Which may be gathered from hence; because (as was before said) God exists necessarily, or is selfexistent. Now that which is necessary, or self-existent, cannot be considered as of any Kind or Species of Beings, but as actually existing, (a) and is therefore a single Being: for, if you imagine many Gods, you will see that necessary Existence belongs to none of them; nor can there be any Reason why two should rather be believed than three, or ten than five: Besides, the Abundance of particular Things of the same Kind proceeds from the Fruitfulness of the Cause, in Proportion to which more or less is produced; but God has no Cause, or Original. Further, particular different Things are endued with peculiar Properties, by which they are distinguished from each other; which do not belong to God, who is a necessary Being. Neither do we find any Signs of many Gods; for this whole Universe makes but one World, in which there is but (b) One Thing that far exceeds the rest in Beauty; viz. the Sun: And in every Man there is but One Thing that governs, that is, the Mind: Moreover, if there could be two or more Gods, free Agents, acting according to their own Wills, they might will contrary to each other; and so One be hindered by the Other from effecting his Design; now a Possibility of being hindered is inconsistent with the Notion of God.

(a) And is therefore a single being, &c.] But a great many single Beings are a great many individual Beings; this Argument therefore might have been omitted, without any Detriment to so good a Cause. Le Clerc.

Whoever would see the Argument for the Unity of God, drawn from his necessary or Self-existence, urged in its full Force, may find it at the Beginning of Dr. Samuel Clark's Boyle's Lectures."

(b) One Thing that far exceeds, &c.] At least to the Inhabitants of this our Solar System, (as we now term it;) as the fiery Centers the Stars are to other Systems. Le Clerc.

SECT.

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SECT. IV.

All Perfection is in God.

THAT we may come to the Knowledge of the other Attributes of God, we conceive all that is meant by Perfection to be in Him (I use the Latin Word Perfectio, as being the best that Tongue affords, and the same as the Greek TEλórns.) Because whatever Perfection is in any Thing, either had a Beginning, or not; if it had no Beginning, it is the Perfection of God; if it had a Beginning, it must of Necessity be from something else; And since none of those Things, that exist, are produced from nothing; it follows, that whatever Perfections are in the Effects, were first in the Cause, so that it could produce any Thing endued with them; and consequently they are all in the first Cause. Neither can the first Cause ever be deprived of any of its Perfections: Not from any Thing else; because that which is eternal does not depend upon any other Thing; nor can it at all suffer from any Thing that they can do: Nor from itself, because every Nature desires its own Perfection.

SECT V.

And in an Infinite Degree.

TO this must be added, that these Perfections are in God, in an infinite Degree: Because those Attributes that are finite, are therefore limited, because the Cause, whence they proceed, has communicated so much of them, and no more; or else, because the Subject was capable of no more.

But

no other Nature communicated any of its Perfections to God; nor does he derive any Thing from any one else, he being (as was said) necessary or self-existent. SECT.

SECT. VI.

That God is Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and completely Good.

(NOW

NOW, seeing it is very evident, that those Things which have Life, are more perfect than those which have not; and those which have a Power of Acting, than those who have none; those which have Understanding, than those which want it; those which are good, than those which are not so; it follows, from what has been already said, that these Attributes belong to God, and that infinitely: Wherefore he is a living infinite God; that is, eternal, of immense Power, and every Way good, without the least Defect.

SECT. VII.

That God is the Cause of all Things.

