Produced by David Widger
REASON,
THE ONLY ORACLE OF MAN;
OR A COMPENDIUS
SYSTEM OF NATURAL RELIGION.
By Col. Ethan Allen.
Boston:
J. P. Mendum, Cornhill.
1854.
REASON
INTRODUCTION.
Colonel Ethan Allen, the author of Oracles of Reason, was the son of
Joseph Allen, a native of Coventry, Connecticut, a farmer in moderate
circumstances. He afterwards resided in Litchfield, where Ethan was born
in the year 1739. The family consisted of eight children, of whom our
author was the eldest. But few incidents connected with his early life
are known. We are apprised, however, that notwithstanding his education
was very limited, his ambition to prove himself worthy of that attention
which superior intellect ever commands, induced him diligently to
explore every subject that came under his notice. A stranger to fear,
his opinions were ever given without disguise or hesitation; and an
enemy to oppression, he sought every opportunity to redress the wrongs
of the oppressed.
At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, he raised in Vermont,
where he had resided, a company of volunteers, consisting of two hundred
and thirty, with which he surprised the fortress of Ticonderoga, May 10,
1775, containing about forty men, and one hundred pieces of cannon. He
was unfortunately taken prisoner in September following, in an attempt
on Montreal, and sufferred a cruel imprisonment for several years. For
an account of which, the reader is referred to his narrative, contained
in a memoir of the author, by Mr. Hugh Moore, Plattsburg, 1834.
Soon after the close of the revolution, Col. Allen composed the
following work; which, on account of the bold and unusual manner,
particularly in this country, that the subject of religion is treated,
he had great difficulty to get published. It lay a long time in the
hands of a printer at Hartford, who had not the moral courage to print
it. It was finally printed by a Mr. Haswell, of Bennington, Vt. in 1784.
Not long after its publication, a part of the edition, comprising the
entire of several signatures, was accidentally consumed by fire. Whether
Mr. H. deemed this fire a judgment upon him for having printed the
work or not, is unknown--but, the fact is, he soon after committed
the remainder of the edition to the flames, and joined the Methodist
Connection; so that but few copies were circulated.
Col. Allen died in the town of Burlington, Vt., on the 12th of February,
1789, of apoplexy.
PREFACE.
An apology appears to me to be impertinent in writers who venture their
works to public inspection, for this obvious reason, that if they need
it, they should have been stifled in the birth, and not permitted
a public existence. I therefore offer my composition to the candid
judgment of the impartial world without it, taking it for granted that
I have as good a natural right to expose myself to public censure,
by endeavouring to subserve mankind, as any of the species who have
published their productions since the creation; and I ask no favor at
the hands of philosophers, divines or critics, but hope and expect they
will severely chastise me for my errors and mistakes, least they
may have a share in perverting the truth, which is very far from my
intention.
In the circle of my acquaintance, (which has not been small,) I have
generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never
disputed, being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism
make me one; and as to being a Deist, I know not, strictly speaking,
whether I am one or not, for I have never read their writings; mine will
therefore determine the matter; for I have not in the least disguised my
sentiments, but have written freely without any conscious knowledge of
prejudice for, or against any man, sectary or party whatever; but wish
that good sense, truth and virtue may be promoted and flourish in the
world, to the detection of delusion, superstition, and false religion;
and therefore my errors in the succeeding treatise, which may be
rationally pointed out, will be readily rescinded.
By the public's most obedient and humble servant.
ETHAN ALLEN.
ORACLES OF REASON,
CHAPTER I.
SECTON I. THE DUTY OF REFORMING MANKIND FROM SUPERSTITION AND ERROR...
AND THE GOOD CONSEQUENCES OF IT
The desire of knowledge has engaged the attention of the wise and
curious among mankind in all ages which has been productive of extending
the arts and sciences far and wide in the several quarters of the globe,
and excited the contemplative to explore nature's laws in a gradual
series of improvement, until philosophy, astronomy, geography, and
history, with many other branches of science, have arrived to a great
degree of perfection.
