 and 10 of the above-mentioned Archeologia Philofophica. |