Government Of The World.
As the perfection of a happy life consists in the knowledge of God, that
no man might be precluded from attaining felicity, God hath not only sown
in the minds of men the seed of religion, already mentioned, but hath
manifested himself in the formation of every part of the world, and daily
presents himself to public view, in such a manner, that they cannot open
their eyes without being constrained to behold him. His essence indeed is
incomprehensible, so that his Majesty is not to be perceived by the human
senses; but on all his works he hath inscribed his glory in characters so
clear, unequivocal, and striking, that the most illiterate and stupid
cannot exculpate themselves by the plea of ignorance. The Psalmist
therefore, with great propriety, exclaims, “He covereth himself with light
as with a garment;”(79) as if he had said, that his first appearance in
visible apparel was at the creation of the world, when he displayed those
glories which are still conspicuous on every side. In the same place, the
Psalmist compares the expanded heavens to a royal pavilion;—he says that
“he layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; maketh the clouds his
chariot; walketh upon the wings of the wind;” and maketh the winds and the
lightnings his swift messengers. And because the glory of his power and
wisdom is more refulgently displayed above, heaven is generally called his
palace. And, in the first place, whithersoever you turn your eyes, there
is not an atom of the world in which you cannot behold some brilliant
sparks at least of his glory. But you cannot at one view take a survey of
this most ample and beautiful machine in all its vast extent, without
being completely overwhelmed with its infinite splendour. Wherefore the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews elegantly represents the worlds as
the manifestations of invisible things;(80) for the exact symmetry of the
universe is a mirror, in which we may contemplate the otherwise invisible
God. For which reason the Psalmist(81) attributes to the celestial bodies
a language universally known; for they afford a testimony of the Deity too
evident to escape the observation even of the most ignorant people in the
world. But the Apostle more distinctly asserts this manifestation to men
of what was useful to be known concerning God; “for the invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead.”(82)
II. Of his wonderful wisdom, both heaven and earth contain innumerable
proofs; not only those more abstruse things, which are the subjects of
astronomy, medicine, and the whole science of physics, but those things
which force themselves on the view of the most illiterate of mankind, so
that they cannot open their eyes without being constrained to witness
them. Adepts, indeed, in those liberal arts, or persons just initiated
into them, are thereby enabled to proceed much further in investigating
the secrets of Divine Wisdom. Yet ignorance of those sciences prevents no
man from such a survey of the workmanship of God, as is more than
sufficient to excite his admiration of the Divine Architect. In
disquisitions concerning the motions of the stars, in fixing their
situations, measuring their distances, and distinguishing their peculiar
properties, there is need of skill, exactness, and industry; and the
providence of God being more clearly revealed by these discoveries, the
mind ought to rise to a sublimer elevation for the contemplation of his
glory. But since the meanest and most illiterate of mankind, who are
furnished with no other assistance than their own eyes, cannot be ignorant
of the excellence of the Divine skill, exhibiting itself in that endless,
yet regular variety of the innumerable celestial host,—it is evident, that
the Lord abundantly manifests his wisdom to every individual on earth.
Thus it belongs to a man of preëminent ingenuity to examine, with the
critical exactness of Galen, the connection, the symmetry, the beauty, and
the use of the various parts of the human body. But the composition of the
human body is universally acknowledged to be so ingenious, as to render
its Maker the object of deserved admiration.
III. And therefore some of the philosophers(83) of antiquity have justly
called man a microcosm, or world in miniature; because he is an eminent
specimen of the power, goodness, and wisdom of God, and contains in him
wonders enough to occupy the attention of our minds, if we are not
indisposed to such a study. For this reason, Paul, having remarked that
the blind “might feel after God and find him,” immediately adds, that “he
is not far from every one of us;”(84) because every man has undoubtedly an
inward perception of the celestial goodness, by which he is quickened. But
if, to attain some ideas of God, it be not necessary for us to go beyond
ourselves, what an unpardonable indolence is it in those who will not
descend into themselves that they may find him! For the same reason,
David, having briefly celebrated the wonderful name and honour of God,
which are universally conspicuous, immediately exclaims, “What is man,
that thou art mindful of him?”(85) Again, “Out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings thou hast ordained strength.” Thus declaring not only that the
human race is a clear mirror of the works of God, but that even infants at
the breast have tongues so eloquent for the publication of his glory, that
there is no necessity for other orators; whence he hesitates not to
produce them as fully capable of confuting the madness of those whose
diabolical pride would wish to extinguish the name of God. Hence also what
Paul quotes from Aratus, that “we are the offspring of God;”(86) since his
adorning us with such great excellence has proved him to be our Father.