It is nevertheless to be regretted, that the bulk of mankind, even in
those nations which are most celebrated for learning and wisdom, are
still carried down the torrent of superstition, and entertain very
unworthy apprehensions of the being, perfections, creation, and
providence of God, and their duty to him, which lays an indispensable
obligation on the philosophic friends of human nature, unanimously to
exert themselves in every lawful, wise, and prudent method, to
endeavor to reclaim mankind from their ignorance and delusion, by
enlightening their minds in those great and sublime truths concerning
God and his providence, and their obligations to moral rectitude which
in this world, and that which is to come, cannot fail greatly to affect
their happiness and well being.
Though "none by searching can find out God, or the Almighty to
perfection," yet I am persuaded, that if mankind would dare to exercise
their reason as freely on those divine topics as they do in the common
concerns of life, they would, in a great measure, rid themselves of
their blindness and superstition, gain more exalted ideas of God
and their obligations to him and one another, and be proportionally
delighted and blessed with the views of his moral government, make
better members of society, and acquire many powerful incentives to the
practice of morality, which is the last and greatest perfection that
human nature is capable of.
SECTON II. OF THE BEING OF A GOD
The laws of nature having subjected mankind to a state of absolute
dependence on something out of it, and manifestly beyond themselves,
or the compound exertion of their natural powers, gave them the first
conception of a superior principle existing; otherwise they could have
had no possible conception of a superintending power. But this sense of
dependency, which results from experience and reasoning on the facts,
which every day cannot fail to produce, has uniformly established the
knowledge of our dependence to every individual of the species who are
rational, which necessarily involves, or contains in it, the idea of a
ruling power, or that there is a God, which ideas are synonymous.
The globe with its productions, the planets in their motions, and the
starry heavens in their magnitudes, surprise our senses and confound our
reason, in their munificent lessons of instruction concerning God, by
means whereof, we are apt to be more or less lost in our ideas of the
object of divine adoration, though at the same time every one is truly
sensible that their being and preservation is from God. We are too apt
to confound our ideas of God with his works, and take the latter for
the former. Thus barbarous and unlearned nations have imagined, that
inasmuch as the sun in its influence is beneficial to them in bringing
forward the spring of the year, causing the production of vegetation,
and food for their subsistence, that therefore it is their God: while
others have located other parts of creation, and ascribe to them
prerogatives of God; and mere creatures and images have been substituted
for Gods by the wickedness or weakness of man, or both together. It
seems that mankind in most ages and parts of the world have been fond of
corporeal Deities with whom their outward senses might be gratified, or
as fantastically diverted from the just apprehension of the true God,
by a supposed supernatural intercourse with invisible and mere spiritual
beings, to whom they ascribe divinity, so that through one means or
other, the character of the true God has been much neglected, to the
great detriment of truth, justice, and morality in the world; nor is
it possible that mankind can be uniform in their religious opinions, or
worship God according to knowledge, except they can form a consistent
arrangement of ideas of the Divine character.
