is not very tedious, nor difficult; He is not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our Being. The Confideration of our Mind and Understanding, which is an incorporeal Substance independent from Matter; and the contemplation of our own Bodies, which have all the ftamps and characters of excellent Contrivance, thefe alone, though we look upon nothing abroad,do very easily and proximately guide us to the wife Author of all things. But however, as we fee from our Text,fome Thoughts and Meditation are neceffary to it; and a man may poffibly be fo ftupid, or wilfully ignorant or perverse, as not to have God in all his thoughts, or to fay in his heart, There is none. And this being obferved, we have an effectual anfwer to that Cavil of the Atheists; who make it an objection against the Being of God, that they do not discover him without any Application, in spite of their corrupt Wills and debauch'd Understandings. If, fay they, fuch a God as we are told of, had created and formed us, furely he would have left upon our Minds a native and indeleble Inscription of Himself, whereby we must needs have felt him, even without feeking, and believed in him whether we would or no. So that these Atheists being conscious to themselves, that they are void of fuch Belief, which (they fay) if God was, would actually and neceffarily be in them, do bring their own wic

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ked Doubting and Denying of God, as Evidence against His Existence, and make their very Infidelity an argument for it felf. To which we reply, That God hath endu'd Mankind with Powers and Abili ties, which we call Natural Light, and Reason, and Common Sense; by the due ufe of which we cannot miss of the Discovery of his Being; and this is fufficient. But as to any other original Notion and Propofition, that God is, actually imprinted on us, antecedently to all use of our Faculties, we may affirm against the Atheists,that the absence of such a Notion doth not give the leaft prefumption against the truth of Religion; because, though God be fuppos'd to be, yet that Notion diftinct from our Faculties would not be requifite; nor is it pretended to by Religion. First, it would not be requifite; because,without any fuch primitive Impreffion, we can easily attain to the knowledge of the Deity by the fole ufe of our Natural Reason. And again, fuch an Impreffion would have render'd the Belief of a God irresistible and neceffary, and thereby have bereaved it of all that is good and acceptable in it. For as by taking away the Freedom of Human Will, and making us meer Machins under fatal Ties and Impulses, it would destroy the very nature of Moral Vertue; fo likewise as to Faith, there would be nothing worthy of praise and recompence in it, if there were left no poffibility

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of Doubting or Denying. And fecondly, fuch a radical Truth, that God is, fpringing up together with the Effence of the Soul, and previous to all other Thoughts, is not pretended to by Religion. No such thing, that I know of, is affirmed or suggested by the Scriptures. There are feveral Topics there ufed against the Atheism and Idolatry of the Heathens; fuch as the visible marks of Divine Wisdom and Goodness in the Works of the Creation, the vital Union of Souls with Matter, and the admirable StruEture of animate Bodies, and the like. But if our Apostle had afferted fuch an anticipating Principle engraven upon our Souls before all Exercife of Reafon; what did he talk of feeking the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him: feeing that if the knowledge of him was in that manner innate and perpetual, there would be no occafion of feeking, nor any hap or hazard in the finding. Such an Infcription would be felf-evident without any Ratiocination or Study, and could not fail conftantly to exert its Energy in their Minds. What did he talk of the Unknown God, and ignorantly worshipping; when if fuch an Original Signature were always inherent in their hearts; God could not be unknown to, or ignorantly worshipp'd by any? That primary Propofition would have been clear, and diftinct, and efficacious, and universal in the minds of Men. S.Paul therefore,

it

it appears, had no apprehenfion of fuch a First Notion; nor made ufe of it for an argument; which (seeing that whofoever hath it, must needs know that he hath it) if it be not believed before by the Adverfary, is falfe; and if it be believed, is fuperAluous; and is of fo frail and brittle a texture, that whereas other arguments are not anfwered by bare denying without contrary Proof, the meer doubting and disbelieving of this must be granted to be ipfo facto the breaking and confuting of it. Thus much therefore we have proved against the Atheift; that fuch an original irrefiftible Notion is neither requi fite upon fuppofition of a Deity, nor is pretended to by Religion; fo that neither the Abfence of it is any Argument against the Being of God, nor a fuppofed falle Allertion of it an objection against the Scripture. 'Tis enough that all are furnish'd with fuch Natural Powers and Capacities; that if they feriously reflect, if they feek the Lord with meditation and study, they cannot fail of fading and discovering him: whereby God is not left without witness, but the Atheist without excufe. And now I hafte to the Second Propofition deduced from the Text, and the Argument of my prefent Difcourfe, That the organical Structure of himane Bodies, whereby they are fitted to live, and move, and be vitally informed by the Soul, is unqueftionably the workmanship of a most wife, and powerfull, and beneficent Maker. First,

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First, 'Tis allowed and acknowledged by all parties, that the Bodies of Men and other Animals are excellently well fitted for Life, and Motion, and Senfation; and the feveral Parts of them well adapted and accommodated to their particular Functions. The Eye is very proper and meet for feeing, the Tongue for tafting and fpeaking, the Hand for holding and lifting, and ten thousand Operations befide and fo for the inward Parts; the Lungs are fuitable for Refpiration, the Stomach for Concoction, the Lacteous Veffels for the Reception of the Chyle, the Heart for the Diftribution of the Blood to all the parts of the Body. This is matter of Fact, and beyond all difpute; and in effect is no more than to fay, that Animals are Animals; for if they were depriv'd of these Qualifications, they could not be fo. This therefore is not the matter in Question between us and the Atheists: But the Controverfie is here. We, when we confider fo many conftituent parts in the Bodies of Men, all admirably compacted into so noble an Engine; in each of the very Fingers, for example, there are Bones, and Griftles, and Ligaments, and Membranes, and Muscles, and Tendons, and Nerves, and Arteries, and Veins, and Skin, and Cuticle, and Nail; together with Marrow, and Fat, and Blood, and other Nutritious Juices; and all those folid Parts of a determi