EVERY Thing that is, derives its. Existence, from God; this follows from what has been already said. For we conclude, that there is but one necessary self-existent Being; whence we collect, that all other Things sprung from a Being different from themselves: For those things which are derived from something else, were all of them, either immediately in themselves, or mediately in their Causes, derived from him who had no Beginning, that is, from God, as was before evinced. And this is not only evident to Reason, but in a Manner to Sense too: For if we take a Survey of the admirable Structure of a Human Body, both within and without; and see how every, even the most minute Part hath its proper Use, without any Design or Intention of the Parents, and with so great Exactness, as the

most

most excellent Philosophers and Physicians could never enough admire; it is a sufficient Demonstration that the Author of Nature is the most complete Understanding. Of this a great deal may be seen in (a) Galen, especially where he examines the Use of the Hands and Eyes: And the same may be observed in the Bodies of dumb Creatures; for the Figure and Situation of their Parts to a certain End, cannot be the Effect of any Power in Matter. As also in Plants and Herbs, which is accurately observed by the Philosophers. Strabo (b) excellently well takes Notice hereof in the Position of Water, which, as to its Quality, is of a middle Nature betwixt Air and Earth, and ought to have been placed betwixt them, but is therefore interspersed and mixed with the Earth, lest its Fruitfulness, by which the Life of Man is preserved, should be hindered. Now it is the Property of intelligent Beings only, to act with some View. Neither are particular Things appointed for their own peculiar Ends only, but for the Good of the Whole; as is plain in Water, which

(a) In Galen, &c.] Book III. Ch. 10. Which Place is highly worth reading, but too long to be inserted. But many later Divines and Natural Philosophers in England have explained these things more accurately. Le Clerc.

(b) Strabo, &c.] Book XVII. Where, after he had distinguished betwixt the Works of Nature, that is, the material World, and those of Providence, he adds; "After the Earth was surrounded with Water, because Man was not made "to dwell in the Water, but belongs partly to the Earth, "and partly to the Air, and stands in great Need of Light; "Providence has caused many Eminences and Cavities in "the Earth, that in these, the Water, or the greatest Part "of it, might be received; whereby that Part of the Earth "under it might be covered; and that by the other, the "Earth might be advanced to cover the Water, except what "is of Use for Men, Animals, and Plants." The same. hath been observed by Rabbi Jehuda Leveta, and Abenesdra, amongst the Jews, and St. Chrysostom in his 9th Homily of Statutes among Christians.

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(a) contrary to its own Nature is raised upwards, lest by a Vacuum there should be a Gap in the Structure of the Universe, which is upheld by the continual Union of its Parts. Now the Good, of the Whole could not possibly be designed, nor a Power put into Things to tend towards it, but by an intelligent Being, to whom the Universe is subject. There are moreover some Actions, even of the Beasts, so ordered and directed, as plainly discover them to be the Effects of some small Degree of Reason: As is most manifest in Ants and Bees, and also in some others, which, before they have experienced them, will avoid Things hurtful, and seek those that are profitable to them. That this Power of searching out and distinguishing, is not properly in themselves, is apparent from hence, because they act always alike, and are unable to do other Things which don't require more Pains, (b) wherefore

(a) Contrary to its own Nature, &c.] This was borrowed from the Peripatetic Philosophy, by this great Man; which supposed the Water in a Pump to ascend for Fear of a Vacuum; whereas it is now granted by all to be done by the Pressure of the Air. But by the Laws of Gravitation, as the Moderns explain them, the Order of the Universe, and the Wisdom of its Creator, is no less conspicuous. Le Clerc.

(b) Wherefore they are acted upon, &c.] No, they are done by the Soul of those Beasts, which is so far reasonable, as to be able to do such Things, and not others. Otherwise God himself would act in them instead of a Soul, which a good Philosopher will hardly be persuaded of. Nothing hinders but that there may be a great many Ranks of sensible and intelligent Natures, the lowest of which may be in the Bodies of Brute Creatures; for nobody, I think, really believes with Ren. Cartes, that Brutes are mere corporeal Machines. But you will say, when Brute Creatures die, what becomes of the Soul? That indeed I know not, but it is nevertheless true that Souls reside in them. There is no Necessity that we should know all Things, nor are we therefore presently to deny any Thing because we cannot give Account of it. We are to receive those Things that are evident, and be content to be ignorant of those Things which we cannot know. Le Clerc.

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