Although we extend our ideas retrospectively ever so far upon the
succession, yet no one cause in the extended order of succession, which
depends upon another prior to itself, can be the independent cause of
all things: nor is it possible to trace the order of the succession of
causes back to that self-existent cause, inasmuch as it is eternal
and infinite, and cannot therefore be traced out by succession, which
operates according to the order of time, consequently can bear no more
proportion to the eternity of God, than time itself may be supposed
to do, which has no proportion at all; as the succeeding arguments
respecting the eternity and infinity of God will evince. But
notwithstanding the series of the succession of causes cannot be
followed in a retrospective succession up to the self-existent or
eternal cause, it is nevertheless a perpetual and conclusive evidence
of a God.--For a succession of causes considered collectively, can
be nothing more than effects of the independent cause, and as much
dependent on it as those dependent causes are upon one another; so that
we may with certainty conclude that the system of nature, which we call
by the name of natural causes, is as much dependent on a self-existent
cause, as an individual of the species in the order of generation is
dependent on its progenitors for existence. Such part of the series of
nature's operations, which we understand, has a regular and necessary
connection with, and dependence on its parts, which we denominate by the
names of cause and effect. From hence we are authorised from reason to
conclude, that the vast system of causes and effects are thus
necessarily connected, (speaking of the natural world only,) and the
whole regularly and necessarily dependent on a self-existent cause: so
that we are obliged to admit an independent cause, and ascribe
self-existence to it, otherwise it could not be independent, and
consequently not a God. But the eternity or manner of the existence of a
self-existent and independent being is to all finite capacities utterly
incomprehensible; yet this is so far from an objection against the
reality of such a being, that it is essentially necessary to support the
evidence of it; for if we could comprehend that being whom we call God,
he would not be God, but must have been finite and that in the same
degree as those may be supposed to be who could comprehend him;
therefore so certain that God is, we cannot comprehend his essence,
eternity, or manner of existence. This should always be premised, when
we assay to reason on the being, perfection, eternity, and infinity of
God, or of his creation and providence. As far as we understand nature,
we are become acquainted with the character of God, for the knowledge of
nature is the revelation of God. If we form in our imagination a
compendious idea of the harmony of the universe, it is the same as
calling God by the name of harmony, for there could be no harmony
without regulation, and no regulation without a regulator, which is
expressive of the idea of a God. Nor could it be possible, that there
could be order or disorder, except we admit of such a thing as creation,
and creation contains in it the idea of a creator, which is another
appellation for the Divine Being, distinguishing God from his creation.
Furthermore, there could be no proportion, figure, or motion, without
wisdom and power; wisdom to plan, and power to execute, and these are
perfections, when applied to the works of nature, which signify the
agency or superintendency of God. If we consider nature to be matter,
figure, and motion, we include the idea of God in that of motion; for
motion implies a mover as much as creation does a creator. If from the
composition, texture, and tendency of the universe in general, we form a
complex idea of general good resulting therefrom to mankind, we
implicitly admit a God by the name of good, including the idea of his
providence to man. And from hence arises our obligations to love and
adore God, because he provides for, and is beneficent to us. Abstract
the idea of goodness from the character of God, and it would cancel all
our obligations to him, and excite us to hate and detest him as a
tyrant: hence it is, that ignorant people are superstitiously misled
into a conceit that they hate God, when at the same time it is only the
idol of their own imagination, which they truly ought to hate and be
ashamed of; but were such persons to connect the ideas of power, wisdom,
goodness, and all possible perfection in the character of God, their
hatred towards him would be turned into love and adoration.
By extending our ideas in a larger circle, we shall perceive our
dependence on the earth and waters of the globe which we inhabit, and
from which we are bountifully fed and gorgeously arrayed; and next
extend our ideas to the sun, whose fiery mass darts its brilliant rays
of light to our terraqueous ball with amazing velocity, and whose
region of inexhaustible fire supplies it with fervent heat, which causes
vegetation, and gilds the various seasons of the year with ten thousand
charms: this is not the achievement of man, but the workmanship and
providence of God. But how the sun is supplied with materials, thus to
perpetuate its kind influences, we know not. But will any one deny the
reality of those beneficial influences, because we do not understand the
manner of the perpetuality of that fiery world, or how it became such
a body of fire? or will any one deny the reality of nutrition by food,
because we do not understand the secret operation of the digesting
powers of animal nature, or the minute particulars of its cherishing
influence? None will be so stupid as to do it. Equally absurd would it
be for us to deny the providence of God, by "whom we live, move, and
have our being," because we cannot comprehend it.
We know that earth, water, fire and air, in their various compositions
subserve us, and we also know that these elements are devoid of
reflection, reason, or design; from whence we may easily infer, that a
wise, understanding, and designing being has ordained them to be thus
subservient. Could blind chance constitute order and decorum, and
consequently a providence? That wisdom, order, and design should be the
production of nonentity, or of chaos, confusion, and old night, is too
absurd to deserve a serious confutation, for it supposeth that there may
be effects without a cause, viz.: produced by nonentity, or that chaos
and confusion could produce the effects of power, wisdom, and goodness.