So, from the dictates of common sense and experience, the heathen poets
called him the Father of men. Nor will any man freely devote himself to
the service of God, unless he have been allured to love and reverence him,
by first experiencing his paternal love.
IV. But herein appears the vile ingratitude of men—that, while they ought
to be proclaiming the praises of God for the wonderful skill displayed in
their formation, and the inestimable bounties he bestows on them, they are
only inflated with the greater pride. They perceive how wonderfully God
works within them, and experience teaches them what a variety of blessings
they receive from his liberality. They are constrained to know, whether
willingly or not, that these are proofs of his divinity: yet they suppress
this knowledge in their hearts. Indeed, they need not go out of
themselves, provided they do not, by arrogating to themselves what is
given from heaven, smother the light which illuminates their minds to a
clearer discovery of God. Even in the present day, there are many men of
monstrous dispositions, who hesitate not to pervert all the seeds of
divinity sown in the nature of man, in order to bury in oblivion the name
of God. How detestable is this frenzy, that man, discovering in his body
and soul a hundred vestiges of God, should make this very excellence a
pretext for the denial of his being! They will not say that they are
distinguished from the brutes by chance; but they ascribe it to nature,
which they consider as the author of all things, and remove God out of
sight. They perceive most exquisite workmanship in all their members, from
the head to the feet. Here also they substitute nature in the place of
God. But above all, the rapid motions of the soul, its noble faculties,
and excellent talents, discover a Divinity not easily concealed; unless
the Epicureans, like the Cyclops, from this eminence should audaciously
wage war against God. Do all the treasures of heavenly wisdom concur in
the government of a worm five feet in length? and shall the universe be
destitute of this privilege? To state that there is in the soul a certain
machinery corresponding to every part of the body, is so far from
obscuring the divine glory, that it is rather an illustration of it. Let
Epicurus answer; what concourse of atoms in the concoction of food and
drink distributes part into excrements and part into blood, and causes the
several members to perform their different offices with as much diligence
as if so many souls by common consent governed one body?
V. But my present concern is not with that sty of swines: I rather address
those who, influenced by preposterous subtilties, would indirectly employ
that frigid dogma of Aristotle to destroy the immortality of the soul, and
deprive God of his rights. For, because the organs of the body are
directed by the faculties of the soul, they pretend the soul to be so
united to the body as to be incapable of subsisting without it; and by
their eulogies of nature do all they can to suppress the name of God. But
the powers of the soul are far from being limited to functions subservient
to the body. For what concern has the body in measuring the heavens,
counting the number of the stars, computing their several magnitudes, and
acquiring a knowledge of their respective distances, of the celerity or
tardiness of their courses, and of the degrees of their various
declinations? I grant, indeed, the usefulness of astronomy, but only
remark that, in these profound researches relating to the celestial orbs,
there is no corporeal coöperation, but that the soul has its functions
distinct from the body. I have proposed one example, whence inferences may
readily be drawn by the readers. The manifold agility of the soul, which
enables it to take a survey of heaven and earth; to join the past and the
present; to retain the memory of things heard long ago; to conceive of
whatever it chooses by the help of imagination; its ingenuity also in the
invention of such admirable arts,—are certain proofs of the divinity in
man. Besides, in sleep, it not only turns and moves itself round, but
conceives many useful ideas, reasons on various subjects, and even divines
future events. What shall we say, but that the vestiges of immortality
impressed upon man are absolutely indelible? Now, what reason can be
given, why man, who is of divine original, should not acknowledge his
Creator? Shall we indeed, by the judgment with which we are endued,
discern right from wrong, and shall there be no judge in heaven? Shall we,
even in our sleep, have some remains of intelligence, and shall there be
no God to govern the world? Shall we be esteemed the inventers of so many
useful arts, that God may be defrauded of his praise? Whereas experience
abundantly teaches, that all we have is variously distributed to us by
some superior Being. The clamour of some, about a secret inspiration
animating the whole world, is not only weak, but altogether profane. They
are pleased with the celebrated passage of Virgil—
“Know, first, a spirit, with an active flame,
Fills, feeds, and animates this mighty frame;
Runs through the watery worlds, the fields of air,
The ponderous earth, the depths of heaven; and there
Glows in the sun and moon, and burns in every star.
