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"me with these only, cap. xlviii. This is a fine Saying, a pretty turn of Thought; but what is there in it comparable to that awful and facred Promife, Bleffed are ye, when Men fhall revile you, and perfecute you rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, Mat. v. 11, 12. Again, "When a "Man values himself, fays Epictetus, for being able "to understand and explain the Books of Chryfippus, "fay you to your felf, unless Chryfippus had written "obfcurely, this Man would have had nothing to "boast of. But what do I defign? to ftudy Nature, " and follow it? cap. lxxiii. This is no ill Satyr upon the Vanity of Men; but is there any thing in it like that Piety and Authority, with which St. Paul reproves the fame Vice? 1 Cor. viii. 1, 2, 3. So great were the Defects and Errors, not only of the Learned Vulgar, and the Ignorant Vulgar, (as Pliny diftinguilhes) but of the Philofophers of higheft Renown for Wisdom. The best thing that can be faid of the Heathen Philofophers is, that most of them frequently confefs'd the great imperfection of their Philofophy, and placed their greatest Wisdom in this, That they were more fenfible than others of their Ignorance: And Socrates profeft that to be the Reason, why the Oracle of Apollo declared him to be the wifeft Man, because he knew how ignorant he was, better than other Men did.

As to the Chinese Philofophy, we know little of it, their Books of Philofophy being all deftroyed at the command of a Tyrant, who reigned about Two hundred Years before Chrift: From the Fragments which were afterwards gathered up, and yet remain among them, we can only perceive, that Confucius, and the rest of their best Philofophers, taught no more than

Sedere cœpit fententia hæc (de Aftrologiâ) paritérque & eruditum vulgus & rude in eam curfu vadit. Hift. I. 2. c. 7.

Confuc. lib. iii. Par. 4. p. 36. & Philippi Couplet Procem. Declar.

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what they had learnt by Tradition from their Anceftors; and when they forfook this Tradition, they fell into the groffeft Errors, which are maintained by the learned Men amongst them at this day.

II. Whatever there is of Excellency in the Philofophy of the Heathens, is owing to Revelation. It is generally fuppofed, that humane Reafon could have difcovered the more common and obvious Precepts of Morality, contained in the Scriptures; but it is more probable, that it could not have difcovered most of them, if we may judge by the grofs Abfurdities which we find as to fome particulars, in the best Systems of Heathen Phylofophy, and from the general Practice of offering up Men for Sacrifices to their Gods, and of cafting away and expofing their Children in the moft civilized Nations. The Sayings of the Wife Men, that contain Rules, which to us feem very plain and obvious, were esteemed as Oracles, and in Golden Letters dedicated to Apollo in the Temple at Delphi. But it is evident from what has been already proved at large, that the Heathens were not left deftitute of many Helps and Advantages from the Scrip tures, which divers of the Philofophers had read: and many things, which feem now to be deductions from natural Reafon, might have their Original from Revelation for things once difcovered feem easie and obvious to Men, which they would never have been able to difcover of themfelves. We wonder now, how Men fhould ever fuppofe there could be no Antipodes, and are apt to admire how America could lie fo long concealed, rather than how it came at last to be difcovered: And the cafe is the fame in many other Discoveries, especially in moral Truths, which are fo agreeable to Reafon, that they may feem the natural Productions of it, though a contrary custom and inclination; and the fubtilty of Satan working

Plin. Hift. 1. 7. c. 32. Paufan. Phocic.

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upon our depraved Nature, might perhaps have made it very difficult, if not impoffible, without a Revélation, to difcern many Doctrines even of Morality, which now are most common and familiar to us. What Maxim is more agreeable, and therefore, as one would think, more obvious to humane Reafon, than that no Man fhould do to others, as he would not have them do to him? And yet Spartianas, an Heathen Hiftorian, fays, that Alexander Severus had this excellent Rule of natural Juftice and Equity, either from the Jews or Chriftians. There is no Book of Scripture which feems to contain plainer and more obvious things, than the Proverbs of Solomon; and yet an Author of great Learning and Judgment has given an Ellay, how a confiderable defect of Learning may be fupplied out of this very Book, producing fuch Cautions, Inftructions, and Axioms from thence, relating to the bufinefs and government of humane Life, in all varieties of occafion, as are no where elfe to be met withal. No Man can tell, how far humane Reafon could have proceeded without Revelation, fince it never was without it, but always argued from thofe Principles, which were at first delivered by God himself to Noah, and were propagated amongst his Posterity throughout all Ages and Nations, though they were more corrupted and depraved in fome Ages and Nations than in others.

f Plato derives the Original of all Laws from Revelation, and the Doctrines of Morality of the most ancient Philofophers were a kind of Cabala, confifting of general Maxims and Proverbs, without Argument or Deduction from Principles; as we fee by the Apothegms of the Seven Wife Men, collected by Demetrius Phalareus. And it is the fame thing at this day in thofe Countries, where Ariftotle's Philofophy has not

• Ld. Bacon's Advancement of Learning, B. viii. c. 2.
Plat. de Legib. Dialog. 1.
Stobæ. Serm. 3.

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prevailed, who was one of the first that undertook to argue closely from Principles in Morality. But h Ariftotle teftified, that Proverbs were the Remains of the ancient Philofophical Precepts. And in other parts of Philofophy, I fhall prove by fome remarkable instances, that humane Reafon failed them in the explication of things which were generally received and acknowledged. The Existence of God is clearly and unanswerably demonftrated by i Tully, and the Unity of the Godhead is as plainly afferted by him ; with what strength of Reason, with what plainness, with what assurance doth Balbus the Stoick speak concerning the Existence of the Deity? But when he would explain the Divine Nature, he defcribes a mere Anima Mundi, and expofes himself to the fcorn and laughter of his Adverfary; which fhews, that humane Reafon could go no farther, than to discover the Existence of God, and that we can know little of his Nature but by Revelation; and that whatsoever true and juft Notions the Heathens had of the Divine Nature, must be chiefly afcribed to that.

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That the World was created, the Philofophers before Ariftotle generally afferted; and that Water was the first Matter out of which it was formed, is acknowledged by Ariftotle, to be esteemed the most ancient Opinion; but when he fet himself to argue the point, he concluded the World to be eternal, which, according to modern Philofophy, is as abfurd and impoffible as any thing that can be imagined.

The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul was delivered down from all Antiquity, as Tully affures us; but the Antients gave no Reasons to prove it by; they only received it by Tradition. Plato was the firft who attempted to prove it by Argument; for

Synef. Calvit. Encom. fub fin.
Tull. de Natur, Deor. lib. ii.

Tull. de Legib. lib. i.

Arift. de coelo, lib. i. c. 10. Metaphyf. lib. i. c. 3.

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though Pherecydes Syrus and Pythagoras had afferted it, yet they acquiefced in Tradition, by which they had received it from the Eastern Nations; but " Plato, either learning the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality in Egypt, where it is generally fuppofed he converfed with the Jews, or being, at his coming into Italy, acquainted with that, amongst other Notions of the Pythagoreans, began to argue upon it; but not being able to make it fully out, has only fhewn how far Reafon could proceed upon thofe grounds, which were then known in the World from Revelation. • Seneca, though he fometimes afferts the Immortality of the Soul, yet at other times doubts of it, and even denies that the Soul has any fubfiftence in a feparate State. P M. Antoninus fpeaks doubtfully of Soul's Existence after Death. And yet this Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul, which the greatest of the Heathen Philofophers could not certainly prove from Reason, was firmly believed even amongst Barba

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Confucius, the famous Chinese Philofopher, profefs'd himself not the Author, but the Relater only of the Doctrine which he taught, as he had received it delivered down from all Antiquity; and Ariftotle has declared, that the Ancients left many Traditions which their Posterity had corrupted; but from the remains of those Traditions, we know that they were originally derived from Revelation. Pherecydes was the firft of the Italick Sect of Philofophers; and Thales was the Author of the Ionick Sect: from which Two Sects all the reft came, being only Divifions and Subdivisions from them. The first of the Philofophers that taught the Immortality of the Soul, was Phere

Paufan. Meffen.

"Tull. Tufc. Qu. lib. i,

Epift. 54. 102. Confol. ad Marciam. c. 19.
F M. Antonin. 1. 4. §. 21. 1. 5.
Grot. de verit. lib. i. Anot.
Arift. Metaph. lib, xii. c.

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§. 33. 1. 7. §. 32. 1. 12. §. 5. Confuc. lib. iii. Part 4. p. 36. Tull. Tufc. Qu. lib. i.

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