Such absurdities as these we must assent to, or subscribe to the
doctrine of a self-existent and providential being.
SECTON III. THE MANNER OF DISCOVERING THE MORAL PERFECTIONS...
AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Having in a concise manner offered a variety of indisputable reasons
to evince the certainty of the being and providence of God, and of
his goodness to man through the intervention of the series of nature's
operations, which are commonly described by the name of natural
causes, we come now more particularly to the consideration of his moral
perfections; and though all finite beings fall as much short of an
adequate knowledge thereof as they do of perfection itself, nevertheless
through the intelligence of our own souls we may have something of a
prospective idea of the divine perfections. For though the human
mind bears no proportion to the divine, yet there is undoubtedly a
resemblance between them. For instance, God knows all things, and
we know some things, and in the things which we do understand, our
knowledge agrees with that of the divine, and cannot fail necessarily
corresponding with it. To more than know a thing, speaking of that thing
only, is impossible even to omniscience itself; for knowledge is but the
same in both the infinite and finite minds. To know a thing is the same
as to have right ideas of it, or ideas according to truth, and truth is
uniform in all rational minds, the divine mind not excepted. It will
not be disputed but that mankind in plain and common matters understand
justice from injustice, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, virtue
from vice, and praise-worthiness from blame-worthiness, for other wise
they could not be accountable creatures. This being admitted, we are
capable of forming a complex idea of a moral character, which when done
in the most deliberate, the wisest, and most rational manner in our
power, we are certain bears a resemblance to the divine perfections. For
as we learn from the worlds of nature an idea of the power and wisdom
of God, so from our own rational nature we learn an idea of his moral
perfections.
From what has been observed on the moral perfections of God, we infer
that all rational beings, who have an idea of justice, goodness, and
truth, have at the same time either a greater or less idea of the moral
perfections of God. It is by reason that we are able to compound an idea
of a moral character, whether applied to God or man; it is that which
gives us the supremacy over the irrational part of the creation.
SECTON IV. THE CAUSE OF IDOLATRY, AND THE REMEDY OF IT
Inasmuch as God is not corporeal, and consequently does not and cannot
come within the notice of our bodily sensations, we are therefore
obliged to deduce inferences from his providence, and particularly from
our own rational nature, in order to form our conceptions of the divine
character, which through inattention, want of learning, or through the
natural imbecility of mankind, or through the artifice of designing men,
or all together, they have been greatly divided and subdivided in their
notions of a God. Many have so groped in the dark as wholly to mistake
the proper object of divine worship, and not distinguishing the creator
from his creation, have paid adoration to "four footed beasts and
creeping things." And some have ascribed divine honors to the sun, moon,
or stars; while others have been infatuated to worship dumb, senseless,
and unintelligent idols, which derived their existence as Gods, partly
from mechanics, who gave them their figure, proportion, and beauty, and
partly from their priests, who gave them their attributes; whose
believers, it appears, were so wrought upon, that they cried out in the
ecstasy of their deluded zeal, "Great is Diana." Whatever delusions have
taken place in the world relative to the object of divine worship, or
respecting the indecencies or immoralities of the respective
superstitions themselves, or by what means soever introduced or
perpetuated, whether by designing men whose interest it has always been
to impose on the weakness of the great mass of the vulgar; or as it is
probable, that part of those delusions took place in consequence of the
weakness of uncultivated reason, in deducing a visible instead of an
invisible God from the works of nature. Be that as it will, mankind are
generally possessed of an idea that there is a God, however they may
have been mistaken or misled as to the object. This notion of a God, as
has been before observed, must have originated from a universal sense of
dependence, which mankind have on something that is more wise, powerful,
and beneficent than themselves, or they could have had no apprehensions
of any superintending principle in the universe, and consequently would
never have sought after a God, or have had any conception of his
existence, nor could designing men have imposed on their credulity by
obtruding false Gods upon them; but taking advantage of the common
belief that there is a God, they artfully deceive their adherents with
regard to the object to be adored. There are other sorts of idols which
have no existence but in the mere imagination of the human mind; and
these are vastly the most numerous, and universally (either in the
greater or less degree) dispersed over the world; the wisest of mankind
are not and cannot be wholly exempt from them, inasmuch as every wrong
conception of God is (as far as the error takes place in the mind)
idolatrous. To give a sample, an idea of a jealous God is of this sort.