Thus, mingling with the mass, the general soul
Lives in the parts, and agitates the whole.
From that celestial energy began
The low‐browed brute, th’ imperial race of man,
The painted birds who wing th’ aërial plain,
And all the mighty monsters of the main;
Their souls at first from high Olympus came,” &c.(87)
Just as if the world, which is a theatre erected for displaying the glory
of God, were its own creator! For thus writes the same poet in another
place, following the common opinion of the Greeks and Latins—
“Led by such wonders, sages have opined,
That bees have portions of a heavenly mind;
That God pervades, and, like one common soul,
Fills, feeds, and animates the world’s great whole;
That flocks, herds, beasts, and men, from him receive
Their vital breath; in him all move and live;
That souls discerpt from him shall never die,
But back resolved to God and heaven shall fly,
And live for ever in the starry sky.”(88)
See the efficacy of that jejune speculation concerning a universal mind
animating and actuating the world, in the production and encouragement of
piety in the human heart. This more fully appears also from the profane
expressions of the filthy Lucretius, which are deductions from the same
principle.(89) Its true tendency is to set up a shadowy deity, and to
banish all ideas of the true God, the proper object of fear and worship. I
confess, indeed, that the expression, that nature is God, may be used in a
pious sense by a pious mind; but, as it is harsh and inconsistent with
strict propriety of speech, nature being rather an order prescribed by
God, it is dangerous in matters so momentous, and demanding peculiar
caution, to confound the Deity with the inferior course of his works.
VI. Let us remember, then, in every consideration of our own nature, that
there is one God, who governs all natures, and who expects us to regard
him, to direct our faith to him, to worship and invoke him. For nothing is
more preposterous than to enjoy such splendid advantages, which proclaim
within us their divine origin, and to neglect the Author who bountifully
bestows them. Now, what illustrious specimens of his power have we to
arrest our attention! unless it be possible for us not to know what
strength is required to sustain with his word this immense fabric of
heaven and earth; now by his mere nod to shake the heaven with roaring
peals of thunder, to consume whatever he choose with lightnings, and set
the atmosphere on fire with the flame; now to disturb it with tempests in
various forms, and immediately, if he please, to compose all to
instantaneous serenity; to restrain, suspended as it were in air, the sea,
which, by its elevation, seems to threaten the earth with continual
devastation; now raising it in a tremendous manner, by the tumultuous
violence of the winds, and now appeasing the waves to render it calm. To
this purpose are the numerous praises of the power of God, drawn from the
testimonies of nature, particularly in the book of Job, and in the
prophecies of Isaiah; which I now purposely omit, as they will be more
suitably introduced, when I discuss the scriptural account of the creation
of the world. Only I wished at present to hint, that this way of seeking
God, by tracing the lineaments which, both above and below us, exhibit
such a lively adumbration of him, is common to aliens, and to those who
belong to his family. His power leads us to the consideration of his
eternity; because he, from whom all things derive their origin, must
necessarily be eternal and self‐existent. But if we inquire the reason
that induced him first to create all things, and now to preserve them, we
shall find the sole cause to be his own goodness. But though this be the
only cause, it should be more than sufficient to attract us to love him;
since, according to the Psalmist,(90) there is no creature that does not
participate in the effusions of his mercy.
VII. In the second species of his works, such as happen out of the
ordinary course of nature, the proofs of his perfections are equally
clear. For he so regulates his providence in the government of human
society, that, while he exhibits, in innumerable ways, his benignity and
beneficence to all, he likewise declares, by evident and daily
indications, his clemency to the pious, and his severity to the wicked and
ungodly. For no doubt can be entertained respecting his punishment of
flagitious crimes; inasmuch as he clearly demonstrates himself to be the
guardian and avenger of innocence, in prospering with his blessing the
life of good men, in assisting their necessities, assuaging and comforting
their sorrows, alleviating their calamities, and providing in all things
for their safety. Nor should it perplex or eclipse his perpetual rule of
righteousness, that he frequently permits the wicked and guilty for a time
to exult in impunity; but suffers good men to be undeservedly harassed
with much adversity, and even to be oppressed by the iniquitous malice of
the ungodly. We ought rather to make a very different reflection; that,
when he clearly manifests his wrath in the punishment of one sin, he hates
all sins; and that, since he now passes by many sins unpunished, there
will be a judgment hereafter, till which the punishment is deferred. So,
also, what ample occasion he supplies us for the consideration of his
mercy, while, with unwearied benignity, he pursues the miserable, calling
them back to himself with more than paternal indulgence, till his
beneficence overcomes their depravity!
VIII. To this end the Psalmist,(91) mentioning that God, in desperate
cases, suddenly and wonderfully succors, beyond all expectation, those who
are miserable and ready to perish, either protecting from beasts of prey
such as are wandering in deserts, and, at length, reconducting them into
the right way, or supplying with food the needy and hungry, or delivering
captives from dreary dungeons and iron chains, or bringing the shipwrecked
safe into port, or healing the diseases of some who are almost dead, or
scorching the earth with excessive heat and drought, or fertilizing it
with the secret showers of his mercy, or elevating the meanest of the
vulgar, or degrading nobles from their dignified stations,—the Psalmist, I
say, having proposed such examples as these, infers from them that what
are accounted fortuitous accidents, are so many proofs of his heavenly
providence, especially of his paternal clemency; and that hence the pious
have cause to rejoice, while the mouths of the impious and reprobate are
stopped. But, since the majority of men, immersed in their errors, are
blind amidst the greatest opportunities of seeing, he accounts it a rare
instance of singular wisdom discreetly to consider these works of God;(92)
from the sight of which, some, who, in other instances, discover the
greatest acuteness, receive no benefit. And, notwithstanding all the
displays of the glory of God, scarcely one man in a hundred, is really a
spectator of it. His power and wisdom are equally conspicuous. His power
is illustriously manifested, when the ferocity of the impious, universally
deemed insuperable, is quelled in an instant, their arrogance subdued,
their strongest fortresses demolished, their weapons and armour broken in
pieces, their strength diminished, their machinations confounded, and they
fall by their own exertions; when the audacity, which exalted itself above
the heavens, is thrown down to the centre of the earth; when, on the
contrary, “the poor are raised out of the dust, and the needy out of the
dunghill;”(93) the oppressed and afflicted extricated from distressing
extremities, and the desperate restored to a good hope; when the unarmed
are victorious over those who are armed, the few over the many, the weak
over the strong. But his wisdom is eminently displayed in ordering every
dispensation at the best possible time, confounding the greatest worldly
sagacity, “taking the wise in their own craftiness,”(94) and finally
disposing all things according to the dictates of the highest reason.
IX. We see that there is no need of any long or laborious argumentation,
to obtain and produce testimonies for illustrating and asserting the
Divine Majesty; since, from the few which we have selected and cursorily
mentioned, it appears that they are every where so evident and obvious, as
easily to be distinguished by the eyes, and pointed out with the fingers.
And here it must again be observed, that we are invited to a knowledge of
God; not such as, content with empty speculation, merely floats in the
brain, but such as will be solid and fruitful, if rightly received and
rooted in our hearts. For the Lord is manifested by his perfections:
perceiving the influence and enjoying the benefits of which, we must
necessarily be more acutely impressed with such a knowledge, than if we
imagined a Deity of whose influence we had no perception. Whence we
conclude this to be the right way, and the best method of seeking God; not
with presumptuous curiosity to attempt an examination of his essence,
which is rather to be adored than too curiously investigated; but to
contemplate him in his works, in which he approaches and familiarizes,
and, in some measure, communicates himself to us. To this the Apostle
referred, when he said, that he is not to be sought far off, since, by his
attribute of omnipresence, he dwells in every one of us.(95) Therefore
David, having before confessed his greatness ineffable, after he descends
to the mention of his works, adds, that he will “declare this
greatness.”(96) Wherefore it becomes us also to apply ourselves to such an
investigation of God, as may fill our understanding with admiration, and
powerfully interest our feelings. And, as Augustine somewhere teaches,
being incapable of comprehending him, and fainting, as it were, under his
immensity, we must take a view of his works, that we may be refreshed with
his goodness.(97)
X. Now, such a knowledge ought not only to excite us to the worship of
God, but likewise to awaken and arouse us to the hope of a future life.
For when we consider, that the specimens given by the Lord, both of his
clemency and of his severity, are only begun, and not completed, we
certainly should esteem these as preludes to greater things, of which the
manifestation and full exhibition are deferred to another life. When we
see that pious men are loaded with afflictions by the impious, harassed
with injuries, oppressed with calumnies, and vexed with contumelious and
opprobrious treatment; that the wicked, on the contrary, flourish,
prosper, obtain ease and dignity, and all with impunity,—we should
immediately conclude, that there is another life, to which is reserved the
vengeance due to iniquity, and the reward of righteousness. Moreover, when
we observe the faithful frequently chastised by the Lord’s rod, we may
conclude, with great certainty, that the impious shall not always escape
his vengeance. For that is a wise observation of Augustine—“If open
punishment were now inflicted for every sin, it would be supposed that
nothing would be reserved till the last judgment. Again, if God now did
not openly punish any sin, it would be presumed that there was no divine
providence.”(98) It must therefore be confessed, that in each of the works
of God, but more especially in the whole considered together, there is a
bright exhibition of the divine perfections; by which the whole human race
is invited and allured to the knowledge of God, and thence to true and
complete felicity. But, though those perfections are most luminously
portrayed around us, we only discover their principal tendency, their use,
and the end of our contemplation of them, when we descend into our own
selves, and consider by what means God displays in us his life, wisdom,
and power, and exercises towards us his righteousness, goodness, and
mercy. For, though David justly complains that unbelievers are fools,
because they consider not the profound designs of God in the government of
mankind,(99) yet there is much truth in what he says in another place—that
the wonders of Divine Wisdom in this respect exceed in number the hairs of
our head.(100) But as this argument must be treated more at large in due
course, I at present omit it.
XI. But, notwithstanding the clear representations given by God in the
mirror of his works, both of himself and of his everlasting dominion, such
is our stupidity, that, always inattentive to these obvious testimonies,
we derive no advantage from them. For, with regard to the structure and
very beautiful organization of the world, how few of us are there, who,
when lifting up their eyes to heaven, or looking round on the various
regions of the earth, direct their minds to the remembrance of the
Creator, and do not rather content themselves with a view of his works, to
the total neglect of their Author! And with respect to those things that
daily happen out of the ordinary course of nature, is it not the general
opinion, that men are rolled and whirled about by the blind temerity of
fortune, rather than governed by the providence of God? Or if, by the
guidance and direction of these things, we are ever driven (as all men
must sometimes be) to the consideration of a God, yet, when we have rashly
conceived an idea of some deity, we soon slide into our own carnal dreams,
or depraved inventions, corrupting by our vanity the purity of divine
truth. We differ from one another, in that each individual imbibes some
peculiarity of error; but we perfectly agree in a universal departure from
the one true God, to preposterous trifles. This disease affects, not only
the vulgar and ignorant, but the most eminent, and those who, in other
things, discover peculiar sagacity. How abundantly have all the
philosophers, in this respect, betrayed their stupidity and folly! For, to
spare others, chargeable with greater absurdities, Plato himself, the most
religious and judicious of them all, loses himself in his round
globe.(101) And what would not befall others, when their principal men,
whose place it was to enlighten the rest, stumble upon such gross errors!
So also, while the government of human actions proves a providence too
plainly to admit of a denial, men derive no more advantage from it, than
if they believed all things to be agitated forwards and backwards by the
uncertain caprice of fortune; so great is our propensity to vanity and
error! I speak exclusively of the excellent of mankind, not of the vulgar,
whose madness in the profanation of divine truth has known no bounds.
XII. Hence that immense flood of errors, which has deluged the whole
world. For every man’s understanding is like a labyrinth to him; so that
it is not to be wondered at, that the different nations were drawn aside
into various inventions, and even that almost every individual had his own
particular deity. For, amidst the union of temerity and wantonness with
ignorance and darkness, scarcely a man could be found who did not frame to
himself some idol or phantasm instead of God. Indeed, the immense
multitude of gods proceeding from the mind of man, resembles the
ebullition of waters from a vast and ample spring, while every one, with
an extreme licentiousness of error, invents one thing or another
concerning God himself. It is not necessary here to compose a catalogue of
the superstitions which have perplexed the world; for it would be an
endless task; and, without a word more being said, the horrible blindness
of the human mind sufficiently appears from such a multiplicity of
corruptions. I pass over the rude and unlearned vulgar. But among the
philosophers,(102) who attempted with reason and learning to penetrate
heaven, how shameful is the diversity! In proportion to the vigour of his
natural genius, and the polish acquired by art and science, each of them
seemed to give the more specious colouring to his own opinion; but, on a
close inspection, you will find them all fading colours. The Stoics said,
in their own opinion very shrewdly, that from all the parts of nature may
be collected various names of God, but yet that the one God is not
therefore divided;(103) as if we were not already too much inclined to
vanity, without being further and more violently seduced into error, by
the notion of such a various abundance of gods. The mystical theology of
the Egyptians also shows that they all sedulously endeavoured to preserve
the appearance of reason in the midst of their folly.(104) And any thing
apparently probable might at first sight, perhaps, deceive the simple and
incautious; but there never was any human invention by which religion was
not basely corrupted. And this confused diversity imboldened the
Epicureans, and other gross despisers of piety, to reject all idea of God.
For, seeing the wisest of men contending with each other for contrary
opinions, they hesitated not, from their dissensions, and from the
frivolous and absurd doctrines maintained by the different parties, to
infer, that it was vain and foolish for men to torment themselves with
investigations concerning God, who does not exist. And this they thought
they might do with impunity, supposing that a compendious denial of any
God at all would be better than feigning uncertain gods, and thereby
occasioning endless controversies. They reason very ignorantly, or rather
endeavour to conceal their own impiety behind the ignorance of men, which
not at all justifies any encroachment on God. But from the general
confession, that there is no subject productive of so many dissensions
among the learned as well as the unlearned, it is inferred, that the minds
of men, which err so much in investigations concerning God, are extremely
blind and stupid in celestial mysteries. Others commend the answer of
Simonides,(105) who, being asked by Hiero the Tyrant what God was,
requested a day to consider it. When the tyrant, the next day, repeated
the inquiry, he begged to be allowed two days longer; and, having often
doubled the number of days, at length answered, “The longer I consider the
subject, the more obscure it appears to me.” He prudently suspended his
opinion on a subject so obscure to him; yet this shows that men, who are
taught only by nature, have no certain, sound, or distinct knowledge, but
are confined to confused principles; so that they worship an unknown God.
XIII. Now, it must also be maintained, that whoever adulterates the pure
religion, (which must necessarily be the case of all who are influenced by
their own imagination,) he is guilty of a departure from the one God. They
will profess, indeed, a different intention; but what they intend, or what
they persuade themselves, is of little importance; since the Holy Spirit
pronounces all to be apostates, who, in the darkness of their minds,
substitute demons in the place of God. For this reason Paul declares the
Ephesians to have been “without God”(106)—till they had learned from the
gospel the worship of the true God. Nor should this be restricted to one
nation only, since, in another place, he asserts of men in general, that
they “became vain in their imaginations,”(107) after the majesty of the
Creator had been discovered to them in the structure of the world. And
therefore the Scripture, to make room for the only true God, condemns, as
false and lying, whatever was formerly worshipped as divine among the
Gentiles,(108) and leaves no Deity but in Mount Sion, where flourished the
peculiar knowledge of God. Indeed, among the Gentiles, the Samaritans, in
the days of Christ, seemed to approach very nearly to true piety; yet we
hear, from the mouth of Christ, that they “worshipped they knew not
what;”(109) whence it follows, that they were under a vain and erroneous
delusion. In fine, though they were not all the subjects of gross vices,
or open idolaters, there was no pure and approved religion, their notions
being founded only in common sense. For, though there were a few
uninfected with the madness of the vulgar, this assertion of Paul remains
unshaken, that “none of the princes of this world knew the wisdom of
God.”(110) But if the most exalted have been involved in the darkness of
error, what must be said of the dregs of the people! Wherefore it is not
surprising if the Holy Spirit reject, as spurious, every form of worship
which is of human contrivance; because, in the mysteries of heaven, an
opinion acquired by human means, though it may not always produce an
immense mass of errors, yet always produces some. And though no worse
consequence follow, it is no trivial fault to worship, at an uncertainty,
an unknown god; of which, however, Christ pronounces all to be guilty who
have not been taught by the law what god they ought to worship. And indeed
the best legislators have proceeded no further than to declare religion to
be founded upon common consent. And even Socrates, in Xenophon,(111)
praises the answer of Apollo, which directed that every man should worship
the gods according to the rites of his country, and the custom of his own
city. But whence had mortals this right of determining, by their own
authority, what far exceeds all the world? or who could so acquiesce in
the decrees of the rulers or the ordinances of the people, as without
hesitation to receive a god delivered to him by the authority of man?
Every man will rather abide by his own judgment, than be subject to the
will of another. Since, then, the following of the custom of a city, or
the consent of antiquity, in divine worship, is too weak and frail a bond
of piety, it remains for God himself to give a revelation concerning
himself from heaven.
XIV. Vain, therefore, is the light afforded us in the formation of the
world to illustrate the glory of its Author; which, though its rays be
diffused all around us, is insufficient to conduct us into the right way.
Some sparks, indeed, are kindled, but smothered before they have emitted
any great degree of light. Wherefore the Apostle, in the place before
cited, says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God;”(112) thus intimating, that the invisible Deity was
represented by such visible objects, yet that we have no eyes to discern
him, unless they be illuminated through faith by an internal revelation of
God. Nor does Paul, where he observes, that “that which may be known of
God is manifest”(113) in the creation of the world, design such a
manifestation as human sagacity may comprehend; but rather shows, that its
utmost extent is to render men inexcusable. The same writer also, though
in one place(114) he denies that God is to be traced far off, seeing he
dwells within us, yet teaches, in another place,(115) the consequences of
such a proximity. God, says he, “in times past suffered all nations to
walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness,
in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons,
filling our hearts with food and gladness.”(116) Though the Lord, then, is
not destitute of a testimony concerning himself, while with various and
most abundant benignity he sweetly allures mankind to a knowledge of him,
yet they persist in following their own ways, their pernicious and fatal
errors.
XV. But whatever deficiency of natural ability prevents us from attaining
the pure and clear knowledge of God, yet, since that deficiency arises
from our own fault, we are left without any excuse. Nor indeed can we set
up any pretence of ignorance, that will prevent our own consciences from
perpetually accusing us of indolence and ingratitude. Truly it would be a
defence worthy to be admitted, if a man should plead that he wanted ears
to hear the truth, for the publication of which even the mute creatures
are supplied with most melodious voices; if he should allege that his eyes
are not capable of seeing what is demonstrated by the creatures without
the help of the eyes; if he should plead mental imbecility, while all the
irrational creatures instruct us. Wherefore we are justly excluded from
all excuse for our uncertain and extravagant deviations, since all things
conspire to show us the right way. But, however men are chargeable with
sinfully corrupting the seeds of divine knowledge, which, by the wonderful
operation of nature, are sown in their hearts, so that they produce no
good and fair crop, yet it is beyond a doubt, that the simple testimony
magnificently borne by the creatures to the glory of God, is very
insufficient for our instruction. For as soon as a survey of the world has
just shown us a deity, neglecting the true God, we set up in his stead the
dreams and phantasms of our own brains; and confer on them the praise of
righteousness, wisdom, goodness, and power, due to him. We either obscure
his daily acts, or pervert them by an erroneous estimate; thereby
depriving the acts themselves of their glory, and their Author of his
deserved praise.