Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/27

 ^iv The PREFACE.

NO body can imagine, that what we have faid tends to exclude God, and Providence out of the World ; but rather to cftablifh, and confirm 'em in it. So far is it from {hewing, that the Deity has no hand in the Production of fuch and fuch Effects ; that it fhews, nothing elfe has any. The Whole is His ; and the Agency of Man is only circumftantial. For, what neceffary Connexion between any of the Means here ufed, and the Effect ? And in whofe Hand but God's, could fuch incompetent Inftruments produce fuch Ends ? In reality, we not only confefs his Prefence and Agency in the great and extraordinary Phsenomena ; but fee and admire it every where, in the moft ordinary ones. Nor does this imply any thing to the Difadvantage of Reveal'd Religion ; which is a Point quite foreign to the prefent Purpoie. The Infpiration and Prophecy we have fpoke of°is all natural, and ordinary ; and does not any way preclude the Deity from more extraordinary, and miraculous Manifeftations of his Will. On the contrary, if weak Man can do fo much, a<5ting fubordinately to certain Laws of Nature, and by means of others ; what may we not conceive of the Author of thofe Laws, whenever in the Wifdom of his Councils, he fliall think fit to interpofe : as, in the two great Difpenfations whereof the facred Writings (peak ?.

BUT, if we have not made Philofophy encroach too far on Religion ; it may, perhaps, be objected, that we have made Religion of too much Concern in Philofophy ; in that we are continually recurring to the dernier

Refort the Deity ; which is held unphilofophical. But let it be confider'd what it is to pbilofothize ; and

whether our Theories amount to any thing more, than Enumerations of Laws, i. e. Actions, of the Creator? 'Tis certain all the Structure and CEconomy difcover'd by Diffection, Microfcopes, Injection, &V. furnifti no more fcientifical Account of the Origin of an Animal, than of a Spark of Fire. The ufual Syftem of Genera- tion amounts to no more than Augmentation -, as it fuppofes the Animal already form'd, and only undertakes to enlar°e and fhow how it arrives at its Bulk. An Animalcule is to be given us, either in femine, or in ova, or we labour in vain ; Affimilation being all the Generation we have any Idea of. We find our felves loft and bewilder'd, when we come to think " How the dim Speck of Entity began," and here begin to con- fefs, and mourn the Imperfection of our Knowledge. As if there were any Difficulty here, which did not equally obtain in every Step of the Procefs. All the difference is, in the one Cafe we are fenfible we only know the What, and in the other we alfo think we know the How : Which is a Delufion : And were it not for the Paradox, one might atmoft affirm, that we know thofe Things beft, which we think we know the leaft. For that here we more immediately fee the real Caufe, without the Cloud and Embarafs of Occafions, which at other times confound us. Occafions, are Caufes, with refpect to us, who only act at fecond hand ; and the great Source of our Error, is, that we can't ealily fee thro' 'em to the real Caufe. Whence, the greater number of Means and Occafions we perceive ; the further is the Caufe apt to be involved, and the more Attention is re- quired to extricate it. And by this way alone can Philofophy lead to Atheifm. Our Knowledge, in effect,

is all relative ; it refpects our felves, and our ufes, either more or lefs immediately ; and is chiefly applied in the Arts, and Affairs of Life, where Occafions are Caufes : And hence we take a Tincture, which we carry with us thro'out ; and apply, unawares, the fame Notion when we come to philofophize, where we are lefs interefted, and consequently our Knowledge purer and more abfolute. And thus we are betrayed fatally to confound Art with Nature ; Firfi Caufe with Second ; God with our Jellies : all which muft be done, ere the Philofopher can commence Atheift.

THIS not diftinguifhing between Caufes and Occafions, has produced an infinite deal of falfe Refinement} to the great detriment of our moft obvious and palpable Knowledge. We continually over-fhoot the Mark ; and looking too far, mifs feeing what is clofe to us. We are willing to leave God out of the Affair as far as we can, and only have recourfe to him when we are at a pinch. He is rarely wanted, unleis now and then, for a Miracle, or fo. The Deity is not to interpofe, nifi dignus vindice Nodus, till we have occafion for him ; 2. e. till the Cafe becomes fo obvious and glaring, that the Charm is broke, and we are forced to fee him in fpite of all our Prejudice. The Occafions are fo vifibly inadequate, that our Confcience cries out, and necef-

fitates us to look to and confefs a Caufe. But, tho we be well enough contented to find him at the End of

the Chain •, alas he muft be alfo prefent at every Link, or the Whole will fall to pieces. He is not more concern'd in forming the original Stamen of a Fcetus, than in nourifhing, affimilating, or bringing it at length to Light. We can as eafily conceive the firft Formation of a piece of unorganiz'd Matter into an Animal, as any other Production of Nature ; or even, as we call it, of Art. Generation is effected after the fame manner as other Arts ; and the fame Principles that will account for the making of a Statue, will account for that of a Child. If the Figure of a Man arife out of a Mais of Clay ; is it by any other Operation than that of Nature, which according to the Pofition of the Hand, determines the Parts of the Clay to move in this Di- rection, or that ; according to certain Laws of Motion, and Percuffion ? And if the fame be afterwards har- den'd, upon ftanding to the Fire ; is it not by the fame Nature acting by certain other Laws, the Set or Col- lection whereof makes the phyfical Procefs called Exhalation? The Hand, you'll fay, was the Occafion. But what is an Occafion ? I doubt we have no juft Idea to that Word ; and that it implies fomewhat of a Con- tradiction ; at leaft, if any thing of Caufalty be denoted by it. Confidering that we fay, Light is the Occafion of Shadow, Joy of Sorrow, and every thing of its Contrary. If a piece of Phofphorus, upon becoming conti- guous to Air, immediately begin to fmoke, and produce Fire and Light, with all the wonderful Phsenomena thereof, as Colour, Refrangibility, Reflexibility, alternate Fits of eafy Refraction and eafy Tranfmiffion, have diffe- rent Powers inherent in the different Sides of its Corpufcles, be refoluble by a Prifm into all the Appearances of a Rainbow, exhibit the Species of Objects, act on and confume Bodies, give Senfarions of Heat, Pain, &c and all thefe Properties permanent, and immutable for ever ; What a Syftem of Laws, what an infinity of Springs muft be play'd for all this ? No Circumftance whereof is in our hand, befide that of Contiguity or Non-contiguity with the Air : which, for our own Glory, we dignify by the Name Occafion, and fuppofe fome-

thing in it analogous to Caufe ; and thus put our felves in fome meafure on a footing with the Almighty ,

We know, without Light the vifible Univerfe would ceafe to be ; and without Heat, all Motion and Action muft be at an End : So that it may even be faid to be owing to Fire, that there is a World. And yet how eafy is it to produce what thus contains in it all Things ! In effect, Fire is an Occafion ; and contributes juft as much to the Exiftence of the World, as we do to that of Fire. When we are doing, we might as well go on, and make our felves the Caufes or Occafions of the Univerfe ; which we are, in the very fame Senfe, as of any one Phenomenon in it. And thus, the fame Principle which appear'd fo deftructive to Religion, is found equally fo to Philofophy. So confiftent is the Nature of Things ! one Error is fubverfive of almoft all Truth : One Wheel amifs in the Machine of Knowledge, makes the whole a Lye.

O F this, many of the Antients feem to have had a jufter Notion than we ; as, in effect, they may be faid

to have had more Religion than we. Their Mythology, which is fuppofed to be their Phyfics, fpeaks of

nothing elfe but God, under various Forms and Shapes, i. e. in various Views and Relations. The Poets,' from v.-riom it was taken, firft perfonified God, or the firft Caufe ; and then his Attributes. His Power they called Jupiter, which they conceiv'd as his reigning Attribute ; his Jujlice was Juno, the Confort of Power ; his Wifdom, Minerva, the Offspring of Jove's Brain*, &c. And thus it is they are to be underftood, when they


 * Yid. BoiTu, Traite 4u Poeme Epique, L. i. c. %. fa