Jealousy is the offspring of finite minds, proceeding from the want of
knowledge; which in dubious matters makes us suspicious and distrustful;
but in matters which we clearly understand, there can be no jealousy,
for knowledge excludes it, so that to ascribe it to God is a manifest
infringement on his omniscience.*
* "The Lord thy God is a jealous God."
The idea of a revengeful God is likewise one of that sort, but this
idea of divinity being borrowed from a savage nature, needs no further
confutation. The representation of a God, who (as we are told by certain
divines) from all eternity elected an inconsiderable part of mankind to
eternal life, and reprobated the rest to eternal damnation, merely from
his own sovereignty, adds another to the number;--this representation
of the Deity undoubtedly took its rise from that which we discovered
in great, powerful, and wicked tyrants among men, however tradition may
since have contributed to its support, though I am apprehensive that
a belief in those who adhere to that doctrine, that they themselves
constitute that blessed elect number, has been a greater inducement to
them to close with it, than all other motives added together. It is
a selfish and inferior notion of a God void of justice, goodness, and
truth, and has a natural tendency to impede the cause of true religion
and morality in the world, and diametrically repugnant to the truth of
the divine character, and which, if admitted to be true, overturns
all religion, wholly precluding the agency of mankind in either their
salvation or damnation, resolving the whole into the sovereign disposal
of a tyrannical and unjust being, which is offensive to reason and
common sense, and subversive of moral rectitude in general. But as
it was not my design so much to confute the multiplicity of false
representations of a God, as to represent just and consistent ideas of
the true God, I shall therefore omit any further observation on them in
this place, with this remark, that all unjust representations, or ideas
of God, are so many detractions from his character among mankind. To
remedy these idolatrous notions of a God, it is requisite to form right
and consistent ideas in their stead.
The discovery of truth necessarily excludes error from the mind, which
nothing else can possibly do; for some sort of God or other will crowd
itself into the conceptions of dependent creatures, and if they are
not so happy as to form just ones, they will substitute erroneous and
delusive ones in their stead; so that it serves no valuable purpose to
mankind, to confute their idolatrous opinions concerning God, without
communicating to them just notions concerning the true one, for if this
is not effected, nothing is done to the purpose. For, as has been before
observed, mankind will form to themselves, or receive from others, an
idea of Divinity either right or wrong: this is the universal voice of
intelligent nature, from whence a weighty and conclusive argument may
be drawn of the reality of a God, however inconsistent most, of their
conceptions of him may be. The fact is, mankind readily perceives that
there is a God, by feeling their dependence on him, and as they explore
his works, and observe his providence, which is too sublime for finite
capacities to understand but in part, they have been more or less
confounded in their discoveries of a just idea of a God and of his moral
government. Therefore we should exercise great applications and care
whenever we assay to speculate upon the Divine character, accompanied
with a sincere desire after truth, and not ascribe anything to his
perfections of government which is inconsistent with reason or the best
information which we are able to apprehend of moral rectitude, and be
at least wise enough not to charge God with injustice and contradictions
which we should scorn to be charged with ourselves. No king, governor,
or parent would like to be accused of partiality in their respective
governments, "Is it fit to say unto Princes, ye are ungodly, how much
less to him that regardeth not the persons of princes, or the rich more
than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands."